Bill Goodykoontz

Most of all, though, it's a welcome, offbeat look at a couple of originals, something that's in woefully short supply.

Every image feels intentional, with nothing left to chance. (This results in some amazing images, many of them involving Stone’s face.) Along with the precision of the performances, this makes Bugonia one of the more enjoyably weird times at the movies in recent memory.

"Norman” takes a largely unlikable character and inserts him into the center of its story, a gambit that seems like a surefire recipe for disaster. It’s not, thanks to Richard Gere.

[A] searing, perversely thrilling drama.

It’s squirmy good fun — agonizing in places, in exactly the ways you want it to be.

With The Family Fang, [Bateman] shows confidence with drama and, perhaps more impressively, with weirdness, never letting things get odd just for the sake of it. He wisely doesn’t force the issue. This bunch is plenty weird on its own.

Belle is a beautiful period piece, but it's also something more: a study of racism, classism and sexism in 18th-century England.

Grande and Erivo bring that relationship to life, making “Wicked: For Good” more emotional than you’d expect. These are two really good actors whose investments in what could have been let’s-put-on-a-show theater-kid performances go much deeper.

The action and the chemistry is stronger than the story, because Gyllenhaal and Peña are good. In that respect End of Watch works better as a series of vignettes held together somewhat loosely by a larger story.

The Do-Deca-Pentathlon is an odd little movie about an odd family who reacts to situations in odd ways.

Raw is a lot of things: a terrific feature debut by a promising filmmaker; an effective metaphor; an acting showcase; and, not least of all, a gross-out horror film.

A funny, heartfelt look at families, relationships and the lies that prop them up as much as tear them down.

It is affecting, surprising, heartbreaking.

he beauty of The Wind Rises — and it really is gorgeous — does not mask the troublesome aspects of its story, or of human nature itself.

Thanks to Layton's filmmaking choices, American Animals ends up being not so much a crime movie as an examination of truth and memory, as well as blame and responsibility. And it's a lot better for it.

This is one of those films in which you feel like you’re known the characters for years; Moretti and his actors establish a kind of instant empathy that makes the story all the more affecting.

It’s not a warts-and-all treatment because, at least in this telling, there are no warts. It’s more about securing Berra among a new generation of fans as one of the greatest players who ever lived. And on that front, it more than succeeds.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 is a dark film, in a dramatically satisfying way.

April and the Extraordinary World is a visual delight, an animated French steampunk adventure that is smart, exciting and wonderfully weird.

Eileen is indeed a weird little movie, but it leaves a big impact.

Do all of the aspects of the story hold up? It’s to the credit of the film and Kravitz that those questions never occur to you while you’re watching “Blink Twice.” You’re too engaged to notice.

While Zwick doesn’t dig as deeply as he might in searching for answers, the subject matter, combined with Tobey Maguire’s performance as Fischer, makes this a compelling film.

It's all brutal good fun, with laughs scattered generously throughout the bloodshed.

The cast is uniformly outstanding, a pleasure to watch. It's a more toned-down role for the often-fiery McAvoy, and it suits him.

A delightful discovery, a charming little film about fathers, sons, New Zealand and Michael Jackson.

There are no winners here. Maybe that’s cynical, or maybe it’s true. But it’s a bleak and sometimes powerful message that Villeneuve delivers with blunt force.

The reason to see it is the humanity the outstanding cast brings to the film. The emotions these people feel, the moments of grief, of anger, of love and of clarity they experience, feel both real and recognizable.

The look of the film is jaw-dropping at times, beautiful to behold. If the story... can't quite keep pace with the look of the film (and, alas, it can't) it will take you awhile to notice.

It’s tempting to say that Song went a more traditional route, but her second film is in fact a bold reshaping of the romcom. I can’t wait for her third.

Gere is terrific. It’s a tough job standing out at a distance, especially when we have to make an effort to find you, but Gere always commands our interest and attention.

Wingard and screenwriter Simon Barrett last worked together on You're Next, a ferocious film that is also intelligent. They're even more successful here.

[Huppert's] remarkable. So, too, is Things to Come.

A Romanian political allegory — in Romanian — might sound like tough sledding, but thanks to a searing performance by Luminita Gheorghiu, Child's Pose is anything but.

It’s a uniquely affecting experience, and a uniquely affecting film. Cameraperson shows us the power of image as a tool of recording life, but also finds reasons that even in the worst situations, it’s still worth living.

It's not a great movie so much as it is great moviemaking. It's basically a potboiler genre film, a B-movie with big talent attached.

Directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo are armed with seemingly endless self-shot footage for Val, a moving, fascinating portrait of the actor. But disarming is a better word for how Kilmer, reputedly a “difficult” actor, comes off.

Ernest & Celestine draws on plenty of classics, animated and otherwise, for inspiration, but the film manages to be delightful on its own offbeat terms.

