Bill Goodykoontz

Knoxville and the others go about their messy business with a glee that is impossibly contagious.

The visuals are stunning, perhaps the most fully realized of any film.

Schnack presents all this without commentary, stitching together appearances and speeches and strategy sessions. As is often the case, he doesn’t need to make the point about the quality of politics at work in Caucus. The candidates do it for him.

Again, 155 minutes is a lot of time for throat clearing, but by the time the film is done Villeneuve is hitting his stride. He has created a complex, intriguing world.

To call Armstrong’s story a tragedy is probably an overblown notion. But it does involve sadness, not just with its depiction of a fallen idol, but with the necessary acknowledgment that some of our own hopes and dreams fell alongside him.

Javier Mariscal and Fernando Trueba’s film is a lot of things, almost all of them good. It’s a vibrant, colorful, animated movie. It’s a serious documentary about political oppression and violence. It’s a loving exploration of Brazilian bossa nova. The soundtrack is incredible.

Howard, whose first job as a director was the 1977 Roger Corman-produced “Grand Theft Auto,” has captured what is surely the greatest racing footage ever shot.

Sweet, gentle and defiantly retro (the 2-D hand-drawn animation is superb), the movie is irresistibly charming.

Armageddon Time is above all what it sets out to be: a story about growing up, and all the joy and pain that entails.

Lelio, who also directed the excellent “Gloria” and last year’s Oscar winner for best foreign film, “A Fantastic Woman,” never shortchanges the desire or the faith, a neat balancing act between the competing elements at the heart of Disobedience, and the success of which makes it so compelling and worthwhile.

What matters is creating, and “Eat That Question” turns out to be a stirring look at the creative process examined, however reluctantly, by someone who created a lot, and exceptionally well.

It Comes at Night is soaked in uncertainty. It makes us uncomfortable because we want answers and can’t have them. And if there’s anyone who knows how to make an audience uncomfortable, it’s writer and director Trey Edward Shults.

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.

Affleck is the center of the film. His Doug is, in some respects, rather like Affleck - the director of the elaborate heists, as well as a performer in them.

A delightful look at the public career and mostly private life of the ultimate professional amateur.

Although at times maybe not enough happens, it’s still a satisfying homage to a golden age of American film and an original achievement in its own right.

Wieckiewicz is outstanding, his open face expressing a full range of emotions, often within the same scene, sometimes within the same conversation.

Although Jonah Hill has been sweetly, profanely funny in such films as "Superbad" and "Get Him to the Greek," in Cyrus he's a revelation.

There is something compelling about someone who simply shows up for the job, day after day, carving out the remarkable from the unremarkable.

In Interstellar, Nolan has created a universe where ultimately the possibilities are endless. At its best, the film feels the same way.

Simien's film is one of those rare works that teach by appearing not to — you laugh at some of the antics, cringe at others, but the film is so entertaining you may forget you're learning something.

The film is slow at times, despite bursts of action, and Chandor could have let it breathe a little more. The seriousness grows stuffy every now and then, but these are small quibbles. A Most Violent Year is an outstanding movie about business and marriage, not necessarily in that order.

An Honest Liar is a fascinating look at what the truth means, and how it means different things to different people. It's also a reminder that no one has a monopoly on it. Not even the Amazing Randi.

The animation is first-rate, and the settings and background are appropriately exotic. The fights are a lot more exciting than you would think. And if the story is somewhat predictable (and the final blow somewhat difficult to fathom), one could find lesser heroes to root for than Po, although none more unlikely.

What's most enjoyable about Crazy Rich Asians is that, while it never forfeits its sense of responsibility, it also never forfeits its sense of fun. Chu wants you to slobber over the settings, to imagine what a life like this might be like — and to ensure that being Asian is a part of that.

If you want pinpoint accuracy, watch a documentary. If you want to see top-notch actors inhabit characters in genuine and ultimately moving ways, The Duke is a much better option.

To watch Cage ride this rollercoaster of popular culture is a pure delight. It’s also agonizing and will make you squirm.

Take my word for it, or better yet go find out for yourself: Big Hero 6 is a treat.

It is a sweet, gentle, at times beautiful movie that does not gloss over the ugliness Steele, a transgender woman, references.

Mommy is a film as harrowing as it is exhilarating, a story sometimes hard to watch but impossible to turn away from.

Young is one of only a handful of artists from his generation still making vital contributions, or even trying to. Some of his efforts are hit-and-miss, but he's still in there swinging. He never stops moving, changing, evolving, and it makes him fascinating.

Thanks to Larson’s songs, Miranda’s directing and generous, inspired acting — particularly from Garfield, who manages to be lovable and obnoxious, depending on what’s needed — tick … tick … Boom! is a moving tribute to a misunderstood process and the people who engage in it.

It lags in a few places, but She Said gives you a journalism story to cheer for.

What's really cool about the film - in addition to Jake Gyllenhaal's performance as Stevens - is how Jones makes sure that we don't know any more than Stevens does, right up till the end.

Cage is getting down and dirty again in Joe, and it's pretty remarkable — the performance more so than the film, and the film's good.

Thor: Ragnarok is a blast, pure and simple.

