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"Revenge of the Mekons," directed by Joe Angio.
"Revenge of the Mekons," directed by Joe Angio.

Revenge of the Mekons, directed by Joe Angio (not rated, 96 minutes)

This energetic, raucous documentary draws a sharp-edged yet affectionate portrait of the Mekons, a genre-defying British cult band that’s been creating its unique brand of punk rock since 1977.

There’s no sensible explanation for the long life of this eight-member collective (a better description than “band,” which suggests tighter organization and focus than the Mekons tend to supply), which rock critic Lester Bangs called “the most revolutionary group in the history of rock ’n’ roll.”

Made up of one-time art students at the University of Leeds in England, the almost-famous group never made any claim to musical talent. It’s known to its limited but rabid number of devotees for mixing English folk and American country music with art-world tropes to make adventurous and challenging albums that are great fun to sing along with.

The current version of the Mekons (the members change regularly) are on a 13-concert tour this summer, with stops in Chicago, Cleveland, Harrisburg, Pa., Mineral Point, Wis., Rehoboth Beach, Del., Philadelphia, Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The film includes testaments from fans such as authors Jonathan Franzen and Luc Sante; musicians Will Oldham, Andy Gill and Craig Finn; film director Mary Harron and actor and musician Fred Armisen.

Home (PG, 94 minutes) A simple, easy-going but not quite successful animated comedy, Home concerns aliens on the lam from another bunch of aliens who are quietly hiding out on Earth, until one of them named Oh (voice of Jim Parsons) accidentally makes their presence known. The troublemaker, pursued by his own kind, finds sanctuary and big adventures with a lively teenage human named Tip (voice of Rihanna). With voices of Jennifer Lopez, Steve Martin; directed by Tim Johnson.

Comet (R, 91 minutes) A stormy six-year romantic relationship across time and space means plenty of ups and downs for wiseguy Dell (Justin Long) and witty Kimberly (Emmy Rossum). And, since the film is overloaded with dialogue and burdened with a baffling structure, the audience may not enjoy the journey all that much. With Eric Winter, Derrick Dean; directed by Sam Esmail.

The Stanford Prison Experiment (R, 122 minutes) Based on a study by psychologist Philip Zimbardo, this disturbing and relevant drama concerns 24 college undergraduates who participate in a study, set in a simulated jail in 1971, that randomly assigns them to be either prison guards or prisoners. As surveillance cameras reveal, they grimly take their roles to heart. With Bill Crudup, Ezra Miller, Tye Sheridan, Olivia Thirlby, Michael Anganaro; directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez.

White God (R, 119 minutes) This bleak, sometimes horrific look at the cruelty of humans in positions of authority (which screened at this year’s Little Rock Film Festival) concerns Hagen, a dog whose beloved young owner Lili (Zsofia Psotta) is forced to abandon him because of an autocratic government rule that decrees his mixed-breed heritage to be unacceptable. While attempting a dangerous journey to find his way home, Hagen encounters other misfit dogs who are rebelling against the masters who have abused them. Told from the dog’s point of view. Not for everyone. Directed by Kornel Mundruczo.

Child 44 (R, 137 minutes) Tom Hardy (the hero of Mad Max: Fury Road) stars in this unfocused and contrived spy thriller as secret police agent Leo Demidov, a Soviet Russian who in 1953 is disgraced for refusing to denounce his wife, Raisa (Noomi Rapace), as a traitor, which gets them exiled from Moscow to a miserable provincial outpost. That’s where they encounter Gen. Mikhail Nesterov (Gary Oldman) and begin working together to pursue a serial killer who preys on young boys, a quest that threatens a systemwide cover-up. With Joel Kinnaman, Vincent Cassel; directed by Daniel Espinosa.

Kill Me Three Times (R, 90 minutes) A bafflingly tricked-out comedy — that wastes Simon Pegg’s considerable talents — in which he (just barely) plays Charlie Wolfe, a once lethal assassin who has lost his enthusiasm for his work. While on a routine assignment in a remote Australian surf town, he suddenly discovers he’s not the only one pursuing a specific target, which produces a confusing triple tier of tales. With Sullivan Stapleton, Bryan Brown, Alice Braga, Luke Hemsworth; directed by Kriv Stenders.

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