OPENING
Band Aid (NR) Zoe Lister-Jones writes, directs, and co-stars in this comedy as half of a battling couple who try to save their relationship by starting a band together. Also with Adam Pally, Fred Armisen, Susie Essman, Hannah Simone, Ravi Patel, Majandra Delfino, Brooklyn Decker, Erinn Hayes, Jamie Chung, Daryl Wein, and Colin Hanks. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
The Exception (R) This thriller stars Jai Courtney as a German soldier during World War I who falls for a Dutch Jewish woman (Lily James) while hunting for a spy. Also with Christopher Plummer, Anton Lesser, Martin Savage, Ben Daniels, and Janet McTeer. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
The Hunter’s Prayer (R). Sam Worthington stars in this thriller as a hit man who grows a conscience and helps save the life of his intended victim (Odeya Rush). Also with Verónica Echegui, Amy Landecker, Martin Compston, and Allen Leech. (Opens Friday in Dallas)
It Comes at Night (R) The second film by Trey Edward Shults (Krisha) is about a group of survivors hiding out from an apocalyptic event in a secluded place in the woods. Starring Joel Edgerton, Carmen Ejogo, Riley Keough, Christopher Abbott, Kelvin Harrison Jr., and Griffin Robert Faulkner. (Opens Friday)
Megan Leavey (PG-13) Kate Mara stars in this biopic about a Marine corporal whose bond with her military combat dog saves the lives of hundreds of fellow soldiers during the Iraq war. Also with Tom Felton, Bradley Whitford, Geraldine James, Will Patton, Common, and Edie Falco. (Opens Friday)
The Mummy (PG-13) Tom Cruise stars in this new version as an archeologist who unleashes an undead Egyptian princess (Sofia Boutella) on the world. Also with Russell Crowe, Annabelle Wallis, Marwan Kenzari, Javier Botet, Jake Johnson, and Courtney B. Vance. (Opens Friday)
My Cousin Rachel (PG-13) Based on Daphne du Maurier’s novel, this 19th century-set thriller stars Sam Claflin as a young Englishman who investigates whether his cousin (Rachel Weisz) might be responsible for the murder of his guardian. Also with Iain Glen, Holliday Grainger, Poppy Lee Friar, Andrew Knott, Vicki Pepperdine, and Andrew Havill. (0pens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
Raabta (NR) Sushant Singh Rajput stars in this Indian comedy as a man whose love for his girlfriend (Kriti Sanon) is thwarted by a reincarnated girlfriend from a past life. Also with Deepika Padukone, Rajkummar Rao, Varun Sharma, Satendra Bagasi, Rahul Kohli, and Jim Sarbh. (Opens Friday at AMC Grapevine Mills)
NOW PLAYING
Alien: Covenant (R) A big pile of eh. Ridley Scott returns to the series with an installment that supposedly focuses on horror instead of the backstory like Prometheus did. The trouble is, his horror-movie instincts seem to have deserted him here. The xenomorphs have no new dangers to reveal, and since the events here are taking place before the story of the first Alien movie, we know that the humans can’t just kill all the aliens. The crew members are underwhelming, with Katherine Waterston failing to impress in the lead role and Michael Fassbender playing two lookalike androids and managing not to be interesting as either one. Even Danny McBride gets few opportunities to wisecrack as a Stetson-wearing pilot. The most wrongheaded of the Alien films at least gave you something to think about. This one has nothing. Also with Billy Crudup, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Jussie Smollett, Amy Seimetz, Callie Hernandez, and uncredited cameos by James Franco, Guy Pearce, and Noomi Rapace.
Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (NR) Full disclosure: I haven’t seen Baahubali: The Beginning. The sequel is the highest-grossing Indian film of all time, and you can see why in its spectacular crowd scenes that dwarf anything I’ve seen from an Indian film. It also has some cheesy special effects and a climactic battle sequence that’s frankly rather silly, but on the whole, this 167-minute epic goes down fairly smoothly. Prabhas stars as a prince of an ancient kingdom in India who gives up his crown to marry the woman he loves (Anushka Shetty), only to watch his brother (Rana Daggubati) become a cruel dictator as king. All in all, this movie gives you tons of attractive Indian stars emoting, singing, and pulling up trees as they fight one another. Also with Tamannaah Bhatia, Ramya Krishnan, Nassar, and Sathyaraj.