It is, of course, impossible not to think of what might have been had Giffords not been shot. Every victim of gun violence inspires that feeling. But Cohen and West capture her work since, both to recover and on behalf of others. The Tom Petty song that inspires the title is apt: won’t back down, indeed.

Interesting as it is, Narco Cultura aims to tell the story of what’s happened in Juarez and in Mexico (and, by virtue of its immense appetite for drugs, the U.S.). Instead, it feels more like a couple of intriguing chapters.

On the Rocks is a funny film, warm for the most part except when it’s not — and needs not to be. Minor Murray, you might call it? And yes, you could say that he’s in effect just doing the kind of thing he always does, only more so. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

Potter’s sense of timing is terrific. She never lingers on one character too long. It’s the same with the movie — you’re in and out before you realize what hit you.

A documentary that delves into what happens when the ghost stories you told as kids, the stuff of urban legends, seem to come true.

Writer and director Ti West accesses all the hot buttons for fans of the genre in a manner that doesn't make fun of it (and its followers) in a "Scary Movie" way, but instead treats it with the appropriate amount of respect. (Key word: appropriate.)

A satisfying story of yearning and, eventually, satisfaction.

Lanthimos makes statements about the nature of love and relationships and their place in society, and there are fewer statements more important than those.

Subtle it's not, but the film is effective both as a thriller and as a war film with something to say.

This is a difficult film, one that asks questions that can’t really be answered. There are a couple of surprises along the way, but more than anything Koreeda is getting at what really makes a family a family.

A feel-good romance, it’s not. A feel-bad one, more like. But Domont has loftier ideas in mind, and in Fair Play, she effectively gets them across.

A curious misfire, a stylized biography of one of the most powerful women in politics, portrayed by the greatest actress of our time, that asks more questions than it answers.

A sequel, by definition, can’t be as innovative as the original. And there is no sure-fire crying scene here like — spoiler alert — the fate of Bing Bong in the first film. (I rewatched it again to make sure it still has the desired effect. It, ahem, does.)

The Fall Guy isn’t exactly Oscar bait. Which is fine. Instead, it’s the rare movie that succeeds on its own terms, doing exactly what it sets out to do, which is entertain its audience.

Creed III is definitely a people movie. And Jordan has trained his lens on the right subjects. He’s once again convincing as a man trying to fight his way through internal conflict, not just opponents in the ring.

Wicked isn’t the best movie you’ll see this year, but it’s almost certainly the most movie. … There’s not a frame wasted, not a second of down time. It’s a little like having dessert for dinner, as well as for the appetizer and dessert again, too. And it’s fun, a good time at the movies.

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.

Laurence Anyways is like a big, ornate, overstuffed pillow of a movie. It’s attractive and comfortable, even if there’s just too much of it.

Hoffman was a genius, a tremendously gifted actor who could shine in almost any role... A Most Wanted Man may not be the best example of this, but it certainly adds to the evidence.

Surprisingly entertaining, probably because it uses Wall Street shenanigans and schadenfreude as the backdrop to a crime drama.

It's a gorgeously sterile film, fascinating to look at, sometimes painful to watch. The performances are outstanding; yet the actors, including Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman, are toned down almost comically, often giving robotic line readings to empty bromides.

As with all of the films he writes, Sheridan takes us to places that are foreign to many of us, yet immerses us so deeply into the sense of place that everything feels familiar, recognizable. It’s a trip worth taking, making “Wind River” another stop on the unique cinematic travelogue Sheridan is building.

Air isn’t a documentary, it's better — a brilliantly acted, fascinating true story.

If you like martial-arts films, it's well worth your while, a non-stop orgy of brilliantly choreographed fight scenes. Eventually it's all too much, a blur of fists, blades and snapped bones that run together. Still, it's a wild ride.

Boorman retains the sense of melancholy and, ultimately, optimism from the first film. That, coupled with excellent portrayals of what could have been stock war-movie characters, makes Queen and Country a worthy follow-up to a classic.

With Transpecos, Kwedar doesn’t offer any easy answers. Instead he points out the problems, how entrenched and intertwined they are, and asks other questions: How far will you go to survive? And will it be enough in the end?

The film soldiers on through a couple of possible endings, and if its real destination is never truly in doubt, Mbatha-Raw makes the trip interesting.

One of those movies that's good, but leaves you with the nagging feeling that it could have been better.

Director Roger Michell ("Notting Hill") has the good sense to step back and let Broadbent and Duncan work their magic on Hanif Kureishi's script. They don't disappoint.

Montana Story is a personal film, a small story told under the Big Sky. Those skies can make any story feel epic in scope — they frame tales as mythology in a way. But in Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s film (they wrote and direct), those same skies are so grand and far-reaching they can make you lose your perspective.

It's Cooper's movie, and, although he has been good in pretty much everything we've seen him in, there is a depth to this performance we haven't seen before. It's a tricky balance: As the legend grows, the man diminishes. Cooper and Eastwood do an exceptionally good job of maintaining that.

The lunacy begins early in The Pirates! Band of Misfits and never lets up.

“No life, no music,” the Tower slogan read. For Solomon and the rest, it was more like a battle cry in a war they fought but ultimately couldn’t win.

There is a delightful innocence to Spider-Man: Homecoming, director Jon Watts’ take on the web-slinger that mixes some (but no too much, at least for a while) high-tech wizardry with some old-fashioned family fun.

