John Mulderig

2024 is not likely to be remembered as an outstanding era in movie history. How many of the pictures released nationwide last year will stand the test of time remains open to question. Yet some quality productions were discernible as the months passed.

Will Gerard Butler’s unorthodox Los Angeles police detective Nicholas “Big Nick” O’Brien cross over to the dark side? That’s the question returning writer-director Christian Gudegast is hoping viewers will be asking themselves as his slow-paced, overly detailed heist sequel “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” unfolds.

Oregon, it can safely be said, features some of North America’s most scenic landscapes. In the tense, hard-edged horror film “Wolf Man,” however, the Beaver State’s natural beauty is contrasted with occult ugliness in a manner that only the sturdiest fans of the genre may find palatable.

Film buffs will easily recognize that the atmospheric horror yarn “Nosferatu” (Focus) is both a variation on and an homage to the eponymous 1922 silent genre classic helmed by F. W. Murnau. Unlike that foundational film, however, the newcomer is both artistically flawed and, ultimately, morally unbridled.

As narrated by Rafiki (voice of John Kani), a wise mandrill, the story looks back to the youthful bond between two princely lions, Mufasa (voice of Aaron Pierre) and Taka (voice of Kelvin Harrison Jr.).

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.

As strained as it is bloodsoaked and morally wayward, the would-be action adventure “Kraven the Hunter” (Columbia) is a hopeless dud. On the upside, moviegoers misguided enough to patronize the film will likely be too bored to be much corrupted by it.

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.