By Kam Williams

Faith-based films usually have limited appeal beyond the Christian community because most tend to be heavy-handed morality plays that preach to the choir. A Question of Faith is a refreshing change of pace, because instead of proselytizing, the film features character development and a compelling plot.

This carefully crafted modern parable explores a mix of worldly and spiritual themes in a way that will entertain the faithful and sinners alike. The picture was directed by Kevan Otto, who recruited an impressive cast to perform Ty Manns’s script.

The cast disappears so thoroughly into their parts that it’s easy to forget you’re watching actors after just a few minutes into the movie. One of the stars is Kim Fields, who’s best known for the role of Tootie that she originated in the TV sitcom Different Strokes, and continued to play in the spinoff, The Facts of Life.

The film unfolds in Atlanta where we’re introduced to three families that are dealing with serious life issues. The first is Theresa Newman (Fields), who is worried that her husband (Richard T. Jones) is so obsessed with taking over as senior pastor of the church from his father (Gregory Alan Williams) that he might break a promise to attend their younger son’s (Caleb T. Thomas) basketball game.

Next, gospel singer Michelle Danielsen’s (Amber Thompson) father (C. Thomas Howell) is pressuring her to perform at a record company’s audition because he needs the money his daughter’s contract with the record company would provide to help save his business. He is apparently more concerned with avoiding an impending collapse of his business than with finding the cause of his daughter’s debilitating headaches.

Finally, restaurant owner Katie Hernandez (Jaci Velasquez) keeps reminding her daughter Maria (Karen Valero) to stop texting while driving when she is making deliveries to customers. Katie doesn’t want Maria to have an accident that might prevent her from becoming the first person in their family to attend college.

These parallel storylines converge in a very dramatic fashion. As their fates become intertwined the protagonists rise to the occasion in different ways.

The film is a moving tale of redemption that reveals God’s grace and makes a case for cross-cultural tolerance.

Excellent (****). Rated PG for mature themes. Running time: 104 minutes. Production Studio: Silver Lining Entertainment. Distributor: Pure Flix Entertainment.

By Kam Williams

Lloyd Garmadon (Dave Franco) must be the least liked student at Ninjago High. The unassuming 16-year-old is so unpopular that nobody will even sit on the same side of the bus with him on their ride to school.

What they don’t know, however, is that he has a super hero alter ego — the Green Ninja. He is the leader of the Secret Ninja Force, a team of five teens and an android who are helped by Lloyd’s wise and wisecracking uncle, Master Wu (Jackie Chan).

Master Wu has taught each of his protégés how to harness the different forces of nature that are contained in his magical treasure chest. The hot headed Red Ninja (Michael Pena) controls fire; the music-loving Black Ninja (Fred Armisen) has mastered earth; the Blue Ninja (Kumail Nanjiani), lightning; and the Gray Ninja (Abbi Jacobson), water; and the robotic White Ninja’s (Zach Woods) domain is ice.

Their mission is to prevent Lord Garmadon (Justin Theroux) from conquering Ninjago City. It turns out that the evil villain is Lloyd’s long-lost father, who abandoned his wife (Olivia Munn) and baby when she refused to accept his decision to go to the dark side.

As a result, all Lloyd knows about his father is what he’s been told by his mother and uncle. Consequently, Lloyd is eager to meet and defeat the diabolical warlord who has the reputation of being the world’s “Worst Guy Ever.”

If you’ve seen either LEGO or LEGO Batman, then you have an idea of what to expect from the third film in the animated series. Directed by Charlie Bean, the film is not only a visually captivating adventure, but also has pithy asides and clever allusions to screen classics that also make the movie interesting to adults.

In this critic’s opinion, Ninjago is the best episode in the series because of all the positive messages that are delivered by the picture’s end.

Excellent (****). Rated PG for mild action and rude humor. Running time: 101 minutes. Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures.

By Kam Williams

Sometimes, substance trumps low-production values, such as in the movie Man in Red Bandana. Minutes after the World Trade Center was hit by United Airlines Flight 175 on the morning of 9/11, Welles Crowther called his mother to let her know he was okay. The 24-year-old stockbroker knew she’d be worried, because his office was located on the 104th floor of the South Tower.  more

After separating from her husband Austen (Michael Sheen), Alice Kinney (Reese Witherspoon) decides to move from Manhattan to Los Angeles with her two young daughters Rosie (Eden Grace Redfield) and Isabel (Lola Flanery). Although Alice’s father has passed away, the decision to return to the house she grew up in was easy, because the girls would live in the lap of luxury while being pampered by their grandmother Lillian (Candice Bergen).

Alice’s late father was a famous film director, however, Lillian still complains about his philandering and smugly delights in his demise, saying, “He’s gone now, so I won!” The sprawling mansion left to her by the legendary director has a storeroom stuffed with Oscars, movie posters, and other memorabilia from his Hollywood career.