Think of Julieta as Pedro Almodovar unplugged. The director tones down somewhat his signature look (loud and busy colors) and vibe (heightened melodrama) for something a little more muted in this tale of loss and tragedy.

It’s a messy story, but with Mann’s structural rigor imposed upon it. That is a powerful combination, and one that makes “Ferrari” a bizarrely compelling entry in the Mann canon.

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

It's an interesting movie, odd and disturbing by design. But it's also effective.

Sherriff doesn’t offer any great answers here. It’s not like his play ended wars. But it’s a timely reminder that for all of the talk and negotiation and blustering and posturing, war means death, and “Journey’s End” brings that message home.

If you’re a fan willing to look past his misfires (or why he agreed to a “Bad News Bears” remake) or a film buff wondering about how a director operates on a set, “Dream Is Destiny” will be a delight.

The film, directed by Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton (“Little Miss Sunshine”), might have come off as too breezy were it not for the leads: Emma Stone as King and Steve Carell as Riggs.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is big, it's loud and so relentless in its action that it reminds me of an old joke. Why do you hit yourself in the head with a hammer? Because it feels so good when you stop. In this case, the headache is worth it.

It is a brutal, beautifully shot movie that starts out to be about revenge but then becomes something more, something even more primal and disturbing.

An improvement over its predecessor.

Set in 18th-century Denmark, it's an intellectual costume drama. It's a romance involving big ideas, the biggest ideas. It's long, it's serious, it's a lot of fun.

Directors Drew DeNicola and Olivia Mori’s film Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me looks at the band’s rise, such as it was, and its inevitable crumbling, as well as the influence its recorded legacy had on popular music. And it’s terrific.

Haynes plays up the melodrama, and the film moves along without a lot of surprises. But that gives it a certain momentum — a momentum personified by Bilott in the storage room, sorting through boxes. It’s not flashy, but it’s how you get the job done.

Simon Stone’s film, about a famous archaeological discovery, has an excellent cast, led by Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes and Lily James, all in top form. It takes place just as England is entering World War II, so there’s that, too. And since this evidently isn’t enough, some romance gets tacked on, as well.

The movie, based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer of “Twilight” fame and directed by Andrew Niccol, is just kind of dumb. Like the more famous books and movies, about a love triangle between a vampire, a werewolf and a human girl, it often plays like a teenage girl’s idea of how literary romances play out.

Sometimes a feel-good story hits the spot. CODA is one of those times.

Fire Island, Andrew Ahn’s romantic comedy that is basically “Pride and Prejudice” with gay men, is an utter delight.

The Last Stop in Yuma County is a promising debut, and a welcome chance to watch some actors you’ve seen in other things get a chance to branch out a little. It’s dark fun, assuming you find watching escalating tension a good time. And why wouldn’t you?

Overall The Insult is a compelling, timely movie. Doueiri is doing what artists do: Making the personal universal, while at the same time showing the impact a few poorly chosen words can carry.

The performances are terrific, and when it’s on its game, which is often, Straight Outta Compton is an explosive look at the creation of a message that had to be delivered by the only people who could deliver it, a message that is, unfortunately, as timely now as when we first heard it.

Juror #2 isn’t quite forgettable, but it’s also not the movie we’ll remember Eastwood for.

Through it all, you can’t stop watching Ben, Mortensen’s character. At some point, though, you realize it’s no longer because you admire him for his ideals but want to strangle him for his undying adherence to them.

Boyhood is not just a great movie, it's a landmark achievement in film.

It’s only Fargeat’s second feature after 2017’s “Revenge.” That was a good movie. “The Substance” is a substantial leap forward and a film people will rightfully be talking about for a while.

There is a hollowed-out gravitas to his Getty, the perfect example of someone for whom having almost literally everything is just not enough, and Plummer captures this magnificently. No matter how he got there, it’s impossible now to imagine All the Money in the World without him.

Still Mine is a rewarding, performance-based film, ultimately a small pleasure to spend time with.

The Cabin in the Woods is a fantastic poke in the eye of our horror-movie expectations.

It is flawed but ultimately captivating.

An absurd amount of grisly fun, which is a good thing, since, looked at in any great detail, it probably doesn't hold up all that well.

Promising Young Woman is a dark tale of revenge, shot through with black comedy. At every turn, it’s almost too much. As is the performance by Carey Mulligan. Except that performance turns out to be just right. It’s a no-holds-barred wonder, easily one of the best of the year.

As a documentary about Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic, City of Gold is more or less an entertaining valentine to an interesting guy. As cultural archaeology, unearthing the relationship between food and a city, food and a critic, a city and a critic and a swirling stew of all the above, it's fantastic.

Although this movie isn’t as well-made as Gibney’s best work, like “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” or the Oscar-winning “Taxi to the Dark Side,” it’s plenty interesting, and serves as something of an appetizer for Danny Boyle’s biopic “Steve Jobs,” due Oct. 9.

In Bloom, whose title proves more and more ironic as the film goes on, is a fascinating snapshot of a country at war with itself (literally, eventually) as seen through the eyes of two teenage girls, whose lives are complicated enough as it is.

