Movie & Television Reviews

Screwball comedies showcasing couples verbally duking it out in the battle of the sexes comprised a significant and often winning subgenre during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Whether the sparring partners were Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur or William Powell and Carole Lombard, audiences were likely to enjoy every round.

Behind “We Grown Now” (Sony Pictures Classics), a drama influenced by real-life events, looms the 1992 murder of 7-year-old Dantrell Davis in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green public housing project. The crime had far-reaching consequences.

Director and co-writer Guy Ritchie’s adaptation of Damien Lewis’ 2014 history “Churchill’s Secret Warriors” showcases some clever ruses and innovative, spur-of-the-moment thinking on the part of the U.K.’s Special Operations Executive (SOE). But the mission on which the main characters embark also involves the enthusiastic slaughter of extras by the dozen.

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.

Moviegoers tempted by a title like “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” (Warner Bros.) are presumably not in search of Shakespearian levels of dramatic insight. Even so, the disparity between the reasonably impressive special effects on offer in the film and its low-grade human interaction remains noticeable.

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.

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.