NOW IN THEATERS

THE ACCOUNTANT

Ben Affleck plays a mathematics savant with a lethal streak in this combination of the cerebral and the visceral. Plot threads twist, flashbacks flash, exposition unfolds, and bullets fly. Affleck’s “high-functioning autistic” is at the center of it all, reliving memories of a childhood with his toughlove dad and his kid brother, as well as a prison stint where he learned skills from his mob accountant cellmate (Jeffrey Tambor) that he uses to launder money for international arms dealers. Meanwhile, he’s unraveling financial chicanery at John Lithgow’s corporation while shyly romancing its in-house whistle-blower (Anna Kendrick) and staying a step ahead of treasury agents (J.K. Simmons and Cynthia Addai-Robinson). On a parallel track, a hit man named Brax (Jon Bernthal) keeps up a steady and related stream of assassinations. Bill Dubuque’s screenplay is a complex, sometimes exasperating puzzle,

but director Gavin O’Connor manages to gather in the reins and keep things entertaining. Rated R. 128 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown; DreamCatcher. (Jonathan Richards)

AN ART THAT NATURE MAKES: THE WORK OF ROSAMOND PURCELL

This documentary looks at the career and process of acclaimed photographer Rosamond Purcell. Her work reveals her fascination with capturing both natural and man-made things in varying degrees of decay, as she shoots everything from junkyards to animal carcasses in ways that render her subjects abstract. Stephen Jay Gould and Errol Morris appear in the film to express admiration for her work. Not rated. 75 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts. (Not reviewed)

THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK  THE TOURING YEARS

Ron Howard lovingly directs this documentary, which focuses on the touring career of the Beatles between 1963 and 1966 through found concert footage (some of it too familiar, some of it seemingly fresh material), interviews, and press conferences (when the Fab Four were at their most refreshingly cheeky). The story is not new by any means, but it’s well told at a fast pace and particularly compelling in detailing the private hell of being a Beatle toward the end of their run of live shows. It may inspire fans or even casual appreciators to dig back into the Beatles catalog; after all, as Paul McCartney recently observed in Rolling Stone, “The thing about the Beatles — they were a damn hot little band.” Not rated. 137 minutes. Center for Contemporary Arts. (Molly Boyle)

BEING 17

Teenage boys are often moody and uncomfortable, young enough to still be good at heart but too awkward to express even their best intentions — none of which makes for feel-good cinema. But Being 17 is one of the most honest character studies of teenage boys in recent memory, and it is even more remarkable for the fact that it was co-written and directed by seventy-three-year-old French filmmaker André Téchiné. This coming-of-age romance centers on two boys (Kacey Mottet Klein and Corentin Fila) with absent parents who live in a mountain town dominated by the military and agriculture. The romantic interest they sense in each another manifests itself in schoolyard violence — for a time. The plot unfolds in satisfying fashion, thanks to their wonderful acting and the film’s lively, thoughtful editing. Sandrine Kiberlain deserves special notice for her empathetic performance as the mother to one boy and mother figure to the other. Not rated. 116 minutes. In French with subtitles. Center for Contemporary Arts. (Robert Ker)

CERTAIN WOMEN

In muddy, wintry southern Montana, Laura (Laura Dern), a lawyer, is contending with the unreasonable demands of an unhinged client. Meanwhile, Gina (Michelle Williams) is determined to build her dream home, and Beth (Kristen Stewart) is tackling a grueling commute to teach a continuing-education class where she makes an unlikely friend (Lily Gladstone). Director Kelly Reichardt’s quietly impressionistic film stitches together these three tales with invisible seams, bolstering the reputation the indie filmmaker has developed as a poet of the mundane. Buoyed by the virtuoso performances of Dern, Williams, and Stewart, along with the magnetic Gladstone, the film’s best moments exist in sly nonverbal gestures: in Dern’s untangling of a scarf after she puts on a bulletproof vest over it, or Gladstone’s reverent brushing of the horses she cares for. It’s a profound reminder of the everyday visual poetics that tether a person’s interiority to the outside world. Rated R. 107 minutes. Violet Crown. (Molly Boyle)

