The Best Movies Coming to Screens Big and Small This Week

En español | It’s all grownups all the time at the movies this week, as Al Pacino and Billy Crystal star in new films showcasing their chops. Whether it’s high-drama courtroom hijinks from Pacino or tissue-clutching poignancy from Crystal, here’s to movies featuring classic stars in leading roles. Now pass the popcorn! 

Al Pacino dominates the courtroom

 American Traitor: The Trial of Axis Sally, R

Michael Polish’s post-WWII courtroom drama is a must for Al Pacino completists. With his wild hair standing at attention, The Godfather star, 81, plays James Laughlin, the wily attorney who defended American crooner turned Nazi radio propagandist Mildred Gillars, aka Axis Sally, aka “The Bitch of Berlin” (Meadow Williams, 55). Based on the strange-but-true story of a flaky Maine native who found her star rising in Berlin, and a spot beside Third Reich minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels (Thomas Kretschmann, 58), she became the first American woman convicted of treason, in March 1949. Pacino never flags as Laughlin, giving the impression that he doesn’t know what he’s doing and is past whatever prime he had — until he nails a closing argument monologue for the ages. —Thelma M. Adams (T.M.A.)

Watch it: American Traitor, coming May 28 to theaters and on demand

Billy Crystal goes to a new, emotional place

 Here Today, PG-13

Billy Crystal, 73, and fellow SNL alum Alan Zweibel, 71, co-wrote this poignant, jokey fable about a wise elder writer (Crystal, who also directs) on an SNL-like show with a young staff that drives him crazy. As he begins to develop dementia, he befriends a young singer (Tiffany Haddish). “As we were writing the movie, I was taking care of my aunt as she started to get dementia, my sole surviving older relative,” Crystal tells AARP. “A novelist and Book of the Month Club editor, she heartbreakingly said to me, ‘I’m terrified, and losing my words.’ And Alan’s dad was suffering dementia, too. So we tapped into an emotional place.” Crystal’s character’s incipient dementia gave Haddish’s character a motive to love him, not just the usual older actor-younger actress romance. “Love is more important than romance. Tiffany’s character gives up her singing career to take care of this guy 35 years older, because she wants to pay him back for saving her life — and help him finish his book about his late wife and his family.” Some scenes fall flat, but when it’s good, Here Today is absorbing and moving, and Crystal and Haddish are two great tastes that taste great together. —Tim Appelo (T.A.)

Watch it: Here Today, in theaters nationwide

Your Netflix must-watch of the week is here!

High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America

Do you know who brought French cuisine to America? Thomas Jefferson’s enslaved chefs James Hemings and Hercules. And that’s just a taste of what you’ll discover in this mouthwatering, mind-enriching doc.

Watch it: High on the Hog, on Netflix

YOUR NETFLIX MUST-READ: The 20 Best Things Coming to (and Leaving) Netflix in May

Summer 2021 movie preview

Ellen Burstyn courts James Caan in the retirement community comedy Queen Bees, Kevin Hart plays a single dad in Fatherhood and Jennifer Hudson plays Aretha Franklin in Respect. And that’s just three of the 18 summer flicks coming your way.

Check it out: AARP's Summer 2021 Movie Preview

Love rom-coms but tired of watching millennials have all the fun?

We hear you. Which is why our critics found the 13 best romantic comedies that feature older actors! From an all-grown-up Spencer and Tracy in 1957’s Desk Set to Angela Bassett in How Stella Got Her Groove Back in the late ’90s to Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland in 2017’s The Leisure Seeker, these are love stories for folks who know a thing or two about love. Grab your favorite rom-com date and get streaming here: Grown-ups In (and Out) of Love: 13 Great Rom-Coms Starring Older Actors

Love a surprise ending? Have we got the movies for you

There’s no better place to indulge in some fun April fooling than by watching movies — with their proud tradition of twist endings and final-reel gotchas and neck-snappers. In honor of prankster season, our critics are here with the ultimate list of movies with twists and turns we never saw coming. Get the list and start watching right here: The 12 Best Movie Twist Endings

Batter up! It’s baseball (movie) season!

It’s time to limber up and get ready for a season of America’s pastime with this all-star collection of great baseball films. They’re all streaming for you with a click of the remote control — which means you’ll have plenty of time to steam some hot dogs, pop open a beer or soda, and get ready to cheer. Root, root, root for the home screen here: 12 Great Baseball Movies to Stream Ahead of Opening Day

What’s your favorite George Clooney movie?

