Brian Truitt

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.

They’re made women in an underworld that doesn’t want them, and while that theme is sufficiently explored, The Kitchen disappointingly fails to explore the racial politics it hints at and, aside from the main trio, is full of characters who feel paper thin. The results aren’t criminal, per se, but the movie more often finds mediocrity instead of real nuance.

But in trying to break free from being Fast and Furious, “Hobbs & Shaw” forgets to maintain the balance of insanity and heart that makes the series special.

His [Tarantino's] vision of 1969 Hollywood feels authentic and alive, with a lot of that electricity running through leads Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, plus an inspired, understated performance by Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate.

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.

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.

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.

Introduces an endearing, guitar-strumming new star in British actor Himesh Patel.

The animation is also top-notch: Bo has a bunch of dazzling scenes as a porcelain warrior, and human characters look better than ever. With the emphasis on Woody’s tale, Buzz and the other returning toys spend much of the movie as side characters, but it turns into a true romp when everyone's plots coincide.

Unlike the corner of the entertainment industry it tackles, Mindy Kaling’s quick-witted screenplay for “Late Night” doesn’t go for cheap laughs, but instead wields incisive barbs to successfully make its point.

If this is indeed the end, Dark Phoenix finishes off the X-Men movie saga in frustratingly middling fashion, however fitting for a superhero franchise that only just a few times actually reached its cinematic potential.

John’s gifts are his songs, and with Rocketman, his wonderful life gets a worthy, refreshing big-screen treatment.

The memorable songs return (with some new additions), the movie razzles and dazzles with huge dance sequences and impressive production design, but it’s definitely a more grown-up tale than the original 1992 animated classic.

The worst thing you can say about the brilliantly zany teen comedy Booksmart is that you get only an hour and 45 minutes with its quirky student body.

A pretty good “Chapter 3” still equals insanely explosive, two-fisted exhilaration.

Has ambition and style in spades – and thankfully, a plenty sassy Ryan Reynolds in the form of a little yellow rabbit-y dude – even if the quasi-noir private-eye tale is rather uninspired on the whole.

The truly excellent Long Shot is both clever comedy and modern fairy tale that owes a lot to “Pretty Woman” and “The American President,” though it swaps gender stereotypes.

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.

This Hellboy leans more into super-gory horror comedy than its predecessors, trading nuance for ripped-off limbs and boasting as much subtlety as a stone fist to the face.

It isn't good and it isn't bad – it is, to borrow a fitting adjective, "all right." But the film might as well be called “Matthew McConaughey: The Movie,” as it casts McConaughey in a role seemingly tailor-made for his famous style and yet, like the actor himself, also upends those same expectations.

A visually sumptuous effort with wondrous sights, though its character development falls short of those same heights.

While genre tropes are very much in play, there's a certain magic in this “Big”-meets-Superman affair where an ancient wizard transforms a troubled teenager into a buff, god-like guy with a light-up suit.

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