Baywatch (R) Is there an actor around who’s better at playing dumb than Zac Efron? He brings his act to this big-screen version of the 1990s babes-and-bikinis TV show as a disgraced Olympic swimming champion who joins the lifeguard corps and winds up helping bust a crime ring, protesting all the while (as no one did on the show) that it’s a job for the police. The comedy here is more self-aware than that dopey TV program and Efron’s comic interplay with Dwayne Johnson as the head of Baywatch is good, but the women are eye candy once again, even Priyanka Chopra as the villain. Also with Alexandra Daddario, Kelly Rohrbach, Ilfenesh Hadera, Jon Bass, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Rob Huebel, Hannibal Buress, Oscar Nuñez, David Hasselhoff, and Pamela Anderson.
Beauty and the Beast (PG) Emma Watson fits the Disney princess role like it was made for her, which is the more remarkable because we know it wasn’t. This live-action remake of the 1991 animated Disney musical is still a mixed bag, though. Screenwriters Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos insert some feminist touches around the edges when they needed a radical refocusing of the script to make the romance look less like Stockholm syndrome. Director Bill Condon can’t bring any new life to the famous numbers. This movie does get better singing from its supporting cast than the original film, with Luke Evans looking liberated in the role of the narcissistic meathead Gaston and Josh Gad matching him well as his gay toady. Watson is a cooling vocal presence who doesn’t hit the dizzying highs of other recent singing actresses from Disney films. She does stately as well as anyone, but she was made to do more interesting things. Also with Dan Stevens, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellen, Audra McDonald, Stanley Tucci, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Nathan Mack, Hattie Morahan, Kevin Kline, and Emma Thompson.
The Boss Baby (PG) This watchable and instantly forgettable animated film is about a boy (voiced by Miles Bakshi) who discovers that his new suit-and-tie-wearing baby brother (voiced by Alec Baldwin) is secretly an operative for the corporation that makes babies who’s undercover to save his company from losing market share to puppies. The bizarre conceit is taken from Marla Frazee’s children’s book, and the filmmakers (including Tom McGrath, the director of the Madagascar movies) can’t make it any less so. There’s one clever reference to Baldwin’s role in Glengarry Glen Ross, and that’s it for the wit on display here. This isn’t anywhere as bad as it could have been, but it still needed to be better. Additional voices by Steve Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, James McGrath, and Tobey Maguire.
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (PG) Dav Pilkey’s children’s books are turned into an animated film about two troublesome schoolkids (voiced by Kevin Hart and Thomas MIddleditch) who hypnotize their principal (voiced by Ed Helms) into thinking he’s a superhero. Additional voices by Jordan Peele, Nick Kroll, Kristen Schaal, Brian Posehn, and DeeDee Rescher.
Churchill (PG) Brian Cox overacts intolerably in this biopic that shows the British prime minister in the 48 hours before the D-Day invasion, cutting a far less than heroic figure as he sinks into a black depression, tries to make wholesale changes to the war plans, snaps at everyone around him, and — of course — drinks way too much. As we’re told again and again, he’s haunted by the loss of life he was responsible for during the First World War and fears a repeat of history. Perhaps director Jonathan Teplitzky (The Railway Man) means all this to be exhausting, as life with a depressive personality must be, yet he and screenwriter Alex von Tunzelmann shed little light on either the condition or the man at the center of this. You may not walk out of this understanding more about depression, but you will go out feeling depressed. Also with Miranda Richardson, John Slattery, Ella Purnell, Julian Wadham, and James Purefoy.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul (PG) Jason Drucker takes over the role of Greg Heffley as the series based on Jeff Kinney’s books reboots. Also with Alicia Silverstone, Tom Everett Scott, Charlie Wright, Owen Asztalos, and Dylan Walters.
