The Commuter (Rated PG-13)
Liam Neeson reprises the role of elder statesman turned reluctant action hero. He’s ex-cop Michael MacCauley, riding a Manhattan commuter train when a mysterious woman (Vera Farmiga), threatens to kill MacCauley’s wife and son, unless he learns the identity of the passenger who intends to blow up the train. Highly motivated, MacCauley frets and kickboxes his way through potential suspects and obstacles alike, during a ride that marks Neeson’s fourth collaboration with B-movie master, director Jaume Collet-Serra. (Lisa Miller)
I, Tonya (Rated R)
She was known in figure skating as “Trashy Tonya” before achieving infamy by proving the worst fears of the skating elite when she was implicated in an assault on her rival, Nancy Kerrigan. Based on “irony free, wildly contradictory” real-life interviews with Tonya Harding and her confederates, I, Tonya satirizes the truck stop subculture that gave rise to her destructive class envy and the idiocy of her family and friends. The film manages sympathy for Harding, pushed into skating by her abusive mother and pushed around by her abusive husband. Sharply written, brilliantly edited, funny and occasionally heartbreaking, I, Tonya is nicely photographed with superb acting all around, led by Margot Robbie has Harding, Sebastian Stan as her husband and Allison Jannye as her mother. (David Luhrssen)
Paddington 2 (Rated PG)
Marmalade-loving Paddington bear attempts to catch a thief, but the diminutive ursine is wrongly sent to prison instead. Paddy’s adoptive London parents (voiced by Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins) seek to secure Paddington’s release. Writer-director Paul King captures the spirit of Michael Bond’s best-selling kids books, thanks in part to a wistful Ben Whishaw, returning as the young bear. Hugh Grant winningly portrays a preening, washed-up actor relegated to pet food commercials. As before, Paddington and other bears, are animated characters blended into frame with live action humans. Infused with comedy, heart and a “beary” sweet soul, this film checks all the family friendly boxes. (L.M.)
The Post PG-13
Meryl Streep’s Katharine Graham needs her helmet hair for protection in this film based upon actual events from 1971. As the new publisher of the Washington Post, Graham wrestles with whether to publish the leaked Pentagon Papers, knowing the Nixon administration will be out for her blood. Tom Hanks appears as Graham’s editor, Ben Bradlee, urging her to trust the First Amendment. Director Steven Spielberg told the Hollywood Reporter, “I realized this was the only year to make this film.” Though pushing his agenda, the director expertly paces the action, drawing us in via fervent debate, and good old-fashioned suspense. (L.M.)
Proud Mary (Rated R)
Resembling the plot of the 1980 film Gloria, hit woman Mary (Taraji P. Henson) is saddled with the orphaned young son of a man she has just killed. She’ll have to outsmart the mob, especially her former boss, in order to save the boy. Could be that 11th-hour editing is preventing the studio from divulging the film’s runtime. After playing a math genius in Hidden Figures, is Henson taking two steps back to portray a Saturday matinee assassin? Could be the role is in her comfort zone since Henson played a similar character in 2006’s Smokin’ Aces, or it could be that a paycheck is a paycheck is a paycheck. (L.M.)
