OPENING FRIDAY
“A Dog’s Purpose”
“Gold”
“Julieta”
“The King”
Not Reviewed
South Korean crime thriller about a man from humble origins who strives to become a prosecutor, a powerful position in the 1990s, only to find his decision comes with a dilemma. (NR, 2:14)
“Moana Sing-Along”
Not reviewed
Sing-along version of “Moana,” the Disney film about a girl trying to save her island. Exercise your vocal cords with Moana’s “How Far I’ll Go” and “I Am Moana,” and Maui’s “You’re Welcome” (PG, 1:43)
“Raees”
Not reviewed
Indian film about a man who rises to become a crime boss, gaining cult-hero status in the process, and the no-nonsense police officer who aims to take him down. In Hindi with English subtitles. (NR, 2:30)
“Resident Evil: The Final Chapter”
Not reviewed
Final installment of video game-based horror movie series stars Milla Jovovich as returning hero Alice, battling zombies, mutant monsters and the evil Umbrella Corporation as she races to save humanity from a deadly virus. (R, 1:46)
NOW PLAYING
“Arrival” ****
Amy Adams portrays linguistics professor Louise Banks, recruited by the military to establish a conversation with aliens who have landed on Earth. She teams with mathematician Ian Donnelly, played by Jeremy Renner. Both are excellent throughout, while addressing topics such as the challenge of communicating with beings whose language is a mystery, and the way international politics can create pressure to cut short scientific problem-solving. (PG-13, 1:56)
“The Bye Bye Man” *
The Bye Bye Man is a scary ghoul who stalks and kills anyone who speaks his name out loud. He can possess people, walk through walls and hack the largest companies in the world. He is, by far, the most logical thing in the film. The horror film feels off, as if the bad guy made off with pivotal minutes of film. It begins, promisingly, with a flashback to 1969, where a journalist is taking a shotgun to anyone who says the Bye Bye Man’s name. But then we flash forward, where three college students move into a giant house, say the name, and slip into a world of fear and paranoia. The students are such zeros that there’s little investment in their survival. Faye Dunaway and Carrie-Anne Moss, in small parts, exude more coolness than any of the lead actors. (PG-13, 96 minutes.)
“The Eagle Huntress” ***
The story of 13-year-old Mongolian girl Aisholpan, who becomes the first girl to join her father’s long line of eagle hunters in a harsh and beautiful landscape, is a thrilling fable of indomitability and father-daughter companionship. The film is crafted to be accessible, with subtitled dialogue supplemented by gently didactic voice-over narration by British actress Daisy Ridley (Rey of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”). Aisholpan has the power to inspire girls (and not only girls) everywhere, and Otto Bell’s documentary may turn her into a pop-culture heroine. (G, 1:27)
“Elle” ***
“Elle” is a violently dark comedy in which passion and cruelty burn together in a masochistic fire. It begins startlingly with a rape, but rather than following it up with tears, revenge or justice, the victim — Michele Leblanc (Isabelle Huppert) — cleans up the room (her heels still on), takes a bath and orders in sushi. Director Paul Verhoeven, rebuffed by Hollywood, took to France to tell the story, adapted from Philippe Dijan’s novel “Oh …” He masterfully unspools the dense layers of Michele, who lords over a small army of nebbishy men at her literary-minded video game company and is sleeping with her best friend’s husband despite loathing him. On top of all this, she is the daughter of a mass murderer, who herself became a figure of public hate as a possible collaborator. Huppert commands the film, and few could pull off the unapologetically demented nature of “Elle” like Verhoeven. (R, 2:10)
“Fences” ****
Director-star Denzel Washington captures the poetry of playwright August Wilson’s text, and the result is an experience of exuberance and richness. Washington portrays Troy, a scarred and formidable personality. He was a star in the Negro baseball league, but he was 40 when baseball integrated, so he never knew real money or fame. Instead, Troy works as a sanitation man, aware of his own magnificence while hiding his bitterness at the same time. He seems unconsciously to want to destroy his family, his wife (Viola Davis) and a teenage son (Jovan Adepo). He also has an older son, a struggling musician (Russell Hornsby) who craves his approval, but Troy won’t give it. Washington gives one of the best self-directed performances in cinematic history, and Davis is staggering, especially in a scene in which she lets loose her fury. (PG-13. 12:18)
“The Founder”***
