Randy Cordova

Krasinski is likable and Martindale can make the lamest dialogue sound believable. But even they can't make us invest in characters that are nothing more than a collection of stock quirks and tics stuck in wildly contrived situations.

White House Down aims to be a low-brow slab of mindless summer fun. Most of the time, it comes pretty close to hitting the bull’s eye.

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau never made a movie called Grumpy Old Men Go Camping. If they had, it surely would look a lot like A Walk in the Woods.

Breathe is a valentine, but it's a valentine that is quite moving.

Gregg really reaches far, scattering in bits of magical realism and an art-house ending that is simultaneously wondrous and a trifle heavy-handed. The finale may be a bit much for some, but movie buffs will likely give Gregg the benefit of the doubt.

A LEGO Brickumentary feels like one of those cheerful corporate videos that gets screened at team meetings, designed to rouse employees into a rah-rah fervor. The down side: Most videos of that ilk don’t last for 90 minutes.

Bird Box is scary, but it also feels very human.

Granted, all the fine elements don't add up to make the deepest or most compelling film. Instead, it's a series of self-contained scenes that don't always hang together as a whole. But like a good hotel, there are enough comforts to make the stay worthwhile.

Visually, the film is sumptuous and the costumes are suitably wow-inspiring, but the humans are a blah bunch.

Supporting turns by Philip Rosenthal and David Alan Grier as two pals in the business are fun, but they can't prevent the movie's rather aimless nature or self-indulgent feel.

Sneider, who keeps the tone starkly unsentimental, manages to stay fairly neutral with the couple. Both characters are wildly flawed, and you can feel your sympathies shift during their knock-down, drag-out fights.

There are some poignant moments in the movie's latter half, as well as a couple of genuine laughs. If it never achieves the heft it wants, it at least manages a sitcommy kind of charm, like an extended episode of "The Golden Girls." Perhaps more importantly, it gives Rowlands a lead role, which is never a bad thing.

Going in Style will probably be a lot more enjoyable if you’ve never seen the original. It’s not that the remake is terrible. It’s cheerful and undemanding, and an appealing cast makes the time go by painlessly enough. But the 1979 film is poignant and layered.

Just when you're ready to throw in the towel, Plummer does something that keeps you going; maybe it's the quietly affecting way Jack turns up the twinkly charm as age and illness are starting to take things away. Then there's Farmiga's ability to mine a laugh out of angst and yet remain human, and MacDougall's sly, sleepy charm.

Den of Thieves isn't a masterpiece by any means, but it's fun, exciting and hard-boiled, and the actors are doing solid work.

It's not a total wash. Shaye's performance is reliably good and the sequences set in The Further (the netherworld of the "Insidious" films) have a kicky charge.

Unfortunately, the name is the only thing emboldened about this starchy biopic, a dry, talky affair that even Liam Neeson in full glower can’t bring to life.

The movie, like Jackie, loosens up a bit, and her relationship with Ian adds a nice bit of warmth. Hunt directs the film, and at times its tonal shifts are a bit jarring.

Lane is an endearing performer, but she needs something, anything, to work with. Here, she's getting by on sheer likability.

Ultimately, the whole affair is forgettable. The original film was promoted with the tagline "It knows what scares you." If there was a truth-in-advertising law regarding films, this movie's ad copy would read: "Poltergeist: Meh."

The heists are bigger, the illusions are flashier, and the pace is quicker. Even the cast is livelier and more fun. Perhaps best of all, the movie captures the first film’s twisty ability to twirl an audience around, so you’re never entirely sure what’s happened until everything is explained.

The kind of fantasy that a 15-year-old boy would love, although parents probably should keep younger teens far, far away. This movie pushes the boundaries of its R rating about as far as they can go.

Watching unpleasant characters onscreen isn't always a fun experience, so casting Reeves and Ryder is genius. They're both full-on movie stars: charismatic, wildly photogenic, the whole nine yards. But they're also good actors, and they make these two neurotic misanthropes quite engaging.

It's all-around generic, made notable by its weirdly schizophrenic tone. Sometimes it strives to be a character-driven thriller in the Jason Bourne mold. In other moments, it goes for over-the-top action and violence. But it's never very exciting.

There are a lot of funny people in Brave New Jersey, but the movie is not very funny.

Gerard Butler boasts an engaging screen presence that can make even junky movies fun. Maybe it’s the blustery swagger or his jokey attitude that essentially screams, “I’m not taking any of this too seriously.” Either way, it works, especially in Angel Has Fallen.

"Unfun" isn't a real word, but boy, it sure describes The Legend of Tarzan.

DeCubellis sets up a satisfying, stylish mystery, populated by striking characters and situations.