It’s tough, right? The megastar has helmed a long list of terrific movies (and broke out on a beloved TV series), but let’s name names. In honor of Clooney’s being named AARP’s Movies for Grownups Career Achievement Award winner, our critics have not only named his Top 10 roles, but they’ve ranked them! Is our No. 1 your No. 1? Check out the list (and enjoy the watching), right here: The 10 Best George Clooney Roles, Ranked

This one’s for all the jazz buffs out there

As everyone gets excited for the new Billie Holiday biopic, The United States vs. Billie Holiday, it seemed like the perfect time to get into the jazz mood with some of the best films on the subject. Leave it to our critics to find jewels from 1950 through 2020 (two are even animated)! Turn the lights down low and settle in with our brand new list: Get in the Swing With These 8 Irresistible Jazz Movies

And speaking of stars we love, we talked to Stanley Tucci

The popular actor takes on a tender role in Supernova, which pairs him with Colin Firth as a gay couple facing down the looming prospect of early dementia. Tucci spoke with AARP about preparing for the role and the joy of reuniting with Firth. Read the whole interview, here: Stanley Tucci Explores the Landscape of Love and Early Dementia

Feeling overwhelmed with all the streaming services on your TV?

Disney, HBO, Peacock … it seems like every time you turn around (or turn on the TV), another streaming service is vying for your attention (and subscription dollars). Which streaming services out there are really worth the money? How do you decide what to pick? Here’s what you need to know about your options on Apple, BET, CBS, Disney, HBO and NBC: Too Many TV Streaming Service Choices? Here’s What You Need to Know

If you loved Da 5 Bloods, or BlacKkKlansman, or Do the Right Thing, or…

Then you know that Spike Lee is one of America’s most influential filmmakers working today. But what you might not know is the full scope of his work, including these five critic-picked Spike Lee Joints that you should put to the top of your streaming list pronto. Get the list and catch up, right here: The 5 Best Spike Lee Films You Haven't (Yet) Seen

Backward AND in High Heels Department

Women directors — long sidelined — are tearing it up in movies right now. And to celebrate their achievements, we’ve rounded up the 13 essential female filmmakers you need to be following — from Ava DuVernay to Kathryn Bigelow (plus links to their films available online).

Get the list: 13 Female Directors You Should Discover Right Now

More of the very best movies online

It’s truly amazing how many incredible movies there are available on mainstream platforms like Amazon, Netflix and others. Our critics round up the very best for you, no matter what your interest. Check out the latest “Best of” lists from AARP critics. There’s never been a better time to catch up on movies you always intended to watch.

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• The 15 best and worst moms in movie history
• The greatest “best picture” Oscar winners of all time (ranked)
• 10 most outrageous Oscar snubs in history

Other movies to watch

 Dream Horse, PG

If you liked The Full Monty and Seabiscuit, you’ll cheer for this Sundance festival crowd-pleaser about Jan (Toni Collette, 48), a bartender in a rundown Welsh mining town who gets pub patrons to pony up their last pence for a temperamental stallion they call Dream. Braggadocious accountant Howard (Homeland’s Damian Lewis, 50) doubts working-class rubes can compete with the posh toffs who raise racehorses. But Jan’s warm heart could melt glaciers, and the eccentric locals pitch in for the long-shot bet, Howard gets a happy antidote to his unfulfilling job, and the townsfolk snap out of their doldrums. They haven’t seen such bliss since Wales beat England at Wembley Stadium! The improbable true story (with terrifically filmed racing scenes) is inspired by the 2015 hit Sundance documentary Dark Horse. Stick around for the credits, when the real villagers join the actors playing them to sing along with Welsh crooner Tom Jones’ hit “Delilah.” —Tim Appelo (T.A.)

Watch it: Dream Horse, in theaters now, on demand June 11

DON’T MISS THESE: 10 Great Horse Movies to Get You Excited About Triple Crown Season

 When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, Unrated

In the vein of hit flicks from kids’ books — The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Book Thief, Jojo Rabbit — the family-friendly When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit follows a household of privileged Jewish Germans who, after Hitler’s 1933 election, flee to Switzerland, France and England. Directed by Caroline Link (Oscar and AARP Movies for Grownups winner Nowhere in Africa), from Judith Kerr’s bestseller, the autobiographical period drama is a moving but unsentimental WWII exodus story propelled by a spunky Jewish girl, Anna Kemper (a charming Riva Krymalowski). While Anna is forced to leave a favorite stuffed rabbit behind in her family’s Berlin atelier, she survives the dangers of exile and loss, finding security and wisdom in her close family bonds and a newfound spirit of self-reliance. —Thelma M. Adams (T.M.A.)

