Bill Goodykoontz

The Conjuring 2 won't make anyone forget the first film, but it's good enough that you'll hope they make another.

I love movies like The Wailing. Na Hong-jin’s film is like a genre buffet, with horror as the main course, but a hearty helping of mystery, crime drama, black comedy and family relations on the menu, as well. Don’t forget the side dishes of religion, superstition and ritual. It’s a full meal.

A movie with a title like Puerto Ricans in Paris comes with certain expectations. Low ones. Thanks to the efforts of Luis Guzman — and they are mighty — Ian Edelman's slight film manages to rise above them. Not by much, but above them, still.

Writer and director Mark Elijah Rosenberg paces things patiently, which in some cases is a polite way of saying there are boring stretches.

Me Before You is enjoyable in places, and Claflin eventually gives his character some depth beyond simply being angry. But the film exists mostly as a tear-production delivery system.

There is something fascinating about the intimacy of the camera here that is magnetic. And harrowing. And frustrating. And maddening. And a little sad.

There should be a sense of, yes, wonder at play at all times here. Too often “Alice Through the Looking Glass” feels like a slog through time.

It feels flat, disjointed, with too many moving parts.

It's a joy to watch Beckinsale attack the material — Lady Susan is one of those people whose interest in themselves and their own well-being is so great that it becomes contagious.

Osmond may tell the story to wring maximum emotion out of the audience, but so what? Isn’t that why people make these movies? It is. And more importantly, it’s why people watch them.

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

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.

There’s a weird attempt at feminism here that doesn’t quite fly – basically it boils down to young women having every bit as much right to do bong hits all day and night as young men do – but at least there is an attempt.

Jensen has a real gift for comedic editing, knowing just how long to play out a bit and when to move on. And Mikkelsen goes all in with his performance (as does everyone else).

There’s a jarring shift in tone and story in the last act, but the performances — particularly towering ones by a way-over-the-top Ralph Fiennes and an under-the-radar Tilda Swinton — perfectly balancing each other, carry the day.

The film whirs along with such entertaining efficiency that you may not realize that, by the end, it has shifted its blame in a manner that does not exactly betray a lack of courage in its convictions, but a willingness to let some of the bad guys off the hook.

The Man Who Knew Infinity is a good movie about a great subject, but one that should have been bett

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.

Fun, happily, is one of the many ingredients in copious supply here.

It’s an awkwardly constructed movie that doesn’t really gel.

Yelchin and Poots are especially good.

If it’s not great — think of a sort of JV “Commitments” and you’ll have the idea — it is surely winning.

It’s all too much without ever turning into much at all.

Hanks’ winning performance covers a lot of holes, but not all of them.

It's a weird movie. In a good way.

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

The easiest way to describe My Golden Days is as a coming-of-age romance, but Arnaud Desplechin’s film, with its memories and carefully nursed grudges and moments of heartbreak and betrayal, feels weightier than that.

Miles Ahead is by no means a perfect film, but it is an interesting one. In this case, driven by Cheadle’s performance, that’s more than enough.

Unfortunately Jean-Marc Vallée’s film doesn’t measure up to Gyllenhaal’s performance.

Everybody Wants Some!! is a terrifically entertaining movie that proves Linklater once again a master of perfectly capturing moments in time without judgment or apology.

Krisha is a unique film, honest and searing.

I appreciated the effort Delpy, directing her sixth feature, puts forth in trying to spice up the genre. But that doesn’t mean I enjoyed it.

The problem is the movie itself – the script, the editing, the construction, all of which combine to make the whole thing feel flat, lifeless and confusing.

This is a really good movie made by a terrific talent, stunningly shot and confidently directed.

Despite all of the unlikely scenarios and dubious plot developments, Plummer shines. There are moments here when we understand why he took the role, and many more when we are glad he did. But not enough to make Remember a better movie all the way around.

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.

Frot's performance is so towering, so convincing, that it smooths out all the film's rough edges. It's a triumph.

Yes, questions regarding violence and mayhem are drowned out by violence and mayhem. Such is the superhero life as directed by Zack Snyder. There is no problem that can't be solved with a cranium-rattling explosion or two.

