Stephen Whitty

The movie's no knockout, but at least it gives us one good performance, and one great one.

It sounds a little too clever, but it's not. It's just clever enough.

Despite his draw to tragic subjects, Lonergan holds onto a sharp, dark, Irish sense of humor, and a feel for the absurd that comes out at the most unexpected times. A playwright's sense of what actors do, too. Affleck gives a career-best performance here.

Real films breathe, alive with imperfections, accidents, with everything that Lee's worked so carefully to guard against. Billy Lynn's Long Half Time Walk is long, all right, but only half-alive — as careful as a diagram, as chilly as a statue.

It's a tough, understated part to play, and Edgerton does a terrific job.

It's fun to have new version of an old Marvel favorite, and a storyline which adds some genuine mysticism to this ever-expanding franchise. But "Strange" is too often only odd when it needs to be truly magical, and Hollywood-safe when it needs to be brave.

Even when the storytelling falters - several crucial scenes take place in between the various segments, with major events happening off-screen - Jenkins' sharp eye and his film's beautiful cinematography keeps us watching.

Director Kelly Reichardt, who made the great "Wendy and Lucy," likes stories that unfold slowly and simply. Sometimes she'll just let the camera run, making us watch the awkwardness of people who can't connect.

Directed with calm passion and controlled outrage, the movie — named after the amendment which outlawed slavery, but left a significant loophole when it came to criminal convictions — is a study in profits. And power.

There is nothing safe about The Birth of a Nation.

The action inside the courtroom is compelling. This is a place where people duel with words, not swords, but the wounds can be just as deep and permanent.

It's an impressive achievement, and even Berg's taste for the obvious — like shots of Old Glory, still waving through the worst of it — can't overwhelm the humanity behind the drama. Real people, real danger — and real self-sacrifice.

Although the script is a little flat — just because the story is true doesn't mean it should feel so predictable — Nair gives the film tons of energy and joy.

Instead of ever getting truly "Magnificent," these multicultural gunslingers remain largely a meh seven.

The film barely lasts an hour-and-a-half. Maybe that’s the problem with the movie. There’s not enough movie.

It's fun for a while, on a simple, single-shooter, video-game level. And for a change, the movie's stunts plug into Statham's pre-Hollywood career as a champion diver; this may be the most watery thriller since "Thunderball."

All the flash and sizzle of modern movie effects can't make up for a once spectacular tale that feels not just scaled-down, but shrunk.

The terrific Hell or High Water is like a gritty new retelling of the Frank and Jesse James story — only with getaway cars instead of horses, and assault rifles replacing six-shooters.

It's a pleasure seeing Grant in a great part again, playing the sort of almost-cad he's best at. And Streep - who, in real life, can belt anything from Broadway to Bruce - is clearly having a ball singing badly.

Once the story drags Bourne out of retirement, it's just a bunch of fights and chase scenes, only occasionally interrupted by a few lines of dialogue.

It's not only filled with the usual special-effects eye candy, but smart, fan-focused writing.

The all-new, mostly female Ghostbusters reboot is in theaters, full of terrific special effects, icky green slime, a horribly haunted Manhattan and, yes, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. But the big laughs you’d expect from a "Bridesmaids" reunion of director Paul Feig and stars Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy never materialize.

Gorgeously photographed, and as loosey-goosey as its hero, Captain Fantastic takes some unexpected turns. Is Ben eccentric or irresponsible? Is he raising free-thinking iconoclasts — or training a new generation of Unabombers?

Alexander Skarsgard is more abs than actor as the ape man, and Margot Robbie's Jane looks about as 19th-Century as an Aussie surfer girl. Together, they produce all the real-life passion of an Abercrombie & Fitch ad.

While the first "Independence Day" was genuinely big, dumb fun, its sequel only manages to be a bigger, dumber bore.

Swiss Army Man's greatest challenge is to its audience. Just, exactly, how much will we sit still for? Endless scenes of Dano in role-playing drag, sporting a rag-mop wig and giving dating tips to a corpse? Frequent closeups of Radcliffe's furry flatulent buttocks?

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is a seriously ridiculous put-on. And in this summer of overheated special-effects movies, it’s a cool blast of fresh air.

Hugely expensive and extravagantly stupid, Alice Through the Looking Glass is just one more silly Hollywood mashup, an innocent fantasy morphed into a noisy would-be blockbuster.