42 (PG-13) Sports biopics are largely interchangeable. The sports and the players may change, but the obstacles to overcome are nearly identical. Heck, the same could be said of any biopic, musical, sport, etc. Still, something about the challenges faced by Jackie Robinson (gracefully inhabited by unknown Chadwick Boseman) as he broke the color barrier in professional baseball feels so much more singular than your average true tale of successfully bucking the odds. When signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, Robinson faced derision by his teammates, opposing players and coaches (embodied by Alan Tudyk as Phillies manager Ben Chapman) and the fans. The role of Robinson requires a special actor giving a special performance. Boseman’s is not a skilled mimicry like so many other portrayals of famous persons; he imbues Robinson with such strength of character and composure. Equally important to this tale is Dodgers exec Branch Rickey, so gruffly played by Harrison Ford, who may finally be making the transition into grand old actor. Writer-director Brian Helgeland does nothing unique as he recounts this cinematic biography, but his film reads quickly, entertainingly and informatively. What more could you ask of a biopic?

THE ART OF THE STEAL 2009. As part of the Art and Intrigue Film Series, the Georgia Museum of Art presents a screening of The Art of the Steal, an official selection of no fewer than the Toronto, New York and AFI Film Festivals. Filmmaker Don Argott (Rock School) documents the struggle over Dr. Albert C. Barnes’ $25 million collection of modern and post-impressionist art, including 181 Renoirs, 69 Cezannes, 59 Matisses, 46 Picassos, 16 Modiglianis and seven van Goghs. (Georgia Museum of Art)

BEFORE MIDNIGHT (R) In 1995, we met Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) on a train to Vienna in Before Sunrise; in 2004, Jesse and Celine reunite for an afternoon in Paris in Before Sunset. Now the unlikely trilogy continues nine years later, as Jesse and Celine spend time in Greece. Again, director Richard Linklater and stars Hawke and Delpy share screenplay credits. A series like this could go on forever. It’s about time to catch up with this indie romance.

THE BIG WEDDING (R) The Big Wedding should be celebrated as a strong candidate for worst film of the year. The Bucket List scripter Justin Zackham has delivered an Americanization of France’s Mon frère se marie where Brit Ben Barnes is acceptably ethnic enough to play one of the film’s central Hispanic characters and the opening gag combines an ex-wife stumbling upon her former spouse and his girlfriend in the midst of sex. Oh the guffaws! They can only be matched by a grown daughter throwing up on her dad. Hilarious! Seriously, The Big Wedding, in which a long-divorced couple (Diane Keaton and Robert De Niro) must act married for their adopted son’s wedding because the grown man will not tell his devoutly Catholic birth mother (Patricia Rae) that they are divorced, is populated by offensive, meanly unfunny characters (a role in which Katherine Heigl does excel) differentiated by their virginity or lack thereof. The entire family acts like a hormonal, randy teen. The sinking ship of a movie has nary one likable, nuanced character to grab onto like a life raft. And I haven’t even mentioned that Robin Williams appears as a sober, mean-spirited priest. Avoid these nuptials at all costs.

THE CALL (R) Until a final act that is so predictably out of character for Halle Berry’s heroine, The Call knows exactly what it is; a pulpy genre thriller; and excels at its sole task of generating as much entertainment as possible via suspense. After feeling responsible for the death of a teenage girl, veteran 911 operator Jordan Turner (Berry) is reluctant to take another emergency call. But when another teenager, Casey Welson (Abigail Breslin), is kidnapped by the same nondescript white guy, Jordan makes it her mission to save this victim. Considering the leads interact via telephone for the majority of the movie, it was smart to cast a beautiful, if strangely bewigged, Academy Award winner and a cute, all grown up former child nominee. Couple those two talented actresses with the claustrophobia and helplessness of the central locations, and the audience is treated to a pretty gripping first two acts; the last act is not awful, just an uncreative, poor relation to its predecessors. Director Brad Anderson (Session 9, The Machinist, Transsiberian) gets as much tension as he can out of this script and should have his first bona fide hit to show for the effort. Answer this Call.