Maybe the real message here is that Brooklyn hipsters are absurdly annoying, whether it's past, present or near future. On that front, Creative Control succeeds. As a compelling film about the alienating effects of technology, not so much.

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

Hello, My Name Is Doris is at times self-consciously quirky and precious and implausible — and Sally Field is so good in it that those complaints seem pointless.

Let's just call "Allegiant" what it is: A way for the studio to make money and bring you back next year for the real finale. See you then. Maybe.

I'm all for directors making audiences think, but ultimately, those thoughts need to lead us somewhere. "To the Wonder" didn't, to my mind. I'm not sure Knight of Cups does, either.

Its images are classic, its story immediate and urgent. That's a pretty vital combination.

Only Yesterday is a mature work of art, no matter what the genre, no matter what the format, no matter what.

Trachtenberg is patient building this world, and the actors do a good job inhabiting it. Winstead is a terrific actress, and she makes Michelle's desperation and inventiveness believable. Goodman is never better than when playing a nut, and while we aren't sure if that's what he's doing here, the possibility makes for an intriguing portrayal.

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

Ficarra and Requa never quite strike a successful balance between comedy and drama, making the whole thing feel a bit off.

It's all silly and meant to be fun, except when Najafi tries to throw in some serious bits, which wind up being sillier still.

Jude refuses to force a happy ending upon the audience. Things happen as they happen, and if one scene is especially hard to stomach, it leads to a kind of grim resolve to just keep forging ahead as best you can.

The Last Man on the Moon is one of those movies we didn't realize we needed, but turns out to be just the thing for our fractured, cynical times.

It's a movie as warm and fuzzy as a comfortable blanket, and as safe as the milk Edwards prefers to anything stronger. Not as exciting, perhaps, but it gets the job done well enough.

Miele also made the similar "Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's," a look at another ultra-expensive store in New York. That film, however, did a better job as a social investigation into how the other half lives. Crazy about Tiffany's is more shallow, as befits so many of the interview subjects.

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.

Where does creativity come from? And how do the lucky few who are touched by it make it last? Can they? Touched with Fire isn't a perfect study of the question, and it can't really provide a complete answer, probably because there isn't one. But thanks to Holmes and Kirby, it at least asks in a compelling way.

The film, directed and co-written by Kevin Reynolds ("Fandango," um, "Waterworld"), is a nice-enough telling of the Resurrection of Jesus, which at times seems like it also wants to be a Very Special Episode of "CSI: Jerusalem." It's well-made and well-acted.

It takes a strong stomach for extreme violence and over-the-top obscenity, but if you're willing to roll with that, Deadpool is a hoot.

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."

What is so impressive is how deeply Abreu makes us feel what Cuca is experiencing.

If directors Alessandro Carloni and Jennifer Yuh don't reinvent the panda-as-martial-artist wheel, they avoid making the story seem stale. The terrific animation helps, of course.

Sizemore seems to be operating in his own dimension outside the confines of the film and script, just doing whatever he wants. That's not a compliment. Mills' direction is the movie's high point. It's assured, and he stages scenes with skill.

Brilliant performances from Tom Courtenay and especially Charlotte Rampling make the proceedings all the more genuine, as they bring to piercing life the relationship of two people who maybe don't know as much about each other as they once believed.

The cinematography is outstanding, revealing the harsh beauty of the land. And the acting...is terrific. The burden rests on Eid’s shoulders, and he more than carries it. He’s a natural, showing us Theeb’s curiosity, loyalty and ingenuity while still retaining the innocence of a boy who has been sheltered from the world outside the desert.

Son of Saul offers Nemes' harrowing vision of the possibility of peace, at least within oneself. And it is a singular vision, one that demands to be shared.

It’s when bullets fly that Bay is at his best. He stages the battles well, and builds tension effectively and at times inventively.

The Forest is one of those horror movies that starts with an intriguing idea but has no idea what to do with it.

Its scale and ambition at times makes it seem like more than it is: a survival story. There’s nothing wrong with that, and it’s a good one. It’s just not a whole lot more.

