Natalie Portman

Freeze Frame: “Lilo and Stitch” (PG), “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” (PG-13), “Fountain of Youth” (PG-13)

Move over "Barbenheimer," it's time for the "Stitch Impossible" weekend. The live-action remake of Disney's 2002 animated hit "Lilo & Stitch" has landed on Earth, with our fugitive alien befriending a lonely young Hawaiian girl and causing considerable chaos as he learns about the importance of family. The cast is...

Freeze Frame: “Candy Cane Lane” (PG), “May December” (R), “Family Switch” (PG), “Under the Influencer” (Not rated)

Eddie Murphy's comic dexterity isn't enough to save the bloated Amazon Prime Christmas fantasy, "Candy Cane Lane." Murphy makes a deal with a backslidden elf to help him win a neighborhood decoration prize. There is too much of everything in this wacky and painfully overlong mess. “Candy Cane Lane” is...

Freeze Frame: “Thor: Love and Thunder” (PG-13)

When comedian Taika Waititi wrote and directed the 2017 Marvel epic "Thor: Ragnarok," he injected the Avengers series with a playful, irreverent twist, emphasizing humor as well as action. He made Thor a bit of a goof. Still heroic, but also flawed and fearful. Watiti employs that same template with...

Freeze Frame: “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” (PG), “Lucy in the Sky” (R), “Greener Grass” (R), “Villains” (R)

Disney’s Halloween season offering is a sequel to a 2014 hit that flipped the script on “Sleeping Beauty,” turning the evil sorceress into a heroine. Angelina Jolie is back in the titular role of the gargantuan production, “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.” Apparently, the filmmakers wanted to make a kiddie version...