The Endless (Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, 2018). The directing team behind the cleverly subversive horror film Spring train their storytelling on a strange commune in the hills that beckons back a pair of brothers (as if not busy enough, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead take the lead roles). It gradually becomes clear that there is reality-warping strangeness afoot, and the chief pleasure of The Endless is in the evident joy the filmmakers take in patiently explicating their offbeat concept. Amusing as it is that the co-directors are on both sides of the camera (and their characters have the same first names), the film probably would have benefited from more skilled actors in the key roles. It would be nice to have more depth and nuance to the character’s precarious emotional journeys.

Crazy Rich Asians (Jon M. Chu, 2018). Adapted from a 2013 novel by Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians is worth celebrating as a valuable step forward in terms of representation, but there’s no much else to recommend it. Rachel (Constance Wu) travels from New York to China in order to accompany her handsome boyfriend, Nick (Henry Golding), to a family wedding, discovering that he comes from ludicrous wealth. The film delivering only glancing blows to dilemmas arising from income inequality. The prevailing mode is marveling at the monied splendor. There’s simply not enough wit in the screenplay, and the further the plot strays from the central couple, the weaker it gets. The worries and strife of Nick’s various family members carried not a whiff of interest for me. The wildly charismatic supporting turn by Awkwafina, playing an old college friend of Rachel’s, offers the film’s most consistently enjoyable diversion. Jon M. Chu’s directing is crisp but perfunctory, mimicking romantic comedy rhythms without properly exploiting the template.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Jake Kasdan, 2017). If every mildly recognizable franchise-ready movie concept from the nineteen-eighties and -nineties must be recycled, let there at least be a touch of ingenuity in the conception. I think transferring Jumanji from a board game to a vintage video game cartridge is fairly inspired. Unfortunately, the creativity extinguishes itself right there, and it’s plodding mundanity for the rest of this comic adventure that plunks a Breakfast Club adjacent quartet of high schoolers into a jungle-themed quest. Jake Kasdan keeps the action moving briskly enough, then hits the comic moments with a tone that feels like indifference. Karen Gillan is the one performer who shows some skill in her character work, holding on to the uncertain misfit hiding within the Lara-Croftian avatar.