Kaufman and King somehow give felt puppets an independence they might otherwise have lacked. How? The magic of movies, I guess. Or, more likely, the magic of Kaufman’s mind.

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.”

The script feels not half-finished, but maybe three-quarters. Lawrence does what she can to make up the missing 25 percent, but even she can’t perform miracles.

Carol is a simple story that sneaks up on you. Todd Haynes takes such care in the telling of it — and the gorgeous depiction of it — that it's impossible not to be moved.

Smith’s performance, in which he resists the urge to go over the top, and the subject matter make Concussion an interesting movie, but not the urgent one it could have been.

The Big Short manages to entertain you while making you really, really mad.

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.

The Danish Girl is beautifully shot and tastefully made and acted, but only Vikander seems willing to take chances. Happily, she does.

What Abrams has done is find and return the ingredient crucial to the original three films in the franchise that was sorely lacking in the second round: fun...There are some laugh-out-loud moments here, but also some touching ones. Happy, sad, exciting, silly — all that is included, along with the original sense of Saturday-morning-serial abandon that made what became known as “A New Hope” so wonderful all those years ago.

In an age in which celebrity gossip and page views trump all, hearing two masters talk intelligently about movies and how they’re made is, if nothing else, a welcome treat.

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

The images are impressive. But the characters and their development leave something to be desired.

It is intense and uneven, moving and maddening, all in just about equal measure. But an angry Lee is an interesting Lee, and he’s really angry here.

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

Jolie Pitt is going for a European cinema vibe here, but all the smoking, drinking and speaking in French can’t disguise the fact that there isn’t a lot going on here. Filmmakers reserve every right to demand patience from their audiences, but they have to provide a worthwhile payoff in the end. By the Sea simply doesn’t.

“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.

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.

The story lacks the same intensity of the original. Not that everyone will have seen the first one. Those who have will almost certainly find the new version lacking. Those who haven’t will find a solid mystery, nothing more. Given the cast, that’s a letdown.

Once you’ve seen the work Stallone and Jordan do in Creed, the idea of a “Rocky 8” doesn’t sound so bad.

Visually beautiful — stunning, in places — but somewhat stale in story, director Peter Sohn’s feature debut will certainly charm young audiences, and there is some nicely bracing grown-up material: love and death, the whole deal.

The Night Before wants to make you laugh and cry, but it doesn’t give us enough opportunities to do enough of either.

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

The movie is much like its hero, Freddie — straightforward, sweet, hard-working and predictable.

McCarthy and his brilliant cast make hard work and truth-telling inspiring.

Director Jessie Nelson shoots it all like a Hallmark card that comes to life, which sounds like a cliche, which it is, which is the point.

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.

Massaging the facts to pump up the drama is a necessary evil in a film like this, but The 33’s cinematic beats are so familiar that they undercut the sense of realism that would make it more compelling.

Brooklyn often feels like a throwback in the best way, while Ronan has an old-time star turn, and she makes the most of it.

No one wants to live in the past, but in The Peanuts Movie, the old stuff still stands up, while the new story is just flimsy glue holding the classic bits in place.

It doesn’t help that Barrymore and Collette don’t have much chemistry for best friends forever, but Collette’s work is so compulsively watchable that Miss You Already is worth a watch for that reason alone. And precious few others.

Spectre is still fun, the cast is top-flight. And had it been the first Bond film with Craig in the title role, the reaction likely would be "wow!" This is some good stuff, way deeper than the silly Bonds. But with history behind us, it feels a little slight.

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 food, it must be said, is beautiful. (Mario Batali and Marcus Wareing were consultants on the film.) And Cooper, despite the shortcomings of the role as written, goes all in. So does Miller. This should be a better movie than it is.

Gordon is an eclectic director, and he has trouble with the tone here. It’s not that cynicism can’t evolve into something more useful in film. It’s that the reasons should be more convincing.

What saves Meadowland from being an exercise in masochism is the acting. Wilson and Wilde have a light touch that makes them perfect for the comedies they often make. Here, Morano leads them to much darker places, and they plunge right in.

Perhaps the greatest compliment you can pay Victoria is that while you go in knowing about the gimmick, it doesn’t take long for Schipper to make you forget it almost entirely.

