At area theaters
76 ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY, PG Ed Oxenbould plays 11-year-old Alexander as he experiences the most terrible and horrible day of his young life, only to discover that it's also a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for his family (Jennifer Garner, Steve Carell, Dylan Minnette, Kerris Dorsey). (81 minutes)
72 ANNABELLE, R This prequel to The Conjuring shows how the evil doll (now locked up in an occult museum in Connecticut and visited only by a priest who blesses it twice a month) became a conduit to the damned via an entity conjured up by satanic cultists who violently attack the couple who bought it. (98 minutes)
71 THE BEST OF ME, PG-13 Two onetime high school sweethearts returning to their small town for the funeral of a beloved friend are reunited after 20 years apart and find that though it reignites the love they've never forgotten, forces that drove them apart live on. (119 minutes)
78 BEYOND THE LIGHTS, PG-13 The pressures of fame are starting to put the music world's latest superstar on the edge until a young cop and aspiring politician who's been assigned to her detail gives her the courage to find her voice and break free to become the artist she was meant to be. (116 minutes)
87 BIG HERO 6, PG A plus-size inflatable robot (voice of Scott Adsit) and a prodigy (voice of Ryan Potter) form a special bond that comes in handy when the boy is catapulted into the midst of danger and transforms his six friends into a band of high-tech heroes. Animated. (108 minutes)
81 THE BOXTROLLS, PG A community of quirky, mischievous underground creatures has lovingly raised an orphaned human boy (voice of Isaac Hempstead Wright), who must go above ground to save them from a villain (voice of Ben Kingsley) plotting to get rid of the Boxtrolls. Animated. (97 minutes)
72 DUMB AND DUMBER TO, PG-13 Directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly are back, and so are Jim Carrey as Lloyd and Jeff Daniels as Harry, as dumb as or dumber than ever, this time on a road trip to find a child Harry never knew he had, and the responsibility neither of them should ever be given. (110 minutes)
71 EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS, PG-13 Moses (Christian Bale) rises up against Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton) and, after a terrifying cycle of deadly plagues, takes 600,000 Hebrew slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt in this partial retelling of The Ten Commandments. With John Turturro, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Aaron Paul, Ben Mendelsohn, Tara Fitzgerald; directed by Ridley Scott. (150 minutes)
87 FURY, R With the Allies making their final push into Nazi Germany in April 1945, a battle-hardened sergeant (Brad Pitt) commands a Sherman tank and its five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. (134 minutes)
85 GONE GIRL, R Ben Affleck plays a husband who reports his wife (Rosamund Pike) missing on their fifth wedding anniversary, but pressure from police and a growing media frenzy start to eat at his portrait of a blissful union and suspicions begin to arise that he may have done away with her. (149 minutes)
90 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, PG-13 Another Marvel marvel: A brash human adventurer (Chris Pratt), after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe, joins up with a quartet of disparate misfits to sidestep an unrelenting bounty hunt and ... yep, you guessed it ... guard the galaxy. (121 minutes)
90 THE HOMESMAN, R Tommy Lee Jones directs and plays the claim-jumper who, after a frontier farm woman (Hilary Swank) saves his life, lets her persuade him to help her escort three insane women (Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto and Sonja Richter) to a haven in Iowa. With Meryl Streep, John Lithgow, Hailee Steinfeld, William Fichtner, Tim Blake Nelson, James Spader. (122 minutes)
68 HORRIBLE BOSSES 2, R Three returning guys from the first film (Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis) are now their own bosses after starting their own business, but after a slick investor pulls the rug out from under them, they hatch a misguided plan to kidnap and ransom his son to regain control of their company. (108 minutes)
85 THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY -- PART 1, PG-13 Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), having shattered the games forever, and under the leadership of President Coin (Julianne Moore) and the advice of her trusted friends, spreads her wings as she fights to save Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). (123 minutes)
83 INTERSTELLAR, PG-13 A group of explorers makes use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage. (169 minutes)
78 THE MAZE RUNNER, PG-13 A young man (Dylan O'Brien) finds himself trapped in a massive maze with a group of other boys. With no memory of the outside world other than strange dreams about a mysterious organization, he must piece together fragments of his past with clues he discovers in the maze to uncover his true purpose and a way to escape. (113 minutes)
88 NIGHTCRAWLER, R Jake Gyllenhaal plays a driven young man who hooks up with a group of freelancers who film crashes, fires, murder and other mayhem in the high-speed world of Los Angeles crime "journalism" known as nightcrawling. (117 minutes)
77 OUIJA, PG-13 A group of friends awakens the dark powers of an ancient spirit board. (89 minutes)
77 PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR, PG Four flightless birdies team up to form a super undercover spy team to stop a villain (voice of John Malkovich) from destroying the world as we know it. Animated. (92 minutes)
78 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, PG-13 Four outcast brothers rise from the sewers and work with a fearless reporter (Megan Fox) and her wisecracking cameraman (Will Arnett) to save New York and unravel the evil Shredder's (Tohoru Masamune) diabolical plan. (101 minutes)
82 THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, PG-13 Eddie Redmayne plays astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with a fellow Cambridge student (Felicity Jones), then receives the earth-shattering diagnosis, at 21, that he has ALS. (123 minutes)
91 WHIPLASH, R An ambitious young jazz drummer's single-minded pursuit of greatness brings him in contact with a ruthless teacher who pushes him to the brink of his ability -- and his sanity. (107 minutes)
MovieStyle on 12/19/2014