Watch it: When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, in theaters

 The Dry, R

The plot of this noir is as juicy as the soil is cracked and parched in the drought-stricken rural town of Kiewarra, Australia. Melbourne lawman Aaron Falk (the spectacular Eric Bana, 52) returns to the hometown he fled decades earlier for the funeral of a friend who died in a domestic murder-suicide. This stirs up memories of a long-ago crime: the drowning of a teen girl in which Falk was implicated but never tried. The two violent crimes — one when the area was verdant, the other when water was scarce — force Falk to confront his past while attempting to solve murders in two timelines. Deftly told, engrossing, complex, this moody, sun-drenched mystery is the 13th-highest grossing Australian film of all time. —T.M.A.

Watch it: The Dry, in theaters and on demand

 New Order, R

The illegitimate love child of Parasite and Roma, Michel Franco’s breathless, 86-minute Mexican thriller won the Venice festival Silver Lion in 2020. In its sprint from bright beginning to devastating end, the film hardly pauses to examine the Mexico City scenery. Within a private walled compound, an attractive young couple are on the verge of their lavish wedding. Enter an armed militia, which tosses the celebrants into a crude jail as part of a larger coup d’état. This tough dystopian drama powers through a crime that lays bare the difference between the haves and have-nots, those with guns and those who only know how to wield their wallets. No punches are pulled, no grand statements offered — just a sharp, swift, vibrant vision of an unequal society tilting wildly. —T.M.A.

Watch it: New Order, in theaters

 The Human Factor, PG-13

Dror Moreh, 59, nominated for an Oscar for his 2012 documentary The Gatekeepers, scores again in this brilliant doc about American negotiators’ three-decade struggle to make peace in the Middle East. It reveals the human dramas behind the headlines, the personal foibles and out-of-nowhere disasters (peace-seeking Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination, Bill Clinton’s dalliance with Monica Lewinsky) that thwarted common sense. Who knew that Jordan’s King Hussein told Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, “You have to grow up and become a leader”? Or that PLO leader Yasser Arafat was a Golden Girls fan with a deep need to look macho and tote guns in military garb? Moreh is a master of turning history into riveting cinema. —T.A.

Watch it: The Human Factor, in theaters

 Gunda, Unrated

Oh, stop! We’re recommending an arty, black-and-white documentary about the day-to-day reality of a domesticated sow, some cows and a one-legged chicken? Yes! This extraordinary, passionate feature executive-produced by vegan Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Victor Kossakovsky, 59, is one of the year’s best movies. Gunda documents the birth of a gargantuan porcine litter, mama Gunda’s nudging and nurturing of her piglets, and the devastation of their separation when the market comes calling. Few films capture the intense, sticky bond between a mother and her offspring so simply and wrenchingly, or convey the knowledge that we carnivores are devouring souls with every bite of bacon. —T.M.A.

Watch it: Gunda, in limited theaters and streaming at Film Forum

 Vanquish, R

In a rare villain role, Morgan Freeman, 83, plays a wheelchair-using ex-cop named Damon who’s gone to the dark side in this underworld potboiler. Directed by George Gallo (Midnight Run), Vanquish costars Ruby Rose as Damon’s loyal caretaker with a criminal past, which comes in handy when Damon blackmails her into picking up five packages in one bullet-riddled evening. —Chris Nashawaty (C.N.)

Watch it: Vanquish, in select theaters and on demand

DON’T MISS THIS: Did you know Morgan Freeman began his film career at age 50? And has since made more than 100 movies? In honor of this iconic actor, our critics have named (and ranked!) Freeman’s 10 best films (so far). Get the whole list (and start streaming).

 Concrete Cowboy, R

Far more than People’s 2018 sexiest man alive, Idris Elba, 48, mounts a horse as Harp in director Ricky Staub’s uplifting father-son drama. It’s set in the real-life, but little-known, community of Black cowboys at the Fletcher Street Stables on the fringe of a gentrifying Philadelphia neighborhood. Based on Gregory Neri’s bestselling YA novel Ghetto Cowboy, the strongly acted, leisurely-paced family drama costars Stranger Things’ Caleb McLaughlin as Harp’s estranged son Cole, who gradually learns the cowboy way. —T.M.A.

