The French Dispatch (2021):

If you are fan of writer/producer/director Wes Anderson, all you need to know is that here he is again! If you don’t know his work, no amount of explanation can help. Anderson is best known for his quirky indie movies such as “Bottle Rocket,” “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums” and most recently, “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” This movie is more of the same, full of quirky characters, odd plot devices and many, many places where you just want to laugh, but sometimes don’t even know why. He favours such actors as Bill Murray, who has been a stalwart in these films, and he is exactly that here, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, and Bob Balaban, all of whom have appeared in several of Anderson’s films. The story here is about a fictitious magazine in a fictional French city, staffed by made-up American journalists, mid-20th Century whose stories become set pieces in the French Dispatch Magazine. The characters take on lives of their own, and often we have to wonder if they are actually based on real people, until a turn is taken that makes us see the silliness of what has happened. The extensive cast includes Benicio del Toro, the previously mentioned “regulars,” as well as Timothee Chalumet, Henry Winkley, and Owen Wilson. This is clearly a love-it-or-hate-it move (I hated “The Royal Tenenbaums,” loved “Grand Budapest Hotel.” Rated 14A.

Mayday (2021:

Grace Van Patten of the family that includes her aunt and uncle Dick and Joyce Van Patten, is the star here, in this dramatic fantasy that presents two sides to a coin. Her name is Ana, and she is somehow transported to a dreamlike and somewhat magical land where all the women are soldiers, and where they have all been at war forever – or at least for as long as her people have been alive. She was a former hotel worker with a pretty ordinary life before finding her way to an island where she became part of the crew on a submarine, a U-boat in the unending war. At first it seems to be all about girl-power, but when Ana uncovers some communication that suggests the women are luring men to their deaths in order to make them look like better soldiers than their male counterparts, she becomes disillusioned. Taking a big left turn, Ana teams up with other soldiers who hope to even the score. Juliette Lewis also stars in what was originally a film festival darling …. And maybe that’s where it will remain, as it is definitely an odd movie quite unlike most others. Rated 14A.

Castle Falls (2021):

All the tough guys show up for this action-drama in which an ex-kick-boxer named Mike Wade (Scott Adkins), now working on a demolition crew, winds up on one side of a triangle opposite a bunch of other operators looking to score a huge windfall. Mike, working out his demolition regime to dynamite the building, an old hospital, to the ground, finds, stashed between the walls, the nice, tidy sum of $3 million. He isn’t the only one who knows about the cash, and now it becomes a race to see who gets into the hospital, who gets the money, and who gets out before the entire thing blows up. Dolph Lundgrin, one time B-grade action star himself, directs, and also plays a part here in getting to the money. Rated 14A.

Tick, Tick ... Boom (2021):

This Netflix original marks the debut of Lin-Manuel MIranda as a director, spelling out the answer to the question, "what do we do with the time we have?" The story follows Jon (Andrew Garfield) who is a promising young theatre producer on the cusp of his 30th birthday. He waits on tables in New York City while waiting for what he hopes with be his big break, but pressure is everywhere in his life - pressure from his girlfriend who wants to leave New York and the arts community behind, pressure from his best friend who has just left the arts community for the financial security of a real job, and the pressure of an artistic community being ravaged by the AIDS epidemic. What does he do? Where does he turn? Stars include Vanessa Hudgens, Joel Grey and Judith Light based on the story by the late Jonathan Larson ("Rent"). Rated 14A.

Robin Robin (2021):

This stop-motion animated film from the UK tells the story of a little baby robin who rolls out of her nest onto the ground, and who is saved, and then raised by a family of mice. As Robin gets older, she begins to realize that she is not a mouse, and that maybe she doesn't really belong with this family. A heart-warming story with an excellent message that both children and parents will enjoy. Gillian Anderson ("The X-Files") provides one of the major voices in this British made film. Rated G.