‘DESPICABLE ME 4’: “Despicable Me 4” is an interminable 95 minutes of circular, intertwining, seemingly never-ending storylines rendered with such audio-visual cacophony that it dissolves into an indiscernible din. The fourth (or is it sixth?) installment of the animated franchise is directed by longtime Minion wrangler Chris Renaud, with Patrick Delage. “Despicable Me 4” naturally centers on Gru (Steve Carell), the proud supervillain with an army of banana- obsessed Minions (voiced by Pierre Coffin). Gru has now settled down with a wife, Lucy (Kristen Wiig), four kids and a pet goat, and even works for the Anti-Villain League. This line of work intrudes on his domestic bliss when he nabs an old classmate on behalf of the AVL at the Lycee Pas Bon (School of Villainy) reunion, and earns himself an enemy in the process, an old high school rival Maxime (Will Ferrell). There is something weirdly — and undeniably — charming about the character of Gru, which is why they must keep making these. Those Minions certainly do have moxie, and the silly, quasi-naughty humor and style apparently acts as a chemical stimulant for children. But this installment is so noisy and aimless, it feels like they didn’t just hit the end of the road, they kept going past the limit. 1:35. 1 star. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

‘HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA — CHAPTER 1’: “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” marks Kevin Costner’s return to the Western genre that brought him into stardom nearly 40 years ago. This first installment feels like throat- clearing — a serviceable horse opera overture to a curiously dispassionate passion project. The film divides itself into what feels like three one-hour TV episodes. Co-writers Jon Baird and Costner lay many miles of narrative track designed to transport several groups of characters in different parts of the West to the same destination, a tiny riverbank town in the making called Horizon in the San Pedro Valley, aka John Ford country. This is where the film starts, in 1859. It’s Apache land, and the white colonizers (fine, “settlers”) have put literal stakes in it to claim it for themselves. I can’t help but wonder if Costner didn’t take his cues from the wrong kind of Westerns. Watch Anthony Mann’s “The Naked Spur” (1953), which gave James Stewart one of his most bracing challenges; the movie is scenic but purposeful, lean, compact, character-driven, full of shifting allegiances and centered, however uneasily, by a fascinatingly self-doubting protagonist. Costner has it in him to work that same territory. “Horizon,” so far, anyway, is more about a certain set of movie memories than a movie of its own. 3:01. 2 stars. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

‘LONGLEGS’: Oz Perkins’ eerie, occultist serial killer horror thriller “Longlegs” opens with a psyche- rattling sequence, barely a minute or two long, in which he crafts a chilling sense of shock, awe and confounding humor simply through shot composition, editing and performance. It unsettles the viewer on a bone- deep level, the tension then bursting like a bubble on a bravura music cue. One should know as little as possible about “Longlegs” for the best viewing experience. The camera bears an omniscient, ominous knowingness that can’t always be trusted, but repeated shots and scenarios suggest connection and comparison between different characters and across time, so there is an internal rhythm to the filmmaking even as the story defies traditional kinds of logic. “Longlegs” is also a masterpiece of production design (by Danny Vermette) and set decoration (by Trevor Johnston) that suggests a time and place (mid-1990s, mid-Atlantic) and fills in that world with pertinent visual information. Jump on board and let Perkins guide the way — the journey is more than worth it. 1:41. 4 stars. — Katie Walsh

‘MAXXXINE’: Say hello to Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), the (anti)heroine of Ti West’s “MaXXXine,” the third installment in his hastily dispatched “X” trilogy. Last we saw Maxine, she was beating a quick retreat away from a Texas porn star massacre, leaving a trail of bloody carnage in her wake. It’s now six years later, in 1985 Los Angeles, and Maxine, an industrious porn starlet and peep show performer, is determined to transcend her trashy, traumatic origins to become a capital-S Star of the silver screen, no matter what it takes. Ultimately, “MaXXXine” is a lot like the set through which she is chased on the Warner Bros. backlot. A beautiful facade that’s empty behind the walls, all surface, meaningless symbols, and not an ounce of substance to be found. 1:44. 2 stars. — Katie Walsh

‘A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE’: “A Quiet Place: Day One” works roughly as well as the first two films in this alien-invasion franchise. If it has the edge over the 2018 and 2020 movies, the reason is simple though her talent certainly isn’t: Lupita Nyong’o. Each minute she’s on screen as Samira, which is most of the hour and a half, Nyong’o is alert and invested in every fiber of her character’s constant predicaments. The movie follows a clear directive reasonably well. It is nothing but peril and exhaustion and superhuman resourcefulness in the face of two species not destined to get along. And Nyong’o plays the material for the highest possible stakes, mostly nonverbally — though the one moment Samira lets loose with a soul-clearing scream, a good-enough-for-this-summer prequel suddenly feels like it really, truly matters. 1:39. 2 1/2 stars. — Michael Phillips

‘SING SING’: “Sing Sing” is the result of years of research and volunteer work on behalf of writer- director Greg Kwedar and his co-writer Clint Bentley with Rehabilitation Through the Arts, a theater program for incarcerated men at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. In “Sing Sing,” the supporting cast are all playing themselves (or something like themselves), and giving good performances too. The plot follows the production of RTA’s first original play, a sprawling time-travel comedy that moves from ancient Egypt to gladiator arenas to the Old West, with a visit from Freddy Krueger too. But the film is about so much more than just these men putting on a show. It’s about the hope and heartbreak within these walls; the personal growth and triumph that these men experience together onstage. It’s a stark reminder that life in prison is still life, in prison. 1:45. 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.