Brian Truitt

Jojo Moyes adapted her own best-selling book, which helps give Me Before You a singular inviting vibe instead of feeling like "The Fault in Our Stars 2."

Looking Glass is instead a competition to see how goofy Johnny Depp can be as the Mad Hatter and how many scenes (and hearts) Helena Bonham Carter can steal as the ragingly high-maintenance Red Queen.

Brews up an enticing murder mystery and gives Shane Black — who directed and co-wrote the script — another hit on-screen pairing.

With Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, the raunchy college comedy is graduating to smart feminist commentary.

A hostage thriller, a campy satire of the 24/7 media culture and a takedown of Wall Street, though it never fully succeeds on any of those tracks.

Director Bryan Singer made more hay with Marvel’s mighty mutant menagerie in the early 2000s, but the new film comes undone with too many characters and not enough nuance or freshness.

What A Bigger Splash does have in its favor is standout acting by Ralph Fiennes and Tilda Swinton, who gets to channel her inner Ziggy Stardust.

May boast a star-studded cast but it’s a spectacular dud on every other level with tonal whiplash, a little casual racism played for jokes and a script seemingly pulled from Hallmark cards rejected for being too hokey.

It’s a sketch-type conceit stretched to movie length that wears thin at times. When the stars are on their game, though, they keep the laughs coming.

It’s a dunderheaded follow-up, for sure, but it’s at least buoyed by Chris Hemsworth’s charisma and the few times where Winter’s War embraces complete camp.

Sing Street is a wholly appealing genesis of teenage romance and music-group therapy for one Irish boy and a instant retro classic for those still hungry like the wolf.

While it’s not the greatest Marvel effort — that honor goes to the previous Captain America: The Winter Soldier — Civil War does pull outstanding performances from its two franchise faces, Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr.

The raucous comedy fails to keep up with its charismatic star.

Though Linklater isn’t subtle when it comes to his lesson plan — the theme of the movie is, in fact, written on a chalkboard — he gives you a squad of guys whose good times and fun personalities will leave you wanting some more.

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.

Pee-wee Herman may still look good in his ill-fitting suit, but more than 30 years after first hitting the big screen, his antics haven’t aged well.

If E.T. was human, wore swim goggles and read Superman comics by flashlight, he’d be the 8-year-old boy at the center of the heartfelt, lo-fi sci-fi spectacular Midnight Special.

Isn’t nearly as funny as it thinks it is spoofing spy tropes and buddy films and making a mockery of AIDS, politicians, movie stars and working-class Brits.

A well-crafted affair by debuting director Dan Trachtenberg that mixes elements of an intimate stage play with the white-knuckled tension of a cracking good Twilight Zone episode.

Its colorful residents make Zootopia a wondrous place to visit for two hours until you have to go back to real life, where Shakira isn’t a gazelle and law enforcement is a lot less furry.

Even with the occasional misfire in the plot, Fey’s strong performance throughout the film lets Whiskey go down in smooth and satisfying fashion.

It winds up working as a ominous climax, however, and you’re left wanting to avoid any and all farm animals for a while — which for this excellent piece of filmmaking is high praise.

Race makes its title's double meaning all too clear, and at a time when the Oscars and movies, in general, struggle with finding racial balance, two guys of different skin colors coming together for some sports-movie magic is a fitting and truly welcoming lapping of the competition.

For grown-ups, however, Deadpool avoids enough pitfalls to both embrace and flambé the superhero genre while also finding time for romance, doling out equal handfuls of bullets, barbs and warm fuzzies.

Moviegoers may wish that Will Ferrell's megalomaniacal supervillain Mugatu had won in the first Zoolander and saved us from another film with these boneheads.

Some bits fall flat, yet when the Coens hit, there’s nothing better, especially with their usual ridiculously sublime banter.

The rescue drama The Finest Hours rocks the boat in terms of blizzard-blitzed sea thrills but leaves you cold with its side love story.

The movie's story and cute characters are geared toward the younger crowd, per usual. But while it lacks the wonder and nuance of earlier Pandas, there are enough new faces and wowing, Asian-influenced style to also keep parents amused for an hour and a half.

While not as cinematically game-changing as Pulp Fiction or as gore-spattered as the Kill Bill films, The Hateful Eight doles out all of Tarantino’s favorite things.

The 5th Wave finds a way to make the most of Moretz’s talents, with the emotionality she showed in If I Stay and the utter physical chutzpah of her Kick-Ass films.

After a string of iffy Transformers movies, Bay reminds that he can do a much better action movie with humans than alien robots: 13 Hours is his best work in the genre since his 1990s hits Bad Boys and The Rock.

Much more concerned with the emotional ties between twin sisters — both played by Game of Thrones’ Natalie Dormer — than scaring the pants off audiences.

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.

The cast is a stellar one, especially Smith. Not only does he capture Omalu’s Nigerian accent and mannerisms but also the character's idiosyncrasies.

It all comes down to men behaving badly and greed rules all, though at least you’ll laugh and seethe along the way.

