Bill Zwecker

This second film is again heartwarming and includes some nice performances from Connick, Gamble and Morgan Freeman.

Along with charming animated visuals, spot-on voice talent and nicely paced direction, Ferdinand incorporates themes that are very relevant and much-needed for our time.

Beyond the visuals, what makes The Maze Runner so compelling is its attention-grabbing storyline.

Cahill has not only made a thoughtful and compelling movie about science, but he’s also given us an intriguing story that delves into the age-old debate of faith vs. hard proof involving the possibility of a higher spiritual power.

While A Tale of Love and Darkness is often difficult to watch — because of all the sadness it presents — it is also a beautiful film in that it makes us think about existing in a world where we do not completely fit in.

Overall this is a solid, intelligent movie about the joys of expanding our horizons — in all directions.

On all levels, Trolls delivers. It is nicely paced, the jokes are spot-on (and will work for both the kids and their parents) and, again, this is visually a very special piece of animated artistry.

The film ends up feeling more like a very long music video.

Bad Grandpa obviously is not for everyone, but Johnny Knoxville and “Jackass” fans will eat it up.

From the opening frame right up to the whirlwind finale, you will be treated to non-stop action, clever dialogue and quite a bit of zany energy. If I’d fault anything about this fun romp, it’s that the filmmakers tried to jam-pack too much into one movie.

This Carrie comes off like a Lifetime film, adding little new and nothing substantial to improve on DePalma’s classic.

While the plot is a bit shaky in parts, the overall effect of creating needed tension and some outright, out-of-your-seat jumps of fright is quite effective.

While Peeples follows a very predictable course as a romantic comedy and does not break any ground in that genre of filmmaking, this movie is more engaging than you might expect.

It’s Pena’s quietly powerful interpretation of Cesar Chavez the man that makes this movie work so well.

If one can put that historic reality aside — and Rickman and fellow screenwriters Jeremy Brock and Alison Deegan make that possible via their straightforward script — A Little Chaos becomes a highly enjoyable journey to a rarified world 300-plus years ago.

This is not great moviemaking by any stretch of the imagination, but the spot-on comic timing of the principals here — especially former “Parks and Recreation” star Plaza — captured my funny bone and kept it happily working overtime from start to finish.

While this charming movie will be targeted to senior audiences, I hope younger generations check it out — as the humor and underlying messages are truly universal.

This delightful, silly animated romp makes for a really fun time in the theater.

For fans of “Resident Evil,” I believe this final film will not disappoint, but it also will likely encourage newcomers to the saga to go back and play a bit of catch-up by watching the earlier movies.

With a splashy Brazilian-themed musical score, top-notch voice talent and sharp-witted writing, the sequel to “Rio” is one delightful animated romp. It’s as good as the first one and sure to please both the kiddies and adults with its two-tiered humor.

The strength of Burger’s movie is the fact that a non-reader of Roth’s work can enjoy Divergent and not be confused by any aspect of the storyline.

Red 2 not only delivers the action, laughs and thrills of the original — in many ways it surpasses it.

Yet again we have a film with a lovely, life-affirming, uplifting message — unfortunately delivered in such a heavy-handed, gooey-sweet manner that audiences will exit the theater in a near-diabetic coma.

This company of actors pulls together and delivers a lot of punch to a pedestrian script inspired by quite an amazing tale.

Big kudos go out to screenwriter Barrett for creating a script that throws out so many curve balls. Just when you think the story is going in one direction — you get some nice jolts and surprise twists

The message of inspiration is strong and certainly qualifies as solid family entertainment. I only wish there were fewer trite truisms scattered throughout the script and less predictable dialogue for the solid troupe of actors to deliver.

Without question, this movie does elicit “feel-good” emotions — largely driven by Garner’s ability to exude genuine maternal devotion and the charm of young Kylie Rogers.

For those looking for non-stop action, pretty dazzling special effects and solid acting by the young protagonists, Insurgent will not disappoint.