Brian Lowry

Part French sex comedy, part “American Pie”-like coming-of-age story, this raunchy vehicle for Jennifer Lawrence also possesses darker and deeper streaks that elevate it above its “Pretty. Awkward.” posters.

Add "Stephen King's Doctor Sleep" -- the long-delayed sequel to "The Shining" -- to the list of movie and TV adaptations based on the author's work that shine at first, before flaming out down the stretch.

Resting almost entirely on the shoulders of its young leads, both they and the pic lack the sparkle to sustain what seeks to be a whimsical premise but, except for a few moments, proves ponderous instead.

A muddled effort that offers little more than visual splendor to recommend it.

It’s a very different spotlight that falls on The Boss with “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” a deeply personal film about both his artistic integrity and inner demons.

Watching Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani riff off each other is intermittently fun, but that's all there is to recommend The Lovebirds, a dark, somewhat chaotic romantic comedy.

As is, this update of a brand of buddy action-comedy Hollywood churned out with regularity way back when is a pretty shoot-by-numbers affair, beyond the mild kick of acknowledging that the central duo are getting a bit old for this sort of thing.

Director Todd Phillips is best known for "The Hangover" trilogy, and has seemingly overcompensated for his comedy roots by delivering a movie virtually devoid of humor.

The Little Mermaid is both slick and satisfying, meeting the primary challenge of allowing parents and kids to create memories around seeing it together. Setting aside its other assets, Bailey’s out-of-this-world contribution alone serves up the kind of splashy entertainment that justifies getting out of the summer sun, and in terms of being enjoyed far beyond that, might even have legs.

The story chronicles a fascinating moment in the civil rights movement, without yielding quite the returns that it should.

"Cruella" confounds expectations in mostly delightful ways, particularly for what amounts to a supervillain origin-story prequel inspired by a 60-year-old animated movie. Credit much of that to a twin dose of Emma power -- as in Stone and Thompson -- in a movie that might owe its life to "101 Dalmatians," but which centers around a tasty cat fight.

The key performances are strong, but director/co-writer Julie Taymor's movie meanders too much, dragging through the beginning and again toward the end.

"Ruth" admirably contextualizes Ginsburg's lingering legal influence, and how her writing in dissent during her 27 years as a justice often influenced subsequent opinions from lower courts.

It drags on nearly three hours, until a level of numbing repetition creeps into its elaborately staged scares.

After a year where people could pause and rewind to catch missed dialogue, this is one of those movies where missed lines don’t matter, and the only direction this vehicle goes is forward, even when it’s just spinning its wheels.

Playfully presented, it’s the kind of mildly tasty cinematic snack that doesn’t exactly stick to your ribs.

“Stan Lee” is obviously intended to be celebratory in nature, but by allowing Lee to tell the story largely in his own words, it conveys a genuine sense of what made him as big and colorful as any of the spandex-clad figures that he helped birth and spring off the page.

Given the enduring fascination with such material, underscored by all the recent productions about Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy, this is one of those stories that seems ripe for a redo. Because even with the uncertainty the one thing “Boston Strangler” makes clear – 55 years after the previous movie – is that when it comes to true crime, some things never go out of style.

A 90-some-odd-minute adrenaline rush that gets stretched out a bit beyond its weight even with its modest running time.

This adaptation of Simon Rich's novella has some fun contemplating how the modern world would like to a 20th-century immigrant, before scraping the barrel for deeper themes.

George Clooney takes his biggest directorial swing yet with "The Midnight Sky," and comes away with a decidedly mixed result. A beyond-bleak post-apocalyptic thriller, the sci-fi film reaches a reasonably satisfying finish, but follows an uneven orbit in getting there.

An awkward, uneven film, with writer-director Taika Waititi conjuring some touching moments, but unable to pull off the magic act this "Rabbit" trick requires.

An overinflated mishmash that compels the audience to sift through a lot of rubble for the few requisite thrills, this second "Die Hard" sequel leaves a lot of creative wreckage in its wake.

An understated, uneventful slog of a movie that feels like a misguided merger of "Gran Torino" and "Bronco Billy."

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.

The primary avatars -- Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan and Jack Black -- seem to be having an awfully good time with all this silliness, which is mildly infectious, even when the movie sags.

Mean Girls might recycle old tropes about high school’s caste system, but for those who just want a boisterous couple of hours in a theater, it aces that test.

The Equalizer 3 might not be totally convincing as a “final” anything; still, the latest outing does have the benefit of feeling like it reaches a nice point at which to close the books for now on Robert McCall, all things, you know, being equal.