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L M A Bad Moms Christmas This rushed sequel to “Bad Moms” (2016) feels more like a financial decision than an artistic mandate. And yet, through all its plot and editing problems, the comedy does deliver a lot of laughs — with a trio of bad grandmothers joining bad moms Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis and Kathryn Hahn. Icy and disapproving Christine Baranski stands out among the newcomers. Rated R. 117 minutes. — P. Hartlaub Blade Runner 2049 Long and slow but never boring, this sequel to the 1982 sci-fi staple is a somber rumination on what it means to be human, with a story of a replicant LAPD officer (Ryan Gosling) charged with finding and destroying older, disobedient replicants. Harrison Ford co-stars. Rated R. 164 minutes.
— M. LaSalle M
The Breadwinner From Ireland’s Cartoon Saloon (“The Secret of Kells”) comes this handsomely animated story of an 11-year-old Afghan girl who disguises herself as a boy during the harsh rule of the Taliban. To soothe her toddler brother, she spins a fantastic tale about a boy who stands up to a wicked Elephant King, which is told in a different style of animation than the rest of the movie. Note the PG-13 rating; some scenes of violence make this film unsuitable for younger children. Rated PG-13. 94 minutes.
— W. Addiego N
Coco Pixar’s new Dia de los Muertosthemed animated movie crams the first sequences with exposition, and then takes a colorful yet light spin through the Land of the Dead. But everything is leading up to a powerhouse finish. The success of this final act, and the way it transforms the entire film, is remarkable. A strong second movie from “Toy Story 3” director Lee Unkrich is one of Pixar’s better productions. Rated PG. 105 minutes.
— P. Hartlaub K
Daddy’s Home 2 This sequel to the Will Ferrell/ Mark Wahlberg comedy brings in Mel Gibson and John Lithgow as grandparents; inspired casting ruined by a weak script. The plot relies on contrived conflicts, too many of which involve Ferrell’s character creating a disaster while using power tools. Audiences will yearn for the holiday slapstick subtlety of the “Home Alone” burglars. Rated PG-13. 100 minutes.
— P. Hartlaub N
Darkest Hour Gary Oldman gives the performance of his career as Winston Churchill, fighting to rally his country and inspire a war Cabinet bent on surrender, in this dramatic study of a crucial month during World War II. If Oldman doesn’t win an Oscar for this, something is very wrong around here. Rated PG-13. 125 minutes. — M. LaSalle M
Dealt This stellar documentary is a character study about one of the planet’s foremost card performers — who happens to be blind. His journey to accept his condition is at the heart of this emotionally satisfying film. Not rated. 85 minutes. — D. Lewis N The Disaster Artist This fact-based comedy, about two friends and the making of a selffinanced movie in Los Angeles (“The Room”), is the funniest movie in a year of funny movies, with James Franco, who also directed, as Tommy Wiseau, a bizarre and talentless actor who decides to write and direct his own starring vehicle. Co-starring Dave Franco, and with Seth Rogen in a featured role, the movie is side-splitting. Rated R. 103 minutes. — M. LaSalle
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Faces Places This may be the final film of Agnes Varda, one of the last surviving members of the French New Wave. It documents her tour of small and rural French towns in the company of a much younger artist (she’s 89), named JR, during which they photographed working-class people and posted huge, blown-up images of them on local structures. It’s good to spend time with Varda, Rated PG. 89 minutes. In French with English subtitles. — W. Addiego M The Florida Project This has a strong opening and a terrific finish, with 40 dead minutes in the middle. But it’s so original and so well-done when it’s working — a brilliant portrait of childhood as experienced inside a poverty motel in Orlando — that it’s hard to imagine anyone forgetting it. Rated R. 115 minutes.
