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“Jumanji: The Next Level”
PG, 2:03, action-adventure
The 2017 film “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” took the mysterious board game from Chris Van Allsburg’s book and upgraded it into a Nintendo-style console entertainment — which sucked four teens into a virtual safari-themed world, recasting them as fantasy avatars played, in nimbly elastic comic performances, by Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillan. The sequel is an amiable retread passing itself off as an upgrade. It reunites the original cast and adds some welcome new faces, a couple of fresh conceptual wrinkles and action scenes, plus some unearned sentimentality. It’s not bad for an hour’s entertainment; too bad it runs for two. — Justin Chang
“Frozen 2”
PG, 1:43, animation
This sequel pulls Elsa the Snow Queen (voiced by Idina Menzel) and her less magical but nonetheless charismatic younger sister, Anna (Kristen Bell), into a murky web of Shakespearean political intrigue, with a large dose of Scandinavian pagan mythology; late’80s/early-’90s-style power ballads from songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez; and just enough Olaf (snowman) and Sven (reindeer) to please younger viewers who, for years, after the first “Frozen” conquered the world in 2013, went to bed and then woke up singing “Let It Go.” — Michael Phillips
“Knives Out”
PG-13, 2:10, mystery
The film begins with the corpse of famously reclusive mystery novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer), and backs up to the night of his 85th birthday party. The cast, including Toni Collette and Jamie Lee Curtis, could sell “Knives Out” even if it were “Spoons Out,” or “Sporks Out.” Michael Shannon plays Walt, who runs dad’s publishing empire with an ambiguous set of business skills. Don Johnson plays the MAGA-loving in-law. These and others make up the Thrombey socio-economic bubble. And the drawling Southern detective on the prowl — with the color-coded name of Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) — is the rock-solid center this confection needs. — Michael Phillips
“Richard Jewell”
R, 2:11, drama
This sincere and extremely well-acted irritant from 89-year-old director Clint Eastwood is destined to get under the hides of moviegoers in radically different ways. You may loathe parts of it and still come out shaken and tearyeyed. Bolstered by its cast — Paul Walter Hauser, Kathy Bates and Sam Rockwell — it tells the story of how a hungry, sloppy media and a sloppy, hungry FBI nearly destroyed the life of an Atlanta security guard. The title character was suspected of planting a pipe bomb killing two and injuring more than 100 amid the 1996 Summer Olympics. In the wake of “Joker,” “Richard Jewell” taps a deep and weirdly similar vein of aggrieved persecution. — Michael Phillips
“Black Christmas”
PG-13, 1:33, horror
Structural misogyny is alive and well at Hawthorne College, whether in the form of white-male-author-loving professor Gelson (Cary Elwes) or the fraternities where sexual assault is brushed under the beer-stained rugs. But Riley (Imogen Poots) and her sorority sisters are fighting back, and their efforts have made them targets of a killer stalking the quad as campus quiets for the holidays. This remake of the 1974 slasher classic follows in the feminist footsteps of its predecessor while still subverting audience expectations. Fans of the original might not love director Sophia Taka’s take, but it’s a fun film that gets its kicks out of literally smashing the patriarchy. — Kimber Myers