‘Copshop’ (Aug. 10)
This scuzzy 2021 action thriller plays like a 21st-century riff on the John Carpenter classic “Assault on Precinct 13,” similarly confining its action to a middle-of-nowhere police station and to characters of varying shades of gray. The primary conflict is between the fixer Teddy Murretto (Frank Grillo), on the run from the mob, and the hired killer Bob Viddick (Gerard Butler), who fakes a drunken-driving arrest so he can follow Teddy into the can and kill him. But things get considerably more complicated from there. The screenplay, which the director Joe Carnahan co-wrote with Kurt McLeod (from a story by McLeod and Mark Williams), works up a series of ingenious twists and reversals, and Carnahan executes the mayhem with vigorous brio. The matchup of Butler and Grillo (who are also among the producers) make this something of a “Heat” for aficionados of dirtbag cinema, though Toby Huss turns in the most memorable performance with his mid-film appearance as a flamboyant assassin.
‘Boy Erased’ (Aug. 16)
Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe credibly shed their movie-star personas and immerse themselves in the difficult roles of Arkansas parents who try to reconcile their Christian faith with the coming-out of their son, Jared (Lucas Hedges), by placing him in a conversion therapy. Adapting the Garrard Conley memoir, Joel Edgerton wrote the script, directed and also co-stars as Mr. Sykes, the director of the “Love in Action” program, where the faith-based approach gives way quickly to humiliation and abuse. He is an easy villain, but “Boy Erased” resists the urge to paint in black and white, instead investing its characters with a wide spectrum of motivations and intentions.
ALSO LEAVING: “American Gangster,” “Amy,” “The Best Man Holiday,” “Borat,” “Chef,” “Enough,” “Everest,” “Ex Machina,” “Father of the Bride,” “Fletch,” “The Five-Year Engagement,” “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “Hacksaw Ridge,” “Home Improvement” Seasons 1-8, “Kindergarten Cop,” “Locke,” “Lucy,” “Meet the Parents,” “The Mirror Has Two Faces,” “Mississippi Grind,” “National Lampoon’s Animal House,” “Pretty Woman,” “The Proposal,” “Single White Female,” “Smokey and the Bandit,” “There’s Something About Mary,” “Tootsie,” “Triple 9” (Aug. 1); “Spider-Man,” “Spider-Man 2,” “Spider-Man 3” (Aug. 5); “Labyrinth” (Aug. 7); “Colossal” (Aug. 9); “Free Fire” (Aug. 10); “Dark Places,” “The Game” Seasons 1-3 (Aug. 15); “Crane World,” “Fall” (Aug. 18); “Life After Beth” (Aug. 19).
