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Most years in mid-February, Hollywood is talking about how to keep its box office momentum going. And this year January was so lackluster, film studios will have to jumpstart moviegoing from scratch. Happily, as critic Bob Mondello reports in his spring movie preview, they have lots of strategies.
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Hollywood's guiding principle is that what will work is what has worked...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DUNE: PART TWO")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Reload.
MONDELLO: ...Meaning sequels.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DUNE: PART TWO")
FLORENCE PUGH: (As Princess Irulan) Paul Atreides is still alive.
MONDELLO: "Dune: Part Two" picks up Denis Villeneuve's epic saga in mid-rebellion with Timothee Chalamet...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DUNE: PART TWO")
DAVE BAUTISTA: (As Beast Rabban) Look who's back from the dead.
MONDELLO: ...Finally riding a giant sandworm.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DUNE: PART TWO")
TIMOTHEE CHALAMET: (As Paul Atreides) I will do what must be done.
MONDELLO: He'll join a number of more experienced sequel returnees at the multiplex.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA")
ANYA TAYLOR-JOY: (As Furiosa) I'm Furiosa.
CHRIS HEMSWORTH: (As Dementus) The darkest of angels.
MONDELLO: Furiosa is in Part 5 of the "Mad Max" series.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA")
HEMSWORTH: (As Dementus) The question is, do you have it in you to make it epic?
MONDELLO: Of course she does. There's also a "Ghostbusters 5" featuring original Ghostbusters Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Bill Murray...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE")
BILL MURRAY: (As Peter Venkman) Tall, dark and horny at 12 o'clock.
MONDELLO: ...An animated "Kung Fu Panda 4"...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "KUNG FU PANDA 4")
JACK BLACK: (As Po) Stand back. I'm going to kick my butt.
MONDELLO: ...A 10th film in the "Planet Of The Apes" series.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "KINGDOM OF THE PLANET OF THE APES")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Humans - they fear what they do not understand.
MONDELLO: And all of those are mere sequels come lately next to what is both the 13th film starring everybody's favorite giant ape...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE")
BRIAN TYREE HENRY: (As Bernie Hayes) Kong can't stop this on his own.
MONDELLO: ...And the 38th outing...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE")
REBECCA HALL: (As Ilene Andrews) He won't be alone.
MONDELLO: ...For Japan's king of the monsters. It's called "Godzilla X Kong." Talk about going back to the well...
(SOUNDBITE OF GODZILLA ROARING)
MONDELLO: ...Which is not to suggest that everything this spring will be familiar.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CIVIL WAR")
STEPHEN MCKINLEY HENDERSON: (As character) Mr. President, do you regret the use of airstrikes against American citizens?
MONDELLO: The politically charged thriller "Civil War" follows journalist Kirsten Dunst into a plausibly alarming near future in which a president is refusing to step down and 19 states have seceded from the Union.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CIVIL WAR")
KIRSTEN DUNST: (As character) For a time, I survived the war zone. I thought I was sending a warning home. Don't do this. But here we are.
MONDELLO: "Civil War" is the brainchild of the guy who wrote the dystopian thrillers "28 Days Later" and "Ex Machina." Zendaya is at the center of a tennis-oriented civil war between her husband and her former lover, who is also his best friend, in "Challengers."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CHALLENGERS")
JOSH O'CONNOR: (As Patrick Zweig) I assume you planned this.
ZENDAYA: (As Tashi Donaldson) Not this part.
MONDELLO: Action of a less cataclysmic sort can be found in the comedy "The Fall Guy," in which Ryan Gosling is a Hollywood stuntman who is pressed to use his talents in the real world.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE FALL GUY")
HANNAH WADDINGHAM: (As Gail) The biggest action star on the planet is missing. You need to bring him back.
RYAN GOSLING: (As Colt Seavers) Why me?
WADDINGHAM: (As Gail) You're a stuntman. Nobody's going to notice you. That's your job - no offense.
GOSLING: (As Colt Seavers) I mean, some taken.
MONDELLO: Turns out he does get noticed.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE FALL GUY")
GOSLING: (As Colt Seavers) They were trying to kill me and not in a fun way.
