Sicario: Day of the Soldado

After a suicide bomber kills numerous people in an attack in Kansas City, CIA agent Matt Graver (Brolin) is authorized to use extreme measures to take down Mexico's powerful drug cartels. He comes up with a plan to turn the most powerful cartels against each other, and recruits agent Alejandro Gillick (Del Toro) to assassinate a lawyer affiliated with one of the cartels, while he kidnaps the daughter of a rival cartel's leader. Soon, corruption and betrayal throw the plan off the rails, and the two men find themselves at odds when one of them goes rogue and defies orders.

Director: Stefano Sollima. Stars: Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Isabela Moner, Jeffrey Donovan, Catherine Keener. 2018. 122 min. Action.

The First Purge

As a way to combat rising tension and social unrest, the government announces a trial program to take place on Staten Island. For one 12-hour period, all crimes will be made legal, and the government offers a financial incentive for people to stay on the island during the test. When drug addict Skeletor (Paul) commits the first murder of the purge, video of his act is uploaded and goes viral across the nation, sending many of the people who remained on Staten Island into a panic, but as the streets become increasingly violent, the architect of the experiment becomes suspicious about the motives behind some of the killers.

Director: Gerard McMurray. Stars: Y'lan Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Rotimi Paul, Joivan Wade, Marisa Tomei. 2018. 98 min. Action.

Leave No Trace

Veteran Will (Foster) suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and has withdrawn from society to live a hidden life in a public park with his 13-year-old daughter, Tom (McKenzie). The two are happy in their isolation, but when Tom is spotted by a passerby, the two are picked up by social services and given a home, giving Tom her first real taste of civilization in years. Although her father longs to leave it all behind and return to the wilderness, Tom begins warming up to her new life.

Director: Debra Granik. Stars: Ben Foster, Thomasin McKenzie. 2018. 109 min. Drama.