Bill Goodykoontz

Damon can elevate just about anything in which he appears.

It's this simple: If you like movies, you need to see Side by Side.

What's surprising here, and pleasantly so, is the restraint shown by Mortensen and Fassbender -- and by Cronenberg.

Humor is the most powerful weapon deployed by director Kenneth Branagh in Thor, his rollicking take on the comic.

Good movies create their own worlds, and that’s certainly true of Goodnight Mommy — even if it’s a world you wouldn’t want to live in.

Part of the fun of watching Mountainhead, the entertaining first feature film from “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong, is marveling at the antics of the tech bros who already run a good chunk of the world, and want to run more. Part of the horror is how realistic it all seems. Part of the disappointment is how far it falls into “Three Stooges”-level farce.

Yes, Glazer asks a lot of his audience. At times the movie feels like something you've walked in to the middle of, so you're thrown off balance. Yet it's hypnotic — you want to stick around to see what happens, and maybe just to figure out what the hell is going on.

Mendelsohn manages to make us simultaneously feel sorry for him and hope, against what seem like steep odds, that he somehow succeeds.

It’s good — funny, smart and contemporary. By definition it can’t be as groundbreaking as the first film, but never does it feel like a cash grab.

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.

It's just as accurately described as a bunch of British guys sitting around acting. But what actors! The cast includes Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Mark Strong,Ciarán Hinds and Toby Jones.

Slow, stark and sometimes surreptitiously beautiful, Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon is as cold and clinical an examination of evil as you could imagine.

Through dogged research and interviews with the (now-grown) children Maier cared for, along with their parents (including Phil Donahue), a profile emerges, and it's fascinating.

Like the original, Finding Dory makes us understand the fears, joys, struggles and triumphs of family.

[An] enormously entertaining documentary.

Like Someone in Love is not a complicated story, but in Kiarostami’s telling, it is a rich one, and a rewarding one, too.

West Side Story is timeless, because of the source material. Tragic romances never go out of style. Spielberg’s version successfully makes the classic contemporary.

Hanks could do this kind of role in his sleep; luckily he doesn’t. Like Spielberg, we probably take him and his gifts for granted. Between the two of them, they make Bridge of Spies a movie that works as a period piece and a timely commentary on how we live now. If that sounds like faint praise, it shouldn’t. Because it’s not.

Not every bit lands and the social commentary is not always exactly incisive. Sometimes it is, though. When a character says they should call the police and everyone breaks out into simultaneous guffaws, the point is made — fittingly, with laughter.

The only flaw here is the score. It's beautiful but so obtrusive, particularly at the start, that it threatens to turn the proceedings into melodrama.

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.

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.

With incredible attention to detail and an unwavering commitment to the world he has created, Eggers slowly, surely builds tension until it's almost unbearable. And that's delightful, if you're a horror fan. It's a terrific film.

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.

for those willing to go along with von Trier's typically in-your-face tactics, it's a good, if uncomfortable (and surprisingly funny), film. And the discomfort is part of what von Trier is after.

Top Five is a funny movie, but Rock has his sights set higher than lowbrow, and for the most part, he succeeds.

Shaun the Sheep Movie manages to be smart, moving and hilarious without the inclusion of a single word of dialogue.

It boasts a terrific performance by Katherine Waterston and an even better one by Elisabeth Moss. It's not exactly a grand old night out at the movies, but it's still well worth the time (90 minutes) and effort.