Brian Lowry

Oxygen won't quite leave you breathless, but it should leave you thinking -- and surprised. For this sort of movie, that's perhaps the most precious fuel of all.

Smith aces the performance, which is the main attribute in elevating the story above the standard sports-movie conventions.

Overall, though, the documentary provokes the dispiriting sense that while people with conflicting views can talk, when the gap’s this wide and the unwavering belief to disinformation this toxic, there’s almost no way to make them hear.

Safety feels like it aims a bit higher than some of the service's fare, and it's good-hearted and uplifting. If you're only going to score a couple of points, right now, that's not a bad place to start.

This very nostalgic, mildly entertaining movie possesses a rather timely undercurrent, even if its delivery via Amazon -- like most issues facing Zamunda's royal family -- amounts to a high-class problem.

The most interesting aspect of "Lightyear" is dispensed with in the first 15 seconds, when it's explained how and why you're watching a movie devoted to the action-figure character from "Toy Story." After that, the movie works primarily as a fairly likable action vehicle mixed with a familiar rumination on what defines a life, without rising into that top tier of Pixar fare its predecessors occupied.

It’s more a layup than a slam dunk qualitatively, rattling around a bit before finally paying off.

While the movie falls apart toward the end, the mystery -- and crackling central performances -- cruises along at a low boil much of the way.

Newman’s direction maintains the mystery through the gasps and sneers from the gallery during the trial sequences, leading to the eventual determination of Kya’s fate. It’s a satisfying conclusion that doesn’t overplay its hand.

The High Note is a breezy way to kill a few hours. Granted, it's more an opening act than a headliner, but that simply makes its digital, on-demand residency feel like the venue where the film rightfully belongs.

Those raised on John's music will surely luxuriate in the songs, from the title track to "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," "Your Song" to "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." In those moments, it's easy to share the euphoric sense of being lifted off the ground. It's only a bit of shame that Rocketman, as constructed, doesn't consistently stay airborne.

Missing doesn’t try to reinvent the concept so much as recycle it, and the more the audience is willing to just roll with that, the more they’ll enjoy it. Yet even making that allowance, it should be taken as a cautionary note to any plans for future sequels (or reboots) that this sleuthing-by-computer thriller is already beginning to run in low-power mode.

The film, while technically superb, feels like it wins several battles but doesn’t entirely qualify as a success in terms of the overall war.

Think of Ticket to Paradise like a postcard of beautiful people having fun in a beautiful place and you’ll get along just fine. Giving it much more thought than that won’t help this rom-com vehicle for George Clooney and Julia Roberts, although the “com” part proves a trifle deficient in a movie that’s significantly better when it’s sweet than salty.

While “Honk for Jesus” isn’t a perfect movie, give it praise for at least being an interesting one.

For all that the film does well, in trying to balance its cerebral, visceral and sequel aspects, Candyman appears to have bitten off a bit more than it can chew.

Thin as biopics go, the power of Abela’s portrayal elevates the film, providing a poignance and strength that’s the clearest motivation to go, go, go.

There's one clear reason to watch The Life Ahead, but for those who appreciate cinematic history, it's a good one: Sophia Loren, still striking at 86, starring in this Italian-language film directed by her son, Edoardo Ponti.

On the plus side, writer-director James Gunn's movie is superior to its predecessor on most every level. Balancing that, the R-rated mayhem becomes a trifle numbing, blunting the overall effect.

If “Get Out” refreshed the genre in part by weaving in themes that invited a thoughtful conversation about race and racism, Nope is more modest in its intentions in a way that makes it more enjoyable the less you dwell on the details, ultimately feeling quirky without fully paying off its more intriguing ideas.

For those craving an action distraction, it's a reasonably entertaining way to kill time.

Taylor Swift details the process that lead her to speak out politically in Miss Americana, an uneven documentary that provides behind-the-scenes insight into the singer's upbringing and awakening, while occasionally feeling like the kind of celebrity reality series you might find on E! or Bravo.

It's another timely, thought-provoking message from a filmmaker known for them, in a movie that piles so much on its plate as to fall short of Lee's best.

Confess, Fletch doesn’t possess a whole lot of heft, but it manages to serve as an old-fashioned and playful star vehicle, carving out a version of the character that’s distinctive from Chase’s broader, more slapstick-oriented take.

Still visually dazzling and overwhelming in its scale, Dune: Part Two becomes enmeshed in the political denseness of author Frank Herbert’s world, unevenly marching through this part of the story before rather abruptly coming to an end.

The undercooked plot works just well enough to fuel this vehicle for Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, mashing up old movies in a fast-paced package.

An extremely clever concept that takes the "spares" in the royal equation and turns them into a superhero group. While hardly a blockbuster, this Disney+ movie occupies the upper tier of the kind of movies that have proved quite popular for Disney Channel.

That doesn't translate into magic, but in terms of improving on the original, giving the stars some reasonably good material to play and delivering action within its PG parameters, Mistress of Evil pretty much threads the needle.