It’s not a coincidence that there’s rarely been been a noteworthy and mainstream talking pets film or show for adults. (The kids, of course, have many. Plenty. Maybe too many.) “HouseBroken,” a new series on FOX, enters into the channel’s busy animation roster as if pets talking like adults were a bold and innovative idea, especially as the premise gives voice to…

“Port Authority” reminded me of Roland Emmerich’s “Stonewall,” the misguided whitewashing of trans women and people of color that he made in 2015. In both films, there’s the introduction of some random white male from the Midwest or thereabouts who waltzes his way into a story that supposedly highlights marginalized people, then the story becomes…

Chinese director Jia Zhangke can be understood as a documentarian even when he’s making fiction films. His recent features on the rapid social and related ethical/moral changes in certain regions of mainland China have a keen grounding in reality, even when they branch off from the present day and speculate on the future, as his…

Exhibitionism is a sad business in “Funhouse,” a punishing social media satire that features, among other unpleasant attractions, a scene where a young woman sobs helplessly as she takes off her top. This is Ula La More (Karolina Benefield), one of a few D-list celebrities that participate in “Furcas’ House of Fun,” a deadly reality show-style…

“We will facilitate and facilitate only.” Mona Juul (Ruth Wilson) makes her husband Terje Rød-Larsen (Andrew Scott) repeat these words—forces him, really—just before their “guests” arrive at Norway’s Booregaard Manor. This is no cocktail party. The guests come from both sides of one of the most intractable conflicts of the 20th- and 21st century. The…

Raunchy teen comedies can only be as sincere and big as the size and nature of the heart they dare to wear on their sleeves. Sure, its sex-centric jokes can be hilarious, but can you imagine loving “Superbad” without the disarmingly sweet friendship of Jonah Hill’s Seth and Michael Cera’s Evan at the film’s core?…