Bill Goodykoontz

There is a craggy kind of elegance to Cry Macho. You know what you’re getting for the most part. This does not include a lot of surprises. It does include comfort in the familiar. Eastwood has earned that, too.

Ultimately it’s a sympathetic portrayal. Yes, people called her a clown, but The Eyes of Tammy Faye shows her as someone more complicated and much more interesting.

Writers and directors Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly can’t seem to decided whether to make an offbeat comedy about two under-appreciated women turning to crime or a mismatched buddy cop comedy. So they made both. It’s not a seamless fit.

As with First Reformed, Schrader crashes right through the boundaries separating the literal from the surreal. It is a strange journey, increasingly so, but an immensely satisfying one.

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.

The intentions were probably noble, but the execution not so much.

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.

The Protégé has so many cool elements, so many reasons that it should be better than it is. Chief among them are Maggie Q, Keaton and Jackson. But they can only do so much, and ultimately the film feels flat. Like so many of the hapless anonymous bad guys, it just can’t hit the mark.

The destination is a letdown, but the journey there is harrowing and rewarding. Hall’s powerful and affecting performance is the biggest reason why.

If you’re going to keep your audience guessing, you need to provide them with answers they care about. Beckett doesn’t.

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

If Free Guy really was a video game, it’s not one you’d play over and over. But as a one-time lark, it’s entertaining enough to invest in.

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.

The trouble with a movie like Jungle Cruise is the comparison it invites. And in this case, the ride is better.

Joe Bell is a well-meaning film with a gripping story it can’t quite figure out how to tell.

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.

Aside from cast changes and some plot tweaks, there’s not much new to see here. James is an engaging presence, but as this season with the Lakers proved, he alone just isn’t enough.

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.

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.

The film has lots of effects and action and loads of Chris Pratt. What it needs more of is heart.

Eventually, the film morphs from a horror movie to a border shootout. It’s not a seamless transition.

There’s not much more to the plot than Natasha’s mission. But Shortland does not skimp on the action — the first 40 minutes or so of the 2 hour and 13 minute film are almost nonstop harrowing chases.

Of course, you could just watch this for the performances and it would still be one of the best movies of the year. But why sell yourself short? Watch it for everything that it is, a kind of miraculously unearthed treasure trove of music and politics and culture and soul. So much soul.

It’s when Soderbergh tries to say too much that he loses the thread a bit. That’s a shame, because he and the cast are so good at saying a lot with a little.

The film goes all in on its deranged version of the founding of the nation. It wears you down over time, but especially early on it's too satisfied just to be shocking and irreverent.

Is it a ridiculous movie? Of course, that’s the point. Yet it’s still kind of fun, and it all but insists that you enjoy watching it.

Things go a little haywire at the end of the film when the story falls apart a bit — endings are tough, on Twitter and in theaters. But till then, it’s a non-stop thrill.

Moreno felt as if she didn’t have much worth as she struggled, she says. One of the most satisfying things about the film is that through decades of struggle she clearly has found that worth. It’s in her confidence, the confidence of someone who has come out the other end of a long struggle with the knowledge than nothing is going to get her down. You can’t get the best of her. It’s inspiring.