Caught Stealing (in theaters)

Even angsty indie film directors need to let loose and have a little fun sometimes.

Latest on that list is Darren Aronofsky, best known for movies like “Black Swan,” The Whale,” and “Requiem for a Dream.” His newest movie, “Caught Stealing,” is a delightful Guy Ritchie-esque romp through 1990s New York. Though the movie is violent and pretty dark at times, it’s also madcap, snappy, and deeply entertaining. The plot may lose track of itself at times, but we never lose track of Austin Butler’s charismatic, unexpectedly nuanced performance. The rest of the cast is excellent, bringing to life an array of characters that are all worth spending time with. Taken all together, it’s definitely worth the ride.

Butler plays Hank, a former baseball player whose dreams were crushed by an accident-induced injury. Now he’s just trying to get by, at least until his rocker neighbor asked him to watch his cat. When thugs come by asking questions Hank can’t answer, he gets sucked into an increasingly complicated, city-wide situation he might not be able to survive.

Aronofsky is usually known for intensely focused character pieces, and there are elements of that here as well. Butler gives us depths to Hank’s desperation, showing that he still has a surprisingly good heart despite the circumstances. In a movie packed with great performers and crazy characters, our attention is always focused firmly on Butler’s Hank.

New York in the 90s is almost a character in its own right, and Aronofsky gives it the same attention. He reaches for the breadth of the city, if not the depth, and the range of flavors that results adds a wonderful variety to the chaos.

Grade: Three and a half stars

The Thursday Murder Club (Netflix)

The only thing better than a good cozy murder mystery is one with a fantastic cast.

If you agree with that statement, then you have to check out “The Thursday Murder Club.” It’s twisty enough to keep things interesting, with just the right amount of humor and a solid sprinkling of darkness. The characters are all fun, brought to life by a delightful cast headlined by Helen Mirrin, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie. Though one of the subplots probably deserves a little more weight than what it was given, director Chris Columbus overall manages to deliver a wonderfully entertaining movie.

The movie focuses on a picturesque senior center in England, where a group of elderly friends get together to solve cold cases. When the threat of a redevelopment leads to murder, however, the group has a much fresher crime to tackle. If they can’t solve the case and find a long-hidden criminal, they might end up losing their home for good.

It’s definitely a cozy mystery, which means that everything is tied up neatly by the end. Any ache is kept for emotional relationships, like the gentle, poignant melancholy of Elizabeth’s (Mirrin’s) relationship with her husband, who has dementia. (Jonathan Pryce, who plays her husband, is fantastic in the brief but important role.)

The movie is based on the first book in a series, which means there’s a chance we’ll get more of “The Thursday Murder Club.” Hopefully, we’ll see these crime solvers follow the clues for a long time to come.

Grade: Three stars

Jenniffer Wardell is an award-winning movie critic and member of the Denver Film Critics Society and the Utah Film Critics Association. Drop her a line at [email protected].

Credit for photo ©Columbia