What to Watch on TV and at the Movies This Week

⭐⭐⭐☆☆ Reagan, PG-13

Dennis Quaid, 70, is pretty good as the charming Ronald Reagan, and Penelope Ann Miller, 60 (Carlito’s Way) is solid as First Lady Nancy Reagan. Howard Klausner, who wrote Clint Eastwood’s excellent Space Cowboys about aging test pilots who repair a Russian satellite, was ideologically just the guy to write this story of the aging Hollywood actor turned political superstar, taking down the Soviet Union and quipping to younger Democratic rival Walter Mondale (John Gibson Miller), “I will not exploit my opponent’s youth and inexperience.” But the film stomps historical nuance, flattens character and caricatures Reagan’s political opponents and first wife Jane Wyman (Mena Suvari). The framing device, a Russian agent (Jon Voight, 85) who spied on Reagan and tells his life story, is clumsy. But the movie as a whole isn’t awful, and it’s interesting to see Reagan’s life and anti-communist crusade through the lens of his religious faith. —Tim Appelo (T.A.)

Watch it: Reagan, Aug. 30 in theaters

⭐⭐☆☆☆ Slingshot, R

In a Twilight Zone–ish film, scruffy astronaut Frank (Casey Affleck, 49) goes in and out of cryogenic sleep on the long, perilous journey to Saturn’s moon Titan, getting increasingly disoriented, delusional and destructive. The movie is pretty much lost in space, but its saving grace is Laurence Fishburne, 63 (The Matrix) as Frank’s Captain. Fishburne always finds a place of truth from which to build his characters, however far-fetched. —T.M.A.

Watch it: Slingshot, Aug. 30 in theaters

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⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ Between the Temples, R

Like a ’70s flashback, this funky, funny-sad, character-driven drama about two iconoclasts in awkward love recalls — but doesn’t imitate — 1971’s Harold and Maude. Ben (an appealing Jason Schwartzman with a full-on emotional arc) is a cantor in spiritual crisis who loses his singing voice. Carla (Carol Kane, 72) is Ben’s grade-school music teacher who approaches her former student to guide her as an adult Bat Mitzvah student. Kane — warm, witty and vulnerable — deserves to be a long-shot Best Actress nominee after a lifetime of unique and original performances, from her Oscar-nominated breakout in Crossing Delancey to her recent stint as a long-lived alien on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Both stars — romantic leads with character actor cred — have the power to be funny and heartbreaking simultaneously, and their unique chemistry drives the film’s craziness and humanity. —T.M.A.

Watch it: Between the Temples, in theaters

Don't miss this: Carol Kane on her movie comeback at 72: ‘I'm having a ball!’

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ Alien: Romulus, R

If you’re fretful about our Boeing Starliner’s NASA astronauts and their difficult commute, Alien: Romulus won’t help. Another episode in the “Alien-thology” launched by Ridley Scott, 86, puts audiences at an abandoned space station in the fictional time line between Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986). Enter a team of raggedy young colonizers seeking cryogenic sleep pods to escape their dreary mining planet. The gang includes Priscilla breakout Cailee Spaeny, her dedicated android (David Jonsson) and a precariously pregnant space colonist (Isabela Merced). The team begins to disappear spectacularly by ones and twos as they encounter our old goopy, acidic, spiky-toothed alien on the not-quite-as-abandoned-as-we’d-hoped outpost. Expect jump shocks and armrest clutching, and the gnarliest alien expensive CGI can offer, in this visually stunning match made for IMAX, regular theaters and communal screams. —T.M.A.

Watch it: Alien: Romulus, in theaters

Bad Monkey (Apple TV+)

Journalist Carl Hiaasen wrote a very funny 2013 Florida novel about rogue detective Andrew Yancy (Vince Vaughn, 54), his gay partner, his fugitive friend with benefits (on the run from her affair with a student) and his absolutely irritating neighbor trying to sell the neon yellow McMansion eyesore that ruins Yancy’s view. When a honeymooning fisherman hooks a human arm, it sets Yancy on a circuitous journey to discover the appendage’s owner, dead or alive. As the corpses start piling up, the hairy find leads to a far-fetched murder mystery created by Ted Lasso’s Bill Lawrence, 55, that starts with a “who was he?” and ends 10 episodes later with a hilariously convoluted plot involving none other than a diaper-wearing monkey.

