The burly demolition specialist who lent his name to 2012’s “Wreck-It Ralph” returns to the big screen in the sweet animated follow-up “Ralph Breaks the Internet” (Disney). So too does the best friend he acquired in the first outing, diminutive race car driver Vanellope von Schweetz.
Someone behind “Robin Hood” (Summit) — presumably one or both of the screenwriters, Ben Chandler and David James Kelly — has mommy issues with Holy Mother Church. As a result, vicious anti-Catholicism permeates this otherwise merely dopey take on the classic legend.
“Green Book” (Universal) opens with a singer in the Copacabana nightclub in New York belting out “That Old Black Magic.” Therein lies its flaw.
For a film about magic, 2016’s “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” was strangely lacking in enchantment. So it’s welcome news that the follow-up, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” (Warner Bros.) is sharper and more engaging, though defects remain.
Well-crafted but gritty, the Chicago-set heist drama “Widows” (Fox) would be acceptable for at least a few adults if it did not ultimately send the message that, at least when the stakes are sufficiently high, the ends justify the means.
It’s rare that a movie can reasonably be expected to accomplish some good in the real world. But director and co-writer Sean Anders’ blend of comedy and drama, “Instant Family” (Paramount) may be the exception.
What “Beautiful Boy” (Amazon) captures best about the raw pain of drug dependency is the sheer randomness of it.
When it comes to disturbing sights, “Overlord” (Paramount), let it be said from the start, sometimes goes overboard. This weird, wild but surprisingly effective blend of war story and chiller from director Julius Avery is thus far too gory and gruesome for most moviegoers.