Soon after arriving, Rosie and Isabel become terribly homesick. However, that’s not the case with their single mother, who heads to a bar to celebrate her 40th birthday with two long-lost friends. Next thing you know, they are sharing drinks with three young filmmakers in their 20s, one of whom, Harry (Pico Alexander), is instantly attracted to Alice.

Alice takes all three of the men home with her, and also has a one-night stand with Harry. However, when Rosie discovers her mother in bed with a stranger the next morning, she asks Alice some tough questions — “How did you meet? Did you have a sleepover?”

The plot tests credulity when grandmother Lillian, instead of objecting to the young men’s presence, invites them to move into the guest house after she learns that they’re almost broke and struggling to make it in showbiz. Next, the plot thickens when Austen arrives unannounced from New York, hoping to reconcile with his estranged wife.

Thus unfolds Home Again, a zany romantic comedy written and directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer. Her debut is impressive, with a tasteful love triangle storyline that is reminiscent of Something’s Gotta Give (2003) and It’s Complicated (2009). This is not too surprising, since both of those hit pictures were written and directed by her Oscar nominated mother Nancy Meyers (Private Benjamin).

Excellent (****). Rated PG-13 for sexuality and mature themes. Running time: 97 minutes. Production Studio: Black Bicycle Entertainment. Distributor: Open Road Films.

By Kam Williams

Annabelle: Creation is the fourth film in a horror film series that features The Conjuring 1 and 2 as well as Annabelle. Because this prequel is set in 1952, well before the events which transpired in the others, you don’t have to be familiar with those pictures to enjoy this one, especially if you like having the bejesus scared out of you.

This horror movie has all the staples of a generic haunted house adventure, ranging from a spooky disembodied voice singing a cappella, to involuntary levitation, to a victim leaving nail marks in the floor as she’s dragged down a darkened hall by a mysterious force. The movie was directed by David F. Sandberg, the Swedish director who made an impressive debut last year with the thriller Lights Out.

As the film unfolds, we find dollmaker Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) and his reclusive bed-ridden wife, Esther (Miranda Otto), living in a ramshackle Victorian mansion on a mountaintop in the middle of nowhere. They’re still shaken by the loss of their daughter Bee (Samara Lee) who was hit by a car more than ten years ago.

To ease their loneliness, the inconsolable couple has decided to share their home with six orphans. The homeless girls are chaperoned by Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman), a God-fearing guardian who is grateful to get a roof over their heads.

The children are given free rein of the place, except for a direct order from Mr. Mullins to stay out of Bee’s bedroom. But of course that injunction proves too tempting for Janice (Talitha Bateman), a curious child who is suffering from polio.

Of course, she goes inside the room and thereby unwittingly unleashes a host of demonic forces that are controlled by Annabelle, a doll Samuel had originally made for his dead daughter. It isn’t long thereafter that all hell breaks loose.

Director Sandberg is adept at ratcheting up the tension. In fact, the spine-tingling movie has innumerable heart-stopping moments.

Very Good (***). Rated R for horror violence and terror. Running time: 109 minutes. Production Company: New Line Cinema/Atomic Monster. Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures.

The renowned bodyguard Michael Bryce’s (Ryan Reynolds) services were in great demand until one of his clients, a Japanese tycoon (Tsuwayuki Saotome), was executed. That botched operation simultaneously ruined his professional reputation and his romantic relationship with Interpol agent Amelia (Elodie Yung). His career took such a hit that several years later he was homeless and reduced to chauffeuring clients around in a beat-up jalopy.

A chance at redemption — and at winning back Amelia — arrives when she approaches him to protect Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson). He’s the key prosecution witness in the trial at the International Court of Justice of Vladislav Dukhovich (Gary Oldman), an Eastern European dictator who is accused of committing genocide.

Amelia has discovered that there’s a mole inside of Interpol who has compromised Kincaid’s safety. So, the only hope of getting him to court alive is by hiring someone who is outside the organization.

However, Darius is a vicious hit man who has murdered hundreds of people. Despite being disgusted by the assassin’s grisly record, Michael agrees to escort him from a British prison to The Hague where he’s scheduled to testify in less than 24 hours. In return for his cooperation, Darius’s wife, Sonia (Salma Hayek), will be released from prison where she has been since she slit someone’s throat in a gruesome bar fight.

That is the point of departure of The Hitman’s Bodyguard, a comedy directed by Patrick Hill (The Expendables 3). The film unfolds as an action adventure in which the two protagonists are impervious to harm from bullets, explosives, pyrotechnics, or boat and car crashes.

However, the movie works because of the palpable screen chemistry generated between Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds. And it does help that each of these indestructible characters has been humanized by a love interest.

The pair exchange lighthearted barbs while having a close brush with death every other minute as they negotiate their way through an endless gauntlet of assassins.

