Carla Meyer

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

Highly entertaining, in a schadenfreude sense, but incomplete.

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.

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 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.

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

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.

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.

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