NOW IN THEATERS
APRIL AND THE EXTRAORDINARY WORLD
The extraordinary world of the film’s title refers to an alternate reality, where the leading scientists at the turn of the 20th century have been kidnapped, and the people in 1941 France live in a steampunk society rife with conflict and an absence of nature. It is here that a woman named April (voiced by Marion Cotillard) strives to learn what happened to her parents, staying just ahead of oppressive government forces. The plot, however, is just a vehicle for the ideas and visuals, which seem inspired by Hayao Miyazaki’s films and Hergé’s Adventures of Tintin comics. Rated PG. 106 minutes. In French with subtitles. Center for Contemporary Arts. (Robert Ker)
BARBERSHOP: THE NEXT CUT
The Barbershop franchise returns for the first time since 2004’s
Barbershop 2: Back in Business. Many of the same characters are putting their aprons back on, including Ice Cube’s Calvin, Cedric the Entertainer’s Eddie, and Eve’s Terri. This time, the group expands to include characters played by Common, Nicki Minaj, and Regina Hall. In between their many jokes, they must confront increasing neighborhood violence. Rated PG-13. 112 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; DreamCatcher. (Not reviewed)
BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE
Divisive director Zack Snyder returns for what could be considered the sequel to his 2013 Superman movie Man of Steel but is, more accurately, a prequel to 2017’s
The Justice League Part One. As such, he crams in a lot of set-up, introducing Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) to Batman (Ben Affleck), Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg), and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) in a world grappling with the idea of a being of Superman’s capabilities. This is all too much plot to bear, and the movie collapses before the heroes come to blows in the finale. There’s much to like: Gadot steals the show, Affleck is the best Batman yet, and the score, effects, and action are all top- notch. It doesn’t fully come together, however, and the dour tone will serve as many viewers’ Kryptonite. Rated PG-13. 153 minutes. Screens in 2-D only at Regal Stadium 14. (Robert Ker)
THE BOSS
In Melissa McCarthy’s latest comedy, she plays a Martha Stewart-like mogul who is recently released from prison after serving a sentence for insider trading. Eager to mend her image while contending with a lot of angry friends and associates, she moves in with an employee named Claire (Kristen Bell) and finds a way back to the top through Claire’s daughter (Ella Anderson). Peter Dinklage and Kathy Bates also star. Rated R. 99 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Not reviewed)
THE CLAN
Set i n Buenos Aires in the early 1980s as Argentina transitions from a military regime to democracy, The Clan is a tense look inside an organized crime ring. Arquímedes Puccio (Guillermo Francella) is chilling as a former operative once involved in a campaign of statesponsored terror who, finding himself out of work, turns kidnapping, extortion, and murder into a family business.
The story, based on fact, focuses on Arquímedes’ relationship with his son Alejandro (Peter Lanzani), a rising rugby star too naive for his own good who resists his father’s grooming but is lured by the promise of easy money. The Puccio clan’s kidnappings happened in the full light of day, their victims kept in a locked room in their home. The air of normalcy the Puccios project contrasts with screams and pleas for help coming from behind locked doors. The youngest members of the family live in denial and fear. The older members live with complicity. Director Pablo Trapero’s biopic is a searing look at a society grown accustomed to disappearances and cries in the night. Rated R. 110 minutes. In Spanish with subtitles. The Screen. (Michael Abatemarco)
COMPADRES
This comedy from Mexico stars Omar Chaparro as Garza, a rugged ex- cop who is out to get Santos ( Erick Elías), a crime lord who framed him. Garza teams up with a geeky American hacker ( Joey Morgan) who stole millions from Santos, and the duo forms an unlikely friendship. Eric Roberts also stars. Not rated. 101 minutes. In Spanish with subtitles. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed)
EYE IN THE SKY
Helen Mirren plays Katherine Powell, an Army colonel leading a drone mission against a terrorist cell in Kenya. When an innocent nine-year- old girl enters the target area, she must make a difficult decision about whether to proceed or not. Alan Rickman co-stars in one of his final roles. Rated R. 102 minutes. Regal DeVargas. (Not reviewed)
