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COVER STORY | In “Just Mercy,” Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx lead a diverse team to tell the story of Bryan Stevenson’s fight to free an innocent man.

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By Gene Maddaus

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- ‘Black and Blue’
  
  While the thriller has something urgent to say on corrupt power structures, its insights are trapped in a shallow action package.
- ‘Western Stars’
  
  Bruce Springsteen’s rapturous concert film, which he co-directed, finds the star content enough to look his demons in the eye.
- ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’
  
  With Maleficent no longer the villain of her own tale, the sequel reduces her to a stylish pawn in a tacky “Game of Thrones” ripoff.
- ‘Zombieland: Double Tap’
  
  Ruben Fleischer’s zom-com sequel sustains the original’s tone, while adding a handful of new characters to its family of survivors.
- ‘Watchmen’
  
  Damon Lindelof’s adaptation tackles the ways individuals are wrecked by history, though it lacks the necessary focus.
- ‘Catherine the Great’
  
  The new HBO and Sky collaboration is a bit too narrow in its approach to a historical giant.
- ‘Daybreak’
  
  “Daybreak’s” action and social commentary fall short, but its flashbacks offer a refreshing take on the teenage experience.
- ‘Mrs. Fletcher’
  
  HBO’s “Mrs. Fletcher” is a pleasing character study with points to make about the ways the sexual revolution has failed men and women.
- ‘Little Shop of Horrors’
  
  The musical by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken gets a starry, but small-scale Off Broadway revival starring Jonathan Groff and Christan Borle.
- ‘The Great Society’
  
  Brian Cox (“Succession”) takes over from Bryan Cranston in Robert Schenkkan’s follow-up play to his Tony-winning “All the Way.”
- ‘Almost Famous’
  
  “Almost Famous” fans get their backstage pass renewed via a stage musical adaptation in San Diego that feels familiar and refreshing.
- ‘The Height of the Storm’
  
  Jonathan Pryce and Eileen Atkins play an elderly husband and wife, one of whom might be dead.
- The Beatles’ ‘Abbey Road: Anniversary Edition’
  
  This box set tackles a classic with less need of a spit-polish and not as many raw demos in the vault. Still necessary? Completely.
- Album Review: Post Malone’s ‘Hollywood’s Bleeding’
  
  The follow-up to his 2018’s album mostly goes to softer places, but he still wants to nurture his bad-boy side, too.
- Album Review: Sheryl Crow’s ‘Threads’
  
  Sheryl Crow is vowing this is her final full-length album. If so, it’s a heck of a retirement banquet.
- Album Review: Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover’
  
  It’s not even a contradiction to say that “Lover” is Swift’s most mature album and her most fun one, all at once.