Tim Grierson

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Los Angeles Times, Paste Magazine, Rolling Stone, Screen Daily, The A.V. Club, The Daily Beast, The Wrap, TheWrap
For 1,178 reviews, this critic has graded:
  • 42% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 55% lower than the average critic
On average, this critic grades 2.2 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)

Tim Grierson's Scores

  • Movies
  • TV
Average review score: 63
Highest review score: 100 Christine
Lowest review score: 10 The Emoji Movie
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 572 out of 1178
  2. Mixed: 554 out of 1178
  3. Negative: 52 out of 1178
1178 movie reviews
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    • 87 Metascore
    • 100 Tim Grierson
    Mission: Impossible – Fallout
    The sixth film in the series is among the most outstanding, delivering a near-exhausting amount of stupendous action sequences paired with deft character drama and the requisite life-or-death stakes. Fallout is a testament to writer-director Christopher McQuarrie, who gives the proceedings a witty, sophisticated grandeur, and yet the film belongs to Cruise and his seemingly limitless passion for putting himself and his audience through the wringer.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Skyscraper
    Anyone expecting a shred of originality from this Dwayne Johnson vehicle will be disappointed, but writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber tries his best to compensate by amping up the over-the-top spectacle, hoping sheer gusto will keep viewers from minding his film’s shaky foundation.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Ant-Man and the Wasp
    Paul Rudd and his equally likeable cast mates find the heart and humour in familiar comic-book theatrics, resulting in a film which is less concerned with generating awe than in delivering plenty of goofy grins.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Sicario: Day of the Soldado
    No matter how commanding Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin might be, Soldado is a less inspired or thoughtful redo of its predecessor, jettisoning nuance for amped-up nihilism.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Tag
    Tag is all strained sentimentality and obvious observations about men’s inability to leave childish things behind.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    Incredibles 2
    If there’s one quibble with this nimble entertainment, it’s that Bird’s eye-popping flair outpaces his story’s emotional resonance. Incredibles 2 is such a fleet treat that it doesn’t always stop for its characters’ pathos to really connect.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
    Too often, Fallen Kingdom has all the soul and grace of a well-prepared business proposal—you can sense all the money being invested into an intellectual property in order to reap a sizable windfall and ensure the franchise’s continued commercial viability. It’s as scintillating as a retirement plan.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 64 Tim Grierson
    Ocean's 8
    Ocean’s 8 feels a bit like a high-end knockoff in that way that lots of spinoff films can, although the compensation is the familiar delights of watching smart characters do their job very, very well.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Hotel Artemis
    Like many movies set in colourfully bleak futures, Hotel Artemis can’t sustain the novelty of its initial world-building.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Adrift
    Director Baltasar Kormákur makes good use of location filming on the open waters, giving this melodramatic tale a dose of realism, but this true story is never as harrowing as the subject matter would suggest. Blame it on a misjudged narrative device and Adrift’s generally adolescent approach to relationships and maritime emergencies.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 75 Tim Grierson
    Everybody Knows
    Farhadi remains excellent at showing how easily family units can splinter after years of relative peacetime. But he can’t quite floor us as he once did—we’ve been braced to expect the unexpected from him.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Papillon
    The remake of Papillon doesn’t lack for potential metaphorical riches, yet this brutal, bruising film never quite connects with its deeper themes, resulting in a story full of suffering but not enough transcendence.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Knife + Heart
    A film drunk on its own trashy, lurid aesthetic, Knife + Heart (Un Couteau Dans Le Coeur) has style to burn but not as much sense.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Treat Me Like Fire
    Like the fleeting highs and crushing lows experienced by gambling addicts, Treat Me Like Fire (Joueurs) starts off with energy and confidence, only to slowly succumb to cliché and implausibility once the initial adrenaline rush subsides.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Ayka
    Filmmaker Sergey Dvortsevoy thrusts us into a desperate situation and then offers little relief, which effectually captures his heroine’s fraught mind-set but also, unfortunately, begins to produce diminishing dramatic returns.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Yomeddine
    A simple story told with abundant gentleness, Yomeddine looks at a group of outcasts with such compassion and generosity that it has the good manners not to artificially inflate their tale with phony uplift.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    The Trouble with You
    Expertly assisted by a sexy, funny performance from Adèle Haenel, director Pierre Salvadori spins sufficient gold from a contrived storyline and some endearingly flawed characters.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
    Despite how personally the filmmaker connects with this ambitious riff on the Cervantes novel, the long-time passion project succumbs to the same indulgences and weaknesses that have plagued his recent movies.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 100 Tim Grierson
    Burning
    Once again, Lee has crafted a film of wondrous complexity and inscrutability. The more we see in Burning, the less sure we are of what we are watching.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Whitney
    Whitney is strongest when it connects Houston to the larger history of Black America, illustrating how this glamorous performer grew up in poverty and never entirely escaped the obligation of helping to pull up her underprivileged family members.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Under the Silver Lake
    If the destination ultimately proves a little less satisfying than the trip, Mitchell and his collaborators fill us with so many moody reveries that we succumb to its warped logic and indelible vividness.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    The House That Jack Built
    Wielding the same grim power as his most obsessive, tormented work, Jack is deeply embedded within its creator’s psyche, and while the results may be cathartic for him, the movie is only intermittently arresting for the rest of us.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    BlacKkKlansman
    It’s no surprise that director Spike Lee prefers a hammer to a scalpel for this real-life drama, but his righteous fury is supplemented with a mature thoughtfulness that gives the proceedings the grim weight of history.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    3 Faces
    3 Faces can sometimes feel like a whimsical doodle without much forward momentum. But that placidness belies a certain degree of melancholic resignation on Panahi’s part, for himself and his homeland.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Pope Francis - A Man of His Word
    More a gloss than an insightful dissection, this documentary frustrates by sticking to the man’s surface, reducing his words to commendable sound-bites rather than deeply exploring them.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Tim Grierson
    Mandy
    A sensuous swath of striking imagery and otherworldly atmosphere, Mandy is a hypnotic, bloody pleasure.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Tully
    The movie takes some risks near the end that underline the story’s central themes while also undercutting them. But Tully is at its best when it’s simply moving intuitively from one negotiated respite to the next.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Jellyfish
    There’s real feeling coursing through Jellyfish, even if its insights aren’t particularly trenchant.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    Avengers: Infinity War
    The film boasts plenty of comic-book action while also making room for a darker tone and emotional resonance rarely matched in previous installments. In a cinematic world stuffed with big-budget movies, Infinity War is a genuine blockbuster.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    I Feel Pretty
    Like its appealing main character, I Feel Pretty is a smart, funny comedy that isn’t always confident enough in its potential greatness.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Marrowbone
    The directorial debut of Orphanage screenwriter Sergio G. Sánchez is powerfully frustrating, undone by an ornate storytelling style in which twists only beget more twists, all in service of some fairly obvious observations about guilt, self-deception and devotion.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Come Sunday
    It may play a little flatly, but its sincerity of purpose remains affecting throughout.