The film is ultimately an excuse to watch and enjoy Streep, Wiest and Bergen. Sometimes roles for outstanding actors who aren’t in their 20s and 30s anymore wind up being embarrassing misfires (see the cloying “And So It Goes” or “Book Club” for examples or, better yet, don’t see them). That’s not the case here. Let Them All Talk is a low-key success.

Chomet's defiantly two-dimensional artwork is warm, inviting, beautiful, establishing immediately a comfort level, at least for audiences of, ahem, a certain age.

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.

Wreck-It Ralph is smart, funny, sweet and sassy. And that's just Sarah Silverman's character... The movie is a treat for kids and the parents they drag to see it. Or maybe it'll be the other way around. Either way. It doesn't matter how you get to it. Just get there.

As creepy as it is fun, and it's plenty of both, ParaNorman will delight fans of old-time horror movies.

There was a dark side to this complex man, and while it takes director Daniel Junge a while to get there, he does eventually in Being Evel, his entertaining and sometimes uncomfortable documentary about the daredevil.

What makes the movie so good is Williams' absolute refusal to play along.

When telling the story of real-life heroes, it’s easy to lapse into clichés. What makes the terrific Only the Brave such a powerful movie is its abject rejection of them.

Dark Money exposes the dangers of unbridled, anonymous political spending so expertly that it will make you fume with anger, practically quake with distress. Which is exactly why you need to see it.

While individually some of the scenes are terrific, they don't add up to much, making Hail, Caesar! one of the Coens' lesser comedies, better than "Intolerable Cruelty," say, but nowhere near the genius of "The Big Lewbowski."

Acting (and story) take a back seat to the visual display. Eubank shows confidence with each shot, whether it takes place in a desert vista or a clinical government slab. What's it all mean? It's unclear, except meaning that Eubank is a talent to watch.

How much you enjoy all this will depend on how much you like Glazer. She’s funny, no question, and sometimes intentionally grating. But she also gives off a genuineness. Maybe she is just saying out loud what other people are thinking.

This is the rare movie with no one to root against, a film filled with good guys and weird guys (and gals), all of whom you hope find what they're looking for, even if you know that's not possible.

So much of "The Hunting Ground" describes the behavior of college students at their worst. Watching Pino and Clark find some measure of peace and healing while offering the same to others shows it at its best.

Star Trek Into Darkness is a giddy homage to what’s come before it, but it also at least tries to go boldly where ... well, you know.

Throughout the film Famuyiwa, who also wrote the script, uses split screens and backs up the film and jumps around and freezes the action, but he's not showing off. He uses these techniques to tell his story, and doesn't overuse them to the point of annoyance.

At 2 hours and 17 minutes, the film is a little bloated, though the expansiveness and inventiveness of the filmmaking make that sound like complaining about too much dessert.

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.

Bursts at the seams with wild creativity.

The Beguiled is an atmospheric remake that Sofia Coppola never quite manages to take from languid to lurid.

50/50 is a tremendous movie. It's also a really funny one, which doesn't mean it won't make you cry.

It is just a tremendous amount of fun.

It's very much an old-time moviegoing experience; the film could have been made in 1940, and that's a compliment.

There are some laughs (a well-placed police baton, for one). But Metal Lords feels unfinished, rough, like a solo the guitarist never mastered.

Could be fun, you might think. No. Bad acting and worse dialogue quickly put an end to that notion.

We don’t need to continually revisit every horror movie ever made. How many versions of “Friday the 13th” are we up to? Too many. But the best thing about this is that Candyman is not just another sequel. More like a revelation.

It’s not quite the triumph that the exquisitely excruciating “Listen Up Philip” was, but it’s another example of Perry’s behavioral alchemy that’s well worth checking out.

It's always entertaining to see a genre tweaked, at least when it's done so with the proper mix of respect and madness at work in Slow West.

Sorrentino drenches his audiences in the movie-going experience — when you’re done, it’s something akin to enjoying a rich meal, even if you didn’t quite understand how all the ingredients combined. All that’s important is that it satisfies, and ultimately, Youth does.

Maybe there are no more stones unturned when it comes to the Beatles. Maybe The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years is not especially revelatory or earth-shaking. But the band was.

Lawrence takes up that challenge and then some, with a performance that could have been rendered in broad strokes, and sometimes is, but also relies on small moments, a look in her eyes, a quick movement, to draw us in and keep us there.

There is nothing erotic about it, nothing sexy, nothing but a brutish satisfying of carnal desires. Without an astounding performance from Michael Fassbender, it would be almost too painful to watch (and at times, too boring). With him, it's not exactly easy.

Derrickson’s use of computer-generated action is a strength instead of a strain, and it’s not just showing off; in the context of the film, the bizarre images make sense.

Eventually the film's subtlety gives way to a more straightforward conclusion. But Okuno and Monroe still make Watcher worth watching.

Like the Guardians of the Galaxy films, The Suicide Squad has a heart. Unlike those films, we actually see a heart pierced by a shard of glass from inside a character’s body. That said, Gunn cares about the characters, and it shows.

Terri is almost an anti-teen-coming-of-age teen-coming-of-age movie. And it's terrific.

It's Moore who makes the movie worthwhile, who elevates it from disease-of-the-week fare to the role of a lifetime.

