A Dog's Purpose

A dog's soul, living through several lives, comes to discover its purpose. When puppy Bailey (Gad) is rescued from a hot vehicle by a young Ethan (Gheisar), the two form an immediate bond that lasts lifetimes. Bailey and Ethan grow up together, but when the faithful canine saves his family during a catastrophic house fire, Ethan suffers a traumatic injury, ending his dreams of a football scholarship and transforming him into a bitter, self-pitying man. Over the next few decades, Bailey reincarnates, returning as other dogs each time he passes away, but even as he contemplates his purpose in the universe, he never forgets Ethan and the bond they had.

Director: Lasse Hallström. Stars: Josh Gad, Dennis Quaid, Bryce Gheisar, K.J. Apa, Juliet Rylance, Luke Kirby. 2017. 100 min. Adventure.

Rings

In this third film in The Ring series, Samara Morgan's (Morgan) cursed videotape continues to spread. When Julia (Lutz) learns that her boyfriend, Holt (Roe), has watched the infamous video, which causes anyone who watches it to die in seven days unless they can get someone else to watch a copy of it, she watches it herself to save his life. However, researcher Gabriel (Galecki) notices something different about Julia's copy of the tape, and the three of them launch an investigation into the life and death of Samara Morgan in an attempt to break her curse once and for all.

Director: F. Javier Gutiérrez. Stars: Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Vincent D'Onofrio, Bonnie Morgan, Aimee Teegarden. 2017. 102 min. Horror.

Gold

Kenny Wells (McConaughey), who has watched as his family's mining company has been driven into the ground, dreams of finding gold in Indonesia. Teaming up with geologist Michael (Ramirez), he heads deep into the dense and dangerous jungle. When the duo does strike gold, though, they end up way over their heads in a gold rush debacle that ends up being one misstep after another.

Director: Stephen Gaghan. Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez, Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Bill Camp, Toby Kebbell. 2016. 120 min. Adventure.