A guide to the new (and newish) movies playing this weekend

Short reviews of the films in theaters, ranked from best to worst.

The Immigrant

Not sure what to see in theaters this weekend? Our critics have reviewed and graded most of the films screening around the city. Brand-new releases are indicated with an asterisk (*).

[ A- ] Ida
Stark and stone-faced, director Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida reveals itself slowly; the secrets it hides are not only those of its characters but of exactly what this story is and where it will ultimately lead. —Shaun Brady

[ B+ ] Chef
Little details make a big difference in Jon Favreau's searingly sincere peek into the insecure world of modern chefs, where passion and creativity fight for breath amid a crush of egos as puffy as well-set soufflés. —Drew Lazor

[ B+ ] The Immigrant
James Gray's evocative period piece follows Marion Cotillard's wayward Pole through the golden door and onto the mean streets of Manhattan where she quickly falls prey to Joaquin Phoenix's mercurial wheeler-dealer. —Sam Adams

[ B ] The Discoverers*
Not so shockingly, The Discoverers is a film about discovery. That's partly meant in surface terms, by how Lewis and Clark's historic expedition permeates the life of Lewis Birch (Griffin Dunne), a lame history professor and even lamer dad. —Marc Snitzer

[ B ] Obvious Child
The movie is uncharacteristically frank about the situation of Donna (Jenny Slate), especially when she accidentally gets pregnant during a one-night stand and quickly decides to have an abortion — too quickly, in fact: She has to wait two weeks until the fetus is far enough along to abort. —SA

[ B ] A Coffee in Berlin
A combination of bad luck, bad choices and bad karma add up to one long, bad day for twentysomething slacker Niko Fischer (Tom Schilling) in director Jan Ole Gerster's debut, A Coffee in Berlin. Gerster wears his influences on his sleeve, crafting a study of a hapless and not always likable character accompanied by the breezy jazz and wry narcissism of Woody Allen and surrounded by deadpan eccentrics, seemingly imported from an early Jim Jarmusch indie. —SB

[ B ] Korengal*
Built with remarkable footage left over from the creation of 2010's Restrepo, Korengal should be viewed more as a companion to that Oscar-nominated doc than as a sequel, even if it deals more with what's underneath the infantry helmets than the bullets whizzing past them. —DL

[ B ] Edge of Tomorrow
Blessed with more vigor and personality than Doug Liman's last swing at sci-fi, 2008's flaccid Jumper, Liman's latest has plenty of special effects, with polished CGI bringing mechanized soldiers, plus the nasty alien race they hate, to scrappy life. There are no star-power issues, either, with Tom Cruise making large-toothed Tom Cruise-y faces all over the place. —DL

[ B ] The Fault in Our Stars
Like raw onions, the TV show Parenthood or your mean aunt's predilection for pinching your arm fat, The Fault In Our Stars is not just likely to make you cry — those tears are backed by science. —DL

[ B- ] Words and Pictures
The title of Words and Pictures refers to a flirtatious "war" between two teachers at a New England prep school, who each argue for the supremacy of their chosen discipline. There's a more subtle battle happening in the film itself, albeit one between participants with a shared goal. —SB

[ C ] Jersey Boys
Clint Eastwood's attempt to turn a smash jukebox musical into a Coke Zero version of Goodfellas with sing-song interludes comes off just as stilted as you might expect, and not even jolting performances from the magnetic quartet in question can salvage things. —DL

[ C ] A Million Ways to Die in the West
Once all the gory joke kills and fart-and-poop material is exhausted, it's clear what the Family Guy creator is actually offering: a self-serving vehicle so desperate to be edgy that it takes broad liberties with privileged material. —DL