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.

Inherent Vice

See Steven Rea's review on Page 5.

Mr. Turner See Steven Rea's review on Page 4.

Predestination See Tirdad Derakhshani's review on Page 5.

Selma See Steven Rea's review on Page 4.

Taken 3 See Also Opening on Page 8.

Annie 1/2 Ho-hum remake, and update, of the movie musical about a plucky orphan and the moneyed patriarch whose icy heart is toasted like campfire marshmallows once he lets the girl into his life. "Beasts of the Southern Wild's" Quvenzhané Wallis is a charmer in the title role. Jamie Foxx, as the Daddy Warbucks-ian Will Stacks, is a cellphone mogul who, sadly, appears to be phoning in his performance. 1 hr. 58 PG (adult themes) - S.R.

Big Eyes 1/2 Director Tim Burton finds his dream subject: husband and wife Walter and Margaret Keane, whose paintings of saucer-eyed waifs and tearful clowns were the kitsch hit of the '60s. He claimed the images as his, but she really made them, locked away in a studio like some Grimm Brothers unfortunate. Christoph Waltz and a great Amy Adams bring the couple to life in this wondrously strange true story about art, heartbreak, and intellectual property theft. 1 hr. 45 PG-13 (profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Big Hero 6 1/2 Set in a wonderfully realized near-future San Francisco, this animated feature follows an adolescent robotics inventor and his puffy, inflatable companion. Disconcertingly violent and mature for a Disney kids' film. 1 hr. 48 PG (violence) - D.H.

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 one of the best films not just 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.

Exodus: Gods and Kings Ridley Scott's big and curious cinematic retelling of the story of Moses, the parting of the Red Sea, the burning bush, the march of the Israelites out of Egypt. All the impressive CG effects in the world can't make up for clunky dialogue and one-note thespian-izing. With Christian Bale as the bearded, beleaguered Hebrew prophet, Joel Edgerton as his shiny-domed, eyelinered adoptive sibling, Ramses, and a cast of thousands - most of them virtual. 2 hrs. 30 PG-13 (violence, plagues, adult themes) - S.R.

Foxcatcher Steve Carell, sporting an aquiline nose and a marionette's gait, morphs into Newtown Square multimillionaire John du Pont, a self-styled coach and sponsor of American wrestling. By inviting Olympic gold medalists Dave and Mark Schultz (Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum) to live and train on his estate, du Pont invited disaster, too. Bennett Miller directs this slow-burning, brilliant account of a real-life tragedy. 2 hrs. 14 R (violence, profanity, drugs, adult themes) - S.R.

The Gambler 1/2 A disappointing if passable remake of James Caan's 1974 gem, this existential thriller stars Mark Wahlberg as a fatalistic, self-destructive literature professor who dazzles students by day (especially a coed played by Brie Larson) while throwing his life away at shady gambling joints at night. Co-stars Jessica Lange, Michael K. Williams and John Goodman. 1 hr. 51 R (profanity, sexuality, some nudity) - T.D.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies The third and final installment in Peter Jackson's bloated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's wondrous 1937 children's book takes the climactic conflagration and turns it into a giant screen videogame of clashing CGI legions, of dialogue as hoary as it is hilarious. "We attack at dawn!" 2 hrs. 24 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) - S.R.

Horrible Bosses 2 Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day return as pals completely unsuited to the life of crime they are driven to. (This time it's kidnapping.) The comedy starts with verve and ends with nothing. 1 hr. 48 R (pervasive profanity; crude sexual content) - D.H.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part I Quieter and less flashy than its predecessors, the satisfying third installment in the four-parter based on Suzanne Collins' mega-selling trilogy finds Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss poised to lead the rebellion against the imperious fancypants in the Capitol. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, and Chris Hemsworth are ready to give her an assist. 2 hrs. 4 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) - S.R.

The Imitation Game A gripping story, a sad story, a true story, about British mathematician Alan Turing, who led the team of Brits during World War II trying to crack the German's daunting Enigma encryption machine. Secretly gay, this unsung hero's life was brought to grievous conclusion. Benedict Cumberbatch stars (another remarkable performance), with Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode and Mark Strong. 1 hr. 54 PG-13 (sex, adult themes) - S.R.