THE COMPANY YOU KEEP (R) You’ve seen a Robert Redford movie before, right? Then you know what to expect from The Company You Keep. A lawyer (Redford, as stalwart and slightly stiff as ever) goes on the run after a young reporter (Shia LaBeouf, who reminds us of his appeal) outs him as a member of the domestic terrorist organization, the Weather Underground. Redford has assembled a great cast of aging greats—Julie Christie, Nick Nolte, Richard Jenkins, Stanley Tucci, Brendan Gleeson, Sam Elliot and Chris Cooper. The Company You Keep isn’t hip (though one might wonder how Redford’s nearly 80-year-old fugitive doesn’t break one), but it’s a natural narrative extension of Redford’s career. (Ciné)

THE CROODS (PG) Despite its underwhelming trailers, The Croods stands out as one of the best non-Pixar animated family films released in the last few years. A family of cavemen—dad Grug (v. Nicolas Cage), mom Ugga (v. Catherine Keener), teen daughter Eep (v. Emma Stone), dumb son Thunk (v. Clarke Duke), feral baby Sandy and grandma (v. Cloris Leachman)—are forced on a cross-country road trip after their cave is destroyed by the impending “end of the world.” Fortunately, Eep meets Guy (v. Ryan Reynolds), whose developed brain filled with “ideas” might just help them all survive. Most cute family fun pics feel rehashed and overdone; The Croods does not. Its characters successfully, though unbelievably, combine the Flintstones with the Simpsons, and the voice acting, particularly by Cage, Stone and Reynolds sparkles. Cage was an inspired choice, for a role one would think is practically written for Kevin James. Most animated features, with their paint-by-numbers plot and rote, child-pleasing gags lose an adult’s attention within minutes of beginning. The Croods held my rapt attention for its entire entertaining run time and left me considering potential plots for its inevitable, disappointing sequel.

EPIC (PG) A teenage girl (v. Amanda Seyfried) is transported to a shrunken down world where she assists a ragtag band of warriors known as the Leafmen against the Boggans and their evil leader Mandrake (v. Christoph Waltz). Longtime Ice Age co-director Chris Wedge adapts William Joyce’s The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs. Featuring an all-star voice cast including Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Beyonce Knowles, Aziz Ansari, Pitbull (?!), Jason Sudeikis, Steven Tyler and Chris O’Dowd, this animated flick had best do better than last winter’s Joyce adaptation, Rise of the Guardians.

FAST & FURIOUS 6 (PG-13) Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) reassemble the team (including Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang and Jordana Brewster) to help federal agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) take down a former Special Ops tough guy (Luke Evans), whose second-in-command is the love of Dom’s life, Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), believed to be dead since Fast 4. Justin Lin returns to direct his fourth F&F entry. With Gina Carano of Soderbergh’s underrated Haywire.

GINGER & ROSA (PG-13) Two teenage girls grow up in 1960s London as inseparable friends, but as the Cuban Missile Crisis and nuclear annihilation loom, Ginger (Elle Fanning) and Rosa (Alice Englert, Beautiful Creatures) clash over love. Writer-director Sally Potter has not done much high profile work since 1992’s Orlando with Tilda Swinton. The film has picked up a few awards including a couple of awards for Fanning’s work, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Virtuoso Award and the Valladolid International Film Festival’s Best Actress prize. With Christina Hendricks, Timothy Spall, Annette Bening, Oliver Platt and Alessandro Nivola. (Ciné)

THE GREAT GATSBY (PG-13) Like all Baz Luhrmann’s films save Moulin Rouge!, The Great Gatsby left me highly conflicted. A creative, stylistic tour de force, the film starts off kinetic to the point of claustrophobia. The constant moving and zooming camera and non-stop edits choke the air out of the first act; the film just needs to stop and catch its breath for a moment. The film doesn’t stop its constant Charlestoning until Nick Carroway (Tobey Maguire) meets reclusive millionaire Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) at one of the latter’s renowned parties. Finally, the film takes a hiccupping breath. Luhrmann’s always favored style over substance (it’s why his Romeo + Juliet is so appealingly frustrating), and the Roaring '20s are a great place to indulge his whims. However, his hyperactive visualization fill his adaptation of Fitzgerald’s classic novel with the air of parody. The film often feels like a musical with the song-and-dance numbers cut out. Still, its liveliness bests Jack Clayton’s dull 1974 adaptation starring an especially wooden Robert Redford. DiCaprio better imbues Gatsby with the decade’s decadent hopefulness. Gatsby is also one of the few films I think I would have preferred viewing in 3D.

THE HANGOVER PART III (R) The Wolfpack trilogy concludes with a return to Las Vegas and trips to Los Angeles and Tijuana. All the key players return—director Todd Phillips, stars Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zack Galifianakis—and additional support from John Goodman and Melissa McCarthy might make up for the return of Chang, I mean Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong). I didn’t dislike The Hangover Part II, but III needs to change up the pace a bit. With Justin Bartha, Jeffrey Tambor, Heather Graham and Mike Epps.

