A Bigger Splash, The Family Fang, Dark Horse, Viva, Gayby Baby, Memoria

A Bigger Splash

The Family Fang

Dark Horse

Viva

Gayby Baby

Memoria

Five recommendations out of six in a strong week at the cinema:

Jersey Boys

Clint Eastwood’s film of the jukebox musical “Jersey Boys” is the definitive telling of the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, richer because Eastwood takes the time to develop each man’s character (in the stage show, they’re largely indistinguishable).

Stand Up Guys

Having flamed out as the world’s unlikeliest leading man after the “Short Circuit” series, Fisher Stevens scoots over to the director’s chair for the far worse “Stand Up Guys,” 95 minutes of dead air that’s as torturous to sit through as the cast list (Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Alan Arkin) would lead you to surmise. The three play ex-hitmen who used to work for a capo named Claphands. His only son was killed by friendly fire in a bungled hit, and Pacino – who never ratted out the others – took the fall and just got sprung from prison after 28 years. Problem is, Claphands has ordered Walken to off Pacino on his first day of freedom – that’s the movie’s idea of deep meaning – so the reluctant Walken and the grandstanding Pacino spend one long last day together, revisiting their ex-madam’s daughter (Lucy Punch), who’s still in her family business, stealing clothes and prescription meds, and stopping at one particular diner about four times.

A Late Quartet

The first hour of Yaron Zilberman’s “A Late Quarter” offers an exceptionally perceptive look inside a highly successful, longtime chamber music string quartet, consisting of first violin Daniel (Mark Ivanir), second violin Robert (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Robert’s wife, viola player Juliette (Catherine Keener), and their common mentor, the cellist Peter (Christopher Walken).

Seven Psychopaths, Pitch Perfect

Seven Psychopaths

Pitch Perfect

Martin McDonagh's "Seven Psychopaths" is the latest in a seemingly endless stream of ultraviolent comedies with high-toned, non-sequitur dialogue between the bloody murders. Despite the presence of "In Bruges" star Colin Farrell, only rarely does "Seven" attain the farcical momentum or genial ingratiation of that, McDonagh's best film. Too often the writing aims for an epic, "Usual Suspects" grandeur while achieving only occasional absurdist laughs. Christopher Walken turns in a toned-down, effective performance, and Woody Harrelson makes an excellent psychopath-among-psychopaths, but "Seven" remains more a concept than a fully inhabited film.

Dark Horse

Time has passed by the hateful and deeply unfunny director Todd Solondz. The festering misanthropy of his debut feature, “Welcome to the Dollhouse,” has curdled and coagulated into something truly rancid and devoid of laughs. Jordan Gelber plays Abe, a hapless loser, approaching 40, who works for his father (Christopher Walken, catatonic) and lives with Dad and Mom... (Mia Farrow, who’s still done nothing of value since leaving Woody) in the bedroom of his childhood, now a shrine to ThunderCats merchandise.