Rafael Motamayor

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc has some issues and it sacrifices some of the first season's experimental approach, but it compensates with a compelling romance and one of the best soundtracks of the year.

Though Verbinski's smallest movie since "Mouse Hunt," it still feels as ambitious as the director's blockbuster work.

It's an improvement simply because this trilogy started off pretty badly, but nevertheless an uninspiring survival horror with repetitive set pieces, baffling character choices, and a mythology that feels like it's erasing the very reason his franchise exists in the first place.

The most impressive feat Black Phone 2 pulls off is finding a way to bring The Grabber back that feels coherent and actually adds to the character. We get some backstory on the child-abductor that comes across as deepening the character rather than just answering questions that no one asked.

Varley’s homages and nods can’t help save The Astronaut from a sudden tonal shift that takes away what makes the first half of the film interesting and brings it into redundant — and honestly, quite baffling — territory.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle offers plenty of action and some emotional flashbacks, but it suffers from an overuse of flashbacks that undermine the story's pacing.

The adaptation stumbles in its third act, but before that, Akimoto builds a killer video game-like time loop with striking imagery and a heartfelt depiction of loneliness. The action is tremendous, and the character of Rita provides an excellent viewpoint for watching an alien attack play out over and over again.

The slapstick comedy works wonders, and stands in stark contrast to the endless pop culture-based animated comedies of the past 20 years. But it's the heart at the center of the movie – the dynamic between the dogs played by the likes of Adam DeVine, Idris Elba, Kathryn Hahn – that sells the story and makes this more than a one-joke movie.

Death of a Unicorn delivers on its biggest promise — a gnarly, funny creature feature with a fantastic ensemble, and all the unicorn-themed gore you can imagine.

With heavy inspirations from games like Dead Space and movies like Alien and The Thing, Flying Lotus' Ash is an ambitious, visually enthralling sci-fi horror movie. But its tale of a space station terrorized by a mysterious, gooey threat is otherwise empty and derivative, and takes too long to get going.

O'Dessa delivers a bold, catchy musical set in a vibrant cyberpunk world that mixes naturalistic visuals with an aesthetic indebted to 1980s sci-fi and fantasy films. Sadie Sink shines as a singer who can change the world with her ballads, with a gender norm-defying performance and an enchanting singing voice.

It’s easy to ascribe the success of Good Boy to the power of its canine star, but the film refuses to let Indy feel like a cheap gimmick.

When it comes to Nicolas Cage movies where he fights insurmountable odds while losing his mind, The Surfer is a great time.

Paddington in Peru is ultimately a missed opportunity, but it's also a pleasant, entertaining-enough time.

Transformers One is the breath of fresh air the franchise has tried to achieve for years, a movie that feels new and unique but also familiar and fitting with the rest of the franchise.

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie is a looney good time, and a grand return to the big screen for the classic characters.

Blue Lock: Episode Nagi improves upon the first season's story by retelling the it from a fresh perspective – adding new dimensions to a fan favorite character in the process.

The overstuffed "Despicable Me 4" abandons any pretense of caring about characters or narrative, choosing instead to fit in as many gags, characters, and little stories with as little consequences as they can.

Ultraman: Rising is a contender for best animated movie of the year, one of the best superhero movies in years, and one of the all-time greatest American adaptations of a Japanese franchise.

“Haikyuu!!” makes this climactic moment come across as rushed. Due to the short running time and amount of story to cover, this movie is not for newcomers at all.

The Coffee Table is one of the most unique experiences you can have in a movie, a torturous dark comedy with a fantastic ensemble, a great eye for visuals that maximize the emotional gut punch, and a script that ties you down to a chair as you go through the nine circles of hell, laughing like a maniac along the way.

Música heralds the arrival of a filmmaker, an actor, and a musician worth paying attention to, while also delivering a winning and visually inventive musical comedy.

By the end of this adaptation, we get the full picture of this romance and the two people involved.

Civil War delivers a challenging, thrilling, heart-pounding movie about the importance of journalism in times of conflict, about how easily we become desensitized to violence when we’re living through it.

It is in the third act that Immaculate delivers a gonzo, rock-smashing, fiery, crucifix-stabbing and all-out bloody good time. Unfortunately, by that point, it’s too late to save the soul of this movie, which is condemned not to go to hell, but remain in dull horror movie purgatory.

If you can look past Road House’s horrendous cinematography, CGI fights, and poor lighting, there's a fun movie to be found.

When the plot gets going and we're on a road trip through fantastical locations, the movie becomes a fun ride. It's not as good as the original, but it is still one of the better superhero films of the year.

This may not be the film fans expected, but it is still a worthy addition to the Digimon franchise.