Excellent (****). Rated R for graphic violence and pervasive profanity. Running time: 118 minutes. Distributor: Summit Entertainment.

Laurie Chambers (Katheryn Winnick) is understandably worried about her 11-year-old son’s recurring nightmares. In them, her son Jake (Tom Taylor) is becoming convinced that the demise of Earth is imminent.

So, she takes him to a psychiatrist who diagnoses Jake’s visions as delusional and has him committed to a mental health facility. However, Jake really is psychic, and he is accurately forecasting the impending extinction of life on Earth.

The planet’s only hope of averting this apocalypse rests on the shoulders, or more precisely, on the trigger fingers of Roland Deschain (Idris Elba). He’s the last in a long line of gunslingers from another dimension who have been locked in mortal conflict with forces that are led by Randall Flagg (Matthew McConaughey), an evil sorcerer who is on a quest for infinite power. World domination by him is attainable if Randall can reach the Dark Tower, the nexus between time and space that is located in a parallel universe called End-World.

Soon the mysterious figures in Jake’s dreams begin to materialize on the streets of Manhattan. After Randall’s minions murder Jake’s mother, the boy is rescued by Roland. The two escape through a portal to Mid-World where the epic battle to preserve life on Earth unfolds.

That is the point of departure of The Dark Tower, an adaptation of Stephen King’s magnum opus of the same name. The science fiction series was inspired by “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” a poem written by Robert Browning in 1855. King also cites Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns, and the legend of King Arthur as major influences.

The Dark Tower took a circuitous route to becoming a movie. The story was originally optioned by J.J. Abrams in 2007. Ron Howard subsequently acquired the rights in 2010. However, the picture was ultimately written and directed by Nikolaj Arcel, whose A Royal Affair was nominated in 2013 for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category.

This movie is Mr. Arcel’s first English language film, which is why he received help with the screenplay from three scriptwriters that includes Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind). The final production is engaging enough to establish the franchise and leave you anticipating a sequel.

Very Good (***). Rated PG-13 for action, gun violence, and mature themes.

Running time: 95 minutes. Production Studio: Sony/Media Rights Capital/Imagine Entertainment/Weed Road. Distributor: Sony Pictures.

Karla (Halle Berry) is a stressed single-mom who is working as a waitress in a diner. Of course she’d rather be spending her time with her young son, Frankie (Sage Correa). Fortunately, he’s patiently waiting right there in the restaurant for her overtime shift to end.

After she finally gets off work, the two drive to an amusement park for what they expect will be a fun-filled afternoon. We also learn that Karla’s in the midst of bitter custody battle for Frankie with her vindictive ex-husband (Jason George).

That explains why she moves a few feet away from Frankie for a little privacy when she gets a call from her divorce attorney.

Unfortunately, her attention from her son is distracted enough to afford a lurking kidnapper (Chris McGinn) an opportunity to pounce. Next thing you know, Frankie is being dragged to a waiting getaway car.

Karla frantically rushes after them into the parking lot, and in her distress, she drops her cell phone before she spots a suspicious Mustang GT with tinted windows and no license plates rushing out of the parking lot. Karla frantically decides to chase the car.

What ensues is an extended chase scene that lasts the rest of the movie. So unfolds Kidnap, a low-budget movie directed by Luis Prieto (Pusher). Although the plot has comical holes big enough for Karla to drive her car through, the picture nevertheless is compelling thanks to a combination of heart-pounding action scenes and the protagonists’ convincing portrayal of their desperation to be reunited.

Very Good (***). Rated R for violence, profanity, and scenes of peril. Running time: 95 minutes. Production Studio: Well Go USA Entertainment / Gold Star / 606 Films / Lotus Entertainment. Distributor: Aviron Pictures.

When Hitler ordered an all-out assault on the Western Front in the spring of 1940, the supposedly impregnable Maginot Line proved to be no match for the German blitzkrieg. The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France all fell to the Nazis in a matter of weeks.

By May 26th, about 400,000 British, French, Polish, Belgian, and Dutch troops had been forced to retreat to Dunkirk, a port located along the northern coast of France. The soldiers were stranded on the beach because there weren’t enough military naval vessels to evacuate all of the forces.

The logistical nightmare left most of the battle-weary men in need of a miracle because they were sitting ducks for the Nazi artillery fire and Luftwaffe bombs. At 7 p.m. that evening, Winston Churchill, the British prime minister, issued an urgent appeal to private boat owners to help in the rescue effort.

By dawn, over 800 hundred vessels had been pressed into service. The flotilla included everything from speed boats and yachts, tugboats and fishing trawlers, and ferries and ocean liners.

For the next nine days, they sailed back and forth across the U-Boat infested waters of the English Channel. About a third of the ships were sunk by the enemy, but the altruistic patriots managed to save 338,226 troops.

