ARRIVAL. 3 stars. The military recruits a linguist (Amy Adams) to help decipher alien communications. "Arrival" is at once majestic and melancholy. It's a grand endeavor, and Adams, at the center of it all, brings pluck and smarts and a deep-seated sorrow to her role. 1 hr. 56 PG-13 (brief strong language) _ Steven Rea
ASSASSIN'S CREED. 2.5 stars. Director Justin Kurzel reunites with his "Macbeth" stars Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard for this hard-hitting, violent, fast-paced fantasy action thriller based on the video-game franchise. With an utterly ludicrous premise, it's about a centuries-long conflict between two secret societies, the Knights Templar, which wants to eradicate human will, and the Assassins, a line of anarchist social libertarians. The film stages two conflicts between the two sides, one in 1492 and one in today's world. 1 hr. 55 PG-13 (intense sequences of violence and action, thematic elements and brief strong profanity) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
DOCTOR STRANGE. 2.5 stars. Benedict Cumberbatch ("Sherlock") acquits himself most awesomely in the 14th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a visually sumptuous, trippy origin story about an arrogant surgeon who loses his career but regains his soul _ and the ability to cast wicked spells, do wicked kung fu and look wicked cool in majestic blood-red cape. The plot? Hm, well evil threatens to swallow all of reality and the good guys try to stop it. The fine ensemble cast includes Tilda Swinton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, Benedict Wong and Mads Mikkelsen. 1 hr. 55 PG-13 (sci-fi violence and action throughout, and an intense crash sequence) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN. 3 stars. A teen's (Hailee Steinfeld) life takes a turn for the worse when her best friend begins dating her brother. It works because it's not a candy-coated version of teenagedom. It's harsh, awkward and funny, just like being a teenager. 1 hr. 30. R (for sexual content, language and some drinking) _ Molly Eichel
ELLE. 3.5 stars. Paul Verhoeven's most daring exploration of sexual politics features a stunning performance by Isabelle Huppert as a successful business executive and single mother who is violently raped by a masked assailant. Refusing to become a victim or to seek revenge, she tries to understand the dynamics of rape, going as far as to befriend and seduce her attacker. 2 hrs. 10 R (violence involving sexual assault, disturbing sexual content, some grisly images, brief graphic nudity, and profanity) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM. 3 stars. Harry Potter spin-off scripted by J.K. Rowling brings the wizarding world across the pond to our side. Set in 1920s Manhattan, with Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterson, Colin Farrell. 2 hrs. 13. PG-13 (some fantasy action violence) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
FENCES. 3.5 stars. August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece, about a working-class African American family in the 1950s, is transformed into a compelling, searing film in the hands of producer, director, and star Denzel Washington. He plays a charismatic, funny, energetic, but equally embittered Pittsburgh garbage collector who derides anyone, including his wife, Rose (Viola Davis), and his best friend (Stephen Henderson), who suggest life has improved for African Americans since the Civil War. Once a star baseball player forced by segregation to play in the Negro Leagues, the aging patriarch is harshest on his sons (Russell Hornsby, Jovan Adepo), whose optimism disturb him deeply. 2 hrs. 18 PG-13 (thematic elements, profanity, and some suggestive references) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
HACKSAW RIDGE. 3.5 stars. One of Mel Gibson's greatest achievements as director, this incredibly violent, gory WWII epic tells the true story of U.S. Amy medic Desmond Doss (a remarkable Andrew Garfield), who became one of the most decorated soldiers of the Pacific Theater without firing a single shot. A conscientious objector, he single-handedly saved more than 75 wounded men during the Battle of Okinawa. The first-rate ensemble cast includes Hugo Weaving, Sam Worthington, Rachel Griffiths and Teresa Palmer. 2 hrs. 11 R (intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence including grisly bloody images) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
