New releases

★½ The Amazing Spider-Man The worst superhero movie since “Green Lantern,” this uninspired, unnecessary remake plays like the contract extension it is. Talented actors like Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Rhys Ifans are saddled with generic dialogue, and director Marc Webb (“(500) Days of Summer”) muffs the action sequences. Even the 3-D is obnoxious. This isn’t a movie, it’s a mugging. (136 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)

★★★★ Beasts of the Southern Wild Benh Zeitlin’s astonishing first feature is a magical-realist fable that’s set in a small Louisiana community at the time of Hurricane Katrina but that plays like a primeval foundation myth. As the 6-year-old protagonist, Quvenzhané Wallis gives a performance that grows in majesty over the course of the film. (91 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)

★★½ The Invisible War This documentary about rape in the US military is doubly disturbing. The individual stories it relates from victimized former service members are heartbreaking and enraging, while the ineffectiveness of the Defense Department’s response to the problem is enraging in a different way. (99 min., unrated) (Mark Feeney)

★★ Katy Perry: Part of Me Cameras follow the singer as she tours the world after the phenomenal success of her CD “Teenage Dream.” (The daughter of two Pentecostal preachers became the first woman to produce five No. 1 singles off of one album.) But even as she’s playing to packed houses, Perry struggles to keep her marriage to Russell Brand from falling apart. The movie is part concert film, part documentary. (97 min., PG) (Mark Shanahan)

★★★½ Never Stand Still This 2011 documentary is director Ron Honsa’s “love letter” to Jacob’s Pillow, the historic and internationally beloved summer dance festival and school founded by Ted Shawn in Becket. Precious — but scant — archival footage of dance greats of the past is seen alongside today’s stars and tomorrow’s hopefuls. Narrated by dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones, it’s a treat for dance lovers and a decent primer for the uninitiated. (74 min., unrated) (Janine Parker)

★★★ Savages Despite a lousy ending, it’s Oliver Stone’s strongest work in years — a propulsive ultra-violent thriller with a mean streak and a devilish sense of humor. Aaron Johnson and Taylor Kitsch play naive pot entrepreneurs in trouble with a Mexican cartel. Costarring Blake Lively, Salma Hayek, and a funny, scary Benicio Del Toro. (127 min., R) (Ty Burr)

★★½ Take This Waltz Writer-director Sarah Polley (“Away From Her”) makes her bid to be taken for an auteur with this visually striking, narratively vague story of love, lust, and infidelity in Toronto. Some very good moments, but Michelle Williams’s ethereal uncertainty is in danger of turning into schtick and Seth Rogen is out of his depth. (116 min., R) (Ty Burr)

★★½ To Rome With Love Woody Allen follows up the biggest hit of his career (“Midnight in Paris”) with a charming but self-indulgent trifle that’s less than the sum of its parts. A large cast gallivants through four separate story lines set in the Eternal City. Two work, two don’t. With Allen, Jesse Eisenberg, Alec Baldwin, and many others. (102 min., R) (Ty Burr)