The Last Vermeer

Shortly after the end of World War II, Capt. Joseph Piller (Bang) is part of the Dutch force tending to the bureaucratic mess left by the Nazis. When a rare painting by the renowned and adored Danish artist Johannes Vermeer is recovered from the belongings of Nazi leader Hermann Göring, Piller is on the case. Determined to find the traitor who would hand a priceless national treasure over to the enemy, he traces the sale to Han van Meegeren (Pearce), an extravagant artist with a penchant for mischief. Despite his initial motion to arrest the supposed Nazi sympathizer, it only takes Piller a few conversations with the eccentric gentleman to realize that there might be more to the story as Meegeren reveals that, rather than collaborating with Axis officials, he was conning the enemy by forging Vermeer paintings and selling them to the Nazis for millions.

Director: Dan Friedkin. Stars: Guy Pearce, Vicky Krieps, Claes Bang, August Diehl, Olivia Grant, Andrew Havill, Karl Johnson, Adrian Scarborough. 2019. 118 mins. Drama.

Silk Road

Ross Ulbricht (Robinson), like many millennial entrepreneurs, saw the internet as a portal to the unimaginable. But, unlike most of his contemporaries, his ambitions were not limited by legality or morality. As quickly as the idea came to him, Ulbricht and his girlfriend, Julia (Shipp), set up Silk Road, the first digital black market. Soon enough, their drug chain is in motion the world over and their activities are at the forefront of the DEA's concerns. Enter Rick Bowden (Clarke), a rugged FBI and DEA agent whose old-fashioned, violent and often-questionable investigative style will struggle to carry him in the hunt for Ulbricht, the model of the faceless, modern-day criminal.

Director: Tiller Russell. Stars: Jason Clarke, Nick Robinson, Alexandra Shipp, Jimmi Simpson, Jennifer Yun, Kenneth Miller, Lexi Rabe. 2021. 112 mins. Crime.

The Croods: A New Age

Still searching for a place to settle, Crood patriarch and caveman Grug (Cage); his wife, Ugga (Keener); her mother, Gran (Leachman); their daughter, Eep (Stone); and Eep's boyfriend, Guy (Reynolds), stumble upon an enormous wall. When the Croods decide to go beyond it, they are greeted by a paradise inhabited by the Bettermans, a family a couple of steps ahead of them, evolutionarily speaking. Delighted by each other at first, the novelty soon wears off as the units grapple with their glaring differences.

Director: Joel Crawford. Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Nicolas Cage, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Leslie Mann, Peter Dinklage. 2020. 95 mins. Animation.