Watch it: Bad Monkey on Apple TV+

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ It Ends with Us, PG-13

Even if you’re not among the 20 million readers of Colleen Hoover’s fiction, you may fall for the movie adaptation of her novel about flower-shop owner Lily Blossom Bloom (Blake Lively) and her quest for love in a world lit up and shadowed by highly attractive, sometimes frighteningly morally ambiguous men. It sounds unpromising, but mostly it’s a gas, a rom-com with way more heart than most, and an important topic (domestic violence) handled a bit clunkily, but it makes you care about the heroine’s plight and delights. Gossip Girl's Lively is utterly adorable and convincing as Lily and Jenny Slate (Marcel the Shell With Shoes On) is aces as her shop employee/best friend. Lily’s opening meet cute scene with a hunky neurosurgeon (Justin Baldoni, who also directs) is wittily flirty. Her love interests (Baldoni and Alex Neustaedter) are two-dimensional but serviceable. The frothy romance comedy lands better than the dark parts about men’s scary tempers, but on the whole, it’s one of the year’s more satisfying films. —T.A.

Watch it: It Ends with Us, in theaters

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good One, R

The terrific, deceptively simple, warm-hearted indie that played well at Sundance and Cannes follows two middle-aged best friends, the controlling Chris (James LeGros, 62) and doofus Matt (Danny McCarthy). They’re taking their recent high-school grads on a Catskill camping trip. Before the journey begins, Matt’s son bails during a father-son snit, casting a shadow from the drop. Now, carrying the burden of both kids, the watchful 17-year-old Sam (a knockout Lily Collias) is getting one last mountain trek with the old dudes, unbuffered, before she heads to college. The trio encounter bears, drink beers and pitch tents, as Sam’s levelheaded Gen Z camper observes nature and the follies of Gen X. The dads, egos flaring, are floating through life untethered, relationships adrift. They’re lost in the adult woods. By the time the campers return to the family car, it’s refreshingly clear to Sam, and the audience, that the teen has the sense of direction and self-awareness the men lack — and the restraint to keep her insights to herself. —T.M.A.

Watch it: Good One, in theaters

⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ Deadpool & Wolverine, R

Rowdy, raunchy and gooey gory, Deadpool & Wolverine delivers the action-comedy thrills that will attract Marvel acolytes and civilians seeking belly laughs. The titular superhumans are down on their luck and deep in midlife crises. A remorseful Wolverine (the mighty Hugh Jackman, 55) might as well be on an alcohol drip. The wisecracking Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) sells used cars. But, when a deep state develops a time-deleting machine, the opposites fight-then-unite to save the multiverse. There’s a crush of wonderful cameos and supporting cast — Wesley Snipes, 61, Leslie Uggams, 81, Jennifer Garner, 52, and Channing Tatum. Joining the fun are The Crown’s Emma Corrin as an evil psychic with sticky fingers, and Matthew Macfadyen’s baddie in a suit. Come for the action, stay for the rat-a-tat zingers flying like automatic rifle fire. Reynolds’ timing is impeccable. Spoiler alert: They do save the universe and, with a new sense of purpose, escape midlife malaise. —T.M.A.

Watch it: Deadpool & Wolverine, in theaters

⭐⭐⭐☆☆ The Fabulous Four, R 

Bette Midler! Sheryl Lee Ralph! Susan Sarandon! Megan Mullally! What a quartet of fabulous entertainers over 50. In a fluffy plot, they play friends and frenemies at a Key West destination wedding that reunites bride-to-be Marilyn (Midler, 78), estranged doctor Lou (Sarandon, 77), weed-growing granny Kitty (Ralph, 67) and rocker Alice (Mullally, 65). Drugs will be consumed, festering secrets will surface, and men will strip. Meanwhile, the women encounter yummy silver foxes (Bruce Greenwood, 67, Timothy V. Murphy, 64) looking for love. With a wacky climax at Ernest Hemingway’s house, and an off-the-rails wedding ceremony, the movie doesn’t give the fabulous stars quite the vehicle their talents deserve. But we’re happy to see them gathered together, knowing the fab four could run circles around the premise if given half a chance. —T.M.A.

