Movie & Television Reviews

This humorous spin on the genre features a clever premise and often witty dialogue. Yet any amusement to be derived from it is drowned in a flood of needless bloodletting.

Although the proceedings are acceptable for most grown moviegoers, they’ll find that the freshness and buoyancy of “Afterlife” are noticeably lacking. Maybe it’s time for “Ghostbusters” to yield the dancefloor after all.

The psychological and ethical complexities of front-line journalism are explored in depth in the dystopian drama “Civil War” (A24). The result is an engrossing but distressingly realistic film that’s fit for only a relatively small audience of grown viewers.

The movie is based on the real-life experiences of Catholic nurse Irene Gut Opdyke (1918-2003). Famed for her rescue of Jews, Opdyke was named Righteous Among the Nations by the Israeli Holocaust Commission.

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.

Rosemary’s baby gets some competition in “The First Omen” (20th Century), director and co-writer Arkasha Stevenson’s prequel to a horror franchise that dates all the way back to 1976. While, like its long-ago predecessor, the film makes exploitative use of religion, this is overshadowed by the hideous deaths it showcases.

Way back in 1989, Patrick Swayze found an action vehicle in the tale of a brawling bouncer hired to keep the loutish patrons of an Indiana bar in line. Switch venues from the Midwest to the Southeast and substitute Jake Gyllenhaal’s biceps for Swayze’s and you have the wholly unnecessary remake “Road House” (Amazon MGM).