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The Age of Adaline A fascinating concept — a woman stops aging when she turns 29 and looks like Blake Lively at 107 years old — is given weak treatment in this unimaginative movie. The script is unadventurous and unconvincing, and Lively is not actress enough to survive it. Harrison Ford shows up in the movie’s middle and provides some fun as Adaline’s long-lost love, but he can’t save it. Rated PG-13. 113 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
Black Souls This riveting morality tale about mob life in southern Italy has a gritty sense of place and interesting characters across the board. It gets off to a slow start, but then builds to a stunning, satisfying climax. Not rated. 103 minutes. In Italian with English subtitles.
— D. Lewis
Blackbird This movie combines Southern melodrama with a sensitive coming-of-age story about a young choirboy struggling with same-sex attractions. Sometimes it goes over the top, but it’s engaging most of the way. Mo’Nique and Isaiah Washington play the parents. Rated R. 99 minutes.
— D. Lewis
Cinderella Kenneth Branagh retells the old story with most of the fairy-tale magic left intact, but with the addition of a backstory and realistic motives. Every old and familiar element is done beautifully. But the movie grinds down in plot details that fatten the narrative while deflating the spirit. Rated PG. 105 minutes.
— M. LaSalle Clouds of Sils Maria Juliette Binoche stars as a European stage
and screen star who is asked to perform in the play that made her famous 20 years earlier — but this time as the older woman. It’s an effective study of life’s transitions by Oliver Assayas, with Kristen Stewart in the supporting role of Binoche’s assistant. Stewart won a much-deserved Cesar Award for her performance. Rated R. 123 minutes. In English and French with English subtitles.
— M. LaSalle
Danny Collins Al Pacino gets his best showcase in years, as an aging pop star who tries to change his life after receiving a letter from John Lennon — finally delivered after more than 40 years. Bobby Cannavale stars as his (much taller) son. Rated R. 106 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
Dior and I The story of Raf Simons’ first collection for Christian Dior makes for a gripping documentary about the creative process and the inner workings of a business. The pressure on Simons is so great he seems to age 10 years in eight weeks. Not rated. 90 minutes. In English and French with English subtitles.
— M. LaSalle
Ex Machina There are lots of sci-fi movies, but few like this one, with intelligent things to say about science itself — in this case, artificial intelligence. Domhnall Gleeson stars as an employee who gets to stay for a week at the home of his employer, an eccentric billionaire tech entrepreneur, played with charm and an edge of menace by Oscar Isaac. Rated R. 110 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Furious 7 Co-star Paul Walker died midway through the filming of this seventh installment of the action series, but the filmmakers decided to reanimate him in several scenes, and the result is just creepy. The action comes nonstop, but the spirit is gone, and when the movie isn’t creepy, it’s dull — and long. Rated PG-13. 137 minutes. — M. LaSalle
Insurgent The second installment in the “Divergent” series really moves the story forward, a strong virtue in a book based on the middle installment of a trilogy. But the world of it is so ridiculous — far-fetched without being interesting — that the movie is at best a mixed bag. Rated PG-13. 118 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
It Follows A zombieslacker movie with a slasher film sensibility, this horror film concerns a teenage girl who is cursed by zombies after she has sex. Though it doesn’t approach the palpable dread of “Halloween,” it’s a thoughtfully crafted creep show that doesn’t resort to gore to elicit some chills. Rated R. 100 minutes. — D. Lewis
Kingsman: The Secret
Service An intermittently amusing comedydrama from director Matthew Vaughn (“Kick-Ass”), starring Colin Firth as a British secret agent who takes a novice under his wing, the movie collapses into absurdity in its second half, sloppily careening from silliness to sentimentality. Rated R. 129 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
Kumiko, the Treasure
Hunter Suggestive of a fairy tale, this is an enigmatic drama with doses of dry humor about a deeply troubled young Japanese woman who sets out on a peculiar quest. Having seen the movie “Fargo,” she heads for Minnesota in pursuit of fictional buried cash. Ironies and ambiguities abound, and there are overtones of Werner Herzog’s movies. Not rated. 105 minutes. In Japanese and English with English subtitles.
— W. Addiego
Kung Fu Killer A satisfying, old-school martial arts film with a ’90s feel, this is the story of Mo (Donnie Yen), a kung fu master in prison for accidentally killing a man. But when a serial killer (Wang Baoqian) targets other martial arts masters, he persuades Detective Luk (Charlie Yeung) to temporarily release him to assist her team. Excellent
action, and director Teddy Chen makes good use of Hong Kong exteriors. Not rated. 96 minutes. In Cantonese with English subtitles.
