New releases

★★★★ Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry Alison Klayman’s documentary about the Chinese sculptor-provocateur is one of the most powerfully engaging movies of the year. A bear of a man with a caustic sense of humor, Ai’s a culture jammer who began as an artist with political tendencies but has become an activist who happens to make art. In Mandarin and English, with subtitles. (91 min., R) (Ty Burr)

★ The Babymakers Ah, infertility comedy. Paul Schneider (“Parks and Recreation”) can’t get wife Olivia Munn pregnant, so he and his buddies plot a sperm-bank robbery to steal back his old, viable sample. Trouble is, the movie makes the mistake of thinking that anyone is here for rom-com stuff, then jarringly backloads the outrageous bits. Directed by Broken Lizard trouper Jay Chandra-sekhar. (98 min., R) (Tom Russo)

★★ Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days In the third adaptation of Jeff Kinney’s kid-lit series, Greg Heffley (Zachary Gordon) pretends to get a summer job at a country club to appease his dad — and to get closer to his crush. The filmmakers can’t keep ahead of their cast’s puberty curve, as the series’ familiar mischief often just doesn’t work here. Devon Bostick, who returns as Greg’s jerk older brother, is the highlight. (94 min., PG) (Tom Russo)

★★★ Easy Money This multi-layered Swedish crime film is very assured, if ultimately a bit contrived. JW (Joel Kinnaman) is an ambitious business student who moonlights as a cab driver in Stockholm. His boss moonlights as a drug dealer, and JW volunteers to help with money laundering. Big mistake. Dragomir Mrsic is excellent as a Serbian mobster and single dad. In Swedish, Spanish, and Serbian, with subtitles. (124 min., R) (Mark Feeney)

Frank Ashberg/Weinstein Company

Joel Kinnaman plays a business student involved with drug dealers in “Easy Money.”

★½ Klown A Danish comedy that has the look of “The Office” (zooms, hand-held camera, distracted editing) and the lameness of an Adam Sandler movie. To show his pregnant girlfriend that he can be a good father, a 30-ish dweeb takes his nephew along on a canoeing trip with the dweeb’s highly peeved lecherous friend. Who knew Danes were so fond of penis jokes? In Danish, with subtitles. (88 minutes, R) (Mark Feeney)

★★★ Ruby Sparks Zoe Kazan, who wrote the script, plays the title character in this Pygmalion update. A very real Ruby emerges from the pages of Paul Dano’s novel-in-progress. Kazan and Dano, a real-life couple, have real-life chemistry. When the film isn’t being cutesy-quirky or attempting deep thoughts about free will, it’s quite winning. Annette Bening and (especially) Antonio Banderas have a ball as Dano’s mother and stepfather. (104 min., R) (Mark Feeney)

★★ Total Recall Unmemorable. A needless if watchable remake of the 1990 Paul Verhoeven sci-fi actioner — based very loosely on a Philip K. Dick short story — this stars a glum Colin Farrell instead of a quippy Arnold Schwarzenegger. It starts well before resolutely working its way toward average. Excellent production design and a hard-charging Kate Beckinsale almost save it. (109 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)

Previously released

★★★★ Beasts of the Southern Wild 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 Dark Knight Rises Oh, right, this is what a superhero movie is supposed to look like. Christopher Nolan brings his Batman trilogy to a close with a majestic crash. It’s overlong and more than a little crazy but made with a pop-Wagnerian conviction and undeniable moviemaking skill. Also, Anne Hathaway is the best Catwoman since Julie Newmar. (164 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)

★★½ Farewell, My Queen The immediate aftermath of the fall of the Bastille, as seen from Versailles — more precisely, as seen through the kitty-cat eyes of Léa Seydoux, who plays Marie Antoinette’s book reader. Diane Kruger is the queen. Benoît Jacquot’s film is interesting enough, but would its sense of social fabric (a crucial element) seem more nuanced without the jittery, hand-held camerawork? In French, with subtitles. (100 min., R) (Mark Feeney)

★★ Ice Age: Continental Drift For their fourth outing, prehistoric pals Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), and saber tooth Diego (Denis Leary) are dropped into a pirate tale that couldn’t feel any more arbitrarily conceived. Peter Dinklage works hard as an amusingly designed, gold-toothed monkey mariner, but there’s a sense that we’re watching filler. Jennifer Lopez is his tigress first mate. (94 min., PG) (Tom Russo)

★★★★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, 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)

★★★½ The Queen of Versailles A documentary about David and Jackie Siegel, who were building the largest private residence in the country until the recession came along. Director Lauren Greenfield can’t decide how she feels about Jackie, so the film’s an appalling yet oddly sympathetic look at American entitlement. (100 min., PG) (Ty Burr)

★★★ 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. (127 min., R) (Ty Burr)

★★ Step Up Revolution The flash mobs here aren’t the typical choreographed dance moves in the “Step Up” series. Dance group “The Mob” is trying to go viral and win a YouTube competition. When a developer threatens to buy their community, “The Mob” uses flash dances as a form of protest. The developer vs. innocent community plot has been done before, but never has a protest been so fun to watch. (97 min., PG-13) (Stephanie Steinberg)

★★★ Ted Seth MacFarlane’s debut feature is a foulmouthed, 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. (100 min., R) (Ty Burr)

★½ The Watch Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and Jonah Hill are doofuses who start a neighborhood watch and come up against aliens. It’s another obnoxious, penis-obsessed bro farce, lazily written and haphazardly directed. Any unintentional echoes of the Trayvon Martin and Aurora, Colo., shootings are just insult upon injury. (95 min., R) (Ty Burr)

★★½ The Well-Digger’s Daughter Daniel Auteuil directed, stars in, and adapted this remake of the 1940 Marcel Pagnol film. As the daughter, Patricia, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey is even lovelier than the rural Provence setting. Auteuil sure does munch on the scenery, though, and the plot is even more shameless than Auteuil’s overacting. Kad Merad is winning in the thankless role of Patricia’s oafish/affable suitor. In French, with subtitles. (109 min., unrated) (Mark Feeney)