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Nico Parker and Mason Thames - How to Train Your Dragon 2025
Nico Parker and Mason Thames in How to Train Your Dragon (2025)
The Hitman: Dangerpoint
(Red Arrow Video Blu-ray)
A suave young man picks up a fashionable young woman at a dance club—and when two other guys plant themselves in the backseat of his car, trouble is around the corner. The Hitman: Dangerpoint (1991) shows a graphically disturbing rape scene—a gang rape aborted by the emergence of a man from the shadows in a long black leather coat. He’s hard-faced, laconic, and gets down to business, killing all three men with his handgun.
Written and directed by Japan’s Teruo Ishii, The Hitman: Dangerpoint is a revenge story told with tight economy. A flashback reveals that the hitman’s girlfriend died in a shootout between rival crime families. He responds by triggering a gang war, egging on both families with Tokyo’s skyscrapers as his sniper’s perch. The production suggests one of those flicks young Tarantino devoured as a video store clerk. The cityscape is memorably visual, and the audio is creative. One gunbattle takes place without the sound of gunshots, silent but for the lulling musical score. Dialogue is sparse as the police investigate, the politicians scheme and a mysterious woman inserts herself into the plot—playing on whose team? (David Luhrssen)
How to Train Your Dragon
(In Theaters June 13)
This live-action remake delivers thrilling flight and action sequences, while making dialog that was fine in an animated film, feel overly simplistic in live-action. Still PG-rated, the film benefits from affable Mason Thames as 17-year-old Hiccup. His Viking clan consists of proud dragonslayers, but Hiccup secretly befriends an injured night fury dragon. And who wouldn’t with its huge cat eyes and soft round features? Hiccup heals the creature and as the pair’s bond deepens, the lad places a saddle atop Toothless’s back, directing the dragon’s flight using a harness and reins. Astrid (Nico Parker) joins Hiccup in the dragon-flying fun, and even Hiccup’s disapproving father, Chief Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), admits the boy might be onto something. Directed and written by Dean DeBlois, who returns from the original, this remake is both better and worse than its source, while right on the dragon for the kiddos. (Lisa Miller)
Materialists
(In Theaters Jun 13)
Along with creating compelling heroines and witty dialog, a Jane Austen romance examines the transactional aspects of making a marriageable match. These themes also instruct Materialists. Striving to deliver value for both parties, matchmaker Lucy (Dakota Johnson) is hemmed in by the demands of her wealthy, middle-age New York City male clientele, who seek fit 20-something partners. She’s been a success at Adore,” the agency employing her, but over 30, Lucy harbors no illusions that she herself will make a good match. Then she meets Harry (Pedro Pascal), a wealthy, handsome and charming suitor who is smitten regardless of Lucy’s deficiencies. Meanwhile, John (Chris Evans), Lucy’s ex-boyfriend, reappears. Though warming up to Harry, Lucy’s powerful chemistry with financial-loser John, has yet to wane. Written and directed by Celine Song, who worked as a matchmaker, this R-rated comedy explores the practical and intangible aspects of attraction and romance. So yes, “everything old is new again.”
The Unholy Trinity
(In Theaters June 13)
The resurgence of the American Western continues with this screenplay by Lee Zachariah. Embracing gritty intensity, director Richard Gray captures the dust and dreams inhabiting R-rated 1870s Montana. The action is driven by Henry (Brandon Lessard), a young man seeking to identify the bad guy who framed his father and got him hanged for a crime he didn’t commit. Henry throws in with the town’s new sheriff Gabriel Dove (Pierce Brosnan), an Irish immigrant talking a morally upright game. Henry also meets a fast-talking former slave, arrogant St. Christopher (Samuel L. Jackson). Both new associates harbor dark secrets pivotal to Henry’s search. The well-paced script develops each character to reveal his true motivations. Veronica Ferres, Q’orianka Kilcher and David Arquette, all take the reins in key roles. (Lisa Miller)