THE FIRST MONDAY IN MAY
This pleasurable, bustling behind-the-scenes documentary looks at the making of China: Through
the Looking Glass, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2015 exhibition and its star-studded kickoff gala. It succeeds as eye candy for fashionistas and as a sally in the war over whether fashion can be considered art; as a documentary with real meat on its bones, less so. Director Andrew Rossi focuses primarily on Andrew Bolton, curator of the Met’s Costume Institute, and Anna Wintour, gala chair and Vogue editor in chief. Rossi builds some tension around the complicated logistics of creating and installing the exhibition and orchestrating the gala’s guest list, but while his film introduces potentially thorny obstacles — issues of imperialism and cultural appropriation — it never reveals how they are avoided or resolved. Rated PG-13. 90 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts. (Laurel Gladden)
GREEN ROOM
When the members of a broke punk rock band strapped for cash take a gig in the backwoods of Oregon, they witness a murder and find themselves the targets of a group of Nazi skinheads. The band members (Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, and Joe Cole) barricade themselves in the club’s green room while the skinheads, led by Patrick Stewart in a villainous turn, attempt to reach them and eliminate witnesses. Stewart is intimidating as a man who commands with a steady, quiet voice, but at times he comes off as too sophisticated and intelligent to waste his time with rabble. Imogen Poots puts in a strong performance as Amber, a former white supremacist and friend of the murder victim who aids the band. There is nothing tongue-in- cheek about the bloody carnage that ensues ( Green Room is not for the squeamish), but when the palpable sense of dread has run its course and the tables have turned, the film settles too comfortably into standard thriller fare. Rated R. 95 minutes. Violet Crown. (Michael Abatemarco)
HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS
The spunky, capable Sally Field lifts this by- thenumbers romantic comedy with a May-November twist. Doris (Field) is an eccentric sixty-something office worker who is smitten with her company’s new young art director, the handsome if slightly dorky John (Max Greenfield). Inspired by a self-help guru (Peter Gallagher), she sheds her mousy ways and blossoms into a music hipster, with internet advice from the teenage daughter of her best friend Roz (the great Tyne Daly). Director Michael Showalter puts us through some excruciating bits of comic awkwardness, and gives a nod to the survival of the sex drive in the social security- generation. Sometimes it’s very funny, sometimes it’s moving, but ultimately the movie plays it safe along the generation gap. Rated R. 95 minutes. Regal DeVargas. (Jonathan Richards)
A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING
Tom Tykwer’s jokey adaptation of the Dave Eggers novel about the decline and outsourcing of the American dream puts to rest the notion that Tom Hanks can save whatever you put him in. As Alan Clay, a salesman trying to peddle holographic teleconferencing software to the king of Saudi Arabia, Hanks soldiers as best he can through this dreary, desert-bound tale of frustration, oversleeping, overdrinking, sweating, and regularly emptying sand from his shoes. He manifests his frustration with a lump on his back that requires surgical removal, which ushers in a sad- eyed, soulful doctor (Sarita Choudhury) for a little romance. There’s a bit of bromance as well, with Alan’s Arab driver (Dhaffer L’Abidine). But there are precious few oases in these vast desert sands. Rated R. 97 minutes. Violet Crown. (Jonathan Richards)
THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER’S WAR
The 2012 fantasy adventure Snow White and the Huntsman was a minor success, and this sequel ditches Snow White to focus on the hunky huntsman, with Chris Hemsworth ( Thor) once more wielding the axe in the role. Even without Snow White, the movie offers Charlize Theron and Emily Blunt as sisters who are rival queens. Rated PG-13. 114 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown; DreamCatcher. (Not reviewed)
THE JUNGLE BOOK