This biopic of Ray Kroc, the man who took the McDonald’s burger restaurant from a local favorite to a global behemoth, is somewhat misnamed. Kroc wasn’t the founder of McDonald’s. But the title fits his approach to success, a version of the American dream that states, if you want something, go out and take it — even if it belongs to someone else. Michael Keaton stars as Kroc, a salesman peddling milkshake mixers, who visits the McDonald’s hamburger bar in San Bernardino, Calif. Brothers Mac and Dick McDonald (John Carroll Lynch and Nick Offerman) have devised a “speedee” system for delivering burgers from grill to customer. They share their tricks with Ray, and their trust is Ray’s ascension and their downfall. It’s the age-old story of corporate capitalism: One man’s success is another’s exploitation. Director John Lee Hancock and writer Robert D. Siegel bring an undercurrent of satirical acid to the story, and Keaton gives a twitchy, oddball performance. (PG-13, 1:55)
“Hidden Figures” ***
“Hidden Figures” takes us back to 1961, when segregation and workplace sexism were widely accepted facts of life, and the word “computer” referred to a person, not a machine. The most important computers here are three African-American women who work at data entry jobs for NASA but go on to play crucial roles in the space program. Based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s nonfiction book, the film, directed by Theodore Melfi, turns the entwined careers of Katherine Goble (played with perfect nerd charisma by Taraji P. Henson), Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) and Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) into a rousing celebration of merit rewarded and perseverance repaid. It’s a well-told tale with a clear moral and a satisfying emotional payoff. (PG, 2:06)
“Jackie” ***1/2
Natalie Portman portrays the elegant first lady in Chilean director Pablo Larrain’s daring psychological portrait of the wife and widow of President John F. Kennedy. Closely shot, with the camera never far from Portman’s face, “Jackie” is anything but a traditional biopic. Flashing back and forth in time, the film plays with history and memory, fact and speculation. It is a fever dream of a movie, tracking its subject as Jackie Kennedy tries to maintain her composure and her sanity, and as she tries to secure her husband’s legacy. While the casting is uneven, Portman carries the film, portraying Jackie with transfiguring intensity and focus. (R, 1:40)
“La La Land” ****
A musical with big numbers, intimate reveries and adult feelings, Damien Chazelle’s musical “La La Land” is a boy-meets-girl tale with early-21st-century rhythms. It grapples with love between equals in a story about an aspiring actress, Mia (Emma Stone), who meets an ambitious musician, Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), Los Angeles-style during a traffic jam: He honks at her; she flips him the bird. They end up swaying in that fading, soft-light time known as the magic hour, tapping and twirling. This must have been what it was like to see Astaire and Rogers dance for the first time, and one hopes it will appeal to contemporary moviegoers. While “La La Land” engages with nostalgia, it also passionately speaks to the present. (PG-13, 2:08)
“Lion” ***
“Lion” is the incredible true story of two remarkable journeys that Saroo Brierley took in his life — one far away from home, and his return trip. Based on his memoir, “A Long Way Home,” the film is split in two. The first half depicts the travels of young Saroo (Sunny Pawar), who is just 5 when he becomes separated from his brother in Khandwa and ends up 900 miles away in Kolkata. Two decades later, after he’s been taken from an orphanage and adopted by an Australian couple, he returns as the adult Saroo (Dev Patel) in the emotional journey, using modern technology to find his family. Both Pawar and Patel are impressive in their portrayal of Saroo young and old, and Nicole Kidman, as his adoptive mother, Sue, in a brief but juicy role, is luminous as a woman who demonstrates her boundless love in sharing a son with another mother. (PG-13, 2:00)
“Manchester by the Sea” ****
Dramatist-turned-filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan’s screenplay is character-driven, focusing on people the world normally doesn’t give much scrutiny to. Casey Affleck portrays a gruff Lee, who’s OK getting by on minimum wage as a custodian at a Boston condo complex. A family emergency concerning his brother Joe (Kyle Chandler) draws Lee back to his hometown, gradually unearthing a calamity in his own life. Joe’s son Patrick (Lucas Hedges), now a sarcastic high-schooler, is left in uncle Lee’s unwilling care, but Lee can’t stand remaining in Manchester, while Patrick refuses to leave his school, hockey team, rock band and two girlfriends. That strained relationship teaches both of them that amid harrowing disasters, life goes on. (R, 2:17)
