Movie Reviews

Anyone who’s endured the ignominy of grinding poverty with an alcoholic, out-of- work parent understands that there’s nothing ennobling about the experience.

Much of the action in the animated children’s comedy “The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature” (Open Road) unfolds at a frenzied pace. Yet, for all the sound and fury, this is in the end a bland film, unlikely to please any but the least discerning viewers.

Most of the mayhem wreaked by the figurine-haunting demon at the center of the horror prequel “Annabelle: Creation” (Warner Bros.) is restrained.

Awash in high-flown metaphysical hooey, director and co-writer Nikolaj Arcel’s dull sci-fi fantasy “The Dark Tower” (Columbia) is inappropriate for the impressionable.

The compact thriller “Kidnap” (Aviron) is less a story about a mother’s enduring love and sacrifice for her young son than it is a long drive in an amazingly durable minivan.

Fifty years after he put himself between a wounded Marine and fatal enemy gunfire, the story of Maryknoll Father Vincent R. Capodanno’s faith and sacrifice is being retold in a new movie.

The movie “Detroit” depicts a dark chapter of the Motor City’s history set in the summer of 1967 with racial riots.

“A Ghost Story” (A24) could be the best film about purgatory you’ll see this year.