THE HANDMAIDEN. 3.5 stars. Based on Sarah Water's novel the "Fingersmith," this breathtaking, clever, funny sexy _ and sexually graphic _ romantic thriller from "Oldboy" director Park Chan-wook is about a lesbian romance that develops between an impoverished confidence trickster and an isolated, naive heiress. Set during the 1930s, when Korea was a vassal state to Japan, the film cleverly addresses a range of themes about power, economic exploitation and sexuality. 2 hrs. 24 No MPAA rating (nudity and graphic sexual situations throughout, profanity, smoking, violence) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
JACKIE. 3 stars. Natalie Portman, intense, focused, transfiguring, stars as Jacqueline Kennedy in a daring fever dream of a biopic, wheeling around the events before, during, and after the assassination of JFK. Not every element of Chilean director Pablo Larrain's film works, but its star is unforgettable, and the images _ historic and imagined _ imbue this psychological portrait with a haunting resonance. 1 hr. 40 R (brief strong language and some violence) _ Steven Rea
LA LA LAND. 4 stars. Some kind of transcendent magic happens in Damien Chazelle's starry-eyed musical, with one foot (in tap shoes) firmly planted in the past, and the other (in taps, too, of course) planted in a me-first, modern-day world. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are the struggling Los Angelinos who fall in love despite a mutual wariness, walking and talking, singing and dancing, amid a swirl of classic Hollywood references. Not quite perfect, but its imperfections, and its embrace of passion over cynicism, are part of the charm. 2 hrs. 8 PG-13 (profanity, adult themes) _ Steven Rea
LION. 3 stars. Australian TV director Garth Davis ("Top of the Lake") makes his feature debut with this heart-breaking, if sometimes maudlin, true story told in two parts. In the first, a 5-year-old boy in India becomes separated from his impoverished family and ends up being adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham). In the second part, the boy has grown up to be a young man (Dev Patel of "Slumdog Millionaire") who goes back in search of his lost family. 1 hr. 48 PG-13 (thematic material and some sensuality) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
LOVING. 3 stars. True story of an interracial couple who were jailed for getting married in 1950s Virginia. Their case led to the Supreme Court decision invalidating race-related marriage laws. 2 hrs. 3 PG-13 (thematic elements, some profanity) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA. 3.5 stars. Kenneth Lonergan ("You Can Count on Me," "Margaret") proves once again he's one of America's finest dramatists with this working class drama about loss, grief and family obligations. Casey Affleck is sensational in an Oscar-worthy performance as a self-hating, melancholic who has lived a miserable life as a janitor since he lost both his children in an accident. When his older brother (Kyle Chandler) dies, he's forced to return to his tiny hometown and assume responsibility for his teenage nephew (Lucas Hedges). Costars Michelle Williams, Matthew Broderick and Gretchen Mol. 2 hrs. 17 R (profanity throughout and some sexual content) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
MOANA. 3.5 stars. This delightful, lyrical and deeply moving 3-D computer animated family picture is a semi-comic adventure story featuring the first truly feminist heroine to grace Walt Disney's animated features. Based in part on Polynesian myths, it's about a teenage princess (15-year-old Hawaii-born singer Auli'i Cravalho) who goes on an arduous journey to restore the creative powers of the fecund earth mother who created the world. Co-starring Dwayne Johnson as a macho demi-god, the film is fueled by a wondrous, ecofeminist point of view. 1 hr. 53 PG (peril, some scary images and brief thematic elements) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
A MONSTER CALLS. 3 stars. Adapted by children's author Patrick Ness from his 2011 bestseller, this dark tween fantasy features a remarkable turn by Lewis MacDougall as a 12-year-old boy who uses his wild artistic imagination to cope with his single mother's potentially fatal illness. Felicity Jones ("Rogue One") is haunting as his mom, while Liam Neeson is wonderful as the monster the boy befriends. Director J. A. Bayona ("The Orphanage") infuses the film with just the right amount of gothic darkness, but he is less successful when it comes to the story's lighter animated fairy tale sequences. 2 hrs. 08 PG-13 (thematic content and some scary images) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
