Carla Meyer

Entertainment value and reasonable length still make the film a decent, low-effort option for home viewers — especially those already subscribed to Hulu.

Stewart’s impact is evident within the first hour of “Martha.” That’s a good thing, because the younger audience this film might be targeting lacks the patience for another hour of Cutler’s photo parade, no matter how extraordinary his subject.

Laura Dern is not a wizard. She cannot make the dumb and formulaic elements of her romance/travelogue movie “Lonely Planet” disappear. But Dern brings such authenticity to Katherine, her confident, matter-of-fact successful author character, that her performance often outweighs this Netflix movie’s flaws.

House of Spoils suffers most from genre hybridization. The more explicit horror moments feel grafted on to what is essentially a character study with mystery elements. But as “Speak No Evil” recently demonstrated, Blumhouse no longer signifies low-budget, terrifying horror. The brand has become shorthand for movies lacking clear identities.

The body-swap movie “It’s What’s Inside” dazzles up to the moment its plot gets going.

As it speeds toward conclusion, “Supremes” also stops subverting its more maudlin aspects, allowing a descent into soap operatic moments.

The buddy comedy “Babes” offers keen insights into pregnancy, parenting and longtime friendships, although many get lost in the movie’s bodily function-joke jamboree.

The whole cast is likable and the scenery lovely, making this only the second-worst Shields beach movie, after “The Blue Lagoon.”

The Color Purple now has been a movie, a Broadway show, a revived Broadway show and movie musical when it always should have been a TV miniseries.

Before it becomes entirely too Australian, the well-crafted haunted-hand horror movie Talk to Me perfectly captures the one-upmanship of social-media-fueled youth culture.

The Little Mermaid origin story lacks room for this more feminist take. It simply is not deep enough.

At its titanium core, M3GAN is a mostly on-the-mark commentary on our tech dependence.

Something From Tiffany’s rides the line between Hallmark cheese and the Hollywood gloss of big-screen rom-coms once headlined by its producer, Reese Witherspoon. It emerges as a top entry in the former category and a middling example of the latter, with lots of nice moments along the way.

A clever mishmash of Hitchcockian and 1980s and ’90s high school movie sensibilities, the Netflix dark comedy Do Revenge falters when it tries to grow a heart.

Penguin is the film’s most fleshed-out character. We know the bird’s origin story, but nobody else’s.

Despite most everything else in the movie being predictable, Bray’s mystery is hard to guess.

But most every moment Ford is in on screen is a welcome one. Buck seems more real when in Ford’s presence.

Although this story line’s turns are easy to anticipate, the seriousness with which Fellowes approaches it is refreshing in an otherwise lightweight film.

Were “Vita” better developed and edited, one might find joy in its rejection of the patriarchy. But the female-friendly dialogue relies too heavily on exposition. Nobody asks if anyone wants a cup of tea.

The relentlessly downbeat drama American Woman is a star vehicle that lets Sienna Miller (“American Sniper,” HBO’s “The Girl”) really show what she can do. But she does too much.

There is simply too much going on, in these separate storylines, for too long. There is a literal “meanwhile, back at the farm” quality to the movie, because it becomes so involved with subplots that you only remember Max and Rooster at the farm when the action shifts back to it.

The Little Stranger will satisfy a very specific audience: “Downton Abbey” watchers who thought that show would be perfect if only the manor were down at the heels and haunted.

Teen Titans never reaches that sweet spot where adult and kid humor align in a single gag.

Buscemi is characteristically likable here, when Del, mercenary in his treatment of human and beast, should not be so likable. Such is the curse of Buscemi, the delightful killer from “Fargo.”

There’s authenticity in the coach’s belted khaki shorts and in the anguish Hunt brings to a moment where the coach no longer can bear being at her star player’s wake. This moment is the film’s most moving until images of the real coach, and real Caroline Found, accompany the credits.

That story proves paper thin, and requires believing Amanda is devoid of empathy yet devoted to Lily — concepts too at odds to be plausible together.

