THE HATE U GIVE

bizarre mismatch? The Grinch is the story you learned as an infant, starring a Christmas-hating heel and his doggie assistant. The fuzzy green villain hopes to make holiday gloom. Just like a wicked witch, but without the broom. He targets presents intended for tots. Oh, how horrific is this nasty crackpot. Seuss never explained what prompted this act. Perhaps the Grinch wore shoes that were too compact? Should he consult a cardiologist chart? The answer is clear: It’s because of his heart. — Mark Kennedy, Associated Press

GOOSEBUMPS 2: HAUNTED HALLOWEEN

PG-13. Through today only at Lisbon. The 2015 adaptation of R.L. Stine’s popular “Goosebumps” book series was way better than it had any right to be. Starring Jack Black as a freewheeling version of the author, the film was a kid-friendly Halloween spookfest that examined the way we use horror as a coping mechanism in everyday life. It was smart and silly and scary. But the follow-up is a serious disappointment. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

HALLOWEEN

R, 106 minutes. Through today only at Waterford, Lisbon. With hollow eyes and sagging cheeks, the flabby white mask of Michael Myers is horror’s great blank slate. Project your fears here, it says. Myers doesn’t speak. His movements never rise beyond a deliberate gait (well, aside from all the stabbing and strangling). Even his name is purposefully bland. Decades after John Carpenter’s slasher landmark, David Gordon Green has resurrected the faceless Boogeyman of “Halloween” and set him loose on another Halloween night, 40 years later. Time has done little for Michael’s personality. He hasn’t uttered a word in the intervening decades, says a doctor at the sanatorium. He is still handy with a knife. — Jake Coyle, Associated Press PG-13, 132 minutes. Through today only at Westbrook. Based on the novel of the same name by Angie Thomas, George Tillman Jr.’s “The Hate U Give,” adapted by Audrey Wells, is not a “young adult” film, though the story has been labeled as such. It’s a film about young adults, but the issues they face are ones that grip our entire nation, no matter the age. It’s a story about young adults grappling with very large problems that have an overwhelming effect on young people, such as police brutality, gang warfare and state violence. “The Hate U Give” finally gives the magnetic young performer Amandla Stenberg a vehicle worthy of her talents. — Katie Walsh, Associated Press

HUNTER KILLER

R, 121 minutes. Through today only at Westbrook, Lisbon. Still playing at Waterford, Stonington. Think of every military action movie cliche you can. The maverick hero who’s just an average guy. The uptight rule-following second-in-command who learns a good lesson. The token concerned woman who has one line. Enemies who aren’t so different after all. So many of these hackneyed stereotypes are thrown at the Gerard Butler-starring Navy thriller “Hunter Killer” that you have to wonder if this is the “Scary Movie” of submarine movies. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

NOBODY’S FOOL

R, 111 minutes. Through today only at Waterford, Stonington, Lisbon. The Tyler Perry Studios logo signifies many things: a successful business model for production and distribution; a tremendous amount of work, for a wide, deep, underserved African-American talent pool; and, like clockwork, every few months, another Perry film offering a few laughs, a little sex, a lesson or two in healing and the power