It’s delightful. Director Caroline Vignal infuses the film with just enough whimsy — but not too much. It’s not going to rewrite the rules of cinema or anything, but it’s not trying to.

Settles for simply being goofy good fun.

It is a tremendous performance by Jones, who co-wrote the script with her own ex-boyfriend Will McCormick, who appears as a drug-dealing friend with surprisingly grounded advice for just about anything.

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

It doesn’t all add up; it doesn’t even all make sense. Which befits a story involving a man lost in loss, desperate to regain what he cannot. Reality isn’t as important here as feeling something. If you give “The Shrouds” a chance, you will.

A tremendously entertaining take on film noir, with all the usual elements of the genre in play - crime, death, possibly murder and doomed romance.

The Batman is impressively made. The acting is first rate, and the chemistry between Pattinson and Kravitz is magnetic. It’s meant to be an important statement. It’s just not a lot of, you know, fun. Or as someone famously put it in another Batman movie, Why so serious?

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]

When it's good, The Imitation Game is very good. Cumberbatch is terrific, which is not surprising, given the marriage of role and actor.

Blomkamp regular Sharlto Copley is quite good — as Chappie, in a motion-capture performance. (He also provides the voice of the robot.) If this were somehow a commentary on man's increasing lack of humanity or something, that would be fine. Instead, it's just good work buried inside a movie made up of intriguing ideas that never really go anywhere.

The latest Marvel movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, is a rollicking, adventurous … wait, this is a Marvel movie? It is indeed, and all the better for not being necessarily immediately recognizable as such.

If this is a story told more broadly than what we’ve seen from Pixar the past few films, so be it. It may not be a masterpiece, but its message is one that can’t be expressed enough. Luca expresses it in a gorgeous, fun way.

There are some clunky bits in which the filmmakers aren’t attentive enough to details. And the CGI in some spots is laughably bad. But Midthunder makes up for it. She makes Naru believably tough and smart, the kind of warrior who might well stand a chance against an opponent seemingly impossible to defeat.

Mylod, working from a script by Seth Reiss and Will Tracy, goes all in on the social commentary. Some of it is funny, some of it appalling, none of it as engaging as when Mylod uses food to make statements.

Pete’s Dragon is a good movie. But it could have used a little more of the magic its characters are searching for.

Barsky’s film is light on biographical detail before Koch’s first term began, in 1978. That’s probably fitting. Koch obviously lived for the job.

The film is 148 minutes long. Many of those minutes are good, some not so good. But one of them is great. Unreservedly so. Redemption and catharsis arrive in a single fleeting moment that wonderfully and succinctly ties up everything Watts is attempting. Truly one of my favorite scenes in a movie this year.

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.

Machete is insanely violent, insanely over-the-top. It's pretty much flat-out insane.

[Gibson's] talent as a filmmaker, Desmond’s story and Garfield’s understated performance make Hacksaw Ridge a good movie, a straightforward story of faith and courage whose complications arise not in the story, but in the telling of it.

22 Jump Street is, ultimately, a celebration of the silly and the sweet, a combination that's welcome again and again.

With its lush look, uniformly excellent acting, slow cadences and unhurried unspooling, We Are What We Are rewards your patience without skimping on the goods.

Young Adult is a horror movie disguised as a dark comedy.

An intriguing look at the effects on one man's life; whether they're worth the cost is something Steinbauer leaves up to us.

What’s so terrific about Stiller’s performance is that we never question his genuine love for his son. He’s just got to work through his love for himself to get there.

So what drives these men? “Because it’s there” merely scratches the surface. Meru may not answer the question completely — likely nothing can — but it is a thrilling, harrowing attempt.

It’s mostly a biography of Holiday — nothing wrong with that, certainly when you’ve got a performance as stunning as Andra Day’s in the title role.

It’s a dark comedy about class warfare, government overreach and infectious disease. It’s a lot more fun than that sounds.

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

This is unhinged genius, an amazing piece of acting. Brutal, yes, but magnetic all the same.

The movie plays to Fincher's strengths, with its dark elements and cool feel, combining for a bracing pop-culture experience.

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.

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.

[Kurzel's] vision of what he wants his Macbeth to be never wavers. And he has the actors to make it happen.

It's a surprisingly moving film. While the fight scenes are unquestionably thrilling, the movie's best bits are not about winning and losing but about pain and, ultimately, forgiveness.

Director Thomas Vinterberg and Carey Mulligan, who plays Bathsheba Everdene, bring exciting life to the story.

Animals may be the kind of story we've seen, but it's told in a way that makes it worth seeing again.

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.

RBG, Betsy West and Julie Cohen’s engrossing documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is clearly meant to praise the 85-year-old Supreme Court justice, and it does a fine job of it.

Alvarez puts us in the interesting position of rooting for the bad guy, and continually changing our ideas of who that is, a genuinely intriguing idea. Don’t Breathe doesn’t always live up to that potential, but for much of the movie it comes close.

The film does not have the courage of the book, which felt no need to tie a nice pretty bow on everything. But it's fun enough for a good while (it's only 81 minutes long), and that's enough.

Most of the complexity in the film comes from its structure, as we go back and forth in time with Bloom. It’s an entertaining journey, especially if you like to listen.