    • 35 Metascore
    • 30 Tim Grierson
    Blumhouse's Truth or Dare
    There’s precious little to care about in a movie that’s neither ingenious nor silly enough to savour.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Rampage
    The gargantuan critters are dwarfed only by the derivativeness in Rampage, a clunky spectacle that, like many Dwayne Johnson vehicles, is elevated by his charismatic presence but not enough to recommend it.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 77 Tim Grierson
    A Quiet Place
    A Quiet Place is an extremely compelling experience—but it could have been greater still.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 88 Tim Grierson
    Lean on Pete
    The power of writer-director Andrew Haigh’s sublime drama is that it can support myriad interpretations while remaining teasingly mysterious—like its main character, it’s always just a bit out of reach, constantly enticing us to look closer.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Pacific Rim: Uprising
    Pacific Rim Uprising’s jokey tone fails to leaven the movie’s leaden clatter, and so any attempt on Boyega’s part to be heroic feels a bit shrouded in irony. But at least he registers: Eastwood may be even duller than Charlie Hunnam was in the first installment, and Spaeny plays the spunky Amara with maximum attitude and a paucity of charm.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Unsane
    Not all of Unsane’s twists and gambits work—you have to accept a certain amount of movie-movie ludicrousness to get on the film’s loopy wavelength—but Soderbergh’s vision of a smart woman eternally held down against her will has a wonderful, nasty kick to it.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Tomb Raider
    Outside of Vikander’s performance, Tomb Raider tends to go on autopilot, either too scared or uninspired to reimagine this blah action-adventure material.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Gringo
    Director Nash Edgerton never really sinks his teeth into the delectable darkness of his hero’s nemeses, struggling to maintain the right acidic tone.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    A Wrinkle in Time
    Director Ava DuVernay emphasises an emotional clarity and narrative simplicity that allows the book’s sci-fi examination of friendship, family and forgiveness to resonate with almost mythic force.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 65 Tim Grierson
    Early Man
    Park smoothly pilots this film around and through certain narrative conventions—training-montage clichés are parodied, familiar sports-movie characters are rejiggered—and there’s a pleasing familiarity to the whole endeavor. But there’s also a ceiling to how funny or touching any of this is.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    Where Is Kyra?
    A shattering portrait of a luckless woman unable to pull out of the tailspin that is her life, Where Is Kyra? is a powerfully moody character study anchored by a remarkable performance from Michelle Pfeiffer.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 100 Tim Grierson
    Annihilation
    Able to generate dread and awe with equal skill, Annihilation is an absorbing amalgam of genres and influences, all coming together to produce a dazzling creation as vivid as the hybrid life forms our heroes encounter on their perilous journey.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Red Sparrow
    Trying to split the difference between trashy and classy, Red Sparrow is a sleek, juiced-up espionage thriller that overdoes everything: its brutal violence, its dramatic flourishes, its hairpin plot twists, and most certainly its sexpot shamelessness.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    The 15:17 to Paris
    On the whole, 15:17’s slavish adherence to reality ends up arguing that, sometimes, a little Hollywood phoniness can go a long way.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Black Panther
    Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) has fashioned a slightly more earnest variation on the typical MCU movie — one that is still fun and funny, but also rooted in a desire to speak meaningfully about racism, global culture clashes, and the tension between hiding behind one’s borders and helping outsiders in need.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot
    The movie radiates considerable compassion, sensitively addressing issues including addiction, recovery and forgiveness. Joaquin Phoenix’s raw, wiry performance never strives for greatness, which only makes it all the more affecting.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    12 Strong
    12 Strong wants to be triumphant but also mournful, rousing but also thoughtful in its chronicling of America’s place in a changing, complicated world. That tonal nuance is commendable...but the results are more muddled than thematically intricate.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Insidious: The Last Key
    The fourth installment of the Insidious series has deft scares and some nifty twists, all of which don’t entirely distract from how strangely inconsequential The Last Key ultimately feels.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    The Other Side of Hope
    There’s nothing adorable or convoluted about this collision of worlds. The Other Side of Hope makes room for jokes about bad restaurants alongside stark monologues about the horrors of Syria. It operates in an atmosphere of constant conflicting emotions.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Downsizing
    Although Downsizing is often thoughtful, funny and poignant, ultimately it really is just another movie about a middle-aged white dude pondering his insignificance—with the added demerit being that he learns valuable life lessons thanks to a marginalized woman of color.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    The Greatest Showman
    This strained musical is content to play to the cheap seats. Earnest in the extreme and armed with lethal amounts of razzle-dazzle, the feature debut of commercial director Michael Gracey is an all-out assault of sentiment, pop songs and dime-store psychology that’s somewhat held together by Hugh Jackman’s likably shameless portrayal of this striving charmer.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    All the Money in the World
    The muddled but icily engaging All The Money In The World is a thriller packed with ideas which director Ridley Scott only sporadically delineates with the same vividness as he does his stylish compositions. And yet, this true-life tale of the kidnapping of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty’s grandson maintains its hold, bluntly outlining how the desperate clamour for wealth poisons all those caught up in its frenzy.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    Pitch Perfect 3
    The new film is proudly aware of how ludicrous it is...and the sunnily silly plot mostly functions to get the Bellas to their next song-and-dance number or comedic set piece. Yet, it’s impossible to miss the film’s wheezing tone.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi
    The space battles and lightsaber duels are appropriately exciting, but Johnson keeps a close eye on the human element that girds this galactic odyssey. Rather than simply regurgitating Star Wars’ past, The Last Jedi emphatically builds on it.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 100 Tim Grierson
