‘A VERY HAROLD & KUMAR 3D CHRISTMAS’

★★★ (out of four)

It was with healthy skepticism that I approached “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas,” and damned if it didn’t win me over within the first 10 minutes. This marks a return to the characters’ roots, and once again has the hapless stoners navigating a treacherous, uncanny, “After Hours”-esque urban maze in order to achieve the most seemingly simple of goals. In the first film, it was the acquisition of White Castle hamburgers. Here, it’s a Christmas tree. The point is that the humor is rooted in what is familiar and relatable, and no matter how absurd our heroes’ adventures become — even when things turn supernatural — they are always propelled by a certain internal logic.

‘PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3’

★★ 1/2 (out of four)

Good intentions can only take you so far, and “Paranormal Activity 3” once again stumbles with the follow-through. Under the direction of Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman — who gave us the tremendously low-key creepfest “Catfish” — the film includes some interesting innovations (including a camcorder mounted to an oscillating fan, which effectively teases the audience by often keeping the relevant paranormal activity just out of frame), and one of the best heart-in-the-mouth false scares I’ve ever seen (trust me, you’ll know it when you see it). Yet with a screenplay this meandering and vague, minor innovations simply don’t amount to much.

‘50/50’

★★★ 1/2 

Meet Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a laid-back 20-something radio journalist whose life is finally starting to get on-track. He finds fulfillment in his job, he has a loyal best friend, and his relationship with his girlfriend appears to be moving forward. Adam is content, but his world begins to crumble after a routine doctor visit to address some unexplained aches and pains leads to the revelation that he is suffering from a rare form of cancer. The survival rate, he learns, is roughly 50 percent. But Adam is young and otherwise hearty, and appears to have a strong support system to help him through his time of need. However, as Adam’s body degenerates from the chemotherapy treatments, he finds that some of his relationships may not be as strong as he thought.

‘MONEYBALL’

★★ 1/2

“Moneyball” tells the true story of how Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane revolutionized the way major league baseball teams select lineups, leading his A’s to a historic 20-game winning streak in the 2002 season and turning the world of pro ball on it ear in the process. A former would-be all-star who once discovered at some cost that scouts’ ability to spot true talent is not infallible, Beane is determined to prove that the team-selection process in place since the game’s inception is antiquated and, in a modern context, almost completely useless.