These movies open in Orange County theaters today.
If a title is in four or more OC theaters, that is indicated with (Countywide). Otherwise, the theater name and city is spelled out. Check your favorite source for show times.
Bairavaa. Indian action movie has an ordinary college boy fighting against a group of notorious criminals. Joseph Vijay, Keerthi Suresh and Jagapathi Babu star. (Cinemark Century Stadium, Orange)
The Bye Bye Man. This horror flick, which is about three friends stumbling upon the origins of an evil and mysterious dude, somehow managed to have Faye Dunaway answer its call sheet. Which is not to say the movie’s marketing motto “Don’t Say It, Don’t Think It!” refers to wire hangers. Douglas Smith, Lucien Laviscount, Cressida Bonas and Michael Trucco also star for director Stacy Title. (Countywide)
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Extra Service. The Filipino version of Charlie’s Angels, perhaps? Total babes Aw (Arci Muñoz), Em (Coleen Garcia) and Gee (Jessy Mendiola) are mild-mannered massage therapists by day and sexy secret agents by night. Their top-level secret mission: retrieve the precious “Perlas Ng Silangan”—or else! Director Chris Martinez’s action-comedy reunites Muñoz and Garcia, who appeared in the Pasion de Amor. (AMC 30 at the Outlets, Orange)
Gautamiputra Satakarni. Director Krish Jagarlamudi’s historical drama chronicles the life of the ruler of the Satavahana Empire in South India in the 2nd century. Nandamuri Bala Krishna, Hema Malini, Shriya Saran and Kabir Bedi star. (Cinemark Century Stadium, Orange)
Khaidi No. 150. Due to a quirk of fate, a convict on the run (Chiranjeevi) is mistaken for an activist for poor farmers in director Vinayak V.V.’s Indian Telugu action drama. Co-star Kajal Aggarwal acted for the first time on film in nine years with his role. (Cinemark Century Stadium, Orange)
Live by Night. Based on early reviews, writer/director/star Ben Affleck’s crime drama is no Argo. For one thing, here he plays the parolee son of a Boston police captain following up life in prison with a relocation to Florida, where he goes all in to gambling. Elle Fanning, Brendan Gleeson and Chris Messina co-star in the Prohibition Era crime drama that some claim is poorly paced. (Countywide)
Monster Trucks. Director Chris Wedges’ animated adventure follows a high school senior (Lucas Till) who builds a monster truck from scrap parts as a way to leave the life and town he was born into. The voices of Jane Levy and Thomas Lennon are also heard. (Countywide)
Ocean Waves. This Studio Ghibli anime, which was released in Japan in 1993, has finally arrived on American shores. Based on Saeko Himuro’s best-selling novel, the movie was actually the first from Studio Ghibli directed by someone other than founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. Tomomi Mochizuki helmed the picture about Taku and his best friend Yutaka, whose friendship is tested by the arrival at their school of beautiful transfer student Rikako. (The Frida Cinema, Santa Ana)
OK Jaanu. Director Shaad Ali’s rom-dram, made in Mumbai, is a remake of the Tamil movie OK Kanmani. Adi and Tara are pursuing individual dreams when a chance meeting sparks a no-strings-attached romance—until their respective careers force a choice between ambition or the heart. Aditya Roy Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah and Leela Samson star. (AMC Fullerton; AMC 30 at the Outlets, Orange; Edwards Westpark 8, Irvine)
Patriots Day. Mark Wahlberg is a police sergeant hunting for the 2013 Boston Marathon bomber and John Goodman is the police commissioner barking out orders in Peter Berg’s historical thriller about the citywide manhunt. Michelle Monaghan and J.K. Simmons co-star. (Countywide)
Shatamanam Bhavati. The cute love story involving leads Sharwanand and Anupama Parameswaran is set against the relationship of an older couple in director Satish Vegesna’s cross-generational family film. (Cinemark Century Stadium, Orange)
Sleepless. Jamie Foxx is a cop with connections to the criminal underworld scouring a nightclub for his kidnapped son in director Baran bo Odar’s crime thriller that co-stars Michelle Monaghan, Dermot Mulroney and Gabrielle Union. (Countywide)
Toni Erdmann. Germany-Austria and comedy are apparently not mutually exclusive terms to believe fans of this dramedy about a practical joking father trying to reconnect with his hard working daughter by creating an outrageous alter ego and posing as her CEO’s life coach. Sandra Hüller, Peter Simonischek, Michael Wittenborn and Thomas Loibl star for director Maren Ade. (Edwards Westpark 8, Irvine)
20th Century Women. The Mike Mills dramedy has star Annette Bening making the awards show rounds (again … and no doubt deservedly). She joins Elle Fanning and Greta Gerwig in rounding out a trio of women who explore love and freedom in Southern California during the late 1970s. I did the same thing, during the second half of the decade anyway, and boy could I have used a trio of women at the time. Billy Crudup co-stars. (Edwards Westpark 8, Irvine)
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.