Brian Truitt

This is Johnson’s baby, a film spotlighting a complicated antihero he has championed for years. It wins some battles and packs plenty of punch, yet it just can’t get past familiar tropes and flaws.

It’s a denouement that ventures too far afield from familiarity, a good-vs.-evil slugfest more complicated than it needs to be, and a “Halloween” flick that should go out with a roar but instead closes with a masked wheeze.

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.

The follow-up fails in every way, as a retread of the beloved ‘90s vehicle and as a youth-centered setup for future installments.

Although there are insightful moments and surreal bits that pop, it’s overall a bizarre – and at nearly three hours, bloated – film that attempts to honor its subject and instead lets her down.

While there’s a definite “The Stepford Wives” sort of vibe, the narrative themes (which do lean timely) lack subtlety and nuance. Thankfully, Pugh keeps it watchable as a young married woman trying to keep her sanity amidst a ton of gaslighting and constant doo-wop songs.

The over-the-top survival thriller definitely fits into the aesthetic of Hollywood’s August burn-off period, where bad (and so-bad-they’re-good) movies reign, though Elba’s charisma goes a long way in terms of enjoyability as do some hair-raising animal attacks.

Given its premise and title, you’d expect a zippy movie with some momentum, yet too many flashbacks and a surprising amount of chattiness in the overlong film slows everything down – at least until a crazy albeit satisfying finale where Leitch pretty much cuts the brakes and lets chaos take the wheel.

With "Nope," Peele showcases a new sense of blockbuster flair while maintaining his signature gift for twisted modern relevance.

If nothing else, though, the stylish and slick thriller brings sass to the secret-agent genre, and there are worse things than watching an evil Chris Evans try to murder Ryan Gosling for two hours.

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.

With Butler’s stellar portrayal, it’s never dull, and more enjoyable than not. The musical numbers are often dazzling, boosted by Luhrmann’s inimitable style. And the plot (for better and for worse) covers a ton of Presley’s life. But even when it’s over, you’re still not sure what Hanks is doing.

“Lightyear” is a crowd-pleasing effort that doesn’t shoot for the moon but manages to be a nostalgic blast anyway.

Although overly familiar, “Dominion” boasts everything you’d ever want in a “Jurassic” film and is the best in the series since the original 1993 movie.

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.

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.

As insanely cool as the aerial dogfight scenes were in the original, the sequel’s action sequences levels them up with unreal camera angles and nonstop tension.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness definitely makes good on the promises of an excessive title: Alternate realities are in full effect, things get progressively more bonkers, and the latest adventure for Benedict Cumberbatch’s Marvel magic man takes “the search for one’s self” conceit to a whole new level.

Everything Everywhere is an action-packed club sandwich of weird, but also a splendidly human experience to cherish.

The third installment of director David Yates’ “Harry Potter” period prequel series still is overstuffed with characters and subplots, yet polishes a few missteps from previous films. There’s a renewed emphasis on magical creatures and another decidedly political bent to the franchise as it digs into dark themes and offers a bewitching goofy side.

With Leto flying and jumping through New York City as a do-gooding bloodsucker with moral “Should I feast on my fellow man?” quandaries, “Morbius” is a lifeless slog with no real bite.

The Lost City isn’t a bad movie, and it’s sufficiently ridiculous for those seeking a gonzo escape with A-listers. You're just left wanting in general, be it extra Pitt or more ribaldry.

Shi crafts a heartwarming, empowering and fun narrative about female puberty and a changing mother/daughter relationship.

Pattinson’s main man holds down a revamped Gotham that feels distinctively gritty with its blueprint of madness and mayhem, a place you would never want to live in but still would love to revisit as soon as possible.

It’s a rather impressive feat to bury Tom Holland’s considerable charisma, though that is one of the few aspects where his new film “Uncharted” actually succeeds.

Two years after the release of “Orient Express,” “Knives Out” reinvented the all-star murder mystery in a fun and refreshing fashion, and Branagh’s latest just seems stale in comparison, with no new life in this “Death.”

With “Tragedy of Macbeth,” something wicked this way comes – something familiar to anyone who remembers high school English classes but also at times a darkly enchanting delight.

Clearly far from the worst the franchise has offered (sorry, “Scream 3”) and not quite to the level of the late Wes Craven's innovative 1996 original, Ghostface’s latest slice-and-dice through Woodsboro checks all the appropriate boxes though lacks some of the quirky fun that marked previous entries.