Everything, Everything (PG-13) Nicola Yoon’s YA novel about a teenage girl whose immunodeficiency disorder forces her to spend her life indoors becomes this intermittently inspired film starring Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games) as a girl who falls in love via text message with the cute guy (Nick Robinson) who moves in next door. The physical separation leads to some nice little touches in the early going by director Stella Meghie, but she loses her spark when the heroine risks her life to travel to Hawaii and the two lovers are finally together. As teen romances go, this one could have done with a bit fewer hearts and flowers and a bit more adversity. The big revelation in this story is some kind of messed-up. Also with Anika Noni Rose, Ana de la Reguera, Taylor Hickson, Danube Hermosillo, and Sage Brocklebank.
The Fate of the Furious (PG-13) Why do I get the sense that they’re running out of things to do? Maybe the next installment will have the crew fighting the zombie apocalypse in space. For now, the racers have to fight against Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), who has improbably been turned to the dark side by a dragon lady cyberterrorist (Charlize Theron) who spends way too much time talking about her philosophy of life. Actually, everybody spends too much time talking, and dialogue has never been the series’ strong suit. There’s one nice sequence through the streets of Manhattan when the villain turns every car into a self-driving car, but the climactic sequence in polar Russia with the cars being chased down by a submarine is just silly. Also with Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Luke Evans, Scott Eastwood, Nathalie Emmanuel, Elsa Pataky, Kurt Russell, and Helen Mirren.
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 (PG-13) More goes right than wrong in this sequel, in which our band of ragtag space rogues crash-land on a distant planet that’s sentient, can take human form (Kurt Russell), and happens to be the long-lost father of Peter “Star-Lord” Quill (Chris Pratt). There’s tons more funny business, some involving baby Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) dancing and bringing the wrong items to Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) and Yondu (Michael Rooker) as they’re trying to break out of prison. I just wish the sequel had retained more of the original’s caper feel instead of making all its characters go through some hackneyed emotional arc — our Star-Lord was more fun as a common thief than as a guy with superpowers and daddy issues. Still, enough of the original’s jokey spirit remains to prime you for the third mix. Also with Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Karen GIllan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Sean Gunn, Chris Sullivan, Ving Rhames, Michelle Yeoh, Sylvester Stallone, and an uncredited David Hasselhoff.
How to Be a Latin Lover (PG-13) Mexican comedy superstar Eugenio Derbez has acted in English before, but this is the first English-language movie that he has starred in. He plays a trophy husband who gets ditched by his 80-year-old wife (Renée Taylor) for a younger man and has to learn how to make a living while moving in with his sister (Salma Hayek) and her science-nerd son (Raphael Alejandro). The story takes wearisomely predictable turns, and yet the change in language has done little to disrupt Derbez’ sense of comic timing or his gifts as a clown. With better material, he could make some noise on our side of the border. Watch for Kristen Bell’s cameo as an insanely cheerful yogurt shop manager who lives with about 50 cats. Also with Rob Lowe, Rob Corddry, Rob Riggle, Rob Huebel, Mckenna Grace, Vadhir Derbez, Linda Lavin, and Michael Cera.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (PG-13) Some neat montages and a couple of cool visuals can’t put the fun into Guy Ritchie’s take on the English legend, which stars Charlie Hunnam as a London street kid who discovers that his father was actually the king (Eric Bana) who was murdered by his usurping brother (Jude Law). Ritchie throws in 100-foot battle elephants and manages to make Excalibur seem like a magical sword, but undistinguished performances and fight sequences can’t lift this thing from the stone. Also with Djimon Hounsou, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Aidan Gillen, Freddie Fox, Craig McGinley, Tom Wu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Neil Maskell, Annabelle Wallis, Peter Ferdinando, Michael McElhatton, and an uncredited David Beckham.
