Opening this week: Emma Jane Austen is arguably more popular now than she's ever been, so yet another adaptation of her story about a wealthy matchmaker seems like a no-brainer. I just wonder if there's going to be some subconscious pushback to watching the well-to-do decide where the rest of us should be investing our deepest emotional desires. I mean, it doesn't seem to be going that great for the Democratic National Committee, does it? (PG; opens Thursday at Regal Winter Park Village & RPX)
The Invisible Man Universal's plan for a "Dark Universe" of interconnected films based on its classic monsters fell apart after one disastrous Mummy update. So the Invisible Man that's making it to theaters this week is instead a standalone thriller, with Elisabeth Moss playing a woman who's victimized by her abusive and now-invisible ex. OK, so Moss knows a thing or two about rebelling against awful men, and the title character as imagined by H.G. Wells was never anyone's idea of a delightful young chap. But still, this whole project reeks of desperate calculation. Guys, forget about movies and just concentrate on that Universal Monsters land you're rumored to be opening at Epic Universe. All we want is Claude Rains the way he was meant to not be seen. (R)
My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising It's the second feature outing for the student body of anime's favorite school for superheroes. What to expect? Well, The Guardian colorfully describes one of the villains as "an anthropomorphized wolf with an alligator tail in a trench coat smoking a fat stogie." Personally, I wasn't interested until they specified the stogie was fat. (NR; opens Wednesday at Regal Winter Park Village & RPX, Regal Waterford Lakes & IMAX, Regal Oviedo Mall and Cobb Plaza Cinema Café 12)
Seberg Nothing in life is certain, but you'd have to do a lot to turn smart audiences away from a biopic about Jean Seberg, the French New Wave actress who ran afoul of J. Edgar Hoover due to her commitment to civil rights and her romantic relationship with a black man. I mean, that's a fascinating, compelling story anyway you slice it. So let's just check out Fandango and see what else we can learn. "Starring Kristen Stewart." Aaand there it is. (R; opens Thursday at AMC Dine-In Disney Springs 24)
ALSO PLAYING:
Las Píldoras de me Novio (My Boyfriend's Meds) In this English/Spanish comedy, a mattress-store owner's new romantic relationship is threatened when he's separated from the medications he takes for numerous personality disorders. Jokes about mental health: always funny, amirite? (R; playing at Universal
Cinemark at CityWalk, Epic Theatres at Lee Vista and AMC Dine-In Disney Springs 24)
The Traitor Actor Pierfrancesco Favino plays Tommaso Buscetta, the Sicilian mobster who turned state's evidence against his former bosses in organized crime. Which is what they used to do before there were book deals. (R; playing at Regal Winter Park Village & RPX)