— M. LaSalle N God’s Own Country This stirring, heartfelt drama, about the romance between an emotionally stifled English sheep farmer and an irrepressible Romanian migrant worker, is profoundly moving and captures the harsh yet beautiful moors. It’s why we go to the movies. Not rated. 104 minutes. — D. Lewis M
Human Flow Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei doesn’t break any new ground in his documentary about the global refugee crisis, but he manages, in simple, artistic terms, to vividly illustrate the scale of the problem. Rated PG-13. 140 minutes. — D. Lewis M
Jane Using previously unseen footage stored for more than 50 years in National Geographic’s archive, this documentary offers a close-up, extraordinary look at Jane Goodall’s pioneering work with chimpanzees in 1960s Tanzania. The film wraps up too quickly and neatly, but that does not make the Tanzania footage less exquisite. Rated PG. 90 minutes. — C. Meyer
Just Getting Started Action comedy about a former FBI agent working with an ex-mob lawyer to prevent a mob hit. With Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones, Rene Russo. Not reviewed. Rated PG-13. 90 minutes. K
Justice League DC Comics’ answer to the Avengers is a pretty ridiculous crew, in which Superman can do everything, the others can do little, and Batman can only stand there
and get beaten up. Wonder Woman lifts the proceedings somewhat, thanks to her powers of indeterminate capacity and Gal Gadot’s face, which is more effective in close-up than all of the movie’s obvious-looking computer graphics. Rated PG-13. 119 minutes. — M. LaSalle
The Killing of a Sacred Deer Interesting and very low-key horror film, with Colin Farrell as an emotionally disconnected, flawed heart surgeon whose family becomes terrorized by a malevolent and destructive force. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Rated R. 121 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Lady Bird Greta Gerwig’s debut as a solo writer-director is this unconventional coming-ofage tale about an extroverted high school senior (Saoirse Ronan), clashing with her mother and wanting to leave her native Sacramento. This is a warm, good-hearted, intuitive movie that could be the start of an exceptional filmmaking career. Rated R. 94 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Los Nadie (The Nobodies) Though sometimes as aimless as the Medellin youths it portrays, this black-and-white indie from Colombia is an interesting and affecting slice-of-life portrait of tattooed teenagers rushing toward adulthood, one step away from the streets. Not rated. 84 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles.
— G. Allen Johnson
Loving Vincent This animation tells a story about the aftermath of Vincent van Gogh’s death through the visual idiom of his paintings, and for 10 or 15 this is one of the greatest animated films ever made. But it goes on for another 80 minutes, and the movie suffers from a weak, flat narrative. Rated PG-13. 95 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Lucky This is an affecting love letter to the late character actor Harry Dean Stanton, who portrays the title character, a cantankerous nonagenarian living in a tiny desert town who shuffles through his daily routine while coming to terms with his mortality. With appearances by David Lynch, Ron Livingston, Ed Begley Jr., Tom Skerritt, Beth Grant and James Darren. Not rated. 88 minutes.
— W. Addiego
The Man Who Invented Christmas Dan Stevens plays the young Charles Dickens, struggling to write “A Christmas Carol” on deadline, in this charming, mystical revisit of the holiday classic, with Christopher Plummer as Scrooge. This is a enjoyable holiday movie with a warm spirit. Rated PG. 104 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
Murder on the Orient Express This adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel has virtues that the original film lacks, including a more powerful opening, a stronger ending, a more engaging Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh, who also directed) and a powerhouse performance by Michelle Pfeiffer. It’s solid old-fashioned entertainment. Rated PG-13. 114 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
My Friend Dahmer Based on serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s high school classmate John “Derf” Backderf’s graphic novel, this film focuses on Dahmer’s teenage years, emphasizing a thoughtful nurture-vs.-nature argument rather than prurient details. But filmmaker Marc Meyers does not come down strongly enough on either side — nature or nurture — to establish the film as particularly trenchant, or necessary, with Dahmer’s story having been told often elsewhere. Rated R. 107 minutes. — C. Meyer
Novitiate Easily one of the best movies of the year, this story of young nuns in training, set in a cloistered convent in 1964, features five — count ’em, five — knockout performances, though Melissa Leo takes the prize as the mother superior. Rated R. 123 minutes.