Lowriders (PG-13) Demián Bichir acts the living crap out of this formulaic drama as the head of an East L.A. car club who has fathered one son who’s an ex-convict (Theo Rossi) and another who wants to be an artist (Gabriel Chavarria). The younger son’s struggle to break free of his dad’s garage is so much stuff we’ve seen before, and the character’s voiceover narration is clumsier than clumsy. Still, director Ricardo de Montreuil lets us appreciate the work that goes into building lowrider cars and Bichir’s turn as a tormented recovering alcoholic who can’t get through to his sons jump-starts the proceedings whenever they threaten to flag. Also with Tony Revolori, Melissa Benoist, Yvette Monreal, Montse Hernandez, Noel Guglielmi, Franck Khalfoun, and Eva Longoria.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (PG-13) The same goes for dead franchises. Much like its three predecessors, the fifth film in the series goes madly in circles as it brings on a new pair of young lovers (Kaya Scodelario and the flavorless Brenton Thwaites) to join Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) as he’s pursued by an undead Spanish captain (Javier Bardem) seeking revenge on Jack for his death. The story is powered by rote action sequences and so much mumbo-jumbo about a magical gadget that controls the seas. It’s harder to laugh at Depp’s comic drunk act now, when you’re wondering whether it’s really an act. The Norwegian directing team of Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg (Kon-Tiki) fail to bring anything in the way of originality to this. Also with Geoffrey Rush, Kevin McNally, David Wenham, Stephen Graham, Golshifteh Farahani, Paul McCartney, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley.
Smurfs: The Lost Village (PG) Marginally more watchable than the partially live-action films that have come before it, this wholly animated film features Smurfette (voiced by Demi Lovato) leading an unauthorized expedition into the Forbidden Forest to get to a village of lost Smurfs before Gargamel (voiced by Rainn Wilson) gets to it. There’s a development that takes some (but not all) of the weirdness out of the fact that Smurfette is the only female in her village, but the jokes aren’t funny and the story’s emotional hooks don’t hook us. The best that can be said here is that Lovato is an upgrade on Katy Perry in her role. Additional voices by Michelle Rodriguez, Ariel Winter, Mandy Patinkin, Ellie Kemper, Jake Johnson, Gabriel Iglesias, Jeff Dunham, and Julia Roberts.
Snatched (R) Amy Schumer plays another woman-child, and you get the uneasy feeling that she has a better handle on the type than the filmmakers do. She plays an American woman who goes through a bad breakup and decides to take her risk-averse mom (Goldie Hawn) with her to Ecuador, only for the two of them to be kidnapped by Colombians off the beaten path. The movie has too many funny actors not to yield the occasional wisecrack, but the temperamental match between Schumer and Hawn is wasted and nobody even bothers to ask whether this mother may have been the one who raised such dysfunctional kids. Schumer should get back to writing her own material. Also with Wanda Sykes, Ike Barinholtz, Tom Bateman, Christopher Meloni, Óscar Jaenada, Randall Park, and Joan Cusack.
3 Idiotas (PG-13) This Spanish-language comedy stars Martha Higareda, Alfonso Dosal, and Christian Vazquez as three college friends who try to discover the fate of a schoolmate who disappeared on graduation day. Also with Vadhir Derbez, German Valdez, Sebastián Zurita, and Paulina Dávila.
DALLAS EXCLUSIVES
Dean (PG-13) Demetri Martin stars in his own comedy as a man trying to prevent his father (Kevin Kline) from selling the family home after his mother’s death. Also with Gillian Jacobs, Christine Woods, Kate Berlant, and Mary Steenburgen.
Paris Can Wait (PG) Eleanor Coppola’s filmmaking debut stars Diane Lane as an American woman who drives from Budapest to Paris with her husband’s friend (Arnaud Viard). Also with Alec Baldwin.
A Quiet Passion (PG-13) The latest film by Terence Davies (The Deep Blue Sea) stars Cynthia Nixon as the reclusive 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson. Also with Jennifer Ehle, Duncan Duff, Jodhi May, Emma Bell, Joanna Bacon, and Keith Carradine.
Vincent N Roxxy (R) Emile Hirsch and Zoë Kravitz star in this thriller as two misfits in love who are dogged by violence as they go on the run. Also with Zoey Deutch, Emory Cohen, Scott Mescudi, and Beau Knapp.
The Wedding Plan (PG) The latest film by Rama Burshtein (Fill the Void) stars Noa Koler as an Orthodox Jewish Israeli woman who refuses to cancel her wedding plans after her fiancé leaves her, confident that God will provide a husband before the wedding date. Also with Dafi Alferon, Oded Leopold, Ronny Merhavi, and Irit Sheleg.
