Jeff Ewing

There are successful elements in the script, certainly, but there are also several frustrating moments that simply needed another draft to work the knots out. All that said, it's a successful foray into sci-fi territory thanks to a willingness to stretch the subgenre's established rules, making for a fun murder mystery that keeps audiences guessing.

There's a clear command of how to set up a cool/scary/funny scene, execute, and move on before it's stale, and that's a testament to Roberts' skill as director and co-writer alongside scribe Ernest Riera.

When it's sexy, violent, or bonkers, it's a wildly enjoyable romp, and lead Sydney Sweeney kills it any time she's allowed to dial emotions up to 10 (as fans of Euphoria or Immaculate can attest to). Was it great? For the majority of its runtime, no. Would I watch the sequel it teases? Yes. Inside you are two wolves, and if they're watching The Housemaid in different parts, the one watching the ending is the happier wolf by far.

At the center of this mess sits a set of performances that are, beyond some writing oddities, pretty good.

Altogether, a lot works about Now You See Me: Now You Don't. It's a lot of fun, with a dangerous new foe and big, great-looking tricks. The new cast members are all stellar, have an engaging dynamic with the original team, and everyone gets a stand-out hero moment (a must for an ensemble this size). On the other hand, the script feels perpetually rushed.

It's a winner, with a surprisingly breezy pace for such a long action spectacle. Interested audiences should catch it on the largest screen they can.

Altogether, Black Phone 2 is a mixed bag that still has some clear winning attributes.

Some moments could benefit from lessened narration, a longer cut in an individual scene, or the maintenance of a less dreamlike tone, but it's a fine film that provides one of the most unique cinematic experiences in biopic history.

There's something to be missed from the first due to the predictability of his path in this iteration, but there are enough surprises and novelties (usually violent) to provoke delight and get adrenaline pumping.

Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle boasts stellar action, animation, and some wonderful performances, but it would be better as episodes than as a standalone film.

What Last Rites gets most correct is its family dynamics, hearkening back to the first film's initial moments and providing a strong thread throughout the series. Farmiga, Wilson, and new and returning characters all pull this off brilliantly.

The Long Walk exceeds even optimistic expectations to easily become one of the best Stephen King adaptations.

Ne Zha II is a bold, action-packed, interesting celebration of Chinese legend, wrapped around the story of a growing boy who wants to determine his future. The new English dub translates these characters well to the screen, and its visuals are beautiful companions to the large-scale story.

By the film's end, both the film and its titular protagonist become honed, complex, and much-improved. It's an inconsistent sword-and-sandal epic, but one that lands some major notes as the sequences and combat get bigger, bolder, and feature better grounded performances.

Some jokes run too long, don’t land, or could use another draft. It's a constant stream of cameos, which is overall fun but sometimes a little distracting. But, at its core, the sequel is a good-natured charmer about a troubled everyman who is trying hard to grow up without losing himself in the process, and it gives us a lot to laugh about on the way.

It's an excellent, if imperfect, crime thriller, capably indicting our era with the same insight that Kurosawa brought to the internet's potential to isolate in Pulse.

Smurfs is better than its maligned predecessors, but it's still an absolute mess.

Ultimately, Skillhouse boils down to a bunch of stuff that just happens to characters we don't care about, who make choices that don't make sense for reasons that aren't well grounded, in a place that's poorly shot, in order to say things that have been better said elsewhere.

KPop Demon Hunters is a charming action outing with fun world-building, catchy songs, and strong performances.

Echo Valley is a tense thriller propelled by strong performances from Moore and Sweeney and a never scarier Domnhall Gleeson.

It's clearly intended to be a companion to and showcase of the simultaneously released album instead of a fleshed-out, standalone film. Regrettably, it never lets the audience forget that fact, feeling far more like a long music video than a feature film.

Striking Rescue follows familiar beats, but there are enough twists and solid performances to land it well, while the action sequences are delivered with Jaa's characteristic uncompromising intensity.

Mob Cops has an interesting true story at its heart, and a talented central cast to convey it, but there are self-imposed limitations baked into its core. There may have been a great movie here, but it simply doesn't achieve that potential.

If Cheech & Chong's Last Movie is actually their last movie (a plausible hypothesis given that their last live-action feature together was back in 1984), it's a great curtain call. It's a breezy, engaging, but still informative look at the duo and their falling out, and it ends on a note that's surely welcome for fans of their comedic oeuvre.

It could innovate more thoroughly and ground its antagonistic plot with stronger internal logic, but it's a solid action outing that's well worth any audience's time.

The film is at its best when Heller is executing novel kills or blackmailing his bosses, and we're given just enough of those adrenaline-pumping scenes to make it all work together well. The Amateur strikes that delicate balance often (though not universally), but it works well enough when it counts, for an outing worth seeing.

There's an excellent film somewhere in The Woman in the Yard, but it would take another draft to uncover it from beneath that jet-black burial shroud. Suffice it to say, it's a horror outing that works rather well until it falls apart at the end.

It's a strong and highly watchable thriller that shouldn't be missed.