Break out your d20s and Mountain Dew, it’s D&D weekend at the movies.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is the fourth attempt to adapt the mother of all role playing games for the big screen. With Chris Pine in the lead, supported by an ensemble who understand the assignment, it’s the first one that actually succeeds as a movie. DMs and PC everywhere will enjoy visiting Baldur’s Gate and thrill to the Displacer Beast cameo, but it’s broadly entertaining enough for the uninitiated.
But let’s say dragons ain’t your thing. In a perfect bit of counter-programming, this is also the weekend Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner A Thousand and One goes broad. (This is a very different “Grand Jury prize” from the one He Who Will Not Be Named just won.) Director A.V. Rockwell’s story of maternal love and systemic racism in New York City stars triple-threat Teyana Taylor (last seen opposite Eddie Murphy in Craig Brewer’s Coming 2 America) as a single mom struggling to stay out of prison and raise her son Terry, played at three different ages by three different actors. I’m issuing a Three-Hanky Cry alert for this one.
The Great Keanu continues to tear up the box office with John Wick: Chapter 4. Directed by ace stuntman Chad Stahelski, these films represent the pinnacle of action choreography. In fact, I would argue that they’re essentially dance movies, and place Reeves in the proud tradition of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly — but y’all ain’t ready for that conversation yet.
On Monday (April 3rd) at Studio on the Square, Indie Memphis brings the French film The Five Devils to the Bluff City. This wildly imaginative debut from director Léa Mysius looks incredible.