“Master”
Not reviewed
Korean action-adventure film about an investigation of a massive fraud case at a major company. In Korean with English subtitles. (Not rated, 2:23)
“Moana” ***
Those fretting over the depiction of Polynesian cultures in “Moana” shouldn’t trouble themselves. The movie itself is not realistic. It’s fantasy, magical, with a cave of magic canoes and an anthropomorphic ocean. Kamehameha Schools student Auli‘i Cravalho does a wonderful job as the voice of Moana, bringing depth and heart to the character. Moana feels the ocean is calling to her, but her father, Chief Tui (Temuera Morrison), forbids her to set sail. Suddenly, her island has no fish, and coconuts become infected with a blight, so Moana jumps on a canoe and does just that. Her quest includes finding the powerful Maui (Dwayne Johnson), returning a green stone heart to a creation goddess, learning wayfinding and stopping the blight. Maui, meanwhile, needs to get his magic fis**ook back, but what he really wants is for mortals to admire him for his wondrous feats. (PG, 1:53)
“Monster Trucks” *1/2
“Monster Trucks” starts out with a relatively adult, science fiction premise: that fracking threatens underground creatures unknown to us. Then the film overwhelms this idea with a childish conceit: These same creatures — a cross between Jabba the Hut and Jaws — just love big trucks. One of them inhabits a truck that lonely high school student Tripp (Lucas Till, looking far too old for the role) has been working on. The film is reminiscent of “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” but the crucial relationship between Tripp and the creature falls flat. We don’t care what happens to Tripp, and while the monster-in-the-truck adventure makes for a decent set piece, it does not a movie make. The film in some ways is too complex for kids, yet leaves the adults feeling left out, as well. (PG, 1:44)
“Moonlight” ****
The extraordinary film “Moonlight” uses restraint, quiet honesty, fluid imagery and an observant, uncompromised way of imagining one outsider’s world so that it becomes our own. “Moonlight” traces the life of an African-American — played in three segments, each by a different actor — growing up in Miami. Alex Hibbert portrays the boy, known as Little, who faces the dilemma of trusting a drug dealer (Mahershala Ali) who befriends him, acting as a father figure while serving crack to his mother (Naomie Harris, who is riveting), a loving, hostile paradox of a wreck. In segment two, Little, now called Chiron (superb young actor Ashton Sanders), has a clandestine sexual encounter with childhood friend Kevin, but is betrayed when Kevin joins in on a beating with some bullies. In the third act, Chiron is called Black (Trevante Rhodes); he gets a call out of the blue from Kevin. Their extended, nearly real-time conversation is reason enough to champion the film. (R, 1:50)
“Patriots Day” ***
Peter Berg’s film about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings may strike some as fuel on a political fire, but its only goal is to provide the thrills of an action-blockbuster. It raises the question of whether real-life tragedy should serve as entertainment, but there’s no question that “Patriots Day” does its job. It’s an intense, bruising cinematic experience. Mark Wahlberg plays fictional Boston police Sgt. Tommy Saunders, whose morning at the marathon turns into a bloody nightmare when runners and spectators are shredded by shrapnel. “Patriots Day” really kicks into gear when the manhunt begins, with a carjacking and a riveting shootout providing stomach-churning suspense. Berg turns the two bombers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, into the film’s most interesting figures. The older Tamerlan (Themo Melikidze) is a fanatic, but Dzhokhar (Alex Wolff, subtly effective) mostly thinks about rap music or texting his buddies. “Patriots Day” does plenty of flag-waving, but this is not an intentionally vengeful film. As Wahlberg’s Sgt. Saunders says, in the face of evil, “the only thing you can fight back with is love.” (R, 2:13)
“The Resurrection of Gavin Stone” **
