Movies: New and Noteworthy

COMING THIS WEEK

By Steven Rea

Criminal Kevin Costner is a don't-care-about-nuthin' convict who gets a mind-and-memory transplant, taking on the persona - and the mission - of a dead CIA agent. Gary Oldman, Ryan Reynolds, and Wonder Woman Gal Gadot also star. R

The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling gets re-Disneyfied, and CGI-ed and Jon Favreau-ized (he's the director), in a live action/computer-animated retelling of the adventures of Mowgli, the boy raised by animals in the forests of India. Voice acting talent galore, including Idris Elba, Scarlett Johansson, Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray, and Lupita Nyong'o. PG

Sing Street John Carney, who brought Once into the world, circles back to the days of the Cure and Duran Duran, following a Dublin Catholic school kid as he rebels against his headmaster, goes chasing after a beautiful girl, and forms a band to win her heart. Starring Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, who may have the best name in the business. PG-13

Barbershop: The Next Cut

Calvin (Ice Cube) and crew still run the barbershop, but there've been some changes in the ensuing decade.

The Dark Horse True story of a brilliant chess player plagued by bi-polar disorder.

The First Monday in May This documentary looks at the Metropolitan Art Museum's 2015 exhibit China: Through the Looking Glass.

Miles Ahead Don Cheadle stars in this biopic on the life and career of jazz great Miles Davis.

My Big Night The cast of a New Year's Eve TV show find themselves at one another's throats during a seemingly never-ending pretape session. Spanish with subtitles.

Reviewed by staff critics Steven Rea (S.R.), Tirdad Derakhshani (T.D.), and Molly Eichel (M.E.). W.S. denotes a wire-service review.

Embrace of the Serpent Ciro Guerra's profoundly beautiful black-and-white film, set in the forests of Colombia, follows two explorers from the West: German ethnographer Theodor Koch-Grunberg in 1909 and American biologist Richard Evans Schultes in 1940 as each encounters the same shaman, the last of his tribe, in the quest for a rare and transformative plant. A nominee for best foreign-language film at this year's Academy Awards. 2 hrs. 05 No MPAA rating (violence, nudity, adult themes) - S.R.

Rams Out of Iceland, a wry and affecting yarn about prize-winning sheep and the brothers who raise them on neighboring farms and who haven't spoken to each other in years. After a deadly disease infects nearby livestock, the authorities decree that all sheep must be killed to contain the outbreak. Grímur Hákonarson's wry, dry tale of sibling rivalry and sibling bonds takes it from there. Winner of the Un Certain Regard at Cannes last year, it's funny, resonant, and surprisingly affecting. 1 hr. 33 R (profanity, nudity, adult themes) - S.R.

The Lady in the Van

Maggie Smith stars as a homeless woman who pulls into writer Alan Bennett's driveway and stays there for 15 years in the film adaptation of Bennett's memoir and play. Alex Jennings is Bennett in bifurcated mode: the timid, reluctant host and the ready-at-the-typewriter artist, eager to get what he can from the unkempt, unpleasant "eccentric" he's allowed into his life.

PG-13

(adult themes) -

S.R.

Midnight Special Mysterious and electric new movie from Jeff Nichols (Mud, Take Shelter), in which a little kid (St. Vincent's Jaeden Lieberher), in the company of gun-toting Michael Shannon and Joel Edgerton, is pursued by feds and cult members and who-knows-who-else across the Gulf Coast states. Adam Driver and Kirsten Dunst also star. 1 hr. 51 PG-13 (violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

My Golden Days Childhood, adolescence, and all-consuming first love are at the heart of Arnaud Desplechin's rightly lauded prequel to the terrific French pic My Sex Life . . . Or How I Got Into an Argument. (Not necessary to see the 1996 release to get what's going on here.) Mathieu Amalric reprises his role as the soul-searching protagonist, but it is a pair of newcomers - Quentin Dolmaire and Lou Roy-Lecollinet - who bring their characters to life, who make the love story feel whole and real. 2 hrs. 03 R (sex, nudity, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ***

A booming, brooding pair-up between the DC Comics superhero icons, with Ben Affleck as a Gloomy Gus Bruce Wayne aka you-know-who, and Henry Cavill as Clark Kent, aka the Kryptonian with the S on his chest. Jesse Eisenberg, acting nutty and quoting from

The Wizard of Oz

, is the megalomaniacal Lex Luthor, and Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne, and Jeremy Irons are in on the action, too. Finally, in the climactic half-hour of this epic affair, Gal Gadot whips up her magic lasso and strikes a few supermodely superhero poses as Wonder Woman. 2 hrs. 33

PG-13

(violence, intense action, adult themes)

- S.R.

Born to Be Blue *** Ethan Hawke stars as cool cat jazz man Chet Baker in a half-tribute, half-speculative exploration of the legendary musician's life. Carmen Ejogo (Coretta Scott King in "Selma") is terrific as an actress cast in a movie opposite Baker, a movie about the trumpet player, singer - and junkie. 1 hr. 37 R (drugs, sex, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

The Boss **1/2 Melissa McCarthy plays Michelle Darnell, a business shark who falls from grace after a small insider trading scandal. Fresh out of prison, she moves in with her ex-assistant (Kristen Bell) and daughter (Ella Anderson) and tries to restart her life. McCarthy is her usual comedic powerhouse, even if the flimsy movie can't handle what an amazing performer she is. 1 hr. 39 R (language, violence, sexual situations) - M.E.

Deadpool *** Ryan Reynolds delivers a wonderfully maniacal, career-defining performance as a former Special Forces soldier turned mercenary in this frenetic, loving send-up of superhero movies. Morena Baccarin is kittenishly sexy as his true love. 1 hr. 48 R (strong violence and profanity throughout, sexual content, graphic nudity) - T.D.

Demolition **1/2 Jake Gyllenhaal plays a grief-stricken yuppie in a jumpy, jarring tale from director Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club, Wild) set in New York and tracking the literally destructive moves of an investment banker. After his wife dies in a car crash, he writes a sheaf of complaint letters to a vending company and then begins a relationship with the woman (Naomi Watts) who reads them. With Chris Cooper and the kid actor Judah Lewis. 1 hr. 40 R (profanity, violence, adult themes) - S.R.

The Divergent Series: Allegiant - Part 1 ** The worn and weathered third installment in the four-part film adaptation of Veronica Roth's post-apocalyptic dystopian YA books, with Shailene Woodley back as Tris, the nonconformist heroine and hope for humankind. Naomi Watts and Jeff Daniels are authoritarian figures with conflicting hidden agendas. No one can be trusted, except maybe hunky Four (Theo James), who sticks as close to Tris' side as he can. Divergent fatigue, anyone? 1 hr. 46 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) - S.R.

Eye in the Sky *** How many phone calls does it take to justify an innocent young girl's life as collateral damage in a war on terror? How many government officials need to clear her potential death? Helen Mirren leads a strong ensemble cast (including the late Alan Rickman and Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul) in Gavin Hood's tense film exploring modern warfare, where drones are the weapon of choice. 1 hr. 42 R (violence and language) - M.E.

Fireworks Wednesday *** An earlier film by Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (A Separation), this intense, absurdist dark comedy is about the violent disintegration of a bourgeois couple's marriage as witnessed through the eyes of their young maid, a love-drunk, naive soul on the eve of her wedding. 1 hr. 42 No MPAA rating (adult themes, profanity, smoking) - T.D.

God's Not Dead (Not reviewed) A high school teacher (Melissa Joan Hart) lands in the middle of a fierce legal battle when she answers a question about Jesus from a student. 2 hr. 1 PG (some thematic elements)

Hardcore Henry *1/2 A dazzling technical achievement that has the cameraman wear a digicam as a mask, this ultra-violent sci-fi action film plays like a first-person shooter video game writ large. Without much of the plot, the film gives you a frenetic high for the first 90 seconds before boring you to sleep. 1 hr. 36 R (non-stop bloody brutal violence and mayhem, language throughout, sexual content/nudity and drug use) - T.D.

