Freeze Frame: “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (PG-13), “Cats” (PG), “Bombshell” (R), “A Hidden Life” (PG-13)

“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” is not the final movie in the franchise. It’s supposedly the end of the line for the Skywalker clan, though. We’ll see. Daisy Ridley is back as Rey, who uses the force to battle evil Emperor Palpatine and the murderous son of Leia and Han Solo, Kylo Ren. It’s visually spectacular and fan boys should be satisfied by the action. But “The Rise of Skywalker” just warms over the familiar franchise themes. The Force is with them, but it’s a bit dim.

 

The big screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Broadway musical hit “Cats” is quite a spectacle, too. The all-star cast, the music, dancing and art direction are quite impressive. But “Cats” attempts to add gravitas to the clever but featherweight poems that T.S. Eliot wrote for children. Fans of the play will take to it like catnip. Others, skat.

 

News junkies will want to catch “Bombshell,” the true story of Fox News anchors Megyn Kelly and Gretchen Carlson and their bid to dethrone sexist network honcho, Roger Ailes. Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and John Lithgow to fine work, but the filmmakers approach the material with surprising timidity. “Bombshell” could have been a riveting exposé in the vein of “The Big Short,” but is merely an interesting overview.

Some say filmmaker Terrance Malick is a genius. Other claim he’s a pretentious hack. His latest film, “A Hidden Life” should get the same polarizing reaction. It tells the harrowing true story of Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter who suffered greatly when he refused to swear an oath to Hitler during WWII and was eventually beatified. The cinematography is stunning, but the length and slow pace of “A Hidden Life” requires saint-like patience.

 

Also opening this week, “Lost Holiday” is a comic drama about a couple of stoners who try to solve a kidnapping case. “She’s Missing” is a suspense mystery drama about a woman who searches for a missing rodeo queen.


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