    Phantom Thread
    Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson has crafted a period drama of startling tonal fluidity, and Daniel Day-Lewis and Vicky Krieps deliver reserved performances that slowly reveal significant depth, transcending the material’s potential plight-of-the-artist clichés to hit at something far richer and more mysterious about desire, ambition and control.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    The Post
    Of a piece with his recent, stately dramas Lincoln and Bridge Of Spies, director Steven Spielberg’s latest brings intelligence and electricity to its study of nimble strategic manoeuvring which is guided by urgent performances from Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Justice League
    Whatever mild pleasure can be derived from seeing Batman and Wonder Woman team up with other costumed crime-fighters quickly dissipates as it becomes clear that director Zack Snyder has again crafted a lumbering blockbuster that dilutes what’s so stirring about these fabled fictional champions.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Wonder
    Because of the quality of the performances and the sincerity of the execution, Wonder doesn’t need to artificially stir our emotions, so it’s a shame that Chbosky lets the tone get away from him, badgering viewers with his points rather than simply letting the material speak for itself.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 30 Tim Grierson
    Daddy's Home 2
    Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg are a lot less fun this time around, paired with a fumbling John Lithgow and a stiff Mel Gibson as their overbearing fathers who stop by for the holidays.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 82 Tim Grierson
    Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
    This is a film that’s proudly impertinent but also deeply morally serious. And even if Three Billboards doesn’t always hold together, that’s appropriate for its anxious characters who are, themselves, a little unsteady.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 65 Tim Grierson
    Last Flag Flying
    Last Flag Flying isn’t great—a concept like greatness is too highfalutin for a film so bone-dry modest—but its scruffy integrity digs at you, won’t let you quite dismiss it.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Murder on the Orient Express
    Branagh, in his direction and especially in his performance, can’t help but overdo the cheeky artificiality, which keeps Murder feeling more like a well-designed exercise than a delectable thriller.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    A Bad Moms Christmas
    The new film is hardly a comedic lump of coal, but the broad, sitcom-y material has inherent limitations that no amount of shameless, gleeful silliness can overcome.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    The Man Who Invented Christmas
    The more that Nalluri tries to connect Dickens’ personal breakthroughs to those of his fictional character, the less authentic it feels. Inadvertently, this forgettable bauble ends up illustrating just how rare and precious true inspiration is.
    • 42 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Suburbicon
    Suburbicon warns of the dangers of moral rot infesting our communities. No word yet on the effect that chronic smugness might have.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Maya Dardel
    The proceedings are often stifling, but not without their prickly pleasures.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Thank You for Your Service
    The subject matter may be familiar — despairingly so — but writer-director Jason Hall (who previously wrote American Sniper) imbues it with specificity and no-nonsense drama that make the plight of physically and emotionally wounded soldiers sting all over again.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Coco
    In its zeal to pay proper respect to Mexican traditions and to avoid any hint of appropriation, Coco fails to give as much attention to its perfunctory characters or mediocre plotting, resulting in a family film which is reverent rather than inspired.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Tim Grierson
    The Killing of a Sacred Deer
    The Killing of a Sacred Deer is endlessly watchable but only intermittently arresting—you’re held captive by its craftsmanship, even if you find yourself not particularly invested in how it all plays out.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Thor: Ragnarok
    The film’s deadpan good cheer makes room for big-budget spectacle and a modicum of emotional depth, but a self-effacing vibe and pop-culture giddiness work the best here — necessary countermeasures as Marvel fights against the inevitable creative fatigue incurred after a decade of multiplex dominance.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Marshall
    Failing to be incisive or moving, Marshall is content to be genial and unthreatening—two adjectives that have never been used to describe the long, hard, ongoing fight for equality.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Only the Brave
    Kosinski settles for a simplistic ending, and the film can’t avoid certain narrative predictability, but for all its conventionality, it’s also brave enough to push against those conventions to find the humanity within its heroes.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    Blade Runner 2049
    A ravishing visual colossus, Blade Runner 2049 more than lives up to its predecessor’s legacy as a groundbreaking mixture of sound, images and mood.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 72 Tim Grierson
    American Made
    Despite its shortcomings, American Made can be deceptively nuanced, as Liman and Cruise put care into their depiction of a natural born charmer who may eventually find his luck has run out.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Battle of the Sexes
    Battle of the Sexes projects a breezy confidence—the movie’s a little too smooth and polished, eschewing the grit of real life—but Stone conveys her character’s growing anxieties with such care that King emerges as an immensely empathetic, resilient figure.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    Kingsman: The Golden Circle
    As kinetic as its predecessor — and just as belaboured — Kingsman: The Golden Circle serves up another batch of hyper-stylised action, irreverent humour and sharp threads, resulting in a film that’s not nearly as cool as it thinks it is.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Thelma
    Even if Trier doesn’t have much new to say about oppressive religious belief, childhood trauma or the terror of adolescent hormones, Thelma’s sustained, muted uneasiness gives this genre exercise sufficient gusto.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Stronger
    Although director David Gordon Green commendably opts for a realistic, unfussy depiction of Bauman and his on-again/off-again girlfriend (played with welcome grit by Tatiana Maslany), Stronger feels more perfunctory than lived-in.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Roman J. Israel, Esq.
