CHRISTOPHER ROBIN

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP

1/2 PG-13, 125 minutes. Waterford, Westbrook, Lisbon. One of the nicest things about “Ant-Man,” the 2015 origin story of the eponymous Marvel superhero, was its modesty and congeniality: Sure, “Guardians of the Galaxy” had already come out, injecting welcome humor into a genre that had all but succumbed to self-seriousness and bellicosity. But as “Guardians” and, later, “Deadpool” doubled down on the snark, “Ant-Man” kept things light, its playfulness made all the more endearing by the boyish, twinkle-eyed persona of its star, Paul Rudd. As the movie opens, Rudd’s “real-life” alter ego, Scott Lang, is finishing up his house arrest since the mayhem of “Avengers: Civil War.” With only three days to go, he spends his time fooling around on his drum machine, practicing card tricks and amusing his daughter, Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson). Ostensibly, Lang’s past life of crime will now be erased by the domestic duties of a single dad and the security firm he runs with his former cellmate, Luis (Michael Peña). But before the LoJack comes off, he’s drawn into another adventure with inventor Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), Pym’s daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly), and Hope’s long-lost mother, Janet, the Wasp in question who has been miniaturized and trapped for 30 years in the quantum realm. — Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

1/2 PG, 118 minutes. Niantic, Mystic Luxury Cinemas, Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. It’s got to be difficult to find a new angle on such a beloved character as Winnie-the-Pooh, who has been a cultural icon for nearly a century, since the publication of A.A. Milne’s first Winnie-the-Pooh book in 1926, inspired by his own son, Christopher Robin Milne, and his stuffed animal friends. To give Pooh a new twist, Disney has enlisted director Marc Forster to give the honey-loving bear — you guessed it — a gritty reboot. Alex Ross Perry, Tom McCarthy, Allison Schroeder, Greg Brooker, and Mark Steven Johnson all contributed to the screenplay, which seeks to place Pooh and pals, including Christopher Robin (played by Orton O’Brien and Ewan MacGregor), in historical context. In an opening sequence, Christopher Robin leaves behind his animal friends — stuffed and real — in the Hundred Acre Wood, and sets off for boarding school, World War II, marriage, a family, and a job, a lot like the real Christopher Robin Milne did. But what happens to those toys and friends and childhood memories that we leave behind? If you’ve ever anthropomorphized your stuffed animals, this movie will tug at those

heartstrings. What “Christopher Robin” elicits is that sense of nostalgia for childhood, when all we had to do was play. Winnie-the-Pooh is a rotund little philosopher of the simple pleasures in life — food, friendship and fun. He lives by the mantra that “doing nothing often leads to the very best something,” a belief that his best friend Christopher Robin once espoused, before he left that all behind for his job as an efficiency specialist at a luggage company. — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content Agency

THE DARKEST MINDS

PG-13, 105 minutes. Niantic, Stonington, Waterford, Westbrook, Lisbon. From “The Hunger Games” to “Harry Potter,” dystopian young adult science fiction has become a favorite device for unpacking the complexities of the real world. The new film “The Darkest Minds,” based on the novel by Amanda Bracken, written by Chad Hodge, feels like a bit of a late entry, even as it positions itself for sequels. Although the film, directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson making her live-action debut, is rather choppy and never ascends to the levels summited by Harry Potter and Katniss Everdeen, there are still plenty of juicy political metaphors to chew on. Amandla Stenberg, who broke out in “The Hunger Games,” returns to her dystopian teen roots starring as Ruby, a young girl ripped away from her family as the country is gripped

in a crisis after adolescents are wiped out by a lethal disease. Ruby has unexplainably powerful telepathic abilities. She and the other survivors, who all possess some supernatural powers, are transported to brutal labor camps and color-coded by their abilities. But there’s a refreshing bold streak of anarchy throughout. Our heroes are ostracized and oppressed young teens taking matters into their own hands, fighting their way out of captivity, finding fellowship in each other and working toward creating a utopian world of communal living. — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content Agency

DEATH OF A NATION

PG-13, 108 minutes. Westbrook. This documentary draws parallels between the dramatic fracturing of the nation over Abraham Lincoln’s presidency and the presidency of Donald Trump. This movie wasn’t reviewed by deadline.

EIGHTH GRADE

something special indeed for him to break his own rule for “The Equalizer 2.” Fans of the first film will instantly know why Washington is drawn to the character of Robert McCall, a quiet middle-aged retired special-ops agent who fiercely believes in justice, likes to help others and dispenses the occasional lethal killing for those deserving. “We all have to pay for our sins,” he tells a group of very bad guys in the new, highly satisfying edition, before vowing to hunt each one dead. His only regret? He can kill them only once. In the sequel, McCall is now a Lyft driver, selectively helping people he encounters. When a group of smarmy, cocky Wall Street types abuse an intern during a coke-fueled party, Washington drives her to the hospital and then returns to wreck vengeance, slicing one dude with his own luxury credit card and then taunting his bleeding victims with “I expect a five-star rating.” It takes him a scant 29 seconds to destroy the room full of rich snobs; he times it, naturally. to do with the Parr family. Because while “Incredibles 2” is a fun family film, the multiple storylines Bird has woven through the production often get tangled. A little more simplicity would have lifted “Incredibles 2” from good to the incredible status of the first film. — Rick Bentley, Tribune Content Agency

JURASSIC PARK: FALLEN KINGDOM

1/2 PG-13, 128 minutes. Westbrook, Lisbon. The best thing “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” has going for it is director J.A. Bayona, who takes a mediocre script by Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow and directs the living daylights out of it. This installment may have merely shallow ideas, but it’s easy to be distracted in the moment by the verve and style “The Orphanage” auteur brings to the beloved dino franchise. It just won’t stick with you the second you leave the theater. The story of “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” is transitory and transitional. It merely serves to explain just how and why genetically engineered dinosaurs make it from point A to point B, wherein point B serves as the jumping-off point for the inevitable and forthcoming “Jurassic World 3.” — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content Agency

LEAVE NO TRACE

PG, 109 minutes. Through tonight only at Madison Art Cinemas. Will, played by the long-underappreciated character virtuoso Ben Foster, has carried post-traumatic stress disorder home from his time in the military. There are no scenes of Mideast war slipped in here to give him a visible back story. What we learn about him comes from the way he interacts with his daughter Tom (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, a luminous New Zealand-born discovery with a flawless American accent). Will and Tom are a solid team as they collect water, grow their own food, gather mushrooms, fold up and relocate their tents and practice guarding against unwelcome arrivals like hungry animals. What looks like an ambitious season of camping in the woods gradually comes into focus as Will’s long-term commitment to raise his girl in a peaceful place far away from American society. — Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune