ALIEN: COVENANT. 2 stars. Katherine Waterston and Billy Crudup head up the latest Alien spacecraft to run into an invasive creature that wreaks havoc on their journey. Same-old, same-old. Too much back story. Enough already. 2 hrs. 2 R (violence, gore) _ Gary Thompson
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. 3 stars. Live-action version of the 1991 animated classic, starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens in the title roles. Competently staged by Bill Condon, but does not improve on the 2D Disney original. With Luke Evans and Josh Gad. 2 hrs. 9 PG (action violence, peril) _ Gary Thompson
BORN IN CHINA. 3 stars. Cuddly Disney documentary focusing on a year in the life of a number of animal species, most notably pandas. 1 hr. 16 G _ Gary Thompson
CHUCK. 3 stars. Funny, poignant and true story of heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner (Liev Schreiber), who's 15-round bout with Muhammad Ali became the inspiration for Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky." With Jim Gaffigan, Naomi Watts and Elisabeth Moss. 1 hr. 41 R (language) _ Gary Thompson
CITIZEN JANE: BATTLE FOR THE CITY. 3 stars. An informative documentary about writer-activist Jane Jacobs, whose innovative ideas about how cities should function put her at odds with powerful, conventional urban planners in the New York of the 1960s, The film quotes Jacobs as saying she developed many of her ideas writing about efforts to revitalize Philadelphia's Society Hill back in the 1950s. 1 hr. 33 No MPAA rating _ Gary Thompson
COLOSSAL. 2.5 stars. An out-of-control Manhattan woman (Anne Hathaway) loses her job and her boyfriend (Dan Stevens), then ends up back working in the bar run by an old friend (Jason Sudeikis). Meanwhile, a monster shows up in the Far East. An enjoyably outlandish comedy, until it suddenly curdles into something unpleasant and violent. Hathaway, though, is good in a tricky role. 1 hr. 50 R (language) _ Gary Thompson
THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS. 2.5 stars. In this stunt-filled sequel, a hacker (Charlize Theron) blackmails Gino (Vin Diesel), while his buddies (Michelle Rodriguez, Dwayne Johnson) try to extricate and exonerate him. Also starring Tyrese, Ludacris, Helen Mirren and Jason Statham. 2 hr. 15 PG-13 (violence) _ Gary Thompson
GIFTED. 2.5 stars. A custody drama featuring Chris Evans as a bachelor assigned to raise his late sister's math genius daughter (Mckenna Grace). A nice performance by Evans, who elevates the so-so material. With Octavia Spencer, Jenny Slate. 1 hr. 41 PG-13 (language) _ Gary Thompson
GOING IN STYLE. 2 stars. Three retired steelworkers (Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Alan Arkin) plot to rob the bank complicit in getting rid of their pensions. Good natured slapstick, but almost infallibly unfunny. With Ann-Margaret. Directed by Zach Braff. 1 hr. 37 PG-13 (drug use, language) _ Gary Thompson
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2. 2.5 stars. The gang's all here in this somewhat bloated, self-serious sequel, but the irreverent energy of the original is in short supply. 2 hrs. 17 min. PG-13 _ Gary Thompson
HOW TO BE A LATIN LOVER (Not previewed) An aging gigolo (Eugenio Derbez) tries to woo a widower (Raquel Welch) with the help of his estranged sister (Salma Hayek). With Rob Lowe. 1 hr. 55 PG-13 (crude humor, sexual references and gestures, brief nudity)
KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD. 2 stars. Guy Ritchie attempts a radically modernized and up-tempo version of the classic story, though ultimately he manages to strip the characters of the mythic stature while offering the small consolation of wisecracks and video game visuals. With Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law and Djimon Hounsou. 2 hrs. 3 PG-13 (violence) _ Gary Thompson
