Matt Fowler

Peninsula feels fairly derivative when compared to the tighter and more terrifying Train to Busan, but on its own, as an expansion of this universe, it's a rollicking ride through a hollowed-out hellscape. It's almost a complete genre shift, but not an unrewarding one.

Werewolves Within easily separates itself from the pack by delivering a quirky monster mystery filled with gentle laughs and massive maulings. Not every joke lands, and not every character fits, but overall it's an entertaining alternative to the season's more ghoulish and grim offerings.

The Wretched's endeavor to meld a junior mystery with some pretty extreme horror works more than it doesn't, but ultimately neither side of this narrative coin gets explored as much as it should. Despite this, as a well shot and admirably executed thriller, it's a good entry into the catalogue of on-the-cheap scares.

Vacation Friends may be a touch predictable, but John Cena and Meredith Hagner will make you wish you had friends like them on your next trip.

Addison Rae and Tanner Buchanan are magnetic leads in this reboot that pays homage to the first film, but fully stands on its own. It manages to cut through modern high school b.s. while transforming two posers into presentable, likable people.

Synchronic isn't a home run, but a decent time travel triple is always welcome.

Blood Red Sky could lose a few minutes, but overall, it's a ferocious and fun merging of vampires and hijackers.

Migration is a preposterous yet grounded thriller thanks to good performances and centered on a desperate, hopeful plight. Honestly, watch the first movie: It's fun, but you actually don't have to have seen it to enjoy Migration.

Hustle may be a conventional sports drama, but it still offers Adam Sandler another dramatic role to shine in.

Black Friday proves to be a winning combination of gloppy scares, well-crafted characters, and wise commentary.

America: The Motion Picture is like Drunk History if the history were not only drunk but also on nitrous. Channing Tatum once again proves he's a comedy force to be reckoned with, backed by a stellar cast of capable and cunning joke spitters.

Noelle is often lifted up and out of a full rut by Anna Kendrick's energetic and gallantly goofy turn as the North Pole's most deserving and capable Kringle. Without her, Noelle is average fare, rehashing a lot of timeworn cliches from other, more clever, festive films.

Sandler and Aniston's chemistry elevates a breezy, bumpy overseas caper.

The Woman in the Window has both flash and fizzle. Amy Adams is great in the lead role, presenting us with a shattered recluse who wages war on lucidity daily, but the rest of the cast, while noteworthy, are sort of relegated to being plot pawns. Still, if you're looking for a higher class of claustrophobic Noir, and don't care too much about the resolution, there's a playfulness on display here that might scratch an airport novel itch.

War Machine has just enough juice to prevent it from being a Snore Machine.

The Boss Baby: Family Business delivers middle-road mirth, full of action and quasi-clever jokes, and featuring the fun voice additions of James Marsden, Jeff Goldblum, and Amy Sedaris.

Willy's Wonderland is a no-frills splatterfest that, while straining to fill its runtime, finds mid-level chills and thrills thanks to Nic Cage bashing the hell out of weaponized pizza parlor characters. It's a shoestring slasher that gets the job done while also not fully rounding a few of the corners it teases.

A House of Dynamite has the acting and directing goods, but its weak resolve arrives late in the game.

Wrong Turn delivers a handful of timely twists and coats the franchise with a new, and vastly more interesting, sheen. It stumbles at times to balance all the themes it's trying to handle with regards to societal ills, individual value, and self-determinism but the end result is still a warped ride that could set up more thrills to come.

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank curiously exists as a Mel Brooks movie remake, though that's also its most redeeming feature.

Zeros and Ones uses the spy genre as a thin mask for a fever dream that evokes nightmarish uncertainty.

Krysten Ritter, along with Winslow Fegley and Lidya Jewett, provide enough pizazz to keep Nightbooks afloat, creating an engaging supernatural hostage scenario.

While sci-fi is generally rife with allegories, a steadier hand was needed here in Voyagers. The messaging, though noble and necessary, feels obvious to the point that it takes you out of the film. The cast is talented and the premise is promising, but the story plays out in a predictable fashion, which also works, in a way, to undercut the meaning.

Paw Patrol: The Movie is a precious and peppy offering for the pre-preteen set that utilizes gentle character drama and buzzy action to stand out as a big-screen adventure. It won't be any parent's first choice, from an animation standpoint, but the standards of storytelling hold firm, making for an overall calm and comforting watch.

George Clooney's The Midnight Sky is a gorgeous, glossy doomsday odyssey that feels like too big a winter coat on a small, fragile frame.

Despite the inherent ugliness of watching a rich kid diabolically dig into a mom and dad who are just trying to save their home for the sake of their own children, Home Sweet Home Alone has some decent wit and heart to it. Archie Yates is good as the new precocious protector of his lair, but it's Rob Delaney and Ellie Kemper who anchor the film and give it something resembling a soul.

Night Teeth's winning lead trio and its glossy, electronic buzz save this Collateral clone from sinking into full nonsense. The film's usually interesting, though it never truly strikes with malice or meaning the way it wants to

Black Crab has all the ingredients to grab you and take you on a thrill ride -- and at times it achieves this -- but it suffers partial collapse by the end because of its need to land a little loftier than necessary.