    Denzel Washington gives a terrifically off-kilter performance in Roman J. Israel, Esq., a fascinating and flawed character study that frustratingly can’t meld all its ambitions into a coherent and satisfying whole.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Professor Marston & the Wonder Women
    Writer-director Angela Robinson chronicles a complex love story that investigates kinkiness, social mores and the impetus for art, resulting in a drama that’s far more intellectually intriguing than emotionally engaging.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    The Mountain Between Us
    The considerable chemistry between Kate Winslet and Idris Elba certainly helps sell this tearjerker, but even so the film feels oddly distant and muted, only really coming to life in a denouement that suggests the tasteful passion buried at the story’s core.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    Brad's Status
    Writer-director Mike White has crafted a painfully funny and surprisingly moving character piece, but what’s most remarkable is how he and his star empathize with Brad’s feelings of inferiority while, at the same time, pinpointing the arrogance, privilege and callousness that often factor into such soul-searching.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Rebel in the Rye
    Boasting some strong performances and clever writing, this breezy overview of the author and his magnum opus, The Catcher In The Rye, fails to fully capture the magnitude of this brilliant author’s struggle for greatness and then, later, his decision to walk away from literary stardom.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    It
    Consistently, persuasively unnerving, It turns the coming-of-age drama into a nightmare.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    Tulip Fever
    A ripe, bittersweet romantic tragedy lies at the heart of Tulip Fever, but director Justin Chadwick’s aggressive tastefulness smothers the life from this potentially lusty melodrama.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    Bushwick
    Stars Dave Bautista and Brittany Snow aren’t compelling enough, and the film’s formal gimmicks aren’t clever enough.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    The Hitman's Bodyguard
    An assembly line of ostensibly “hip” gestures and snarky attitude, The Hitman’s Bodyguard wants very badly to be a naughty, R-rated guilty pleasure. Nobody tell its makers that it’s mostly just mildly boring.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 100 Tim Grierson
    Good Time
    Plenty of films revolve around heists gone wrong, but few have the desperate, grungy velocity of Good Time.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 100 Tim Grierson
    Inside Llewyn Davis
    Thanks to a sterling lead performance from Oscar Isaac, the Coen brothers have once again delivered an impressively nuanced character study — one that has much to say about art, compromise and all the aspiring hopefuls who never got their moment in the sun.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    The Only Living Boy in New York
    The whole endeavour ends up feeling fussy and clever rather than incisive and nuanced — especially when a late twist seriously jeopardises plausibility.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    The Dark Tower
    Idris Elba makes for a dashing, haunted gunslinger assigned to safeguard the universe, but whether it’s Matthew McConaughey’s hammy turn as an all-powerful villain or the generic effects work, The Dark Tower proves to be a movie filled with faint ambitions and an even weaker pulse.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Kidnap
    To be sure, Kidnap is unadulterated B-movie nonsense, but when it’s delivered with this level of trashy gusto, the pleasures are plentiful.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    The Force
    In the gripping, inspiring — and, ultimately, dispiriting — documentary The Force, a troubled police force tries to redeem itself, only to learn how nearly impossible the task may be.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 55 Tim Grierson
    Person to Person
    While Person to Person has an appealing less-is-more stance, sometimes less is just less.
    • 12 Metascore
    • 10 Tim Grierson
    The Emoji Movie
    A film as mindless and disposable as most smartphone apps — and nowhere near as addictive — Sony’s animated The Emoji Movie is a calamitous comedy that inadvertently shows how difficult it is to pull off the witty, imaginative world-building that Pixar makes seem so breezy.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Atomic Blonde
    Despite a smorgasbord of high-octane action filmmaking, its thimble-deep characters and strained political commentary repeatedly stall what should be a wonderfully trashy shoot-‘em-up.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Logan Lucky
    In a movie full of cons, the greatest may be how deceptively easy Soderbergh makes this whole enterprise seem.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Detroit
    This gritty, gripping movie starts slowly but builds in intensity, culminating in sorrow and raw nerves.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Midnight Return: The Story of Billy Hayes and Turkey
    Many making-of documentaries focus on the preparations that go into a film and the response after its release. But what makes this one so unique is that it’s something of a corrective to the original work.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
    Twenty years after The Fifth Element, writer-director Luc Besson has once again delivered a widescreen, sci-fi spectacle full of rampant whimsy, lavish effects and creaky social commentary, resulting in a nervy, go-for-broke opus whose audacity is more laudable than its execution.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 75 Tim Grierson
    War for the Planet of the Apes
    What we’re left with in War for the Planet of the Apes is an absorbing, intelligent finale. The film builds to an ending that, although not particularly surprising, feels appropriate—even inevitable—considering all that’s come before.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 84 Tim Grierson
    Inside Out
    Inside Out may be the best Pixar has released in a while, especially after a string of disappointing and underwhelming efforts, but what’s most cheering about the film—and most like Pixar’s celebrated classics—is that it’s so emotionally astute.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 Tim Grierson
    A Touch of Sin
    Sadly, A Touch of Sin isn’t a movie that will have any trouble translating to other cultures. If anything, it’s upsetting how much Jia’s dark tale of murder, retribution and suicide echoes similar issues within America’s contentious class system.
    • 30 Metascore
    • 27 Tim Grierson
    The House
    The film is a black hole that sucks comedy into its vortex, never to be seen again.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Spider-Man: Homecoming
    As entertaining and engaging as Spider-Man: Homecoming can be, it remains merely a solid reboot.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 30 Tim Grierson
    Despicable Me 3
    Two Steve Carells most assuredly aren’t better than one in Despicable Me 3, a winded sequel which is cloying when it isn’t exhaustingly frenetic.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    The B-Side: Elsa Dorfman's Portrait Photography
    It would be inaccurate to say The B-Side only scratches the surface of Dorfman, but this lovely portrait takes pains to adopt her mindset, finding the beauty that pervades an artist’s life. As a result, Morris is offering his own kind B-side—not better than the main work, but a delightful alternative take.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 72 Tim Grierson
    The Big Sick
    The movie is funny/sad without ever necessarily being revelatory or incisive. For better or worse, it’s very much like its protagonists: deeply, reliably nice. In fact, what’s most radical about The Big Sick is its optimistic insistence that a little niceness can make all the difference.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Bill Nye: Science Guy
    Directors David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg don’t dig deeply enough into their complex subject, while spending too much time on the same distractions that are compromising Nye’s focus.
