‘BRING HER BACK’: In 2023, the Philippou twins, Danny and Michael, burst onto the global horror scene with their audacious, bone-rattling debut, “Talk to Me.” Their second film, “Bring Her Back,” written by Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman, is indeed a companion piece to the rowdy “Talk to Me,” exploring the same themes. But the twins haven’t lost any of their stylistic brio, upping the ante on gruesome imagery in this much bleaker film. There are evocative, disturbing images and performances of bodily destruction that will no doubt haunt the audience, but without a few grounding, explicit details, “Bring Her Back” is a whole lot of shock value in service of familiar ideas that are at times at loose ends. It’s about grief. So what else is new? 1:39. 3 stars. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

‘FROM THE WORLD OF JOHN WICK: BALLERINA’: There’s a moment in “John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum” where our aggrieved assassin goes to visit his adoptive mother figure, The Director (Angelica Huston) at the Tarkovsky Theater, where she commands the training of ballerinas and the assassins of the Ruska Roma tribe, of which John Wick was once a member. He pleads for The Director’s help while in the background, the ballerina dancing on stage collapses, her sagging shoulders inked with an elaborate tattoo. It’s an evocative image, conjuring up the idea of a delicate but powerful female warrior, a dancer who wields weapons with grace. Ballet is a brutal, bloody endeavor, after all. From that scene has now sprung a “John Wick” spinoff, the ungracefully titled “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina.” From the jump, “Ballerina” has a lot going for it, thanks to the groundwork that has been already laid in the franchise. Oscar-nominated star Ana de Armas steps into the toe shoes of the title role, and we already know she can manage a gown and a gun, thanks to her scene-stealing in the 2019 James Bond movie “No Time to Die.” With all these elements in place, “Ballerina” should be able to receive a standing ovation, but alas, this “Wick” extension remains frustratingly muddled and dramatically inert. 2:05. 2 stars. — Katie Walsh

‘KARATE KID: LEGENDS’: The problem with “Karate Kid: Legends” is right there in the title: “legends,” as in multiple. Many beloved “Karate Kid” characters and icons of millennial sports movies enter the ring, but in the ensuing melee, no one emerges victorious. Written by Rob Lieber and directed by Jonathan Entwistle, “Karate Kid: Legends” is another revamp of the franchise, which now boasts four movies from the 1980s and ’90s, an animated series, a 2010 remake starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, and a long-running Netflix spinoff series, “Cobra Kai,” following the original characters as adults. This new film is a “legasequel” if you will, combining characters from the original film and the recent remake, with a new setting: the Big Apple. Alas, it seems originality was not the goal with “Karate Kids: Legends,” even if those hints of newness are the most interesting part of the movie. Legends never die, as they say, for better or for worse, and in the case of this film, it’s for worse. In English and Chinese with English subtitles. 1:34. 2 stars. — Katie Walsh

‘THE LIFE OF CHUCK’: “The Life of Chuck” is a trick. It’s a trick you’ll be delighted by, but a trick nevertheless, conjured by author Stephen King, on the page, and filmmaker Mike Flanagan, on screen. Of course, if you’ve read the source material, a novella published in 2020 as part of the collection “If It Bleeds,” you’ll know what’s afoot because Flanagan doesn’t stray from King’s structural play or themes. But if you go in fresh, with wide eyes and an open heart, it’s like watching a bubble grow bigger and bigger before it pops, suddenly, with a sense of surprise and wonder. “The Life of Chuck” is presented in three acts: “I Contain Multitudes,” “Buskers Forever” and “Thanks Chuck.” Throughout, we get to know Charles Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) who starts out as a man of mystery. During a period of apocalyptic turmoil, Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a teacher, and his ex-wife, Felicia (Karen Gillan), a nurse, are befuddled by the proliferation of numerous billboards, advertisements and TV ads thanking Charles Krantz — Chuck — for 39 great years. In a time of cosmically terrifying strife, these sunny messages are a strange anomaly that distract from and call attention to the crumbling of society around them. “The Life of Chuck” contains multitudes, just like Chuck, and just like every person walking this Earth — little galaxies and universes of people and stories and memories unto themselves. Flanagan’s trick is simply how he imparts this eternal lesson to us: we know life will end, so how you spend the time is all that matters. It’s simple, and it may be delivered in a way that’s a bit too clever by half, but it’s still a gut-punch, and a message worth absorbing now, and always. 1:50. 3 stars. — Katie Walsh

‘LILO & STITCH’: The roughhouse charmer “Lilo & Stitch” from 2002, one of Disney’s more freewheeling animated 21st- century mashups of slapstick and heartstring-plucking, has already spun off TV and sequel iterations and a lot of merchandise. The film presented a rollicking friendship between a six- legged koala-like alien being, new to our planet, and an exuberant Hawaiian Island preteen who has wished, ardently, for a true friend and a fellow chaos agent. Stitch and Lilo are now in a live- action movie. The new “Lilo & Stitch” constitutes adequate, if wearying, fan service at best, and at worst, a new reason to check in with your dentist about a mouth guard for apparent teeth-grinding. While Disney has no financial imperative to modify a business plan centered on what they’ve already made, they do have a creative imperative. They have an obligation to their own future and to the film medium’s. It can’t be lost on the creative artists involved with each new Disney drag-and-drop, including “Lilo & Stitch”: Live-action recycling makes characters you know and love more “real.” And too often, that realism comes with only trace elements of real charm or magic. 1:48. 2 stars. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

‘MISSION IMPOSSIBLE — THE FINAL RECKONING’: The clock has run out on Ethan Hunt. Then again, Tom Cruise seems to do almost everything like he’s running out of time. After three decades and eight films, everything that star- producer Cruise has left on his “Mission: Impossible” bucket list comes down to this. Every jaw-dropping stunt, every unexplored location, every friend and foe, new and old, he has to fit it all into “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.” And like Ethan Hunt, he just might die trying. Cruise has one final message to impart with this series, and he’s hoping it won’t self-destruct in five seconds — it’s too important. Cruise wants to save us from ourselves through the magic of the movies, and he’s putting his body on the line in order to do so. It may be a futile fight, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to do it anyway, with hope and optimism, and an inherent belief in the goodness of his people. 2:49. 3 1/2 stars. — Katie Walsh

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