Film guide for box-office releases and ongoing movies
From news services
NEW THIS WEEK
‘Logan Lucky’: (PG-13) (for language and some crude comments) This heist comedy about two unlucky working-class brothers who plan to fight the system by robbing a NASCAR racetrack is easy to like if not love. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 59 minutes. Grade: */**
‘Patti Cake$’: R (for language throughout, crude sexual references, some drug use and a brief nude image) Familiar story of a New Jersey would-be rapper trying to make it big has a commitment and exuberance that makes it all seem, if hardly fresh, at least creatively alive. (Los Angeles Daily News) 1 hour, 48 minutes. Grade: ***
‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’: R (for strong violence and language throughout) Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds team up in this subpar action comedy about a top agent assigned to guard his arch enemy, a notorious hitman. (The News-Herald) 1 hour, 58 minutes. Grade: **
CONTINUING
‘A Ghost Story’: (R) (for brief language and a disturbing image) A dead man returns home as a ghost to watch over his grieving wife in this often transfixing, frequently unsatisfying meditation on the nature of time and life’s impermanence. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 32 minutes. Grade: */*1/2
‘An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power’: (PG) (for thematic elements and some troubling images) A decade after “An Inconvenient Truth” brought climate change into the heart of popular culture, this follow-up shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 39 minutes. Grade:*/*/*
‘Atomic Blonde’: (R) (for sequences of strong violence, language throughout, and some sexuality/nudity) Charlize Theron is terrific as an MI6 agent ordered to Berlin to break up a spy ring in this largely vacant, hyper-stylistic romp that trades on the Cold War atmosphere of far better films. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 55 minutes. Grade:*/*
‘The Big Sick’: A quirky authenticity hovers over this slick comedy about a white American and a Pakistani Muslim who must deal with their cultural differences as their relationship grows. (Los Angeles Daily News) 2 hours, 4 minutes. Grade: */*/*1/2
‘The Book of Henry’ (PG-13) (for thematic elements and brief strong language) This appealing, quirky tale of a single mother’s loving relationship with her two young sons goes off the rails when it turns into a vigilante thriller. (The New Times) 1 hour, 45 minutes. Grade: **
‘Brigsby Bear’: (PG-13) (for thematic elements, brief sexuality, drug material and teen partying) A children’s TV show is produced for an audience of one, a kid who lives in an underground bunker. When the show abruptly ends, he sets out to finish the story himself. (Los Angeles Daily News) 1 hour, 40 minutes. Grade:*/*/*/1/2
‘Churchill’: (PG) (for thematic elements, brief war images, historical smoking throughout, and some language) Historical saga that follows the British prime minister over the course of several days leading up to the D-Day invasion is neither insightful nor entertaining. (The New York Times) 1 hour, 38 minutes. Grade: * 1/2
‘Detroit’: (R) (For strong violence and pervasive language) : This account of the murders of three unarmed black men that took place in Detroit’s Algiers Motel during the city’s 1967 race riots is an all-out assault on the senses and the soul. (The Associated Press) 2 hour, 23 minutes. Grade: */*/*
“Dunkirk”: (PG-13) (for intense war experience and some language) Writer-director Christopher Nolan’s World War II tale about British and Allied forces pinned down on the French coast and facing long odds is a stone-cold masterpiece. (The Associated Press) Grade: */*/*/*
‘Girls Trip’: (R) (for crude and sexual content throughout, pervasive language, brief graphic nudity, and drug material) Tiffany Haddish runs away with this hilarious ode to female friendships in which a group of college friends from the ‘90s reunite at the Essence Festival in New Orleans. (The Associated Press)
‘The Glass Castle’: (PG-13) (for mature thematic content involving family dysfunction, and for some language and smoking) Jeannette Walls’ 2005 best-selling memoir is brought to life in this story of how a young woman’s life is shaped by a destitute, nomadic youth with a loving but deeply dysfunctional father. (The Associated Press) 2 hours, 7 minutes. Grade: */*/*
‘Good Time’: (R) (for language throughout, violence, drug use and sexual content) Robert Pattinson gives the performance of his life in this pulse-pounding tale of a man on a desperate odyssey to bail his mentally challenged brother out of jail after a botched bank robbery. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 40 minutes. Grade: */*/**
‘Ingrid Goes West’: (R) (for language throughout, drug use, some sexual content and disturbing behavior) A dark satire about two young women, a social media celebrity and her stalker, who find validation in likes and followers and equate social media experiences with real-life ones.(The Associated Press) 1 hour, 37 minutes. Grade: */*/*
‘Kidnap’: (R) (for violence and peril) This latest B-movie vehicle for Halle Berry, who plays a working-class single mom who chases down her little boy’s abductors, is a serviceable thriller: nothing more, nothing less. (The New York Times) 1 hour, 34 minutes. Grade: */*
‘Paris Can Wait’: (PG) (for thematic elements, smoking and some language) A woman takes a car trip from Cannes to Paris with a business associate of her husband. What should be a seven-hour drive turns into a carefree two-day adventure replete with diversions. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 32 minutes.
‘Past Life’: (Not rated) Tracks the daring late 1970s odyssey of two sisters – an introverted classical musician and a rambunctious scandal sheet journalist – as they unravel a shocking wartime mystery that has cast a dark shadow on their entire lives. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 49 minutes.
“Rough Night” (R) (for crude sexual content, language throughout, drug use and brief bloody images) Despite its funny moments, this comedy about four women on a wild bachelorette weekend who accidentally kill someone and try to get away with it is too dark to stomach. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 49 minutes: Grade: **
‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’: (PG-13) (for sci-fi action violence, some language and brief suggestive comments) Tom Holland is charming in this smart, light-hearted offering, portraying a younger, more age-appropriate Spider-Man as an excited kid trying to navigate his newfound identity. (The Associated Press) 2 hours, 13 minutes. Grade: */*/*
‘Snatched’: (R) (for crude sexual content, brief nudity, and language throughout) When her boyfriend dumps her before their exotic vacation, a young woman persuades her ultra-cautious mother to travel with her to paradise, with unexpected results. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 30 minutes.
‘Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets’: (PG-13) (for sci-fi violence and action, suggestive material and brief language) Based on the French sci-fi series and set centuries in the future, this story of special operatives sent to save a vast distant metropolis is, for the most part, an enjoyable endeavor (The News-Herald) Grade: */*1/2
‘War for the Planet of the Apes’: (PG-13) (for sequences of sci-fi violence and action, thematic elements, and some disturbing images) This riveting and surprisingly poignant epic in which Caesar and his apes are forced into warfare with an army of humans trying to exterminate them is very simply a great time at the movies. (The Associated Press) 2 hours, 19 minutes. Grade: */*/*1/2
‘Wind River’: (R) (for strong violence, a rape, disturbing images, and language) A game tracker and an FBI agent team up to solve the murder of a local girl on a remote Native American reservation in this bleak tale of big open spaces and misery all around. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 47 minutes. Grade: */*1/2
‘Wonder Woman’: (PG-13) This coming-of-age story about how a naive Amazonian princess becomes Wonder Woman isn’t perfect, but it’s often good, sometimes great and exceptionally re-watchable. (The Associated Press) 2 hours, 21 minutes. Grade: ***
Rating system
G: All ages admitted
PG: Parental guidance suggested. All ages admitted
PG-13: Parental guidance suggested; not recommended for younger than 13
R: Restricted. Those younger than 17 not admitted unless accompanied by a parent or guardian