Joe Neumaier

From junky production values to the parade of unfunny supporting characters to its lazy energy, Dumb and Dumber To falls on its face.

There are great clips and good insight, and it’s all as loose and cool as an Austin night out.

If you succumb to The Better Angels, the effect is like falling into a gorgeous photograph, but that also means the narrative in this arthouse film is oblique and sketchy.

Rather than go for big ideas, the movie cozies up to small wonders. Instead of an ah-ha moment, we get a sigh of familiarity. Still, in this biopic about Hawking, there’s one explosion that blows your mind: Eddie Redmayne’s performance. Redmayne as Hawking, if the stars align, should be an Oscar lock.

The movie could have gone several ways, too — and it is heartbreaking to watch this ambitious story choose the wrong one and get lost in space.

Watching politics and the people in it can be disheartening and depressing. Here’s an antidote: This energizing, uplifting, sharp documentary from director Kevin Gordon.

Fans of PBS, history and a certain kind of old-fashioned moviemaking may fall in.

This dull thriller wastes the potential of Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth.

Preposterous things are everywhere in this lethargic thriller.

Plot is not the movie’s strong suit. But stylish set pieces are, including one epic blast-a-thon alongside a pool.

Director Jeff Preiss soaks his movie in a brownish retro atmosphere, which helps smooth over the many dull spots, but only briefly. Though his cast is strong even when the movie lags, they often feel like soloists doing their own thing next to each other — always melodic but never truly meshing.

Sadly, this gorgeous-looking adult movie plays out the same theme over and over, never going anywhere surprising. At least we have Binoche to guide us to hell and back.

William H. Macy has pitch-perfect instincts as an actor. As a movie director, he’s bound to do better than his first feature, this big-hearted, nicely paced but ho-hum character study.

Fury excels in showing the ground-level, guttural intensity and claustrophobia of battle.

Director Jake Paltrow’s stark sense of place fades as familiar genre elements are introduced. It winds up like “There Will Be Blood,” but with H2O, not oil. It’s food for thought, nothing more.

Strong acting all ’round helps, but unfortunately this is just a slow ride to nowhere.

Speaking of committed: Duvall, at age 83, nearly steals the show. Always the most inscrutable of the great ’70s actors, Duvall uses his great, unassuming American face to convey pride, confusion, pain and compassion — sometimes all at once.

Just another loud, boy-centric comedy aimed at ’tweens. The movie turns a slight children’s book — in this case, Judith Viorst’s 1972 fave, from which it takes mainly the title — into a charmless mishmash.

Murray is always a delight, but his films with kids (“Meatballs,” “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums”) give his unencumbered playfulness even more room to roam.

The movie hits a beautiful, celebratory note.

This one has a screenplay by Stephen King, adapting his own short story. Unfortunately, that can’t save this low-budget thriller.

It’s hard to fault a movie like The Good Lie for its intentions. But it can be faulted for pandering, both to its subject and to audiences.

Cusack and Jane look like they’re improvising much of the time, and while that doesn’t lead to a better movie, the off-the-cuff approach is the best thing in the film.

Ridley and Benjamin have done more than capture Hendrix’s moves and sounds. They’ve captured his spirit.

Fincher is a fearless filmmaker who understands his audience’s intelligence (not to mention their cinematic blood lust). By the end of Gone Girl, we feel like we’ve lived through about four movies, not just one. Good luck letting go of any of them.

Kids who get a kick out of the macabre will enjoy this exquisitely crafted but tedious film.

The movie is tense and coiled for its first hour, then becomes routine in its second half.

With the combo of Neeson’s natural solemnity and his action chops, “Tombstones” treads compellingly amongst lesser thrillers.