Watch it: Concrete Cowboy, on Netflix

 Moffie, Unrated

Moffie follows a fresh teen “scab” doing compulsory service in the South African army. Nicholas, played with a quiet, Merchant Ivory beauty by Kai Luke Brummer, is a closeted “moffie,” an Afrikaans slur referring to homosexuals. Surrounded by athletic young men in boot camp and on the battlefield, he finds love, both carnal and collegial. Meanwhile, all around him the violent treatment of his brother soldiers, the virulent racism toward Black civilians and the unbridled homophobia constantly bombard him. Moffie is a powerful tale of survival in the face of senseless prejudice and agonizing loss.

Watch it: Moffie, in theaters and on demand

 Senior Moment, Unrated

Star Trek’s William Shatner, 90, taps his easygoing charm while plausibly playing a “young” (72-year-old) former NASA test pilot who gets his license revoked for reckless driving when a new district attorney wants to get dangerous senior drivers off the very clean streets of Palm Springs. Without his wheels, Victor meets Caroline (a delightful Jean Smart, 69) on the bus, and their romance runs its bumpy course, with loopy Christopher Lloyd, 82, as his wingman and handsome Esai Morales, 58, as Caroline’s gay best friend. —T.M.A.

Watch it: Senior Moment, in select theaters and on Apple TV

DON’T MISS THIS: Need a little more Shatner in your life? We thought so, which is why we caught up with the iconic star to discuss his new movie and life at 90. Read all about it, here: At 90, William Shatner Hits Warp Speed

 The Father, PG-13

AARP Movies for Grownups Awards best-actor winner Anthony Hopkins scores the performance of a lifetime as a man afflicted with dementia. The film takes you inside his disintegrating reality — and also inside the experience of his daughter, Anne (The Favourite Oscar winner Olivia Colman), who looks after him and faces terrifying decisions about his treatment. Like Memento or A Beautiful Mind, the movie is a Rubik’s Cube of shifting memories and moments. Hopkins’ London octogenarian character alternately rails against his caregiver and flirts with the new one (Imogen Poots), who resembles his younger daughter, Lucy. It’s a head-spinning masterpiece, and Hopkins tops himself as an actor. —T.A.

Watch it: The Father, in theaters and on video on demand

DON’T MISS THIS: Anthony Hopkins’s Life Has Never Been Better

 Coming 2 America, PG-13

Fun is back at the movies with Eddie Murphy’s Coming 2 America! The hilarious, big-hearted sequel three decades in the making has a fairy-tail plot. Happily married Prince Akeem (Murphy, 59, who also plays multiple supporting characters) ascends the Zamundan throne after the death of King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones, 90). The rules of succession demand a male heir. So Akeem and wingman Semmi (Arsenio Hall, 65) go back to Queens – and the illegitimate son (Jermaine Fowler) he unwittingly left behind. The cast is so delicious – charismatic Wesley Snipes, 58, as the evil general from Nextdoria, brassy baby mama Leslie Jones, 53, and funky Tracy Morgan, 52, as the lad’s uncle, to name a few. —T.M.A.

Watch it: Coming 2 America, on Amazon Prime Video

DON’T MISS THIS: Eddie Murphy’s 10 Best Movies, Ranked

 Judas and the Black Messiah, R

Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield co-starred in Get Out. Now they own top billing in a very different American horror story, one that underscores systemic racism in sorely too timely a fashion. It recounts the FBI’s targeting of Chicago Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton. Kaluuya portrays the firebrand socialist who was building the first multiracial “Rainbow Coalition” to fight poverty, substandard housing and police corruption. That rattled FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who infiltrated Hampton’s group with an informant named Michael O’Neal (Stanfield). Director Shaka King’s retelling is raw when it needs to be (there is gunplay) and stylish from start to brutal conclusion. Hampton was killed on Dec. 4, 1969, in a pre-dawn raid by a contingent of the Chicago police. Was Hampton the savior of the title? The film is sure to ignite conversations. But Stanfield nails the role of the betrayer whose actions are tinged with greed, fear and, yes, love. Judas is a late but commanding entry to the award season. —Lisa Kennedy (L.K.)

