Movies Update: ‘The Forty-Year-Old Version’ and More

Plus, a guide to scary movies this month.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story October 9, 2020 By Mekado Murphy Movies Editor Hey, movie fans! Here’s what’s going on this week. With studios continuing to postpone the release of new films and audiences seeming reluctant to return to theaters en masse, the Regal Cinemas chain has temporarily closed its theaters in the United States (again). And Disney announced that its anticipated Pixar film “Soul” will be released directly on Disney+ on Christmas Day. Scary-movie season is upon us, with plenty of frightful selections throughout the month. Erik Piepenburg offered a guide to some of the most noteworthy, with subjects ranging from killer weaves to vampires in the Bronx. Over on Prime Video, you can find a new collection of creepy movies under the banner “Welcome to the Blumhouse.” Lena Wilson interviewed the diverse directors of those features. Out this week on Netflix is Radha Blank’s acclaimed project “The Forty-Year-Old Version” and Adam Sandler’s not-so-acclaimed, but seasonally relevant comedy “Hubie Halloween,” plus an environmental doc about David Attenborough, “A Life on Our Planet.” HBO Max has the dirt-bike drama “Charm City Kings” and the documentary “Siempre, Luis.” And Amazon has the thrillers “The Lie” and “Black Box,” then on Oct. 16, the Critic’s Pick documentary “Time” (now in theaters). Enjoy the movies! Jeong Park/Netflix Critic’s Pick ‘The Forty-Year-Old Version’ Review: Rapper’s Delight Radha Blank’s film is an intimate, epic reckoning with age, ambition and everything else. By A.O. Scott William Gray/HBO Max ‘Charm City Kings’ Review: Growing Up, and Almost Spinning Out In this sincere drama, a young Baltimore teenager enamored of the city’s vibrant dirt-bike scene, faces hard truths and choices. By Manohla Dargis Tobin Yellan/Hulu A Guide to New Horror Movies This Month From a killer weave to vampires in the Bronx, new movies are here to keep Halloween frightful. By Erik Piepenburg Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS gateway movies Need an Essential Chronicler of America? Try This Nonfiction Master Frederick Wiseman captures life unfolding within institutions. If that sounds boring, the riveting “Public Housing” shows why his work is anything but. By Ben Kenigsberg Stream These 15 Movies Before They Leave Netflix This Month Fall is here but these titles soon won’t be. Catch up on these before they leave. By Jason Bailey MOVIE REVIEWS Amazon Studios   Critic’s Pick ‘Time’ Review: What We Really Mean When We Say Mass Incarceration In Garrett Bradley’s moving documentary, a woman fights for her family and justice as a husband and father’s absence reverberates. By Lisa Kennedy Jessica Miglio/MPI Media Group/Signature Entertainment   ‘A Rainy Day in New York’ Review: How to Ruin Your Weekend Timothée Chalamet and Elle Fanning attempt a madcap Manhattan adventure in this Woody Allen feature. By A.O. Scott Scott Yamano/Netflix   ‘Hubie Halloween’ Review: No Tricks, Few Treats Adam Sandler stars in this proudly regressive seasonal comedy. By Ben Kenigsberg Ben Rothstein/101 Studios/Brookdale Studios   ‘The War With Grandpa’ Review: Robert De Niro Gets Juvenile Coming off the artistic high of “The Irishman,” De Niro returns in a bland family comedy that features jokes about bodily functions. By Glenn Kenny HBO   ‘Siempre, Luis’ Review: A Latino Community Activist Puts on a Show The political consultant Luis A. Miranda Jr. almost gets his due in this HBO documentary. By Kyle Turner Stage 6 Films/Sony Pictures   ‘Yellow Rose’ Review: A Timely Tale of Country Music Dreams Diane Paragas’s film blends coming-of-age aspirations with urgent immigration issues — to mixed effect. By Kristen Yoonsoo Kim Universal   ‘American Pie Presents: Girls’ Rules’ Review: Sex Comedy, Warmed Over This entry in the series offers a naked demonstration of the differences in sexual politics since 1999. By Teo Bugbee Strand Releasing   ‘Aggie’ Review: Portrait of an Art Collector by Her Daughter In this documentary, the filmmaker Catherine Gund recaps the career of her mother, the philanthropist and art collector Agnes Gund. By Ben Kenigsberg Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT NEWS & FEATURES Emerging Directors, Re-emerging Horrors Underrepresented filmmakers contributed to “Welcome to the Blumhouse,” a horror anthology streaming on Amazon. Here’s your cheat sheet on each film. By Lena Wilson Henry Golding Drew on His Own Cultural Confusion in ‘Monsoon’ The actor discussed how playing a British-Vietnamese man trying to understand his identity resonated with Golding’s experiences living in Britain and Malaysia. By Isabella Kwai A Writer-Director-Star Breaks Through. It Only Took a Lifetime. Radha Blank spent years trying to impress the theater world. Now, her Sundance hit, “The Forty-Year-Old Version,” is proof that dreams don’t expire. By Alexis Soloski the culture issue A Filmmaker Who Sees Prison Life With Love and Complexity Garrett Bradley has made a documentary, “Time,” that stubbornly resists all the easy ways of thinking about incarceration in America. By Ismail Muhammad talk Nicole Kidman Leans Into the Pain “I don’t want the light stuff. I like to get heavy quickly.” By David Marchese Two New Movies Share a Clear Message: Don’t Forget Jamal Khashoggi “Kingdom of Silence,” due Friday, and “The Dissident,” due Dec. 18, revisit the killing of the Saudi journalist Khashoggi in Turkey in 2018. By Sara Aridi What the ‘Cuties’ Critics Can’t See: The Complexities of Black Girlhood The Netflix film and a handful of other recent titles movingly explore what it means to come of age at the crossroads of racism and sexism. By Salamishah Tillet Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT CRITICS’ PICKS Netflix   Critic’s Pick ‘David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet’ Review: Ruin and Regrowth In this moving documentary, the famed naturalist maps how steeply the planet’s biodiversity has diminished over his lifetime. By Natalia Winkelman Alfonso Bresciani/Amazon Studios   Critic’s Pick ‘Black Box’ Review: Memory and Loss An amnesiac begins to see strange visions in this engrossing thriller streaming on Amazon Prime Video. By Glenn Kenny At Home Our best suggestions for how to live a full and cultured life during the pandemic, at home. Sign up How are we doing? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to moviesupdate@nytimes.com. Like this email? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up here. Continue reading the main story Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for Movies Update from The New York Times. To stop receiving these emails, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018