Ferdosa Abdi

Ricci’s assured and robust lead performance helps build upon some exciting ideas in the script and is ultimately the reason to watch. She is thoroughly captivating and, while the film never reaches her level of excellence, it is still a relatively fun, wonky ride.

The return of Axel will satisfy fans of the franchise, and it might encourage those who are just tuning in to watch the original trilogy, if only to watch one of Murphy’s most significant roles from the 80s, a true golden era for the multi-hyphenate entertainer.

Elevation comes across as a mild copycat rather than a compelling project that stands on its own merits.

A Perfect Pairing may not stand out to most, but its wholesome aura, charming leads, and beautiful cinematography is enough to warrant an enthusiastic watch. If the goal for any romantic comedy is to fill one with that particular, indescribable warm and fuzzy feeling, then A Perfect Pairing accomplishes that.

See For Me is an exciting home invasion thriller that dares to challenge viewers with a complicated lead, even if it somewhat fumbles the execution.

Ultimately, Cassandro is a touching tale of a remarkable person who paved the path for others to find liberation and acceptance through their chosen art.

Love at First Sight has the potential to be a go-to choice whenever one is feeling in the mood for a light cry and swoon.

Despite its flaws, it encourages a re-examination of Apartheid South Africa and a closer look at the tiny sparks that lit the flame known as the Free Nelson Mandela campaign and the overall cultural shift against Apartheid.

With an amusing ensemble cast, a sturdy script, lovely filmmaking, and the power of its leads' chemistry, Happiness For Beginners is a modest delight.

It's the right amount of romantic, funny, and thrilling, and it does what it needs to do to make its narrative feel less derivative and more dynamic and fun.

Wedding Season may appear to be another Hallmark-esque romantic comedy from Netflix, but it is actually a delightful endeavor that will warm the hearts of its viewers.

All one can hope to get is a colorful and exciting adventure that allows the characters’ personalities to shine. Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie succeeds in that regard.

Ultimately, Sweet Girl doesn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel or anything, but it tries to have fun with its material nonetheless.

Extraction 2 is weighed down by Rake’s hang-ups over his choices, but the drama of the familial unit Rake is out to rescue is enough. Hargrave's vision is clear.

Ultimately, Inheritance is a fairly good attempt to branch out into different technical abilities within the spy thriller genre. Hopefully, this method and films like Inheritance continue to inspire such attempts.

The convergence of the story of a bereaved mother with a cult-like presence in the new country she calls home does not blend as effortlessly as one would like. The third act proves it cannot. Despite this, however, The Twin makes for a fairly constructive horror that is worth a watch.

Conventional choices are thrown out the window and the audience is left with a delightful adventure worth revisiting time and time again.

Cummings and McCabe don’t quite balance the purple envelope mystery with the character study of a self-involved man, and the ending takes a sharp left towards confusion, but it is surely something worth watching.

The ending feels way too cookie-cutter perfect. Scrambled is a worthwhile experience, though, as it is a personal tale that aims to empower through laughter.

Everything in American Star hinges on McShane's intuitive performance that rejects the obvious and embraces ambiguity.

A stumble in the third act derails the whole adventure, bringing the enjoyment to a screeching halt. However, with some foresight, Windfall could have been a sure-fire hit.

Achoura is by no means a bad film — quite the opposite in fact. There is potential for Selhami’s career as a horror writer-director as his vision and ambition shine bright through his film.

A Tourist's Guide to Love is not remarkable, but its simplicity and familiarity are comfortable and, most importantly, entertaining.

The film has two major things going for it: Goldstein and Poots' casting and their characters' chemistry. The only thing that fully captures our attention from beginning to end is Laura and Simons’ undeniable spark and charming banter.

Mother of the Bride's success rests on the filmmakers' abilities to not oversell anything and trust that the collective charisma of the assembled cast will do what it needs to do — and it does, though a flimsy script and one major miscast can be distracting.

The Mother is a lean, mean actioner, but one that could have benefited from better editing and a tighter script. That’s not to say that the film is terrible or unbearable by any means, it's just that it is a straightforward narrative that does not require a nearly two-hour run time to tell it right.

Confess, Fletch isn't a ringing endorsement of rebooting projects from the 80s; instead, it is an excellent showcase of Jon Hamm's comedic chops, a well-known skill that has been primarily misused until now.

The film is very pleasant and manages to succeed in what many romantic comedies often fail to do — be entertaining and worth revisiting.