What to Watch on TV and at the Movies This Week

New at the movies this week

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ☆ Eleanor the Great , PG-13

Scarlett Johansson uses a light touch on a heavy subject — surviving the Holocaust — in her feature directing debut. The brisk, contemporary drama showcases Oscar-nominated June Squibb, 94, as retired nonagenarian Eleanor. When her roommate and soulmate, survivor Bessie (Rita Zohar, 81), passes away, Eleanor leaves Florida behind for the Manhattan apartment of her daughter (Jessica Hecht, 60). But she carries her grief with her, silently. When she utters one little lie — Eleanor shares Bessie’s story as if it were her own with a JCC survivors’ support group — it metastasizes. Her borrowed traumatic past endears her to the group and grabs the attention of a grieving writing student (Erin Kellyman) and her recently widowed broadcast celebrity father (Chiwetel Ejiofor). By the time her own daughter calls Eleanor’s bluff, the definition of truth, and the nature of grief, are explored through a salty, shrewd and satisfying performance from Squibb, who deserves and elevates all the roles that come her way. —Thelma M. Adams

Watch it: Eleanor the Great, in theaters Sept. 25

⭐⭐⭐☆ ☆ One Battle After Another , R

Gravity’s Rainbow author Thomas Pynchon, 88, is notoriously difficult to adapt. This energetic attempt by Paul Thomas Anderson, 55, is proof positive — it's free-floating, star-fueled and ultimately exhausting. Leonardo DiCaprio, 50, serves up an antic, overcooked turn as a gonzo ex-revolutionary with a substance abuse problem. When Bob’s strong-willed 16-year-old daughter, Willa (standout Chase Infiniti), disappears, the derelict dad finds he’s pulled out of his drug-fueled haze and forced out of retirement to rejoin the fight against authoritarianism. Enter his nemesis, Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (an unsurprising Sean Penn, 65), a chip off Stanley Kubrick’s unhinged Gen. “Buck” Turgidson from Dr. Strangelove. While many sequences go whiz-bang, and laughs and dark ironies bubble up, the arch, lengthy film never takes flight, remaining episodic — just one battle after another. —Thelma M. Adams

Watch it: One Battle After Another, in theaters Sept. 25

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⭐⭐⭐☆ ☆ A Big Bold Beautiful Journey , R

Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie are big, beautiful A-listers. But do they have chemistry? Only inconsistently in this contrived romantic oddity. Farrell plays lonely love seeker David. Robbie’s Sarah is a love ‘em and leave ‘em before they can leave you beauty. The attractive but damaged strangers take a fantastic journey in magical rental cars dispatched by Kevin Kline, 77, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge to various portals to the past (think A Christmas Carol): a mother’s death, a fiancé’s rejection. This narrative trick allows the pretty pair to pry themselves from their inhibitions and face their relationship demons. When David returns to star in his high school musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Farrell slays as a singer and dancer. By turns painfully whimsical and deeply moving, it’s one big beautiful mess that could have been bolder. –Thelma M. Adams

Watch it: A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, in theaters

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ☆ Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, R

It’s hard to believe 40 years have passed since Rob Reiner’s beloved mockumentary about a ridiculous British metal band that ran through drummers more quickly than groupies. Now Reiner, 78, has returned for a genially diffuse sequel in which David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean, 77), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest, 77) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer, 81) prep for a reunion concert — at a venue where “An Evening With Stormy Daniels” canceled at the last minute. There are plenty of chuckles throughout: David now composes hold music for customer-service calls while the management team suggests new merch like a Stonehenge-shaped bottle of Tap Water. But it’s harder for the gang to crank up the laughs to 11 as the gang once did, and prolonged cameos by stars like Paul McCartney, 83, and Elton John, 78, tend to peter out like instrumental B-sides. —Thom Geier

Watch it: Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, in theaters

Don’t miss this: Rob Reiner tells AARP about Spinal Tap and the sequel

⭐⭐⭐⭐ ☆ Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale , PG

Set in the summer of 1930, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is a great, big, comfy upholstered couch of a finale. The band is back together after the long-running British series (and film franchise) about the aristocratic Crawley clan and their servants. Scandal-plagued divorcée Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) makes one last ridiculously bad romantic decision before ascending to take over the Downton estate. Lord and Lady Grantham (Hugh Bonneville, 61, and Elizabeth McGovern, 64) prepare to fade into the landscape while spunky servant Daisy (Sophie McShera) readies to take over the kitchen and loyal ladies’ maid Anna (Joanne Froggatt) aims for motherhood as all the plot threads are double-knotted. New addition Noël Coward (Artie Froushan) cheekily leads the group, upstairs and down, in a final apt rendition of Poor Little Rich Girl. The Grand Finale should ideally be seen in a theater surrounded by a costumed audience of fans cosplaying their favorite characters — as long as one Downton diehard isn’t wearing a top hat. —Thelma M. Adams

Watch it: Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, in theaters

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