Brian Truitt

Colossal is as refreshingly different a monster movie as it is a clever, timely take on bullying, domestic abuse and toxic masculinity.

Directed by Simon Curtis and written by series creator Julian Fellowes, the sequel is a charming and soapy new chapter filled with enjoyably dry humor (mostly courtesy of the fantastic Maggie Smith), some heartbreak, a dash of mystery and a history lesson from old-school Hollywood.

The movie’s both a reminder to always believe in ourselves, and believe in that old Pixar magic.

Impressive in its ambition, mother! doesn’t quite reach the heights of Aronofsky’s Black Swan in terms of bizarre masterpieces, yet endless conversations about what the heck you just saw will surely be born and raised.

Full-tilt Momoa and quietly powerful Bautista, with some gore and goofiness tossed in, is a satisfying improvement on the usual two-fisted formula.

The Invisible Man is both a jumpstart and a template for their renaissance: The movie delves into the sheer terror of abuse and explores how Cecilia doesn’t even really understand the psychological scars until she begins to discover some semblance of freedom.

The palpable chemistry between Hanks and Zengel helps the odd friendship to blossom on screen. Hanks exudes the vibe of steady grownup in a crisis and Zengel holds her own with a Hollywood icon by imbuing her character with a wild-child manner that ultimately cracks to show the innocence underneath.

While Birds of Prey is all about that group dynamic, its resident Oscar nominee sparkles as the cuckoo crazy pants center of attention who's the batty wind beneath their wings.

The not-so-secret sauce for why this Mulan works is Liu, a Chinese actress new to American audiences who sells every bit of her character, from rebellious youngster to conflicted accidental soldier to confident warrior woman.

An artsy display put on by Kaufman and fellow co-director Duke Johnson that raises the level of the genre, though it sometimes tries to enjoy its individual oddity too much chronicling one night in a bored businessman’s life.

Produced by horror masters Jason Blum and James Wan ("The Conjuring"), M3GAN satisfies with slasher gusto, “Black Mirror”-esque satire and social media savvy. It’s also just plain fun to watch a film that packs a healthy amount of absurdity alongside an insightful exploration of 21st-century parenting, though you might never trust Alexa ever again afterward.

McCarthy and Wiig are solid as the two pals who have to mend fences amid paranormal goings-on, but Jones is great as the quartet’s boisterous voice of reason and McKinnon is the film’s biggest and quirkiest standout.

Wan leans into the real history of the 1977 Enfield poltergeist legend, too, though it’s not like he needs any extra inspiration for his fright fest — when it comes to horror, the man pulls no punches or screams.

Alongside the bullets and the one-liners, “Mike & Nick” doesn’t completely make the most of its time-travel premise. But it’s forgivable considering a story full of colorful personalities and the sneakily heartwarming theme of finding empathy and understanding.

Based on the popular role-playing game and far better than that forgettable 2000 “D&D” big-screen outing, “Thieves” is a clever and often hilarious action adventure that overcomes pacing issues with well-crafted characters and a host of wondrous creatures both stunning and icky.

The Lost Bus is a cathartic quest and character study that works thanks to McConaughey’s steeliness and Greengrass’ ability to put you on the edge of your seat (even if it’s just the couch).

Warcraft wins by not trying to be the second coming of a 10-hour cinematic trip through Mordor with Hobbits and jewelry. Rather, it’s a simpler, yet still wholly entertaining tale of magic and larger-than-life soldiers in a battle for survival.

Derrickson (Sinister) crafts a trippy phantasmagoria for Strange to fly screaming through as he begins his path to sorcerer supreme. The only thing missing is a Doors jam as the sequence unfolds a dizzying blend of psychedelia, geometric oddities and nightmarish dreamscapes.

In its own terms, Dumb Money probably should sell off sooner – nothing kills storytelling momentum like congressional Zoom hearings – but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better big-screen combo of rising stock prices and rousing joy.

Although entertaining throughout, it suffers from a certain lack of focus – bouncing from screwball humor to war-movie gravitas – before settling into a buoyant conspiracy thriller with real-life historical relevance and a satisfying exploration of friendship and kindness.

