Reel-View Ratings: The Bigger The Beard, The Better The Movie

THE BOY

January horror films aren’t usually considered the cream of the industry. The Boy largely falls into that hole, though it does attempt some measure of decently made originality. Greta (Lauren Cohan), fleeing her abusive boyfriend, gets a job as a nanny — to a creepy-ass doll. Why she doesn’t turn around and leave immediately right there is another question entirely, but she stays as predictably odd things happen all around her. There is a degree of psychological ambiguity here that is intriguing, but eventually the movie succumbs to the usual “big twists” and devolves into … lameness. The movie is something, but it sure isn’t scary.

Opened Jan. 22 in wide release

THE FINEST HOURS

Just because these hours are fine doesn’t mean they’re especially interesting. Chris Pine headlines as a bright-eyed, boring Coast Guard sailor who finds himself put to the test when he’s sent to rescue the survivors of a battered oil tanker (including a taciturn Casey Affleck) — in the middle of a gigantic storm. The odds are indeed insurmountable, but somehow everyone chugs along in this based-on-a-true-story flick. But the thrills are pleasant, not heart-racing. It’s a nice story but also one that will disappear from your cinematic memory as soon as February rolls around. It is the epitome of A Thing That Happened And Was Definitely A Thing: neither very good, nor very bad.

Opens Jan. 29 in wide release

FINDING MR. RIGHT

The selfish, obnoxious Jiajia (Tang Wei) is shipped out from Beijing to Seattle to give birth to her wealthy lover’s child. Character growth follows when she is dumped, forcing her to shape up, grow up and find new love with a kindly but stoic doctor (Wu Xiubo). It’s not exactly groundbreaking cinema — the film riffs a little too heavily off of Sleepless in Seattle, its obvious inspiration — but it’s oddly charming: Here is a woman you can hate, but somehow Jiajia is as endearing as she is annoying, triggering genuine empathy. There’s also a surprising undercurrent criticism of modern China submerged in this rom-com’s frothy depths, but it’s mostly just a bouncy film about a mean girl gone good. Plays at 11 a.m., 3 and 7 p.m. Feb. 1 at the Movie Museum