Multiplexes shake off their New Year's doldrums with a handful of entries ranging from sublime contemplation to ridiculous action, with art house offerings including a possible Oscar nominee.

Ben Affleck once again adapts Dennis Lehane with the gangster drama Live By Night (pictured), but the story gets lost in fortune-cookie dialogue. A real-life tragedy becomes an exploitative mess of a movie in Patriots Day. Isabelle Huppert's much-honored performance anchors the problematic but intriguing psychological drama Elle. Body horror and haunted-house spookfest combine wonderfully in the deliciously creepy The Autopsy of Jane Doe.

MaryAnn Johanson shudders at the "a 4-year-old actually came up with this idea" family action movie Monster Trucks, in which monsters living in trucks isn't even the dumbest thing about it.

Eric D. Snider attests to the generic, pointless, thrill-less PG-13 horror of The Bye Bye Man.

In this week's feature review, David Riedel marvels at the mix of Good Friday and Easter Sunday in Martin Scorsese's contemplative examination of faith Silence.

Also opening this week, but not screened for press: Jamie Foxx as an undercover cop trying to find his kidnapped son in Sleepless.