This adventure film is not so much an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s 1894 original as it is a live-action take on Disney’s 1967 animated version of the story — with a darker tone and more action. Neel Sethi (a little hit and miss) plays young Mowgli, the human raised by wolves who must escape the deadly tiger Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba). On his journey, Mowgli is guided by the panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley), befriends the bear Baloo (Bill Murray), and faces off against both the monkey King Louie (Christopher Walken) and the snake Kaa (Scarlett Johansson). Some themes get repetitive, and the tiger is too scary for the littlest ones, but Jon Favreau directs with a sure hand; the film is gorgeous, and the animals are wonderfully animated and voiced. Rated PG. 105 minutes. Screens in 3-D and 2-D at Regal Stadium 14; DreamCatcher. Screens in 2-D only at Violet Crown. (Robert Ker)
KEANU
The popular comic duo Key and Peele (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) make their film debut as a headliners with this caper about a cat named Keanu. Rell (Peele) finds the kitten on his doorstep, which cheers him up after a bad breakup. When Keanu is kitty-napped, however, the milquetoast Rell and his cousin Clarence (Key) must pose as ruthless drug dealers to get it back. Rated R. 98 minutes. Regal DeVargas; Regal Stadium 14; DreamCatcher. (Robert Ker)
MILES AHEAD
The great Don Cheadle produced, co-wrote, and directed this walk on the wild side of jazz legend Miles Davis — and he plays the title role. One of the film’s few downers is the shoehorning in of a white character (Ewan McGregor), without whom Cheadle couldn’t get financing. The movie comes laced with plenty of Miles Davis music, but Cheadle steers clear of an overview of a life arc with stops at his musical milestones. Instead, he has set the story in the lost years in the ‘70s — when Davis became a recluse — with flashes back to the younger Miles. Cheadle’s approach is to let his imagination rip, creating a wild story with bullets flying and car chases. If you’re wondering, none of that ever happened. But somehow it feels right. Rated R. 100 minutes. Violet Crown. (Jonathan Richards)
MOTHER’S DAY
Every holiday seems to have its own feel- good movie, so it’s a wonder that Mother’s Day never really had one — until now. Enter director Garry Marshall, who has already given us Valentine’s Day (2010) and New Year’s Eve (2011), to fill this critical gap in our film canon. He casts Julia Roberts, Kate Hudson, Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, and many others in this ensemble dramedy that examines the ups and downs of motherhood from a variety of angles. Rated PG-13. 118 minutes. Regal DeVargas; Regal Stadium14; DreamCatcher. (Not reviewed)
PAPA: HEMINGWAY IN CUBA
Giovanni Ribisi plays Ed Myers, a journalist who travels to Cuba to interview his hero, Ernest Hemingway (Adrian Sparks). The two men become friends as the Cuban revolution erupts around them. This film, by Bob Yari, is the first Hollywood movie to be shot in Cuba since 1959. Rated R. 109 minutes. Regal DeVargas. (Not reviewed)
RATCHET & CLANK
The Ratchet & Clank video games, which have been published by Sony Interactive Entertainment since 2002, are energetic, colorful, and full of jokes. This animated adaption centers on the outer-space adventures of a catlike creature named Ratchet (voiced by James Arnold Taylor) and his robot Clank (David Kaye), who save the galaxy from Dr. Nefarious (Armin Shimerman). The film is so faithful to the games that it often looks and feels like one. That isn’t a knock on the animation, as video- game graphics have come a long way to catch up with cinematic effects. However, the plot and character development are not effectively fleshed out for a 94- minute movie, making the whole thing a bore. Rosario Dawson, Paul Giamatti, Sylvester Stallone, and John Goodman round out a solid cast, but they’re reciting lines from a script that feels like an afterthought. Rated PG. 94 minutes. Screens in 2-D only at Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown; DreamCatcher. (Robert Ker)
ZOOTOPIA
Disney’s latest animated comedy takes place in the town of its title — an impressively realized and visually clever city full of talking animals. A rabbit police officer (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin), fresh from the country
on her first day on the job, learns that certain animals are disappearing. She forms an unlikely alliance with a fox (Jason Bateman), a small-time con man, to blow the lid off the conspiracy. The trail perhaps takes them on one plot turn too many. However, the mystery is satisfying, the animation is extraordinary, the jokes are cute and funny, and the moral — about trust, understanding, and not judging others or letting yourself be judged based on race (in this case, animal species) — is touching and timely. Rated PG. 108 minutes. Screens in 2-D only at Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown; DreamCatcher. (Robert Ker)