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PG-13, 2:14, drama/fantasy
It took J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter-adjacent franchise one film for the shrugs to set in, even with all the fine actors amid expensive digital blue flames. When last we saw “magizoologist” Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), in 1926 New York, he and his fellow magic-world denizen, Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston), led the way in capturing the Dark Wizard fascist on the rise, Gellert Grindelwald. In this film, he’s played by Johnny Depp in S&P mode: Serious, and Pausing a lot. The chief riddle in “The Crimes of Grindelwald” concerns the identity of the Hogwarts Hitler’s prized possession, Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller). The film has its moments, usually small ones.
PG, 1:30, comedy
Benedict Cumberbatch steps into the role as the Grinch in “The Grinch,” but fortunately for him, there’s no prosthetic makeup involved — this is all computer animation. The new animated version brings us closer to the 1966 TV movie. The animation is stunning. The story about the Grinch stealing Christmas is padded out with a bit more back story for Miss Cindy Lou Who (Cameron Seely), who has a Christmas wish she needs to speak about with Santa. She’s hoping her frazzled single mom catches a break, as she works all night as a nurse. This is about finding the spirit of Christmas in community and connection. “The Grinch” is beautiful to look at, and diverting enough.
PG-13, 2:14, drama
At the center of the Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” is the kind of performance that’s less acting than it is the channeling of a spirit from another realm. Rami Malek takes to the role of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury with a studious intensity, making manifest the dueling relationship between the twin poles of Mercury’s personality: his confidence and his insecurity. A mesmerizing, beat-for-beat re-creation of Queen’s legendary set at Live Aid in 1985 bookends the film. However, “Bohemian Rhapsody” doesn’t know how to grapple with the parts of Freddie’s life that so greatly informed who he was and the music he made.
PG-13, 1:59, comedy
Director/co-writer Sean Anders takes the “instant” part of his new family dramedy “Instant Family” to heart. The film drops us into the lives of Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne) with little fanfare. They’re missing one thing: kids. As business partners who flip run-down houses, they’ve never met a challenge they couldn’t tackle, so off to foster parenting class they go. They just don’t know how big of a challenge they’re in for. “Instant Family” is incredibly funny. Anders hits that sweet spot of hilarious and heartwarming, where the tears are well-deserved, and earned.
R, 2:09, drama/mystery
Director Steve McQueen delivers commercial pulp fiction of a high order in this tightly packed adaptation of the 1983 British miniseries. “Widows” sounds like a rougher version of “Ocean’s 8.” In the intercut opening sequences, we see Veronica (Viola Davis) in bed with her husband, Harry (Liam Neeson). A kiss smashes into a flash-forward of a robbery gone wrong. Harry and his men lie dead, leaving their widows to deal with the fallout. Working from detailed plans for another job left behind by Harry, Veronica must bury her grief long enough to get her own gang together.
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