— G. Allen Johnson
Little Boy This is a faith-based movie about a youngster who faces challenges in a small California town during World War II. Belief can move mountains, he’s told, and may help bring his father home safely from the war. The boy must also try to resist the communi- ty’s harsh anti-Japanese sentiments. There’s a good cast, including Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson, but the film is schmaltzy and has relatively little to say to those who don’t share its traditional religious values. Rated PG-13. 106 minutes. — W. Addiego
The Longest Ride At two hours and 19 minutes, this story of a sorority girl and a bull rider who meet at the rodeo may not be the longest ride, but it feels like it. Still, a subplot involving the usually smarttalking Alan Alda as a weepy, nostalgic old man is good for a few (unintended) laughs. Rated PG-13. 139 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
The Mafia Only Kills in Summer An inspired romantic comedy set against the Italian government’s war with the Mafia in Palermo beginning in the 1970s, this is about a boy’s pursuit of a girl from their time in elementary school classmates to their adult lives as professionals. Director Pierfrancesco Diliberto, who plays the lead as an adult, has been deliriously inspired by histor- ical events, weaving in archival footage of assassinations and funerals. But he never loses sight of the central focus, which is an innocent, unrequited (at least in the beginning) love. Not rated. 90 minutes. In Italian with English subtitles. — G. Allen Johnson
Man From Reno San Francisco locations, an arresting leading lady and offbeat pacing manage to keep this would-be modern noir afloat for about half its running. But the movie loses itself in convoluted plotting and unwise story turns, and
long before the finish the movie becomes a “who cares” proposition. Not rated. 111 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
Monkey Kingdom This documentary from Disneynature explores the dynamics of a group of South Asian monkeys. Narrated by Tina Fey. Not reviewed. Rated G. 82 minutes.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 In this sequel to the 2009 comedy, Paul Blart (Kevin James) takes his teenage daughter on a vacation to Las Vegas. Not reviewed. Rated PG. 94 minutes.
The Road Within This coming-of-age story about a young man with a particularly explosive variety of Tourette’s syndrome carefully manages to be neither funny nor interesting. It’s just tiresome and predictable, though Zoe Kravitz, as the anorexic girl who becomes our hero’s first love, commands the screen. Rated R. 100 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
Seymour: An In
troduction A loving documentary portrait of Seymour Bernstein, a virtuoso pianist who became a revered teacher and still gives lesson in his 80s. Bernstein is a model teacher, and it’s clear that director Ethan Hawke greatly admires his subject. Rated PG. 84 minutes.
— L. Hertz
States of Grace This brave, refreshingly unsentimental documentary follows Dr. Grace Dammann as she struggles to find meaning in her life after a horrific head-on crash on the Golden Gate Bridge leaves her body shattered. The film charts her journey in an unflinching yet sensitive way Not rated. 74 minutes.
— D. Lewis
Unfriended High school friends are tormented online by a mysterious interloper one year after their bullied classmate killed herself. Stars Shelly Hennig and Moses Jacob Storm. Directed by Levan Gabriadze. Rated R. 80 minutes. — M. Ordoña The Water Diviner Russell Crowe does well in his feature directorial debut about an Australian man who travels to Gallipoli, where his three sons were killed in battle, to retrieve their bodies. There are strong performances throughout, particularly from Crowe, Olga Kurylenko (as a Turkish widow) and Yilmaz Erdogan (as a Turkish major). Rated R. 112 minutes. — M. LaSalle
What We Do in the
Shadows Even if you’re sick of vampire movies, you’ll enjoy this one, a mock documentary from New Zealand that follows, in the style of low-budget cinema verite, four vampires sharing a house in Wellington. It’s funny from start to finish. Very funny. Not rated. 86 minutes.
— M. LaSalle
Wild Tales This collection of six short wild films from Argentina, all written and directed by Damian Szifron, has more energy, wit and invention in any of its sections than most
films have in their entirety. These are bizarre tales of revenge, and they’re a demented delight. Rated R. 122 minutes. In Spanish with English subtitles.
— M. LaSalle The Wrecking Crew This entertaining documentary shines a light on the ace studio musicians who, in anonymity, contributed to many of the top rock and pop hits of the 1960s and ’70s. The Beach Boys, Cher, Frank Sinatra, the 5th Dimension, Elvis Presley, and the Mamas & the Papas are just a few acts who made use of the Crew’s services. Rated PG. 102 minutes.
— W. Addiego