Mae Abdulbaki

Crowe’s performance is The Exorcism’s saving grace. His dedication to crafting a character whose struggles he wears on his sleeve elevates the lackluster horror elements that are consistently on display, but that don’t do much for the overall story.

It’s unfortunate that Being the Ricardos never becomes as interesting as the people it’s centered on. The film offers enough interpersonal drama to keep audiences watching and intrigued, but while Sorkin’s script moves steadily towards the ending, the story wanes and never builds enough momentum to truly impress.

The Inspection has a few poignant moments, but its lack of introspection, well-developed character dynamics, and exploration of the systems in place keep the film from reaching its full potential.

Cervera’s film is consistently intriguing, elevated by the dynamic between Winstead and Monroe, who have solid onscreen chemistry.

The film isn’t trying to hit us over the head with what it’s trying to say, but its themes have depth. When exploring career and glory vs. family, regret and the lengths one will go to return to a life that’s no longer tenable, McGuire gets in a few good swings. If only the horror lived up to these aspects of the film.

The characters have a myriad of flaws and plights that would have made them compelling, but the film fails to explore them beyond the surface.

The feature doesn’t dig any deeper than it has to, leaving us drifting along with Jacqueline without anything to latch onto to keep us afloat.

Where’s the passion and the drama, the heart and the tension? Clooney’s lackluster film strips all that away, leaving behind a muted sports film that barely engages with its characters in any meaningful way.

No Man’s Land is largely uninterested in exploring the Mexican characters’ stories, which transforms the film into an unbalanced drama that lacks nuance.

Marks’ sophomore outing can be quite charismatic and fun, but it’s a misfire when it comes to exploring the couple and their attempts at polyamory.

Annette is extravagant and ambitious, but it’s also frustrating, pompous and emotionally flat.

Winslet’s got plenty of fire as the titular photographer, but the biopic’s spark quickly fades.

The gorgeous cinematography and costumes can’t make up for its emptiness — both in what it’s trying to say and in the way it’s trying to say it.

Palmer is fantastic in a film that needed more depth and time for Alice to acclimate to her surroundings. Without that, it leaves Alice’s realism and emotional core lacking as it veers wildly into one-note chaos.

There are inklings of something more interesting and rich beneath the surface, but Dual never brings the pieces together.

Tipping and his co-writers have a lot of great ideas and thought-provoking commentary about the way we treat athletes, but the lead-up to an admittedly explosive conclusion doesn’t land. Wayans and the score seem to be doing most of the tension-building. It’s a shame the rest of the film couldn’t rise to the same level.

It grows tedious because it feels like we’re holding our breath waiting for something more significant to happen for the lead’s character development, and yet it remains largely stagnant. Exit 8 has so much squandered potential. It might have made for a better short film than a full feature, but as a psychological horror, the film falls flat.

Messy, strange, and somewhat baffling, Gavras’ film is chaos personified. For this sometimes funny film, I wish that were a good thing.

The Watchers is a strange film. It has disconcerting moments, but it never rises above its premise. The story itself is half-formed at best, and the ending is so outlandish that I was stunned by how badly it’s executed. Somewhere in the supernatural horror is a film that’s worth its salt. Sadly, The Watchers is not even worth the price of a theater ticket.

While O’Dessa has a lot of style, it doesn’t have much else. Its substance is sorely lacking, with a lot of jumbled ideas and themes that don’t come together.

With the documentary Amy painting a more detailed and intimate portrait of the singer’s life, it’s hard to recommend such a stilted, unimaginative biopic that doesn’t do Winehouse any justice.

It’s a passion project that, while evoking emotion in the wake of grief, could have used some more editing and fine-tuning for a better and smoother journey.

Easter Sunday starts off well enough before getting off track completely, too preoccupied with aspects of the story that aren't good and don’t matter, sacrificing its characters and their relationships with each other as a result.

While the film has its moments of genuine humor, it never lives up to the energy or intrigue of the opening scene. The rest of the film is an empty, exhausting watch that never truly builds towards anything.

Some of the best game movies have adventure, heart, humor & good characters. I wish I could say A Minecraft Movie had these things besides adventure.

Crisis tries its hardest to be like Traffic, but fails in creating a satisfyingly thorough world with enough high stakes or tension.

It strips Nyad of her complexities for something a bit too formulaic.

Dicks: The Musical is simply doing too much, and not enough of it is good to justify its runtime. It’s neither clever nor funny, save for the couple of jokes that actually land, and it’s too smarmy for its own good.