"Whitey" paints an ugly picture, but a compelling one nonetheless, and one that will put every Boston crime movie you see in a different light.

The beauty in Maines’ script, and in the performances, is how perfectly modulated everything is. Maines clearly gets some digs in at the Catholic Church, and Catholic education particularly. It’s really funny.

Jenkins brings an urgency to If Beale Street Could Talk, along with the melancholy of problems still yet to be solved.

It’s another showcase for Streep — nothing new on that front, but still enjoyable.

What makes Drinking Buddies so compelling is that feeling that these are real people, behaving in real ways.

The Theory of Everything breaks down simply, perhaps too much so: a great performance in a good movie.

Yam Laranas doesn't leave it at that. In his low-budget, creepy thriller, he spells out why and how this particular path is so deadly, as well as what led to the crimes and supernatural horror that seem to frequent the place.

Get On Up... has some problems in the storytelling department, but Boseman tackles with gusto the unenviable task of capturing Brown.

The music and the group are uplifting. The stories are inspiring.

Oh, and the title? It could be an apt description for almost any character in the movie at one time or another. The satisfaction is in finding out who, if anyone, will be set free.

Yes, in the end, Trance is pretty manipulative. But again, with Boyle behind the camera, it’s a more satisfying experience than it might have been. If we’re going to be manipulated, it might as well be by a master.

This is a film that deals with suicide, missed chances, depression, infidelity and more. Yet the movie itself isn't depressing, thanks to Hader, Wiig and director and co-writer Craig Johnson.

Tyrnauer’s film is fairly straightforward in structure — we hit the highlights up front, such as Cohn’s work advising Sen. Joseph McCarthy, a gig that would have killed most people's career — but it’s Cohn’s almost pathological need to be seen, and to be seen as tough and willing to fight, that makes the film so compelling.

Zemeckis is a master of using effects, but his films sometimes don’t live up to them.... The Walk is different. The use of 3D, in particular, is so astonishing it practically wipes your memory of the silliness going on in France as Petit was learning his trade. Once Petit is on the wire, he is free, and the liberation is contagious.

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.

It stands on its own as another in a long line of attempted explanations of what made Dylan Dylan. The more the merrier.

The whole isn't quite as interesting as the sum of its parts, is another way to put it. The parts, though, are quite good on their own.

Bouncing back and forth in time and emotional space, The Broken Circle Breakdown contains moments of beauty, power and tragedy, but the constant churning sometimes leaves the film without a solid foundation. Ah, but then there’s the music, soaring bluegrass performed with passion and talent.

The violence is gory enough to make the audience squirm, and just cartoonish enough to give it permission to laugh. Like the “John Wick” movies, it’s really one brutal set piece after another, though the choreography is not as poetic here.

At times his film is genuinely absorbing, offering insight into the madness and euphoria of artistic creation, along with the sometimes-crushing doubt. Other times it’s just Armie Hammer sitting there. Nothing horrible about that. Just not great, either.

The porn, the drugs, the smog, the bad haircuts - you can play it for laughs or play it straight. With terrific performances from Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, Black does a little of both. The film is at once a nod to hard-boiled film noir and a send-up of it.

Colossal is a monstrously imaginative movie with a premise so bizarre it’s amazing it ever got made. But it’s a good thing it did.

Like its stars, the film's not particularly flashy, it's just good, and it's hard to find fault in that.

It's all too much on the surface, not enough underneath. In other words, fans of the first film will love it.

Dunne's performance is quietly assured; Sandra's strength may waver, but it never falters. You root for her. You root for the movie, something that Lloyd purposely makes difficult to do at times. That’s going to throw some people, no doubt. But she resists easy resolution, making “Herself” a satisfying experience.

Much like "Ant-Man," it's a kind of pressure-relief valve, coasting on Paul Rudd's goofy charm. That's more on display than in the first film; returning director Peyton Reed manages not to shrink Rudd's appeal when he shrinks his character.

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.

Stuff just happens, some of it funny, some of it uncomfortable, some of it good, some of it bad. Just like real life, which is what makes Turn Me On, Dammit! so weirdly enjoyable.

Count Captain America: The Winter Soldier as another success in the Marvel line. Thanks to the chemistry between Evans and Johansson and a willingness to shake things up, it's more than just a placeholder between "Avenger" films.

The King is one of those films that we sometimes see being made while they're making it.

There are plot twists and turns, some of which amuse, some of which disgust. Issues of gender and identity take an eventual backseat to gruesome experiments -- gruesome because of the manner in which they're conducted, by an unfeeling monster.

The Nightmare is a different kind of documentary, shelving the usual experts and talking heads for a more personal experience of the title subject. That's good and bad.

Sometimes the smallest things can get away from us. Farhadi knows this, and reminds us, again and again in this outstanding film.

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.

Nightmare Alley winds up being like one of the games on the midway, its outward appearance more impressive than what lies beneath. But what an appearance it is.

Certainly the details have been known and written about here and there, but director Alexandra Dean assembles them in an entertaining, and at times heartbreaking and infuriating, film.

Queen to Play falls somewhat into the "Pygmalion" template, but watching Bonnaire's Helene find herself makes it worthy in its own right.