Room is a terrific movie, one that has two outstanding performances, confident direction and a story line that is both harrowing and moving.

Goosebumps,”Rob Letterman’s film based on the R.L. Stine books (pretty much all of them), is silly, goofy, a little scary, a little poignant and a lot of fun.

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.

If the film is ultimately an exercise in atmosphere, it is without question a triumph on that front. The rich textures and almost tactile visuals are astonishing.

What Boyle and Sorkin are after here is a portrait of Jobs, not a photograph. And they have succeeded in making one, in wildly entertaining fashion.

Good intentions can only take you so far. So it is with Freeheld, a well-meaning movie whose sterling intentions, timely and provocative subject and terrific cast are muted to near oblivion by uninspired storytelling and direction.

Todd Strauss-Schulson’s meta send-up of ’80s sex-equals-death slasher movies keeps its goofy good humor throughout, and tosses in a little almost-genuine feeling into the mix for good measure.

[A] searing, perversely thrilling drama.

If you’re going to make an origin story, make an origin story. On second thought, if you’re Joe Wright looking to tell us where Peter Pan and Captain Hook came from, maybe don’t.

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

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.

[An] enormously entertaining movie.

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.

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.

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 resulting film winds up like a compelling story about an iconic civil-rights event buried beneath an avalanche of stereotypes and bad writing.

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.

The Intern is idiotic, unrealistic, Boomer wish fulfillment that has no business working on any level. I quite enjoyed it.

There are some nice messages of inclusion, but they’re crowded out by a big dumb action scene at the end.

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.

The script makes the characters a little too witty and spot-on with cultural references, but what makes it work, to the extent that it does, is the innate liability of Sudeikis and Brie.

Director Wes Ball's film is a mad dash from one place to the next, with little time in between for rest, recuperation or plot development.

The acting in Black Mass is tremendous.

Everest is a sprawling mess of a movie, one you feel like could have been great but instead roams all over the place and winds up being just pretty good.

Muylaert goes for answers and, at times, they may come a little easily for all of the turmoil that leads to them.... But Casé’s performance overwhelms any such quibbles. She is a delight, and thanks in large part to her performance, so is The Second Mother.

Jason Schwartzman has become, without question, the go-to actor when you want a character with off-putting, even annoying traits, yet need to have the audience side with him just enough not to want to strangle him.

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.

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.

What Rukun wants, one suspects, is closure. What he gives the rest of us is a face in which to see the pain the butchers caused, a reminder that the architects of a massive tragedy remain present and unrepentant, the personification of the evil men do and a warning that it could happen again.

It’s not as terrible as the premise suggests, thanks to some flourishes on Joseph’s part and an intriguing performance by Wes Bentley. Efron’s absurdly winning persona doesn’t hurt, either.

Bang, boom, bam. That’s about the size of things in No Escape, a movie banking on its admittedly first-rate action drowning out its political tone-deafness.

Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet is a hit-and-miss affair, easy on the eyes but nothing to write home — or a term paper — about.

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.

[An] enormously entertaining documentary.

Bacon can play just about anything, and he’s having a good time here as a guy not quite smart enough to keep himself out of trouble, but wily enough to try to dig himself out of it. It’s fun to watch.

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.

It almost works. Actually, it does work, hitting the requisite number of hip notes. It just doesn’t dazzle, and that’s kind of a surprise.

Any fan of acting — any fan of movies — will be thrilled.

The ending is stunning, a brilliant and forceful reclamation that doesn’t necessarily provide answers, but does provide hard-earned satisfaction.

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

This is a talented cast working for a talented director in a film that never reaches the heights it should have.

There was a cry from Wallace fans when Segel was cast (some are still up in arms), but he’s terrific. So is Eisenberg, in an even more difficult role.

It’s an interesting film, consistently entertaining, a mile wide and an inch deep.

This is a funny movie, in places.

Batkid Begins is a good movie about great intentions and a large group of people coming together to make a stranger most of them will never meet happy.

Rodriguez and Taylor are terrific. Their confidence is infectious, yet they never let us forget the challenges their lives offer.