THE LOST CITY OF Z. 2.5 stars. British explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) surveys the South American jungle in the languid epic Lost City of Z, a nice-looking movie that nevertheless finds itself up the Amazon without a paddle. 2 hr. 21 PG-13 (violence) _ Gary Thompson
THE LOVERS. 3 stars. Debra Winger beds a young lover (Aidan Gillen) and her old husband (Tracy Letts), who's also having an affair, in this offbeat romantic comedy featuring. 1 hr. 34 R (sexual situations, adult themes) _ Gary Thompson
MY ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL SINKING INTO THE SEA. 2.5 stars. In making his animated feature debut, Dash Shaw adapts his own graphic novel about a group of high school sophomores scrambling to survive two catastrophes � their high school literally submerging, and just plain high school. It's hard to say which is more difficult. 1 hr., 15 PG-13 (some images of peril, sexual references and drug material) _ Gary Thompson
NORMAN. 3 stars. Richard Gere gives the most annoying performance of his career _ by design _ in this offbeat movie about a New York nebbish swept up in big-time finance and Israeli politics. Saves its narrative surprises for the very end. 1 hr. 58 R (language) _ Gary Thompson
OBIT. 3 stars. Documentary about the obituary writers at the New York Times, where some of the liveliest prose is about the recently deceased. 1 hr. 33 No MPAA rating (adult themes) _ Gary Thompson
THE PROMISE. 2 stars. Well-intentioned epic about the Armenian genocide of 1915 has history, but its central love story is flat, and the movie suffers. With Oscar Isaac, Charlotte La Bon and Christian Bale. 2 hr. 10 PG-13 (violence) _ Gary Thompson
RISK. 3 stars. Laura Poitras was granted extensive access to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to make this documentary, which portrays him as a zealot eager to expose state secrets, but bitterly defensive about his own. Assange has disowned the film. 1 hr. 30 No MPAA rating _ Gary Thompson
SABAN'S POWER RANGERS (Not Previewed). The resurrected kiddie show about teens-turned-superheroes that has a seemingly endless shelf life gets a big-screen reboot with the help of Bryan Cranston and Elizabeth Banks. Distributed by Lionsgate. 2 hrs. 4 PG-13 (sci-fi violence, action and destruction, language, and some rude humor).
SNATCHED. 2.5 stars. Party girl (Amy Schumer) drags her straight-laced mother (Goldie Hawn) on a trip to Ecuador, where they are kidnapped. Decent star chemistry gives way to standard action-comedy material, and gross-out laughs that are more gross than funny. 1 hr. 30 R (Language) _ Gary Thompson
THEIR FINEST. 3.5 stars. Funny and moving period drama about a woman (Gemma Arterton) in wartime London who stumbles into a job as a screenwriter on a propaganda movie. Witty, borderline screwball feminist comedy, wrapped in an emotionally powerful look at the uses of art. With Sam Claflin. 1 hr. 57 PG-13 (violence) _ Gary Thompson
UNFORGETTABLE. 1 star. Katherine Heigl goes all psycho girlfight on Rosario Dawson in a revenge thriller that would completely forgettable except it's so ridiculously bad. 1 hr. 40 R (sex, violence) _ Gary Thompson
THE WALL. 2.5 stars. Taut action gives way to an increasingly far-fetched plot in Doug Liman's movie about a pinned-down American soldier (Aaron-Taylor Johnson) matching wits with an Iraqi sniper. 1 hr. 21 R (Violence) _ Gary Thompson
THE WEDDING PLAN. (Not previewed) In Israel, an Orthodox Jewish woman (Noa Kooler), jilted by her fiance, decides to proceed with her plans, enlisting the help of matchmakers in hopes of finding a suitable groom who will appear before the wedding day. 1 hr. 50 PG In Hebrew with subtitles. (thematic elements)
THE ZOOKEEPER'S WIFE. 2.5 stars. Jessica Chastain stars in this dutiful if sometimes mechanical true story of Antonina Zabinski, a Polish woman who helped save hundreds of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto during the Nazi occupation of World War II. With Daniel Bruhl. 2 hrs. 6 PG-13 (violence) _ Gary Thompson