Here are three descriptors for a movie that you thought you’d never see placed together: “faith-based,” “comedy” and “produced by WWE Studios.” Somehow, “The Resurrection of Gavin Stone” fits all three. Washed-up, hard-partying former child star Gavin Stone (Brett Dalton) shows up at his hometown church for court-mandated community service hours and sticks around to participate in a church play, playing Jesus Christ. Turns out that all that getting into character can’t help but rub off on him. Directed by Dallas Jenkins, the film will be a breath of fresh air for Christian audiences: It represents what modern Christian life actually looks like, with a sense of irreverence. The WWE connection comes in the presence of pro wrestler Shawn Michaels, who turns in a supporting performance as churchgoing tough guy Doug. Laugh-out-loud this is not, but it’s much lighter than most faith-based films, and it isn’t afraid to poke some fun at cultural stereotypes, including those of evangelical Christianity itself. (PG, 1:32)
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” ***1/2
The Force is strong with this spinoff, which provides a solid prequel to the original, taking us to a galaxy of new planets shrouded by ice or cloud-capped fog, drenched in rain or adorned by towering palm trees, all property of the evil Empire. At the center is rebel Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) and her allies, whose goal is to capture the Imperial Death Star blueprints designed by her father (Mads Mikkelsen), or perhaps to assassinate him for aiding the totalitarians. As in every “Star Wars” film, the focus is the little guy fighting the big guy. This time the combat leaves palpable scars coated in filth; you experience them and wince. Of course, authoritarians are still entirely evil. Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn is the gold standard of personified malice as the main villain, Krennic. (PG-13 2:13)
“Sing” ***
What “Sing” might lack in originality of concept — “American Idol” with animated animals — it more than makes up for in execution. The story revolves around Buster Moon (a koala voiced by Matthew McConaughey), a theater owner who’s run into tough times. Buster scrapes together $1,000 for a singing contest, but a typo on the fliers raises it to $100,000. Hordes show up to audition, giving voice to characters like Rosita (Reese Witherspoon), an overworked mama pig; Johnny (Taron Egerton), a gorilla trying to break free of his father’s criminal gang; Ash (Scarlett Johansson), a talented teen porcupine with a jerky boyfriend; and Mike (Seth MacFarlane), a spendthrift rat with a Sinatra-esque croon. A series of inappropriate animal/pop song mash-ups, like a snail singing “Ride Like the Wind,” makes the film sing. (PG, 1:48)
“Silence” **1/2
Martin Scorsese’s “Silence” is a frustrating paradox. Japanese author (and Christian convert) Shusaku Endo’s exquisite novel tells about Portuguese Jesuit priests persecuted for their beliefs in 17th-century Japan, and Scorsese’s screen adaption is a carefully considered epic, with some remarkable images and sequences. It’s obviously a labor of love, but it’s also methodical and stately to a fault. “Silence” tells how Father Rodrigues (Andrew Garfield) and Father Garupe (Adam Driver) travel to Japan to find their colleague, Father Ferreira (an excellent Liam Neeson), whose last letter tells of priests and believers dying in horrifying ways at the hands of the Japanese authorities, led by the Inquisitor, a splendid Issey Ogata. Scorsese, cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto and editor Thelma Schoonmaker, try a little of everything visually, but the film proceeds dutifully. Endo’s novel, barely 200 pages in its original form, doesn’t responds well to Scorsese’s expansive tack. Endo’s perspective in the novel, at once questioning and urgent, has been replaced by a less complicated martyr’s travail in Scorsese’s hands. (R, 2:41)
“Sleepless”*
Jamie Foxx stars as an undercover police officer in Las Vegas who battles corrupt colleagues and gangsters while trying to save his kidnapped son, but he’s sadly miscast. He is not a natural-born action hero, which worked to his advantage in “Collateral” opposite Tom Cruise, but not here. The film itself is a formulaic spectacle, with director Baran bo Odar orchestrating the smashing of bodies and automobiles with a moody, Michael Mann-esque panache. But the intense atmospherics start to feel like the work of a filmmaker on genre autopilot. (R, 1:35)
“Split” ***
M. Night Shyamalan’s name has always been synonymous with one thing: twist. Which is a kind of a shame when the filmmaking and performances are particularly exceptional. In the multiple-personality psycho-thriller “Split,” Anya Taylor-Joy and James McAvoy shine as prey and predator. McAvoy sinks his teeth into the role of a young man who developed dissociative identity disorder to deal with an abusive childhood. He keeps 23 personalities in control with the help of a therapist, but darker proclivities have taken over, and he kidnaps three young girls to satisfy those urges. McAvoy is delightfully demonic; each of his characters has unique gestures, and he slides seamlessly from one to another. Taylor-Joy portrays Casey, one of the kidnap victims. She’s thoughtful and composed in dealing with the situation, drawing on lessons learned from hunting trips with her father and uncle. Unfortunately, Shyamalan retreats to tried-and-true formulas. Cinematographer Michael Gioulakis’s creative camera work, rapidly swapping character point-of-view, contributes greatly to the film, but it’s tiresome to see yet another movie where young women get locked in a basement. (PG-13, 1:57)
