Movie Reviews: Fantastic Beasts 2, Widows, Instant Family, A Private War, Boy Erased

The Wizarding World returns again, in a pre-Thanksgiving weekend that also features a heist thriller from the director of 12 Years a Slave, a family comedy and a tale of gay-conversion therapy.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (pictured) can't manufacture an emotional connection to its new characters in a beloved universe. Instant Family manages the rare trick of earning both laughs and emotion in its story of a couple who become foster parents to three siblings.  The magnificent direction by Steve McQueen in Widows collides with a narrative that packs too many ideas and characters into too small a box.

MaryAnn Johanson praises Rosamund Pike's performance as the anchor of A Private War's moving profile of war correspondent Marie Colvin.

In this week's feature review, Lucas Hedges finds another new shade in his recent string of "troubled youth" performances in the effective fact-based drama Boy Erased.