Tatum Mangus / Annapurna Pictures
If Beale Street Could Talk
Glass PG-13
M. Night Shyamalan revisits the lead characters from two of his best films. Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn, the security guard from Unbreakable, whose indestructibility is discovered by Samuel L. Jackson's Elijah Price, a man cursed with glass-like bones. James McAvoy's Kevin Wendell Crumb was first seen in Shyamalan's Split. His super-agile Beast is a serial killer and one of Crumb's 24 personalities. Crumb, Dunn and Price are all patients at a mental hospital where they are treated by Dr. Staple (Sarah Paulson), a shrink specializing in those believing themselves to be superheroes. We know a trademark Shyamalan twist is coming. What we don't know is whether it will be worth the wait.
If Beale Street Could Talk R
Set in Harlem during the 1970s, Beale Street introduces us to a beautiful pair of young African American lovers. Tish (KiKi Layne) is 19 when her 22-year-old boyfriend Fonny (Stephan James) is charged with rape. Regina King and Colman Domingo portray Tish's parents, determined to help Fonny beat a false rape allegation. Told in flashback by Tish, the film is adapted from James Baldwin's 1974 novel. Quibbles include browbeating us with this couple's goodness rather than trusting us to see it. However, critics admire this portrait of a black family that remains both steadfast and hopeful.