Afterwards, Winston Churchill put a positive spin on the devastating military defeat. that had claimed the lives of 68,000 British soldiers and left the country vulnerable to an imminent invasion. On June 4th, he took to the floor of the House of Commons and delivered his famous speech that assured the country that there was no doubt that Great Britain would ultimately prevail.

“Whatever the cost may be,” he said in a stirring summation, “We shall fight on the beaches …. We shall fight on the landing grounds …. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets …. We shall fight in the hills ….” concluding, “We shall never surrender!”

All of the above has been portrayed in Dunkirk, a visually captivating World War II epic directed by Christopher Nolan. Mr. Nolan, who is the best British director besides Alfred Hitchcock who has not yet won an Oscar, has made many memorable movies that include Memento, Inception, Interstellar, and the Batman trilogy, among others.

In Dunkirk, he’s found a novel way to recreate the historic evacuation. Instead of having the documentary drama describe a single protagonist or military unit, he has deftly interwoven several discrete storylines that highlight the different perspectives of a number of unsung heroes. Whether on land, by sea, or in the air, many among those patriotic saviors survived, but some did make the ultimate sacrifice in the valiant stand against the evil that was spreading across Europe. Shot with 70mm film, Dunkirk is an instant classic worth seeing on an IMAX screen.

Excellent (****). Rated PG-13 for intense battle scenes and some profanity. Running time: 106 minutes. In English, French, and German with subtitles.

Production Studio: Syncopy. Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures.

If you’re familiar with the surreal cinematic stylings of Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon, then you have an idea of of the treat in store for you in the film Lost in Paris. The talented husband and wife team wrote, directed, and co-starred in their latest foray into the theater of the absurd.

The movie is best described as a cross between Wes Anderson and Charlie Chaplin, because it is an unconventional visually captivating movie with not much dialogue from the leading actors. The rubber-faced duo entertain far more with their movements and expressions than with words.

The film opens in Canada about 50 years ago, where we find Fiona (Gordon) saying farewell to her beloved Aunt Martha (recently-deceased Emmanuelle Riva) who is moving to Paris. Fast-forward to the present when Fiona, now a librarian, receives an urgent appeal for assistance from her 88-year-old aunt.

In the letter, Martha explains that they’re trying to move her into an assisted living facility for old folks. But the feisty aunt will have none of it.

Fiona accepts her aunt’s call for help and the next thing you know Fiona is in France with a large bright orange backpack decorated with a Canadian flag. Her troubles start right off the bat, when she gets stuck in a subway turnstile because of her oversized backpack.

The slapstick escalates further when the weight of the knapsack causes her to topple into the Seine while posing for a photo on a bridge. In order to keep from drowning, she has to free herself from the backpack, and ends up losing all her possessions, including her passport, cell phone, cash, and clothes.

Fortunately Fiona had just met Dom (Abel), a hobo living in a tent pitched along the banks of the river, who just happens to fall in love with her. So, Fiona finds herself having to fend off the advances of her ardent admirer while frantically searching for her missing aunt.

The ensuing search is charming, sublime, hilarious, and implausible. An endearing homage to the silent film era!

Excellent (****). Unrated. In French and English with subtitles. Running time: 83 minutes. Distributor: Oscilloscope Laboratories.

Believe it or not, over a dozen different attempts to assassinate Adolf Hitler (Udo Schenk) were made until he took his own life in April of 1945. In 1944, Hitler only suffered minor injuries in the bombing that was the focus of Valkyrie (2008), a documentary drama that stars Tom Cruise.

Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall), 13 Minutes describes this first attempt to assassinate Hitler just after he had taken control of Germany. The incident occurred in Munich on November 8, 1939 in a hall where the Führer was scheduled to deliver an address.

Unfortunately, Georg Elser’s (Christian Friedel) homemade time bomb went off too late, because Hitler had already completed his remarks and left the building 13 minutes earlier accompanied by the Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels (Ulrich Matthes), Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess, and the architect of the Holocaust, Heinrich Himmler (Ulrich Noethen).

Later that same day, Georg was apprehended when he was trying to cross into Switzerland. Border guards took him into custody after they discovered him with incriminating evidence that led them to believe that he was connected to the explosion.

He was taken to Germany’s Chief of Police Arthur Nebe (Burghart Klauszner) and Gestapo Chief Heinrich Muller (Johann von Bulow) for interrogation, but Georg refused to answer any questions until they threatened to arrest his girlfriend Elsa (Katharina Schuttler). Georg then confessed to protect her, but they still didn’t believe that a simple carpenter could have possibly acted alone to produce a powerful explosive device that claimed eight lives and wounded 62.

So, they resorted to torture to extract the identities of his suspected accomplices who only existed in their imaginations. But Georg had nothing further to share, other than an explanation of how he’d secretly amassed enough gunpowder to construct the bomb.

13 Minutes has an unorthodox story structure, because it opens with the failed assassination attempt, and is followed by a series of Georg’s flashbacks. While behind bars, he reminisces about everything from his disgust with the Nazis to his relationship with Elsa.

