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Green Book, directed by Peter Farrelly (PG-13, 2 hours, 10 minutes) Although weighted on the side of stereotypes, this well-meaning interracial message best picture Oscar winner concerns a beefedup Viggo Mortensen (hardly recognizable without his signature svelteness) and exotic Mahershala Ali, who play an odd couple — thuggish Italian-American bouncer Tony Lip and elegant black classical pianist Dr. Don Shirley — who hit the road for a concert tour through the 1960s American South.
Guiding them on their journey is the Green Book, an indispensable guide to Southern establishments that are safe for black people in the Jim Crow states. Faced with the discrimination that dominates there, they learn to overcome their differences and rely on each other as they participate in a life-affirming adventure.
Some viewers will find themselves tripping over one too many cliches; others will be thrilled, distressed and ultimately uplifted.
With Linda Cardellini, P.J. Byrne; directed by Peter Farrelly. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (PG-13, 2 hours, 14 minutes) The second installment of the Fantastic Beasts franchise, which follows the adventures of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and his nemesis, evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp), lacks the adventurous spirit and lively visuals of the first. With Jude Law, Katherine Waterston; directed by David Yates.
Mortal Engines (PG-13, 2 hours, 8 minutes) Nothing memorable here other than a lot of borrowing from other (more successful) scifi fantasies. It’s set after the Sixty Minute War, when cities survive on a desolate Earth by moving around on giant wheels, attacking and devouring smaller towns to replenish resources. With Hugo Weaving, Stephen Lang, Robert
Sheehan; written by Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh and directed by Christian Rivers.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post (not rated, 1 hour, 31 minutes) A middling tale that lacks the punch of Boy Erased but has blasts of sass and energy, this well-performed drama follows a teenage girl
who is forced into a gay conversion therapy center. With Chloe Grace Moretz, Jennifer Ehle, John Gallagher Jr., Sasha Lane; written and directed by Desiree Akhavan.
Unknown Soldier (not rated, 2 hours, 12 minutes) Realistic and compellingly gritty, this is the long, involving story of an over three-year deployment of a platoon of ordinary Finnish soldiers in the battlefield between Finland and the Soviet Union during the Finnish Continuation
War. Based on Vaino Linna’s best-selling novel. With Eero Aho, Johannes Holopainen, Jussi Vatanen, Aku Hirviniemi; directed by Aku Louhimies. Subtitled.
The Last Man (R, 1 hour, 40 minutes) Loaded with dystopian cliches, dreary, and nearly incomprehensible, here we have PTSD-afflicted combat veteran Kurt (Hayden Christensen) who returns from the battlefield to a land that is rapidly falling apart. With Harvey Keitel, Liz
Solari; directed by Rodrigo H. Vila.
Then Came You (not rated, 1 hour, 37 minutes) Too sentimental to be engaging, but with appealing characters: Teenager Skye (Maisie Williams) has a terminal illness and becomes friends with 19-year-old scaredy-cat hypochondriac Calvin (Asa Butterfield), who aids her in pursuing a diverse bucket list of things she wants to do before she dies. With Nina Dobrev; directed by Peter
Hutchings.
Vengeance: A Love Story (TV-MA, 1 hour, 39 minutes) This clunky, snoozy and far too predictable effort concerns how justice eludes a woman who is gang-raped in front of her 12-year-old daughter, until a police officer decides to take over a case that is going nowhere. With Nicolas Cage, Anna Hutchison, Deborah Kara Unger, Don Johnson, Charlene Tilton; directed by Johnny Martin.