    • 27 Metascore
    • 20 Tim Grierson
    Transformers: The Last Knight
    This series’ tone-deaf humour and dull nods to selfless heroism have become toxic irritants — a sensation not helped by the film’s collection of clattering, joyless robots and dopey humans.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Baby Driver
    Baby Driver’s superb set pieces and unpredictable song selections keep the story humming along, which is crucial since Wright’s plotting isn’t quite as deft.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 42 Tim Grierson
    All Eyez on Me
    All Eyez on Me risks little, and as a result it’s not worthy of his complicated legacy.
    • 31 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    The Book of Henry
    The only thing saving the film from utter catastrophe is Watts.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Cars 3
    Pixar’s latest boasts the company’s reliably cheerful disposition and gorgeous visuals, but otherwise this meandering, pedestrian affair is never particularly funny or poignant — the hallmarks that once made this studio the gold standard for Hollywood animation.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Rough Night
    Like many would-be debaucherous evenings, Rough Night starts off with great promise, only to devolve into a series of poor decisions, regretful moments and a general sense of disappointment.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 52 Tim Grierson
    The Mummy
    As a commentary on the modern blockbuster, the movie’s fascinating. But as an actual movie, it’s fairly disheartening.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    It Comes at Night
    Shults has once again made a movie about the terror of family, but It Comes At Night’s confident, ruthless craftsmanship suggests a filmmaker only starting to reach his potential.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    A Ciambra
    A Ciambra may be a conventional tale of a young man trying to find himself, but the writer-director’s attention to detail enriches that setup.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Fortunata
    Despite the clear compassion the filmmakers have for the title character and those in her orbit, the result is an oddly alienating movie that treats every plot point with hyperbolic life-or-death stakes.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 57 Tim Grierson
    Ismael's Ghosts
    Did Desplechin get seduced by the problems that plague filmmakers like himself? If so, he’s done a disservice to his own work, which needed a solution to its deficiencies—not an extended reverie that merely highlights them. [Cannes Version]
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Jupiter's Moon
    An ambitious, thematically overstuffed drama that’s both a crackling action-thriller and a ponderous political commentary.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 87 Tim Grierson
    Happy End
    This repetition of old themes might suggest a filmmaker out of ideas. I’d argue the opposite: Happy End is a movie that’s fully alive, no matter how chilly it is. And its calm is a kind of rage, methodically cataloging the crimes and misdemeanors of a family that’s seemingly above consequence.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    Loveless
    When the film concludes, you may find yourself wanting to watch it again to fully absorb the journey Zvyagintsev took you on. And because Loveless is so accomplished, the repeat viewing promises to be deeply rewarding.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Filmworker
    An inability to crack the movie’s central mystery — why abandon your dreams to help facilitate someone else’s? — leaves the project feeling a bit like a missed opportunity.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 75 Tim Grierson
    The Square
    Sporting the ambition and sweep of a limited-run TV series, The Square may be overstuffed, but it never stops churning ideas and incidents.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 61 Tim Grierson
    Okja
    To the end, Okja is as endearing, chaotic and awkward as its title creature. Sometimes, the movie requires the same loving embrace Mija provides for Okja—even though, unlike that portly pig, Okja often lets you down.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 85 Tim Grierson
    Wonderstruck
    He’s not really reinventing or subverting a genre. Rather, Haynes is applying the same smarts and curiosity he always does, openly questioning why a kids’ film can’t be as absorbing and thoughtful as any other kind.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    The Florida Project
    A remarkable study of poverty, family and personal responsibility, The Florida Project meticulously illustrates how life on the margins affects one impressionable six-year-old.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    The Beguiled
    The film consistently works as both a straightforward psychosexual thriller and something more troubling — almost unspoken — underneath.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
    With The Meyerowitz Stories (New And Selected), filmmaker Noah Baumbach writes a new, richly warm variation on a favourite theme: the maddening impossibility of family.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 30 Tim Grierson
    Baywatch
    The film may pretend it’s more sophisticated than the show that spawned it, but its comedic stylings are alarmingly regressive.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Bobbi Jene
    A treatise on art, ambition, long-distance relationships and the struggles to find one’s own voice, the film unfolds with uncommon grace.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Brigsby Bear
    Gradually, the movie becomes a compassionate but constructive commentary on the danger of nostalgia — how it seduces us into sticking with worn-out pleasures at the expense of new experiences and challenges.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    War Machine
    This satire boasts plenty of ideas but is only occasionally compelling.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
    Abacus: Small Enough To Jail isn’t as grand or engrossing a treatise as Hoop Dreams or The Interrupters, but in its intimate, well-observed way, the film is deeply moving and subtly shaming.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Snatched
    Often amusing but rarely shifting into a higher comedic gear, Snatched features fun chemistry between co-stars Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn, some delightfully goofy moments of stray hilarity, yet not enough story or heart to keep this thin tale afloat.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
    Commercial considerations strangle the vitality from the movie, but Ritchie does his best to bring a bit of impish wit to the proceedings.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    The Wall
    An effective, albeit somewhat artificial, exercise in suspense, The Wall derives much of its propulsion from Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s grunting, grimacing performance as a wounded US soldier squaring off with an unseen Iraqi sniper.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
    Pointedly recounting the history of the LGBT movement in New York, director David France shines a light on how, even within that community, transgender people have been treated like second-class citizens.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    How to Be a Latin Lover
    Starting off as a strained farce before segueing into a sappy family film, How To Be A Latin Lover has its likeable, goofy moments, although it is consistently undercut by a main character who is very difficult to love.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Wakefield
    Although Wakefield’s ending leaves open the possibility for multiple interpretations, the filmmaker removes the sting from her story’s tale, which keeps its insights from cutting as deep.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
    Underneath Vol. 2’s sarcastic exterior, Gunn’s script has a big, bleeding heart, pinpointing the characters’ insecurities and emotional scars.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Born in China
    Essentially a feature-length version of the cute animal videos that proliferate on social media, Born In China is a feast for the eyes while also being an irritant for the ears.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    Going in Style
    A lazy heist comedy that asks little of its appealing leads, Going In Style goes down smoothly even if the only thing that really gets stolen is the audience’s time.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Gifted
    A heartfelt performance from Chris Evans as the conscientious caretaker of his brilliant niece isn’t ample compensation for a film lacking the same intelligence and inquisitiveness that its young protagonist possesses in abundance.
