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Alien: Covenant The latest from Ridley Scott is an effective monster film with interesting overtones dealing with the fear of artificial intelligence. Michael Fassbender is superb in a dual role, playing two different robots. Rated PG. 122 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Bang: The Bert Berns Story Though recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this 1960s songwriter and record producer remains virtually unknown. This energetic, highly musical and entertaining documentary makes the case for his rediscovery. Not rated. 94 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Baywatch This adaptation of the long-running TV series about sleuthing lifeguards refashions the concept into a comedy, but the comedy is weak and there is too much emphasis on the lukewarm crime plot. The movie depicts high spirits but can’t quite generate them. Rated R. 116 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Buena Vista Social Club: Adios Cuban musicians from the 1999 film “Buena Vista Social Club” are included in this documentary update, with new backgrounds, storytelling and context. But a dramatic narrative of its own never takes hold. “Adios” is a film for people who have memorized the first film and 1998 album, and simply crave more. Rated PG. 110 minutes.
— P. Hartlaub
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie Dav Pilkey’s creation “Captain Underpants” is a very popular book series that doesn’t seamlessly translate to the big screen, and the filmmakers can’t solve this problem. Despite moments where the writing is strong, the animated comedy is a little too dark, a little too nihilistic, a little too empty. Rated PG. 89 minutes. — P. Hartlaub
Churchill Brian Cox plays Winston Churchill during an atypical juncture of his life, one in which he was not just worried but wrong, anticipating disaster in the days leading up to D-Day in 1944. The movie has too many similar scenes, and though Cox is the right age and size for Churchill, he lacks the wartime leader’s wit and lovableness — though that may be a consequence of the movie, in which he gets little chance to do anything but fret. Rated PG. 105 minutes. — M. LaSalle
The Circle As chilling as any horror film and even more disturbing because the world it depicts is so close to our own, this is a dystopian vision of what could happen to human interaction if the big tech companies have their way. Based on Dave Eggars’ novel and starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks. Rated PG-13. 110 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
Dean This comedydrama from actorwriter-comedianillustrator Demetri Martin is a slightly better than middling Woody Allen knockoff that never quite rises to “good.” A young Brooklyn cartoonist (Martin) and his father (Kevin Kline) are still reeling from the death of the family matriarch and coping with romantic issues. There are decent Allenesque situations and humor, but they are undermined by some flat jokes, a running gag that goes on too long and a tearjerker strain toward the end. Rated PG-13. 87 minutes. — W. Addiego
Diary of a Wimpy Kid:
The Long Haul The fourth film based on the popular graphic novel series by Jeff Kinney is a solid effort, often rising above its barf and poop jokes. Alicia Silverstone is excellent in the mom role, as the Heffley family of five attempts to travel across country by car without screens. Mindless and filled with lowbrow humor, but fun. Rated PG. 91 minutes.
— P. Hartlaub
Everything, Everything A young woman (Amandla Stenberg) whose severe allergies prevent her from ever leaving the house falls in love with the boy next door, in this young adult romance based on the novel of the same name. It’s an appealing film,
but its slight story is overblown and overstuffed with bad musical interludes. Rated PG-13. 96 minutes. — M. LaSalle
The Fate of the Furious In this latest installment of the “Fast & Furious” action franchise, Dominic (Vin Diesel) falls prey to the machinations of an unscrupulous new lover (Charlize Theron). This new film is a welcome return to the series’ true, silly nature. Rated PG-13. 136 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Get Out This first film from director Jordan Peele is very much a product of 2017, a comic horror film about a young black man (Daniel Kaluuya) who goes with his new girlfriend (Allison Williams) on a visit to her parents’ house. It’s a funny and unsettling mix of paranoia and a comic awareness of its own paranoia, and it’s irresistible. Rated R. 103 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 This second installment improves on the first by concentrating on the comedy. It’s like a postmodern take on the sci-fi action film genre, with Kurt Russell showing up this time as Ego, the long-lost father of Peter (Chris Pratt). It’s a pretty good action movie, but it’s also one of the funniest movies of the season. Rated PG-13. 138 minutes. — M. LaSalle
I, Daniel Blake Ken Loach’s sober drama about a 59-year-old British construction worker coping with bureaucracy in the aftermath of a heart attack is given a lift by the performance of Dave Johns in the title role. Johns is a comedian who has an aura of lightness despite the somber circumstances. Rated R. 100 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent From director Lydia Tenaglia, this is a well-made
