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PG-13, 1:40, horror
While the first “Happy Death Day” was a delightful surprise — full of heart and ingenuity, if lacking in gore — its sequel feels like nearly as much of a revelation. By nature, the sequel should find it easy to re-create what we liked about the original because of the time loop that Tree (Jessica Rothe) was caught in in the first movie. Instead of Tree’s now-familiar routine, this movie begins with the roommate of Tree’s boyfriend, Carter — Ryan — now stuck in a loop of his own and repeatedly dying like Tree was in the first film. “Happy Death Day 2U” can’t quite replicate the feelings of joy of the original, but Landon deserves credit for varying the tune.
PG, 1:46
Emmet, the chipper construction worker, is again voiced by Chris Pratt. Emmet’s sense of self-worth is tested, severely, in “Lego Movie 2.” The innocent-looking Lego Duplo characters introduced at the end of the first movie turn into invading space aliens in the sequel. Under siege, the town has morphed into “Apocalypseburg,” two roads down and to the right of “Mad Max: Thunder Road.” In this exceptionally well-cast ensemble, Pratt also voices a second character, Rex Dangervest, conceived as a mixture of every action hit Pratt himself has starred in lately.
R, 1:57, comedy
Taraji P. Henson kills with ferocious, every-which-way comic relish in this freely adapted, amiably raucous remake of the 2000 romantic comedy in which Mel Gibson gained a temporary ability to read women’s minds. As the sassy gay sidekick of Henson’s she-wolf Atlanta sports agent Ali Davis, Josh Brener gets laughs.The film leans into its sincere side effectively. It offers lessons in three father figures played by Tracy Morgan, Aldis Hodge and Richard Roundtree. Add a little raunch; a supporting ensemble deft enough to steer around the potholes; finish with a rousing comeuppance; and there it is: a likely hit.
R, 1:58, thriller
A beat-by-beat remake of the 2014 Norwegian thriller “In Order of Disappearance,” director Hans Petter Moland’s “Cold Pursuit” puts Liam Neeson behind the wheel of a snowplow with vengeance on his mind. In the fictional ski town of Kehoe, Colo., taciturn Nels Coxman (Neeson) keeps the roads clear. Nels’ grown son turns up dead, the apparent victim of a heroin overdose. The rest of the movie follows Nels as he dispatches round after round of low-level drug dealers, en route to nailing Mr. Big, the tightly wound sociopath known as Viking. The movie delivers, in its chosen way. But it’s a soulless way.
PG-13, 2:02, fantasy
Director Robert Rodriguez makes his return in a big way with the over-the-top manga adaptation “Alita: Battle Angel.” Actress Rosa Salazar’s eyes have been digitally enlarged to mimic the look of the 1990 cyberpunk manga “Battle Angel Alita.” But the character’s entire face exists in a digital uncanny valley. It signifies she’s not like the rest of the citizens in the post-apocalyptic Iron City — she’s a cyborg, scooped up from the trash heap by Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz), who implants her core into a robotic body. Character motivations are sloppy, storylines dropped, details muddy.
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