Allen builds to a climax that is ridiculous and a comment on … I don’t know. Fate? Folly? There are plenty of both in Irrational Man, but they’re not often a comfortable mix.

We’ve seen the elements that make up Paper Towns before, but that’s OK. Schreier proves adept at avoiding clichés, and is helped by his actors.

Shining is nothing new for McKellen, a brilliant actor, and it's interesting to see how he and Condon portray Holmes' faculties at different times.

On the plus side, Jones is a really good makeup artist, and he is adept at creating gross-out dead people and wounds, and violent acts intense enough that they make you want to look away. On the minus side, the acting and story are so bad you want to look away anyway. Follow that instinct.

What's nice is how smart the film is. Schumer gives a nod to plenty of other romantic comedies, not to make fun of them but to honor them. Being funny is hard work and she has put in the hours of toil.

The problem with Peyton Reed's film is that when he shrinks the always-affable Paul Rudd, he shrinks a big part of Rudd's charisma, too.

This is a first-rate cast in a second-rate story with some entertaining bits and some maddening holes. That combination works for late-night channel surfing. Anywhere else, not so much.

Forbes' story and her direction of it may seem too sunny for some. But she keeps us refreshingly off-balance throughout, by letting us in on her memories the way she recalls them.

It's a short film, weighing in at 79 minutes, but that feels about right. You probably wouldn't want to spend a lot more time with these folks, no matter how intriguing their company. You won't necessarily enjoy the visit, not all of it. But you won't be bored, and for grown-ups with kids looking for a night out, that's something.

[Pacino] and Green sometimes overplay their hand. That is, overplay the underplaying, which sounds patently ridiculous but is the exact description warranted here.

It's stunning (and amazingly well done) and hard to believe.

The film, like most of MacFarlane's work, is a mix of occasional laugh-out-loud moments — there are some here — and cringe-worthy misfires that play a lot more tone-deaf than he seems to intend.

There aren't any scares to speak of, though there is some gore. The cast is game to try anything, but there's just not much here for them to work with. Like most zombies, Burying the Ex is an idea that should have stayed dead.

It's a fine line between being gratingly self-conscious and really smart; more times than not, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl comes out on the winning side of that equation.

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.

Inside Out is terrific, a mind-bending concept turned into a brilliant film, a return to form for Pixar not just in terms of quality but in taking risks — risks that pay off.

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.

This is World War I from a woman's point of view, a different perspective than we usually see. It's the story of someone who doesn't fight — who would be so shaped by tragedy that she would vow never to — but for whom the horrors of war are just as vivid and devastating.

Every third person on the planet will go to see this movie, and they will find exactly what they seek, nothing more but certainly nothing less. It's that nothing more part that ultimately disappoints.

The Connection is long and occasionally long-winded and determinedly old-fashioned in its approach. That's why I liked it.

Spy is hilarious and heartfelt, a terrific movie.

A great movie exists in Love & Mercy, side by side with a pretty good one.

The big-screen version of Entourage is constructed like the series, another chapter in a sequel-ready story. If you wanted something more, you won't get it. But you will get this, and if it does well, likely more of it.

Barely Lethal has some laughs, and will probably serve nicely as a movie you can land on for a few minutes when it shows up on cable. But it slides into the rote generic-teen-comedy mode too soon to be anything more.

The purpose of San Andreas is not to make us think, but to make us gape, to pummel us with effect and effect until we finally give in. Fair enough. Uncle. I need a Tylenol anyway.

Crowe can be a great storyteller, a terrific director whose characters make us believe in them and in what they're doing. That doesn't happen in Aloha, which famously means hello and goodbye. Stick with the latter definition here.

Niccol looks at the pilot's struggles and the toll this remote form of warfare takes on his life. It's certainly intriguing, but he tells his story in such broad, obvious strokes that the movie isn't as powerful as it could be.

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.

A well-acted, nicely directed, quiet little movie.

Tomorrowland may not fully reach the heights for which it strives, but it has a good time trying.

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

Maysles gets to the heart of what is important to Apfel: truth, in a world in which it's in increasingly short supply.

We've been down this road before. But Pitch Perfect 2, goofier than the original, makes it an enjoyable trip.

