New and Noteworthy: Movies

COMING THIS WEEK

By Steven Rea

American Sniper Bradley Cooper picks up weight, and a Texas accent, to play Chris Kyle, the Navy SEAL sharpshooter with the most confirmed kills on record. Clint Eastwood directs, from Kyle's autobiography, as the marksman logs multiple tours of Iraq, leaving his wife (Sienna Miller) back home to fret. R

Blackhat A convicted hacker can get his jail time commuted if he thwarts a dastardly cyberterrorist (banks, nuclear power plants) in Michael Mann's timely thriller. Chris Hemsworth is the anything-but-geeky keylogger, hopping private jets and staring intently at his laptop, while Viola Davis looks on, barking orders with worry and portent. (Does Kim Jong-un have a pirated download?) R

Paddington The cuddly bear from deepest, darkest Peru - and from 20-odd children's books by Michael Bond - becomes a walking, talking, computer-generated creature (no, he doesn't get all raunchy like Ted) in this studiously British family flick. Cases of marmalade are consumed (it's Paddington's go-to food), and Nicole Kidman, in a mildly dominatrix-y mode, is the villainess: She wants to turn the ursine hero into a example of her taxidermy artistry. PG

Escobar: Paradise Lost Benicio Del Toro stars in this biopic on Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

Spare Parts Four Latino high school students with little money and equipment form a robotics team and go up against the country's best.

Two Days, One Night A young Belgian mother has precious little time to convince her workmates to pass on their raises so she can keep her job. French and Arabic with subtitles.

The Wedding Ringer As his big day approaches, a socially inept groom-to-be turns to a best man-for-hire in this comedy that stars Kevin Hart and Josh Gad.

Reviewed by critics Steven Rea (S.R.), Tirdad Derakhshani (T.D.), Dan DeLuca (D.D.), and David Hiltbrand (D.H.). W.S. denotes a wire-service review.

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 into 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.

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.

Mr. Turner Mike Leigh's meticulously observed chronicle of the last quarter in the life of the British artist J..M.W. Turner, with Timothy Spall grunting, grimacing and deeply moving as the son of a London barber who becomes one of the great painters of his time. Of any time. 2 hrs. 30 R (sex, adult themes) - S.R.

Big Eyes 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 1960s. 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.

Selma A powerful, poignant restaging of a crucial time in American history, and the figure at its center: Martin Luther King, Jr. David Oyelowo brings the Civil Rights leader to life with nuance and grace, and if director Ava DuVernay's decision to portray LBJ (Tom Wilkinson) as an antagonistic force has drawn criticism and controversy, that's almost beside the point. What matters is the depiction of King, and the portrait of a country in the throes of racial conflict. 2 hrs. 07 R (violence, profanity, racial epithets, adult themes) - S.R.

The Theory of Everything 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. 03 PG-13 (adult themes) - S.R.

Top Five Chris Rock proves he's as brilliant a film auteur as he is a stand-up comic with this sharp romantic dramedy, which he also wrote and directed. He plays a disillusioned comic who is in New York City 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.

Whiplash 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 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.

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, and Jamie Foxx, as the Daddy Warbucks-ian Will Stacks, is a cellphone mogul who, sadly, appears to be phoning in his performance. PG (adult themes) - S.R.

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!" PG-13 (violence, adult themes) - S.R.

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 a 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.

Inherent Vice **1/2 Paul Thomas Anderson moves his hands through a cloud of cannabis smoke (figuratively speaking) to capture a psychedelic slice of stoner life in 1970 Southern California. The source material is Thomas Pynchon's 2009 mash-up of Raymond Chandler and Cheech and Chong, and the director goes at the book reverently - and still, somehow, it comes out wrong. Joaquin "Mumble" Phoenix stars as the fuzzy-headed private eye hero. 2 hrs. 28 R (drugs, sex, nudity, profanity, violence, adult themes) - S.R.

The Interview *** Beyond the possibly North Korean- sponsored cyber attack and terroristic threats against theaters that screened it, Seth Rogen's political satire is crazy funny. A supercharged, wonderfully super-freaky James Franco stars as the host of a celeb TV tabloid show 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 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 mash-up of symbol-laden, signature once-upon-a-time tales about lust, envy, greed, and misguided pursuits of happiness. James Corden, 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 sprang. 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 (in his final role) is Teddy Roosevelt, and newcomers include Dan Stevens as Lancelot and Rebel Wilson as a museum guard. PG (monkey urination, adult themes) - S.R.

Predestination *** The third feature by the Spierig Brothers is a hair-raising, emotionally resonant thriller that fleshes out science-fiction master Robert A. Heinlein's minimalist conceptual piece with strong characterization and an absorbing story line about domestic terrorism and murder. R (violence, nudity, profanity) - T.D.

Taken 3 Liam Neeson returns as former government operative Bryan Mills. This time around, he must clear his name after being accused of murder. Not previewed.

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.