Film Previews

“Where the Crawdads Sing”

Director: Olivia Newman
Stars: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Garret Dillahunt, Harris Dickinson

Based on Delia Owens’ critically lauded page-turner, “Where the Crawdads Sing” centers on Kya, the endlessly resourceful resident of a North Carolina marsh. We meet her as a child in the early 1950s, as she is abandoned by her parents and older siblings and learns to survive on her own. She is taught to read and write by her friend Tate Walker and falls for him but is left behind once again when he goes to college. Enter Chase Andrews, a quarterback who draws Kya into a tryst with promises of marriage that never materialize. After she ends their relationship, he attacks her, and she narrowly escapes. Then, while she’s away, Chase is found dead, and Kya is engulfed in a murder trial — and the evidence against her seems insurmountable.

“American Carnage”

R | 98 minutes
Director: Diego Hallivis
Stars: Jenna Ortega, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Allen Maldonado

Body horror, cover-ups and social commentary look to abound in the Diego Hallivis-directed film, and the cast he’s assembled is bloody impressive. After a governor issues an executive order to arrest the children of undocumented immigrants, the newly detained youth are offered an opportunity to have their charges dropped by volunteering to provide care to the elderly. Once inside the eldercare facility, the volunteers discover the governor and the facility’s supervisor have cooked up a horrifyingly depraved conspiracy that endangers the young and the old in this twisted thriller-comedy.

“Thor: Love and Thunder”

Director: Taika Waititi
Stars: Natalie Portman, Chris Hemsworth, Taika Waititi (voice)

The film finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced — a quest for inner peace. But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who — to Thor’s surprise — inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor. Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late. ♦