Blackfish is a disturbing movie, one that will make you rethink parks like SeaWorld and their value.

There are some funny bits here, and younger comics like Sarah Silverman push the limits even farther; to the minds of some, they cross them.

Captain Phillips is a voyage well-worth taking.

The Is the End is a different take on the R-rated comedy, a raunchy laugh riot that actually gives you a little to think about.

These are characters for whom true belief in a cause has probably become impossible; they know how much that costs. Marsh does a compelling job of illustrating that for the rest of us.

It’s not derivative. It’s just familiar. But it also boasts two unique elements.

The love the two have for each other, particularly she for him, is obvious and moving. So, too, is not just the desire to create, but the need to.

Happily, this is a movie about not just idealism but practical idealism, and the struggle that maintaining it requires. It looks drop-dead gorgeous and, despite a few storytelling short cuts, it's unexpectedly moving.

Aubrey Plaza is brilliant in Ingrid goes West, Matt Spicer’s smart, satirical and sometimes scathing takedown of the vapidity social media sometimes injects into life.

It’s well-staged, well-acted, all the right people die in the end. It comes down to, well, Romeo and Juliet, really, and Douglas Booth and Hailee Steinfeld prove capable in the title roles.

Wakanda Forever misses Boseman greatly — the entire film is about missing him — but it moves the story forward in a way that seems logical and fitting.

The whole thing runs through Stewart, and she’s great — just one of those movie stars you can’t take your eyes off.

If the purpose of Girls State is to give high-school students a taste of how government works in real life, “Girls State” makes a case that it does its job only too well.

Pattinson is what helps us keep pace. He completely inhabits Connie with his jittery, twitchy efforts — he can’t stand still, so neither can we.

A Ghost Story may be the ultimate litmus test of where you fall on the line between artistic merit and laughable pretension.

Although not everyone in the cast is as comfortable with the dialogue as Acker, for whom it seems natural, there is a clear love for the material here in every performance, in every shot. It’s not stuffy or remote. It’s fun.

Checking in at nearly three hours and so full of passions and appetites, it’s impossible for it not to exhaust you.

At times the film threatens to become relentlessly bleak, but never fully so, thanks in large part to Plummer’s performance. And cinematographer Magnus Nordenhof Jønck finds beauty in the most desolate places; even flashing police lights set against nightfall are inviting.

The film is fascinating in its exploration of the give-and-take between art and commerce.

It’s a really good film, but it’s certainly not an easy one to watch.

We’ve seen crusty old geezers with hearts of gold plenty of times in films. Here we see how this one got that way, and thanks to Lassgard and Holm, it’s a journey we care about taking.

A fun and thrilling film which at times plays like a car race somebody stuck a movie into the middle of.

A sharp turn on the romantic comedy, a movie about flawed people doing flawed things, often in funny fashion.

This is a crazy movie, in the best possible way. Body horror films have to be willing to get nuts to really work ― “The Substance” knew this, for instance. And Franco and Brie, along with Shanks, fully commit to this.

A fanboy's dream come true, a smart take on a smart comic that actually looks the part, with performances that make it worth watching for the rest of us, too.

It’s quite good, thanks to the sturdiness of the story, the jaw-dropping visuals and, most importantly, the one thing the first film didn’t offer: Emma Watson.

There is a predictability to the story, but that's OK. The acting is superb, Holbrook in particular, making That Evening Sun an understated pleasure.

There is an honesty in this performance, a genuineness that really elevates the film. It’s not always easy to watch, and it’s certainly not a lot of fun. But it is impressive, and that’s what carries it.

Tremendously entertaining.

The movie is more a collection of cool people telling great stories than it is a structured documentary (despite Camalier’s attempts in that direction). But in this case, that’s enough.

Philomena could have been a sappy movie, but it’s not. Instead, with such assured performances, it’s proof that sometimes a laugh makes swallowing a big dose of outrage a little easier.

Edge of Tomorrow repeats itself without being repetitive, takes itself seriously while providing some laughs and offers plenty of action without short-changing us on the intelligence front.

Gordon-Levitt has been so terrific for a while now that he's become a magnetic presence; Willis is also on a nice streak, not as strong here as in "Moonrise Kingdom," but still quite good.

Everyone in the film is good. Offerman and Megan Mullally (as the principal at Kate's school) do well in more-dramatic roles than we're used to seeing them in. Mary Kay Place is harrowing without meaning to be as Kate's mother. [25 Oct 2012]

I liked Moana 2 better than the original. Its story is darker and more challenging, its stakes are high and its message is surprisingly contemporary and relevant.

One of the things that really makes “Companion” more entertaining than it might otherwise have been is the strength of the supporting cast. Gage and Guillén are particularly good as a mismatched couple who discover more about each other during the admittedly eventful stay at the cabin.

Roadrunner, however, lays out a convincing case that Bourdain was in pain for much of his life, desperate for answers. But even he may not have known the questions.