But be warned, fellow best actress contenders: The power of Gaga is undeniable as she rules House of Gucci with powerful panache and addictive swagger.

The movie is successful at finding little details that make it feel lived-in and authentic.

Pitt is undoubtedly luminous as the brightest star of Ad Astra, an engaging and even hopeful exploration about the consistency of human feelings, no matter where you are in the galaxy.

A solid courtroom drama that most fans of the genre have seen before. But great acting, an engaging real-life tale and moments of heartfelt honesty – with a fair bit of rousing satisfaction – elevate director Destin Daniel Cretton’s true-life story.

As the debuting title superhero and a new champ for representation, Liu exudes likability, swagger and depth – plus forms a great buddy-action combo with co-star Awkwafina – and “Shang-Chi” really cooks when he’s in a street-fighting groove. However, director/co-writer Destin Daniel Cretton’s ambitious adventure loses some of that storytelling momentum when diving into its involved mythology.

Joker is at times predictable and too familiar given the source material, yet it splendidly captures the essence of the iconic bad guy as a frighteningly unreliable narrator in the movie’s best moments.

If the original “Creed” was a straight-up knockout from bell to bell, the sequel takes its time with body blows – from all directions – to ultimately get you right in the feels.

Gosling nicely follows up his Oscar-nominated Ken turn as an embattled Everyman who falls 12 stories, gets thrown through glass and pulls off an epic car jump, among other death-defying moments in the breezily delightful Fall Guy.

Katniss and Tris might still be queen bees of the genre, but Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his fellow Gladers find a satisfying, teen-friendly way to combine rebellion, politics, science and a lot of jogging for a broad audience.

A dreamy homage to old-school Hollywood as well as a haunting, female-driven psychological thriller with deep mystery and satisfying twists

Captures the complete exhaustion of parenthood in funny and profound fashion.

The Hunt is definitely controversial, but it’s an equal-opportunity offender that forgoes partisanship to poke bloody, gory fun at everybody.

Whether together or solo, Blunt and Miranda are endlessly charming.

From the bizarre opening (featuring a plethora of naked obese women) to the film’s parallel narratives conceit, there's no shortage of style, though incoherence butts in from time to time.

Like a highly watchable amalgam of “Field of Dreams,” “Zootopia” and Arthurian legend, the colorful crusade features a solid hero’s journey with a slam-dunk of a finale.

Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation doubles as a two-hour celebrity episode of American Ninja Warrior for Tom Cruise.

It does deliver on the mayhem front.

Cronenberg has crafted a story that brings together what we do to our bodies to feel and look good – though that’s sometimes in the eye of the beholder – and the synthetic materials that play a key role in both our modern lives and environmental crises.

Top-shelf Shyamalan. Centered on a family having to make the most dreadful of decisions, “Knock” is a well-crafted intimate thriller that plays with your expectations and immerses you in a disconcerting situation.

Ben Affleck brings needed nuance to old-fashioned brains and brawn as an action hero with high-functioning autism in The Accountant.

The sci-fi survival horror sequel A Quiet Place Part II doesn’t quite live up to the refreshing feel or innovative novelty of the original 2018 hit, where silence is truly golden in a post-apocalyptic existence full of blind creatures that attack noisy things and noisier humans. But the creatures are still freaky, the soundscapes are still interesting, Emily Blunt is still the second coming of Sigourney Weaver and this time the storyline expands the world, plus lets the kids shoulder some of the live-or-die derring-do. It also works as one heck of a chilling fix for audiences dipping their toes back into reopened cinemas.

While not phenomenal, especially compared to the rest of the Spielberg oeuvre, Spies still hits the spot.

The movie also has a lot in common with Gracey’s most famous effort, “The Greatest Showman,” featuring well-crafted, effervescent musical numbers doing what they can to make up for oversentimentality and an unfocused narrative.

After two mediocre 2000s film featuring Marvel’s legendary superhero family, and an atrocious third outing in 2015, the foursome makes its Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in a combo sci-fi/disaster flick full of retrofuturistic 1960s flavor.

