Peter Hartlaub

The master is back, and there's no shortage of exploding brain matter -- or fun -- to be had in the theaters this weekend.

Compelling and frequently entertaining.

The makers of Man Push Cart seem so dedicated to making a film that defies Hollywood conventions that the finished product lacks enough entertainment value to justify price of admission.

Evans pays careful attention to atmosphere, while giving wide berth to cinematographers Dimas Imam Subhono and Matt Flannery, who find beauty among the mayhem. Everything on screen is crystal clear and vibrant, like a city street right after the rain.

“Shang-Chi” gives us Shang-Chi, a likable, thrilling-to-watch and ultimately very welcome addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

There should be more American family movies like Pete’s Dragon. Since there aren’t, we should get behind this one.

The movie is laugh-until-your-stomach-hurts hilarious.

As much as anything we’ve seen in recent years, the film is confirmation that artists, not paranoid executives, continue to make the big calls at Disney. And as long as that continues, a few glitches in the plot won’t ruin anyone’s good time.

Favoring precision filmmaking over cheap thrills, with a vibe more Alfred Hitchcock than Freddy Krueger, Red Eye establishes two intelligent characters and lets audiences sit back and enjoy an entertaining battle of brains and wills.

The documentary isn't particularly thrilling, or even very informative, but it's almost certain to lower your blood pressure for 83 minutes.

The result is 50 percent more realistic than the average sports film.

Who wants to spend a minute on the Strip with the chance that there might be people as annoying as the characters played by Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher walking around?

Patterson's verite style is bettered by the work of cinematographer Eric Koretz, who surrounds the bleak characters with beauty and color.

Marshall takes a modest budget and a concept that isn't all that original and produces a frightening, intelligent and sexy thriller.

It's difficult to remember a recent movie that soared so high, before plummeting with a series of bad story choices. But the end result is still a strong piece of cinema, a failure only if you dwell on what might have been.

It's a hilarious comedy made even more successful because so much of the satire seems fresh.

The “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series has been, at its core, “Alvin and the Chipmunks” without the rodents.

Connoisseurs of straight-to-video mayhem will revel in the latest chapter of the "Universal Soldier" franchise, which manages to strike that delicate balance between over-the-top ridiculousness and well-crafted filmmaking. [28 Feb 2010, p.Q28]

The movie turns from good to great as the layers are peeled away and director Hahn provides an insider's look at the creative epicenter of the studio.

Fans of this film will some day wear out their DVDs and Blu-rays playing that fantastic battle scene again and again.

The movie is an enjoyable but flawed attempt at an epic story, with too much of the best action concentrated in the beginning.

It's that constant weirdness, coupled with Nicolas Cage's best performance in pretty much forever, that makes this depraved, sexually charged, over-the-top drama so much fun to watch.

At times hilarious and occasionally very sad, it's a cautionary tale about the lure of instant fame.

It's all very melodramatic, but the Jouberts accompany this story with incredible visuals, with an exceptional level of access. Considering how close they get to the animals, it's a wonder none of the filmmakers got mauled.

Chasing Trane celebrates its subject with great passion, but it often feels like walking in late into a good party.

It’s smart and funny and makes great effort to capture not just a time and place, but the specific feelings of being on the verge of adulthood and thinking the world is against you.

An occasionally rousing but mostly just adequate sequel to last year's "Planes."

It would have been enough for The Other Dream Team to simply pay tribute to the tie-dyed underdogs, but the filmmakers strived for more. Adding detailed historical context, the quirky feel-good story becomes a tragedy and a lesson. And that makes the victories resonate even more.

Blake Edwards' moody suspense thriller captures San Francisco from unexpected perspectives, starting with a dark drive with a perfect noirish Henry Mancini score across the Bay Bridge, and ending with then-new Candlestick Park. [08 Feb 2015, p.D6]

Captain Underpants is a very popular book series that doesn’t seamlessly translate to the big screen, and the filmmakers can’t solve this problem. The result is a cinematic wedgie: a little too dark, a little too nihilistic, a little too empty.

Unfortunately, the inspired concept is coupled with weak screenwriting, and the movie turns out to be much more fun to think about than it is to watch.

The result is a comedy that's low budget in all the right ways - so hilarious, testosterone-charged and yet cringe-inducing to watch that the result is almost exhausting.

It’s mostly delightful; a fun movie that successfully hits the reset button for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This film is even better if you come in with no spoilers and low expectations.

Hardy's performance takes a little bit of the sting away from seeing Gandolfini perform on a big screen for the last time. As irreplaceable as Gandolfini may be, it's invigorating to see a young actor elevating to similar heights right before your eyes.

To cover the Abramoff scandal is to follow tangent after tangent, until it seems as if prison was in the lobbyist's plans from the beginning.

I'd be shocked if we see a better horror film in 2013.

Has plenty to satisfy fans and bring in new admirers.

It's an entertaining, depressing and ultimately hopeful movie about the times we live in.

The film is charming throughout, literally from the beginning of time to the final goal.

A solid piece of filmmaking, from subtle beginning to the excessive end.

The filmmaking is unremarkable, but the obsessiveness of the lead character is infectious enough to make this drama passable entertainment.

Many of the individual scenes are compelling, with a gritty tension that recalls "The Wire" and other good television. But too many of the attempts at "The Sopranos"-style comic drama fail.

The Chuck Wepner story is a compelling one — and the performances ensure its place as a sports movie contender.

The new Disneynature film lacks the fortuitous plot turns found in previous Disney documentaries, resulting in some awkward (and possibly deceptive) editing. But the movie has a strong protagonist and impressive footage, and the educational core is unsullied.