Excellent (****). Rated R for sexuality and disturbing violence. In German with subtitles. Running time: 114 minutes. Production Studio: Lucky Bird Pictures. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics.

War for the Planet of the Apes is the ninth movie in the film series that began almost 50 years ago with Planet of the Apes. The original groundbreaking science-fiction adventure was based on the novel of the same name by Pierre Boulle, who also wrote The Bridge Over the River Kwai.

That book was adapted to the movie by two scriptwriters: Rod Serling (The Twilight Zone) and Oscar-winner Michael Wilson (The Bridge Over the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, It’s a Wonderful Life, and A Place in the Sun). So, it’s no surprise that that movie’s thought-provoking social commentary resonated with critics and audiences.

In that movie, the apes’ masks were so skillfully made that the Motion Picture Academy awarded the movie’s makeup artist, John Chambers, an honorary Oscar. However, it wasn’t until the ’80s that Best Makeup became an official Academy Award category.

War for the Planet of the Apes is the finale in a trilogy that recreated the series in 2011, starting with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and followed a few years later by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Fortunately you don’t need to recall, or even have seen, the earlier pictures to fully appreciate this movie.

Additionally, the use of the latest computer graphic image technology has been so skillfully applied that you never once doubt that you’re watching real apes interacting with humans. The best news is that the movie is a morality play of Shakespearean proportions that explores many universal themes on the way to the showdown that settles the fate of both species once and for all.

The apes are again led by Caesar (Andy Serkis), who matches wits with a ruthless army colonel (Woody Harrelson). Between the sophisticated storytelling and the state-of-the-art special effects, War for the Planet of the Apes is a touching finale for the series.

Excellent (****). Rated PG-13 for action, violence, mature themes, and disturbing images. Running time: 140 minutes. Production Studio: Chernin Entertainment. Distributor: 20th Century Fox.

All you really need to know about Baby Driver is that so far it’s simply the best film of the year. The picture was written and directed by Edgar Wright, who is best known for three British comedies that starred Simon Pegg: Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World’s End (2013).

Mr. Wright shot this movie in Atlanta and it is a labor of love that took several decades to complete. The movie has its beginnings in “Bellbottoms,” a discordant punk anthem that he visualized as “a song in search of a car chase” from the moment he first heard it in 1995.

That cult classic isn’t the only obscure tune in Baby Driver’s eclectic soundtrack that features rarities ranging from T. Rex’s “Debora,” to Blur’s “Intermission,” to The Damned’s “Neat Neat Neat.” However, the blockbuster also has its share of recognizable hits too, such as the Commodores’ “Easy,” Martha Reeves and the Vandellas’ “Nowhere to Run,” and “Hocus Pocus” by Focus.

The film has an A-list cast that includes Oscar-winners Jamie Foxx (Ray) and Kevin Spacey (American Beauty and The Usual Suspects), Emmy-winner Jon Hamm (Mad Men) and two-time, Screen Actors Guild Award-winner Lily James (Downton Abbey). However, the film is carried by the up-and-coming actor Ansel Elgort.

He plays Baby, a deaf getaway driver who is extraordinarily adept at eluding the authorities. He is reluctantly controlled by the mob because of a debt that he owes to Doc (Kevin Spacey) the manipulative crime boss. Baby wants to be free of the mob so he can start a new life with Deborah (James), the waitress he fell in love with in an empty diner.

Of course Doc insists that he first serve as wheelman for the “last big heist” that is being staged by Bats (Foxx), Buddy (Hamm), and Darling (Eiza Gonzalez). When the robbery goes wrong, Baby’s survival instincts kick-in in a primal urge for self-preservation.

Excellent (****). Rated R for violence and pervasive profanity. Running time: 113 minutes. Production Studio: Working Title Films. Distributor: TriStar Pictures.

Jessica (Scarlett Johansson) and Peter (Paul W. Downs) are about to get married. However, before the ceremony, they’ve agreed to simultaneously throw themselves bachelor’s and bachelorette’s parties. Jessica flies down to Miami for a wild party with four of her closest college classmates, while Peter plans a modest evening of wine tasting with a few of his buddies.

It turns out that Jessica is in the middle of a campaign for the state senate, so she doesn’t want their party to get out of control and generate negative publicity that would hurt her candidacy. However, she’s unaware that decorum is the last thing on the mind of Alice (Jillian Bell), the girlfriend whom Jessica asked to plan their get together.

Alice sees the reunion as an opportunity for the foursome to indulge one last time in the sort of parties they had on campus ten years ago, when they would get drunk while playing beer pong on a weekend night. So, she’s planned a wild weekend that includes everything from cocaine to a male stripper.

