Joe Dziemianowicz

It’s smart, funny and bursting with ideas about the joys and rigors of motherhood and reckoning with the past and the future. It’s too bad, then, that the final head-scratching stretch sinks what’s preceded.

Your mileage may vary — along with patience. Despite all the talk of the Shimmer, Annihilation sputters.

As it speeds along, the film delivers its share of popcorn-style entertainment, curves and thrills. But it stalls due to plot holes and murky storytelling, willful inaccuracies (like an invented Upper East side train station), wasted talent and conductor’s cap tips to better railway-based movies like “Strangers on a Train,” “The Fugitive” and “Unstoppable.”

Diane Kruger’s raw, real-as-it-gets performance as a grieving woman bent on vengeance in the German thriller In the Fade grabs from the get-go and never lets loose its grip.

In the end, The Man Who Invented Christmas is an enjoyable enough diversion. It’s no humbug. Just pleasantly ho-hum.

Kids may not notice or care, but the movie, which advocates kindness, comes with an irony. It’s a film about embracing differences and seeing beyond appearances, but it rarely bucks convention or gets more than skin deep.

In the end, it's all about McDormand, who’s great at playing ordinary women in extraordinary circumstances.

Roll The Snowman to the top of the ever-rising mountain of lousy movies with good trailers.

The pacing is slow and deliberate. Director Joseph Kosinski (“Oblivion”) knows that it takes time to build real relationships and feelings.

Together, they (Winslet/Elba) share warm chemistry. But that’s not enough to melt eye-rolling exposition or predictable twists you see coming — even in a whiteout — a mile away.

Reese Witherspoon’s oversized appeal and radiance is no match for Home Again, a ramshackle romcom short on both romance and laughs.

All three screenwriters either forgot or didn’t care that their heroine is 11. Even worse is when Félicie ends up dancing on tables in a bar — as in, a bar — “Coyote Ugly”-style. What? It’s not easy to take a message about taking leaps of faith from a movie that too often has two left feet.

Danielle Macdonald is irresistible as Patti Cake$, a dreamer with ambition and talent and visions so glorious, liberating and uplifting that they make her walk on air. The final moments were euphoric enough to make me float out of the theater.

Like the play by Jordan Harrison it’s based on, writer-director Michael Almereyda’s film is small in scale, but pulls us in close with its provocative setup.

If you go searching for an original idea in this tiresome thriller about a soul-sucking demon doll, you won’t find one.

Berry, who’s been down a similar road before in “The Call,” brings grit, guts and tears. But all that’s not enough to break the monotony — or the preposterous conversations she has aloud with herself.

At its best, the movie turns gender roles on their heads. While the girls party very hard, bride-to-be Jess’s fiance Peter (Paul W. Downs) spends his stag party tasting wine with his buds. Moreover, people can surprise themselves — and do things they don’t expect.

Director Daniel Espinosa whips up some nail-biting sequences. But the suspense is all by-the-numbers.

Antonina is often seen and cradling animals — a lion, a monkey, a rabbit. Fitting, since Chastain elevates and handily carries The Zookeeper’s Wife.

It takes its sweet time to achieve anything beyond being a grueling snoozefest.

The story submerges and drowns in preposterous gothic nonsense.

Stone, who wowed on Broadway in “Cabaret,” again shows off some beautiful pipes. She captivates completely from her first frame. Then again, so does La La Land — a singing love letter to musicals, romance and the City of Angels that feels almost like a gift from above.

The film’s second act packs a bittersweet punch, along with the fact that the failed show is now much-respected. But all of that could have been tied up in a quicker epilogue. The chorus, so to speak, lacks a hook. Too bad, considering that, to quote a Sondheim song from the show, they “had a good thing going.”

Director David Yates, who helmed the last four "Harry Potter" films, is in his element with this mix of wand-waving and rollicking adventure. He keeps the overstuffed story zipping along for the most part. And he's thrown in all the eye-popping wonders that $180 million can buy.

Whether or not the movie turns you into X-philes, Yoshiki is hard to shake.

It’s gripping, eye-opening and when it comes to heroics, thought-provoking. But it also suffers from grisliness, sentiment and self-indulgence.

Director Tate Taylor, who neatly wove together women’s stories in “The Help,” is out of his depth with a thriller. He fills the screen with endless close-ups but not a lick of tension.

Murphy’s low-key but affecting performance is filled with loaded and loving glances. And the restraint becomes the 55-year-old star. If only the film were better.

Ryan’s debut as a director is a sketchy and starchy film. The memorable thing about the movie is that Hanks, still one of the biggest stars on the planet, stepped up for his “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail” partner.

Ana de Armas makes a lasting impression as Felicidad, the angelic girl (her hair is braided, like a halo) who’s the love of Duran’s life. Too bad their relationship is underexplored and left to a quickie montage of baby-making and deliveries. That’s one of the reasons the film’s not a knockout.

The cast, led by John Krasinski, who doubles as director, has its own fight against the lame and contrived script by Jim Strouse.

Tallulah is a sensitive and stirring look at motherhood.

As a full-length film this fashion industry over-the-top farce about two hot messes behaving badly — and boozily — is both too much and too little.

Jack and Sam share a wonderful scene when performance and real life blur, which is the whole point of the movie.

The rom-dram is wistful and wisecracking, boasts a polished ensemble and is such a period looker you wish you could time-travel to the Jazz Era.

The movie rises thanks to an ace in the hole: Bryan Cranston, whose stirring star turn hooks us completely.

Fun and likable, occasionally even delightful.

The film gets predictable and loses its firm grip a third of the way in. Too bad, since the film directed and co-written by Gary Ross (“The Hunger Games,” “Seabiscuit”) gets off to a bang-up beginning.

Even the obligatory blooper reel after the film isn’t as funny as it should be.

The film belongs to Clarke. Her warm and winning star turn lifts this checklist chick flick.

Writer and director Brian DeCubellis bathes the screen in dark shadows and provides fluid pacing. If you like your entertainment pulpy — and don’t mind swallowing cliches along the way — this “Night” is worth a look.

As summer popcorn-style entertainment, The Nice Guys gets the job done.

Moviegoers don’t get much to chew on either, besides a decent performance by Ewan McGregor as both Jesus and a demon, plus some OMG-worthy landscapes.

If they gave out badges for smutty language, this movie would have lots. There’s nothing wrong with that. But filthy doesn’t automatically equal funny.

Among the lessons learned: marriages need tending and distance can make people closer. Not earth-shaking, but harmless. Like this sequel.

The Bronze isn’t a brilliant game-changer, just a funny and filthy diversion.

Luckily for Hello, My Name Is Doris, Sally Field is still so likable, really likable.

It’s visually sumptuous but laborious. Worse, it’s pretty humorless. Knight of Cups takes itself very seriously.