Scott Campbell

The tonal balance isn’t an easy one to pull off, and filmmakers vastly more experienced than Crocker have tried and failed, so praise is due to the key creatives for taking something that sounds familiar and perhaps even formulaic on paper, but repainting it as an engaging, emotionally-driven genre film that both is and isn’t what you think it’ll turn out to be.

Dangerous Waters' starts off as one thing, but barrels directly into an absurdly entertaining third act when it decides to throw the shackles off and become something else entirely.

The ambition often outweighs the execution, but Totally Killer is still a fun and bloody riff on several different genres at once.

The Expendables is far from high art, but it’s safe to say the saga has never hit a lower point than it has here, a crushing disappointment for anyone genuinely hoping for the return to form that was promised and demanded.

Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s very much a costly, star-studded, explosive attempt to build a brand new IP from the ground up that the company can call its own, but it’s impossible to shake the feeling that we’ve walked down this exact road many times before. Make of it what you will, but the end product is exactly what you think it’s going to be, for better or worse.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter makes a decent attempt at reinventing the Dracula mythos, but foregoing the early tension in favor of all-out action proves to be its undoing in the end.

Ben Wheatley's blockbuster debut reduces him to an anonymous bystander in a sequel that's inexplicably weaker than its predecessor. If we get 'Meg 3,' then somebody needs to remember these things are supposed to be fun.

Bird Box Barcelona expands the mythology in several new and fascinating directions, but it also makes the mistake of posing several bigger questions that it doesn't seem to want to answer.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a solid action-packed blockbuster that ticks all of the franchise's required boxes, even if it isn't quite a farewell worthy of a cinematic icon.

Extraction 2 is everything you'd expect it to be; bigger, bolder, brasher, louder, and more spectacular. Unfortunately, it peaks way too early and fails to recapture that early momentum.

The Flash is good, and occasionally flirts with excellence, but anyone who goes in heading the game-changer that was promised may be left feeling a touch short-changed.

Kandahar finds Gerard Butler doing what he does best, and while there are some admirable attempts to deviate from formula, the end result isn't going to be regarded among the action hero's top tier.

Fast X doubles down on everything longtime fans have come to know and love about the franchise, but anyone who isn't sold on the saga at this stage isn't going to be won over.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a substantial step down from its predecessor, hardly ideal when the future of the entire franchise likely depends on it.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre delivers exactly what you'd expect from an R-rated Guy Ritchie spy caper with Jason Statham in the lead role, with the offbeat and energetic espionage adventure worthy of at least a sequel or two.

We Have a Ghost shows plenty of ambition as writer and director Christopher Landon broadens his horizons, but it never feels anything more than a series of disparate parts failing to come together as a satisfying whole.

Despite some third act wobbles, A Lot of Nothing marks a strong, stylish, and suspenseful debut from co-writer and first-time feature director Mo McRae.

As an experience, Avatar: The Way of Water is second to none. In terms of the storytelling, though, James Cameron has fallen into the exact same pitfalls as he did on the first visit to Pandora.

Violent Night delivers everything that was promised, and it's destined to find long-lasting life as a cult classic, but there's barely anything of note beyond the superficial.

Black Adam is nowhere near the game-changing revolution for the DCEU that was promised, but it's a solid introduction for Dwayne Johnson's antihero nonetheless.

Medieval works best when it throws dirt, mud, blood, and body parts at the screen, with the crunching battle scenes just about overcoming the narrative shortcomings.

The Invitation aims high, and while it's regularly impressive on a visual and aesthetic level, the storytelling lets the Gothic horror down in the end.

Me Time has plenty of talent and a potentially interesting hook, but it's quickly drowned in a sea of comic mediocrity.

Samaritan had the potential to stand out among a crowded pack with Sylvester Stallone as a veteran superhero drawn out of retirement, but it doesn't bring anything new or noteworthy to the table.

The effort put forth by James, Tomei, Hauser, and Fimmel just about carries Delia’s Gone over the finish line, which offsets the overall lack of a laser-focused singular method of storytelling that would have improved things exponentially.

Day Shift just about gets by on its impressive action sequences, but everything else about the vampire horror comedy feels more than a little lacking.

When Bullet Train sings it’s often a blackly hilarious and knowingly absurd slice of demented action goodness. When it doesn’t work, self-indulgence begins to creep in, almost as if the creative team deliberately set out to make something that would be fondly remembered as a cult favorite in the years to come, but that’s a sentiment that can only be earned, not cultivated.

The Gray Man delivers on its promise of spectacular globetrotting action escapism, but there's a noticeable spark missing that could have elevated it above formula and into greatness.

The Princess fully embraces its outlandishness to deliver a cheesy, violent, R-rated fantasy actioner that's destined to ensure as a camp cult favorite.

Hart is capable of better, and Harrelson deserves better, so we can only hope the duo had fun during shooting, because there isn’t a great deal else to recommend outside of the pair’s best attempts at trying to wring some modicum of entertainment value from the scraps they’ve been given to feed on.

There’s definitely something vastly superior that was agonizingly close to being unleashed, but as it stands, Kosinski and his collaborators have delivered a solid summertime Netflix original that’s destined to play extremely well for the next couple of weeks, albeit one you almost certainly won’t hear anybody talking about six months from now.

