‘DESPICABLE ME 4’: “Despicable Me 4” is an interminable 95 minutes of circular, intertwining, seemingly never-ending storylines rendered with such audio-visual cacophony that it dissolves into an indiscernible din. This fourth (or is it sixth?) installment of the inexplicably popular animated franchise featuring those dreaded Minions has all the charm of an ocular migraine, but small children did rush to dance in front of the screen during the end credits, so what do I know? Directed by longtime Minion wrangler Chris Renaud, with Patrick Delage, “Despicable Me 4” naturally centers on Gru (Steve Carell), the proud supervillain with an army of banana-obsessed Minions (voiced by French madman Pierre Coffin). He has now settled down with a cute wife, Lucy (Kristen Wiig), four kids and a pet goat, and even works for the Anti-Villain League. This line of work intrudes on his domestic bliss when he nabs an old classmate on behalf of the AVL at the Lycee Pas Bon (School of Villainy) reunion, and earns himself an enemy in the process, an old high school rival Maxime (Will Ferrell). There is something weirdly — and undeniably — charming about the character of Gru, which is why they must keep making these. Those Minions certainly do have moxie, and the silly, quasi-naughty humor and style apparently acts as a chemical stimulant for children. But this installment is so noisy and aimless, it feels like they didn’t just hit the end of the road, they kept going past the limit. 1:35. 1 star. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

‘HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA — CHAPTER 1’: “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” marks Kevin Costner’s return to the Western genre that brought him into stardom nearly 40 years ago. Things could perk up and get rolling come August, when “Chapter 2” of this reverently labeled “American Saga” continues in theaters, to be followed by “Chapter 3” (currently filming) and then, finances and distribution/streaming arrangements with Warner Bros. and Max willing, the big finale. But “Chapter 1” feels like throat- clearing — a serviceable horse opera overture to a curiously dispassionate passion project. The first “Horizon” film divides itself into what feels like three one-hour TV episodes. Co-writers Jon Baird and Costner lay many miles of narrative track designed to transport several groups of characters in different parts of the West to the same destination, a tiny riverbank town in the making called Horizon in the San Pedro Valley, aka John Ford country. This is where the film starts, in 1859. It’s Apache land, and the white colonizers (fine, “settlers”) have put literal stakes in it to claim it for themselves. I can’t help but wonder if Costner didn’t take his cues from the wrong kind of Westerns. Watch Anthony Mann’s “The Naked Spur” (1953) sometime, which gave James Stewart one of his most bracing challenges; the movie is scenic but purposeful, lean, compact, character-driven, full of shifting allegiances and centered, however uneasily, by a fascinatingly self-doubting protagonist. Costner has it in him to work that same territory. “Horizon,” so far, anyway, is more about a certain set of movie memories than a movie of its own. 3:01. 2 stars. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

‘INSIDE OUT 2’: Pixar’s “Inside Out” (2015) leaned into old, turbulent emotions in a new way, all the way. The story dealt with 11-year-old Riley, a Minnesota girl into hockey, who relocated, uneasily, with her parents to San Francisco. A big move means big challenges for any kid — and any parent. Director Pete Docter and the “Inside Out” screenplay acknowledged Riley’s depression while underscoring her ability to manage it and flourish. The emotions depicted in the control room of her mind — Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger, Disgust — navigated their increasingly tricky human charge, as well as their own clashing personalities. “Inside Out 2” is the engaging sequel that pits 13-year-old Riley against new challenges and a tangle of new insecurities. But there are new kids in town, in her mind. Emotion management center honcho Joy (Amy Poehler) must accommodate these new emotions led by Anxiety (Maya Hawke), along with Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) and Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos). Nostalgia pops in for a couple of appearances; June Squibb voices her, unerringly. Crucially, Phyllis Smith returns as the measured, morose voice of Sadness, alongside some new voices for familiar characters (Tony Hale in for Bill Hader as Fear; Liza Lapira in for Mindy Kaling as Disgust; Kensington Tallman replacing Kaitlyn Dias as Riley). It’s gratifying to see an ordinary and, yes, anxious 13-year-old’s life, like millions and millions of lives right now, treated as plenty for a good, solid sequel, and without the dubious dramatics of the first movie’s climax. What’s happening on the inside can be enough. 1:36. 3 stars. — Michael Phillips

‘KINDS OF KINDNESS’: Reconnecting with his roots as part of the so-called Greek Weird Wave, director Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest is the three-part anthology film “Kinds of Kindness.” It’s a luxe treatment of some puny satiric ideas, toned up by a cast led by Emma Stone and Lanthimos first-timer Jesse Plemons, who won the best actor prize this year at Cannes Film Festival. As with Lanthimos’ previous works, we learn the rules of societal engagement as we go. The actors, also including Willem Dafoe, play new characters in fables one, two and three. I laughed out loud exactly once, which, let’s face it, is one more laugh than some comedies I’ve seen lately. In the second segment, Plemons’ policeman character has his colleague (Mamoudou Athie) and the colleague’s wife (Margaret Qualley) over for a melancholy dinner, with the cop’s wife still missing presumed dead. The cop wants to spend a minute watching some old home-movie footage of he and his wife, in happier days. Reluctantly his guests consent, and what comes next is a perfectly timed sight gag straight out of the director’s debut feature: sharp, quick and brazen. Precious little of “Kinds of Kindness” manages any one or two of those qualities. Better luck next time. 2:44. 1 1/2 stars. — Michael Phillips

‘MAXXXINE’: Say hello to Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), the (anti)heroine of Ti West’s “MaXXXine,” the third installment in his hastily dispatched “X” trilogy. Last we saw Maxine, she was beating a quick retreat away from a Texas porn star massacre, leaving a trail of bloody carnage in her wake. It’s now six years later, in 1985 Los Angeles, and Maxine, an industrious porn starlet and peep show performer, is determined to transcend her trashy, traumatic origins to become a capital-S Star of the silver screen, no matter what it takes. Ultimately, “MaXXXine” is a lot like the set through which she is chased on the Warner Bros. backlot. A beautiful facade that’s empty behind the walls, all surface, meaningless symbols, and not an ounce of substance to be found. 1:44. 2 stars. — Katie Walsh

‘A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE’: “A Quiet Place: Day One” works roughly as well as the first two films in this alien-invasion franchise, loved by many, liked by some, sort-of-liked by me. If it has the edge over the 2018 and 2020 movies, the reason is simple though her talent certainly isn’t: Lupita Nyong’o. Each minute she’s on screen as Samira, which is most of the hour and a half, Nyong’o is alert and invested in every fiber of her character’s constant predicaments. The movie follows a clear directive reasonably well. It is nothing but peril and exhaustion and superhuman resourcefulness in the face of two species not destined to get along. And Nyong’o plays the material for the highest possible stakes, mostly nonverbally — though the one moment Samira lets loose with a soul-clearing scream, a good-enough-for-this-summer prequel suddenly feels like it really, truly matters. 1:39. 2 1/2 stars. — Michael Phillips

RATINGS: The movies listed are rated according to the following key: 4 stars, excellent; 3 stars, good; 2 stars, fair; 1 star, poor.