New Releases

Reviews

Ratings:

**** Excellent *** Good

** Fair * Poor

Reviewers: C.R., Carrie Rickey; S.R., Steven Rea; D.D., Dan DeLuca; T.D., Tirdad Derakhshani; D.H., David Hiltbrand; W.S., Inquirer wire services.

Awake: The Life of Yogananda

See review on Page 10.

Big Hero 6 See David Hiltbrand's review on Page 5.

Camp X-Ray See Tirdad Derakhshani's review on Page 9.

Force Majeure See Tirdad Derakhshani's review on Page 4.

Interstellar See Steven Rea's review on Page 4.

Jessabelle See Tirdad Derakhshani's review on Page 5.

Laggies See review on Page 6.

The Way He Looks See Tirdad Derakhshani's review on Page 8.

Addicted

A successful businesswoman, wife and mother (Sharon Leal) risks it all when she can't resist temptation. 2 hrs. 15

R

(strong sexual content, nudity, language, brief drug use)

Not Previewed

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day ** Ed Oxenbould plays the boy who unintentionally jinxes his parents (Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner) and siblings. Comic mayhem ensues . . . predictably. An adequate if artificial kids' comedy. 1 hr. 21 PG (profanity, acts of recklessness) - D.H.

Annabelle *1/2 This prequel to The Conjuring is cheap, sleazy, uninteresting, and unscary. 1 hr. 38 R (intense sequences of disturbing violence and terror) - T.D.

Art and Craft 1/2 The world's most successful art forger is the focus of this thoroughly enjoyable and fascinating documentary. 1 hr. 29 No MPAA rating (adult themes) - T.D.

Before I Go to Sleep Few films demand that viewers make such a herculean attempt to suspend disbelief than Nicole Kidman's Before I Go to Sleep, a would-be Hitchcockian thriller about a woman unable to retain any memories for the last 20 years. 1 hr. 32 R (violence, brief nudity, profanity) - T.D.

The Best of Me 1/2 Michelle Monaghan and James Marsden are former high school sweethearts reunited after many years when they return to their hometown. From a Nicholas Sparks novel. 1 hr. 58 PG-13 (sexuality, violence, some drug content and brief strong language) - T.D.

Birdman Michael Keaton is a faded Hollywood star trying to reclaim his career by mounting a Broadway drama in Alejandro G. Iñárritu's fierce, funny, breathless dive inside the head of a man in deep trouble. An exhilarating, out-of-the-blue masterwork that ranks as not just one of the best films of the year, but of the decade, the century. With Edward Norton, Emma Stone and Naomi Watts. 1 hr. 59 R (profanity, violence, sex, adult themes) - S.R.

The Blue Room 1/2 An affair leads to unexpected tragedy in actor-director Mathieu Amalric's startling, challenging and spectacular postmodern murdery mystery. 1 hr. 16 R (graphic nudity and sex) - T.D.

The Book of Life 1/2 This animated adventure about a young man's journey is set against the colorful backdrop of the Mexican Day of the Dead. Guillermo del Toro is one of the 'toon's producers. 1 hr. 35 PG (mild action, rude humor, brief scary images) - W.S.

The Boxtrolls *** Antic, stop-motion animation from the company behind Coraline and ParaNorman, about a Victorian-era fairy-tale town where the titular creatures come and go, creating a fuss, but not a fuss worthy of their extermination, which is what one malevolent soul (voiced by Ben Kingsley) claims he wants to do. 1 hr. 37 PG (cartoon violence) - S.R.

Citizenfour 1/2 Director Laura Poitras enjoyed remarkable accessibility to whistleblower Edward Snowden as he was leaking the documents that revealed just how much private information our government has been gathering on its citizens. A documentary with strong if limited appeal. 1 hr. 54 R (profanity) - D.H.

Dear White People The exploits and controversies of African American students at an elite university are at the center of this intelligent satire. 1 hr. 40 R (profanity, drug use, sexual content)- T.D.

Dracula Untold **1/2 This handsome and somewhat anemic retelling of the Dracula legend paints the vampire (Luke Evans) as a figure to be pitied, not feared. 1 hr. 32 PG-13 (violence, vampirism, adult themes) - D.H.

The Equalizer *** Denzel Washington stars in this moody, noirish rethink of the '80s TV series, about an ex-secret ops guy who comes to the rescue of the meek and mistreated. When a teenage prostitute (Chloë Grace Moretz) gets roughed up by her Russian mob pimp, our hero comes out of retirement to retire the bad guys - for good. Directed with a vengeance by Washington's Training Day colleague, Antoine Fuqua. 2 hrs. 11 R (violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Fury Brad Pitt leads a Sherman tank crew through battle-scarred Germany in the waning months of World War II in David Ayer's visceral, violent combat film. 2 hrs. 15 R (violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Gone Girl ***1/2 Filmmaker David Fincher pulls off a cannily crafted adaptation of Gillian Flynn's bestseller, a whodunit and a who-are-you-gonna-believe mystery about the disappearance of a wife (Rosamund Pike), and the husband (Ben Affleck) who becomes the prime suspect. With Tyler Perry, Kim Dickens, Neil Patrick Harris. 2 hrs. 29 R (violence, sex, nudity, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

John Wick 1/2 Keanu Reeves plays a hitman who takes on the Russian mob in New York, guns ablazin'! A slick if often preposterous action film with more shooting than a Civil War reenactment. 1 hr. 41 R (intense violence, language, drug use) - D.H.

The Judge **1/2 Robert Duvall and Robert Downey Jr. are estranged father and son, a small-town magistrate and a big-city attorney, in this messy amalgam of legal thriller and domestic melodrama. With too many tangents, and a cast that includes Vera Farmiga, Leighton Meester, and Billy Bob Thornton. 2 hrs. 21 R (profanity, sex, adult themes) - S.R.

Nightcrawler Creepy satire about a young Los Angeles man (Jake Gyllenhaal) who finds his way into the seedy world of freelance crime journalism. 1 hr. 57 R (graphic violent images, profanity) - T.D.

Ouija A group of friends unlease dark forces when they play with a Ouija board. It's a duller-than-dull 89 minutes you'll never get back. 1 hr. 29 PG-13 (violent content, frightening horror images) - W.S.

St. Vincent Bill Murray owns the title role, as a crusty curmudgeon whose world is upended when a single mom (Melissa McCarthy) and her 12-year-old (a terrific Jaeden Lieberher) move in next door. The kid needs a caretaker, and Vincent needs cash. Life lessons, and inappropriate behavior, ensue. A charming comedy, and Murray keeps pulling it back from the cornball abyss. 1 hr. 43 PG-13 (profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Whiplash 1/2 Miles Teller (the student) and J.K. Simmons (the teacher) star in Damien Chazelle's propulsive drama about an aspiring jazz musician's torturous mentorship at a prestigious New York conservatory. It's a hyperventilated nightmare about artistic struggle and ambition - as much a horror movie as it is a keenly realized indie about jazz, about art, about what it takes to claim greatness. 1 hr. 46 R (violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.