A sequel to  a feature by Oscar-winner Guillermo del Toro—except without del Toro—leads off the multiplex offerings, while local art-house fare includes a blistering political satire from the creator of Veep.

Pacific Rim: Uprising (pictured) loses the director's giddy monster mayhem, but finds perhaps the best Transformers movie yet. Steven Soderbergh's shot-on-iPhone psychological thriller Unsane loses Claire Foy's prickly performance in a story too dense with thematic threads. A charismatic performance by Zoey Deutch still isn't quite enough to salvage the off-the-rails, conspicuously edgy story of Flower. An "uptight spinster opens up to life" story can't find enough distinctive flavor in Oh Lucy! The bait-and-switch title  of Paul, Apostle of Christ hides the more interesting story of early Christianity contained herein.

MaryAnn Johanson laments another predictable melodrama about a teen girl dying beautifully in Midnight Sun.

In this week's feature review, MaryAnn Johanson cheers for the caustic satire of totalitarianism and political grasping in The Death of Stalin.

Also opening this week, but not reviewed: the title-describes-it-all animated Gnomeo & Juliet sequel Sherlock Gnomes.