A CURE FOR WELLNESS. 1.5 stars. Dane DeHaan plays a crooked corporate hustler sent to the Alps to retrieve his AWOL boss from a sinister health spa. Would-be horror movie from Gore Verbinksi offers few chills, fewer thrills, and is punishingly long. 2 hrs. 22 R (disturbing violence, graphic nudity) _ Gary Thompson
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
FIFTY SHADES DARKER. 2 stars. Dull sequel to the smash-hit original, adapted from the E.L. James novels about a woman (Dakota Johnson) and her on-again, off-again romance with a billionaire playboy (Jamie Dornan) who is into S&M. The title to the sequel is a bit misleading, since the two get along just fine in this installment, which owes as much to "Cinderella" as it does to erotica. With Kim Basinger and Marcia Gay Harden. 1 hr. 55 mins. R (strong sexual content, graphic nudity, language) _ Gary Thompson
FIST FIGHT. 2 stars. Charlie Day plays a teacher who gets a colleague (Ice Cube) fired, leading to a showdown brawl in the parking lot after school. The fight is unexpectedly epic, but the comedy leading up to it is not. With Jillian Bell, Tracy Morgan. and Dean Norris. 1 hr. 31 R (language, sexual content, drugs) _ Gary Thompson
GET OUT. 3 stars. Jordan Peele's horror movie about a black man (Daniel Kaluuya) who heads to mansion country to meet the parents (Bradley Whitford, Catherine Keener) of his white girlfriend (Allison Williams). Conceptually clever, though not always as scary as it could be, with a winning supporting role for Lil Rel Howery. 1 hr. 43 R (violence, bloody images) _ Gary Thompson
THE GREAT WALL. 2 stars. A big-budget Chinese-American action-fantasy starring Matt Damon as a mercenary who helps the Chinese army (led by Jing Tian) repel an invasion of fearsome creatures. A merger of Chinese and American talent (Zhang Yimou directs) heralded as the wave of the future, but the results here are not that promising. 1 hr. 44 mins. PG-13 (fantasy action violence) _ Gary Thompson
HIDDEN FIGURES. 3 stars. Taraji P. Henson, Octavio Spencer, and Janelle Monae are terrific in this feel-good family movie about a group of black female mathematicians who worked at NASA during the 1960s. The true story is about overqualified scientists who could only get jobs crunching numbers for their white male bosses, but who overcame prejudice to make their own mark on the space program. Where it lacks as serious history, the film makes up for with an empowering social message. The ensemble cast includes Kevin Costner, Glen Powell, Mahershala Ali, and Aldis Hodge. 2 hr. 7 PG (thematic elements and some profanity) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO. 4 stars. A stunning documentary about William Baldwin's work as an artist and foremost as a civil-rights activist by celebrated Haitian-born director Raoul Peck ("It's Not About Love," "Lumumba"). The film has an ambitious goal: to use footage and narration (read by Samuel L. Jackson) to reconstruct Baldwin's unfinished opus "Remember This House," a study of the life and death of civil-rights activists who had been assassinated, including Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 1 hr. 35 PG-13 (disturbing violent images, thematic material, profanity and brief nudity) _ T.D.
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER TWO. 3 stars. Action-packed sequel again starring Keanu Reeves as the underwold's most fearsome hitman, this time squaring off against the world's most adept assassins (including Common) in scenes of highly stylized violence that build to crescendos of comic absurdity. At better than two hours, though, the movie feels over-stretched. With Ian McShane and Laurence Fishburne, reunited with his co-star from "The Matrix." 2 hrs.2 R (strong violence throughout, nudity, language) _ Gary Thompson
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
THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE. 3 stars. Witty animated sequel to the surprise hit original, with Will Arnett providing the voice of lonely recluse Batman, who changes for the better when he falls for the police commissioner's daughter (Rosario Dawson) and adopts an orphan (Michael Cera) who becomes Robin. Fast-paced, full of jokes that draw from the long history of Batman comic books, movies and television shows. Also featuring Zach Galifianakis as the voice of The Joker. 1 hr. 30 PG (rude humor and some action) _ Gary Thompson
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
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
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
PATERSON. 4 stars. One of Jim Jarmusch's most accomplished films, this extraordinary visual poem is a wry , gently comic celebration of the creative spirit as it manifests itself in everyday life. Inspired b the works of American modernist William Carlos Williams, Jarmusch's film follows seven days in the life of a Paterson bus driver named Paterson who spends his free time writing poetry. (Composed for the film by Ron Padgett). Adam Driver ("Star Wars: The Force Awakens") is revelatory in the title role as the mild-mannered driver-poet while Golshifteh Farahani is radiant as his madly eccentric wife, a would-be country singer. 1 hr. 58 R (profanity) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
RINGS. (Not previewed). Reboot of the Japanese-horror franchise. It's about a videotape that will cause your death seven days after being viewed. 1 hr. 42 PG-13 (violence/terror, thematic elements, some sexuality, and brief drug material).
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
THE SALESMAN. 3.5 stars. Nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi's latest domestic masterwork is about a pair of young husband-and-wife actors (Shahab Hosseini and Taraneh Alidoosti), rehearsing for a new production of "Death of a Salesman," whose world falls apart when an intruder almost assaults the wife. Her husband becomes possessed by rage and vengeance and loses his humanity. 2 hrs. 5 PG-13 (mature thematic elements and a brief bloody image) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
SPLIT. 3 stars. M. Night Shyamalan who made something of a comeback with the small budget found footage horror pic "The Visit," continues the trend with this intensely creepy, engaging and entertaining psychological thriller featuring a virtuoso performance by James McAvoy ("The Last King of Scotland," the "X-Men" series) as deranged killer with 23 distinct personalities who abducts three teenage girls he plans to feed to a demonic beast he believes is emerging as his 24th personality. Anya Taylor-Joy (Morgan) is terrific as one of the hostages, the strong-willed, disturbed outcast Casey. 1 hr. 57 PG-13 (disturbing thematic content and behavior, violence and some profanity) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
TONI ERDMANN. 4 stars. Writer-director Maren Ade's stun-gun of a comedy-drama is a bizarre, brilliant and madly original story about an aging German hippie man-child (Peter Simonischek) and amateur comedian who pulls every book in and his book to reconnect with his estranged yuppie daughter (Sandra Huller). She works in Romania as a corporate consultant who is hired by struggling companies to lay off workers by the hundreds. He's retired and lonely so he pops up in her life unannounced _ and in disguise as a life coach to CEOs. Their encounter takes them on a bizarre tour of Bucharest. The comedy is out of this world, the emotional journey deeply authentic and affecting. In German and Romanian with English subtitles. 2 hrs. 42 R (strong sexual content, graphic nudity, profanity and brief drug use) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
A UNITED KINGDOM. 3.5 stars. David Oyewolo and Rosamund Pike shine in this true story about the remarkable marriage of African tribal prince Seretse and London office girl Ruth Williams. They met in 1947 and wed less than a year later, an event which sparked an international diplomatic crisis. Seretse was set to lead his people _ under the guidance of Britain. Instead, the British exiled him. Shot on location in Botswana, the film shows how the couple's commitment to each other and to democratic ideals allowed them to triumph against all odds. 1 hr. 51 PG-13 (some language, including racial epithets and a scene of sensuality) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
