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Blu-Ray cover for A Ghost Story
Blu-Ray cover for A Ghost Story

A Ghost Story,

directed by David Lowery

(R, 1 hour, 32 minutes)

It sounds simple and silly, but this low-budget drama is a unique, memorable and seriously affecting meditation on heartbreak and grief in which a cheesy-looking white-sheeted ghost (Casey Affleck), peering out through black cut-out eye holes, returns to his suburban residence to console his bereft wife (Rooney Mara), only to find that in his spectral state he has become unstuck in time and forced to watch passively as the life he knew and the woman he loves slowly slip away.

The film, shot in Dallas filmmaker David Lowery's home state, has much to say about the loss of love as well as how hard it is to be cut off from all that's familiar and comforting about home. Horror fans, this isn't for you.

With Kenneisha Thompson, Will Oldham, Sonia Acevedo.

The Book of Henry (PG-13, 1 hour, 45 minutes) Unpredictable, ambitious, baffling and not altogether successful, this curious drama concerns Susan Carpenter (Naomi Watts), a waitress who's the mother of 8-year-old Peter (Jacob Tremblay) and 11-year-old Henry (Jaeden Lieberher), an exceptionally smart kid who sees himself as everybody's caretaker -- including his classmate Christina (Maddie Ziegler), who Henry suspects is the victim of abuse by her stepfather. Some will love it; many won't. With Lee Pace; directed by Colin Trevorrow.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (PG-13, 2 hours, 9 minutes) What can you expect from a movie franchise based on an amusement park ride? It doesn't help that, with this, its pratfall-filled fifth installment, it has long outlived its novelty, even among dedicated fans. Here again is Captain Jack (Johnny Depp) hotly pursued by the now-dead Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem) along with other ghost soldiers who have escaped from the Devil's Triangle. With Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Kaya Scodelario; directed by Espen Sandberg and Joachim Ronning.

Churchill (PG, 1 hour, 45 minutes) Although shallow and simplistic, Churchill gets points for Brian Cox's impressive performance as the storied British prime minister in the period leading up to the Allied D-Day landings in Normandy in June 1944 as he squares off against U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower (John Slattery) and British Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery (Julian Wadham). With Miranda Richardson as the prime minister's inspirational wife Clementine Churchill, James Purefoy, Ella Purnell; directed by Jonathan Teplitzky.

The Wizard of Lies (not rated, 2 hours, 13 minutes) This made-for-HBO drama is an involving, insightful screen version of Diana Henriques' look at flat-emotioned financier Bernie Madoff's (played with chilly reserve by a very convincing Robert De Niro) breathtakingly huge Ponzi-scheme fraud that ruined thousands of investors, along with his family. With Michelle Pfeiffer (as Madoff's wife of 50 years), Nathan Darrow, Kristen Connolly, Alessandro Nivola; directed by Barry Levinson.

Kick-Ass (R, 1 hour, 57 minutes) This flashy, violent, bloody, highly original 2010 actioner, now available in 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray, concerns comic-book fan Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who decides to become a superhero named Kick-Ass, although he unfortunately has no superpowers. Still, he becomes the inspiration for copycats, the object of attacks by violent characters, and is introduced to various vigilantes, including a notoriously tough 11-year-old known as Hit-Girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) and her father, Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage). With Clark Duke (a native of Glenwood), Dexter Fletcher, Elizabeth McGovern, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong; directed by Matthew Vaughn.

MovieStyle on 10/06/2017

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