HONOR & GLORY (R) 1993. Bad Movie Night celebrates three awesome years of terrible cinema with Honor & Glory. I guess America’s martial arts sweetheart Cynthia Rothrock was the big draw here. Rothrock stars as FBI agent Tracey Pride, who is going after evil businessman Jason Slade (John Miller) with the help of her newswoman sister, Joyce (Donna Jason), her Hong Kong partner Dragon Lee (Robin Shou, Mortal Kombat’s Liu Kang), and one of Slade’s former bodyguards, Jake Armstrong (Chuck Jeffreys). (Ciné)

THE HOST (PG-13) What Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight novels did to horror, she does to science fiction in The Host. (Twilight was horror without the horror; The Host is science fiction without those pesky tropes particular to science fiction.) Alien invaders have conquered Earth. Most of humanity has had their bodies taken over by an extraterrestrial tenant. (How do you know if someone’s possessed? Their icy blue Fahey eyes.) When the invaders implant a soul named Wanderer into the body of Melanie Styder (Saoirse Ronan), Melanie fights back, eventually convincing/leading Wanderer to Melanie’s human family and friends, a group of desert-living rebels led by William Hurt. Once there, Wanda, as the humans call her, falls for one boy, while Melanie continues to love Jared (Max Irons). You knew Meyer would work her love triangle (or in this case, love rectangle?) into the plot somewhere. Writer-director Andrew Niccol has had varying levels of success in the science fiction (his peak seems more and more to have been his first feature, Gattaca), and The Host’s flaws don’t belong so much to him as to Meyer. Niccol only had so much flimsy material with which to work; his resulting film feels empty, sparsely populated and worst, boring.

IDENTITY THIEF (R) Unfortunately, stars Melissa McCarthy (an Oscar nominee for Bridesmaids) and Jason Bateman are better than this more-annoying-than-funny odd couple road comedy. With two kids and another on the way, Sandy Patterson (Bateman) is struggling to make ends meet. Having his identity stolen by friendless Diana (McCarthy) only further aggravates his financial distress. In desperation, Sandy travels to Florida to bring his tormentor to justice. Inexplicably and unnecessarily on their heels are a couple of drug enforcers (Genesis Rodriguez and Tip “T.I.” Harris) and a mean ass bounty hunter (a pretty much wasted Robert Patrick). Strangely, the gags work best when Bateman’s straight man and McCarthy’s manic criminal bond rather than fight. Too bad the mean-spirited comic scenarios cooked up by screenwriter Craig Mazin (Scary Movies 3 and 4 and The Hangover: Parts II and III) lack originality. The punch lines lack the subtlety that brings out Bateman’s greatness. Director Seth Gordon (The King of Kong and Horrible Bosses) and his hilarious stars have done and will do comedy better.

IRON MAN 3 (PG-13) Happily, Shane Black has taken over the Iron Man franchise from Jon Favreau (Black also co-wrote the script), and it’s mostly a blast right out of 1987. I dig Black’s vision of Iron Man 3 as a buddy movie; I just wish his Stark had suited up more. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) may be the rare superhero alter ego that is more interesting out of costume, but watching him investigate a mystery in Small Town, Tennessee (child sidekick in tow) felt more like episodic television than the initial, post-Avengers solo adventure. The climactic showdown where a hoodied-and-Polo’ed Tony and Rhodey (Don Cheadle) run around a cargo ship with guns drawn was way more Lethal Weapon 2 than Iron Man 2. Armor them up, and you have yourself a cool twist on the 80s' buddy concept Black helped pioneer. The Iron Man franchise goes 0 for 3 on villains; none are in Iron Man’s league. The potential of The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) is wasted with a twist that, while amusingly executed, leaves the film villainously bereft. Such minor quibbles don’t devalue Iron Man 3’s entertainment worth; it’s one high quality blockbuster (terrifically pulpy, worth watching credits included).

JACK THE GIANT SLAYER (PG-13) Another reteaming of director Bryan Singer with his Public Access/Usual Suspects/Apt Pupil/Valkryie scripter, Academy Award winner Christopher McQuarrie, should be more exciting, intriguing and lasting than Jack the Giant Slayer. While far from a bad fantasy film, this retooled telling of the classic children’s stories, Jack the Giant Killer and Jack and the Beanstalk, does little to fire the imagination once the credits roll. We all know the story: young Jack (Marcus Hoult, whose romzom Warm Bodies showed loads more creativity) gets some magic beans, from which a giant beanstalk grows. At the top of the leafy, green ladder is a land full of giants who have a taste for human flesh. Of course, this new telling has to involve a love interest, headstrong Princess Isabelle (Eleanor Tomlinson), who Jack sets out to rescue. The mostly British cast is top-notch—Ian McShane as the king, Ewan McGregor as the king’s number one guardsman, Bill Nighy as the voice of the lead giant—and Stanley Tucci’s always a swell villain. Jack the Giant Slayer will kill an afternoon pleasantly enough (and better than last summer’s fairy re-tale Snow White and the Huntsman), but the special effects-acle lacks any lasting magic.