The other three members of the party are Pippa (Kate McKinnon), a clown who is up for anything, as is Blair (Zoe Kravitz), who is recovering from an ugly custody battle. However, Frankie (Ilana Glazer), who is a lesbian, has a history of run-ins with the law and is afraid about violating the “Three Strikes” law that would automatically give her a life sentence in jail.

The party starts in the airport terminal when Alice uncorks a bottle of champagne that unwittingly triggers a stampede by passengers who mistake the pop of the cork for a gunshot. Next, when they arrive at their beachfront rental house, they are invited by the next-door couple Lea (Demi Moore) and Pietro (Ty Burrell) to participate in an orgy.

Things quickly go from bad to worse when the exotic dancer, whom Alice hired, arrives. During his striptease act, he accidentally hits his head and kills himself. Jessica and her friends decide to dump the body in the ocean rather than call the cops and what ensues is a hilariously escalating comedy of errors.

Rough Night is reminiscent of The Hangover (2009), although it also has moments that recall scenes from Bridesmaids (2011) and Weekend at Bernie’s (1989). The movie is the directorial debut of Lucia Aniello, the first woman to direct an R-rated comedy since Tamra Davis made Half Baked in 1998.

Excellent (****). Rated R for crude sexuality, drug use, coarse humor, brief bloody images, and profanity. Running time: 101 minutes. Distributor: Columbia Pictures.

A bar mitzvah is nearing its climax in an Orthodox synagogue in Jerusalem when the balcony reserved for women suddenly collapses. When the dust settles, the members discover that the collapse has left the wife of their rabbi in a coma, and also that her husband, Rabbi Menashe (Abraham Celektar) is in denial about the condition of his wife and is no condition to lead his synagogue’s members.

It becomes clear that neither Rabbi Menashe nor the Mussayof Synagogue will be back to normal anytime soon. With the building closed because it is unsafe, the congregation finds a temporary home in a nearby school. However, its location makes it difficult to assemble a minyan, the quorum of 10, that is required for religious services.

A savior arrives when they ask David (Avraham Aviv Alush), a young rabbi who happened to be passing by, to join them to make their minyan complete. Not only is he willing to join their services, but in the next few weeks he takes over the position of the congregation’s rabbi and their plans to repair their damaged synagogue. However, it turns out that he advocates an ultra-orthodox form of Judaism, and he attempts to convince the congregation that they should embrace his more restrictive interpretation of the laws of the Bible.

For example, he tries to persuade the women to dress more modestly by always covering their heads with a scarf. Next, he announces that instead of using the money that the congregant’s women have collected to repair the balcony, he is going to use the money to commission the writing of a new Torah scroll for the new congregation.

None of this news sits well with the women of the original Mussayof congregation who decide to fight against their new rabbi. As in Aristophanes’ classic play, Lysistrata, and Spike Lee’s latest “joint,” Chi-Raq, they agree to withhold sex until their husbands come to their senses.

All of the above plays out in hilarious fashion in The Women’s Balcony, a delightful tale of female empowerment directed by Emil Ben-Shiron. The movie was a hit in Israel where it won five of that country’s equivalent of the Academy Award nominations. Kudos, too, to Menemsha Films’ Neil Friedman, who has produced several charming sleepers that include Dough, The Rape of Europa, Beauty in Trouble, and The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg.

Excellent (****). Unrated. In Hebrew with subtitles. Running time: 96 minutes. Production Studio: Pie Films. Distributor: Menemsha Films.

Five years ago, Mike Dowling published Sergeant Rex, a memoir about the bond he’d forged with a bomb-sniffing dog while serving in over 35 missions in Iraq. Now, Marine Corporal Megan Leavey, is the subject of a documentary drama — based on a true story — that portrays her relationship with the same German shepherd dog.

Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the film stars Kate Mara as the title character, with Edie Falco and Will Patton in support roles.

At the point of departure, we find Megan enlisting in the Marines. After completing basic training on Parris Island, she finds her true calling in the Corps when she is assigned to the K-9 unit. Rex, who has become uncontrollable, is on the verge of being declared unfit for active duty by the base’s veterinarian, Dr. Turbeville (Geraldine James). Fortunately a dog lover begs that someone be given an opportunity to soothe and tame Rex.

Drill Sergeant Martin (Common) intervenes on Megan and Rex’s behalf and gives her the chance to work with the dog. With the patience of Job, Megan shows that she has the touch necessary to tame Rex. The two become inseparable and they’re shipped overseas to search for IEDs buried in the dangerous desert sands of Iraq’s Anbar province.

The deployment is uneventful, until Megan and Rex are injured in an explosion and shipped back to the States for rehabilitation at facilities far apart from each other. However, Megan’s attachment to Rex drives her to find a way to obtain possession of Rex. The remainder of the movie depicts her cutting through bureaucratic red tape until she finally succeeds in achieving ownership of Rex.

Very Good (***). Rated PG-13 for violence, profanity, mature themes, and suggestive material. Running time: 116 minutes. Production Studio: LD Entertainment. Distributor: Bleeker Street Media.

