Drive, he wrote and directed

Fed Up

Crit

Yes, I was the guy consuming his typical movie theater lunch of large popcorn, large soda. No, the irony was not lost on me, even though the soda was (and always is) diet and the corn was (and always is) unbuttered. (And full disclosure: today's corn was seasoned liberally with sugary apple-cinnamon topping.)

The obvious heroes here are the remarkably articulate obese teenagers who share their agony and their hopes, but the surprise hero is Iowa senator Tom Harkin. I'd want to check his voting record on farm subsidies before I sign off on this assessment, but for a politician in a state rich in the corn that provides much of the sweetener that fattens us to work so hard to fix our diets is laudable, even if he has already announced that he won't run for another term.

Locke

Crit

The highest of concepts: except for a few moments at the start, the entire 85-minute film is Ivan Locke (Tom Hardy) driving south toward London while talking, mostly on the phone, and trying to negotiate crises professional, personal, respiratory, and existential.

But those phone calls, and those crises, and Hardy's portrayal of a man flawed and emotionally stunted but possessed of an uncompromising code of Hemingwayesque honor, make this gimmick movie one of the most compelling I've seen this year.

A headshakingly remarkable achievement by writer-director Steve Knight.

Only Lovers Left Alive

Crit

Remember when we were all excited about True Blood? Those of us who hadn't read the novels were hoping that it would be smart and subtle and poetic; we were, in other words, looking for something with a little Jim Jarmusch to it.

Adam (Tom Hiddleston) is suicidal, Eve (Tilda Swinton) relishes undeadness, but they are a match made in heaven, and even when they're thousands of miles apart, nothing matters when they're dancing, especially if it's to "Trapped by a Thing Called Love" by Denise LaSalle or "Funnel of Love" by Wanda Jackson.

Trailers

• Jersey Boys--Another Broadway smash comes to the screen.
• The Giver--Yet another futuristic dystopia, this one in the guise of a utopia.