By John Corrado

New releases for the week of August 18th, 2023.

Theatrical Releases:

Strays (Wide Release): Will Ferrell stars in the R-rated talking dog comedy Strays as the voice of a little dog named Reggie who teams up with a streetwise Boston Terrier (voiced by Jamie Foxx) to get revenge on his mean owner (Will Forte). Reviews are mixed for director Josh Greenbaum’s film (which is produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller), but it looks like an amusing enough end-of-summer comedy, so I’ll check it out.

Jules (Limited Release): Ben Kinglsey plays a man who befriends an alien that crash lands in his backyard in this mix of quirky comedy and low-key character drama from director Marc Turtletaub. If not every element of this sci-fi lark works equally well, this is an odd little film that is charming enough of the time to make it worth a look, carried by Kingsley’s genuinely very good performance as an aging eccentric. (Full Review)

The Eternal Memory (TIFF Bell Lightbox): The latest documentary from director Maite Alberdi (the Oscar-nominated The Mole Agent), The Eternal Memory is a deeply moving portrait of the love between Augusto Góngora, a celebrated former journalist in Chile, and his wife Paulina as his memory fades due to Alzheimer’s. Alberdi’s film weaves in home movie footage of the couple in their younger years, which makes the heartbreaking present day scenes all the more powerful. As I wrote in my review during Hot Docs, this is “a gorgeous film about memory, both the individual and collective, framed as an incredibly moving romance.” Easily one of the year’s best documentaries. (Hot Docs 2023 Review)

Mutt (TIFF Bell Lightbox): Director Vuk Lungulov-Klotz’s debut feature Mutt, which premiered at Sundance, is a stripped down portrait of a young trans man named Feña (Lío Mehiel) over a single day in New York. The film follows him as he faces a series of setbacks, while encountering people from his past who knew him before transitioning, and it’s an engaging setup for a scrappy, trying-to-make-ends-meet drama. I saw this one during Inside Out, and it’s an interesting addition to the sub genre of films that unfold over a single day, with Feña’s identity and how he navigates the world as a trans man adding nuance to it. It’s a promising directorial debut, carried by Matthew Pothier’s intimate cinematography, and Mehiel’s breakout performance.

More Releases: Blue Beetle (Wide), Back on the Strip (Limited), Landscape With Invisible Hand (Limited)

Streaming Releases:

Dark Windows (VOD/Digital), The Monkey King (Netflix), Reinventing Elvis: The ’68 Comeback (Paramount+), Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie (Apple TV+), Brimstone & Glory (MUBI)