Abbey Bender

There are a few different potential films within Hermia & Helena — a Shakespeare adaptation, a tale of romantic relationships, a tale of family — but the totality proves a sunny and affable literary collage.

Anonymous haters on YouTube can say Gigi is fake, but her enthusiasm here, and the enthusiasm her teen girl fans have in meeting her, is totally genuine.

Kung Fu Yoga is a proudly silly cultural melting pot in which kung fu and Bollywood meet amicably.

Salomé would be better served by a story that focuses more explicitly on her intellectual life rather than on her personal one, but considering how stodgy biopics can be, Lou Andreas-Salomé, The Audacity to Be Free offers a mostly engaging portrait of a charismatic and brilliant figure.

A Ciambra is at its best when Carpignano captures the textures of everyday life, suggesting the neorealists with his use of nonprofessional actors and on-location shooting.

The perfect storm of homophobia, racism, and moral panic that sent the San Antonio four to prison is almost too much to cover in a ninety-minute documentary, but Esquenazi paints a tragic and humane portrait of the women who ended up in its center.

While not the most formally adventurous or action-packed picture, it is a film of compelling urgency.

Mr. Roosevelt may be slight, but it’s buoyed by Wells’s self-deprecating humor.

Meet the Patels is a good-natured documentary that plays like a romantic comedy.

Megan Leavey is a rarity in Hollywood: a true story of a woman in combat, directed by a woman. This representation, combined with the undeniably lovable canine at its center, elevates it above the typical war film.

Writer-director Augustine Frizzell, making her feature directorial debut, is attuned to the giddy intimacies of female friendship, and Mitchell and Morrone are a charismatic pair.

Emelie does create a menacing atmosphere and provide an interesting response to the "Final Girl" model that has long been the horror standard.

While the narrative is familiar — athlete from rough background trains fiercely, with the sport as a means of salvation — directors Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper make sure the story is all Shields's, keeping her charisma at the center.

Lesbian coming-of-age tales can be sensationalistic and leering, but this film (directed by a woman, Alanté Kavaïté) casts a sensitive eye on the understated story of Sangaile (Julija Steponaityté), a shy, troubled girl who begins a relationship with the more ebullient Auste (Aisté Dirziuté).

The drama of Outside In is largely underplayed. It’s a tale of people seeking simple lives on their own terms, and while it may be withholding, its small scale seems a statement on just how many worthy stories are kept behind bars.

This is the type of lightly educational, aesthetically appealing, big-hearted nature film that makes for ideal family viewing.

Dig Two Graves isn't the most original horror film, nor is it the scariest, but most of its short runtime offers passable suspense and an engaging protagonist.

The combined charms of Britishness and nostalgia often prove a potent blend for American moviegoers, but Their Finest could have delivered something more.

Even though it paints too rosy a picture, Love, Cecil fills out history with sparkling imagery.

Sex Doll, flat though it may sometimes be, is shrewdly aware of the countless clichés surrounding sex work.

The film could be shorter and perhaps more logical, and as the soap opera drama builds, the timeline becomes muddled. Still, there’s something pleasantly old-fashioned about its commitment to grandiose emotion.

Chronic forces viewers to look closely at things they might rather ignore, and intentionally holds its emotions at a distance.

It would benefit from more focus on the music, but the work stands as an effective (if overly long) portrait of addiction.

Joshy could easily be a film about loss, but it instead ends up as a prickly exploration of forced fun.

Emory Cohen's performance elevates juvenile-detention-center drama Stealing Cars above the level of disturbing cautionary tale.

Manolo might be a hard sell to moviegoers who aren’t already interested, but for fashion enthusiasts, it’s an enjoyable confection.

Viewers will sense that the history of these compelling figures entails more frustration and complexity than can be examined in a short running time.

Early on, sex addiction is called “a gaping hole in the soul” but Unlovable barely has us feel it.