Brian Truitt

There is more than enough magic, music and muscle to go around – everybody’s so ripped, Love and Thunder often seems like a Frank Frazetta painting come to life.

If the Marvel superhero movies on the whole are your favorite band’s individual albums, Avengers: Endgame is the triple-disc greatest-hits package with the really awesome cover and a slew of familiar, comforting gems inside.

Director Josh Safdie’s globetrotting, genre-busting comedy thriller is a proudly oddball period movie that boasts throwback elements but leans timeless in its unlikely hero’s journey.

So it seems lightning has struck again, this time in the DC universe where the most successful movies thus far have played it safe. That’s never been Gunn’s game, thankfully, and certainly isn’t here. Anyway, who needs Batman around when you’ve got Starro the Conqueror?

Splendidly directed by Marielle Heller, Can You Ever Forgive Me? feels worn and lived in – in a good way – with a world of musty vintage tones and bar-room desperation given emotional life through McCarthy and a super supporting turn from Richard E. Grant.

Equally powerful and feel-good, Creed is an entertaining reminder that this franchise isn’t down for the count yet.

The 21-year-old actor holds his own in the emotional project opposite a couple of heavyweights, Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. Just as deft in his work is writer/director/co-star Joel Edgerton, who's crafted a touching look at the darker sides of evangelical belief and parental judgment.

A beautiful and brutal headtrip exploring the positives and negatives inherent in mankind's evolution, with characters struggling against losing themselves to something alien.

With outstanding performances from newcomer Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose, Spielberg’s take doesn't stray too far from the original 1957 “Romeo & Juliet”-inspired Broadway musical or the 1961 best picture winning-film, but is rather a more authentic, dynamic and thoughtful revamp.

As much of a wry hoot as it is, with Wright as the film's enjoyably irascible lead, Jefferson also weaves in a dysfunctional family drama that gives it emotional heft to complement the hilarity.

Entertaining and surprisingly funny given the subject matter, the movie’s also an exquisitely acted affair paced by Chastain (who also produces), turning in a career-best effort as the complex Tammy Faye.

While the ending loses steam as “Different Man” gets in its own bizarre head, the film maintains a certain heady, psychological trippiness.

Washington has put together a troupe that crafts a retro story that’s still completely relatable, no matter one’s race, and brilliantly plays a protagonist that finds the sweetest spot between lovable and loathsome.

The satisfying and heart-wrenching climax is a last reminder that Caesar’s new adventure is one of this summer’s best.

There’s no need to yearn for a female 007 or a woman Wick anymore – just hope for another film that’s all about Eve.

It’s an essential watch for every music fan, even if you’re not an Elvis junkie.

The filmmaker crafts an entertaining, immersive and ultimately optimistic spectacle that never forgets, especially at its ending, that humanity should always trump the system.

A stronger and tighter movie than its Oscar-nominated predecessor without losing any of its splendor.

It's a touching story of Americana mixed with sibling rivalry, parental pressure and heart-wrenching despair, with a ripped Zac Efron in an amazing turn as the beating heart of a tight-knit yet troubled clan.

Exquisitely crafted...It’s a strange little amalgamation that totally works: a vicious Shakespearean satire about power-hungry mind-sets, stealth corruption, American ambition and the current state of divided affairs in our country, but also a quasi-fictional go-for-broke biopic about a political leader we really don't know at all.

Director Jon Watts’ third Spidey film is a rousing entry that doubles as a love letter to the comic-book character, a film very much about second chances and a cleverly crafted reminder of that famous adage: “With great power comes great responsibility.”

Dunkirk is also one of the best-scored films in recent memory, and Hans Zimmer’s music plays as important a role as any character. With shades of Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, the melodies are glorious, yet Zimmer also creates an instrumental ticking-clock soundtrack that’s a propulsive force in the action scenes.

Hopkins and Pryce have sensational chemistry and are rather heavenly inhabiting their character arcs, which power this pious take on “Frost/Nixon.”

Peele is this generation’s Hitchcock, for sure, but also a true American original with introspective themes in hand and suspense to spare.

Several heads roll though it’s your mind that'll get truly blown by The Green Knight, a visually dazzling and thoughtful trip back to Camelot.

The magic of Homecoming is that it belongs more to the John Hughes cinematic universe than the Avengers’.

Not only historically significant but also truly excellent.

Murphy wonderfully inhabits the nervy intensity of a gaunt and troubled figure, who's deemed unstable and egoistical by his peers during the war and at wit’s end later, as he contends with politicos with a score to settle.