In Theaters This Weekend: Reviews of ‘Fantastic Four,’ ‘Ricki and the Flash’ and More

Marvel superheroes, a rock star and bone-chilling presents are coming to theaters this weekend with the releases of Fantastic Four, Ricki and the Flash and The Gift.

Read on to find out what The Hollywood Reporter‘s critics are saying about the weekend’s new offerings (as well as which film will likely top the weekend’s box office).

Fantastic Four

Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell star in the third effort for the Marvel superheroes. THR chief film critic Todd McCarthy writes in his review that the film “feels like a 100-minute trailer for a movie that never happens.” He adds, “This third attempt to create a worthy cinematic franchise from the first of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby‘s iconic comic book creations, which can genuinely claim to have launched the Age of Marvel, proves maddeningly lame and unimaginative.”

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Ricki and the Flash

Meryl Streep showcases her hidden rock star talents as she plays a band frontwoman who returns to make things right with her ex-husband and children after years of being on the road. Streep’s real life daughter Mamie Gummer also stars in the film. THR film critic Sheri Linden writes in her review, “Meryl Streep adds rhythm guitarist and rock-band frontwoman to her list of accomplishments, handling both with born-to-it panache … the musical sequences are the comic drama’s most persuasive elements.”

The Gift

Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall play a young married couple who relocate from Chicago to Los Angeles and meet an old acquaintance who sends their life spiraling toward a chilling series of events. THR reviews editor Jon Frosch writes, “It’s comfort food for fans of films in which mysterious presents appear on doorsteps, beloved pets go ominously missing and an attractive woman taking a shower is the surest sign that something wicked this way comes.”

Shaun the Sheep

Aardman Animation’s successful TV series is now an animated feature as farmyard animals go on an urban adventure. THR film critic Leslie Felperin writes in her review that the film “comfortably plays to the British production company’s technical and comic strengths, but doesn’t exactly venture far into pastures new.”