documentary about the celebrity chef, one of the originators of California cuisine and of the legendary Stars restaurant. Tower is a complicated figure and makes for fascinating viewing. Rated R. 115 minutes. — M. LaSalle
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword The latest from director and cowriter Guy Ritchie takes the King Arthur legend and adds monsters, cockney banter and lots of plot convolutions to make for a tiresome and exhausting movie experience. However, Jude Law is fun as an evil, usurping king. Rated PG-13. 136 minutes. — M. LaSalle
The Last Shaman Raz Degan’s documentary follows privileged college student James Freeman’s journey through his own heart of darkness into the Amazon to cure his deep, suicidal depression with the help of a Peruvian shaman. It is a fascinating peek into a fringe culture, an interesting portrait of a young man struggling with his demons and a manipulative but effective piece of nonfiction filmmaking. Not rated. 79 minutes. — G. Allen Johnson
Like Crazy Paolo Virzi wrote and directed this Italian best picture winner, with a brilliant Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Micaela Ramazzotti as a pair of mentally ill women who escape a sanitarium and go on a life-changing road trip. Not rated. 118 minutes. In Italian with English subtitles. — M. LaSalle
Norman Richard Gere gets a strong and unusual showcase as a small-time hustler trying to crack into the big time, by putting over a deal involving American big business and the Israeli government. It features excellent character work by Gere and a swiftmoving story by writerdirector Joseph Cedar. Rated R. 117 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Obit This informative documentary looks at the New York Times’ obituary writers, who bring people to life one last time. It’s a highly enjoyable, even uplifting, film. Not rated. 95 minutes. — D. Lewis
Paris Can Wait Written and directed by Eleanor Coppola, this is an achingly dull and poorly acted film about the wife of a producer (Diane Lane) who goes on a seemingly endless road trip with a man who wants to seduce her. The movie loses its way about 15 minutes in and never gets better. Rated PG. 92 minutes. — M. LaSalle
A Quiet Passion This so-so biopic charts the sad decline of Emily Dickinson from a bright, capable youth to an embittered, rancorous older woman. Despite a good cast (Cynthia Nixon, Jennifer Ehle) and a good director (Terence Davies), there’s a heavyhandedness that disappoints. Rated PG-13. 125 minutes. — W. Addiego
Snatched Amy Schumer is terrific, and nicely paired with Goldie Hawn as her mother, in this uneven but mostly laugh-filled comedy about two women who go off to Ecuador on vacation and end up kidnapped by drug dealers. Rated R. 90 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Their Finest Gemma Arterton and Sam Clafin are co-workers who become romantic, while making a British propaganda movie before the United States has entered World War II. The two pieces of cinema become tied together, with many of the same weaknesses and strengths. But the film succeeds with a smart script, and positive outlook for humanity in tough times that resonates in 2017. Rated R. 117 minutes. — P. Hartlaub
Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk This documentary about the East Bay punk scene in the 1980s and 1990s is strictly for aficionados. Everyone else will be left in the dust, with its discussion of countless bands most people have never heard of. Not rated. 155 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Wakefield This is two-thirds of a movie stretched to feature length, founded on an interesting idea, in which an upper-middle-class husband and father hides in his own backyard and lets family and friends believe he has disappeared. Unfortunately the movie never advances much past that idea. Still, Bryan Cranston is intense in the title role. Rated R. 106 minutes. — M. LaSalle The Wedding Plan Writer-director Rama Burshtein’s Israeli drama is a twist on crowdpleasing marriage-minded romantic comedies, with a wonderful performance by Noa Koler as a woman who is dumped a month before her wedding. She decides to hold the wedding anyway, confident that God will provide a replacement. Rated PG. 110 minutes. In Hebrew with English subtitles. — G. Allen Johnson
Wonder Woman This is a different kind of comic book movie, with a sense of history and purpose, featuring a starmaking performance by Gal Gadot in the title role. Costarring Chris Pine and directed by Patty Jenkins (“Monster”). Rated PG-13. 141 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Your Name What starts out as a “Freaky Friday”-type body exchange between high school kids — a rural village girl and a Tokyo boy — becomes a rumination on time travel, cataclysmic fate, rural-urban dynamics and, of course, a love story in novelist-turned-director Makoto Shinkai’s anime, which is more Miyazaki than “Ghost in the Shell. Rated PG. 106 minutes. — G. Allen Johnson