THE BFG. 3 stars. Steven Spielberg's supersized dream of a movie, adpated from the Roald Dahl children's book about a little orphan girl and the Big Friendly Giant who takes her away. Newcomer Ruby Barnhill and Oscar-winner Mark Rylance star, and even if the story takes some silly turns, there is magic here _ on a very large scale. PG (scary images) _ Steven Rea
BREAKING A MONSTER. 3 stars. Documentarian Luke Meyer (Darkon) exposes the music industry as a soul-less machine in this observational documentary that follows about a year in the life of Unlocking the Truth, a heavy metal band formed by three African American middle schoolers from Flatbush, N.Y. When the band wins a big Sony record contract, they enter a strange world peopled with corporate flunkies charged with turning people into products. 1 hr. 32 No MPAA rating (adult themes, some profanity) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
CAFE SOCIETY. 2 stars. Woody Allen's 47th (!) feature is a burnished '30s period piece, shot by the master cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, but shot through with lazy one-liners and characters of only surface interest. Jesse Eisenberg stars as a kid from the Bronx who makes his way west, to work for his big-deal Hollywood agent uncle (Steve Carell). Kristen Stewart is the agent's assistant. Familiar Allen themes _ infatuation, infidelity, fate, morality, mortality _ superficially ensue. 1 hr. 36 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) _ Steven Rea
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC. 3.5 stars. Viggo Mortensen stars, with an amazing group of young actors, as a radical hippie dad who has raised his kids way off the grid, way outside the norms of "the real world." When events force them to leave their rustic retreat and deal with modern-day America, the experience is jolting _ and funny, moving, meaningful. 1 hr. 58 R (profanity, nudity, adult themes) _ Steven Rea
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE. 2.5 stars. Kevin Hart follows up the dreadful "Ride Along 2" with yet another buddy action comedy about a mismatched duo who vanquish evildoers. But this one is actually funny. Hart plays an accountant who is recruited by a rogue CIA officer. Played brilliantly by Dwayne Johnson, the spy was once an obese, geeky, lonely boy victimized by bullies. 1 hr. 54 PG-13 (crude and suggestive humor, some nudity, action violence and some profanity) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
EAT THAT QUESTION: FRANK ZAPPA IN HIS OWN WORDS. 3 stars. In this documentary that has three of his four kids' blessing (Dweezil is not on board) Frank Zappa talks and talks some more - to talk show hosts, a game-show audience, even a Pennsylvania state trooper. German director Thorsten Schutte uses the musician's own words to build a picture of the man, minus the usual behind-the-music memes. 1 hr. 33 R (language, some sexual references, brief nudity) _ Dan DeLuca
FINDING DORY. 3 stars. The cheery, royal blue, yellow-finned sidekick of 2003's Pixarsmash "Finding Nemo" gets a movie of her own, in which Dory _ who suffers from short-term memory loss _ finds herself separated from her family, trying desperately to remember where they might be. Aquatic adventures ensue, along with life lessons and swell moral messages, but there's a slightly disturbing, dreamlike thread running through the computer animated feature, too. 1 hr. 37 PG (adult themes) _ Steven Rea
FREE STATE OF JONES. 2.5 stars. Matthew McConaughey plays little known Southern abolitionist Newton Knight in Oscar-nominated "Seabiscuit" writer-director Gary Ross' exhausting, over-long biopic about a Confederate Army deserter who forms an army of his own to fight injustice in Mississippi during the Civil War. 2 hrs. 19 R (brutal battle scenes and disturbing graphic images) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
GHOSTBUSTERS. 3 stars. Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, and Leslie Jones star in the distaff reboot/remake of the 1984 paranormal smash comedy about a squad of proton-packed spectral exterminators. Under the leadership of director Paul Feig ("Bridesmaids," "Spy"), the gender-flipped cast proves more than a gimmick. Girl power and ghoul power _ it's a winning combination. 1 hr. 56 PG-13 (scares, supernatural violence, adult themes) _ Steven Rea
HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE. 4 stars. As near a perfect film as I've ever since, this lushly-photographed kiwi comedy from Taika Waititi ("What We Do in the Shadows") features a star turn by teen actor Julian Dennison as a maladjusted orphan who bonds with a gruff widower (Sam Neill) during a months-long trek through the bush. 1 hr. 41 PG-13 (thematic elements including violent content, and for some profanity) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
ICE AGE: COLLISION. 1.5 stars. A glorified Saturday morning cartoon, the fifth entry in the animated 3-D family adventure reunites its well-known stars, including Ray Romano, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah and Jennifer Lopez for a flat, tired storyline that has our early mammalian heroes try to avert asteroids from destroying the earth. 1 hr. 34 PG (mild rude humor and some action/peril) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
THE INFILTRATOR. 2.5 stars. Bryan Cranston stars as a true-life government agent in mid-'80s South Florida who goes deep, deep undercover to expose the Medellin cartel and the bankers that handle its millions. John Leguizamo, Diane Kruger and Benjamin Bratt co-star, solidly. 2 hrs. 07 R (violence, profanity, sex, drugs, adult themes) _ Steven Rea
THE LEGEND OF TARZAN. 2 stars. After spending time in London, Tarzan returns to the jungle. Alexander Skarsg�rd and Margot Robbie star. 1 hr. 49 PG-13 (violence, sexual situations, profanity) _ Molly Eichel
LIGHTS OUT. 3 stars. Teresa Palmer and Maria Bello face our most elemental fear, darkness, in this effective, scary, gore-free creepfest from Swedish-born director David Sandberg. Bello plays an unbalanced mother of two who neglects her kids to pursue an obsessive friendship with an imaginary creature who has wild hair and claws. Then one day, the friend becomes real and people start dying. 1 hr. 21 PG-13 (terror throughout, violence including disturbing images, some thematic material and brief drug content) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
THE LOBSTER. 4 stars. Oscar-nominated director Yorgos Lanthimos' English-language debut stars Colin Farrell as a mild-mannered widower sent to a hotel where he is encouraged _ nay, required _ to find a new partner. A surreal, comic, sad, strange, beautiful fable. 1 hr. 58. R (violence, sex, nudity, adult themes) _ Steven Rea
LOVE & FRIENDSHIP. 3 stars. Whit Stillman adapts a lesser-known, posthumously published Jane Austen novella about a widow of devilish charms _ as frank, fearless, and flirtatious a character as Austen ever imagined. Kate Beckinsale brings Lady Susan to life with glee, and a stalwart cast _ including Xavier Samuel, Chloe Sevigny and a scene-stealing Tom Bennett _ moves this comedy of manners, of manors, and of sexual politics briskly along. 1 hr. 33 PG (adult themes) _ Steven Rea
MAGGIE'S PLAN. 3.5 stars. Rebecca Miller's smart, shambling screwball romance about a single woman (Greta Gerwig), who falls into an affair with a self-absorbed writer and anthropologist (Ethan Hawke), who happens to be married (with kids) to a frosty Danish scholar (Julianne Moore). Complications, and conspiracy, ensue. 1 hr. 38. R (profanity, sex, adult themes) _ Steven Rea
MIKE AND DAVE NEED WEDDING DATES. 2.5 stars. Zac Efron and Adam DeVine play brothers in search of women to take to their sister's wedding so they won't ruin yet another family affair. Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick play two debaucherous ladies who mostly see a free vacation. It feels like a series of loosely linked scenes instead of a full-fledged movie; it's not nearly as memorable, smart, or sweet as "Wedding Crashers." 1 hr. 38 R (crude sexual content, language, drug use, some graphic nudity) _ Molly Eichel
NOW YOU SEE ME 2. 2 stars. The Four Horsemen return from 2013's hit magician-thieves caper (well, three of them _ Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, and Woody Harrelson _ joined by newcomer Lizzy Caplan) for another whooshing display of trickery and misdirection. 2 hrs. 9 PG-13 (adult themes) _ Steven Rea
OUR KIND OF TRAITOR. 2.5 stars. Ewan McGregor is likeable as a Hitchockian everyman in this adaptation. He is sucked into a dangerous spy game when a Russian mobster (a hulking, over-the-top Stellan Skarsgard) hands him evidence against his bosses to pass on to British intelligence; Damian Lewis strains credulity as their case officer. 1 hr. 47 R (violence, profanity throughout, some sexuality, nudity, brief drug use) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR. 2 stars. There aren't any big surprises in the third entry in the popular, ultra-violent franchise about the near future where once a year, for 12 hours, Americans are allowed to commit murder. Frank Grillo returns as a former cop who saves people on Purge night. This time around, he's been hired to protect a presidential candidate (Elizabeth Mitchell) who wants to repeal the Purge. 1 hr. 45 R (disturbing bloody violence, profanity) _ Tirdad Derakhshani
THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS. 3 stars. Directed by the "Dispicable Me" franchise's Chris Renaud, a pet lovers' loving salute to the domesticated animals we rely on to bring us comfort, companionship, and triple-digit veterinary bills. Louis C.K. gives voice to a needy Jack Russell, and Kevin Hart is a white bunny named Snowball (talk about color-blind casting!). An extremely animated animated romp. 1 hr. 30 PG (some scares for little kids) � Steven Rea
STAR TREK BEYOND. 2.5 stars. "Fast & Furious: director Justin Lin takes over from rebooter J.J. Abrams, but while the action is turbocharged, the storyline _ Enterprise crew stranded on hostile planet ruled by reptilian warlord (Idris Elba) _ feels less epic than episodic. With Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, and company. 2 hrs. PG-13 (intense sci-fi action, violence, adult themes) _ Steven Rea
SWISS ARMY MAN. 3 stars. Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe star in a big existential fart joke of a movie _ good news if you like fart jokes, not so good otherwise. In truth, this fearless oddity of an indie, written and directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, is propelled by more than mere flatulence. It's about the safe haven of imagination, about loneliness, despair, resilience, obsession and, um, stalking. 1 hr. 35 R (profanity, adult themes) _ Steven Rea
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE 2.5 stars. Too serious and too long, the Bryan Singer-directed prequel/sequel (and overall ninth entry in the X-Men franchise) finds an evil Egyptian super-mutant from 3600 BC raining terror on a 1980s world. With James McAvoy as the young Professor X, sad-eyed but sanguine, safe in the knowledge that he will grow old to look more and more like Patrick Stewart. Rose Byrne, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac and Tye Sheridan jostle for time in the extremely crowded cast. 2 hrs. 24 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) _ Steven Rea