It’s Maddy Whittier’s (Amandla Stenburg) 18th birthday, but she won’t be celebrating the occasion at a party or restaurant. In fact, she won’t be leaving the house or even have friends over anytime soon.

That’s because she has SCID, a rare genetic disorder that makes her allergic to everything.

Consequently, she’s been living inside a hermetically-sealed house after she was diagnosed with the illness at the age of 3, shortly after her father and brother’s untimely deaths in a terrible car crash.

Fortunately, Maddy’s mother, Pauline (Anika Noni Rose), is a physician who can afford to raise her in a sterile environment, free of the agents that could compromise her immune system. Maddy grew up curious about the outside world, but she learned to explore it by using the internet, together with the help of online courses and a support group for children with her disorder.

Then, Maddy receives the best birthday gift she could ever imagine when new neighbors move in right next-door. The family’s son, Olly (Nick Robinson), is a boy about Maddy’s age, and after seeing her from his window, he falls head-over-heels in love with her.

Olly uses sign language to ask Maddy for her phone number, and then types “U R beautiful” in his first text to her. After he learns about her rare disorder, he asks if there’s any way he could be decontaminated to come over for a visit.

However, that’s against Maddy’s doctor’s orders, so the couple is forced to communicate with each other from afar. Needless to say, Maddy quickly becomes discontented with her sheltered existence in her antiseptic gilded cage.

Will she recklessly abandon her protective bubble to rush into the arms of a neighbor she barely knows? That is the burning question at the heart of Everything, Everything, a bittersweet movie based on the young adult novel by Nicola Yoon. The picture was directed by Stella Meghie who successfully adapted the book into a movie that is certain to satisfy fans of the book.

Excellent (****). Rated PG-13 for mature themes and brief sensuality. Running time: 96 minutes. Distributor: Warner Brothers Pictures.

Emily Middleton (Amy Schumer) is having one of those days. First, she’s fired from her sales job in a boutique because she was ignoring customers and instead trying on outfits for herself. Also, her boyfriend (Randall Park) callously dumps her on the eve of their planned romantic getaway to Ecuador.

Emily cries on the shoulder of her mother Linda (Goldie Hawn), but she rubs salt in Emily’s wounds by saying, “Michael was the best you’ll ever do.” Still, against her better judgment, Emily invites Linda to come on the trip with her because the pre-paid vacation package is non-refundable.

However, Linda is also a worrier who rarely leaves her house, let alone the country. And she’ll be worrying about Emily the whole time, and probably prevent her from meeting a new guy. In the end, Linda grudgingly agrees to go, and packs for what looks like an uneventful stay at an exclusive resort in Ecuador.

Snatched is a screwball comedy far more entertaining than it might appear. Although the script does unfold like a generic “Vacation From Hell” story, it’s actually far above average, thanks to a stellar cast that is led by four consummate comediennes.

The picture co-stars Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn as the mother and daughter at the center of the story. It also features two veteran scene stealers, Wanda Sykes and Joan Cusack, who make the most of their supporting roles.

The plot thickens when Linda and Emily land in Ecuador. First, Emily’s swept off her feet by a tall, dark, handsome stranger (Tom Bateman) whom she meets in a bar. The next morning, he talks them into a seemingly innocuous drive in the countryside.

Unfortunately, the Middletons are kidnapped by a ruthless gang led by Morgado (Oscar Jaenada) who is demanding a $100,000 ransom for the pair. But the U.S. State Department refuses to help, and Emily’s brother Jeffrey (Ike Barinholtz) is also unable to rescue them.

Left to their own devices, the squabbling mother and daughter put aside their differences and rely on their wits to survive. Schumer, Hawn, Sykes, and Cusack, are all at the top of their game.

Excellent (****). Rated R for sexuality, brief nudity, pervasive profanity, and crude humor. Running time: 91 minutes. Production Studio: Chernin Entertainment. Distributor: 20th Century Fox.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) had less than a dozen of her 1,800 poems published while she was still alive. Since her work was appreciated posthumously, it makes sense that a movie about her life would be about something other than her literary work, which was unrecognized by her contemporaries.

Writer/director Terrence Davies (The Deep Blue Sea) resisted the temptation to examine Dickinson’s poems, but instead examined her tortured soul. As a result, A Quiet Passion is an exquisite costume drama that presents the protagonist as an iconoclastic visionary and a retiring recluse.

The socially-conscious production suggests that the agnostic, feminist abolitionist was ahead of her time, and that she withdrew from the world in response to being raised in an era when evangelism, slavery, and male chauvinism were the order of the day. The movie focuses on her fragile psyche that was further crippled by her cloistered existence.