“Thank You” is flawed, with a structure and pacing that dull the viewing experience, even as the message drives through. It’s a great discussion starter, but not a great finished product.

Succeeds in its modest goals of building tension slowly and generating a handful of legitimate scares. A few people in the audience were laughing during the first half of the film. No one was laughing during the long walk out of the theater.

Ponderous, repetitive and lacking a single rousing action sequence.

This is a filmmaker who cares less about horror cinema as a theme park ride, and more about mood.

Curtis makes an all-in return to the Strode character, and the filmmaking team builds a solid framework around her, in the propulsive and entertaining new Halloween.

Upgrade is a movie by Leigh Whannell, who wrote “Saw,” “Insidious” and other memorable horror movies. But other than the occasional moment of stunningly gratuitous gore, it’s nothing like those films.

The Peanuts Movie delivers genuine happiness with the door left open for woe.

This has to be the first children's film to weave a Grand Theft Auto joke into the script -- and like most things in the movie, it's pretty amusing.

While the documentary isn't as compelling as its source material, Abbas tells an interesting story about his incarceration.

Occasionally thoughtful and very entertaining.

Well-scripted, well-acted and occasionally sexy, but just isn't all that interesting.

With apologies to George A. Romero and the impending zombie apocalypse, The Eclipse may be the most realistic film where something dead comes to life and tries to feast on human flesh. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/15/MVST1CTGJ4.DTL#ixzz0lDuetYGS

Kill List has a slow build, but don't be lulled into complacency. This is one of the most violent and disturbing films you'll see in an art house.

Kung Fu Panda 3 has a moment or two for everyone, but no chance develop any character beyond a single dimension.

Instructive as a portrait of activism.

Mostly it serves as a comprehensive manual of bad places to hide from a masked killer.

The visuals are excellent, featuring a refreshingly small dose of forced cuteness, and plenty of the animals' natural movements.

Most audience members will probably want more.

The more an audience member sees the beauty left in the Buddhist leader’s wake, the more it becomes clear that his influence has the power to continue generations beyond his passing.

It's one of the least scary films that he's made - but still entertaining, and very, very gory.

Like Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s stellar “The Lego Movie,” the filmmakers work with the confidence that if a joke fails, the one that follows a few seconds later will redeem the scene.

This is the "Godfather II" of tasteless prank films.

As entertainment, this approach might be questionable. As a service, it would be valuable.

The Good Dinosaur has an original concept, disarming emotional heft and features the most impressive visuals in animated cinema to date.

Bursts with action, ideas and interesting characters.

It’s a solid first step into the magical world of the familiar. Escapist entertainment for crowds that prefer to know their destination in advance.

The best part about the movie is the way it shifts focus, starting as an observation of the animal and then subtly morphing to the point of view of Nénette, who passively experiences a jumble of voices that start to run together.

The film often stumbles in translation, trying to define too many characters in too little time.

The Providence Effect" is flawed, but it's still a moving film.

Deserves plenty of credit for exploring racial issues story in more realistic terms.

This isn’t just a good horror film. It’s a good film, which just happens to fall in the horror genre.

There's no greater meaning to any of this, and the slapstick turns won't seem particularly ambitious to anyone who grew up on Bugs Bunny cartoons.

The ending takes an unfortunate detour that stretches the running time, but this is still quality Pixar work.

Does nothing to elevate the form — and yet it doesn’t disappoint.

Entertaining and compelling.

While it's filled with quality actors, this James Bond tale for tweens feels like something you should be getting for free on television.

Dawson turns out to be a necessary ingredient, propelling the emotional core of the film forward, while somehow convincing the audience that a smart, attractive woman could find a schlub like Dante desirable.

An honest, fair and quite voyeuristic look into avatars and the real-life humans who control them in Second Life.

Even with the conflict overkill, most of the small moments ring true. Dolphin Tale has more in common with "The Swiss Family Robinson" than most modern live-action family movies, where slapstick and cheap laughs feed short attention spans.

Berlin is still a subject very much worth exploring on film, and his observations as an aged man are even more fascinating than the statements he made as an artist in his prime.

The movie is overly long and much too intense for small children, yet it's filled with dialogue and plot turns that are too juvenile to thrill adult audiences.

Fright Night isn't quite a classic vampire movie, but it's refreshingly straightforward and self-deprecating.

Although the finished product isn't great, it's more akin to a bad Steve Martin movie from the 1980s than bad Pauly Shore from the 1990s. We mean that as a compliment (sort of).

Produced by "Lost" and "Alias" mastermind J.J. Abrams, Cloverfield has been one of the more interesting experiments in large-scale guerrilla filmmaking.

Cheadle the actor is nearly perfect in the role.

The entertaining new film from Sony Pictures Animation is a nice surprise, and the rare mainstream American kid film.

Crown Heights is a challenging film with long treks between uplifting moments. And there’s no question the film earns every moment of grace.

It's an achingly beautiful movie and a triumph of location scouting, with more cosmopolitan spectacle than the past three Indiana Jones and James Bond movies combined.

It's a funny, mostly harmless and entertaining film with a bad case of dry mouth.

Most of the time, the movie is appropriately gritty and plenty engaging.

The feature film Everest provides soaring visuals, but it’s a distant second in terms of storytelling depth and narrative impact.

Twilight has a few gory plot turns - mostly offscreen - and one near-sex scene that may offend a few Amish people, but the rest is maybe 33 percent less wholesome than "High School Musical." It's almost certainly less risque than what you were watching when you were 14. (Cue the soundtrack to "Risky Business.")