Brown is a sick man, but Harrelson makes him so interesting, so charismatic, so ... watchable, that you can't look away, even if his actions make you want to (and they will).

The rest of the cast is fine, actually, but Rudd spares nothing in making Ned a lovable loser, with the emphasis on "loser."

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is like eating ice cream for breakfast. Sure, it sounds like a good idea, and for a while it actually is. But eventually it starts to feel like too much.

In Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, director R.J. Cutler’s film about the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, he allows the audience to come in its own time to what seems obvious by the end: For all of her talent, which is considerable, and her brilliance as a recording artist, Eilish is a teenager trying to figure out her place in the world.

This is not a movie for the squeamish. It may not be a movie for the non-squeamish either. But it is a movie for those who like to see directors take big swings, seemingly unconcerned if they whiff every now and then.

Prince-Bythewood proves accomplished at directing set pieces that run toward the more balletic bone-crunching examples of the genre. Theron in particular, with films like “Atomic Blonde” on her resume, is good at this sort of thing. But she’s good at the moody stuff, too.

All are good, Damon in particular, but there are so many of them we don't see anyone for very long at one stretch. And all are given at least some bad material to work with before the movie is over. For the most part, they make the best of it.

It’s experimental in the best way; Estrada takes chances, and not every segment works. But pieced together they tell a full and rich tale of a city and the people who live there, and the diversity of their stories.

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.

A really entertaining effort, aided by some terrific performances.

It’s a movie as much about white privilege as it is anything else, an examination of the incredible advantages the wealthy have — advantages that don’t prevent them from cheating anyway.

It's not always pretty, and it's not always exciting, but you genuinely don't know from one moment to the next how these characters will behave.

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

With a movie like this, trying to guess how it ends isn't the point. Enjoying the ride is, and on that front, Unstoppable delivers.

You won't find a lot of jaw-dropping elements in Brave. But what you will find is really well-done.

Love & Taxes is an odd little title for an odd little movie, and yet it delivers exactly what it promises. And in an entertaining way.

The story has something of a flow, but the film feels more like someone dropping in on the characters' lives. It's more about observation than connecting dots. This isn't a detriment, particularly with strong performances to carry things along.

Davis is not above manipulating the audience at the end of the film, but so what? It works. And that closing credit, man. Some things are worth waiting for.

This is a really fun movie. Good, too. Not great, but old-school in its approach to scares and, even better, in its approach to the relationships between kids, outsiders who band together to try to take down a monstrous evil. And maybe flirt a little while they’re at it.

The real hero here is Joss Whedon, who directs the film with a fanboy's enthusiasm and a thorough knowledge of the genre.

It’s weird, sometimes challenging and surprisingly engaging, thanks in large part to Terajima, who is outstanding.

Lavie, who directs and wrote the film, actually has more in mind than a comedy of errors. But the dramatic bits don't quite gel, and the film never quite takes off the way she apparently would like it to. Yet it's the kind of movie that offers small rewards along the way.

It’s a withering satire and a horror movie. Maddin, working with co-directors Galen and Evan Johnson, makes a good point, and he makes it over and over. But he makes it with his trademark absurdist humor, and the cast is so talented that it takes what are intentional stereotypes and runs with them.

Chronicle plays like an extended episode of "The X-Files" might; DeHaan in particular comes off like one of the series' more-memorable characters. That's a compliment. It isn't a great movie, but one could imagine -- and hope -- that it becomes a cult favorite, outlasting other films of its ilk.

The real draw of Arthur Christmas is simpler: It's really funny.

The cast is top-notch, the story is satisfyingly dark, the performances are fun and, of course, the songs are terrific.

Does it all add up? Maybe, if you follow the letter of narrative law. It's certainly imaginative, with high-minded ideas, but Hawke and Snook are what keep it grounded in truth.

Isn't the happiest movie about a band you'll ever see, but it is one of the more entertaining, and thanks to directors Lev Anderson and Christ Metzler, one of the most original.

It's Douglas' movie - and you've got a fine movie.

It’s a complicated movie about a complex man that courts controversy, both intentional and not. If that doesn’t make it a great movie, it makes it a necessary one, now more than ever.

Roach’s film may be light in places, even sugarcoated in others, but any reminder of the past and its impact on the future is a welcome one. Plus, we get a good Cranston performance in the bargain.

This is one of the strangest yet most satisfying movie experiences of the year, one of those films in which you can’t really appreciate what you’ve seen until it’s over. You just have to trust that the trip is worth the trouble. And it is.

Fanning is nearly perfect as Ginger navigates choppier waters than most teens have to. There is not a false note in her performance; no matter how melodramatic things become, everything about Ginger remains genuine.

The directors include interviews with descendants of the original settlers and with later arrivals — too much so, actually, as the lengthy scenes interrupt the flow of the mystery. But they don't derail it. The story is too lurid, too rich, too compelling.

Patriots Day is a well-meaning, well-executed movie that tells the story of the Boston Marathon bombings of 2013 as a crime thriller — an interesting choice that works well, for the most part.

The Armor of Light can be frustrating and painful to watch. But ultimately, there is hope here. Schenck and McBath are only two people from opposite sides of the political spectrum coming together, but at least that’s a start.

The Fault in Our Stars is manipulative as can be, pulling out all the stops — kids with cancer — in its attempt to bring the tears. And you know what? It works.