As the film unfolds, we find Emily (played in her teens by Emma Bell and later as an adult by Cynthia Nixon) finishing a frustrating freshman year at Mount Holyoke. She decides to drop out in order to avoid having to conform to the pious practices that were dictated by the Christian revival movement. That pressure was being exerted on her by the school’s president, Mary Lyon (Sara Vertongen). Dickinson refused to conform because she saw her relationship with God as a private and personal matter, not one that demanded public displays of devotion in a church service.

So she returns to Amherst, Massachusetts, and lives on the Dickinson family estate with her parents (Keith Carradine and Joanna Bacon), brother (Duncan Duff), and sister (Jennifer Ehle). Unfortunately, Emily is unable to bite her tongue when visitors like the local pastor (Miles Richardson) or even a potential suitor (Stefan Menaul) make social calls.

Even though she has trusted confidantes in her sister-in-law Susan (Jodhi May) and Mabel Loomis Todd (Noemie Schellens), Dickinson’s first preference is to remain in her upstairs bedroom where she can write her poems in secret. Cynthia Nixon convincingly conveys the emotional fires that simmer just beneath the surface of Emily Dickinson’s stoic countenance.

Excellent (****). Rated PG-13 for mature themes, disturbing images, and suggestive material. Production Studio: Hurricane Films. Running time: 126 minutes. Distributor: Music Box Films.

In Eastern Turkey in 1914, druggist Mikael Boghosian (Oscar Isaac) is working and living in his half-Armenian/half-Turkish village where Christians and Muslims are living together in peace. However, the ambitious apothecary would rather be a doctor, so he courts and marries a neighbor (Angela Sarafyan), whose family is relatively wealthy, in order to get the dowry.

With the money, he is able to afford medical school. However, while studying in Constantinople, he falls in love with Ana (Charlotte Le Bon), a fellow Armenian who has recently returned from France. Mikael is taken with her beauty and urbane sophistication that she acquired while rowing up in Paris. Unfortunately, Ana has returned accompanied by her lover, Chris Meyers (Christian Bale), an American photojournalist who was assigned by the Associated Press to find evidence of ethnic cleansing.

When World War I erupts, Mikael is forced to flee the Turkish army’s roundup of Armenian civilians and he returns to his hometown to help rescue his relatives and friends. Ana is in a similar struggle to survive and her lover Chris Meyers does his best to take photos that document the slaughter of Armenians that is rumored to be occurring.

The Promise is a riveting documentary drama directed and co-written by Oscar winner Terry George (The Short). The movie bears a strong resemblance to Hotel Rwanda, which George also directed and co-wrote.

Both of his films depict extraordinary heroism in the face of a complete collapse of civilization. If this picture has a flaw, it’s that it appears to trivialize the ethnic cleansing of one and a half million Armenians by making that genocide a backdrop to the love story that is at the center of the movie.

Excellent (***½). Rated PG-13 for mature themes, sexuality, violence, disturbing images, and war atrocities. Running time: 134 minutes. Production Studio: Survival Pictures. Distributor: Open Road Films.

Created by the Belgian cartoonist Peyo, the Smurfs started out as a comic strip in 1958. Over the years, the popular series about a clan of small blue humanoids moved to television and the movies, and in 2011 and 2013 two live-action films were released.

Smurfs: The Lost Village is an animated tale of female empowerment co-written by Stacey Harman and Pamela Ribon. Pamela Ribon’s previous screenplay was for the movie Moana. In this film, the heroine also has many of the same characteristics as the heroine of Moana.

The Lost Village is about Smurfette (Demi Lovato), until now, the only female Smurf. In fact, she’s not actually a Smurf, but a facsimile fabricated from a lump of clay by the evil wizard Gargamel (Rainn Wilson).

As the film opens, we find Smurfette frolicking with her best friends Brainy (Danny Pudi), Hefty (Joe Manganiello), and Clumsy (Jack McBrayer). The narrator and patriarch Papa Smurf (Mandy Patinkin) points out that all the other smurfs’ names describe their dominant traits, such as Grouchy (Jake Johnson), Jokey (Gabriel Iglesias), and Nosey (Kelly Asbury), while Smurfette’s name does not give any hints about her character.

The plot thickens when Smurfette, with the help of an inverted leaf, hang-glides over the wall that separates the Smurf compound from the Forbidden Forest. Her three worried friends follow her, and the quartet finds a mysterious map with directions leading to the Lost Village. The village turns out to be an all-girl enclave of Amazonian Smurfs who are led by Smurfwillow (Julia Roberts).

The four Smurfs find themselves in a race with Gargamel to reach the Lost Village. He’s hatched a diabolical plot to kidnap all the Smurfs and then become the most powerful wizard in the world by ingesting their essence after boiling them in his lab.

Fortunately, there’s a two-fisted shero (she-hero) who proves that a girl can grow up to be anything she wants to be.

Excellent (****). Rated PG for mild action and rude humor. Running time: 90 minutes. Distributor: Sony Pictures.