Current attractions
“20th CenturyWomen”: Both the characters and the actresses (Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning) are fine company in this carefully scripted coming-of-age story. Single mom Dorothea enlists Abbie and Julie as unofficial life coaches and social mentors for her son, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann). (Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune) R, 1:58 “A Cure forWellness”: The dread ratchets up as this horror plot progresses. A powerful Wall Street banker (Harry Groener) writes from a Swiss spa that he will not be returning to NewYork. So the firm sends a young banker named Lockhart (Dane DeHaan) to bring him back. But Lockhart gets drawn into a morbid tale about the spa’s history. Too bad the film fumbles in the final act. ½ (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service) R, 2:26 “A Dog’s Purpose”: Dennis Quaid stars in the story about a gentle, thoughtful dog who, through being reincarnated through decades, explores the meaning of his own life. Though sweet at times, it’s also emotionally manipulative and overly syrupy. ½ (Tony Hicks, Staff), PG, 2:00
“Fences”: Troy Maxson used to be a star of the Negro Baseball Leagues. Now he’s a lowly garbage man whose fondest wish is one day getting to drive the truck. Directed by and starring DenzelWashington, this haunting if flawed film is based on August Wilson’s 10-part play cycle depicting 20th-century AfricanAmerican life. Karen D’Souza, Staff) PG-13, 1:18
“Fist Fight”: A feud between two high school teachers — Mr. Campbell (Charlie Day), a whiny English teacher, and Mr. Strickland (Ice Cube) a nononsense history teacher who is somewhat unhinged — leads to a threat of an after-school showdown. This is a rope-a-dopey farce that floats like a dead butterfly and stings like a B-movie.
½ (Michael O’Sullivan, Washington Post) R, 1:31
“The Founder”: We first meet Kroc in 1954, wearily hawking milkshake machines. But when he hears about a restaurant in San Bernardino that has become an overnight sensation, he makes a long drive west to meet Richard and Maurice McDonald.
½ (Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times) PG-13, 1:55 “Hidden Figures”: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae play gifted real-life mathematicians who are not only dealing with how to help the United States battle the Soviet Union in the space race, but how to exist as black women in a mostly white male environment at NASA in 1961. ½ (Tony Hicks, Staff) PG, 2:07 “I Am Not Your Negro”: As directed by Raoul Peck, this mesmerizing cinematic experience uses not just words but sound, music and visuals to create a film essay that’s powerfully relevant today, even though its subject (writer James Baldwin) died almost 30 years ago. Fromit’s opening, Peck makes important connections between the past and the present.
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times) PG-13, 1:33 “John Wick: Chapter 2”: Keanu Reeves returns as the title character, brewing up more Wickian magic while speaking mostly in monosyllables. Like its predecessor, “Chapter 2” is a ballet of violence, and the visuals are surreal. Reeves portrays the autopilot assassin with a haunted despondency. (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service) R 2:02
“Julieta”: We meet Julieta (Emma Suárez), a chic classics professor in Madrid, as she meets a friend of her daughter Antía, from whom she has been estranged for years. She moves back to her old home as a way of understanding how they grew apart and embarks on amission to knit their lives back together. (Ann Hornaday Washington Post) R, 1:38
“La La Land”: Damien Chazelle’smovie musical is a valentine to the breezy glamour of classic Hollywood. Starring Ryan Gosling as Sebastian, a sullen jazz pianist reduced to playing 1980s remixes, and Emma Stone as Mia, a wannabe actress barista, this whimsical picture mixes the cynicism of the now with the allure of the past. Karen D’Souza, Staff) PG-13, 2:08 “The LEGO Batman
Movie”: Here is a hilarious, farcical and loving look at Batman, with spectacular visual effects and a story that never slows down and is just plain fun. Will Arnett is perfect, playing an over-thetop version of the Caped Crusader. ½ (Tony Hicks, Staff) PG, 1:30.
“Lion”: This real-life tale, based on a memoir by Saroo Brierley, would warm the heart of a stone. Brierley, a native of India, got profoundly lost at the age of 5. He was adopted by an Australian couple but was able, more than 25 years later, to find and reunite with his birth mother via the use of Google Earth software.
½ (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times) PG-13, 1:58
“Paterson”: Adam Driver plays a bus driver named Paterson, who lives in Paterson, NewJersey. In his free time, he writes poetry. The movie unfolds over seven days— each one much like the day before. Imagine “Groundhog Day,” but with Bill Murray’s prickly frustration replaced by Driver’s soulful reserve. Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times) R, 1:50 “The Salesman”: Exquisite mysteries are solved in Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s latest film. Emad and Rana (Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidootsi) are a sophisticated acting couple who are staging a production of “Death of a Salesman.” After Rana is assaulted, their contemporary Persian marriage falls prey to all the ills the Islamic theocracy can inspire. ½ (Bob Strauss, Daily News, Los Angeles) PG-13, 2:05
“Silence”: Near the start of Martin Scorsese’s shattering film, two Jesuit missionaries shiver in a cottage far from their Portuguese homeland. The year is 1639, and Japan is in an era of intense hostility toward Christianity, whose adherents have been subjected to mass execution. This adaptation of Shusaku Endo’s 1966 novel offers a complex vision of a feudal Japan. ½ (Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times) R, 2:41
“Split”: In this powerful psycho-thriller, Kevin (James McAvoy) meets his match in Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), a teen who happens to be with his two chosen victims when they’re kidnapped. But Casey manages to stay calm while drawing upon lessons learned during family hunting trips. (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service) PG-13, 1:57 “Toni Erdmann”: Ines Conradi (Sandra Hüller) is a talented corporate consultant. The title character Toni (Peter Simonischek) is a hulking clown of a man who worms his way into Ines’ life and tries to get her to shrug off her anxieties and join him in the wild, crazy performance art known as life. ½ (Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times) R, 2.42 “A United Kingdom”: Based on a true story, this romantic drama grows more remarkable by the minute. Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo) and Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike) face overwhelming barriers when they fall in love in 1947 London. That’s because Ruth is a Briton, while Khama is a handsome and charismatic African who is also a prince of his native country.
½ (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times) PG-13, 1:51