Movies: New and Noteworthy

COMING THIS WEEK

By Steven Rea

The Angry Birds Movie From the video game of the same name - the flightless birds' island idyll is interrupted by an invasion of . . . pigs. With the voice talents of Peter Dinklage, Bill Hader, Kate McKinnon, Sean Penn(!), and Jason Sudekis. PG

Love & Friendship Whit Stillman puts the finish on an unfinished Jane Austen novel (Lady Susan), with Kate Beckinsale in the lead - and American Chloë Sevigny joining a troupe of Brits. A comedy of manners, manors, and marriage. PG

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne are terrorized by Selena Gomez, Chloë Grace Moretz and a gaggle of party-hardy coeds who've moved in next door. "They're using their sexuality as a weapon!" Rogen yelps, emasculated and kind of ecstatic at the same time. R

Being Charlie A troubled 18-year-old is sent to drug rehab, where he meets a girl and confronts his demons.

Hockney Documentary look at English artist David Hockney.

Manhattan Night Adrien Brody stars in this modern film noir as a tabloid writer drawn into investigating a murder by the victim's beautiful widow (Yvonne Strahovski).

The Nice Guys Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe team up as a private eye and an enforcer who investigate the death of a porn star in 1970s Los Angeles.

Tale of Tales A collection of fairy tales by Giambattista Basile adapted for the big screen.

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

Dragon Inn One of the most influential martial arts, or wuxia, films ever made, King Hu's 1967 masterpiece has finally been restored in high definition. A disparate group of heroes take a stand against one of Chinas' most dastardly military leaders at a desolate inn in a giant, empty wasteland. Remade twice, in 1992 and 2011, the original is still far superior. No MPAA rating (intense battle scenes, violence) - T.D.

Embrace of the Serpent Ciro Guerra's profoundly beautiful black-and-white film, set in the forest 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.

Green Room Jeremy Saulnier's gristle-tough follow-up to the thrilling Blue Ruin takes place in a middle-of-nowhere music club, where a ragtag punk band do a gig, and then do time in a backstage holding room after one of the members sees something he shouldn't have. Beneath the dread and gore of what, in lesser hands, could easily have passed for torture porn, there's an adrenaline jolt of old-fashioned horror-movie fun. With Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, Patrick Stewart, and Anton Yelchin. 1 hr. 35 R (intense violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Bigger Splash Tilda Swinton is a rock star in retreat on a splendid Mediterranean isle, Matthias Schoenaerts her lover, when along comes the impossibly exuberant Ralph Fiennes, playing a past lover and bringing his nymphet American daughter (Dakota Johnson) along. A remake of the slow-burning 1969 French thriller La Piscine, this tale of love and jealousy, obsession and seduction, takes its time getting where it's going, but who cares, it's gorgeous. R (nudity, sex, profanity, violence, adult themes) - S.R.

Francofonia Alexander Sokurov's quasidocumentary is a brilliant meditation on art, on war - and on what happens to art when nations go to war. In a bold mashup of archival footage, reenactments, and reimaginings, the filmmaker examines how France's renowned museum, the Louvre, came into being. And how its palatial galleries - and the masterpieces in its collection - survived World War II. One scene has Sokurov himself Skyping with the captain of a storm-tossed Russian freighter carrying priceless artworks. 1 hr. 28 No MPAA rating (adult themes) - S.R.

Sing Street John Carney, writer and director of Once, the little Irish movie that could, and did (and then did again as a hit stage musical), is back at the top of his game with this coming-of-age charmer. A shy 14-year-old Dubliner falls for an older girl and goes about trying to impress her by forming a band. It's the mid-'80s, and the music of Duran Duran and the Cure are big, and so is the hair. 1 hr. 46 PG-13 (profanity, violence, adult themes) - S.R.

Barbershop: The Next Cut *** Ice Cube leads a terrific ensemble cast in a new installment of the wildly successful comedy that mixes hilarity with heartfelt discussions about the challenges faced by African American communities. Costars include Eve, Common, Nicki Minaj, Cedric the Entertainer, and Regina Hall. 1 hr. 52 PG-13 (sexual material and profanity) - T.D.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice *** A booming, brooding pair-up between the DC Comics superheroes, 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 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.

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.

Captain America: Civil War *** The 13th title in Disney and Marvel's systematic plan for global domination features a dozen superheroes lining up on either side of a tumultuous ideological dispute. It's Team Cap vs. Team Iron Man as the Avengers and gang crisscross the globe, battling a baddie with a German accent - and battling one another. With Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Anthony Mackie, Elizabeth Olsen, Don Cheadle, and more. Many, many more. 2 hrs. 26 PG-13 (violence, intense action, adult themes) - S.R.