There’s a Miracle Mop at the heart of Joy, though the movie is such a mess that even it would have a hard time cleaning up.

The Revenant is the most intense thing you’ll enjoy over the holidays this side of family dinners.

The humor, mainly of the raunchy and older-parents-having-sex variety, lands in hilarious fashion only some of the time.

The Force Awakens reveals surprising connections, begins a few bromances, solves mysteries while digging up others, and sets a strong tone for what comes next in Star Wars lore. Best of all? It’ll make you feel like a kid being introduced to something truly special once again.

In the Heart of the Sea really gives Hemsworth a chance to shine. He’s not just the hammer-slinging Thor: The Aussie continues to make the most of his dramatic work — as in Howard’s 2013 Formula 1 film "Rush" — and showcases a considerable amount of gravitas.

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

Spike Lee has been trying to get people to do the right thing for years, but with Chi-Raq, he solidifies a peaceful movie message in lyrical as well as powerful fashion.

A sense of family, the one you have and the one you make, strongly pervades every inch of the world that The Good Dinosaur inhabits.

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

It has the best action sequences of all four chapters, though its revolutionary message gets bogged down by a meandering plot and some good old-fashioned overacting.

True, most Christmas flicks tend toward the trite and predictable naturally but they just don’t have to be quite this insufferable.

No need to bury the lede: Spotlight is a masterpiece.

Peanuts is all about simplicity, and what the plot lacks in nuance and complexity is made up for with relatable characters whom people have spent a lifetime watching.

The clichéd ghosts of James Bond past haunt Spectre, an action adventure whose biggest failure is looking back on 007’s own success.

The movie unfortunately gets stuck between edgy drama and broad comedy, and most of the humor lands with a thud.

In its favor: a breakout performance from Palestinian newcomer Leem Lubany and maybe the most apropos use of Peace Train ever.

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

Sorkin's script is clever and knowing — at one point late in the proceedings, Jobs wonders aloud why “everybody gets drunk” and takes him to task five minutes before every event. It's a small moment that breaks the fourth wall in the slightest and smartest of ways.

The supporting cast is an embarrassment of riches for Scott, and Chastain is particularly strong as the concerned commander of the mission. Yet this is most definitely Damon’s movie and a throwback to the unabashed idealism of Hollywood past.

For those who want to feel like they're 110 stories up and living in the clouds, Hollywood does its job conjuring movie magic with a breathtaking Walk to remember.

For someone of De Niro’s reputation, this Intern gig is a thankless job.

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.

As notorious gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, Depp astounds with one of the best performances in his long career while co-star Joel Edgerton steps up equally well as John Connolly, an ethically questionable FBI agent who flirts with the wrong side of the law.

The low-budget thriller deftly mixes horror-movie moments, pure strangeness and comedy like a family-friendly David Lynch effort as it takes audiences on one really oddball trip to grandma's house.

A mostly dreadful reboot by director Camille Delamarre (Brick Mansions) that casts English youngster Ed Skrein in Statham's role as well-dressed driver-for-hire Frank Martin.

A plethora of beats drop but little else of note — musical or otherwise — happens in the Zac Efron DJ fest We Are Your Friends.

A lot Bourne and a little bong, the action comedy...is too earnest to be a stoner movie and too quirky to be an action flick. Therein lies the beauty of director Nima Nourizadeh’s Ultra: It exists to entertain in its own oddball universe, munchies optional.

While Mission: Impossible has found a popular way to reimagine an old show for modern times, Man is immersed in all things retro — from the ginchy fashion to a jazzy score — but for an action adventure, it’s a mostly tedious affair with fleeting moments of cool.

An unfortunate movie that does an embarrassing disservice to the decades-old property and is a frightful waste of all the talent involved.

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

While Southpaw doesn’t do anything innovative with the punch-drunk formula — there’s even a rousing final match, leaving you exhausted by the end — Gyllenhaal and Whitaker are real heavyweights who give the feature a winning combo.

A satisfying look at young unrequited love, bromances, independence and letting go.

Even with some familiar faces, The Stanford Prison Experiment feels like an honest-to-goodness documentary — a high compliment for a movie based on an infamous college project.

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.

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.

Ted 2 locks into a nice groove whenever it's just Ted and John being buds (and smoking bud), and Seyfried actually adds to the chemistry. If only the nonstop parade of craziness and lack of story coherence around them wasn't so hard to bear.

Newcomer Shameik Moore shines with geeky gusto in a breakthrough role in the coming-of-age comedy/drama, which tackles racial stereotypes and 1990s culture as a kind of spiritual descendant of "Friday" and "Do the Right Thing" while still featuring a singular voice.

The main voice actors all fit their animated personas, especially Poehler and Black. Poehler brings a unshakably quirky optimism to Joy while Black takes his acerbic stand-up routine, makes it a smidge more family-friendly, and turns up the juice for Anger.

Jurassic World gives us enough dino-mite action to stave off excitement extinction.