Inferno:

Ron Howard once again directs Tom Hanks playing symbologist Robert Langdon, following The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.  This time Langdon awakens in a hospital suffering from amnesia after what appears to be a severe blow to the head.  He has no recollection of the previous day, but learns, watching a security tape from a museum camera that he was involved in the theft of a priceless artifact.  It isn’t long before the bad guys are on his trail, and he finds himself in the company of Siena Brooks (Felicity Jones) as they flee what appears to be an organization bent on destroying them for what they know … although Langdon doesn’t remember what he is supposed to know.  Unfortunately, this one plays out like a been-there-done-that affair as everything seems to be a re-do of what we have seen in the previous two films.  Hanks is fine, but the story seems to go in and out of focus, and the twists and turns are relatively easy to see coming.  Did not do well at the box office in North America, having lost $30 million, but that was made up by a strong overseas run.  Rated 14A.

The Light Between Oceans:

Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander star as Tom and Isabel, a pair of lovers who marry, with her following him to his post WWII job as a lighthouse keeper in the remote area of Tasmania.  Life is idyllic in the early going, but Isabel suffers a pair of miscarriages that almost take her life, rendering her unable to have children.  One day, during a storm, a small lifeboat is tossed onto the rocks near the lighthouse.  In the boat is a dead man, and an infant who is still alive.  Isabel takes the baby, cares for it and soon is calling it her own.  Tom wants to do the right thing – tell the authorities, and find out who the parents are, but Isabel’s fragile mental state has him playing along with her deception.  One week, while visiting the mainland, Tom encounters a woman (Rachel Weisz) grief-stricken in a cemetery, mourning the loss of her husband, and her infant daughter, lost at sea.  Still, he says nothing and the deception grows, but eventually his conscience gets the best of him.  This is a slow-moving film, totally a study in character, and no one really wins in the end.  Tragedy is heaped upon tragedy, and despite the fine actors, it is hard to come away feeling anything but sadness.  Rated 14A.

The Monster:

Not a very good horror film, in which a mother and daughter are trapped in their broken-down car late at night after hitting a wolf on the road.  When the tow truck comes, it seems that the wolf carcass has disappeared and that “something” is out there.  Most of the action (or lack thereof) takes place inside the car, and when it seems as if we just get too tired of watching mother and daughter in that setting, we get flashbacks that show just what a bad mom the drug addicted woman was, and how terrible their relationship was … and then it’s back to the car.  The monster does show up, and it’s moderately okay, but nothing that’s going to keep you up at night.  Low budget, not well written, and not a memorable film at any level.  You have to be a very serious horror-movie person to make this one work for you! Rated 14A.

Spectral (2016):

This Netflix original is a sci-fi action movie with an action focus that has a good cast and a strong story.  Shot in Eastern Europe, the story takes place there, on an unnamed battleground.  A pair of special goggles worn by a soldier in the opening sequence allow him to see "something" ... but before he can figure out what the specter is, a wispy, undefined sort of thing, he's dead.  Instant death - burnt to a crisp on the outside and frozen solid on the inside.  That's when we meet Clyne, (James Badge Dale), a scientist who, it turns out, invented the goggles, and has some small idea as to what they might reveal.  A lot of big military hardware comes into play, the action is non-stop, and there are many movies to which this one seems to have borrowed an idea or two, including Blackhawk Down, Behind Enemy Lines, and Aliens.  Bruce Greenwood also stars, as does Emily Mortimer of Shelter Island.  Rated 14A.

Pitch Perfect (2012):

The story of Barden College, a school filled with talented singers both male and female sets up a competition, and not a friendly one at that, between girls who can sing, and boys who can do the same.  Becca (Anna Kendrick) has no real interest in joining the Barden Bellas, the a Capella group that sings pop songs with perfection and beauty, even though she has been courted vigorously by the young women who want her energy and her talent in the group.  A terrible incident in the previous school year has forced the Bellas to regroup and to rebuild, and part of the problem then and now is Aubrey (Anna Camp) who is leading the group in the wrong direction, and everyone can see it but her.  The Treblemakers are the boys who are the opposite number of the Bellas, and it looks like all are headed to the Nationals, unless something goes badly awry ... which of course it does.  Rebel Wilson co-stars, as does Elizabeth Banks in what is a funny, warm, and extremely frenzied movie that spawned a sequel just two years later.  Rated 14A.