The third remake of that sturdy warhorse “A Star Is Born” (Warner Bros.) pays occasional homage to its forebears, particularly the 1954 version starring Judy Garland and James Mason, which only serves to indicate that its formulaic “stand by your man” story is somewhat tattered and dog-eared.
With “Hell Fest” (CBS Films), director Gregory Plotkin serves up a decidedly unoriginal film filled with screams, sickening gore and a masked serial killer wielding an ax. It’s an extreme parade of mayhem moving toward a perverse conclusion and, as such, unsuitable for viewers of any age.
The purpose of director Malcolm D. Lee’s fitfully funny comedy “Night School” (Universal) is to allow its stars, Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish, to trade barbs. A few of their exchanges work.
Turning the legend of Bigfoot on its head with plenty of laughs along the way comes the animated musical comedy “Smallfoot” (Warner Bros.).
Somewhere inside writer-director Dan Fogelman’s drama “Life Itself” (Amazon/Stage 6) lurk the makings of a good movie.
For all its spells and incantations, the witchcraft-themed fantasy “The House With a Clock in Its Walls” (Universal) lacks magic. Though some of the humor works, the film makes little impression and registers as only passable entertainment.
“A Simple Favor” (Lionsgate), director Paul Feig’s glossy screen version of Darcey Bell’s 2017 novel, is undeniably ingenious.
“Unbroken: Path to Redemption” (Pure Flix) continues Zamperini’s story, this time with an emphasis on the woes that beset him after he returned home at the end of the global conflict and his eventual embrace of evangelical Christianity.
