Daniel M. Gold

Mr. Trammell’s drug-induced stammers and tics don’t by themselves add up to a compelling portrayal, nor is this drama of the down and out at all gripping.

The title of this biopic, Paulo Coelho’s Best Story, is apt: His own life might well be his greatest work. A pity, then, that the film, directed by Daniel Augusto, doesn’t chronicle his evolution better, leapfrogging among decades instead.

The only sketch that’s inspired is the final one.

The sensibility is more grindhouse gore than spaghetti western, perhaps hoping to mine the same vein as Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight,” but lacking Mr. Tarantino’s lively dialogue and wicked sense of humor.

In touching lightly on themes without committing to any of them, the movie falls flat. What should be sweet is saccharine, what might be profound seems trite.

The film opts for a somber if gentle tone that, given the story, is equally ill suited.

A documentary should give audiences insights they can’t get elsewhere. Otherwise, it’s just one more tumble in an endless media churn.

Mr. Nadjari, who wrote the screenplay with Geoffroy Grison, may have been intending a minimalist character study, but even so, he has abdicated his responsibility: Too much of this family drama is left to the audience to fill in.

Ostensibly about a walk in the woods, this slight, uncertain film spends most of its time off trail.

A bit too true to a frugal indie philosophy, where winging it beats reshooting, the film gets more woolly and unfocused; many scenes feel improvised and only occasionally hit their marks.

Acting chops are occasionally on view — Mr. Sorvino and Mr. Proval play well together — but the plot is weak, the subplots tacked on.

Roger Gual’s half-baked film hopes to split the difference between romantic comedy and foodie delight but fails at both.

Chloe & Theo is surprisingly amateurish in concept and execution. There’s a line between a narrative that’s deliberately simple and one that’s painfully childish, and it’s not all that fine. But it’s one Chloe & Theo crosses repeatedly.

The Ultimate Life is hampered by a predictable story, stereotypical characters and wooden acting.

No role is sketched out beyond brush strokes, and no relationship is meaningfully examined.

For a would-be skin-and-horror treat, though, Cam2Cam is surprisingly prudish. It doesn’t really traffic in sex; the camera mostly averts its gaze from the murders, preferring blood spatter patterns; and the acting is predictably wooden.

Unfortunately, “Ghastly Love” is a fallen soufflé, a spoof enormously pleased with itself but only occasionally entertaining.