John Mulderig

Capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television as well as notes on TV programming for the same week.

In a commendable effort to avoid sensationalism in his dramatization of allegedly real events, set in the Midwest in 1928, director and co-writer David Midell downplays the chills and icky special effects to concentrate on more cerebral matters.

“Lilo & Stitch” (Disney) is the latest yield of a long-term project on the part of the Mouse House to remake some of their more popular animated features of the past into live-action films. The result in this instance is a morally sound but shrill updating of a well-received — and, in some quarters, cherished — 2002 release.

Considered strictly as a piece of cinema, the genre-mashing feature “Sinners” (Warner Bros.) can be acknowledged to be a successful production in several respects. But assessed ethically from the standpoint of a Scripture-based worldview, writer-director Ryan Coogler’s film is critically deficient.

Tom Cruise takes his eighth turn as infinitely resourceful spy Ethan Hunt in the grand-scale adventure “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” (Paramount).

Capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television as well as notes on TV programming for the same week.

Capsule reviews of theatrical movies available now for streaming or scheduled for broadcast on network or cable television as well as notes on TV programming for the same week.