47 METERS DOWN

PG-13. 89 minutes. Through today only at Westbrook. After the surprising success of last year’s “girl with shark” thriller “The Shallows,” “47 Meters Down” seems to be posing the question, “what if ‘The Shallows’… but deep?” Because that’s exactly what it is, and it even tells you how deep right there in the title. This time there are two girls, not just the one, though star Mandy Moore is ostensibly the lead in this claustrophobic underwater nightmare. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

GIRLS TRIP

R, 122 minutes. Waterford, Stonington, Lisbon. Perfecting the raunchy, randy, female-driven comedy can be a tall order. “Bridesmaids” showed it could be done, though such successes can be few and far between. “Girls Trip” proves to be the heir apparent to “Bridesmaids,” a film about female friendship that nails the comedy, the boldness and the heart. There’s no need for high concepts or outlandish premises here; all that’s necessary is four longtime best friends and a city built for sin. “The Best Man” and “The Best Man Holiday” director Malcolm D. Lee directs “Girls Trip,” and he’s clearly a man comfortable navigating an ensemble project. “Black-ish” writer Kenya Barris co-wrote the script alongside three female writers, Karen McCullah, Tracy Oliver and Erica Rivinoja. That feminine voice and influence comes through loud and clear in the banter among the friend group knows as the “Flossy Posse” (they even have matching necklaces). Author and Oprah-in-training Ryan (Regina Hall) has invited her girl crew along for a trip to Essence Fest in New Orleans, where she’s giving a keynote speech and taking meetings to launch her brand with her husband and business partner, Stewart (Mike Colter). Making up the Flossy Posse are Jada Pinkett Smith as worrywart mom Lisa, Queen Latifah as gossip blogger Sasha (yes, there is a great “Set It Off” reference), and rounding out the crew is lesser-known comedian and actress Tiffany Haddish, who runs away with “Girls Trip” in a breakout performance as the wildly funny, completely uncensored and often unhinged Dina. In the party atmosphere of New Orleans, Ryan’s perfectly maintained image and composure starts to come loose at the seams, especially when the posse discovers photos of Stewart stepping out on her with a sultry Instagram model (Deborah Ayorinde). — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

THE HOUSE

R, 88 minutes. Westbrook. After blowing their daughter’s college fund, husband and wife Scott (Will Ferrell) and Kate (Amy Poehler) open an illegal casino in a neighbor’s basement to recoup the money.

MAUDIE

1/2 PG-13, 115 minutes. Madison Art Cinemas. Filmed in a rural Newfoundland region where time seems to have stood still, “Maudie” tells the true story of two loners facing a harsh world together, like a pair of trees on a frozen, bare landscape. Maud Dawley (played by Sally Hawkins), born in 1903 Nova Scotia, suffered as a child from what would now be diagnosed as juvenile arthritis. As an adult, her condition worsened and she walked with a painful limp; nonetheless, she loved to paint colorful pictures of flowers, trees and animals. In her 30s, she met Everett Lewis (Ethan Hawke), a taciturn bachelor living in a tiny farmhouse far from the nearest town, after he placed an ad for a housekeeper. They married and made a quiet life together, with Maud eventually becoming an internationally acclaimed folk artist. (That house, its walls and windows playfully layered with Maud’s bright work, now stands as a permanent exhibit in the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.) As told in Aisling Walsh’s engaging film, this isn’t exactly a love story; Everett, for some time, is abusive and withdrawn, and it’s often not clear whether Maud feels any attachment to him or if she’s just there because of a lack of other options. But what shines through is the beauty of Guy Godfree’s cinematography — the light has a lovely, soft stillness to it, like a painting — and a remarkable performance by Hawkins, whose impossibly wide smile seems to bring the sun. A brief glimpse of the real Maud, at the end, shows us the uncanny accuracy of Hawkins’s physical transformation, depicting Maud’s severe stoop, curling hands and tiny, crushed voice. But Hawkins also creates a gentle, loving soul, determined to find beauty and goodness in a world that hasn’t treated her kindly. — Moira Macdonald, The Seattle Times

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING

PG-13, 133 minutes. Through today only at Mystic Luxury Cinemas. Still playing at Niantic, Stonington, Waterford, Westbrook and Lisbon. Few movies have as much riding on them as “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” This isn’t just another blockbuster hoping to recoup its sizable budget, it’s a referendum on the cinematic future of one of the most popular superheroes in the pantheon. After a long custody battle over the Marvel family — Sony got Spidey while Disney got nearly everyone else — “Spider-Man: Homecoming” must not only restore its hero to his rightful place in the Avengers’ universe, but win over audiences still soured by a fizzled reboot just a few years ago. Good news: “Spider-Man: Homecoming” admirably riseas to the occasion. It delivers all the flash and bang we expect from today’s Marvel movies, but it also has the sweet, youthful spirit we remember from Sam Raimi’s trilogy with a baby-faced Tobey Maguire. “Homecoming” immediately drops Peter Parker (Tom Holland) into our favorite part of his story: The shrimpy high-school sophomore who must keep his superpowers a secret. Parker now lives in a Marvel world. He aspires to join the Avengers the way young techies aspire to join Google. (Robert Downey, Jr., pops in and out as billionaire Tony Stark, aka Iron Man.) Peter also lives in a multiethnic world — his nerdy pal Ned (Jacob Batalon), his frenemy Flash Thompson (Tony Revolori) and his secret crush, Liz (Laura Harrier), provide the color spectrum you’d expect in Peter’s native borough of Queens. — Rafer Guzmán, Newsday

TRANSFORMERS: LAST KNIGHT

PG-13, 150 minutes. Through today only at Lisbon. Michael Bay’s previous film was a cranked-up, little-seen dramatization of the 2012 Benghazi tragedy called “13 Hours.” By sheer coincidence — or, for all I know, by diabolical design — that title also sums up how long it would take you to watch all five of Bay’s “Transformers” movies back-to-back-toback-to-back-to-back, not counting the occasional break to use the bathroom, pop another Advil or hurl yourself off the nearest cliff. Thirteen hours! Think of what you could get done in that time. — Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS

PG-13, 137 minutes. Niantic, Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. When even most of the good spectacles carry a strong whiff of prepackaging, try taking in the air of Luc Besson’s sci-fi extravaganza “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.” Its atmosphere — vibrant in color, elastic in form — takes some acclimating to after such a barrage of more sanitized summer movies. Watching “Valerian” is to simultaneously and acutely realize what’s missing from so many other big films (visual inventiveness, freewheeling unpredictability) and appreciate what the more controlled studio project does so much better (precision pacing, half-decent writing). Had “Valerian” — a lifelong passion project for the French filmmaker that’s been called the most expensive indie film ever made — been produced in the studio system, it would have been better. But also worse. “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets,” adapted by Besson from Pierre Christin and Jen Claude Mezieres’ comic book series, is just your average Dane Dehaan movie with extraterrestrial ducks, a pole-dancing Rihanna and a prominent cameo from Herbie Hancock. In the opening montage of “Valerian” (its best sequence), the commander of the sprawling space station Alpha welcomes over time a steady stream of every nationality of Earth and then alien species, too, greeting each with a handshake. Eventually the station grows so large that it’s jettisoned into space. It’s a pity that instead of some exotic protagonist we’re saddled with the altogether uninteresting Valerian (Dehaan), a brash special agent hotshot. — Jake Coyle, Associated Press