“Underworld: Blood Wars”
Not reviewed
Kate Beckinsale returns as deadly vampire Selene, fighting to end a war between two clans of supernatural beings, including the vampire group that betrayed her. (R, 1:31)
“20th Century Women” ***
“20th Century Women” isn’t a great film, but it does something great: It captures the way we think about people we knew and the lives they lived when we remember them. Written and directed by Mike Mills, and loosely based on his childhood, it tells the story of a teenage boy Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) being raised by a single mother (Annette Bening, as excellent as ever) in Santa Barbara, Calif. Mom has boarders and enlists them to help her raise a restless Jamie. Teenager Julie (Elle Fanning) sees Jamie as a brother, frustrating his love for her, while Abbie (Great Gerwig), a photographer, tries to teach him to be a sensitive man and tells him about women’s orgasms. “20th Century Women” is not especially dramatic; every time the story is on a knife edge and can drop deep into turmoil or recede back to the normal ebbs and flows of life, Mills chooses the latter. But it feels real. (R, 1:18)
“XXX: The Return of Xander Cage” **1/2
After a one-film absence from the franchise, Vin Diesel is back as the thrill-seeker turned government agent. He’s surrounded by stars from around the world: Hong Kong wushu star Donnie Yen, Thai martial artist Tony Jaa, Bollywood beauty Deepika Padukone, Aussie personality Ruby Rose, Chinese singer-actor Kris Wu, British UFC champ Michael Bisping, “Game of Thrones” fave Rory McCann and Brazilian soccer phenomenon Neymar. Even Toni Collette turns up, and she’s fantastic. Out of this group, Diesel’s Cage is the least interesting. He gets pulled out of retirement to pursue bandits who have stolen a weapon capable of dropping satellites out of orbit. That’s the ostensible plot, but mostly the film is about extreme stunts, adolescent jokes, female bodies, and Xander’s cheesy come-ons. The punch lines are mostly silly, but when Xander starts opining about extreme stunts, it tips into unintentionally hilarious territory. As far as the stunts go, Xander skis through a jungle and rides waves on an ocean-going motorbike, but Yen’s wushu mastery swipes this movie right out from under his prodigious pecs. (PG-13, 1:47)
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
“Yu Gi Oh: The Dark Side of Dimensions”
11 a.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday, Consolidated Ward Stadium. $12.25
The latest installment of the Japanese manga series has high-schooler Yugi Muto holding a piece of the Millennium Puzzle, key to the evil Millennium Ring, and battling those who have been corrupted by its power. (PG, 2:10)
“Dirty Dancing” 30th Anniversary
2 and 7 p.m., Sunday and Wednesday, Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18, $13.09
One of the better dance movies, this coming-of-age period drama stars Jennifer Grey as Baby, a blossoming teenager visiting a Catskills resort with her family in the early 1960s. She meets the resort’s hunky dance instructor Johnny (Patrick Swayze) under innocent circumstances, but then things get not-so-innocent. Jerry Orbach (“Law and Order”) is great as Baby’s protective father. You’ll have the time of your life. (PG-13, 1:40)
ARTHOUSE
DORIS DUKE THEATRE
Honolulu Museum of Art, 532-6097, honolulumuseum.org; $8-$10
“Cinema Angel”
1 p.m. today, and 1 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday
A movie theater is to be shut down, but an old man who knows everything about it surfaces. In Japanese with English subtitles. (2016, Japan, 1:34)
“The Cinema Travellers”
4 p.m. Saturday
Documentary follows traveling cinemas, trucks that screen movies in rural India. In Hindi and Marathi with English subtitles. (2016, India, 1:36)
“They Call Us Monsters”
1 and 7 p.m. Sunday; and 1 and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
Documentary follows three juvenile offenders, who have committed heinous crimes, taking a screenwriting workshop in prison. (2016, 1:24)
“Ku Kanaka”
4 p.m. Sunday, followed by panel discussion with filmmakers and educators.
