The Christopher Nolan “Batman” trilogy was a work of cinematic art, but there’s money to be made, so nobody thought the franchise would end there. “The Batman” (2022) continues to emphasize the dark in the Dark Knight while supplying a brooding millennial update. Robert Pattinson is our new prince of Gotham City, teaming with trusty cop Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) to chase a riddle-rendering serial killer. It’s a solid, middle-of-the-road procedural if not for the all the bat-related accoutrements attached to the man and the story, providing sometimes unwelcome weight. John Turturro is sublime as a mobster in a twisty subplot.
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Hiding behind owly glasses, Julianne Moore pulls off a perfect Diane Keaton impersonation in “Gloria Bell” (2019). Gloria’s a middle-aged divorcee, living a seemingly full life. Yet there’s an emptiness, as if she’s stuffing life with busyness because there’s no single thing that challenges her. Oh boy, she finds it one night while out disco dancing. Brooding Arnold (John Turturro), who says he, too, is divorced, but suffers from needy millennial daughters. Arnold and Gloria are on and off and on again, as the movie’s momentum goes down the drain, like all those years middle-aged divorcees wish they had back.
Even after all these years, “He Got Game” (1998) might still do the best job of any movie when it comes to depicting the pressures and temptations of being a great athlete in the ghetto. It also has all the Spike Lee hallmarks: intelligent music choices, inventive editing and cinematography, and a strange mix of professional and amateur actors. The latter hurts the movie’s flow, because, frankly, some of the performances are awful. Ray Allen does OK as a high school basketball phenom. Among the pros, Denzel Washington is his usual amazing self and Jim Brown makes a welcome comeback.
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