Interstellar Matthew McConaughey leads an intergalactic expedition, searching for a new home for humankind, having turned our planet into a Dust Bowl of doom. Anne Hathaway is along for the ride, and Michael Caine, Jessica Chastain, and Casey Affleck figure into the equation back on Earth. A cinematic experience, to be sure, but lofty queries about quantum physics and the human spirit are weighed down in sci-fi cliches, in default-mode dialogue, and in characters rendered in two dimensions, never mind the fourth and fifth dimensions everyone is talking about. 2 hrs. 49 PG-13 (violence, intense space travel sequences, adult themes) - S.R.

The Interview Beyond the North Korean sponsored cyber attack and terroristic threats against theaters who screened it, Seth Rogen's political satire is crazy funny. A supercharged, wonderfully super-freaky James Franco stars as the host of a celeb reporter who scores an interview with the supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un. Co-writer, co-director and co-star Rogen is terrific as Franco's best friend and producer, while Masters of Sex' Lizzy Caplan is scintillating and playful as the sexy CIA officer who preps them to assassinate Kim. Thoroughly crude, rude and profane, the film also is surprisingly well-written and clever. 1 hr. 52 R (profanity, sexuality, nudity, violence, drug use) - T.D.

Into the Woods A jolly mashup of symbol-laden, signature once-upon-a-time tales about lust, envy, greed, and misguided pursuits of happiness. Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick et al have fun with the rat-tat-tat rhymes and polygraphic melodies of the James Lapine/Stephen Sondheim musical from which this all sprung. 2 hrs. 04 PG (scary creatures, adult themes) - S.R.

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb 1/2 The third and promised final chapter in the hit franchise about a bunch of museum figures come to life and the adventures that ensue. Ben Stiller leads the cast, making a trip to London so new characters and new scenarios can transpire. Robin Williams is back as Teddy Roosevelt, and newcomers include Dan Stevens as Lancelot and Rebel Wilson as a museum guard. 1 hr. 37 PG (monkey urination, adult themes) - S.R.

Penguins of Madagascar **1/2 Insistently antic and intermittently clever spinoff of the DreamWorks Animation Madagascar franchise, with feathered, flappered, flightless heroes Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, and Private caught up in global intrigue and groaningly bad punnery involving a gigantically obnoxious purple octopus (the voice of John Malkovich) bent on revenge. 1 hr. 32 PG (cartoon mayhem, adult themes) - S.R.

The Theory of Everything 1/2 The life, and loves, of British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking are given keen, poignant treatment in Oscar-winner James Marsh's film, starring Eddie Redmayne as Hawking, and Felicity Jones as Jane Wilde, the student he meets at Cambridge and falls for (and vice versa). Then, the challenge of the disease that cripples Hawking's body. 2 hrs. 3 PG-13 (adult themes) - S.R.

Top Five 1/2 Chris Rock proves he's as brilliant a film auteur as a stand-up comic with this sharp romantic dramedy, which he also wrote and directed. He plays a disillusioned comic who's in N.Y. to promote his first serious film, an earnest if terrible story about slavery. Rosario Dawson is terrific as a reporter who forces the self-indulgent star to face up to his demons. Gabrielle Union is wonderfully sleazy as Rock's narcissistic reality-star fiancée. 1 hr. 41 R (strong sexual content, nudity, crude humor, profanity, drug use) - T.D.

Unbroken 1/2 Based on the life of Louis Zamperini, an airman who suffered greatly in WWII. You'll know how he felt after enduring this long, grim grinder directed by Angelina Jolie. 2 hrs. 17 PG-13 (violence, brutality, profanity) - D.H.

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.

Wild Reese Witherspoon, wholly committed and wholly convincing, is Cheryl Strayed, the best-selling memoirist who hiked 1,100 miles, from the Mojave to the Cascades, to try to right a life gone terribly wrong. Blistered, bloodied feet were a sure thing; self-discovery less so. In the end, Strayed got both. 1 hr. 55 R (sex, nudity, profanity, drugs, adult themes) - S.R.

The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death "She never forgives / She always comes back / And there's no escaping / The woman in black." A sequel to the British horror drama of 2012, about a spooky old house and the young lawyer (Daniel Radcliffe) who comes to put things in order (ha!). From the legendary Hammer Films, the follow-up takes place during World War II, and Harry Potter does not appear. Rising Brit star Phoebe Fox does. PG-13 Not Previewed