Jurassic World Dominion has its moments, but the latest installment in the franchise squanders what should have been a slam dunk.

Once again, the director and his co-writers Gemma Hurley and Jed Shepherd have made the absolute most of the minimal tools at their disposal, wringing a surprisingly robust hybrid of intense chase thriller, splatter film, and absurdist horror comedy out of a shoestring budget. However, DASHCAM is a lot more uneven than Host despite the superior production values, but they do combine to form what might end up going down in the history books as pandemic horror’s premiere double-feature.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore gently levitates rather than soars, hums quietly under its breath when it should sing, and mildly entertains and amuses when it should have fans gripping the edge of their seats as thing hurtle to a breakneck climax.

Less is almost always more, but the creative freedom afforded by Netflix must have meant that the director, co-writer, and producer didn’t feel obligated to leave much on the cutting room floor. As a result, The Bubble throws everything and the kitchen sink into the mix, but very little of it manages to stick.

It might be way too long and suffer from many familiar problems, but 'Ambulance' still has enough action-packed thrills in the tank to rank as Michael Bay's best movie in years.

It’s either a compliment or a criticism to say that you need to be on the exact same wavelength as Big Gold Brick to get a kick out of it, because if you turn the dial even the tiniest little bit in either direction, all you’re going to end up with is static. If you’re on board, though, then there’s plenty to enjoy about an offbeat adventure that’s unlike anything else you’re likely to see this year.

Uncharted aims for old school adventure with a modern sheen, but the end result is the latest in a long line of immediately forgettable video game adaptations.

Moonfall is every bit as big, loud and stupid as you'd expect, but Roland Emmerich's latest disaster epic is also an unforgivably dull slog.

Last Looks doesn't bring anything new to the table, but it's a fun crime caper that makes us want to see Charlie Hunnam's Charlie Waldo again.

It’s a film of maddening contradictions, missed opportunities and half-taken risks, but it’s destined to be one of the year’s most polarizing and talked-about releases regardless.

Mother/Android isn't the sci-fi movie you think it's going to be, or even the movie it probably wants to be, but it's nonetheless a solid first-time feature from from writer/director Mattson Tomlin.

Add on another star, or perhaps even two, if you're a fan of the games, but Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City will struggle to win over those who aren't familiar with the franchise.

Red Notice is vastly less than the sum of its parts, with the central trio saving it from mediocrity. It's a perfectly acceptable and decently entertaining $200 million action epic, but nothing more.

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain is a biopic every bit as off-kilter and bizarre as the protagonist, but despite all of the whimsy and eccentricities, it finds itself missing a spark.

Army of Thieves isn't the most original or inventive heist movie you'll ever see; but it's a massively entertaining expansion of Zack Snyder's undead cinematic universe.

Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin doesn't reinvent the wheel, and it won't win over many new converts, but it's the best entry in the franchise for a long time.

Night Teeth is a disappointing vampire thriller that's all style and no substance, leaving plenty of interesting world-building and unique mythology behind in favor of a formulaic story audiences will see coming from a mile away.

Halloween Kills is a huge comedown compared to its predecessor, offering plenty of blood, guts and gore to satisfy fans but little for everybody else in a by-the-numbers slasher sequel.

Copshop isn't quite the movie the trailers paint it to be; It's definitely a worthy first meeting between Gerard Butler and Frank Grillo in the action genre, but Alexis Louder is the one who really steals the show.

Winstead is nothing short of fantastic in terms of both her physical and performative presence, but she could have really used a meatier journey to sink her teeth into.

Malignant is messy, chaotic, ridiculous and quite possibly the most insane movie you'll see this year, but James Wan doesn't just know that; he uses it to his advantage.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings isn't top-tier MCU, but it's a solid origin story anchored by two fantastic performances from Simu Liu and Tony Leung, as well as some of the franchise's best action.

No Man of God doesn't tell us anything about Ted Bundy we didn't already know, but it's a riveting drama anchored by two phenomenal performances from Luke Kirby and Elijah Wood.

Beckett is a solid Netflix effort that offers a throwback to the intense political manhunt thrillers of the 1970s.

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt elevate Jungle Cruise, but you've seen this movie before, and you've seen it done a lot better.

Blood Red Sky both is and isn't the movie you think it'll be, but it's perfectly suited for Friday night entertainment.

Black Widow isn't going to go down in the history books as top-tier Marvel Cinematic Universe content, but it's not too bad at all.

The Tomorrow War isn't as good as it could have been, but it's an entertaining enough sci-fi action blockbuster.

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard is a perfectly acceptable buddy sequel, but it's all very uninspired and unoriginal.

Paramount+ has finally released its first major in-house exclusive movie, but it's an understatement to say that Infinite could be better.

Cruella isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s an altogether different kind of Disney blockbuster that pivots from origin story to heist thriller via family drama and a pastiche of the cutthroat fashion industry with consummate ease, all anchored by a tour de force performance from the leading lady.

Taslim, Sanada, Lawson and the gloriously R-rated fights elevate Mortal Kombat significantly, no doubt, and you can slap on another star if you’re a longtime fan of the series, but newbies will be left largely unimpressed.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is excessive and overlong to the point that trimming anywhere up to an hour would have elevated it significantly, but it’s still a triumph of circumstance, style and execution.