Movies: New and Noteworthy

The Age of Adaline A magical accident befalls Blake Lively in this romantic fantasy about a young woman whose aging process stops altogether, allowing her to go through the decades in the prime of her life. But then some hunky dude (Michiel Huisman) happens along. PG-13

Dior and I Fashion world documentary, about Raf Simons, the new artistic director of the old and storied haute couture house, Christian Dior. From Frédéric Tcheng, co-director of Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel. No MPAA rating

Little Boy A plucky whippersnapper, deeply disturbed when his father goes off to World War II, is determined to do everything he can to get him back - even if that means moving mountains. A faith-based comedy fantasy, with Kevin James, Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson, Michael Rappaport, and Jakob Salvati as the titular scamp in short pants. PG-13

Ex Machina A computer programmer is tasked with evaluating a beautiful female A.I. in this sci-fi drama.

The Water Diviner An Australian man travels to Turkey in search of his sons following the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I. Russell Crowe stars.

Reviewed by critics Steven Rea (S.R.), Tirdad Derakhshani (T.D.), Dan DeLuca (D.D.), and Molly Eichel (M.E.). W.S. denotes a wire-service review.

Black Souls This moody, dark melodrama about family, tradition, and tribalism set among several Mafia families in southern Italy is a cyclical story that swells and mounts in tension, then breaks in a moment of violence - only to return to the same pattern in an endless loop of violence from men deeply invested in a rigid notion of honor and revenge. 1 hr 43 No MPAA rating (violence, drugs, profanity, smoking) - T.D.

Salt of the Earth Director Wim Wenders explores the life and work of photographer Sebastião Salgado, from childhood to his training as an economist to his sudden decision to give up a lucrative career and devote his life to social documentary photography. Salgado walks us through the more than half-dozen projects he mounted through his career, some lasting as long as a decade - with an eye always to capture his subjects in their full social, economic, and political contexts. 1 hr. 50 No MPAA rating (shocking scenes of war, poverty and famine, violence, profanity, smoking). - T.D.

Clouds of Sils Maria Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart star as a famous actress in midlife - and still, she hopes, in mid-career - and her personal assistant, half her age and bristling with intelligence. As Binoche rehearses a new play in an isolated corner of the Swiss Alps, Stewart's character takes on the other part, and the women's relationship begins to mirror the one they're enacting. A hugely affecting meditation on memory, on growing older, on the life of the theater and the theater of life. From filmmaker Olivier Assayas. 2 hrs. 04 R (adult themes) - S.R.

It Follows A masterfully creepy and beautifully turned variation on the teen horror formula starring Maika Monroe as an unfortunate coed being followed by a shape-shifting entity bent on evil and carnage. Her friends don't know what to do - is she having a breakdown, or is this thing for real? It appears to be the latter. 1 hr. 40 R (violence, sex, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter A downcast Japanese office worker - Babel's Rinko Kikuchi - leaves Tokyo behind after finding an old VHS tape that promises a briefcase full of money buried in the Fargo, N.D., snow. Off she goes in this beautifully shot quest movie, full of ache and whimsy, dreamlike and strange. 1 hr. 45 No MPAA rating (adult themes) - S.R.

Wild Tales Six vignettes about people on their best behavior: out for vengeance and out of control. Madly entertaining and just plain mad, from Argentinian director Damián Szifrón, and one of this year's foreign-language Oscar nominees. 1 hr. 54 R (sex, violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Beyond the Reach ** Michael Douglas is Madec, a heinously rich - and morally heinous - insurance mogul from Los Angeles who plays at big-game hunting in his spare time. The predictable story gets going when Madec accidentally shoots an old coot who lives in a mine shaft and offers to pay for his guide's education and to give him a high-paying job. 1 hr. 31 R (violence, profanity) - T.D.

Child 44 *1/2 Tom Hardy, speaking English with a heavy Russian accent (and dropping a lot of angry f-bombs) is the military detective Leo Demidov in this unrelentingly grim, plodding, close-to-incoherent adaptation of Tom Rob Smith's bestselling mystery about a serial killer in the Stalin-era Soviet Union. Noomi Rapace, Gary Oldman, Joel Kinnaman also star. 2 hrs. 17 R (violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Cinderella *** A winning re-do of Disney's 1950 animated classic, directed by Kenneth Branagh with a sprinkling of stardust, dashes of good humor, and a respect for the corniest kinds of romance. Lily James (Downton Abbey) and Richard Madden (dazzling dentition) star as the woebegone heroine and the handsome Prince. Cate Blanchett chews scenery as the gleefully cruel, cackling stepmom. 1 hr. 52 PG (adult themes) - S.R.