MONDELLO: And in Kristen Stewart's lesbian thriller "Love Lies Bleeding," the killer is crime boss Ed Harris.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "LOVE LIES BLEEDING")
KRISTEN STEWART: (As Lou) If you touch her, I'm going to tell them everything you ever did.
ED HARRIS: (As Lou Sr.) Are you threatening me?
MONDELLO: Threats are also central to the Australian police procedural "Limbo," the twisted crime comedy "LaRoy," about a guy who's mistaken for a hitman and decides to be a hitman, and a French film produced during the pandemic about a virus. "Le Regne Animal," "The Animal Kingdom," is about a disease that causes wing-sprouting, scale-growing mutations in humans and a 16-year-old's response when his mother and then he get infected.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE ANIMAL KINGDOM")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character, speaking French).
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character, speaking French).
MONDELLO: "Animal Kingdom" is more about family than about its mutation gimmick, just as the Macedonian film "Housekeeping For Beginners" is more about a queer family's strength and love than it is about housekeeping.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "HOUSEKEEPING FOR BEGINNERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #5: (As character, non-English language spoken).
(LAUGHTER)
MONDELLO: It's an inspirational tale about caring for others. So is "One Life," in which Anthony Hopkins plays a Schindler-like figure recalling his efforts to save refugees from the Nazis in his youth.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ONE LIFE")
ANTHONY HOPKINS: (As Nicky Winton) Do you ever think about the children and what happened to them?
MONDELLO: A more contemporary inspiration is "Hard Miles," in which social worker Matthew Modine drags disgruntled teen convicts on a character building, thousand-mile bike ride.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "HARD MILES")
MATTHEW MODINE: (As Greg Townsend) You can limp across the road right now. None of this will have mattered. Or you can set a goal today and know that nobody told you what you could or couldn't be.
MONDELLO: Mark Wahlberg sets a goal in "Arthur The King." He's an endurance racer on a 400-mile trek through a Caribbean jungle who inadvertently adopts a dog named Arthur.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ARTHUR THE KING")
MARK WAHLBERG: (As Mikael Lindnord) That's the dog I gave the meatballs to three days and 200 miles ago.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #6: (As character) Leave the stupid dog, and let's go.
MONDELLO: Actually, the dog adopts him - good thing, too.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ARTHUR THE KING")
WAHLBERG: (As Mikael Lindnord) What is it, boy?
(SOUNDBITE OF DOG BARKING)
WAHLBERG: (As Mikael Lindnord) Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #7: (As character) Oh, God.
WAHLBERG: (As Mikael Lindnord) I can't believe I almost walked right off that cliff - extra meatballs for you, my friend.
MONDELLO: "Arthur The King" is a true story, and so is an inspirational family saga, "Unsung Hero," which follows a seven-child Christian household as it moves from Australia to the U.S.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "UNSUNG HERO")
DAISY BETTS: (As Helen Smallbone) There's no food, and we're almost out of money. We need to make some changes. Kids, we need your help.
MONDELLO: Kids to the rescue. It's the Smallbone family whose children would become some of the most successful Grammy-winning artists in the history of inspirational music.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "UNSUNG HERO")
KIRRILEE BERGER: (As Rebecca St. James, singing) 'Cause better is one day in your courts...
MONDELLO: Also centering a community of faith, the story of Roman Catholic missionary and future saint Francesca Cabrini.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CABRINI")
CRISTIANA DELL'ANNA: (As Francesca Cabrini) I need an orphanage with more room where my children can be children.
MONDELLO: Arriving from Italy in the 1880s, she encountered anti-immigrant resistance.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CABRINI")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #8: (As character) I'd like you to keep your crime and your filth out of this neighborhood.
MONDELLO: And she met it...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CABRINI")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #9: (As character) The mayor will find a way to get you out.
MONDELLO: ...With fierce determination.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "CABRINI")
DELL'ANNA: (As Francesca Cabrini) You have an election coming up; do you not?
JOHN LITHGOW: (As Mayor Gould) I believe I'm being threatened by a nun.
MONDELLO: "Cabrini" comes from the team that created last year's grassroots hit "Sound Of Freedom." A troubled public housing project that was named after that nun is the setting for "We Grown Now," a coming-of-age film set in the 1990s.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WE GROWN NOW")
BLAKE CAMERON JAMES: (As Malik) In Cabrini Green, it don't matter how old you are, how much money you got, how big or tall.