It is insane. In a good way. Whoever said "Too much is never enough" made an impression on Miller, who uses the phrase as a starting point and blasts off from there.

Like a greatest-hits album, it's not as deeply satisfying as an artist's best work (try Yen's "Ip Man"). But it will keep you entertained.

You hate to see a good cast wasted, but when it comes to 5 Flights Up, the verdict is: no sale.

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.

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

Maggie has some rough edges — what caused the epidemic, for instance? — but it's still a worthwhile effort, especially for a first-time director. And for an old pro like Schwarzenegger, trying something different and succeeding.

A relentlessly unfunny comedy, it wastes the talents of Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara as egregiously as one could possibly imagine, resorting to lame jokes, cliches and incompetent storytelling to pass the time.

Giroux's refusal to pass judgment on his characters prevents us from doing so, and the film is much more powerful for it.

Adult Beginners is funny and warm and sweet enough without overdoing it. Again, it's not groundbreaking, but it shakes things up a little.

There is much to like about Avengers: Age of Ultron. There was much to love about "The Avengers," and therein lies the difference.

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

Checking subtlety at the door, Monteverde goes for broke on the emotional-manipulation front. Perhaps that's OK as a device for illustrating a parable, but it doesn't make for much of a movie.

Lee Toland Krieger's film masquerades for a while as a romantic drama brainier than most, getting good mileage out of an intriguingly odd performance from Blake Lively. But ultimately, the movie relies far too much on contrivance and coincidence.

The story takes some unexpected turns, which Crowe handles well, without overplaying them. Overall, The Water Diviner is a solid effort, a good, old-fashioned movie when it's not delving into soap opera.

It's great when a movie messes with your head. And Ex Machina, screenwriter Alex Garland's directorial debut, does just that, pretty much from start to finish. The writer of "28 Days Later" and "Sunshine" purports to examine A.I., or artificial intelligence. What he's really after is something at once more exotic and more relatable — and infinitely less predictable: human nature.

It's interesting to wonder how the film will age, given the short shelf life of technology. In two years all this might seem as dated as a dial-up modem, technology not nearly advanced enough to support the action here. But for now Unfriended lives in the moment, as do its characters.

Beyond the Reach is a misfire, one of those movies that never quite rises to the level of guilty pleasure.

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.

True Story never really soars in the way it might, but the performances more than keep it aloft.

One of those message movies that never uses subtlety when a sledgehammer is handy.

It is a fascinating film, and if it skimps somewhat on the moral complications of this kind of art, it holds nothing back in terms of volume: Image after image grabs our eye and often grips our throat.

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.

It's Kikuchi who carries the film. She gives Kumko a sense of dignity and strength in the face of absurdity, and does so with few words.

We get a sharp look at getting older, growing up and assuming responsibility. The fedora is optional (and not recommended).

What's interesting is how Jacquot treats the material. It is, by any measure, a romantic drama. But he uses the score, by Bruno Coulais, as if the film were something else altogether.

Reynolds is a good actor but he's miscast. Mirren is great, and she makes Woman in Gold better than it otherwise would have been. Still, it's just kind of boring and straightforward, even if its inspiration is not.

It's wrenching stuff. If bits and pieces feel contrived (and they do), overall the message is strong — and important.

Pacino and his director don't get back to basics — given that Pacino plays the title character, an aging rock star who long ago sold out, that wouldn't make sense. But the actor brings such a charming attitude to the role that his performance feels far more genuine than the story itself.

This is a man who knows things, and Hawke creates an inspiring platform that allows him to share (at least some of) them.

It's terrific. It's about many things, but dread infuses them all. You won't be grossed out. You'll be creeped out. And that's a lot more satisfying.

It's all wildly uneven, but some bits really are funny. Ferrell plays his usual clueless character, but he's good at it. And it turns out a toned-down Hart is a funnier Hart. But Cohen can't keep a handle on it all. Worse, he has no feel for when the satire goes too far.

This is really entertaining stuff. It requires the ability to laugh at misfortune, but Szifrón is so skilled in his writing and direction that this isn't a problem.

The Gunman is a predictable slog through action-movie tropes, and Penn's intensity isn't a good fit.

