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.

The Best of Me

See Tirdad Derakhshani's review on Page 5.

The Book of Life See review on Page 11.

Fort Bliss See Steven Rea's review on Page 5.

Fury See Steven Rea's review on Page 4.

St. Vincent See Steven Rea's review on Page 4.

Addicted

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

As Above/So Below *1/2 Horror and thrills in the catacombs of Paris. From the director of Quarantine and Devil. 1 hr. 33 R (bloody violence/terror, language throughout) - 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.

Boyhood **** Richard Linklater's unassuming masterpiece follows a Texas kid (newcomer Ellar Coltrane) from grade school to college dorm, reconvening cast and crew (including Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke as the parents) a few weeks every year for 12 years, and its carefully observed series of small moments take on quiet, metaphoric power. 2 hrs. 46 R (profanity, sex, adult themes) - S.R.

Calvary **** Brendan Gleeson stars as a good priest in a bad world - in the beautiful West country of Ireland - in John Michael McDonagh's stormy whodunit. A furious, darkly funny look at the nature of faith, and the nature of man. 1 hr. 40 R (violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them **1/2 Jessica Chastain owns the title role, and shares the tragic backstory with James McAvoy as her heartbroken beau - the couple trying to put the pieces back together again, in this beautifully acted and crafted film, which still, in the words and scenarios at its core, disappoints. 2 hrs. 3 R (profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

Dolphin Story 2 **1/2 Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd return for this sequel. Their team must again rescue Winter after her surrogate mother dies. 1 hr. 47 PG (mild action sequences, one intense scene of animals in peril) - 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 Drop ***1/2 Tense, evocative neo-noir, expanded from a Dennis Lehane short story, with Tom Hardy as a Brooklyn barkeep and Noomi Rapace as the woman who walks into his life - and into a mess of trouble, when the bar is robbed by masked gunmen. 1 hr. 46 R (violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

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.

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.

Guardians of the Galaxy *** Chris Pratt rounds up a team of outer-space misfits. Their mission: Does it matter? This breezy comic-book adaptation is the first sci-fi movie to spoof itself. 2 hrs. 2 PG-13 (violence, profanity) - D.H.

Hector and the Search for Happiness * Shaun of the Dead star Simon Pegg loses his groove in this cloying, puerile self-help comedy about a therapist who travels around the world to reconnect with his soul. 2 hrs. R (profanity, brief nudity) - T.D.

The Hundred-Foot Journey ** 1/2 Helen Mirren is a snooty restaurateur who doesn't like it when a family from Mumbai roll into her quaint little French town, setting up their eatery right across the rue. 2 hrs. 2 PG (violence, adult themes) - S.R.

I Am Ali *1/2 An unfocused documentary about Muhammad Ali doesn't add to our understanding of the boxing great, but it does boost our appreciation for him. 1 hr. 51 PG - D.H.

If I Stay **1/2 Chloë Grace Moretz stars as a high school girl, a cello prodigy with a hot new boyfriend and a chance to go to Juilliard, when a family drive turns tragic. From Gayle Forman's top-selling YA novel. 1 hr. 43 PG-13 (profanity, sex, adult themes) - S.R.

Jimi: All Is By My Side *** OutKast's André Benjamin channels '60s rock god Jimi Hendrix in John Ridley's doc-style, fly-on-the-wall dramatization of the not-yet-a-legend's pivotal trip to London, where he met a girl, a manager, and the two Afro-ed English dudes who would become his band. With Imogen Poots and Hayley Atwell, and with a wealth of '60s rock and R&B. 1 hr. 58 R (sex, drugs, violence, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

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.

Kill the Messenger *** Jeremy Renner is riveting as investigative reporter Gary Webb who in 1996 exposed the CIA's use of drug money to fund the contras in the 1980s in this true-life story from director Michael Cuesta (Tell-Tale, 12 and Holding). Costarring Rosemarie DeWitt, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Andy Garcia, the film often descends into hagiography, but still manages to offer a fine account of how Webb's work so shocked the establishment that he was attacked and discredited by both the government and the national press. 1 hr. 52 R (profanity, some mild violence, drug use, smoking) - T.D.

Left Behind * A mediocre, underwhelming disaster movie cut from the same cloth as 1970's Airport, Left Behind stars Nicolas Cage as an airline pilot whose jumbo jet experiences a supernatural event midway through a transatlantic flight. 1 hr. 50 PG-13 (some violent scenes, brief drug use) -T.D.

Let's Be Cops Two buddies who dress up as cops for a party wind up getting sucked into doing real police work in this comedy that stars Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. 1 hr. 44 R (language including sexual references, some graphic nudity, violence and drug use) Not Previewed

Lilting ***1/2 Former martial arts star Pei-pei Cheng gives a remarkable performance as an aging immigrant stuck in an English nursing home after the death of her son. A drama of emotional depth and complexity, director Hong Khaou's feature debut is about an extra-linguistic romance she strikes up with fellow inmate (Peter Bowles) and her ambivalent friendship with her son's gay lover (Ben Whishaw). 1 hr. 26 No MPAA rating (profanity, adult themes, brief sex scene) - T.D.