(As Malik) You ever think about what it would be like outside of here?
GIAN KNIGHT RAMIREZ: (As Eric) Why? This is where we're from.
JAMES: (As Malik) Such a big world out there.
MONDELLO: That big world can be a world of trouble, including a town in Ireland that resists the arrival of Syrian refugees...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE OLD OAK")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #10: (As character) We can't even look after our own.
MONDELLO: ...In Ken Loach's "The Old Oak" and the troubled world of addiction that led to the short, tragic life of a troubled singer...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BACK TO BLACK")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #11: (As character) Amy Winehouse.
MONDELLO: ...In the biopic "Back To Black."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BACK TO BLACK")
MARISA ABELA: (As Amy Winehouse) I want people to hear my voice and just forget their troubles.
(As Amy Winehouse, singing) I've died a hundred times.
MONDELLO: Does all of this sound a little dark and chilly, considering the weather is about to turn warm? Well, there are also spring comedies, including a whodunit, or maybe I should say a who-sent-it.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WICKED LITTLE LETTERS")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #12: (As character) The mystery of the obscene Littlehampton Letters is causing widespread distress across the nation.
MONDELLO: "Wicked Little Letters" is about very proper English folks who say very improper things.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "WICKED LITTLE LETTERS")
OLIVIA COLEMAN: (As Edith Swan) What would you say?
JESSIE BUCKLEY: (As Rose Gooding) You look like Queen Victoria shoved...
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #1: (As characters, gasping).
BUCKLEY: (As Rose Gooding) ...Up her...
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #1: (As characters, gasping).
BUCKLEY: (As Rose Gooding) ...You daft old...
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP #2: (As characters) Oh.
MONDELLO: Other comedies, other buttons to push - immigration, for instance. "Problemista" finds comedian and "Los Espookys" creator Julio Torres looking for visa sponsorship from Tilda Swinton.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "PROBLEMISTA")
JULIO TORRES: (As Alejandro) I'm actually from El Salvador.
TILDA SWINTON: (As Elizabeth) Pupusas.
TORRES: (As Alejandro) Yes.
SWINTON: (As Elizabeth) And those nuns they killed in the '80s.
TORRES: (As Alejandro) Right.
MONDELLO: Then there's the racial satire with a provocative title.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL NEGROES")
AISHA HINDS: (As Gabbard) The American Society of Magical Negroes.
MONDELLO: A comic riff built on Spike Lee's snarky term for Black characters who are created with the sole purpose of helping out white characters.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL NEGROES")
DAVID ALAN GRIER: (As Roger) We fight white discomfort every day because the happier they are, the safer we are.
JUSTICE SMITH: (As Aren) The name needs a little updating, maybe, like, Magical Black People or - I guess...
MONDELLO: Yeah, won't fix it. Possibly the oddest spring comedy is "Sasquatch Sunset," which stars Jesse Eisenberg and several other famous folks you won't recognize because their faces are covered in fur and they speak only in grunts...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "SASQUATCH SUNSET")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #13: (As character, growling).
MONDELLO: ...And the occasional sneeze. There are also a couple of comedies aimed at family audiences, one starring a very lazy cat named Garfield...
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE GARFIELD MOVIE")
SAMUEL L JACKSON: (As Vic) You ever jumped a train?
CHRIS PRATT: (As Garfield) I've never jumped.
MONDELLO: ...The other giving life to ifs, who come in all shapes and sizes.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IF")
STEVE CARELL: (As Blue) I'm an IF - get it? - imaginary friend. You could save all of us.
CAILEY FLEMING: (As Bea) All of who? And don't say IFs.
RYAN REYNOLDS: (As The Man Upstairs) Let him say it, or I think his head may actually explode.
FLEMING: (As Bea) Fine.
CARELL: (As Blue) IFs. Thank you.
REYNOLDS: (As The Man Upstairs) Are you ready for this?
MONDELLO: Exactly what I was going to ask. I'm Bob Mondello.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ALL MY FRIENDS")
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM: (Singing) If I could see all my friends tonight...
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