‘ATOMIC BLONDE’

R 1:55 ★★ ½ ★

Charlize Theron crashes into the spy genre with gusto in “Atomic Blonde,” fighting to the tune and nuclear theme of Nena’s “Luftballons.”

“John Wick” director David Leitch and Theron (“Mad Max: Fury Road”) propel the film through the dangerous streets of 1989 Berlin, a city on the brink tearing down its dividing wall. The backdrop of a crumbling Soviet Union and the German Reunification gives a compelling setting for the spies who represent Cold War’s power players.

Time is ticking down before the Cold War ends, and a comprehensive list of the United Kingdom’s undercover agents has gone missing. Should the list fall into the wrong hands, namely the Russians, another 40 years of covert aggression and nuclear threats would begin.

Britain’s MI6 — the notable employer of James Bond — sends Agent Lorraine Broughton (Theron) to track down the list. She also is tasked with identifying the double-crossing British agent who tipped off the Russians to the list’s whereabouts.

Theron’s forceful performance validates her status as an action star. Her vicious tenacity carries the film as Lorraine overtakes the worst of the worst from the Russian KGB.

“Atomic Blonde,” based on Anthony Johnston and Sam Hart’s graphic novel “The Coldest City,” takes after the Bond movies in more ways than one but never lives up to the rich traditions of 007.

The film distances itself from Bond’s shadow with a series of twists that reveal surprising truths about the Khaleesi-blonde heroine and her shady undercover comrade David Percival (James McAvoy). An intricate web of friends and enemies leads viewers to question the true motivations of each spy — and each country — involved.

An unexpected conclusion could have been all the more intriguing had the film provided a clear explanation for it.

Each character is a piece in a puzzle, in which it remains unclear what the final picture will be. Once all the pieces come together, the story could have benefited immensely from a step back to show where each part fit in and how it all came to pass.

“Atomic Blonde” leaves lingering questions after its near two-hour run time, many of which should already have been clearly answered. But if audiences are still pondering the movie after leaving the theater, isn’t that a win in and of itself?

Starring: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, John Goodman, Toby Jones, Sofia Boutella, Eddie Marsan. (Sequences of strong violence, language throughout and some sexuality/nudity)

— Nuria Martinez-Keel,

The Oklahoman

First of all, “A Ghost Story” is not a horror film. And, while it’s a love story about the world beyond our plane intersecting with the mundane and the mortal, the ghost in question is not a Patrick Swayze hunk but Affleck in a sheet with eye holes. Big difference.

Affleck and Mara are a couple who find themselves split over whether to move out of their house, but then the decision is made for them when Affleck is killed in a car wreck.

But he’s not ready to go. Shrouded in a sheet, he rises from the coroner’s slab and — in a beautifully shot sequence — walks across what looks like Dallas’ Trinity River bottoms to get back to the life he once knew.

Yet, as the saying goes, you can’t go home again. He can see Mara, but she can’t see him, and he watches not just her life unfold, but all the lives of those who move in even after she has long moved out. He’s not just in love with her, but a sense of place, a sense of home.

Written by Lowery,

“A Ghost Story” is not for everybody and doesn’t pretend to have something deeply profound to say about love, loss and remembrance. But as a droll, quiet sketch of a life interrupted and then continued from outside our earthly periphery, “A Ghost Story” is an intriguing and fascinating side step in Lowery’s upward trajectory.

Starring: Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara. (Brief strong language and a disturbing image) — Cary Darling, Associated Press 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.” “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 known as the “Flossy Posse.”

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, and rounding out the crew is lesser-known comedian and actress Tiffany Haddish as the completely uncensored and often unhinged Dina.

In 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). It’s not just the infidelity, but the threat to her business ventures that causes Ryan to sweep it under the rug. Meanwhile, Lisa’s trying to get her groove back with a college kid (Kofi Siriboe), Sasha’s finances are in shambles and Dina’s just trying to avoid any more run-ins with hotel security.

All the women turn in funny performances, but this is Haddish’s movie, and it will make her a star.

The high jinks of “Girls Trip” are of the brash, bawdy and boozy variety, replete with X-rated discussions about sex and anatomy.

Starring: Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith, Tiffany Haddish, Queen Latifah and Mike Colter. (Crude and sexual content throughout, pervasive language, brief graphic nudity, and drug material)

— Katie Walsh, Associated Press