Needless to say, “Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” doesn’t have the same advantage. But what this breezy sequel lacks in newness it makes up for with a more assured sense of self, twice the possessive apostrophes, and a picaresque approach to comic violence that veers closer to the likes of “Lupin the Third” than it does to the weighty event films that people have to come expect this time of year. No one will ever confuse this for a good movie — it lacks any evident aspirations of goodness, as if returning director Patrick Hughes made the best thing he could while strapped to a bomb that would explode if its Rotten Tomatoes score ever went above 50 percent Fresh — but it’s really, really hard to work up any real hatred for a goofy action programmer in which Antonio Banderas plays a psychopathic billionaire named Aristotle Papadopolous....

As COVID wreaks havoc on the world, studios are exploiting library content for short-term cash, laying off and furloughing staff, and sending theatrical films to VOD. Cash-strapped, Hollywood is forced to change in real time. Last week, I called around town to get a snapshot of where things are heading. What’s a studio, anyway? For decades, movie studios led the industry even as their television, home video, and cable divisions churned out profits....

Through four episodes, characters are still being honed, ideal dynamics identified, and a consistent sense of humor established (here’s hoping for at least 40 percent less poop jokes), but there are also enough solid cracks and relatable storylines to hope “Housebroken” finds its best self after a little more training. Honey, a tall, white poodle voiced by the radiant Lisa Kudrow, is the group’s de facto leader and openly unlicensed therapist....

The program will open with Netflix’s “Descendant,” a film produced by the Obamas’ company Higher Ground Productions. The documentary sees director Margaret Brown return to her hometown of Mobile, Alabama to document the search for The Clotilda, the last known ship to arrive in the United States, illegally carrying enslaved Africans, and the ramifications its discovery has on the community. What will follow is a showcase of 43 feature-length documentary films that are eligible for consideration for the upcoming Academy Awards; 20 films will be screened both in-person and online, and 35 will be available for virtual viewing only....

More people voted for the Spirits this year than ever before: Film Independent has grown to over 7,000 members, adding more international voters. Spirits have a $22.5 million budget cap; international film qualification is based on the writer, director, and producer’s country of origin. A foreign-language with an American story (like, say, “Minari”) is not an international film; nor is “The Father.” Leading the 2021 Indie Spirit Awards nominations with seven is Eliza Hittman’s critics’ favorite “Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” which did not make the cut at the Oscars, and might not win any Spirits either....

IndieWire’s Chief Critic David Ehrlich is nominated in the Film Critic category for his reviews of this year’s top films. Deputy TV Editor and critic Ben Travers was nominated in the TV Critic category. TV Editor Kristen Lopez is additionally recognized in the Commentary Analysis/Trend — Film category for her November 2021 piece, “Film Industry Screenings and Events Have a Disability Accommodation Problem” amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, IndieWire’s newly hired Senior Business Reporter Brian Welk received three nominations for his prior film industry reporting at TheWrap....

“I think it was Truffaut who said that our current films are always working against the previous films we’ve made,” Audiard said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “I’m not sure I agree with that.” Earlier this year, Audiard went to Mexico to scout for “Emilia Perez,” a Spanish-language musical-comedy written with French singer-songwriter Camille about a drug mule who changes their gender. That may sound like a big gamble for the director of muscular redemption stories like “A Prophet,” “Rust and Bone,” and “Dheepan....