MUD (PG-13) Boasting a star-studded cast of Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Shepard, Ray McKinnon, Michael Shannon, Sarah Paulson and Joe Don Baker, Jeff Nichols’ third feature offers this promising rising filmmaker with his best chance of widespread success. A coming of age tale set in the disappearing wilds of the small town south, Mud aims high, as Nichols attempts to channel Mark Twain, and hits the target square in the bull’s eye. Two teens—Ellis (Tye Sheridan, Tree of Life) and Neckbone (newcomer Jacob Lofland)—discover a boat in a tree. They also discover McConaughey’s Mud, a fugitive living in the boat in the tree, while he waits to escape with the love of his life, Juniper (Witherspoon). Ellis also feels the sting of family troubles and first love/first heartbreak. Mud watches like a work of modern literature, capturing the last gasps of a dying culture as one boy becomes a man. As one of 2013’s more challenging films, Mud dethrones its closest competitor, The Place Beyond the Pines, as it reminds me of early David Gordon Green, before all his releases blended into the same, artless marijuana-addled haze.

OBLIVION (PG-13) The new Tom Cruise action, sci-fi spectacle is a doozy of a looker. Everything from the set design to the vehicle design to the music (scored by M83) is stylishly crafted and a visual/aural knockout. After fighting off an alien invasion via nuclear destruction, humanity has moved off-planet to Titan, a moon of Saturn. Two people, tech Jack Harper (Tom Cruise, who is arguably the best preserved man on the planet) and his communications liaison Victoria (Andrea Riseborough), have been left behind, tasked to protect the giant hydroreactors that power Titan using remnants of the alien invaders. But Jack's world is turned upside down by the arrival of a NASA scientist (Olga Kurylenko) of whom Jack has been dreaming, and by the discovery of human survivors, led by Malcolm Beech (Morgan Freeman). Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski co-scripted Oblivion from his own graphic novel, and despite its derivative pieces, the whole narrative coheres rather well. It's the rare video game-inspired movie that I enjoyed watching alone; I never once thought I'd rather be playing Oblivion. This late-April, pre-summer salvo has set the blockbuster bar higher than expected; hopefully summer 2013's entrants can clear it. Hear that, Iron Man 3?

PAIN & GAIN (R) Sure, bagging on Michael Bay is a fun pastime of cinematic snobs. I’ve taken my share of digs at his more galling efforts (the technically marvelous, emotionally destitute Pearl Harbor and the offensively assaultive Transformers 2/3). Add Pain & Gain to the list of Bay films I’ll defend (Armageddon, The Rock, Bad Boys). With the subtlety of an 18 wheeler, Pain & Gain chronicles the true story (of which we are constantly reminded) of three bodybuilders—Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg), Paul Doyle (Dwayne Johnson) and Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie)—who turn to crime in order to achieve the American Dream. If you were hoping Bay had a quirky indie crime caper in him, he doesn’t. P&G detractors will find many of the (whether you like him or not) auteur’s flaws on display. The film is too long, sledgehammeringly artless and mindnumbingly dumb. It’s a film created in the image of its characters and equally as appealing as those amateur criminals thanks to Wahlberg, Johnson and Mackie. Would I have preferred a shorter, pulpier, Elmore Leonard/Carl Hiaasen version of this tale (or better yet, an award winning documentary)? Yes. Will I accept this musclebound, meathead movie? Certainly, but only once.

PEEPLES (PG-13) The directorial debut of Tina Gordon Chism, the writer of ATL and Drumline, might as well be called Meet the Peeples. Stop me if this plotline sounds familiar. A guy, Wade Walker (Craig Robinson, who makes more out of his time in the spotlight than most comic actors would), in love with a girl, Grace Peeples (Kerry Washington, Django Unchained), who is way out of his league, seeks to please her domineering father, federal judge Virgil Peeples (David Alan Grier, whose believability as Washington’s father does more to make me feel my age than the increasing gray of my beard). The “chocolate Kennedys,” as Wade calls the Peeples, have their own problems, which lead to sub-sitcom problems and hijinks. Wade’s brother, a doll doctor (Malcolm Barrett), refers to a “black ‘Three’s Company,’” a fairly fitting description of the entire movie. I wouldn’t be shocked to see producer Tyler Perry turning this flick into his latest TBS sitcom. Imagine the hilarity of the Browns-Peeples crossover. No seriously, you’ll have to imagine the laughs because they won’t exist. I wonder how well this comedy will do minus Perry’s moralistic sermonizing.

