Carla Meyer

It’s such a pure delight to see Erivo and Grande just standing around when they finally duet on “For Good” that we will take that scene over a hundred where their characters dance, preen or ride a broom on their own.

Badly cast and unevenly acted, “Regretting You” features the least healthy mother-daughter relationship since 1975’s “Grey Gardens.”

Although it holds some of the same contrivances as the original, Hulu’s new remake also maintains tension and features a masterful performance, this time by Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the mother.

Is it possible to enjoy a movie musical while actively disliking its songs? It is with “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” which proves the durability of a good story — and story within a story — no matter how many generic John Kander and Fred Ebb songs, weakly performed by Jennifer Lopez, come with it.

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

It’s still a relief that the love story here is between a kind woman and a creature far nobler than his onetime owner.

Wolf Man does not fully compel until it becomes ridiculous, employing a wolf-cam perspective that shows what a werewolf sees when he encounters people: glowing-eyed figures who look like AI-hallucinuted Teletubbies.

Hard Truths lacks subplots, or, come to think of it, a plot. Good thing, then, that it features one of the best lead performances of the movie awards season. Pansy might remain a bit of a mystery, but Jean-Baptiste is clearly a revelation.

Fueled by exquisite performances from Tony winner Erivo (“The Color Purple”), as Elphaba, or the Wicked Witch of the West, and Grammy winner Grande as Glinda the Good Witch, “Wicked” is the best movie musical in years, representing a rare instance when performances, visuals and songs are of equally high quality.

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.

Woman of the Hour, Anna Kendrick’s tense, insightful directing debut, re-centers the narrative on Alcala’s victims and the rampant misogyny that suffused the 1970s.

Smile 2, filmmaker Parker Finn’s audacious follow-up to his 2022 breakout hit, “Smile,” delivers all the jump scares, gore and supernaturally plastered-on grins a horror fan can take while also commenting, thoughtfully yet also disgustingly, on the perils of fame.

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.

See No Evil directed by James Watkins (“The Woman in Black”), is not that interesting. Nor is it much of a horror movie or psychological thriller, despite carrying the Blumhouse imprimatur. For more than half of its nearly two-hour length, it plays more like the James McAvoy variety hour — which can be highly enjoyable if you do not mind one actor being the entire show.

Daniels has the talent to make a genuinely complex horror film. What was “Precious,” if not a horror movie made all the more chilling by its lack of supernatural elements? But for “The Deliverance,” Daniels simply dusts off the same crab-walking, veins-a-popping demon moves we have seen a million times.

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

Jackpot! involves a fight to the finish between the abundant charisma and likability of leads Awkwafina and John Cena and the impossible material they were given. The actors lose, because nobody could survive so many jokes based on groin kicks and bathroom humor or a movie premise as lacking in context as it is sky-high in concept.

Thelma always emphasizes seniors’ capabilities, not their limits.

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 new film by documentary editor (“RBG”) turned director Carla Gutierrez distinguishes itself by using the artist’s own words — largely taken from Kahlo’s illustrated diary — to tell her story.

Despite some missteps, this version of “Mean Girls,” especially in its reframing of Janis, promotes feminism and inclusion almost as fervently as “Barbie” — although its characters still only wear pink on Wednesdays.

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.

The time spent establishing Jane’s and Corinne’s bond pays off by always keeping their scenes on the heartfelt side of maudlin.

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.

Beautifully acted and suffused with warmth and humor, Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret is a film worthy of the long wait in bringing Judy Blume’s classic 1970 children’s book to the screen.

Blume’s insistence on first-person realness, on the page and in life, centers this thoroughly delightful documentary from directors Davina Pardo and Leah Wolchok, who met at Stanford University. But don’t expect the same degree of exploration Blume brought to her own protagonists.

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.

The movie eventually settles into a more relaxed, warmer tone, as veteran TV writer Chad Hodge’s self-aware script acknowledges all the tropes — gay and holiday — while continuing to employ them effectively.

McCarthy is one of our finest physical comedians. Every moment of physical comedy she performs here is cringey.

As good as both actors are, watching characters sitting around talking gets old. But the film perks up considerably midway through, becoming a taut beat-the-clock thriller as it covers the days just before Bundy’s 1989 execution, the tension lying in whether Ted will fulfill his 11th-hour promise to confess.

Margaret Cho goes over the top in the new Netflix comedy Good on Paper, mugging and delivering lines too emphatically. But as the movie progresses, you see the San Francisco native’s approach not as overacting, but heroism. She appears to be trying to single-handedly breathe life into this nearly laugh-free movie.