At least [Teller's] presence, along with Woodley's, makes Insurgent good, if not great. And it's not too late to keep improving.

Kristian Levring offers a brutally beautiful take on the Western in The Salvation, a film reminiscent of a song that sounds familiar but offers its own pleasures.

Demange's busy camera is effective in conveying the chaos swirling around Hook. If we can't always tell exactly what's going on, neither can Hook. It ratchets up the tension considerably.

In Run All Night, Neeson gives us more of the same, although with Collet-Serra's assistance, it's dressed up in a more interesting package.

It's beautiful to behold and wears its magic on its well-appointed sleeves, daring the audience to crack wise.

The utter lack of surprises and waste of a first-rate cast — Anthony Hopkins as Alfred "Freddy" Heineken; Jim Sturgess and Sam Worthington as kidnappers — make for a tremendous letdown.

Polsky keeps things lively, both visually and with his editing. But the sometimes-lighthearted approach never undermines the serious business at hand. It enhances it.

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.

Unfinished Business is a jumble of half-baked ideas, none particularly interesting.

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.

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

There is so much love and understanding of all the genres the film is skewering that What We Do in the Shadows transcends its lowbrow inspirations. It's a real treat.

In "The Player," Robert Altman carves up Hollywood with knowing, surgical precision. Cronenberg is a gifted filmmaker in his own right, but here he takes a meat-ax to the place. He gets what he's after but leaves quite a mess.

Aside from the waste of talent, the frustrating thing about The Lazarus Effect is how it cheats. Good horror movies work on internal logic.

Hot Tub Time Machine 2 is a movie that didn't need to be made, and certainly doesn't need to be seen — not when you can rent the original and still feel good about yourself afterward.

Caro's direction, Costner's performance and the winning cast, along with the shining of a sliver of light on the plight of field workers, however thin that sliver may be, combine to make McFarland a much better movie than it has any right to be.

Yes, there are sex scenes in the film, quite a few. But for a movie where people are naked for a large chunk of time and play at bondage and dominance (without ever really seeming all that committed to it), it sure is boring.

A sense of dread hovers over all these characters, and, by extension, the audience. It's in the air of the place, like oxygen. And vodka. Lots of vodka. Yet Zvyagintsev's achievement, or one of them, is creating a film that is not one long downer. It's not exactly a laugh riot, but we do care about these people.

The Wachowskis never lack for ambition. It's in the execution where they run into trouble.

There is strength in simplicity, something the Dardenne brothers' Two Days, One Night and its brilliant star, Marion Cotillard, prove emphatically.

Match is no masterpiece, but it is an intriguing and entertaining example of actors lifting the material they're given to greater heights, with Stewart leading the way.

Director Kevin Macdonald offers a suffocating visual feast. Some of the particulars don't add up, so much so that you do notice them even as the action plows forward. But it's still a thrilling ride.

Song One is an odd little movie. It seems as if there is more going on than there is, which you realize after it's over. As pleasant diversions in the moment go, however, you could do much worse.

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

[Jennifer Aniston's] performance in Cake is rightly being praised as a dramatic breakthrough (no one doubts her comedic chops). She's really good. It's just too bad the movie does her no favors.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a terrific film, if you give yourself to it. You should, because, with Amirpour's blending of influences and pop culture, she has created a true original.

Spare Parts is the kind of feel-good underdog movie that almost can't help getting waylaid by cliches.

Blackhat is a mess of a movie from Michael Mann, a would-be cyberthriller slowed by stupidity and sabotaged by a stunningly silly subplot.

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.

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.

This isn't a warts-and-all portrayal. More like a warts-and-little-else one. But it is an inspired film, a beautiful exploration of art and creation and difficulty, with Spall's brilliant performance at its center.

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.

Inherent Vice is an aggressively weird movie, which you should take not as a warning but as a compliment and an invitation to see it, to let its stoner vibes wash all over you.

The story is just so downright weird that the film can't help but be compelling. Just not as compelling as it could have been.

It is a harrowing journey, and an inspirational one. But, as director, Jolie takes far too long to tell it, particularly in such a conventional manner.