Yes, it has a bit of the watching-races-for-the-wrecks feel to it, and by the end of the film, it's not clear Piven has a destination in mind, or whether it's important to arrive at one. But this is a performance that demands your attention. It also deserves it.

Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller get nearly everything -- the tone, the self-referential nods to the shoe and the dead-solid-perfect surprises -- just right.

Just being new and different aren’t enough reasons to stream something, not even when we’re shut in at home. Selah and the Spades is both of those things, but it’s a genuinely compelling film as well.

The Drop could have been an ordinary crime drama, but it's elevated by extraordinary performances.

That's not a pretty story, of course. But it's a compelling one and, thanks to Wells and a cast that includes Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper, an entertaining one.

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.

If you’re up for an absurdist comedy-horror take on “The Most Dangerous Game” that involves murder, bad hip-hop and hallucinogenic rabbit poop, Get Duked! is the movie for you.

Among other things, “The Outfit” is a celebration of those who sit quietly, who soak in what everyone else is saying, who you overlook.

It’s a throwback in some ways, offering the same feeling you might get from ’90s and early 2000s films like “Garden State,” “Walking and Talking” and “Flirting with Disaster,” not in content, but in mood and atmosphere — an indie vibe that permeates everything, in a pleasant way.

With Lake Bell and Simon Pegg as the would-be couple involved, the emphasis is squarely on comedy. There’s some romance in there, too, but it’s nicely twisted, just enough to keep things fresh and funny.

You certainly won’t find a lot of films like Sightseers. To call it a dark comedy is to undersell “dark” and oversell “comedy.” A very British affair, it exists to suggest laughter more than induce it.

Half of a Yellow Sun winds up being one of those movies in which a pesky event of great historical import keeps getting in the way of a soap-opera romance.

The Wonders is one of those films that's easier to experience than explain, which is almost always a good thing.

It’s clear that Samuel has seen his share of Quentin Tarantino movies, and some John Ford and Sergio Leone ones, as well. There are influences all over the place. But The Harder They Fall is also its own film, familiar in some ways but wholly original. And a whole lot of fun.

It makes you think. And that's invaluable.

It’s a knowing nod to the past fused with a contemporary cast confident in the present, and where the franchise might take it in the future.

Intense people behave in intense fashion, and that's that. No guns, no bombs, no noises louder than an argument or a father who likes to drink.

Lawrence is a tremendous talent, and she is what makes The Hunger Games ultimately worth spending time with. She doesn't elevate the film to the heights to which one might have wanted, but she takes it a lot higher than it would have otherwise risen.

What's breathtaking here is the scope of greed, corruption, arrogance and above all cynicism on display, not just regarding the system of government but the people it ostensibly serves.

Stone is becoming a dependable go-to choice for comedies, brimming with charisma.

Berg keeps the story personal, which is certainly one way to tell it, though it would have been nice to see a little more about the devastating effects of the massive oil spill triggered by the rig's destruction.

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.

As with most prequels, there's ultimately not a lot of suspense, since we know what's going to happen in the next installments. Tell us something something to care about.

What Finn’s film lacks in originality it makes up for in technical prowess, and he has the courage of his convictions. The colors, even the ones that should be bright, are muted. Everything is just a touch off, until it’s a lot off. Smile isn’t a great horror film, but there’s plenty here to make you … well, you know.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is certainly funny. It’s just not the flash of inspiration the first movie was — it can’t be. Baron Cohen revealed more out of contemporary America (and a lot about Arizona) with the 2018 TV series “Who Is America?” The new movie will make you laugh, but too often it’s more of the same.

Busy, busy. That's The Adventures of Tintin boiled down to its essence.

A sense of dread permeates The Conjuring from the start, and it’s delightful.

What She Said is a good movie, an engaging look at probably the most influential film critic of all time. (If you want to make a case for Roger Ebert, know that he was one of her followers.) But it’s obviously not the best way to understand her work and her influence. There’s only one real way to do that: Read her.

Jones is patient — the film could have ended in two or three places before it does with no great loss — but the effort required by the audience pays off. We see the familiar in a new, if harsh light. We can hardly ask for more.

It's not easy to make such a downbeat movie compelling, but that's what Ramsay, with great help from her star, has done.

Too often in this long, long slog of Marvel movies, we are expected to have an advanced degree in Marvel-ology to understand even the trailer for a twice-removed TV offshoot. Until the very end, Thunderbolts* is free of this intellectual-property tyranny, content to carve its own funky little way.

Early Man is smart, funny, clever — and a bit of a disappointment.

It is a smart, well-acted drama, and another chance for Marling to exercise her unique talents, creating intriguing characters on the page and the screen.

The payoffs are worth it — if you’ve got the stomach for them.

The acting in Black Mass is tremendous.

A great movie, a look inside a world so foreign that it might as well be another planet, yet so universal that its observations are painfully familiar to anyone, anywhere.

Although it contains some interesting characters, God's Pocket, like the neighborhood it depicts, is the kind of place you can't wait to escape, even if its inhabitants cannot.

Tarantino seems to have no shortage of creativity or inspiration. What he needs to find is someone who isn’t afraid to occasionally say, “Cut.”