Movie guide: 'Mowgli,' 'Roma,' 'Becoming Astrid' and more

Four stars: superior. Three stars: good. Two stars: average. One star: poor. D (drug use), L (language), N (nudity), S (sexual situations, references), V (violence). Ratings by Film Critic Dann Gire, unless otherwise noted.

New this week

"Anna and the Apocalypse" - John McPhail's cartoony horror-musical-zom-com features the charismatic Ella Hunt as the titular Scottish teen, fending off high school angst, an evil headmaster and zombies. With a massive candy cane, no less. (R) L, S, V. 92 minutes.   

"Asher" - Ron Perlman stars as a former Mossad agent turned hired killer who finds love when a hit goes wrong. (R) L, V. 117 minutes.

"Becoming Astrid" - Alba August gives an extraordinary performance as Pippi Longstocking author Astrid Lindgren. The captivating drama focuses on her late teens and 20s when she struggles to reunite with her son, the product of an affair with her married boss. In Swedish and Danish with subtitles. Reviewed by Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Press. (NR) N, S. 123 minutes.   

"Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle" - Andy Serkis' dark, decidedly adult vision of "The Jungle Book" mixes live action and motion-capture animation in the tale of a boy rescued by panther Bagheera (voiced by Christian Bale) and raised by wolves after his parents are killed by the tiger Shere Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch). Reviewed by Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Press. (PG-13) V. 104 minutes.   

"The Party's Just Beginning" - A Scottish woman (Karen Gillan) sets in motion a series of events when she has a fling with a visitor to her town. (NR) 91 minutes.

"Roma" - Alfonso Cuaron's hypnotic, neorealist masterpiece focuses on an observant nanny (newcomer Yalitza Aparicio) and the mother she works for (an exquisite Marina de Tavira) in Mexico City in the 1970s. The result is a serene, transcendent experience that defies simple explanation. In Spanish with subtitles. Reviewed by Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press. (R) L, N. 135 minutes.    

Picks

"At Eternity's Gate" - Julian Schnabel's fascinating and at times frustrating drama about Vincent van Gogh (an uncannily convincing Willem Dafoe), exists, as its title suggests, in a liminal space. Much like the painter, the film approaches greatness without quite achieving it. With Oscar Isaac as Paul Gauguin. Reviewed by Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post. (PG-13) L. 111 minutes.   

"Boy Erased" - Lucas Hedges gives a soulful performance as a conflicted gay teen whose religious parents (Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe), believing homosexuality is a sin, send him to a conversion therapy center in writer-director-actor Joel Edgerton's empathetic fact-based drama. Reviewed by Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press. (R) D, L, S. 114 minutes.   

"Can You Ever Forgive Me?" - In one of her best performances, Plainfield native Melissa McCarthy stars as real-life writer Lee Israel, an embittered, hard-drinking curmudgeon who turns to forging celebrity letters to pay the rent. With Richard E. Grant as her drinking buddy. Reviewed by Jake Coyle, Associated Press. (R) D, L, S. 107 minutes.    ½

"The Favourite" - Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz star as cousins vying for the favor of the half-mad Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) in Yorgos Lanthimos' deliciously diabolical comedy of ill manners and 18th century palace intrigue. All three women shine in this wildly speculative, lusty tale. Reviewed by Ann Hornaday, Washington Post. (R) L, N, S. 121 minutes.    ½

"Free Solo" - The often breathtaking adventure documentary chronicles the exploits of champion climber Alex Honnold, who sets out to be the first person ever to solo climb El Capitan, a sheer, 3,000-foot-high rock face in Yosemite National Park. And he plans to do it without a harness. Reviewed by Ann Hornaday, Washington Post. (PG-13) L. 100 minutes.    ½

"The Front Runner" - Hugh Jackman embues politician Gary Hart with an entitled sense of narcissism in Jason Reitman's fact-based drama, a balanced, insightful look at how an affair with model Donna Rice destroyed the former senator's White House hopes. With Vera Farmiga as his wife and J.K. Simmons as his devastated campaign manager. (R) L, S. 112 minutes.   

"Green Book" - Peter Farrelly's funny, heartwarming fact-based tale features great performances from Viggo Mortensen as a doltish bouncer and Mahershala Ali as a renowned black pianist in need of protection as he travels to concert engagements across the Deep South in 1962. Reviewed by Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press. (PG-13) L, S, V. 130 minutes.    ½

"The Hate U Give" - After witnessing the shooting death of her friend, a teen (the remarkable Amandla Stenberg) is pushed and pulled in multiple directions over the course of this powerful, timely and deeply moving tale. Impeccably directed by George Tillman Jr., the drama defies expectation at every turn. Reviewed by Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post. (PG-13) D, L, V. 132 minutes.    

"Ralph Breaks the Internet" - Video game characters Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) learn that friendship is anything but a game in Disney's visually stunning sequel to "Wreck-It Ralph." Also stars the voices of Taraji P. Henson and Gal Gadot. Reviewed by By Kristen Page-Kirby, Washington Post. (PG) Rude humor. 112 minutes.   