Dough **1/2 This droll, heartwarming if formulaic cross-cultural comedy from Britain features terrific performances by Jonathan Pryce as an aging Orthodox Jewish baker and Jerome Holder as the young African Muslim pot dealer who becomes his apprentice. 1 hr. 34 No MPAA rating (profanity, drug use) - T.D.

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.

High-Rise ** An anything-but-subtle critique of the class system, of soul-killing consumerism and carnality, adapted from J.G. Ballard's 1975 novel and starring Tom Hiddleston as the newest resident of a luxury apartment tower full of amenities - and full of societal angst and despair. With Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, and Elisabeth Moss. R (nudity, sex, violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

A Hologram for the King ** 1/2 Tom Hanks, in trusty Everyman mode, stars as an American businessman trying to turn his downward-arcing career around with a sales pitch to the Saudi king, who is building a city in the desert. Tom Tykwer's adaptation of the Dave Eggers novel is faithful to the text, less so to its emotional and psychological underpinnings. The stranger-in-a-strange-land tale also stars the splendid Sarita Choudhury.1 hr. 37 R (profanity, nudity, adult themes) - S.R.

The Huntsman: Winter's Warrior *** Sampling Tolkien, Disney, and Grimm, this prequel (turned sequel?) to 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman lays on the pastiche in slabs, but no one is slouching here. It's also, despite its title, decidedly femme-centric, with Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain, and Charlize Theron all in on the fairy tale action. 1 hr. 54 PG-13 (fairy tale violence, adult themes) - S.R.

The Jungle Book *** Rudyard Kipling's classic collection of short stories gets live-action adaptation from Jon Favreau (Elf, Iron Man). The movie itself is a mishmash of the 1967 Disney version and Kipling's work, with some famous voices (Bill Murray as Baloo the sloth bear is particularly wonderful) thrown into the mix. The real reason to shell out money for the tickets is Favreau's breathtaking visuals. 1 hr. 45 PG (sequences of scary action and peril) - M.E.

Keanu ** Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key of Comedy Central's Key and Peele try their hand at a movie, with mixed results. Rell (Peele) mends his broken heart with a stray kitten named Keanu, and a hang session with his cousin Clarence (Key). When Keanu is stolen, Rell and Clarence go after the lost feline, masquerading as gangsters. The comedy is hit-or-miss, and the story can't be sustained over two hours. Running time: 1 hr. 38 R (language, violence, drug use, sexuality) - M.E.

The Man Who Knew Infinity **1/2 Enjoyable if sentimental period drama that will appeal to Downton Abbey fans, this true story features a terrific turn by Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) as Srinivasa Ramanujan, a poor, uneducated Indian genius who became one of the world's foremost mathematicians before his death in 1920 at 32. 1 hr. 48 PG-13 (some thematic content, smoking) - T.D.

The Meddler *** Susan Sarandon stars as a mother and widow who can't stop herself from interfering in everybody else's life, starting with her daughter's (Rose Byrne). Rich in detail, richly performed, a character study filled with bittersweet comedy and heart. The movie's set in L.A., with J.K. Simmons as a retired cop who offers the possibility of real romance, real intimacy. 1 hr. 40 PG-13 (adult themes) - S.R.

Miles Ahead *** Don Cheadle stars in and directs this impressionistic take on Miles Davis, zooming in on the years in the latter half of the 1970s when the great jazz trumpeter and composer went AWOL, stopping the concert tours and pretty much stopping recording, too. Ewan McGregor plays a hustling journalist determined to find out what's up. The movie tries hard to jettison the usual music biopic format, the usual clichés, and doesn't entirely succeed, but Cheadle is mesmerizing. R (profanity, violence, sex, nudity, adult themes) - S.R.

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.

Money Monster *** Directed with cool dexterity by Jodie Foster, this rage-against-the-one-percenters thriller plays like a cross between The Big Short and Network. George Clooney stars as the clowning host of a live stock-tips TV show and Julia Roberts is his producer, running things from the control room until a disgruntled investor (Jack O'Connell) crashes the set, armed and dangerous. R (violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Papa: Hemingway in Cuba ** Noteworthy for its locations and access, a based-on-a-true-story biopic about the relationship between a budding journalist (Giovanni Ribisi) and literary giant Ernest Hemingway (Adrian Sparks). The filmmakers shot at the real Finca Vigia, where "Papa" lived, wrote, and drank. It's the first American feature to be filmed in Cuba in more than 50 years, and as travelogue, it's swell. As drama, it's a clumsy, cursory affair. 1 hr. 49 R (violence, profanity, nudity, adult themes) - S.R.

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)

Zootopia *** A colorful Disney 'toon about a seemingly idyllic town where all the different 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. 1 hr. 48 PG (some scares, adult themes) - S.R.