    • 28 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    CHIPS
    A grab bag of vulgarities, sex jokes, slapstick, nudity and chase scenes, the action-comedy CHIPS holds together better than expected, thanks largely to the goofy, dim-bulb rapport between stars Dax Shepard and Michael Peña.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    The Zookeeper's Wife
    This considered, muted drama can’t escape a fussy tastefulness — not to mention inevitable comparisons to more crackling treatments of similar subject matter.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 30 Tim Grierson
    Saban's Power Rangers
    A teen group therapy session disguised as a superhero movie, Power Rangers is numbingly predictable and cynically made, recycling myriad blockbuster tropes but draining their adolescent pleasures in the process.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    The Devil's Candy
    The Devil’s Candy is a masterful slow burn, the horror and violence alluded to rather than seen.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Song to Song
    Best appreciated as a sensory experience whose deeper meanings aren’t nearly as profound as the filmmaker and cast believe, Song To Song demonstrates that Malick remains a singular artist — albeit one in a palpable rut.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    The Belko Experiment
    The film’s down-and-dirty nastiness does have its merits, but the bloodshed isn’t nearly as interesting when the characters are as exciting as a spreadsheet.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Dina
    This fragile, frank film chronicles its subjects with stripped-down intimacy, which can sometimes border on feeling like simple gawking. But it’s impossible not to care deeply about these anxious lovebirds, especially as we begin to understand the obstacles threatening their relationship.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Logan
    Boasting a few nifty action sequences and the always-compelling Jackman, Logan self-consciously aspires to retire this iteration of the steel-clawed hero with epic grandeur, and the results are often rousingly bleak. And yet, the risks taken...only make the formulaic redemption story and clichéd emotional underpinnings increasingly frustrating.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    Fifty Shades Darker
    Sometimes sexy, sometimes campy, Fifty Shades Darker is a smorgasbord of silliness, its dopey pleasures indistinguishable from its many awkwardly melodramatic moments.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    The LEGO Batman Movie
    While this spin-off to 2014’s more consistently inspired The Lego Movie is a decidedly hit-or-miss affair, it boasts enough giddy good humour and manic rambunctiousness to bludgeon the viewer into submission.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    The Comedian
    Much like its Oscar-winning star, the film coasts along on charm and audience goodwill, although a little more edge might have helped.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Newness
    An initially captivating drama that loses steam once predictability starts to take hold.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Manifesto
    Unavoidably uneven but fairly engaging throughout, Manifesto is a cavalcade of provocative ideas, arresting visuals and fabulous wigs.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 100 Tim Grierson
    Casting JonBenét
    The mirror it holds up to its subjects — and perhaps the audience — is incredibly, sometimes painfully illuminating.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    The Last Word
    Offering predictably heartfelt messages about seizing the day, The Last Word can be very sweet and funny, but its lightness starts to feel cloying rather than ebullient.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    The Yellow Birds
    The Yellow Birds is a war movie whose outlines may be familiar — but its emotional clarity gives this drama an almost crushing sense of intimacy.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Whose Streets?
    The film may be short on analysis, but it’s clear that systematic government failures at the local and state level have created a toxic climate, and Whose Streets? displays the seething emotions that resulted.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Wilson
    Unfortunately, a glib superficiality hangs heavy over the narrative. Rather than really explore these lost and angry souls who feel destined to be despondent, Wilson settles for simplistic quirkiness, which makes the characters merely bland misanthropic types instead of fleshed-out individuals.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 100 Tim Grierson
    A Ghost Story
    David Lowery’s beautifully conceived riff on the haunted-house movie emits an extra glow thanks to challenging but resonant performances from Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    The Discovery
    While the movie overdoes the plot twists and existential musings, The Discovery is a diverting head-trip whose reach far exceeds its grasp.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    The Incredible Jessica James
    The Incredible Jessica James may be a slight romantic comedy, but there’s abundant pleasure in watching comedienne Jessica Williams in this star-making performance.
    • 37 Metascore
    • 30 Tim Grierson
    The Bye Bye Man
    Any hopes of smart social commentary or unsettling psychological underpinnings are quickly shattered by a clichéd screenplay and amateurish performances.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 30 Tim Grierson
    Bad Kids Go to Hell
    This low-budget combination of thriller, horror and satire flaunts a smartass tone that proves deadening, and as the body count starts rising, viewer interest quickly begins dropping.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    Live by Night
    This Prohibition-era drama deals limply with themes of loyalty, love, power and redemption, but not in any unique way, its emotional punch as vague as its cipher of a main character.
    • 36 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Assassin's Creed
    Assassin’s Creed is nearly wall-to-wall violence, but Kurzel reveals an eye for widescreen composition that, paired with Christopher Tellefsen’s efficient, hyperactive editing, gives the film the tenor of a sophisticated graphic novel.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
    Perhaps the darkest, most action-packed Star Wars instalment, director Gareth Edwards’ standalone adventure establishes its own rhythm, balancing fan demands with grand, poetic moments unlike anything this cinematic galaxy has previously achieved.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Hidden Figures
    Everything in Hidden Figures is smoothly efficient but also a little anticlimactic and frictionless — the story’s happy ending a little too easily achieved.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Silence
    Uneven, sometimes repetitive but also powerfully moving and thought-provoking, Silence is an imperfect movie that’s very hard to shake.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Fences
    Fences is a deeply affecting treatise on marriage, poverty and the struggles of sons to confront the long shadow of the man who brought them into this world.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Allied
    A World War II romance-thriller that starts off smartly but sputters to an underwhelming finale.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Patriots Day
    As exciting as the film may be, Berg too easily undercuts the human element of his story.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Split
    Split is a highly effective, nerve-shredding horror movie that makes the most of its claustrophobic setting, familiar setup and psychological gimmicks
    • 38 Metascore
    • 30 Tim Grierson
    Bad Santa 2
    An agonisingly strained attempt at misanthropic comedy, Bad Santa 2 is puerile when it should be shocking, calculating when it should be transgressive, and listless when it should be liberating.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
    Like the wizarding movies to which it’s connected, Fantastic Beasts is better the darker it gets, especially in a robust final reel where the film fully hits its stride.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Miss Sloane
    Miss Sloane is a shallow but lively thriller which becomes undermined by its makers’ misplaced belief in the profundity of their topical tale.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Rules Don't Apply
    The romantic comedy-drama Rules Don’t Apply is, by turns, fizzy and melancholy, nostalgic and clear-eyed, but it never builds to anything especially substantial.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Moana
    The perfectly pleasurable Moana boasts vivid animation, a handful of catchy songs and a sweetly sunny disposition — all suitable compensation for a story which is not particularly inspired or original.