The only clear message to emerge here is that Kruger is a world-class talent.

Here is more ambiguity, in a film that needs less of it.

Leoni is a very attractive woman, and she should be credited for giving a brave performance, but her character starts to produce involuntary shudders when she appears onscreen.

Lacks even mild drama.

Unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger, however, Vin Diesel shows no discernible comedic skills.

Muniz, however, is hampered by Stripes' constant moping, which brings out the "Malcolm in the Middle'' star's whinier tendencies.

Cloying mix of screwball comedy and drama.

The film rarely matches Crudup's performance, appearing confused itself about whether it's farce or drama.

Teen sex comedies always have more homoerotic moments than you can shake a ... whatever ... at, but Eurotrip seems overly concerned with penises and predatory men. This brand of humor, a time-honored crutch for comedy writers, is both lazy and unseemly.

Dax Shepard from MTV's "Punk'd," in his first major big-screen role, steals Without a Paddle. Not that it's too hard to do.

Swayze's presence crosses the line from curious to bizarre and adds a heavy layer of cheese to Havana Nights.

It's engaging and transparent at once.

In White Chicks, the gross-out humor is minimal, no character comes off too badly and lessons are learned. Oh Wayanses, where are thy teeth?

The always fierce Bassett is a little too fierce here, reacting with unwarranted emotion to each romantic twist and turn.

A street-dance film that's lively and silly and about as "street" as a Britney Spears video.

Goes disappointingly soft despite two dynamite lead performances.

The brave men who fought and perished at the Alamo believed fervently in their cause. For The Alamo to work, the audience must believe as well. That never really happens.

There's no hiding a hokey love story that undercuts the picture's compelling tennis scenes.

Highly entertaining, in a schadenfreude sense, but incomplete.

A tense, expertly acted Russian film clouded by its intentional ambiguity.

The movie is like one of those newfangled Vegas casinos, where what appears to be open sky is really painted ceiling. What's initially dazzling becomes stifling.

Light on inner conflict and heavy on cliches.

Pretty and vague, the kind of film that might play on a loop at a county fair's Americana exhibit.

To earnest for its own good. Sincere and heartfelt, it's the kind of family film that might be at home on cable.

First Daughter can be measured in degrees of Holmes' discomfort... There's never a moment when she doesn't appear as if she'd rather be in a different movie.

Confusing, mixing messages of self-empowerment with those of conformity.

The problems lie not with the actors but with a glib approach that exposes the flaws of the original story.

The tense, stylish thriller turns into soft-core, slapdash psychodrama.

It's a prevailing sense of humor that makes this an entertaining, if silly, film adaptation of the Marvel comic.

It's a fascinating concept, gorgeously rendered. Seeing the paint actually dry, however, would probably be more fun than most of this overly expository film.

Loses momentum midway into the boys' journey.

Features bursts of humor and electrifying energy offset by speechifying and a dud of a subplot.

Clunky adventure story.

Sweaty, filthy, miserable and well acted.

[Duhmel] brings surprising nuance to an ostensibly shallow character, a guy who's not really bad, just caught up in his own celebrity.

It's not a terrible movie, just a disappointingly pleasant one.

It's merely adequate, with one riveting element but limited chills.

The picture never comes out from under the weight of its dreariness, despite fine acting, foot chases and conspiracy theories galore.

Offers a lively but jumbled insider's view of a world of great talent and greater risk.

Fascinating context but awkwardly told.

Negotiating the role of a forward-thinking woman constrained by family demands and era, Elliott elevates a picture that's lovely to look at but lacking in dramatic impact.

Beautiful but hollow.

A good-hearted 'tween comedy hampered by uneven direction and a misguided plot twist.

Has to be enjoyed in spurts. There's no cohesive story, just a series of opportunities for the title character (Jon Heder) to strut his gawky stuff.

Pretty standard stuff, mixing a few truly clever moments with facile drug humor and throwaway female characters.