New releases

★★ Portrait of Wally A documentary about the restitution of an Egon Schiele painting that had been stolen by the Nazis and ended up in the possession of a prominent Austrian collector. The film has an interesting story to tell but takes too long to do so. Worse, it’s lacking in nuance and not lacking in self-righteousness. In English and German, with subtitles. (90 min., unrated) (Mark Feeney)

★★★ Ted Writer-director Seth MacFarlane’s debut feature is a crass, foul-mouthed, mostly hilarious, surprisingly sentimental bromance about a grown boy named John (Mark Wahlberg) and his bong-huffing teddy bear (voiced by MacFarlane). It’s really about that screw-up friend you want to outgrow but can’t. With Mila Kunis and a Boston vibe that feels close to the real thing. (100 min., R) (Ty Burr)

★★★½ The Turin Horse An elderly farmer, his adult daughter, and their bedraggled mare live in a farmhouse in the middle of a windswept nowhere. The Hungarian master Béla Tarr’s ninth feature film (he’s said he’s retiring from filmmaking) is a parable of life, death, and, especially, duration. Shot in a very gray black and white, the film is bleak, pure, forbidding, and often transfixing. In Hungarian, with subtitles. (146 min., unrated) (Mark Feeney)

Previously released

★★½ Bernie Jack Black dials back the boorishness to play Bernie Tiede, a real-life Texas funeral director and community pillar who in 1996 shot his aged companion (Shirley MacLaine) in the back. Richard Linklater directs it as a loopy black comedy with generous input from local “witnesses” — the movie’s bouncy, amusing, and wholly lacking in a point. With Matthew McConaughey. (104 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)

★★½ The Dictator The despot here is a tall, fit, flamboyantly bearded North African goofball (Sacha Baron Cohen) who winds up working in a Brooklyn, N.Y., food co-op. That’s the best idea in the movie, which lacks the cultural tension in “Borat” and “Bruno,” satires that Cohen and director Larry Charles previously made together. This one is lazy, a satire that can’t bring itself to properly satirize anything. (88 min., R) (Wesley Morris)

★★ Hysteria A comedy-drama about the invention of the vibrator in 1880s London. Somewhere in here is an illuminating farce about a repressed society racked by urges it doesn’t dare name. So why does director Tanya Wexler insist on stamping it out with moralizing? Stick with playwright Sara Ruhl’s “In the Next Room.” Starring Hugh Dancy and Maggie Gyllenhaal. (100 min., R) (Ty Burr)

★★ The Intouchables France’s second biggest film hit tells the story of a ritzy white quadriplegic (Francois Cluzet) who hires a bald, Senegalese-born thug (Omar Sy) to take care of him. All the white people do in this movie is flatter and spoil and humor the caretaker. He spouts his crass, egotistical crap, and all anyone does is laugh. America has a racial guilt problem. France’s might be more insidious. In French, with subtitles. (113 min., R) (Wesley Morris)

★★★½ Jiro Dreams of Sushi This documentary about Jiro Ono, the 85-year-old Tokyo sushi chef generally acknowledged as the finest on the planet, touches on both the mysteries of gastronomic art and the human flaws that can come from the daily striving for perfection. It’s a foodie’s delight, best seen on a full stomach. In Japanese, with subtitles. (81 min., PG) (Ty Burr)

★★★★ Moonrise Kingdom When two 12-year-olds (Kara Heyward, Jared Gilman) plot a secret getaway to a remote part of their fictitious New England island, the adults in their lives come looking for them. Wes Anderson directed and co-wrote the movie with Roman Coppola, and it feels utterly real, vividly dreamt, and totally remembered. Anderson’s dollhouse aesthetic acquires a long-overdue soul. With Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, and Tilda Swinton. (94 min., PG-13) (Wesley Morris)

★★ Prometheus Like opening a gift box from Tiffany’s to find a mug from the dollar store. Ridley Scott’s return to the “Alien” franchise is impeccably produced but increasingly scattered. It’s officially a prequel but it feels like a remake: We’ve been here before, with lesser technology but more purpose. Starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, and Charlize Theron, all quite good. (119 min., R) (Ty Burr)

★★½ Rock of Ages For those who can’t stop believin’ and fans of bizarro Tom Cruise performances. This star-studded adaptation of the Broadway jukebox musical, dedicated to the enduring power of cheesy ’80s pop-metal, alternates plastic bombast with moments of comic invention: It’s karaoke night on a Hollywood budget. Cruise plays an Axl-like rock god; Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, and two dull ingénues also appear. (123 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)

★★★ Safety Not Guaranteed A small, charming shaggy-dog comedy about an oddball (Mark Duplass) who claims to have built a time machine and the alt-weekly intern (Aubrey Plaza) who wants to find out if he’s crazy or not. The film sticks to its droll indie aesthetic while giving Plaza (“Parks and Recreation”) the star-making role a lot of us have been waiting for. With Jake M. Johnson. (94 min., R) (Ty Burr)

★★½ Snow White and the Huntsman Entertainingly schizophrenic, this reengineering of the classic fairy tale feels like it was made from pieces of every fantasy-action movie ever made. It barely holds together but there are daft pleasures, from Charlize Theron’s rampant overacting as the evil queen to Kristen Stewart’s surprising underplaying as Snow. Directed by Rupert Sanders. (116 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)