New movies in Seattle-area theaters this week: ‘Knock at the Cabin,’ ’80 for Brady’

★★½ (out of four) “80 for Brady” (PG-13; 98 minutes): Based on the trailers and ads for “80 for Brady,” featuring these iconic actresses in bedazzled New England Patriots jerseys and an eye-searingly offensive blonde wig on Jane Fonda, the outlook seemed dire for this sassy football comedy. It’s a relief to report that “80 for Brady” has a case of “bad trailer,” and that the resulting film is funnier and more charming than expected. Full review here. Multiple theaters. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service

“The Amazing Maurice” (PG; 93 minutes): Maurice, a goofy street-wise cat, has the perfect moneymaking scam. He finds a kid who plays a pipe and has his very own horde of rats, who are strangely literate. Multiple theaters.

★★★★ (out of four) “No Bears” (not rated; 107 minutes; in Persian and Azerbaijani, with subtitles): In 2010, discouraged at one of its native artist’s insistence on pushing boundaries and making Iran look less than ideal on film, the Iranian government slapped writer-director Jafar Panahi with a 20-year ban on moviemaking. Last July, after the completion of his fifth clandestine feature project in 12 years, Panahi was imprisoned just before Iran’s civil unrest and mass protests boiled over. The director is to serve up to six years. How does an artist with a camera keep going under those conditions? An ingenious, subtly anguished answer to that question, Panahi’s “No Bears” is both an act of self-assessment, with the filmmaker assuming the role of himself, and a crafty drama of suspense, identity and the perils of what we do for love. Full review here. SIFF Cinema Uptown. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

“The Blind Man Who Did Not Want to See Titanic” (not rated; 82 minutes; in Finnish, with subtitles): Jaakko and Sirpa have never met face to face but used to talk on the phone every day. When he hears about her declining health, he decides to go meet her in another city. Regal Meridian 16.

★★★ “Knock at the Cabin” (R; 100 minutes): M. Night Shyamalan’s latest cinematic confrontation with mortality and meaning, “Knock at the Cabin,” is among his best work. Adapted from the novel “The Cabin at the End of the World” by Paul Tremblay, it is a film that creates plenty of precisely shot tension from moment to moment while also drawing out a greater dread in its overarching trajectory. It is best that little is known about what comes next as the film is built around withholding as much as it is revealing. Full review here. Multiple theaters. — Chase Hutchinson, special to The Seattle Times