Liz Braun

The Piano Lesson is a hugely energetic, albeit often bittersweet, film.

Not to put too fine a point on this or anything, but Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning is an interminable slog.

The performances are uniformly good — Dunst is particularly appealing — but there’s something unsatisfactory about the storytelling.

It’s all claustrophobic and terrible and … wildly entertaining.

This fictional recreation is wonderfully claustrophobic, but the storytelling does not include enough character development to leave a viewer fully invested.

If you know Stalter from HBO's Hacks then you know the general territory. In this case, the whole movie is Stalter and while her bizarre charm is formidable, it’s not quite enough to carry everything — a stronger script might have helped.

This is pared-down storytelling that leaves you to draw your own conclusions, but nobody’s dreams are coming true here. Filmmaker Franco seems to assume his viewers will be paying attention, so Dreams is a typically understated affair, just slightly chilly in its detachment and stripped down in action and in dialogue. Money talks, though.

The ponderous storytelling is such that you’re always aware you’re watching a movie.

The Choral is a beautifully made film with a great cast and impeccable credentials, a collaboration between writer Alan Bennett and director Nicholas Hytner, as were The History Boys and The Lady in the Van. Alas, it’s a bit dull.

This is a brisk, blackly comic film about love, marriage and the exigencies of adult life.

American Sweatshop is an anxiety-soaked story, but it’s not a thriller — it’s smarter than that. Director Uta Briesewitz has created a character study set in a kind of cautionary tale. Lili Reinhart’s understated performance is what keeps the story intriguing. American Sweatshop falters in its third act, but Reinhart will keep you watching regardless.

For this viewer, always on high alert for emotional manipulation, Ezra is an engaging movie that works because of sharp writing and terrific performances.

Havoc is a frenetic action movie with tons of in-your-face violence and it’s kind of fun to watch — the carnage is so exaggerated that it becomes cartoonish.

This critic says The Critic is an imperfect film saved by a terrific cast. In particular, Sir Ian McKellen steals the show as a preening newspaper god in 1930s London.

Anemone is a redemptive tale, but slow and dark and haunting, sometimes slipping into fantasy and playing out like a fairytale, and sometimes unfolding like a Greek tragedy. As films go, it’s a triumph.

It will be catnip for fans of the music star; others will find various aspects — such as the psychedelic flashing title cards — hugely annoying. Charlie XCX however, comes off well, feisty and self-deprecating. She never plays the victim. As the film concerns getting the fame one seeks and then disparaging the high cost of that fame, it’s a fine line to tread. She does it well.

It seems to be about a lot of things — a kinder, gentler America, early feminism, truth in advertising, an impartial media. But above all, it’s a pleasant few hours at the movies with charismatic actors Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum.

After The Hunt is elusive, but you won’t stop thinking about it after you see it — that’s a good thing.

The film’s various elements do not quite meld, and despite a few strong performances, none of the characters feel fully three-dimensional.

My Mother’s Wedding is a perfectly nice film. It’s tough not to think that it might have been much more.

None of it makes any sense, alas, and you’ll stop caring about what happens or who it happens to, fairly early on. There seems to be a lot of pseudo-Freudian yammer in the middle of this crime drama, or perhaps there’s a lot of drug-trade-related violence in the middle of a psychological family study; either way, it’s mystifying as hell.

Chapter 1 of this undertaking is imperfect, at times meandering and once or twice confusing, but it is never boring and never feels over-long. And it is spectacularly beautiful to look at.

Fast, funny and entirely forgettable, The Instigators is an entertaining if shopworn heist story.

The Wait is a modern morality fable that initially unfolds like a revenge Western but then transforms into a supernatural horror story.

The film is long and slow, but never boring. There is, however, a sense that the various storylines are not woven together completely.

This is perhaps a kinder, gentler Amy Winehouse story? Maybe so, but there’s no opportunity for emotional investment, despite Marisa Abela’s wonderful performance. It’s all a bit like seeing a good cover band.

You Gotta Believe is billed as family entertainment. Whose family, exactly, they never specify.

As long as you don’t mistake Opus for a thriller, it’s a fun ride at the movies.