"A Star is Born" - In his moving directing debut, actor Bradley Cooper remakes a stodgy Hollywood classic, giving it gritty, relevant new life. Cooper stars as a hard-drinking musician who discovers and falls for a young singer (a transporting Lady Gaga) whose career soars as his implodes. (R) D, L, N, S. 135 minutes.    

"The Wife" - Bjorn Runge's sublimely wrought drama captures the complex and contradictory nuances that accompany long-term marriages. Glenn Close stars as the wife of a celebrated author, creating a subtle, astonishing performance worthy of an Oscar nomination. (R) L, S. 100 minutes.    ½

"Widows" - After her Chicago gangster husband and his crew are killed, Veronica Rawlins (Viola Davis) steps into his shoes and recruits the other widows to help. In an A-list cast that includes Robert Duvall and Liam Neeson, Davis commands every moment of Steve McQueen's B-movie thriller. Reviewed by Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press. (R) L, N, S, V. 129 minutes.   

Passables

"Beautiful Boy" - Timothée Chalamet's profound performance as a young man grappling with addiction helps elevate this fact-based melodrama, a harrowing and frustrating tale of how a child of privilege became hostage to drugs. Steve Carell, however, is not as convincing as his desperate dad. Reviewed by Ann Hornaday, Washington Post. (R) D, L, S. 112 minutes.  

"Bohemian Rhapsody" - Rami Malek's sinuous, fully inhabited performance as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is the best thing about Bryan Singer's slavishly conventional rock biopic, a remarkably bland movie about a deliciously vibrant performer. Reviewed by Jake Coyle, Associated Press. (PG-13) D, L, S. 134 minutes.  

"Creed II" - Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) and Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) return in this less-inspired sequel that unfortunately feels like a compilation of greatest "Rocky" scenes climaxed by a ludicrous final match between Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu) and Creed. A coldly chiseled Dolph Lundgren reprises his role as Ivan Drago from "Rocky IV." (PG-13) L, S, V. 130 minutes.   ½

"Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" - Eddie Redmayne returns as "magizoolologist" Newt Scamander in this second Harry Potter prequel, a mixed bag of wonders. On the one hand, it's an impressively dark and urgent parable of supremacist ideology. On the other, it suffers from a vastly overstuffed plot. Reviewed by Jake Coyle. (PG-13) V. 134 minutes.   ½

"The Grinch" - Benedict Cumberbatch offers up a disappointingly wishy-washy interpretation of the supposedly mean titular character, leaving the great Boris Karloff's 1966 TV film short based on Dr. Seuss' classic poem as the No. 1 screen adaptation of the holiday classic. (PG) 86 minutes.   ½

"Instant Family" - Sean Ander's comedy joyously celebrates the conflicting feelings of a white, married couple (Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne) adopting three Hispanic siblings, bouncing viewers between well-earned laughs and throat-clenching tears. Then, the film takes a tonal turn toward crass comedy and never recovers. (PG-13) D, L, S. 117 minutes.   ½

"The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" - Young Clara (the adorable Mackenzie Foy) finds out her late mother was a queen of the Realms - and now Clara must save them with help from the Sugar Plum Fairy (Keira Knightley) and others. Disney's music-filled holiday film gifts audiences with magical, fantastic scenes, yet the emotional bonds between the characters feel thin and scripted. (PG) 99 minutes.   ½

"Venom" - Tom Hardy plays an investigative TV journalist whose body is invaded by an alien organism in a destabilizing mix of intentional and unintentional comedy that for better and worse returns the superhero movie to its natural state: camp. Reviewed by Jake Coyle, Associated Press. (PG-13) V, L. 112 minutes.  

Pits

"Robin Hood" - This awkward attempt at re-imagining the swashbuckling English antihero (Taron Egerton as Robin of Loxley) who famously robbed from the rich and gave to the poor rolls off the rails right from the start. Also starring Jamie Foxx, Eve Hewson and Jamie Dornan. Reviewed by Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post. (PG-13) V, S. 116 minutes. 

Unpreviewed

"Nobody's Fool" - A wild ex-con (Tiffany Haddish) turns to her uptight sister (Tika Sumpter) for help in Tyler Perry's comedy. With Whoopi Goldberg. (R) D, L, S. 110 minutes.

"Overlord" - American paratroopers carrying out a mission in Nazi-occupied France discover a mysterious lab and a serum being used to create a whole new enemy. (R) L, S, V. 109 minutes.

"The Possession of Hannah Grace" - A morgue worker begins to suspect a body may be possessed. (R) V. 86 minutes.

Foreign language

"Badhaai Ho" - In Telugu

"Kedarnath" - In Hindi

"Subragmanyapuram" - Telugu

"Three Words to Forever" - In Tagalog

"2.0 3D" - In Hindi, Tamil and Telugu