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

Bachelder’s fly-on-the-wall approach reveals great details, and she picked compelling subjects.

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

Melissa is the only fully developed character in an overlong, badly paced film filled with cliched dialogue and accented by pleasant yet forgettable music.

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

Ms. Purple is the kind of low-budget film, with inexpensive-looking slo-mo effects and an overwhelming score (the filmmakers anticipate any and all requests that the violins be cued) one usually sees only in local film festivals.

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.

Early scenes are unnecessarily horrific, and the final scenes falter from a disconcerting shift in tone. But this still leaves a significant stretch of beautiful acting, thoroughly engaging action and vital history lessons about the brutality on which some supposedly civil societies were built.

Buckley’s naturalism, combined with her abundant charisma and wonderfully warm-toned, slightly gritty singing voice, make her irresistible here.

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.

Judging by her funny, warm, drawn-from-life feature directing debut Wine Country, Amy Poehler is a gracious friend. She and screenwriters Emily Spivey and Liz Cackowski ensure that the many former “Saturday Night Live” performers and writers assembled for this Napa Valley-set Netflix comedy get moments to shine.

Diego also lacks any nuance as a character. He is grim and humorless, like most everything else about this film.

Hail Satan? is too lacking in conflict (apart from the eternal one) to be a true study of a movement. But it’s a highly entertaining survey.

Musician Charlie Sexton brings charisma and a haunted quality to Townes Van Zandt, the legendary Texas musician who was a Foley pal, drinking buddy and fellow teller of tall tales.

After dipping its toe into thriller cliche, Simple Favor dives in, with crosses, double crosses and “twists” one can anticipate a mile away. Yet, there’s always just enough of a wink apparent that the film remains highly involving throughout.

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.

First Purge further lessens the drama by offering a hero and villains too mercenary to care about.

Unlike the sometimes cornpone depictions of backwoods life in “Winter’s Bone,” the folksier moments here seem organic.

In 2009, Kholoud Al-Faqih became the first female judge in the Palestinian Shariah (or religious) court system. As Erika Cohn’s fascinating documentary The Judge shows, al-Faqih has fought for justice for Palestinian women ever since.

The game’s repetition quickly gets tiresome.

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.

Foxtrot troubles and fascinates as it shifts from a portrait of grief to one of pathology, and captivates after it shifts again, into a visually driven, borderline absurd look at military life.

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.

With The 15:17 to Paris, director Clint Eastwood overwhelms the extraordinary with the mundane, turning the true story of three Americans who helped subdue a gunman aboard a European train into a tedious film.

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

Hawkins, Bonneville and voice actor Ben Whishaw — who makes Paddington sound like the Geico gecko minus the attitude — give the film a strong base of kindness.

Wilson and Helms favor Bradshaw in likability. But they are not two hours’ worth of likable, in a film this flawed.

The film’s best moments show the characters bonding as teens, “Breakfast Club”-style, within their new bodies.

There’s real artistry to Ferdinand.

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

The story’s eventual move into brutality is all the more devastating because of well-observed intimacy that preceded it.

Jane is lopsided, thoroughly exploring her early career but encapsulating later decades too neatly.

This brand of eccentricity does not suit Cusack. He lacks Cage’s manic gleam and irrepressible sense of play. Cusack comes off as glum and a bit lost, negating Miller’s effectiveness as bogeyman.

You also cannot help but think about what Baumbach has that Allen lacks: Empathy for his characters. Not insight into them, but empathy for them.

Hyper-violent yet emotionally powerful.

Chilling, superbly acted.

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.

Enlivens the classic premise of innocent-in-the-city by moving its archetypal characters in unexpected directions.

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

Tilda Swinton's rich, compelling performance is reason enough to see this uneven picture, which devolves from a riveting romantic triangle to a morality tale without a moral center.

The freshest thing about Breakin' All the Rules is its dropped "g.''

Cloying mix of screwball comedy and drama.

It's really just old- fashioned melodrama, dressed up with lustrous cinematography and a few nods to history.

A one-woman show.

Superb.

The nagging desire to help these people underscores the involvement of the audience in this superbly told story. You can almost taste the saltwater, and the fear.

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

Payne's little marvel.

The film doesn't always work, but it captures the buzz of moviemaking, and that's infectious.

A masterful portrait of the seasons of a life.

Absurdity and poignancy merge in the carefully observed Czech film Up and Down.

Offers a thrilling, informative history of a sport-subculture.

Delightful.

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.

Can be enjoyed if you don't mind a little manipulation.