“Maze Runner: The Death Cure” 1/2

PG-13, 2:22, action

Thomas and his mates have survived the maze running conducted in the place known as The Glade, which is overseen by WCKD. Patricia Clarkson and Aidan Gillen slink around searching for a cure for the global pandemic. This cure, we learn, has something to do with the blood of uninfected maze survivors. A lot of the picture concerns the rescue of Thomas’ pal Minho (Ki Hong Lee) from WCKD headquarters in the walled-off burg of The Last City. Each supporting character receives her/his proper sendoff, and among the film’s many endings, you can pick the one you like. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” 1/2

PG-13, 1:59, comedy

“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” is a very sweet and generally entertaining body swap lark with some nice messages about being, and believing in, yourself. The conceit here is that when you’re transported into the game, you are suddenly a character in the game, in body, voice and skill set but with your earthbound personality pretty much intact. This is how mismatched teens sharing the same detention transform into avatars played by Dwayne Johnson (Spencer), Kevin Hart (Fridge), Jack Black (Bethany) and Karen Gillan (Martha). — Lindsay Bahr, Associated Press

“Hostiles” 1/2

R, 2:15, action

The time is 1892. Christian Bale plays a U.S. Army captain who has seen much slaughter in the wars against Native American tribes. The film follows a journey north as the bigoted Capt. Joseph Blocker and his men escort a long-imprisoned and now dying Cheyenne war chief, played by Wes Studi, to his ancestral homeland. There, surrounded by his family, Yellow Hawk hopes to die with some measure of peace on his soul. The film starts with an attack on white settlers that leaves a homestead in flames and Rosalee Quaid, played by Rosamund Pike, crazed with grief. Discovered en route to Montana by Blocker and company, Quaid joins the men on the trail north. Fans of old-school, racist Westerns may roll their eyes at Blocker’s preposterous change of heart. — M.P.

“The Greatest Showman” 1/2

PG, 1:45, musical

This musical biopic of circus impresario P.T. Barnum is a profoundly confused and muddled film, with a story that’s at once too thin and too busy, a period piece making a halfhearted gesture toward modern-day values, with everything pasted into place using a mixture of frantic pop music and Hugh Jackman’s flop sweat. The story follows the rise of Barnum (Jackman), a dreamer always trying to improve his station in life. He risks it all on a show, turning his museum of oddities into a live freak show with animals, acrobatics, song and dance. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

“The Post”

PG-13, 1:55, drama

Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep), The Washington Post’s publisher and company president, must decide whether to risk incarceration by printing some of the first stories about the classified report on lies behind the Vietnam War. The film begins in 1966, with Defense Department contractor Daniel Ellsberg in Vietnam. On a flight back to D.C., Ellsberg confers with Defense Secretary Robert McNamara (Bruce Greenwood), who expresses frustration with the war in private. This is why Ellsberg leaked a copy of the Pentagon Papers to the Post. Most of the film unfolds in 1971, in the momentous week the Ellsberg treasure trove fell into the Post’s hands. — M.P.