High Strung (Not reviewed) Newcomer Keenan Kamps stars in this family-friendly hip-hop musical as a classical dancer on scholarship in the Big Apple who finds her groove when she teams up with a violinist (Nicholas Galitzine) with a yen for improvisational hip-hop. 1 hr. 36 PG (some thematic elements and mild profanity).

I Saw the Light ** Tom Hiddleston walks the walk and twangs the twang, but not much more in this handsome, soulless biopic, set in the middle of the last century, when country and western legend Hank Williams was busy writing a new chapter in music history. With Elizabeth Olsen and Cherry Jones as the women in Williams' short, stormy life. 2 hrs. 03 R (profanity, sex, nudity, adult themes) - S.R.

King Georges *** A wistful and wonderful documentary portrait of Philadelphia chef Georges Perrier and the rise and fall of his fabled eatery, Le Bec-Fin. 1 hr. 17 No MPAA rating (profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Meet the Blacks (Not reviewed) Mike Epps and Zulay Henao star as a Chicago couple who take their family to Beverly Hills in search of a better life. They arrive just as the city is gearing up for its annual purge, when all crime is legal for 12 hours. 1 hr. 30 R (pervasive profanity, some sexual material, violence, and drug use)

Miracles from Heaven **1/2 Jennifer Garner stars in this fact-based Christian film as a Texas woman whose chronically ill daughter is healed in what appears to be a miracle. Appealing subject matter and good performances aren't enough to make up for the sappy story or its cloying tone. 1 hr. 49 PG (thematic material, including accident and medical images) - T.D.

Mr. Right (Not previewed) In Paco Cabezas' romantic comedy, a hit man on the run (Sam Rockwell) falls for a nice gal (Anna Kendrick). With Tim Roth, James Ransome, and Anson Mount. 1 hr. 30 R (violence and profanity throughout).

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 *1/2 The cast of Nia Vardalos' 2002 hit romcom reunites for this tired, predictable follow-up. A new wedding is in the offing when Toula's (Vardalos) parents (Lainie Kazan and Michael Constantine) discover their 40-year-old marriage certificate was never signed. 1 hr. 41 PG-12 (some suggestive material) - T.D.

One More Time *** Christopher Walken stars as faded lounge singer whose albums have become go-to make-out music for hipsters. His singer-songwriter daughter (Amber Heard) makes halfhearted attempts to ignite her career, accepting his monetary support while blaming him for her problems. 1 hr. 38 No MPAA rating (profanity, marijuana smoking, some sexuality) - W.S.

Remember (Not previewed) In Atom Egoyan's latest, one able-bodied Auschwitz survivor with dementia (Christopher Plummer) joins another survivor, who's mentally sharp and uses a wheelchair (Martin Landau), to track down the person responsible for the death of their families. 1 hr. 35 R (sequence of violence and language)

10 Cloverfied Lane *** From producer J.J. Abrams and Philly native Dan Trachtenberg, a wickedly clever nightmare entertainment (and a spiritual successor to 2008's Cloverfield), with Mary Elizabeth Winstead as a woman who wakes up shackled in some weird survivalist's bunker. John Goodman is that guy, John Gallagher Jr. is a fellow houseguest, and the world outside the airlocked lair ain't what it used to be. 1 hr. 45 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) - S.R.

Zootopia *** A colorful Disney 'toon about a seemingly idyllic town where all the mammals get along - until a sinister conspiracy intrudes. The heroine of the tale is a plucky bunny who joins the police force (the first bunny cop!) and quickly gets caught up in a noirish missing otter case. There otter be a law. With the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, and Idris Elba. 1 hr. 48 PG (some scares, adult themes) - S.R.