Movie & Television Reviews

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.

“The Killer’s Game” (Lionsgate) is a potentially entertaining, albeit ridiculous, action comedy. Unfortunately, the criminal mayhem the movie lightheartedly showcases involves stomach-churning images of gore and dismemberment that quickly cancel out any fun that might be had from it.

Any connection between the animated adventure “Transformers One” (Paramount) and the great Catholic historian Lord Acton may seem unlikely. Yet director Josh Cooley’s film is a cautionary tale that fully vindicates the Victorian scholar’s famous observation that power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Oh, those creepy Christians! Such is the underlying sentiment discernible through most of the running time of the psychological horror film “The Front Room” (A24).

Although Christian faith is front and center in the screen biography “Reagan” (Showbiz Direct), the film’s noticeable lack of subtlety undermines its overall potential impact.

The less-than-compelling psychological thriller “AfrAId” (Columbia) takes the rise of this phenomenon as its premise but then speculates on its possible downside.