‘BLACK WIDOW’: General Dreykov (Ray Winstone), the sinister overseer of the KGB Red Room training and sterilization facility, is referred to as “the man who commands the very will of others.” Funny, I thought that was Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige’s new job title. Scarlett Johansson’s character, Russian super-assassin Natasha Romanoff, got killed off in “Avengers: Endgame.” The events of the prequel “Black Widow” take place shortly after “Captain America: Civil War” and begin in 1995 Ohio, before scooting off to Cuba, Norway, Budapest and the motherland, where Dreykov controls a network of sterilized widows doing their part for Dreykov’s bid for a global takeover. 2:14. 3 stars. — Michael Phillps, Chicago Tribune

‘THE BOSS BABY: FAMILY BUSINESS’: The new entry in the “Boss Baby” franchise picks up with the first movie’s narrator, Tim, now grown up (voiced by James Marsden) and married to a high-achieving Carol (Eva Longoria). Tim’s an energetic dad raising too-serious Tabitha (Ariana Greenblatt) and infant Tina (Amy Sedaris), whom we learned at the end of the first film is a Boss Baby. The film feels overstuffed. It clicks into its slot as the next cog in the “Boss Baby” machine, likely with enough bells and whistles to please younger fans. 1:45. Not ranked. — Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times

‘ESCAPE ROOM: TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS’: Adam Robitel’s 2019 B-movie horror flick “Escape Room” had all the auspices of a flash in the pan: early January release and a gimmicky premise based around a live entertainment trend. “Escape Room” was just that: a series of high-stakes, life-or-death puzzles, but thanks to the cast and characters, plus a fantastic final girl in Taylor Russell, it worked. Operating in the mode of the “Saw” and “Final Destination” franchises, there could be a long future for “Escape Room” movies, and the sequel, even leaner and meaner than the first, proves the staying power of this budding series. 1:28. 2 ½ stars. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

‘FEAR STREET PART 1: 1994’: When is a miniseries not a miniseries? When it’s “Fear Street” — three full-length movies dropping on Netflix on consecutive weeks to collectively tell a gruesome tale based on books by R.L. Stine. The first movie, “Fear Street Part 1: 1994,” finds teens in Shadyside, Ohio, dealing with the usual angsty teen stuff. The teens come to realize recent murders may be part of a much larger pattern of mass killings that have cursed their town every few years for, oh, a few centuries. It’s hard to imagine older teens will find “1994” scary exactly, but horror fans of that age might get a charge out of some of the more brutal dispatchings. 1:45. Not ranked. Streaming on Netflix. — Michael Ordoña

‘FEAR STREET PART 2: 1978’: With its second installment, Netflix’s movie trilogy finds its cinematic footing. Though it still relies too much on jump scares and clunky dialogue, “1978” feels more assured, looser than the first installment. Where “1994” hearkened a bit to the meta horror of its story’s time (think “Scream”), “1978” feels right at home in the “Friday the 13th” universe, but with better production values and as part of a larger, more interesting story than a simple slasher flick. 1:51. Not ranked. Streaming on Netflix. — Michael Ordoña

‘FEAR STREET PART 3: 1666’: The trilogy comes to a satisfying conclusion, bringing the tale of the cursed town full circle. If the tale’s first two 1994- and 1978-set chapters took their cues from “Scream” and “Friday the 13th,” respectively, “1666” borrows from “The Witch,” or other period tales of the threat of witchcraft and the resulting panic of townspeople. It also brings back the series’ strongest thread, the love story between Kiana Madeira and Olivia Scott Welch’s characters, which leads to the revelation of the source of the town’s curse. 1:52. Not ranked. Streaming on Netflix. — Adam Graham, Detroit News

‘HOW IT ENDS’: The end-of-the-world genre has enjoyed some new beginnings of late. “How It Ends” is one of the more thoughtful and fun of these one-way tickets. Liza (Zoe Lister-Jones) and her constant companion, her metaphorical younger self (Cailee Spaeny of “Mare of Easttown”), spend Earth’s final day facing down “regrets.” Liza plans to address unfinished business before partying with friends until the meteor hits and ends it all. Liza and Young Liza trek through Los Angeles neighborhoods, having surreal encounters with strangers and heart-to-hearts with loved ones. “How It Ends” works both as an alternative to the usual, race-against-time or humanity-sucks apocalypse dramas, and as a personal exploration of settling affairs — and it’s a comedy. 1:22. Not ranked. Streaming on demand. — Michael Ordoña

‘JOE BELL’: “Bullying and intolerance can have a deadly effect,” Mark Wahlberg says at the beginning of “Joe Bell.” The title character of this movie speaks, uneasily, to a group of high school students somewhere out West about his ambitious walk across America. The Oregon native undertook his bullying awareness campaign in 2013 to draw attention to his 15-year-old son Jadin’s experiences as a target of relentless harassment, at school and online, after he came out as gay. This early scene is framed as a sincere but not particularly effective interaction between Bell and the students. “Just be yourself,” reminds son Jadin (Reid Miller, very good). The movie tries to take that advice. But it’s like that scene with the students: sincere, but something’s missing. 1:30. 2 stars. — Michael Phillips

‘JOLT’: Ever wanted to clock a manspreader? Punch an entitled misogynist? Wallop a rude server? It’s not polite to admit, especially for women, but to deny that violent thoughts can be a part of the human condition is to deny what it means to be human, and even, perhaps, what it means to be a woman. That’s why Tanya Wexler’s clever, nasty little action flick “Jolt” (starring Kate Beckinsale, Jai Courtney) is so much fun: It allows the viewer to indulge in the pleasure of bloody fantasies, while exploring the ways in which rage, and its culturally imposed repression, can be an integral part of the female experience. 1:30. 3 stars. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video. — Katie Walsh

‘SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY’: In his “regular” life as son of a legendary-but-not-Michael-Jordan- level NBA superstar, LeBron’s son Dom (Cedric Joe) would rather design basketball-themed video games than hit the court himself. When the movie’s protracted climax arrives, it’s the video game writ large, with power-ups and style points. Anything’s possible; occasionally, some of it’s funny. The championship game this time pits the Tune Squad — LeBron James, Bugs Bunny and company — against Don Cheadle’s Goon Squad, made up of Al-G Rhythm’s fearsome starting five. 1:55. 2 stars. — Michael Phillips

‘WOODSTOCK 99: PEACE, LOVE, AND RAGE’: The main voice you want to hear from in “Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage” is Fred Durst, frontman for Limp Bizkit, whose Saturday evening set at the 1999 festival embodied the idiotic fiasco the entire festival became. Durst isn’t included here, but there are plenty of others who wax on the fest, its distillation of suburban angst and how things quickly went from bad to worse to literally on fire at what was supposed to be a celebration of peace, love and understanding. 1:50. Not ranked. Streaming on HBO Max. — Adam Graham

‘ZOLA’: In the eighth century, Homer wrote the epic poem “The Odyssey,” and in 2015, a woman named A’Ziah “Zola” King took to Twitter to share her own incredible saga. In a 148-tweet thread, she described a trip to Florida that she took with a new friend in a tale of strip clubs and sex work arguably more harrowing than the journey of Odysseus. The film, “Zola,” arriving on screens six years later and directed by Janicza Bravo, is a delightfully dark and funny cinematic imagining of Zola’s epic. It preserves and maintains King’s perspective and voice. 1:30. 4 stars. — Katie Walsh

RATINGS: The movies listed are rated according to the following key: 4 stars, excellent; 3 stars, good; 2 stars, fair; 1 star, poor.