He’s back, as buff as ever and ready to re-start the franchise. “Man of Steel,” Zack Snyder’s retelling of the Superman origins story, spends time on Krypton — with Russell Crowe as dad Jor-El, and Michael Shannon as General Zod — as well as on earth, where Kevin Costner plays the father of Clark Kent (Henry Cavill). Clark is a reluctant superhero in the making, keeping his powers a secret until a crisis situations pushes his talents into the spotlight. There, he becomes an objection of attention, and attraction, for intrepid Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams). Snyder puts a clean cape on the legend, with impressive results. Rated PG-13.

Also opening:

What’s so funny about peace, love and understanding? Not much, which is why there’s so little of said stuff in the often outrageously funny and occasionally edgy “This is the End,” with a roomful of right-now funny guys playing versions of themselves — James Franco, Seth Rogen, Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, and Danny McBride. It’s the end of the world, a la the predictions told in Revelations, and these profane bad boys and one woman, Emma Watson, are gathered at the home of pal Jay Baruchel. The film, written and directed by Rogen and Evan Goldberg, is decidedly not for family viewing. Rated R.

“Before Midnight,” the third — and last? — film based on the forward American guy (Ethan Hawke) and smart French girl (Julie Delpy) who met so memorably in “Before Sunrise” (1995), and reconnected in “Before Sunset” (2004). This time out, Jesse and Celine, married with young twin girls, are vacationing in Greece, and talking — nonstop — as if their very marriage depended on it. It does, probably. Filmmaker Richard Linklater‘s characters, in a script co-written by the director and his co-stars, aren’t nearly as charming and lovable as they were the first couple of times around; in all likelihood, neither are you and your significant other. Rated R.

With “Stories We Tell,” filmmaker and actor Sarah Polley (“Away From Her,” “Take This Waltz”) goes on a journey of self-discovery, teasing out long-held family secrets and bracing for tough truths. It’s a compelling, unusually frank documentary, with an intensely personal kick, sometimes troubling, sometimes poignant. Rated PG-13.