DENIAL

This courtroom drama, based on Deborah E. Lipstadt’s book History on Trial: My Day in Court

With a Holocaust Denier, describes the legal battle that occurred in the late 1990s when infamous Holocaust denier David Irving (Timothy Spall) sued Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz) for libel — a result of her calling him a Holocaust denier. She and her lawyers then had to prove that the Holocaust actually happened and that Irving intentionally falsified his historical writing to argue otherwise. This no-frills film focuses on the trial and leaves small bits of character development to the superb cast (which also includes Andrew Scott and the ever-charming Tom Wilkinson). It’s not a terribly stylish movie, but the court case is compelling, as is the concept of having to prove in court that a widely known truth is true. Rated PG-13. 110 minutes. Regal DeVargas. (Robert Ker)

THE DRESSMAKER

Kate Winslet stars as Tilly Dunnage, a dressmaker who in the 1950s returns to her hometown in the Australian Outback. She and her sophisticated haute-couture designs invigorate the rural town with new energy. However, she also harbors a secret and is looking to exact some sweet revenge. Based on the novel by Rosalie Ham. Rated R. 119 minutes. Regal DeVargas. (Not reviewed)

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

Based on Paula Hawkins’ bestselling 2015 novel, this moody psychological thriller centers on Rachel (Emily Blunt), a depressive alcoholic divorcée who takes the train to Manhattan every day. From her window, she often catches glimpses of Megan (Haley Bennett) and her husband (Luke Evans), who seem to embody the ideal couple. One day, she sees Megan canoodling with a stranger, and the next morning, Rachel wakes up bruised and covered in blood, unable to remember the events of the previous night — and Megan is missing. Director Tate Taylor manages to turn this juicy material into a drawn-out snooze-fest, with an over-reliance on lingering close-ups of his female stars’ faces, as if attempting to get the camera near enough to reveal the characters’ secrets. Blunt is compelling as she tries to make sense of events through the debilitating fog of her character’s alcoholism, but her powerful performance is not enough to carry a film that jumps at the chance to devolve into tawdry Lifetime movie territory. Rated R. 112 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown. (Molly Boyle)

HARRY AND SNOWMAN

Director Ron Davis’ tribute to Snowman, the horse that won the triple crown of show jumping in 1958, is a Cinderella story about the bond between two friends. Dutch immigrant Harry deLayer bought the horse off the back of a slaughterhouse truck and discovered the workhorse’s talent for jumping by accident. The film parallels moments in the horse’s life with that of deLayer, who (like Snowman) came from nothing but eventually found success in a new land. The story has moments of triumph and poignancy as Harry and Snowman’s long relationship takes them on the jumping circuit to win numerous awards, appear on television, and become legends in their field. It’s a moving film about a lifealtering chance encounter between man and beast. Not rated. 84 minutes. The Screen. (Michael Abatemarco)

INFERNO HELL OR HIGH WATER

New Mexico doubles for Texas in this film about two brothers (Chris Pine and Ben Foster) who take to robbing banks while two experienced lawmen (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham) doggedly pursue them. As a heist-action film, the story offers little that’s new, but Taylor Sheridan’s insightful script and David Mackenzie’s deft direction transform the tale into an involving drama about the bonds of love and loyalty and the lengths to which modern-day outlaws and lawmen will go to uphold their respective codes of the West. Rated R. 102 minutes. Regal DeVargas. (Robert Nott) Tom Hanks returns to play author Dan Brown’s wildly popular professor Robert Langdon of The Da Vinci Code once more. This time, Langdon wakes up in a hospital, suffering from amnesia that doesn’t hinder his extensive knowledge of history but affects his memory of the last few days. He teams up with Dr. Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones) to solve a mystery involving Dante’s Inferno that could lead to countless deaths. Rated PG-13. 121 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown; DreamCatcher. (Not reviewed)

JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK

As bestselling author Lee Child’s formidable Jack Reacher, the ageless Tom Cruise is still punching through car windows, smashing people’s heads into desks, and taking out multiple bruisers using only his bare hands. This time Reacher must uncover a major government conspiracy involving the death of soldiers before he is taken out by the enemy. Edward Zwick directs. Rated PG-13. 118 minutes. Regal DeVargas; Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown; DreamCatcher. (Not reviewed)

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES

Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher play the Gaffneys, a pleasantly dull married couple who get a jolt of excitement when the Joneses (Gal Gadot and Jon Hamm) move to their neighborhood. An odd sort of friendship blossoms, and when the Gaffneys do a bit of amateur spy work to investigate the Joneses, they learn that their new neighbors are professional spies. Comic antics ensue when the Gaffneys are drawn into the world of international espionage. Rated PG-13. 101 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed)

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

After a promising start, Antoine Fuqua’s remake of the famous 1960 film about seven gunmen who defend an isolated town from Mexican bandits in order to preserve their place in the West turns into a standard shoot-’em-up, with flying lead making up for the lack of smart dialogue. Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, and Ethan Hawke hold their own in the saddle, but some of the others sort of disappear into the bullet-fractured woodwork, and the villainy is played for one note bordering on the ludicrous. Rated PG-13. 132 minutes. Regal Stadium 14. (Robert Nott)

MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN

Tim Burton presents a haunted house of a movie, containing children in creepy masks, walking skeletons, eyeballeating villains, and many other ghastly and ghoulish delights. It comes in the form of an adaptation of Ransom Riggs’ whimsically Gothic young-adult novel, in which a boy named Jake (Asa Butterfield) follows a mystery to a secret institution where

STORKS

children with unusual powers are kept safe from society by the shape-shifting Miss Peregrine (Eva Green). The movie’s first half is slow, and the premise eventually reveals itself to be more convoluted than necessary, but it’s a rare family film (roughly for ages nine and up) that’s spooky, silly, and sometimes gross. Rated PG-13. 127 minutes. Screens in 2-D only at Regal Stadium 14; Violet Crown; DreamCatcher. (Robert Ker)

OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL

A prequel to 2014’s Ouija, this horror film centers on a single mom in 1967 Los Angeles who runs a scam in which she and her daughters pretend to contact the dead using a Ouija board. But then spirits come through the board, possess the youngest girl, and turn her into a sadistic supernatural killing machine. Rated PG-13. 99 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; DreamCatcher. (Not reviewed)

OUR LAST TANGO

This documentary tells the story of Argentine tango dancers María Nieves Rego and Juan Carlos Copes, a pair who achieved considerable fame, got married, and had a very unhappy divorce. The dancers, now in their eighties, were interviewed for the film and even dance together one last time. The film also contains dramatic recreations of early moments in their lives. Not rated. 85 minutes. In Spanish with subtitles. Jean Cocteau Cinema. (Not reviewed) Once upon a time, storks delivered babies to new parents. After that became unprofitable, they switched to delivering packages. That’s the premise of this animated comedy, which centers on one stork (voiced by Andy Samberg) who, on the eve of a big promotion, accidentally activates the company’s old “baby making machine” and then attempts to deliver the little tykes before his boss finds out. Rated PG. 89 minutes. Screens in 2-D only at Regal Stadium 14. (Not reviewed)

TYLER PERRY’S BOO! A MADEA HALLOWEEN

Writer, director, and actor Tyler Perry’s popular Madea character — a no-nonsense grandma played by Perry in drag — has starred in two Christmas movies, but this Halloween film is a first. Madea’s going to need all of her surly, gun-crazy ways to fend off the waves of zombies, ghouls, and ghosts (not to mention unruly teenagers) that rain down on her house on Oct. 31. Rated PG-13. 103 minutes. Regal Stadium 14; DreamCatcher. (Not reviewed)