Watch it: Judas and the Black Messiah, in theaters and on HBO Max

 Minari, PG-13

In a sweet, funny, poignant tale inspired by director/writer Lee Isaac Chung’s own family, the squabbling Korean American family of Jacob Yi (The Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun) flees a soul-crushing life as California chicken factory workers to chase the American dream to a farm in the Ozarks. A good story gets great when the kids’ immigrant grandma (Yuh-Jung Youn, 73, Korea’s Meryl Streep) moves in, puzzling kids with her love of swearing, gambling, TV wrestling and funny foods like the wild crop minari. “Grandma smells like Korea!” complains one kid — who then bonds with her. A film that’s a trip to the heartland in more ways than one. —T.A.

Watch it: Minari, in theaters and on demand via A24 Films

 One Night in Miami, R

Oscar- and Emmy-winning powerhouse actress Regina King, 49, flexes her muscles behind the camera as a feature film director — and it’s clear it will be the first of many. For her debut, she opts for a talky screen adaptation of Kemp Powers’ 2013 play, which imagines a fictional February night in Miami. That 1964 evening, boxer Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), activist Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), athlete Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge) and crooner Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom, Jr.) gather, party and discuss what it meant, and what the obligations were, to be a successful Black man in ‘60s America. —T.M.A.

Watch it: One Night in Miami, in select theaters and on Amazon Prime

 Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, R

Viola Davis and, in his last role, the late Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) star in Pulitzer Prize-winner August Wilson’s illustrious tale of Ma Rainey, the 1920s Mother of the Blues. It’s hard to say which actor scores the more towering performance. It’s like a duet between geniuses — or, since they’re fighting bitterly over how Ma should record her music, old-dirty-blues-tent-show style or hepcat modern jazz style — an acting duel. Both win, as do all of us. —T.A.

Watch it: Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, in theaters and on Netflix

RELATED: Viola Davis tells AARP about Ma Rainey, August Wilson, aging, her big break and what happens when you get everything you always wanted. Read it here: Viola Davis Finds a Powerful Voice

ALSO RELATED: Get the full story on August Wilson’s remarkable Pittsburgh Cycle — 10 plays that explore the American Black experience in every decade of the 20th century — and discover how to get a taste (or more) of each play, including Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, here: The Essential Guide to Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Playwright August Wilson

 The Life Ahead, PG-13

At 86, Sophia Loren is back! In her terrific new tearjerker, directed by her son Edoardo Ponti, she heartwarmingly plays a former prostitute, Holocaust survivor and caretaker for streetwalkers’ children. She looks after an orphaned African street kid (Ibrahima Gueye), grudgingly at first, and develops a deep bond with him.

Watch it: The Life Ahead, on Netflix

RELATED: Sophia Loren tells AARP about her comeback and her six life lessons

 The War With Grandpa, PG

Robert De Niro is both a towering icon of Scorsese gangster flicks and high-art tragedy and the king of blockbusters about the Focker family. In his latest silly featherweight comedy, he’s an irascible guy who moves into his grandson’s bedroom, so they conduct a prank-war over its possession. The conflict is somewhat Home Alone-like, but more illogical, as when De Niro, Christopher Walken, Jane Seymour and Cheech Marin challenge the kids to a trampoline volleyball match and the ref rules on the first round: “Age-appropriate team 1; AARP team none.” —T.A.

Watch it: The War With Grandpa, in theaters

RELATED: Find out what Jane Seymour thought about playing for laughs with Robert De Niro, in her new interview with AARP: Jane Seymour Shares Her Special View of England’s Royal Family

 The Trial of the Chicago 7, R

An utterly wonderful, vivid dramatization of the trial of Chicago’s 1968 demonstrators, with bravura performances by Frank Langella as Judge Julius Hoffman, Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman, Michael Keaton as Ramsey Clark and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Bobby Seale. —T.A.

Watch it: The Trial of the Chicago 7, on Netflix

RELATED: Frank Langella tells AARP about The Trial of the Chicago 7, his string of history-based hits and the best time of his life — his 80s, here: All Rise for Frank Langella

Tim Appelo is AARP’s film and TV critic. Previously, he was Amazon’s entertainment editor, Entertainment Weekly’s video critic, and a writer for The Hollywood Reporter, People, MTV, LA Weekly and The Village Voice.

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