— M. LaSalle On the Beach at Night Alone Another satisfying character study from South Korean arthouse treasure Hong Sang-soo about an actress (Kim Min-hee of “The Handmaiden”) trying to pick up the pieces after the end of an affair with a film director. Rich in detail and absorbingly improvisational, the film belongs to Kim, who won best actress at the Berlin Film Festival. Not rated. 101 minutes. In Korean with English subtitles.
— G. Allen Johnson
The Other Side of Hope Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki mixes his patented deadpan humor with a story of the tribulations of a Syrian refugee attempting to avoid deportation from Helsinki. He gets a job at a funky restaurant run by a group of misfits for an owner who turns out to be surprisingly compassionate. Not rated. 98 minutes. In Finnish, English and Arabic with English subtitles. — W. Addiego
Roman J. Israel, Esq. Denzel Washington, in a rare, nerdy character role, enacts the decline and fall of a social justice lawyer. The only problem is it’s not much of a fall, in that, as presented here, he’s the world’s worst lawyer, who can’t keep from alienating everyone he meets. Rated PG-13. 129 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
Shadowman Oren Jacoby’s documentary, which spans 19792015, attempts to make sense of Richard Hambleton, the self-destructive street artist who rose alongside JeanMichel Basquiat and Keith Haring to the top of the New York art scene in the 1980s only to descend into drug addiction and homelessness. We meet him as a sad and physically hobbled man in 2009, as he prepares for his comeback at an exhibition backed by Georgio Armani. Fascinating. Not rated. 81 minutes. — G. Allen Johnson
The Shape of Water Visually brilliant and psychologically strange, this Guillermo del Toro film, starring Sally Hawkins, is essentially about the power of love, but it functions as another of its director’s indulgences in cruelty, with Michael Shannon as a sadistic government agent. Still, the set design and cinematographer make this film impossible to dismiss. Rated R. 123 minutes. — M. LaSalle
The Square This Swedish satire of the mindless relativism that has infected modern art and thought is a study in how to make audiences feel unsettled — and keep them interested — for over two hours.This is a different and interesting film. In English and Swedish with English subtitles. Starring Claes Bang and Elisabeth Moss. Rated R. 142 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
The Star Animated story of the first Christmas as seen through the eyes of the animals that witnessed Jesus’ birth. Not reviewed. Rated PG. 86 minutes.
Thelma Norway’s entry in the Oscar sweepstakes (for best foreign film) is this Joachim Trier film, about a young woman whose entry into college triggers some previously hidden supernatural abilities. The farthest thing from a superhero movie, this is a quiet romantic thriller with supernatural overtones. Not rated. 116 minutes. In Norwegian with English subtitles.
— M. LaSalle
Thor: Ragnarok The best of the “Thor” movies, this returns to the light, fun spirit of the original, while bringing on the blockbuster action sequences. The movie is funny, with strong turns from Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Anthony Hopkins as the King, and especially Cate Blanchett, who eats up the scenery as the Goddess of Death. Rated PG-13. 130 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Frances McDormand has one of her career-best showcases as a woman, mourning the murder of her daughter, who tries to prod the local police by renting three billboards criticizing them for their slow investigation. Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, the movie is both funny and sad, with brilliant performances by McDormand and by Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson as local policemen. Rated R. 115 minutes.
— M. LaSalle Tom of Finland This Finnish film about the renowned gay artist who helped create the leather culture and empower the gay community in the 1950s and ’60s is sensitively told. Fascinating figure. The film, while solid, is something you could take your straight grandmother to. Not rated. 116 minutes. In Finnish and English with English subtitles.
— G. Allen Johnson Wonder Based on the bestseller, this is the story of a boy born with an odd face who must endure the trauma of going to school, in this heartfelt and surprisingly unsentimental film. Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson play the parents, but the real standout is Izabel Vidovic as the boy’s sister. Rated PG. 113 minutes. — M. LaSalle Wonder Wheel Woody Allen’s latest, good not great, features Kate Winslet as a woman facing her last chance at love, in a film set in Coney Island in the 1950s. She’s superb, and so is Juno Temple as her stepdaughter, on the run from the mob. Rated PG-13. 101 minutes.
— M. LaSalle