Kimber Myers

Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable doesn’t offer the technical details about the sport that might have made its subject’s feats even more inspiring, but even someone who knows nothing about surfing can’t help but sit mouth agape at Hamilton’s athleticism, optimism and determination.

Audiences who care more about how a film makes them feel than if it fully works will be rewarded. But those who need more will find that Discreet lives up to its name a bit too well, never fully offering answers to all the questions it asks.

Ultimately The Ranger promises more than it delivers.

Deftly balancing humor and grief, The Bachelors is fueled by wonderfully human performances and fully realized characters.

Lady Bloodfight would be knocked out immediately if matched against classics in the genre.

Swelling with humanity and romance like the crescendo of an aria, “Bel Canto” is a moving meditation on the power of love, music and proximity.

Director Damien Power occasionally tilts the movie into horror territory, with some particularly grisly violence that might shock viewers who think they know where it’s going.

Its humor is broad, but most of the jokes work for the intended audience — with a few even breaking through to more resistant viewers.

As sweet, corny, and comforting as your grandma’s creamed corn, Dumplin’ may not be a balanced meal of a movie, but it’s an enjoyably carb-y binge.

It’s a slight film, but it’s populated by enjoyable moments and wry observations that will appeal to fans of talky indies.

This horror film lacks the freshness of its predecessor, but its bleak view on humanity and technology, as well as some truly unsettling ideas and visuals, still set it apart from most of its fellow studio genre fare.

Taylor’s film only really works if you turn off the rational part of your brain, which isn’t fully developed until you’re in your 20s anyway. If you can ignore the plot holes and gaps in logic, Ma is a fun, dumb time at the movies.

Everyone here means well and wants to make an epic war film, but it lacks a narrative strong enough to make it essential viewing for those beyond the genre’s fans.

A film that deserves scrutiny for its treatment of its young female protagonist.

For a film so grounded in the real-life issue, the movie doesn’t work to make its characters feel human or its world feel real, blunting the emotional impact it could have had.

The first two films faltered in their final act, and Chapter 3 experiences some of that as well, though it never achieves their heights. There are some nice scares, but a few formerly central characters are basically forgotten in favor of wrapping things up.

Though 47 Meters Down perfunctorily succeeds in its aims to terrify the audience, it’s not as much fun as it could be due to it’s beyond brainless script, its casual sexism and its idiot characters.

There’s no big action set piece à la “Mission: Impossible” here and no single line of memorable dialogue to reference. But someone will have created a supercut of Kristen Stewart’s best moments on whatever app replaces YouTube, and that will remain more indelible than the movie as an actual movie, especially for the girls who see themselves or women they want to see on screen.

Daniel tells Natasha of his elements for falling in love, “My ingredients are friendship, chemistry, the X factor,” and he assures her that they have that last one. But that’s what The Sun Is Also a Star lacks: that ineffable quality that makes it work. Though we spend nearly two hours in its presence, it never makes us fall in love with it, despite its best efforts.

Adapted by Jesse Andrews, the movie speaks toward the truth that appearances — including one's race and gender — shouldn't matter in love and relationships. It's a thought-provoking concept that makes "Every Day" more ambitious than your average teen romance, which only makes it all the more disappointing that it simply remains an average teen romance.

The Ticket exists better as a parable than as a true-to-life drama.

In its first act, Close is a competent thriller, buoyed by early action sequences from director Vicky Jewson and some really solid scene transitions that point toward a strong style. However, as the film goes on, it switches from the precision of a sniper rifle to the scattershot effect of a drunk-wielded machine gun.

Smith, Nighy, and Dench aren’t delivering audacious, reaching performances here, but there’s still plenty of charm and authenticity.

Though How to Be Single marks progress from the standard genre narrative and gives Alice in particular a chance to be herself, it’s not a clean win. But I certainly had fun getting dirty with it.

Not every note rings true, but this breezy pop song of a movie is mostly fun while it lasts.

Mixing equal parts of “The Hangover,” “Very Bad Things,” and “Bridesmaids,” Rough Night is a comedy cocktail that goes down easy. It adheres a bit too closely to the recipe established by its predecessors, but it works well enough to keep the audience laughing.

It’s successful in its aims and will ably bring the book’s readers and romance fans both joy and tears.

For all its flaws, Last Christmas isn’t a bad time, despite being a bad movie. Credit Clarke and Golding — or that rum-heavy egg nog you should drink before the opening credits.