Carla Meyer

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

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.

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.

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

Fascinating context but awkwardly told.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

It seems like a bizarre move for Disney, releasing a film that combines elements of "Blue's Clues" and "The Island of Dr. Moreau."

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

A dreary, distasteful exercise, "Off the Leash'' favors dogs over humans, framing canine high jinks with an ugly story of domestic abuse.

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.

The game’s repetition quickly gets tiresome.

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

probably less painful than actual childbirth, but it's still a very long 86 minutes.