‘ANORA’: Over the course of his career, filmmaker Sean Baker has delivered intimate films of humanity and connection that take place in the nooks and crannies of society. His Palme d’Or-winning “Anora” is his first true-blue love story. Or so it seems. Like any Baker film, “Anora” is not so easy to define. But it does deliver the experience of falling in love, as we fall in love with Ani (Mikey Madison), our plucky protagonist, and in love with “Anora” itself, a rollicking, wild bender of an adventure from the beaches of Coney Island to the desert sands of Las Vegas and back again. Ani (short for Anora) knows her worth. An exotic dancer at a New York City strip club, the Brooklyn beauty hustles lap dances on the floor and has a price for extracurricular sex work — she’s an independent contractor after all. When Ivan Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn), the spoiled young son of a Russian oligarch she has been seeing, proposes a weeklong “girlfriend experience,” she negotiates a larger sum. When he proposes to her, she accepts by pointing at her ring finger: “three carats.” Baker presents this version of a Cinderella story in a heady, dizzying, almost absurdist montage of conspicuous consumption, which comes to a screeching halt as soon as Ivan’s parents catch wind of the happy union. At the center of this careening circus of chaos is the tiny dancer with a banshee wail. Madison taps into a seemingly bottomless well of sheer emotion to deliver a towering performance. When she finally lets the wall fall, it’s in a moment of true emotional catharsis and hard-fought, surprising connection, where she finally lets us in. That moment is the pearl at the center of the oyster, a gem produced of distress. Baker finds it every time, and “Anora” is his most spectacular pearl yet. 2:19. 4 stars. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

‘THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER’: There’s no shortage of seasonal films that claim to extol “the true meaning of Christmas,” and this year, the holiday comes early with Dallas Jenkins’ “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” based on the 1972 novel by Barbara Robinson. But whether or not you’ll be excited to receive this one under the tree may depend on your tolerance for precocious kiddos and faith-based stories that come wrapped up as wacky family comedies. Narrated by Beth (Lauren Graham), her recounting of a story from childhood serves as the voice-over for the film. As far as family-friendly, faith-based holiday movies go, you could do worse than “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” though it might not quite connect with all young audiences, as the film leans more toward poignant than playfully riotous. However, we could all stand to remember that Christmas is about so much more than pageantry, and that the roots of these rituals come from stories of togetherness and charity. It never hurts to be reminded of that. 1:39. 2 stars. — Katie Walsh

‘CONCLAVE’: Voters have a choice: Do you vote for the candidate you believe in, or do you vote to keep a strongman out of power? Ideally, those goals and desires will overlap, and the electorate here happens to be a group of cardinals, sequestered in the Vatican in Edward Berger’s “Conclave.” Adapted from the Robert Harris novel by Peter Straughan, the handsomely rendered and meticulously acted “Conclave” encompasses these universal electoral struggles within the tightly controlled and rigorously regimented ritual of electing a new pope. The film stars Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow, Lucian Msamati, Sergio Castellitto, Stanley Tucci and Carlos Diehz. While the screenplay’s themes can be extrapolated to broader sociopolitical questions, distracted by its own flashy revelations, it fails to impart any new or surprising insights beyond the basic notion that cardinals, they’re just like us. 2:00. 2 1/2 stars. — Katie Walsh

‘HERE’: A facile chore most of the way, capped by an odds-defying finish of some genuine emotion, “Here” comes from the sublime 2014 graphic novel by Richard McGuire and his earlier six-page version of the same idea, published in 1989. Most folks seeing the movie will likely take a chance on it for other reasons. It’s a reunion, 30 years later, of director Robert Zemeckis and the stars of “Forrest Gump,” Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. In “Here,” they play an ordinary couple, Richard and Margaret, from their teenage courtship to what appears to be their 80s. How this is achieved, and how you respond to the technology behind the process, will provide the make-or-break factor in your reaction. Me? Well, my eyes have seen the glory of the coming of AI, and I don’t like what it does to the actors or to a story’s human factor. The ending, however shameless, works. 1:44. 2 stars. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

‘HERETIC’: If “A Quiet Place” — the screenplay that put writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods on the map — was a rather tight-lipped, high-concept monster movie where the characters could rarely speak, “Heretic,” their latest film, is the opposite. This is a talky chamber piece of philosophical face-offs, debate duels and wordy warfare, though the outcomes remain just as harrowing. But the danger of “Heretic” is not anything extraterrestrial but rather the most common, and mundane, of earthly predators: a man. And what a man Beck and Woods have cast in their religious horror flick, effectively weaponizing the befuddled British charm of one Hugh Grant, who has fumbled and grinned through rom-com classics. The genius of his performance in “Heretic” is that his manner is no different in this horror film than those romantic comedies, it’s just the nature of the conversation — and what he’d like to do with women — that’s different. “Heretic,” as a lecture on faith and ethics gone awry, is a story of belief versus disbelief. If there’s anything we take away from this tale, it’s not that faith is bad, or good, but that it exists in the eye of the beholder. The only thing worth believing in is yourself. 1:50. 3 stars. — Katie Walsh

‘SMILE 2’: The first “Smile,” from writer-director Parker Finn, came out in 2022, and in a less promising directorial debut its premise would’ve fallen apart around the third or fourth mirthless stare. Evil spirit, loose in the world, flits from human to human; unfortunate victim commits suicide in some heinous fashion in the presence of the next lucky customer; rinse, repeat. Simple, flexible idea, yes, but enough for a feature film? It was. “Smile 2” goes in a newish direction, to frustrating mixed results — but it’s a mixed bag you can respect because it’s not hackwork and it’s trying new things. This time, the anguished center of the narrative is pop superstar Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), about to launch a massive world tour after a difficult substance abuse recovery. She is also recovering from a terrifying car accident that took the life of her fellow cocaine addict boyfriend. The movie is up and down. But when it’s up, “Smile 2” makes you look forward to Finn’s next project. 2:07. 2 1/2 stars. — Michael Phillips

‘VENOM: THE LAST DANCE’: You’re either on Venom’s wavelength or you’re not. If you are, you’re not alone, because as it turns out, a lot of folks are. The wildly successful Marvel series from Sony comprises a triptych of strangely appealing comic book movies featuring Tom Hardy’s take on journalist Eddie Brock and his sassy symbiote sidekick, Venom (whom Hardy also voices). The third installment, “Venom: The Last Dance,” rounds out the films, which are both straight-faced and irreverent — creating a campy tone all their own, distinct from the more self-serious superheroes, or the sarcastically self-referential ones. Though the concept itself is running out of gas — and it would be nice to free Hardy to do other things — it’s a fitting send-off for the cheeky alien with the thousand-watt grin. 1:49. 2 1/2 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.