Capsule Movie Reviews (Apr. 2): 'Alan Partridge' and five more

NEW RELEASE

Alan Partridge

R, 1 HR., 30 MINS.

Steve Coogan’s hilariously acidic creation, the buffoonish radio host Alan Partridge, is finally back. And like so many reunions, this one starts off all smiles and quickly grows tiresome. Coogan’s alter ego is as deliciously petty as ever. But the plot swirling around him — a fired co-worker (Colm Meaney) takes the station hostage — is unimaginative and endless. (Also available on iTunes and VOD) B- —Chris Nashawaty

Anita

NOT RATED, 1 HR., 17 MINS.

Freida Mock’s documentary about Anita Hill is an important reminder of a shameful chapter in American politics — when blame-the-victim sexism turned the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas into a national disgrace. The film itself feels a bit padded and clunky. But Hill, now a professor at Brandeis, looks back on the events of 1991 with courage and grace. B —Chris Nashawaty

Frankie & Alice

R, 1 HR., 41 MINS.

A hokey old-school drama of multiple personality disorder based on a real case study. Halle Berry plays Frankie, a wised-up stripper on the 1970s L.A. scene whose blackouts and violent personality shifts while bumping and grinding lead her to Dr. Oz (Stellan Skarsgård). Something awful happened to her back in 1950s Georgia to make her so broken. C+ —Lisa Schwarzbaum

NEW RELEASE

The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden

NOT RATED, 2 HRS.

Imagine Robinson Crusoe penned by Agatha Christie and you’ll get a sense of the true-crime mystery in this fascinating doc reenacted with the voice of Cate Blanchett, among others. In 1929, an eccentric German couple moved to a remote Pacific island only to be followed by other Eden seekers (including a pistol-packing Viennese baroness with two lovers) and a death toll. A stranger-than-fiction gem. B+ —Chris Nashawaty

NEW RELEASE

Nymphomaniac: Volume II

NOT RATED, 2 HRS., 3 MINS.

A notch more watchable than Volume I, if only because Joe, the self-destructive heroine, is now played front and center by the magnetically dyspeptic Charlotte Gainsbourg instead of the vacuous model Stacy Martin. Even so, there’s little to Lars von Trier’s overblown faux scandal of a movie beyond its grim, slipshod exhibitionism. This time Joe’s sudden inability to achieve an orgasm sends her into a graphic tailspin of sadomasochism. She loses her family and even turns gun-toting criminal. Yet that’s just evidence of what has become von Trier’s own darkest compulsion: to drive a movie forward without rhyme or reason. (Also available on iTunes and VOD) B- —Owen Gleiberman