Freeze Frame: “The Protégé” (R), “The Night House” (R), “Sweet Girl” (R)

Maggie Q plays a super-skillful assassin out for revenge in the slick and sleazy action flick. “The Protégé.” Samuel L. Jackson does his usual thing as Maggie’s hired-killer mentor and Michael Keaton goes against type as Maggie’s nasty nemesis. There’s plenty of bloody mayhem under the workmanlike direction of Martin Campbell who cut his teeth on 007 movies like “GoldenEye” and “Casino Royale.” There’s nothing here that we haven’t seen before, but ” The Protégé ” is a tolerable time-waster for action addicts.

“The Night House” commits the cardinal sin for a horror movie: It’s dull. Rebecca Hall’s stars as a woman whose home may or may not be haunted by the spirit of her late husband who recently committed suicide. The plot offers up some interesting ideas and Hall gives an exceptional, wrenching performance. But none of this prevents “The Night House” from becoming an excruciating and frustrating watch. It wants to be a slow burn, but The Night House” never quite catches fire.

The Jason Momoa action flick “Sweet Girl” is mostly what you’d expect, a by-the-numbers revenge drama. But think again. Momoa chases some baddies whom he believes are responsible for his wife’s death while trying to protect his teenage daughter, played by Isabela Merced. But the filmmaker’s throw some plot twists into this Netflix thriller that are so absurd that you won’t know whether to laugh or throw something at the TV. The real victim here is logic. “Sweet Girl” is a perfect example of a movie that thinks it’s clever but is just too clumsy for its own good.

Your local art house theaters are offering online viewing options for a number of intriguing movie titles. More information is available at nelson-atkins.org, Screenland.com, and fineartsgroup.com.

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