John Mulderig

Despite its depiction of some of the world’s most pressing problems, filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi’s polished retrospective maintains a tranquil tone as it looks back over the 37 journeys to 53 different countries undertaken by the pontiff during the first nine years of his pontificate.

This sequel to the 2019 origin story for the titular DC Comics character serves up action, special effects and some humorous dialogue, it fails to make much of a lasting impression.

Fans of comic auteur Mel Brooks may be anxious to view the Hulu streaming series “History of the World: Part II,” the small-screen follow-up to his 1981 movie, subtitled — what else? — “Part I.”

“Creed III,” the ninth film in the “Rocky” series, is a thinking-person’s sports drama that will appeal even to those with no particular interest in well-choreographed slugfests.

All eight roughly half-hour episodes of showrunner Tony Basgallop’s adaptation of Bentley Little’s novel are currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

As scripted by Jimmy Warden, director Elizabeth Banks’ dark comedy, “Cocaine Bear,” starts out as an amusing ensemble piece about eccentric characters brought into contact by bizarre circumstances.

Simple, straightforward and even naive, “The Blood of Jesus” is also, at times, dreamy and ethereal.