Movie & Television Reviews

Set in the 1980s, “Minari” (A24), a gentle mix of drama and comedy, explores the immigrant experience from a Korean American perspective.

Under the slightly altered title “Our Friend” (Gravitas Ventures), Teague’s award-winning piece comes to the screen as an emotionally wrenching but ultimately uplifting drama.

A steady focus on the believable characters who populate it elevates director Ric Roman Waugh’s engaging film above the status of a disaster movie. But the positive values displayed along the path of the quest for survival he and screenwriter Chris Sparling chart are offset by the disturbing nature of the mayhem they unleash.

It’s no lie to say that this “Pinocchio” is scrupulously faithful to the grotesqueries of its source material.

The most entertaining Stone Age family since the Flintstones returns to the big screen in “The Croods: A New Age” (Universal), a delightful animated comedy suitable for almost all ages.

Take “Peter Pan,” add a dash of “Alice in Wonderland,” stir in the poetry of William Butler Yeats and you have the recipe for “Come Away” (Relativity), an intriguing if slightly schizophrenic fairy tale.