Will “Coco” (Disney) be your cup of tea? That largely depends on how well equipped you are to interpret this visually rich animated fantasy’s presentation of the afterlife, one which owes little to Christianity and much to the pre-Columbian beliefs associated with Mexico’s Day of the Dead.
“Lady Bird” (A24) is writer-director Greta Gerwig’s sensitive autobiographical account of growing up in Sacramento, California.
The global danger looming over “Justice League” (Warner Bros.) feels all-too-familiar, a case of Yogi Berra’s famous deja vu all over again.
“Wonder” (Lionsgate) is a beautiful film about ugliness. Its protagonist is August “Auggie” Pullman (Jacob Tremblay), a 10-year-old boy born with facial deformities whose misshapen visage becomes a moral Rorschach test for the people around him.
A holiday treat suitable for all but the tiniest, “The Star” (Sony) is a delightful animated version of the Christmas story told from the perspective of some of the animals present in the manger.
That biblical truth of John 13:15 is vividly reinforced in “No Greater Love” (Atlas), a compelling documentary about the experiences of U.S. combat soldiers in Afghanistan and their postwar struggles to resume their lives back home.
“Let There Be Light” (Atlas) is an evangelical Christian drama with a familiar plot: A wayward sinner, in this case a famous atheist, experiences a change of heart.
Silly slapstick predominates in “Daddy’s Home 2” (Paramount). Though this follow-up to the 2015 comedy about the blending pains of a post-divorce family is mostly harmless, late scenes mix lame holiday-themed sentimentality with weirdly uncomfortable humor concerning a preteen boy’s emerging sexuality.
