Movie & Television Reviews

The high-spirited Oceanaian princess who gave her name to a 2016 animated feature returns for further adventures in “Moana 2” (Disney).

Nearly a quarter-century after its predecessor premiered, “Gladiator II” (Paramount) takes moviegoers back into the ancient arena. The result is a spectacular but sterile historical epic whose unsparing depiction of life-or-death combat greatly circumscribes its appropriate audience.

In crafting the biopic “Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin.” (Angel), writer-director Todd Komarnicki can be credited with being scrupulous about historical truth. Yet, despite the film’s provocative full title — which suggests that he had a lot of interesting material to mine from his subject’s life — there’s a ponderous tone to his profile.

Lady of letters Gertrude Stein once famously observed of Oakland, Calif., the city in which she was raised, “There is no there there.” As it turns out, there’s not much there to the drama “Here” (TriStar), either.

Considered purely from an artistic viewpoint, the lavish musical “Wicked” (Universal) represents a confluence of the best both Broadway and Hollywood have to offer. On a moral level, however, the film’s content, while largely free of overtly problematic material, nonetheless demands careful assessment.

The attempt to put Santa Claus in the middle of a lot of frenetic brawling and then wrap the whole thing up with a climactic sleigh chase leads to a hopelessly unbalanced tone in this ill-conceived holiday offering.

Co-writers and directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ chiller “Heretic” (A24) probes the nature of faith.