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Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II - 'By Any Means' (2026)
Mark Wahlberg and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in 'By Any Means' (2026)
By Any Means
(In Theaters Sep. 4)
Based on a true story, Mark Wahlberg portrays Gregory Scarpa, a mafia hitman who, in the 1960s, helped young FBI agent Wayne Strider (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), to investigate the brutal killings of three black Mississippi civil rights leaders. The story is drawn from the career of Lindley DeVecchio, who was charged with leaking confidential information to Scarpa that was then used to dispatch the hitman’s rivals. Director Elegance Bratton and scriptwriter Sascha Penn, deliver a gritty, dramatic thriller that seeks to capture the racism prevalent in the 1960s South. Wahlberg appears in full makeup, featuring facial prosthetics to mimic Scarpa’s appearance. Giancarlo Esposito, Josh Lucas and David Strathairn also star. (Lisa Miller)
The Marching Band
(Oriental Theater, Sept. 4-10)
When Thibaut needs a bone marrow transplant after diagnosed with leukemia, he’s shocked and outraged to learn that his sister can’t help. She’s not his biological sister! Thibaut tracks down his unknown biological brother, Jimmy, and is met with incomprehension and anger. Both men feel deceived. But Thibaut is desperate and Jimmy has a good heart.
Writer-director Emmanuel Courcol’s The Marching Band (2024) was a hit in his native France. It lightly handled the cultural and class divide between the siblings. Thibaut is a symphony conductor, leading orchestras in Europe and the U.S. Jimmy works in a kitchen and plays trombone in a community orchestra.
Overcoming his resentment at getting the short end of the adoption deal, Jimmy donates his marrow. Thibaut owes him his life and yet pauses a moment at granting Jimmy’s request. The community band’s conductor is forced to leave for a factory job in Romania. A national band contest is on the horizon. Will Thibaut be their guest conductor?
Some of the heartwarming film’s best moments are musical. Thibaut shows how great conductors don’t simply read notes on the page but interpret them, transcending the possibility of music as a rote exercise. Jimmy’s orchestra is a bit out of sync and a little off key, but they enjoy their performances with the pleasure of amateurs and hobbyists. (David Luhrssen)
