NOW PLAYING
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
All Eyez on Me Biographical drama about rapper Tupac Shakur. Starring Demetrius Shipp Jr. Not reviewed. Rated R. 140 minutes.
Band Aid Zoe ListerJones marks herself as a genuine triple threat, writing, directing and starring in this slight but well-observed story of a husband and wife who find comfort and artistic fulfillment in writing songs that re-enact their arguments. Not rated. 94 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Beatriz at Dinner A kindhearted holistic healer (Salma Hayek) winds up at a fancy dinner party with a billionaire creep (John Lithgow) and is unable to control her anger at the depradations of the rich. It’s all pretty heavy-handed, and the dice are loaded completely on the side of the healer. Hayek is good, but the whole affair is simplistic. Rated R. 83 minutes. — W. Addiego
The Book of Henry Naomi Watts plays the single mom of two young boys, one of whom is a genius (Jaeden Lieberher) who begins to suspect that a neighboring police official is abusing his stepdaughter. It’s a blend of tearjerker and thriller that offers an appealing portrait of the mother’s loving relationship with her sons. But the movie is less satisfying when conveying the more downbeat material, showing an unappealing streak of self-righteousness. Rated PG-13. 105 minutes.
— W. Addiego
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
Cars 3 The third entry in this Pixar series is one too many, with Lightning McQueen — the red car voiced by Owen Wilson — going through a midlife crisis having to do with not being as fast as he used to be. This is a long film that feels longer, with many sequences consisting of nothing but racing, but Pixar’s sterling production values give it something of a lift. Rated G. 119 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
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
47 Meters Down This tension-filled horror-
thriller, about two sisters trapped in an underwater shark cage, has its share of implausible moments, but much of the time, it’s genuinely terrifying. Rated PG-13. 89 minutes.
— D. Lewis
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
Harmonium In this riveting, masterfully executed drama, bad karma pays a visit to a family — and overstays its welcome. It’s bleak, yet it remains engrossing throughout with its genuinely surprising twists and outstanding acting. Not rated. 120 minutes. In Japanese with English subtitles.
— D. Lewis
It Comes at Night It might come at night, but you can stay home from this stretched-out horror/apocalyptic tale that never gets much past its opening premise, that in some future time society will collapse and everyone will be fending for themselves — and fighting off everyone else. Watching it is as fun as being there. Starring Joel Edgerton. Rated R. 97 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
Letters From Baghdad Absorbing documentary about Gertrude Bell, often called the female Lawrence of Arabia, and her role in the making of the modern Middle East. Taken from actual correspondence and journals by Bell and her fiends and colleagues, with Tilda Swinton as the voice of Bell, and filled with archival photographs and film footage, directors Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum intimately evoke Baghdad, Syria and London in the first two decades of the 20th century. Not rated. 95 minutes. — G. Allen Johnson
Manifesto This movie’s concept no doubt sounded better on paper than it plays on the screen. In 13 varied guises, Cate Blanchett recites provocative passages from numerous artistic manifestos. Because of the material’s intensity, the overall effect is numbing — all these radical proclamations blend together and begin to sound like the free-floating rage of an adolescent. Not rated. 95 minutes. — W. Addiego
Maudie This year’s example of the Vera Drake Syndrome in action — a movie that has no life and vitality but that you feel guilty for disliking because it tells the story of a nice person — is a biopic about the Canadian artist Maud Lewis (a relentlessly poignant Sally Hawkins) who, if you believe this movie, went through life without a single interesting thing happening to her. Deadly. Rated PG-13. 115 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
The Mummy Tom Cruise gives this movie a lift, and so do some superb early sequences and the casting of Annabelle Wallis as an Egyptologist. However, the movie bogs down in action-movie noman’s land after the first half-hour and never completely recovers. Still, not bad — just not good enough. Rated PG-13. 110 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
My Cousin Rachel Based on the Daphne du Maurier novel, this is the story of a young man who becomes obsessed and baffled by his guardian’s widow, a charming but mysterious woman (played by Rachel Weisz). It’s a fascinating and well-made film directed by Roger Michell that seems to be a morality tale but is something more complicated. Rated PG-13. 106 minutes. — 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 writer-director Joseph Cedar. Rated R. 117
minutes. — M. LaSalle
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
Raising Bertie Margaret Byrne’s documentary follows a trio of struggling young men in rural North Carolina for six of the most formative years of their lives, as they face educational challenges, fatherless home sand a hard uphill struggle with uncertain rewards. A spare observational presentation creates an immersive and moving experience similar to “Hoop Dreams” and “American Promise” — a movie Byrne worked on as well. Not rated. 104 minutes.
— P. Hartlaub
Rough Night This bachelorette party misadventure looks as if it was significantly more fun for the actors to make than for audiences to watch. But it
does yield rewards, with heavy contributions from the makers of “Broad City,” and an incredibly deep comic cast. Whenever the story goes off the rails, there’s always someone funny there to will it back into a humorous place. Rated R. 101 minutes.
— P. Hartlaub
Slack Bay This misanthropic French comedy is an odd combination of “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie,” Monty Python and Laurel and Hardy, with some cannibalism, incest and gender identity issues thrown in. It’s uneven, but shows imagination. Not rated. 122 minutes. In French with English subtitles. — D. Lewis
Transformers: The Last
Knight Two and a half hours — with a plot seemingly stretched to make it that long — filled with scenes of robots fighting each other, and you’d need a program to know the good robots from the bad. This sequel, based on a series based on toys, is about as cynical an enterprise as the modern cinema can devise — and a chore to sit through. Rated PG-13. 149 minutes.
— M. LaSalle Walking Distance Alejandro Guzman Alvareza’s Mexican indie is a sweet, slow-moving film about a 450-pound man mostly confined to his apartment whose world opens up when he discovers the joys of photography. At the Roxie Theater. Not rated. 104 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles. — G. Allen Johnson 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 The Women’s Balcony This crowd-pleaser concerns a rift within an Orthodox Jewish congregation in Jerusalem. It’s entirely predictable but totally charming. Not rated. 96 minutes. In Hebrew with English subtitles. — D. Lewis
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