Freeze Frame

“The House with a Clock in its Walls” is an atmospheric PG-rated horror movie for kids based on John Bellairs’ novel. Jack Black and Cate Blanchett star in this story about witchcraft, a young kid and a particularly spooky house. …

The themes in the animated goof “Smallfoot” may be a bit heavy-handed, but it’s still a modestly amusing musical lark. Channing Tatum provides the voice of Migo, a giant yeti living in an isolated village atop a hidden mountain in Nepal. He’s banished when he claims to have seen a smallfoot…that is, a human… which is believed to be mythical. The voice cast includes Common, Zendaya, LaBron James and James Cordon. The mixture of slapstick humor and social commentary doesn’t always work, but “Smallfoot” has its small charms.   If you think actress Emma Thompson can do no wrong, you’ll find more ammo for your argument in “The Children Act.” This sturdy British drama is about a judge, played by Thompson, whose marriage to professor Stanley Tucci is on the rocks. At the same time, she’s presiding over a touchy trial that pits the healthcare of a minor against the concept of religious freedom. The story has an air of artificiality, particularly in the pivotal relationship between the judge and a 17-year-old boy involved in the case. But Thompson ably carries the film on her very British shoulders.   The potentially incendiary comic combo of Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish…

“The House with a Clock in its Walls” is an atmospheric PG-rated horror movie for kids based on John Bellairs’ novel. Jack Black and Cate Blanchett star in this story about witchcraft, a young kid and a particularly spooky house. Fans of “Harry Potter,” “Goosebumps” and “Lemony Snicket” will find much that’s familiar here, but this adaptation isn’t quite as successful as any of them. Plus, “The House with a Clock in its Walls” is likely too scary for very young kids. Blanchett and Black are fun together, though.   Are you in the mood to be hammered with bubblegum philosophizing in an emotionally manipulative multigenerational drama? When then, “Life Itself” is the four-hankie weeper for you. Written and directed by Dan Fogelman, the creator of TV’s tearjerker, “This is Us,” “Life Itself” has an outstanding cast that includes Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde and Anette Bening in a tale about love, loss and the human condition. These fine actors lend some gravitas to the proceedings, but the story is so packed with tragedy that it seems downright sadistic. Also, one of the characters drones on about her thesis on “The Unreliable Narrator.” It’s as if Fogelman were going for self-parody,…

“The Predator” is the fifth entry in the popular alien huntsman series. Writer/director Shane Black offers lots of chaotic violence as well as a good deal of jokey humor. Jacob Tremblay, who may be the best child actor working today, …

“The Predator” is the fifth entry in the popular alien huntsman series. Writer/director Shane Black offers lots of chaotic violence as well as a good deal of jokey humor. Jacob Tremblay, who may be the best child actor working today, plays a kid genius who becomes an alien target. Fans of the series, yes. Others, no.   A highly controlled and nuanced performance by Glenn Close is the main attraction of “The Wife.” Jonathan Pryce plays an author who is invited to Sweden to accept the Nobel Prize. On the trip, his relationship with his wife hits the skids when a biographer threatens to expose the truth about their relationship. A great cast makes the most from an iffy premise.   Also opening this week, “A Simple Favor” is a modern film noir entry about a mommy blogger, played by Anna Kendrick, who tries to discern why her friend, played by Blake Lively, has disappeared.   “White Boy Rick” tells the strange but true story of a teenager, played by Richie Merritt, who gets mixed up with crack in the 1980s, first as an informant and then as a dealer. Matthew McConaughey plays Rick’s dad.   “Pick of the Litter”…

Do you miss the good old “Death Wish” days when Charles Bronson took the law into his own hands and meted out vigilante justice against all manner of bad guys? Well, Jennifer Garner essentially has stepped into Bronson’s shoes in …

Do you miss the good old “Death Wish” days when Charles Bronson took the law into his own hands and meted out vigilante justice against all manner of bad guys? Well, Jennifer Garner essentially has stepped into Bronson’s shoes in the new thriller, “Peppermint.” Garner plays a woman whose husband and daughter are killed by an LA drug gang. When the justice system lets them all off the hook, Jen goes into full-fledged super ninja mode and wreaks horrible vengeance on everyone who wronged her. “Peppermint” is a violent wish-fulfillment fantasy that stretches credibility to the limit. If you can get past the movie’s regressive social elements and borderline racism, then this might be your cup of peppermint tea. I was really rooting for the new family drama, “God Bless the Broken Road.” This faith-based feature from the folks who gave us “God is Not Dead,” tells the story of a young woman, played by Lindsay Pulsipher, whose life is upended and faith sorely tested when her soldier husband is killed in Afghanistan. Although its heart is in the right place, the plot is riddled with clichés and the dialogue is hokey. Plus, Jordin Sparks, Robin Givens and LaDanian Tomlinson…

Audiences always say they want something different from Hollywood. “Searching,” a tense thriller with a unique gimmick, fills the bill. All of the action takes place on a computer screen. John Cho and Debra Messing star in the story of …

Audiences always say they want something different from Hollywood. “Searching,” a tense thriller with a unique gimmick, fills the bill. All of the action takes place on a computer screen. John Cho and Debra Messing star in the story of a father who uses the internet to frantically search for his missing daughter. The story is involving, so the gimmick works. “Kin” is an action drama mashup of sci-fi, family disfunction and road movie themes. Newcomer Miles Truitt is an appealing teen hero who is pursued by numerous folks after finding an alien ray gun. “Kin” almost works, but the filmmakers throw so many ideas against the wall that too few of them stick. “The Bookshop,” based on Penelope Fitzgerald’s novel, tells the low-key story of a widow, played by Emily Mortimer, who opens a bookshop in a small English village in the 1950s. She’s opposed by the local village matriarch, played by Patricia Clarkson who wants the site for an arts center. Although it generates some gentle charm, the film’s deliberate pace works against it. Domhnall Gleeson and Ruth Wilson star in “The Little Stranger,” a meandering and slow-moving ghost story filled with characters that are very hard to…

Some foul-mouthed puppets behaving in degenerate ways provide the gimmick in the one-joke movie, “The Happytime Murders.” Jim Henson’s son, Brian Henson, takes his puppetry skills into the R-rated realm with this raunchy and vulgar comedy. Melissa McCarthy plays a …