    • 96 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    12 Years a Slave
    The broader approach to storytelling on McQueen’s part robs 12 Years A Slave of some of the precise, up-close vibrancy that was the hallmark of his earlier films. As a consequence, this new film feels a little less personal, although that criticism should not dismiss the intelligence and feeling on display.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Doctor Strange
    Entertaining in its grand flourishes but spottier when it comes to character work and thematic coherence, the film boasts a slightly darker and more mystical air than its peers, accentuated by some of the most arresting set pieces in the MCU canon.
    • 95 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    I Am Not Your Negro
    Baldwin’s insights originate from 1979, but they still speak volumes, and Peck makes their observations sting.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Jack Reacher: Never Go Back
    Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is always faintly diverting but never particularly engrossing, putting the venerable movie star through his paces without really asking much of him.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    The Accountant
    The latest from director Gavin O’Connor (Warrior) is part character study and part airport-novel nonsense, and the film’s utter chutzpah gives the proceedings an agreeable kick. But The Accountant can’t balance its B-movie instincts with its more artistic aspirations, ultimately hamstringing a potentially juicy, escapist shoot-‘em-up.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    20th Century Women
    Although a touch too precious and slight, 20th Century Women is lit from within by its endless curiosity about its evolving characters.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 30 Tim Grierson
    The Girl on the Train
    Flying off the rails at an alarming speed, The Girl On The Train fails as a compelling character study, struggles to satisfy as a psychological thriller and ultimately settles as an overheated potboiler that doesn’t have the courage to go full camp.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
    For a movie that’s meant to have some magic in it, Peculiar Children displays little buoyancy, the proceedings weighed down by tedious world-building and perfunctory thematic lip-service about the need for community and the power that comes from finding one’s voice.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Blue Jay
    Although Blue Jay is a warm, likable film, it doesn’t offer anything new to say about nostalgia, the passage of time or living with regret.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Queen of Katwe
    Perhaps it’s simplistic to say that director Mira Nair has fashioned a good-looking but Disney-fied version of actual events, and yet the studio’s predictably uplifting-at-all-costs blandness slowly but methodically drains the material of its richness.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    The Promise
    Terry George buries a worthy subject in a stuffy story of unrequited love and selfless heroism that gives off a strong scent of mustiness.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea
    My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea is slight and uneven, but its quirky, handmade aesthetic nicely conveys its characters’ adolescent vulnerability and restless spirit.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Mascots
    There are plenty of solid laughs in Mascots — everything from jokes about furries to throwaway bits involving obscure cable channels — but what’s disappointing is that there’s not a great overr-iding idea that ties all the gags together.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    The Edge of Seventeen
    Fremon Craig doesn’t radically alter the conventions of the coming-of-age narrative, and so a general predictability settles over the proceedings pretty quickly. With that said, though, she does a good job observing the relationships between her central characters.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer
    What’s best about the film is how Cedar and Gere have dreamed up a character who’s equally desperate and preternaturally ingratiating.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Barry
    In presenting its story as a portrait of a budding great statesman discovering his destiny, Barry is neither insightful nor poetic enough to justify its increasingly didactic approach.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    American Pastoral
    Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut eventually finds its own emotional core, zeroing in on the tragedy that befalls a seemingly perfect life once a man’s wilful daughter torpedoes it.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Snowden
    Stone’s mixture of paranoid thriller, political commentary and romantic drama keeps Snowden feeling busy without ever being particularly engrossing or enlightening. Frustratingly, Snowden remains a ghost in the machine.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    The Magnificent Seven
    Because the roles are underwritten and the players struggle to establish a rapport, The Magnificent Seven never lets the audience feel like its along for the ride with a dynamic group of death-or-glory hombres.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Maudie
    If ultimately Maudie doesn’t have much new to say about love or art, at least its two misfits provide an insight into something deeply true about long-term commitment.