Documentary about Terry Young, who became a quadriplegic after a diving accident at age 15, but later became a wheelchair athlete, a Hawaiian sovereignty activist and a professor of Hawaiian studies. (2015, Hawaii, 0:30)
“The Salesman”
1 and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday
A young Tehran couple acting in “Death of a Salesman” move into a new apartment, but an incident involving the previous tenant changes their lives. In Persian with English subtitles. (2017, Iran/France, 2:05)
MOVIE MUSEUM
3566 Harding Ave., 735-8771; $5, $4 members
“Bonkers” (“Knetter”)
11 a.m., and 3 and 7 p.m. today; and 1, 4 and 7 p.m. Monday
Nine-year-old Bonnie searches for a suitable mate for her bipolar mom while avoiding a pesky social worker. For ages 12 and older. In Dutch with English subtitles. (2005, Netherlands/Belgium, 1:21)
“Kabukicho Love Hotel” (“Sayonara Kabukicho”)
12:30, 4:30 and 8:30 p.m. today
This comedy-drama tells stories of staff and guests of a Tokyo love hotel. For ages 15 and older. In Japanese with English subtitles. (2014, Japan, 2:15)
“Chicken Run”
Noon, 5:30 and 9 p.m. Saturday
Ginger and her fellow hens envision an escape from Mrs. Tweedy, who’s demanding more eggs for her chicken-pie machine. Voices by Mel Gibson, Julia Sawalha and Timothy Spall. (2000, U.K/U.S./France, 1:24)
“A Time in Quchi” (“Shu jia zuo ye”)
1:30, 3:30 and 7 p.m. Saturday
Taipei youth Guan is sent by his divorcing parents to his grandfather in rural Quchi, where he ventures through the river community and makes friends. For ages 10 and older. In Mandarin with English subtitles. (2013, Taiwan, 1:49)
“Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot”
Noon, 3:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday
A shy American man finds it hard to express himself to his fun-loving neighbor, Mrs. Silver. With Dustin Hoffman and Judi Dench. (2015, U.K., 1:28)
“The Role of Her Life” (“Le role de sa vie”)
1:45, 5:15 and 8:45 p.m. Sunday
Freelance fashion writer Claire gets to meet her idol, actress Elisabeth Becker, but has her life turned upside down when Elisabeth hires her as her personal assistant. For ages 12 and older. In French with English subtitles. (2004, France, 1:39)
“The World is Ours” (“El mundo es nuestro”)
11:30 a.m., and 2:30, 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. Monday
Two Spanish bank robbers plan to escape to Brazil but soon learn that everyone in Spain is broke. For ages 12 and older. In Spanish with English subtitles. (2012, Spain, 1:23)
“Hooligan Sparrow”
11:15 a.m., and 3:15 and 7:15 p.m. Thursday
Documentary about Chinese activist Ye Haiyan, who faces imprisonment after protesting the rape of six girls by local officials. For ages 12 and older. (2016, China/U.S., 1:24)
“Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad”
12:45, 4:45 and 8:45 p.m. Thursday
Adaptation of Lily Franky’s autobiographical novel about a mother and son who move from Tokyo to a small town and back. For ages 12 and older. (2007, Japan, 2:22)