Love Is Strange ***1/2 John Lithgow and Alfred Molina are a longtime couple whose modest, comfortable New York City life is upended when they decide to take advantage of the new gay marriage laws and officially get hitched. 1 hr. 34 R (profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

The Maze Runner **1/2 The first installment in James Dashner's bestselling YA book series, transplanted to the screen with a surprising commitment to creep audiences out. A mix of Lord of the Flies fraternal feuding, Tarantula sci-fi menace, the Kafka-esque social order of the '60s cult series The Prisoner , and the garbage compactor scene from the first Star Wars - squared. 1 hr. 43 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) - S.R.

Men, Women & Children ** Everybody is lonely, everybody is sad and everybody is texting and sexting in Jason Reitman's doggedly glum and startlingly unoriginal survey of miserableness. Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner, Judy Greer, Kaitlyn Dever, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Ansel Elgort star. 1 hr. 59 R (sex, nudity, profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

My Old Lady *** Kevin Kline stars as an adrift American who arrives in Paris to lay claim to the apartment long owned by his estranged father, recently deceased. But there's a catch: Thanks to an ancient real estate law, the tenant in the apartment, a 90-something ex-pat played by Maggie Smith, is allowed to live there until she expires. 1 hr. 47 PG-13 (adult themes) - S.R.

No Good Deed A suburban mother invites trouble when she unknowingly allows an escaped convict into her home. 1 hr. 4 PG-13 (violence, menace, terror, language)

Nas: Time Is Illmatic ***1/2 This impressive documentary is a hagiographic history of a 20-year-old album that the New York rapper born Nasir Jones recorded at age 19. 1 hr. 14 No MPAA rating (profanity, references to sex, drugs, violence) - D.D.

One Chance *** A shy shop assistant with a golden operatic voice hits it big on a televised British talent show in this true story. 1 hr. 43 PG-13 (profanity, sex, adult themes) - S.R.

Pride *** A Full Monty-esque rabble-rouser in which an unlikely, and at times uncomfortable, alliance between gay and lesbian activists and striking miners in 1984 Britain is forged. Oppressed homosexuals. Oppressed labor. Bring on the disco music! 2 hrs. R (profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

The Skeleton Twins *** Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig play estranged siblings who rediscover their commonality, and the melancholy at their core, in this odd, oddly appealing study of damaged people doing stuff that's at once funny and sad. 1 hr. 33 R (profanity, sex, drugs, adult themes) - S.R.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ** Uninspired reboot of the jokey '90s franchise, with Megan Fox as intrepid news reporter April O'Neil, friend to those adolescent, anthropomorphic reptiles schooled in the martial arts. 1 hr. 41 PG-13 (violence, adult themes) - S.R.

This Is Where I Leave You ** When their father dies, the four grown siblings at the center of Shawn Levy's blithely manipulative dysfunctional family comedy - a downer, really - bring their respective spouses, lovers, and bags of woe back to their childhood home. 1 hr. 43 R (profanity, sex, nudity, adult themes) - S.R.

Tracks ***1/2 Mia Wasikowska stars as the real-life Robyn Davidson, who, in 1977, embarked on a daunting 2,000-mile solo trek across the Australian outback - just her, four camels, and a dog. A beautiful, soul-stirring film. 1 hr. 52 PG-13 (profanity, nudity, adult themes) - S.R.

The Trip to Italy *** British funny guys Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan serve up a solid sequel to their 2010 road movie hit The Trip , this time driving from the Riviera to Rome, stopping to eat fine food, sip fine wine, and one-up each other. A voyeuristic vacation treat. 1 hr. 48 No MPAA rating (profanity, adult themes) - S.R.

20,000 Days on Earth *** A memoirish meta-documentary about Nick Cave, the Australia-born, Britain-based singer/songwriter, novelist, screenwriter, and occasional thespian. His persona is grave, his songs full of doom, but the film is actually quite fun. 1 hr. 37 No MPAA rating (adult themes) - S.R.

The Two Faces of January ***1/2 A murderously good adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's thriller about a charming American con man (Oscar Isaac) in 1962 Athens and the handsome, high-living couple (Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst) who come along. Paths are crossed, people are double-crossed, in this terrific, and beautiful, film. 1 hr. 36 PG-13 (violence, profanity, sex, nudity, adult themes) - S.R.

A Walk Among the Tombstones *** No over-the-top heroics here, just Liam Neeson as a hangdog New York City cop-turned-private-eye, looking into the kidnapping of a drug dealer's wife. 1 hr. 53 R (violence, sexual violelnce, profanity, nudity, adult themes) - S.R.