SAFE HAVEN (PG-13) One thing I enjoy about reviewing movies is having a readymade excuse for watching sappy romances like Safe Haven. I’ve been curious as to what the big mystery is since the first trailer; plus, Julianne Hough is really attractive. Unfortunately, the latest Nicholas Sparks adaptation, set in another North Carolina paradise, is one solved mystery away from just being one couple’s two hour how we met story. Pretty, young Katie is on the run from a constantly drunk, really sweaty cop (“Revolution” star David Lyons). Lucky for her, a hot widower, Alex (Josh Duhamel), with two cute kids is ready to love again. Wondering how this romance is ultimately different from Sleeping with the Enemy? Then prepare for the laughable, Shyamalan-esque, climactic twist. Still, Safe Haven is competently, if unexcitingly, made by Academy Award nominee Lasse Hallstrom, but The Notebook need not worry. Its legacy as the gold standard for this sort of Sparks-ian cinematic page turner is under no threat.

THE SAPPHIRES (PG-13) In the late '60s, an Australian Aboriginal girl group entertains the boys in Vietnam. Naturally, the sweet, inspirational movie—director Wayne Blair’s feature debut—is based on a true story (and garners a few comparisons to Muriel’s Wedding). The only familiar face is Chris O’Dowd, so likable on “The I.T. Crowd” and Bridesmaids, and one of the more likable characters from season two of “Girls.” I really feel like I’ve seen his movie before, yet part of me is still a little jazzed for it. (Ciné)

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (R) 2012. After being released from a state mental hospital, Pat (Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper) meets Tiffany (Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence), who lost it after the death of her husband. Instead of exacerbating each other’s unhealthy flaws, the relationship between these two cracked souls heals both, much to the surprise of everyone, including Pat’s parents (dual Oscar nominees Robert De Niro and Animal Kingdom’s Jacki Weaver). Silver Linings Playbook has an awkward edge that makes even the smallest successes so much sweeter. David O. Russell’s fiery demeanor and beautiful writing certainly ignites his actors; Cooper and Lawrence give two of the year’s most generous and honest performances. Silver Linings Playbook should not be missed.

SNITCH (PG-13) The new actioner from The Rock, né Dwayne Johnson, is a lot more serious than you’d expect a movie from a former stuntman, director Ric Roman Waugh. (Knowing cowriter Justin Haythe wrote Revolutionary Road should mitigate some of the surprise at Snitch’s serious side.) Construction bigwig John Matthews (Johnson) will do anything to lessen his son Jason’s jail time after a drug arrest. Matthews convinces one of his ex-con employees, Daniel (Jon Bernthal, late of “The Walking Dead”), to introduce him to a drug dealer, Malik (Michael K. Williams, aka Omar Little aka Chalky White), in order to cut a deal with federal prosecutor Joanne Keeghan (Susan Sarandon), who could use a big bust to boost her congressional campaign. Refreshingly, Johnson spends most of the movie in desperate dad mode as opposed to real life action figure. Appearances be damned, Snitch is no '80s action rehash; the movie’s got too much gravitas for Ah-nuld, even in his prime. All these kind assessments get smashed by the ridiculous 18-wheeler chase with the drug cartel that concludes the picture. Oh, well. The first hour and a half’s better than expected.

• STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS (PG-13) Star Trek Into Darkness, the second film in J.J. Abrams’ revamped Trek-verse, is the best Star Wars movie since 1983. Don’t think I typed that wrong. The second new Star Trek is the giant, sci-fi, matinee serial that the Star Wars prequels never were. My only concern with J.J. Abrams’ revitalization of George Lucas’ neck of the galaxy is the negative effects it will have on the burgeoning new Star Trek. The new Trek improves upon its already superb predecessor in every way. Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) leads the crew of the Starship Enterprise—Spock (Zachary Quinto), Bones (Karl Urban), Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Sulu (John Cho), Chekhov (Anton Yelchin) and Scotty (Simon Pegg)—after a rogue Federation operative (Benedict Cumberbatch) turns terrorist. Knock Abrams all you want for his love of lens flare, but the bridge of the Enterprise looks fantastic. The space battles trump anything outside of the Star Wars universe. Trek has never looked better, been more thrilling or more humanly humorous, and those praises come from a lifelong Trek fan (I eschew the Trekkie/Trekker nomenclature). Star Trek 2 seems like the luckiest of numbers; this sequel achieves Khan-like greatness. Knowledgeable fans will enjoy the abundant surprises.