MOONLIGHT. 4 stars. A true American masterpiece, the sophomore feature from Barry Jenkins ("Medicine for Melancholy") is a heady mix of brutal social realism and poetry as it tells the coming age story of a young black gay man from the Miami ghetto. Divided into three parts, it tells the story of Chiron as a 10-year-old, a high school student and a 20-something professional as he wrestles with external forces he can't control including poverty and drug crime and internal desires he cannot ignore. Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders and Trevante Rhodes give memorable performances as Chiron. With Andre Holland, Janelle Monae, Naomie Harris and Mahershala Ali. 1 hr. 50 R (some sexuality, drug use, brief violence, and profanity throughout) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
PASSENGERS. 2.5 stars. Norwegian director Morten Tyldum follows up his brilliant features "Headhunter" and "The Imitation Game" with a disappointing entry that tries to graft a solid love story on top of a weak, badly conceived sci-fi adventure. Jennifer Lawrence and Christ Pratt have great chemistry as two passengers on a 120-year intergalactic flight whose hypersleep pods malfunction. The only two people awake on a ship of 5,000, they embark on a troubled romance that gets all wonky when they have to save the ship from blowing up. 1 hr. 56 PG-13 (sexuality, nudity, and action/peril) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY. 2 stars. Director Gareth Edwards ("Monsters") delivers a passable minor prequel to 1977's "Star Wars" featuring Felicity Jones as a reluctant rebel hero who takes on the Empire to save her scientist dad (Mads Mikkelsen), who happens to be the guy who built the Death Star from the 1977 masterpiece. Costarring Forest Whitaker, Diego Luna and Donnie Yen, this would have been a fun, effective diversion were it not for its absurd sense of self-importance _ nowhere more apparent than in composer Michael Giacchino's bombastic, over-the-top John Williamsesque score that swells and crescendos in every scene. 2 hrs. 13 PG-13 (extended sequences of sci-fi violence and action) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
SILENCE. 3 stars. Martin Scorsese's third film about religion after "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "Kundun" is a magnificently beautiful if uneven and overlong adaptation of Japanese Catholic author Shusaku Endo's 1966 masterpiece. Andrew Garfield delivers a feverish turn as a young Jesuit missionary who arrives in Japan in 1670 when Christianity had been outlawed and witnesses the brutal repression of Japanese converts. Liam Neeson is good as an older Jesuit who tries to guide him while Issey Ogata is both hilarious and terrifying as the dreaded inquisitor in charge of stamping out the religion in Japan. 2 hrs. 41 R (some disturbing violent content) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS. (Not Previewed) Kate Beckinsale returns as the leather-and-latex- clad vampire Death Dealer Selene in the fifth installment of the vamps-vs.-wolves saga. But gone is Scott Speedman, who played her lover in the first four films, the wolf-vamp hybrid Michael. The story? Selene continues her crusade against the wolves and the corrupt vamp faction that betrayed her. 1 hr. 31 R (strong bloody violence and some sexuality).
WHY HIM? 2.5 stars. James Franco burns up the screen with surreal weirdness in a madcap take on "Meet the Parents" co-starring Zoey Deutch as his younger lover and Brian Cranston and Megan Mullally as her straight-laced Midwestern parents. Franco plays Laird, an eccentric, four-letter-word-loving, heavily tattooed Silicon Valley gazillionaire with a heart of gold who hosts his gal's family at his gorgeous mansion for a weekend filled with wordplay, sight gags, crazy stunts, and a bit of sex. Keegan-Michael Key is brilliant as Laird's friend, employee, and martial arts teacher. Franco lays it on heavy and dominates every scene, so those allergic to the actor may want to keep away. His fans will lap it up. 1 hr. 51 R (strong profanity and sexual material) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
