John Mulderig

Science fiction is often used as an allegorical vessel within which to explore real-life current events, and such is the case with “The Creator” (20th Century). Although primarily set in the year 2070, this thinking person’s war drama takes for its main topic the timely subject of artificial intelligence.

A decade after premiering on Nickelodeon and two years out from their film debut, the titular group of canine first responders, led by a preteen boy called Ryder (voice of Finn Lee-Epp), returns for another round of derring-do and some fresh life lessons.

In adapting Hernández’s memoir “Reaching for the Stars,” Abella traces his remarkable journey from child migrant farm worker to NASA engineer and candidate for a place on the space shuttle.

“A Haunting in Venice” (20th Century) is the third in a series of Agatha Christie adaptations, all featuring her famed sleuth Hercule Poirot, on which director and star Kenneth Branagh has collaborated with screenwriter Michael Green.

The tale of Texan Rickey Hill’s against-the-odds struggle to become a major league baseball player should, potentially, make for an engaging film.

The latest such gambit vulgarly ventriloquizes dogs and results in the mangy comedy “Strays.”

The Last Voyage of the Demeter registers as competent but uneven, with its evident artistic intent barely justifying the quarts of blood spilt as its plot unfolds.

Seafood goes bad, very bad, very quickly. So, too, does the dead fish-scented sequel “Meg 2: The Trench” (Warner Bros.)