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PG-13, 1:43, comedy
This latest Tyler Perry “Madea” flick is all about the laughs, nothing less and nothing more. The premise here is that Madea's soft-parenting nephew Brian (Perry) needs someone to watch his teen daughter, Tiffany (Diamond White), on Halloween because he's afraid she'll sneak out to a frat party. He calls on his no-nonsense Aunt Madea (also Perry). At times, Perry's writing and his troupe's acting feel too big and stagy for cinema. Some scenes go on too long, and some of the writing feels cheesy and overly dramatic. With “Boo! A Madea Halloween,” you'll laugh hard, even when the jokes feel too slapsticky, too vulgar or too over-the-top.
PG-13, 1:58, action
The new “Jack Reacher” movie, subtitled “Never Go Back,” arrives four years after Tom Cruise made his first Reacher movie, subtitled nothing. It wasn't a huge hit, but it was hit enough. Some franchises are born; some are made; others thrust themselves upon the public. The latest Reacher film is directed, with reasonable skill and no trace of personality, by Edward Zwick. Rooting out corruption and evil, Reacher (Cruise) advises his old pals in the U.S. Army. Maj. Susan Turner is played by Cobie Smulders, the best thing in the movie and a terrific on-screen sprinter. Clearly she trained with the best of the best: Tom Cruise, in running mode, remains a sight to behold.
PG-13, 1:39, horror
For a horror sequel built around a foundation of genre trends, “Ouija: Origin of Evil” contains far more goofy-spooky fun than one might expect. This prequel to 2014's “Ouija” takes the retro approach that has made “The Conjuring” franchise so appealing and layers it on top of the classic little-girl-possessed narrative. The result isn't so original, but it sports plenty of stylized thrills and chills that might make you think twice about a night with the ouija board. Realism or internal logic are not to be found in “Ouija: Origin of Evil,” but it's an entertaining and creepy ghost story that just might scratch that seasonal itch for scares.
R, 2:08, action
Geographically and otherwise, “The Accountant” is all over the place. It's an odd, thickly plotted, two-faced action movie. Screenwriter Bill Dubuque solemnly offers various statistics and symptomatic descriptions relating to autism, while building scenarios designed to let our hero, played by Ben Affleck, kill anonymous goon after anonymous goon. The character at the center of the story is treated with respect and admiration, but in dramatic terms he's about as real-world plausible as Batman: an assassin who can out-Bourne Bourne and who can out-compute the entire cast of “The Imitation Game.”
R, 1:52, suspense/thriller
Emily Blunt is an excellent and wily actress. In “The Girl on the Train” she's persuasive enough, both in angsty, raging extremis and in wary voyeur mode, to play a sort of shell game with her own messed-up movie. So why does the film just sort of lay there? For one thing, it's filmed all wrong. Director Tate Taylor and cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen favor hand-held, Rachel's-eye-view close-ups by the woozy hundreds. This film wants in on the “Gone Girl” action so badly, it practically drools. But the “Gone Girl” film version was a vise grip; this is more like a lukewarm handshake.
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