Brian Truitt

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.

Cats isn’t for everyone – much of it is a cheesy, B-grade affair seemingly crafted solely to take over midnight-movie slots from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Those with an open mind, though, as well as little kids and the T-Swift posse, might find it somewhat pawesome.

It's impressively ambitious, though great new personalities and fresh storytelling suffer for the sake of fan service.

What makes the vivid film such an astounding effort – and one of the year's best movies – is that it’s edited seamlessly as one continuous real-time take, following a couple of Brits through rat-infested trenches, sniper-filled towns and even empty battlefields where the Grim Reaper’s been busy yet danger still looms.

It’s another complete and uncanny transformation for Theron, who dazzles as anchor Megyn Kelly in the all-star drama Bombshell.

Wickedly hilarious.

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

The acting performances are stellar across the board, though the biggest joy of Little Women is Gerwig’s magnificent screenplay.

It mostly works – Hanks is ostensibly a supporting player and noticeably missed when not onscreen – and Heller’s creativity proves just as key as her star. “A Beautiful Day” acts as a two-hour episode of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” for grown-ups, a meta-narrative showing the real world through a kids' show lens and Hanks’ Rogers sitting us all down for an educational experience.

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.

If you were holding out hope that Frozen 2 could equal or surpass the original phenomenon, it’s time to let it go.

While there are plenty of obstacles and things going vroom, the two reasons "Ford" works so very well are named Damon and Bale: They're endlessly entertaining as loyal dudes who work out their differences through brotherly roughhousing.

A highlight reel for everyone involved: career-defining work from Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver, astounding supporting turns courtesy of Laura Dern and Alan Alda, and a masterclass from Baumbach.

Dark Fate ultimately blows up any chance for innovative storytelling with rehashed plot points and reheated signature moments.

The Overlook Hotel is still plenty creepy, as is the crusty naked ghost lady in Room 217. But the adaptation of Stephen King's Doctor Sleep is more likely to keep you awake at night with the fresher stuff than the retreads.

What's wonderfully explored here, though, isn't the killer streak, but instead the gravity of taking a darker path and being left at the end with nothing but bloody memories.

Jojo Rabbit succeeds even with a high degree of difficulty, given the sensitivities of the subject matter, the emotional undercurrent of a mother’s devotion to her son and the breaking down of artificial walls to let love in. As much as it makes you laugh, Waititi’s must-watch effort is a warm hug of a movie that just so happens to have a lot of important things to say.

Jolie’s magnetism, plus the way she toes the line between being a fairy version of Batman and a menacing mistress of not-quite-evil-but-pretty-close, is why these “Maleficent” movies work. She fits the character as well as her endless cycle of evolving costumes.

The movie shoots for the moon with an intriguing dual-role conceit but wildly misses the mark. Hackneyed dialogue, a thin and silly plot fumbling the ambition of the concept, and a mixed bag of visual effects all leave this one just for the Smith completists.

The latest excellent effort for writer/director Bong Joon-ho (“The Host,” “Okja”) is a more entertaining version of “Roma,” an Oscar-ready, slice-of-life foreign film that challenges its audience to look inward.

Instead of being an intriguing look at an emotional breakdown, “Lucy” is more interested in being a sporadically trippy (and ultimately forgettable) soap opera that by the end has the camp factor of your average Lifetime revenge thriller.

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.

Without Zellweger’s remarkable Oscar-worthy performance, it’s standard-issue biopic fare – with her, the cultural icon comes to life again, warts and all.

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.

Hustlers is empathetic and understanding in the way it looks at sex workers as also single moms and women just trying to get by in a world where the rich seemingly only get richer. It also works as an enjoyable, empowering extravaganza of physical humor, clever script writing, exquisite fashion and scantily clad underdogs.

It’s a lot of soapy melodrama and underdeveloped characters that never really go anywhere.

However solid the grown-ups are, the youngsters together – whether in the first film or the sequel – make “It” shine.

In one of the movie's most memorable scenes, Javed and his activist love interest Eliza (Nell Williams) embark on a glorious, mischievous romp out of school and through Luton, singing “Born to Run” and dancing with literally everyone who’ll join them.