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“Alien: Covenant”: In this homecoming for the much-traveled franchise, its originator Ridley Scott returns to direct his second prequel, again starring Michael Fassbender, as well as newcomers Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup and James Franco. The tale has evolved into a hybrid of the original’s horror and the intellectualism of Scott’s recent prequel “Alien: Prometheus.” 2 ½ stars (Jake Coyle, Associated Press) R, 2:03 “Baywatch”: No matter how many formative hours you spent killing brain cells with the camp masterpiece that was “Baywatch” on TV, this time not even Dwayne Johnson, Zac Effron and the rest of the bodacious cast can keep this from turning into a ’90s-nostalgia shipwreck of the highest order. 1 star (Karen D’Souza, Staff) R, 1:59 “Beauty and the Beast”: Emma Watson does a great job playing Belle, in this liveaction remake of the Disney animated classic. The rest of the cast is impressive, and the film does an admirable job of keeping up with the original. But make no mistake — Watson carries this film and makes it worth your time. 3 stars (Tony Hicks, Staff) PG, 2:09
“Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie”: Director David Soren does a wondrous job of reproducing the riotous comic sensibility and potty humor of author-illustrator Dav Pilky’s 12-book series about fourth-grade pranksters George Beard and Harold Hutchins, who create a superhero bearing and uncanny resemblance to the principal at their school. The voice cast includes Kevin Hart, Ed Helmes and Thomas Middleditch. 3 stars (Jane Horwitz, Washington Post) PG, 1:39
“Churchill”: In a historical drama of limited scope, Brian Cox plays the tradition-bound British prime minister who tried to stop the D-Day invasion of Nazicontrolled Europe and was fondly remembered, maybe by default. Miranda Richardson plays his wife, Clementine, and John Slattery Gen. Dwight Eisenhower. 1 ½ stars (Alan Zilberman, Washington Post) PG, 1:38
“Chuck”: Liev Schreiber stars as Chuck Wepner, the real-life heavyweight boxer who inspired Sylvester Stallone’s “Rocky.” Although the film’s central match is effective, the drama outside the ring involving his wife (Elisabeth Moss) is less involving. 2 ½ stars (Pat Padua, Washington Post) R, 1:38 “The Circle”: This technological thriller stars Emma Watson as Mae, a young woman coming to terms with privacy, ethics and humanity while working at a Facebook-like company called The Circle. At first, Mae is dazzled by her new job and all it has to offer, but soon she is involved in a scheme that has devas-
tating results. Tom Hanks also stars. 2 stars (Ann Hornaday, Washington Post) PG-13, 1:50
“Free Fire”: Filmmaker Ben Wheatley brings us an exercise in witty dialogue, cartoonish violence and aim just bad enough to leave its protagonists bloodied but alive. IRA gunrunners (Cillian Murphy and Michael Smiley) are working a deal with a South African arms dealer (Sharlto Copley) with the help of a go-between (Brie Larson). 2 stars (Ann Hornaday, Washington Post) R, 1:30 “Guardians of the Galaxy
Vol. 2”: Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) and company find themselves in the middle of a potentially apocalyptic situation, again. While Vol. 2 has plenty of energy, a lot of jokes and oldies as ironically jaunty background music for slow-motion slaughter montages, it’s a step down from the original. 2 ½ stars (Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune) PG-13, 2:18
“I, Daniel Blake”: Director Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty paint an affecting portrait of a 59-year-old unemployed British woodworker (Dave Johns) who is desperately trying to return to a life of dignity while helping a young single mother (Hayley Squires) he has taken under his wing. 3 stars (Ann Hornaday, Washington Post) R, 1:38
“King Arthur: Legend of the Sword”: Though reasonably entertaining, it’s a stretch to call this CGIladen nonsense from Guy Ritchie a King Arthur movie. It skates by on delicious scenery chewing by Jude Law as the uncle who has usurped Arthur’s birthright, the charisma of Charlie Humman in the title role and Ritchie’s hyperkinetic cinematic style. 2 stars (Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press.) PG-13, 2:06 “The Lost City of Z”: Charlie Hunnam plays Percy Fawcett in this adaptation of David Grann’s nonfiction book. The year is 1906, and Fawcett is a British officer who craves action when he is assigned a mapmaking mission in the “blank spaces” of Bolivia. While Fawcett’s journey is grueling and frightful, he finds not madness in the jungle but wonder. 3 ½ stars (Jake Coyle, Associated Press) PG-13, 2:20
“Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer”: This involving drama by Israeli director Joseph Cedar stars an exceptionally convincing Richard Gere in the title role. The film encourages us to see things from the point of view of its often irritating protagonist, who is a hustler and eternal searcher for the exploitable angle. 3 ½ stars (Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times) R, 1:58
“Paris Can Wait”: At 81, Eleanor Coppola makes her narrative feature- directing debut with this winsome tale inspired by an incident from her own life. Because of a head cold, Anne (Diane Lane), the wife of a busy filmmaker, can’t fly with him to a meeting in Eastern Europe, and so accepts an offer from one of his associates (Arnaud Viard) to drive her to her apartment in Paris on a road trip through the French countryside with plenty of gastronomic and scenic detours. 3 ½ stars (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service), PG, 1:32
“Pirates of the Carib
bean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”: This weary, battered fifth franchise entry has lots of impressive CGI tricks, plus Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush doing what we expect them to do, but a hopelessly muddled plot. Maybe it’s time for Disney to pronounce the series dead and move on. 1 star (Mark Kennedy, Associated Press) PG-13, 2:08
“Snatched”: Screenwriter Katie Dippold (“The Heat,” “Ghostbusters”) strikes out with this mother- daughter kidnapping comedy starring Amy Schumer as a selfish, narcissistic woman whose boyfriend has dumped her, and Goldie Hawn as her mom, using nonrefundable tickets to make what was supposed to be the Schumer character’s trip to Ecuador with her main man. 1 ½ stars (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service) R, 1:31
“Wakefield”: The film’s wackadoodle protagonist, Howard Wakefield (Bryan Cranston), drives home to the suburbs from his Manhattan office, only to follow a raccoon into the attic of his detached garage and, because of an argument with his wife, never to leave it for the remainder of the film, while his family tries to figure out what has happened to him. Director Robin Swicord has created a memorable, unconventional, frustrating mystery inspired by a Nathaniel Hawthorne story. 2 stars (Michael O’Sullivan, Washington Post) R, 1:49
“Wonder Woman”: In a genre not known for embracing women of substance, filmmaker Patty Jenkins gives us a caped crusader (Gal Gadot) worth rooting for, as well as fine work from Chris Pine playing an American spy. Jenkins doesn’t need to pour on the pyrotechnics. The real fireworks in this film are its powerful emotions. 3 stars (Karen D’Souza, Staff) PG-13, 2:21 “The Zookeeper’s Wife”: Jessica Chastain stars in this extraordinary true story based on the book by Diane Ackerman. In Germanoccupied Poland during the darkest days of World War II, a zookeeper (Johan Heldenbergh) and his wife (Chastain) managed to save the lives of hundreds of Jewish people by providing shelter and refuge for them on the zoo grounds. 3 stars (Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press) PG-13. 2:04