Watch it: The Fabulous Four on demand

Don’t miss this: Star Talk: Susan Sarandon and Sheryl Lee Ralph talk about The Fabulous Four (with video) on AARP Members Edition

And don't miss this: 12 Classic Older Woman–Younger Man Movies to Watch

⭐⭐⭐☆☆ Twisters, PG-13

Twisters, a sequel to the 1996 man-vs-weather classic Twister, is at its most spectacular when pursuing tempests. Magnificent clouds morph to spinning dust devils of disaster. Yay! Its petite blond heroine with a PhD, Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones), is a card-carrying nerd. After a fatal storm-chasing accident, she left the field, traumatized. Five years later, the only other survivor, Javi (Anthony Ramos), convinces Kate to return to her native Oklahoma, since she has the best nose for twisters. That puts her in direct competition with yahoo YouTube storm-chaser celeb Tyler (Glen Powell). Sparks should fly, but the desperation to insert a romantic rivalry subplot only gets in the way of the majestic ferocity of Mother Nature. The lovey-dovey stuff stirs up no breeze. Bring on the flying trucks and people! —T.M.A.

Watch it: Twisters, in theaters and on demand

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Sing Sing, R

The spark in this drama based on a true story set in Ossining, New York’s Sing Sing Correctional Facility — home of the electric chair dubbed “Old Sparky” — is the power of theater to liberate inmates, even a lifer. Charismatic Oscar nominee Colman Domingo, 54 (Rustin), is achingly good as Divine G, a model prisoner, insistent on his innocence, who drives a volunteer theater group. It’s a chit of good behavior on his epic legal journey to win parole. With a layered performance, graceful, compassionate and angry, he finds a form of release within the reality of his confinement. The movie fuses the inherent conflicts of felons coexisting in a ratty prison with a priceless view of the Hudson River, and the dramatic conflicts they plumb while digging into theatrical roles, including Shakespeare’s ever-relevant Hamlet. Bravo! —T.M.A.

Watch it: Sing Sing, in theaters

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Bikeriders, R

Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer and Austin Butler could be cast in anything and sizzle. But, dressed in black leather, the trio delivers the most explosive, immersive motorcycle movie in years. Even while the engines roar, the complex characters evolve and explode, never easing off the gas. This fictional drama about the birth of the Vandals, inspired by a 1968 photo essay book about a Midwestern gang, foregrounds family man Johnny (Hardy) as the leader of the pack, and Benny (Butler) as the wild one. Comer’s Kathy narrates as a housewife who falls hard for Benny and surrenders the straight and narrow. All three confront challenges when what began in the ’60s as a beer-drinking local club faces a cultural sea change. As the bikers expand nationally, hard drugs and dealing become part of the action, and knives are exchanged for guns. Authentic, exciting and swift, The Bikeriders digs deep into a freedom-seeking American subculture, a cool companion piece to Easy Rider (which celebrates its 55th anniversary this year). —T.M.A.

Watch it: The Bikeriders on demand

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thelma, PG-13

Seeking a 94-year-old superhero? Look no further than Los Angeleno Thelma Post (Oscar nominee June Squibb, 94). The widow may be one fall away from assisted living and boggled by all things computer, but when phone scammers weasel her out of $10,000, Thelma is not going to take it sitting down quietly doing needlepoint. Aided by her devoted but anxious grandson (a relatable Fred Hechinger), a determined Thelma pinches an electric scooter from an old friend (the dashing Richard Roundtree in his final role) and follows the clues to reclaim her bucks — and her dignity. The Sundance hit and audience award winner at the Provincetown Film Festival delivers delightful character-driven action and laughs, led by an irresistible Squibb. With Thelma, the lively actor on the verge of another Oscar nomination, has been liberated to be a leading lady for once in a 40-year career. The thieves may have grabbed this grandma’s stash, but Thelma steals the audience’s hearts. —T.M.A.

Watch it: Thelma, in theaters now and streaming

Don’t miss this: June Squibb lands her first lead movie role in Thelma, in AARP Members Edition

The Idea of You (Prime Video)

In a steamy flip on the traditional May-December romance, a 40-something single mom (Anne Hathaway) embarks on an unlikely fling with the 24-year-old lead singer (Nicholas Galitzine) of her teenage daughter’s fave boy band. The film, based on Robinne Lee’s bestseller, earned raves at its premiere at the SXSW Film Festival.

​Watch it: The Idea of You on Prime Video​​​​