NEW YORK. Viewers may be misled by the title of director and co-writer Abel Ferrara’s historical drama “Padre Pio” (Gravitas). The film is less a profile of the titular saint, played passionately by Shia LaBeouf, than a portrait of San Giovanni Rotondo, the Apulian town of his Capuchin monastery, in the period immediately after World War I.

NEW YORK. The idea of updating a classic film is always a dangerous one. But, provided there’s a better motive at work than mere hubris, it can work.

Such, emphatically, is the case with “The Little Mermaid” (PG, Disney), director Rob Marshall’s live-action remake of the beloved 1989 animated musical derived from Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale. Using technology not available in the waning days of the Cold War, Marshall and his team serve up a charming fresh take on the timeless story.

NEW YORK. Chris Pratt reprises his starring role as Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (PG-13, Disney), and writer-director James Gunn returns to helm the project. But there’s a somber tone to long patches of this wrap-up of Gunn’s trilogy, which also lacks the verve that characterized its predecessors.

NEW YORK. It’s important to bear in mind that, however credible its source material may be, the ostensibly fact-based possession tale “The Pope’s Exorcist” (R, Sony) remains a Hollywood horror movie. Considered as such, the film starts off promisingly enough but eventually becomes overheated and lurid.

NEW YORK. Feeling nostalgic for the Mesozoic Era? You won’t be after seeing the sci-fi adventure “65” (PG-13, Sony).

The film’s title refers to the millions of years into the past to which co-writers and directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods transport their audience. Not exactly a frolicsome time as far as Mother Nature was concerned.