There's a lot thrown in here for two hours, and Apatow could easily have lost about 30 minutes of high jinks and gotten the point across that everybody has their somebody. Yet with Schumer driving the action, Trainwreck may be his most impactful ride yet.

This Lion King is akin to a revival of an iconic Broadway musical, with an all-star cast and a few welcome improvements but lacking a certain magic and originality.

Tonally, Ant-Man is a little all over the place — at times, it's a quirky comedy, heist film, trippy sci-fi project and family drama, never able to really blend everything in a cohesive fashion.... That said, when it's on its game, Ant-Man does some of the best stuff ever in a Marvel movie.

While the narrative doesn’t totally land, the voice cast is solid and the vibe is consistently joyous.

Dial of Destiny is a solid Indiana Jones adventure that ultimately dodges the giant boulder of expectations. But as a franchise closer, it’s an anticlimactic affair that, while not a memorably rousing last crusade, at least bids Indy adieu in an emotionally satisfying fashion.

Does a decent job living up to a legendary predecessor. Original star Ellen Burstyn returns in the latest film, which also goes all in exploring every parent’s deepest fears, but while it tries admirably, “Believer” is nowhere near as profoundly scary as William Friedkin’s genre-defining chiller.

The film’s greatest strength is its major team-up. Caine and Keitel have an electric chemistry when they’re onscreen together.

This heavenly action-comedy takes on familiar elements of John Wick and James Bond but is sufficiently empowering – “Women can do anything” is literally the first line in the movie. There's also an unexpectedly dark edge throughout for the new "Angels," from gallows humor to actual dangerous stakes for our butt-kicking crew.

Here’s some Disney magic for you: The new Beauty and the Beast actually improves upon the animated classic.

What makes the new psychological thriller Antebellum effective, however, is not just studying the past of America’s original sin but deftly showing how it still paints our present day.

Visually sumptuous and surprisingly sensual, "Nosferatu" isn’t as wonderfully original (or bonkers) as Eggers' top-notch flicks “The Witch” and “The Northman,” but great turns from Lily-Rose Depp and Bill Skarsgård sell its disturbing, otherworldly beauty-and-the-beast tale.

Imagine if “The Phantom Menace” was better than every episode of George Lucas’ original “Star Wars” trilogy. Kind of bonkers to think about, right? But that’s pretty much the situation with “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”, an enticing blend of dystopian action epic and musical drama that surpasses the previous films starring Jennifer Lawrence.

It’s not really a horror movie, although it is plenty horrifying. It’s a love story that’s devoid of sentimentality and romance. And it’s also quite funny at times, though you’re never quite sure the laughs are because of the gallows humor or simply a defense mechanism to keep one’s sanity.

While Deepwater Horizon effectively shows its mettle as a proper action film, it goes the extra mile and drills a little deeper to unearth a lot of heart as well.

A proudly ridiculous yet sincerely enjoyable exercise of putting wacky characters in the war path of a dangerous (and very high) beast. The “Citizen Kane” of coked-out bear movies is not perfect by any stretch but like its furry star, the film is scrappy and hungry while owning its throwback absurdity.

BvS will please those either waiting for the two main players to lock horns on a movie screen, or those who've just been pining for Wonder Woman forever. And for the nerdier crowds, a fleeting glimpse at other superheroes hints this is the Dawn of something potentially sensational.

Serving as an “Endgame” epilogue, director Jon Watts’ sequel isn’t as tightly focused or effortlessly charming as 2017’s “Homecoming,” yet it continues Holland’s amazing Spidey run and introduces Jake Gyllenhaal in his top-notch first comic-book role.

For the most part a no-frills, almost sedate affair, the drama finds its real power in two strong lead performances.

The cast is superb, especially King.

Strays is definitely a treat, especially for dog lovers who will howl with laughter and also cry at its empathetic understanding that we all, furry or otherwise, just want to be loved.

Heart Eyes is tastier than a box of candy hearts, unleashes some highly entertaining kills and sticks mostly to its genre scripts. But if it drags even one horror-hating significant other over to the dark side, that’s a bloody win.

Good news, parents: Storks is bound to entertain you and your little ones. Bad news: Get ready to answer a lot more awkward questions about where babies come from.