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Short reviews of what’s in theaters

Robert Redford stars in “All Is Lost.”Daniel Daza/Roadside Attractions/Roadside Attractions

New releases

★ ★ ★ ★ All Is Lost Two hours of Robert Redford on a boat in the Indian Ocean, and the boat’s sinking — what sounds like a recipe for boredom is, in the hands of its star and writer-director J.C. Chandor, a nearly perfect thing: an economic, elegant Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook that subtly backs into Zen. See it on a big screen. (106 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)

Previously released

½ Carrie What a disappointment. Director Kimberley Peirce (“Boys Don’t Cry”) and star Chloë Grace Moretz (“Kick-Ass,” “Let Me In”) fail to bring any new energy, resonances, or point to their remake of the classic 1976 Brian De Palma shriekfest. It’s a dispiriting retread that could have been directed by any proficient Hollywood hack. (100 min., R) (Ty Burr)

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★ ★ Escape Plan In their latest team-up, Sylvester Stallone plays a security consultant who infiltrates prisons, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is the fast friend he makes after being left to rot in a secret super-penitentiary. For the first half-hour, you start to think maybe it’s possible to recapture those ’80s popcorn-movie thrills. Trouble is, it’s all Sly’s show — Ahnold hasn’t even come into the picture yet. (116 min., R) (Tom Russo)

★ ★ The Fifth Estate A slick, Hollywoodized retelling of the WikiLeaks scandal, with Benedict Cumberbatch mesmerizing as a Julian Assange by way of Dr. Evil. Well-made and watchable, it’s itself the response of an entrenched information system toward something it barely comprehends. (128 min., R) (Ty Burr)

Find an archive of reviews at www.boston.com/movies.