‘A COMPLETE UNKNOWN’: A Hollywood love letter to Bob Dylan (played by Timothée Chalamet), with all that implies, “A Complete Unknown” works well on its chosen, extremely glossy terms. Its craftsmanship is formidable. Then again, you don’t necessarily need quality to sell one of these things, as “Bohemian Rhapsody” reminded us. If the average fan goes to a movie about a musical genius they’ve loved a long time; if the visual and aural approximations of the subject sound more or less right; if the movie doesn’t complicate or challenge the average fan’s ideas or feelings about the subject — then the movie has a good shot at sending people out with a “yep, good movie, I enjoyed it.” I don’t like that last part, about a film’s avoidance (contractual or otherwise) of complicating or challenging the mythology built around its famous subject. I wish “A Complete Unknown” had as much nerve as it did craftsmanship. Still: Yep, good movie. I enjoyed it. Director and co- writer James Mangold based “A Complete Unknown” largely on Elijah Wald’s nonfiction account “Dylan Goes Electric.” With co-screenwriter Jay Cocks, he focuses on the years 1961 to 1965 in the emergent celebrity and acoustic- to-electric transition of the Boy from the North Country. The actors, by and large, are first-rate. And the songs don’t hurt. 2:20. 3 stars. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

‘HARD TRUTHS’: “Hard Truths” is the story of a woman, Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), who finds the world very hard to navigate. She is, in a word, angry, at everything and everyone. This is a woman who wakes up in a fright, glowers at pigeons, scrubs her home in a panicked fury, upbraids her adult son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett), and dismisses her plumber husband Curtley (David Webber). That’s even before she ventures out into the world to terrorize doctors, dentists, the patrons of furniture stores and denizens of various car parks. It takes a moment to realize that you can laugh in “Hard Truths,” but indeed, Pansy — and Jean-Baptiste’s performance of her — is quite funny, especially in the dichotomy of her reality and her worldview. This singular character and bone-deep embodiment of her in a bravura performance; this observation of her life that creeps up on you with its sheer, naked humanism are filmmaker Mike Leigh signatures, his films some of the purest dramatic expressions of the human experience, in every way. The truth is that his magic isn’t a mystery, it just requires time, collaboration and care for storytelling and character, elements that seem to be in shorter and shorter supply in moviemaking. “Hard Truths” is a rare gift — don’t miss it. 1:37. 4 stars. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

‘MUFASA: THE LION KING’: Barry Jenkins is too good of a director to disappear altogether inside the creative limitations of “Mufasa: The Lion King.” This hectic Disney musical prequel origin story will do the job for families. Here’s my main beef: Is the chosen visual style of whatever you want to call this film (live action? digital animation? photorealist fakery? showtunes sung through gritted teeth in the barely open mouths of distractingly believable lions?) truly the best way to go? The movie features a seven-song set list from composer and lyricist Lin- Manuel Miranda. The songwriter has (in so many words) characterized his work here as periodic relief from a storyline he aptly calls “harrowing.” “Mufasa: The Lion King” is 90% mayhem, peril and distress, and 10% reflection, which means it’s a two- hour exercise in cliffhangers, death threats and (skipping over some plot here) Mufasa’s search for his missing- presumed-dead parents. It’s a double-header origin story, as we learn how Mufasa became king and how Scar became Scar. It’s solid craft, but it’s craft wedded to a style of filmmaking that feels wholly impersonal, even with a top-flight director at the helm. The voice work is fine, for the record, though credit for the movie’s one truly endearing character, vocally anyway, goes to John Kani as Rafiki. “Mufasa: The Lion King” is his origin story too. Here’s hoping Disney makes room in its near future for stories that look forward, not back. 2:00. 2 stars. — Michael Phillips

‘NOSFERATU’: “Nosferatu” is a story about real estate and sexual obsession. A young newlywed, Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is dispatched from his small German city to the Carpathian Mountains in order to execute the paperwork on the purchase of a rundown manor for a mysterious Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård), a tall, pale wraith with a rumbling voice that sounds like a beehive. Thomas has a generally bad time with the terrifying Count Orlok, while his young bride at home, the seemingly clairvoyant Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) is taken with terrifying nightmares and bouts of sleepwalking, consumed by psychic messages from the Count, who has become obsessed with her. He makes his way to his new home in a rat-infested ship, unleashing a plague; Ellen weighs whether she should sacrifice herself to the Count in order to save the town, which consists of essentially three men: her husband, a doctor (Ralph Ineson) and an occultist scientist (Willem Dafoe). Despite the sex, nudity and declarations of desire, there’s no eroticism or sensuality; despite the blood and guts, there’s nothing scary about it either. This film is a whole lot of style in search of a better story, and without any metaphor or subtext, it’s a bore. Despite his passion for the project, or perhaps because of it, Robert Eggers’ overwrought “Nosferatu” is dead on arrival, drained of all life and choked to death on its own worship. 2:15. 2 stars. — Katie Walsh

‘ONE OF THEM DAYS’: “One of Them Days” is a pretty good time, made better when one of its major points of distinction takes the wheel. The driver? Keke Palmer, at 31 a seasoned pro. She’s one of many alums of Issa Rae projects collaborating on this feature, including director Lawrence Lamont, first-time screenwriter Syreeta Singleton and R&B star and four-time Grammy winner SZA, taking her first co-lead. Palmer and SZA are an easy on-screen pair in all the best ways: easy interplay, near-zero visible effort even when the movie itself strains for laughs, easy enjoyment for the audience. Palmer delivers an on-the-fly masterclass in overlapping comic skills, sometimes heightened, sometimes subtle and heartfelt. Her keen instinct for pacing, and for propelling an exchange or a scene from point A to B, or C, keeps things energized. She and SZA won’t change anyone’s lives with this one, but I came out smiling. 1:37. 3 stars. — Michael Phillips

‘WOLF MAN’: Fans of “SCTV” may remember a “Monster Chiller Horror Theatre” episode in which Joe Flaherty’s late-night host, Count Floyd, mistakenly programs a made-up Ingmar Bergman film, “Whispers of the Wolf,” thinking it’s a simple werewolf picture instead of a moody, existential mashup of Bergman’s “Hour of the Wolf” and “Persona.” The new “Wolf Man” from Universal Pictures and co-writer and director Leigh Whannell may likewise provoke some puzzled Count Floyd-esque looks of confusion among horror fans. Not that it’s a failure or a joke. Whannell makes genre films for a wide audience, adults included. He doesn’t play these Universal franchise reboots for kicks. In “Wolf Man,” he really doesn’t. The results are equal parts marital crisis, sins-of-the-father psychodrama and visceral body horror. They’re also a bit of a plod — especially in the second half, when whatever kind of horror film you’re making should not, you know, plod. “Wolf Man’s” seriousness is heavy going. Its leitmotif sticks, doggedly, to the idea of transmutable, unholy fears and sins of the fathers, transmitted like a virus down the family line. That was neither the first nor the last werewolf movie. This one goes about its business with a solemn air, even when it’s super-blechy and Christopher Abbott’s character is chewing on his own forearm for obvious reasons: an unemployed writer’s gotta eat. 1:43. 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.