In Theaters: JOKER, LUCY IN THE SKY, PAIN AND GLORY and DOLEMITE IS MY NAME

Warner Bros' "Joker", the DC Comics origin story that could prove to be a game changer for comic book movies, has exploded on the big screen with $13.3 million from Thursday night previews. The film should be able to overtake "Venom", which opened last year in October with a record-breaking $80.2 million from 4,250 theaters. "Joker" is expected to finish its opening weekend with around $85 million from 4,374 theaters. The film has received mixed-to-positive reactions from critics, and an enthusiastic reception from moviegoers ("B+" from CinemaScore's polls).

In limited release we have some interesting picks as well. First, we have Noah Hawley's feature film directorial debut, the astronaut drama "Lucy in the Sky" starring Natalie Portman, which has been getting hammered by critics.

Then we have Pedro Almodovar's "Pain and Glory", which won Best Actor (Antonio Banderas), and competed for the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

And last, but not least, Netflix's biopic/comedy "Dolemite Is My Name" starring Eddie Murphy as filmmaker Rudy Ray Moore, best known for portraying the character Dolemite in a series of 1970s blaxploitation films. The film also stars Keegan-Michael Key, Mike Epps, Craig Robinson and Wesley Snipes. If you can't catch it in theaters, you can watch it when it begins streaming on October 25, 2019 on Netflix.

Synopses, details, critical/audience reception, trailers, and more after the jump.

JOKER

Official Synopsis

"Joker" centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips' exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham's fracturedsociety. A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night...but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, Arthur makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study.

Film Details

• Director: Todd Phillips
  
  
• Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Shea Whigham, Bill Camp
  
  
• Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
  
  
• Running Time: 121 min.
  
  
• Rating: R for strong bloody violence, disturbing behavior, language and brief sexual images
  
  

Critical Reception

• Rottentomatoes: 69% (261 fresh, 115 rotten, score: 7.3/10)
  
• Metacritic: 58 out of 100 (29 positive, 15 mixed, 11 negative).

Audience Reception

• Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (average score: 4.6/5 from 6,573 user ratings)
• Metacritic: 9.2/10 (726 positive, 29 mixed, 33 negative).
• IMDb: 9.1/10 (74,472 votes)
  

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LUCY IN THE SKY

Official Synopsis

In LUCY IN THE SKY, Natalie Portman plays Lucy Cola, a strong woman whose determination and drive as an astronaut take her to space, where she's deeply moved by the transcendent experience of seeing her life from afar. Back home as Lucy's world suddenly feels too small, her connection with reality slowly unravels.

Film Details

• Director: Noah Hawley
  
  
• Starring: Natalie Portman, Jon Hamm, Zazie Beetz, Dan Stevens, Ellen Burstyn, Jeffrey Donovan, Colman Domingo, Tig Notaro
  
  
• Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
  
  
• Running Time: 124 min.
  
  
• Rating: R for language and some sexual content
  
  

Critical Reception

• Rottentomatoes: 28% (19 fresh, 50 rotten, score: 4.3/10)
  
• Metacritic: 36 out of 100 (2 positive, 15 mixed, 10 negative).

Audience Reception

• Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
• Metacritic: TBD
• IMDb: 4.1/10 (314 votes)
  

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PAIN AND GLORY

Official Synopsis

Pain and Glory tells of a series of reencounters experienced by Salvador Mallo, a film director in his physical decline. Some of them in the flesh, others remembered: his childhood in the 60s, when he emigrated with his parents to a village in Valencia in search of prosperity, the first desire, his first adult love in the Madrid of the 80s, the pain of the breakup of that love while it was still alive and intense, writing as the only therapy to forget the unforgettable, the early discovery of cinema, and the void, the infinite void that creates the incapacity to keep on making films. Pain and Glory talks about creation, about the difficulty of separating it from one's own life and about the passions that give it meaning and hope. In recovering his past, Salvador finds the urgent need to recount it, and in that need he also finds his salvation.

Film Details

• Director: Pedro Almodóvar
  
  
• Starring: Antonio Banderas, Asier Etxeandia, Penelope Cruz, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Julieta Serrano
  
  
• Genre: Drama
  
  
• Running Time: 113 min.
  
  
• Rating: R for drug use, some graphic nudity and language
  
  

Critical Reception

• Rottentomatoes: 96% (132 fresh, 5 rotten, score: 8.3/10)
  
• Metacritic: 86 out of 100 (26 positive, 3 mixed, 0 negative).

Audience Reception

• Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
• Metacritic: 7.8/10 (4 positive, 0 mixed, 1 negative).
• IMDb: 7.7/10 (12,799 votes)
  

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DOLEMITE IS MY NAME

Official Synopsis

Stung by a string of showbiz failures, floundering comedian Rudy Ray Moore (Academy Award nominee Eddie Murphy) has an epiphany that turns him into a word-of-mouth sensation: step onstage as someone else. Borrowing from the street mythology of 1970s Los Angeles, Moore assumes the persona of Dolemite, a pimp with a cane and an arsenal of obscene fables. However, his ambitions exceed selling bootleg records deemed too racy for mainstream radio stations to play. Moore convinces a social justice-minded dramatist (Keegan-Michael Key) to write his alter ego a film, incorporating kung fu, car chases, and Lady Reed (Da'Vine Joy Randolph), an ex-backup singer who becomes his unexpected comedic foil. Despite clashing with his pretentious director, D'Urville Martin (Wesley Snipes), and countless production hurdles at their studio in the dilapidated Dunbar Hotel, Moore's Dolemite becomes a runaway box office smash and a defining movie of the Blaxploitation era.

Film Details

• Director: Craig Brewer
  
  
• Starring: Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes, Chris Rock, Keegan-Michael Key, Craig Robinson, Mike Epps, T.I., Tituss Burgess, Da'Vine Joy Randolph
  
  
• Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama
  
  
• Running Time: 118 min.
  
  
• Rating: R for pervasive language, crude sexual content, and graphic nudity
  
  

Critical Reception

• Rottentomatoes: 98% (63 fresh, 1 rotten, score: 7.9/10)
  
• Metacritic: 74 out of 100 (18 positive, 5 mixed, 0 negative).

Audience Reception

• Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
• Metacritic: N/A
• IMDb: 6.5/10 (265 votes)
  

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