Danny Collins **1/2 Al Pacino has the title role in this it's-lonely-at-the-top mush about a big pop star (think Neil Diamond crossed with Billy Joel crossed with Barry Manilow - oooh) whose life gets turned around when he's handed a lost letter written to him at the start of his career by John Lennon. Comedy, pathos, and schmaltzy new songs follow. With Annette Bening, Bobby Canavale, Jennifer Garner, and Christopher Plummer. 1 hr. 46 R (language, sex, drugs, adult themes) - S.R.

Effie Gray *** Dakota Fanning stars as the young, sunny bride of the older, hopelessly stuffy John Ruskin (Greg Wise), in this true-life tale of sexual repression and married miserableness set in the art world of Victorian England. Emma Thompson wrote the screenplay and costars as a warm presence in the title character's woeful life. 1 hr. 48 PG-13 (adult themes) - S.R.

Get Hard ** Will Ferrell plays James King, an investment banker sentenced to prison for defrauding his financial clients. To survive his decade-long term, King hires Darnell (Philly's Kevin Hart), a car-wash owner who King assumes has gone to prison, even though Darnell hasn't even gotten a parking ticket in this comedy that relies far too heavily on the easy and crude. 1 hr. 40 R (pervasive crude and sexual content, profanity, some graphic nudity, and drug material) - M.E.

The Hunting Ground *** Academy Award nominee Kirby Dick explores the epidemic of sexual assault on college campuses and how institutions of higher learning spend more resources trying to silence the victims than prosecuting the perpetrators. 1 hr. 30 PG-13 (disturbing thematic material involving sexual assault and language) - M.E.

Insurgent **1/2 The action-heavy second installment in the Divergent series, about life in a post-apocalyptic dystopian Chicago where society is divided into five factions, and Shailene Woodley is the upstart who doesn't fit in. With Theo James, Kate Winslet, Miles Teller, and a lot of trippy virtual reality mind games, too. PG-13 (violence, action, adult themes) - S.R.

The Longest Ride *1/2 Scott Eastwood is a hunky rodeo dude, Sophia Danko a college grad bound for the Big Apple. A parallel love story, set during World War II, is intertwined. 2 hrs. 05 PG-13 (some sexuality, partial nudity, some war and sports action) - W.S.

Monkey Kingdom *** This enjoyable nature documentary follows a newborn monkey and its mother as they struggle to survive. 1 hr. 21 G - W.S.

True Story ** Slick and shaky adaptation of Michael Finkel's memoir, about a tarnished news reporter's quest for redemption, and the pact he makes with a man accused of killing his wife and children, and who was posing as Finkel when he was arrested. Jonah Hill plays the real Finkel, James Franco the fake one. 1 hr. 40 R (violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Unfriended ** A horror pic with a new gimmick that likely will spawn an entire subgenre of more substandard rubbish, Unfriended unfolds entirely on a computer screen, which is possibly the single most uncinematic device ever used in a film - and a gimmick that must have made the studio suits jump with joy. Talk about low overhead! I mean, they didn't even need a cinematographer. 1 hr. 28 R (violence, profanity, drugs, crimes against grammar) - T.D.

While We're Young *** Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts are a married couple in their mid-40s who befriend a twentysomething hipster duo, played by Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried, in Noah Baumbach's cuttingly comic and keenly observed meditation on generational longing, and acting your age. 1 hr. 37 R (profanity, nudity, drugs, adult themes) - S.R.

Woman in Gold *** Helen Mirren, deploying bite and a Bavarian lilt, stars as Maria Altmann, a Jewish refugee from Austria who in the early 2000s took her country to court to reclaim artwork, including a famous Klimt described as the Mona Lisa of Austria, that belonged to her family and that was seized by the Nazis. Ryan Reynolds is the bumbling California lawyer joining her in her fight. Simon Curtis (My Week with Marilyn) directs. 1 hr. 50 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) - S.R.