    • 99 Metascore
    • 100 Tim Grierson
    Moonlight
    Ambitious in scope but precise in its execution, this deceptively small-scale character piece reverberates with compassion and insight.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Sully
    Though not always as confident outside of the cockpit, Sully mostly earns its crowd-pleasing, lump-in-your-throat sentiment.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    The Light Between Oceans
    Poignant and frustrating in equal measure, The Light Between Oceans aspires to be an elegant melodrama, but the intelligence that director Derek Cianfrance and his capable cast bring to bear eventually becomes overwhelmed by the story’s emotional manipulations.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Ben-Hur
    Timur Bekmambetov’s Ben-Hur remake offers robust spectacle and some decent performances. But ultimately, the director of Wanted and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is, perhaps unsurprisingly, not the ideal filmmaker to capture this timeless story’s more nuanced emotional range.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Sausage Party
    Often, the randomness of the jokes is as sparkling as the execution, creating the sense that the filmmakers will try just about anything for a laugh — and the more shocking the better.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    Suicide Squad
    Boasting a darker, more nihilistic streak than the typical comic-book film, this Warner Bros. release has its kinky pleasures and some amusing nastiness, but in the final analysis there’s simply too much flexing of empty attitude — and far too much self-congratulation for how edgy it thinks it is.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Bad Moms
    A rowdy salute to the thankless sacrifices made by modern mothers, Bad Moms has lots of spirit, some funny moments and wonderful chemistry from its three leads. And yet, this so-so comedy can’t shake a formulaic, uninspired construction that often settles for the easy joke or the pat pay-off.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Pete's Dragon
    Pete’s Dragon sports an undeniably old-fashioned, even slightly square demeanour, but even when that aura feels a tad forced, Lowery’s loving care gives the movie a likeable, small-scale charm.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Jason Bourne
    Its smooth efficiency offers plenty of sturdy pleasures. What’s missing are the emotional underpinnings that made these movies not just top-flight action vehicles but also stirringly soulful.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Ghostbusters
    This Ghostbusters doesn’t lazily insert the actresses into the original characters’ roles, instead taking the time to come up with new dynamics — and far more pathos — for this quartet.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    Five Nights in Maine
    Rather than being insightful or candid, Five Nights mostly feels inconsequential — an intriguing, uneven narrative experiment more than a fully satisfying story.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    The Infiltrator
    A moderately engaging thriller that coasts along without ever evolving into the more riveting character study it has the potential to be.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
    There’s very little that’s shocking — and not nearly enough that is funny — about this romantic comedy.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 20 Tim Grierson
    The Legend of Tarzan
    This ungainly and glum tale of the man famously known as Tarzan — who returns to the Congo, reconnecting with his past in the process — slavishly adheres to contemporary blockbuster convention, offering not a single spark of inspiration or real daring. A talented cast led by Alexander Skarsgård scowls through the film, held hostage by a solemn script and ghastly amounts of CG.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    The Shallows
    The Shallows is diverting escapism one wishes could have cut a little deeper.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Free State of Jones
    Although occasionally stirring, the film rarely rises above the level of intriguing anecdote, resulting in a deeply drab drama enlivened somewhat by Matthew McConaughey’s empathetic performance.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    Finding Dory
    Finding Dory is a supremely delightful sequel. Although never challenging the original’s high standing within the Pixar pantheon, this follow-up showcases everything the venerated animation company does so well, providing plentiful laughs, ace action sequences and a deep emotional wellspring.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    The Conjuring 2
    Lacking some of the simplicity and elegance of the first instalment, The Conjuring 2 is nonetheless a smoothly efficient horror movie, building to a powerhouse finale rooted in our emotional connection to the film’s well-drawn main characters.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows
    Packed with better action sequences and a smidgeon more emotional resonance, this sequel may be more engaging than its predecessor, but the franchise remains a rather clattering and crude affair.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
    A superbly silly sendup of the modern musical landscape, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping is as thimble-deep as the throwaway hits it’s satirising, but also just as lively.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Now You See Me 2
    Doubling down on the giddily ridiculous tone of its predecessor, Now You See Me 2 is diverting, but the film’s rampant, cheeky cleverness — its ‘can you guess what’s going on?” coyness — ultimately proves tiresome.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Hands of Stone
    Hands Of Stone tests how far a film can go solely on heart, and in this case, it turns out to be just enough to overcome biopic conventionality.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Blood Father
    The fading, erstwhile disgraced star’s grizzled, weary urgency gives this story some gusto and resonance, but otherwise, Mesrine director Jean-François Richet delivers adequate B-movie excitement only in spurts.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 100 Tim Grierson
    Paterson
    Writer-director Jim Jarmusch often explores existential themes, but they’ve perhaps never been so beautifully unadorned as they are in Paterson, a deceptively modest character piece that’s profound and moving while remaining grounded in the everyday.
    • 16 Metascore
    • 30 Tim Grierson
    The Last Face
    The film is mostly unmoving, neither the romance nor the social consciousness succeeding in stirring our emotions. Even worse, Penn lets the plight of displaced Africans slip into the background, resulting in yet another well-meaning film that wants to address planetary ills by concentrating our attention on the good-looking outsiders who come in to save the day.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Loving
    Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga play the Lovings as refreshingly ordinary people caught up in the swirl of history, but a benign tastefulness overcomes Loving, smothering chances of a meaningful engagement with the material.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    The BFG
    As appealing and likeable as The BFG is, the movie doesn’t seem particularly groundbreaking or daring when it comes from Spielberg, who is revisiting his major themes here without necessarily reinventing them.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    Money Monster
    The movie is competently made, but also perfunctory, telling us things about the greed of rich business executives and the shallowness of cable TV that we already know.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 30 Tim Grierson
    Alice Through the Looking Glass
    A parade of gaudy CGI and strained whimsy, Alice Through The Looking Glass proves even more manic and grating than its 2010 predecessor.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    X-Men: Apocalypse
    The X-Men adventures keep getting bigger, but Singer works extremely hard to ensure that, even when they’re not always better, they continue to thrill sufficiently.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Last Days in the Desert
    Last Days In The Desert possesses the attributes that have been the hallmark of writer-director Rodrigo García’s best films: It’s emotionally uncluttered while being narratively ambitious.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    The Angry Birds Movie
    The Angry Birds Movie is fitfully funny but tends towards a madcap mixture of comedy and action which never develops much forward momentum. The joke-a-minute approach misses more than it hits, although the bright animation and adorably-rendered characters are decent compensation.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Sleeping Giant
    The ceaseless stupidity of men is lamented but also dissected in Sleeping Giant, a thoughtful, well-observed but also familiar coming-of-age drama.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    A Hologram for the King
    As thoughtfully rendered as much of Hologram is, the film eventually succumbs to the material’s fundamental triteness, offering done-to-death life lessons about second chances and the value of broadening one’s perspective.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    Elvis & Nixon
    The filmmakers rarely go beyond being pleased with how strange this convergence of pop-culture and political figures must have been, and so Elvis & Nixon comes across as both thimble-deep and distractingly self-satisfied.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Captain America: Civil War
    Civil War is an exciting, often giddy pop pleasure.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    The Boss
    A sporadically funny film that has moments of real heart in what’s otherwise a formulaic study of an aggressive businesswoman who learns to stop being so selfish.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    The Bronze
    Not without its bluntly funny bits, this nasty, programmatic comedy wants to be outlandish but, oddly enough, it’s the movie’s lack of realism that really hurts it.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    The Idol
    If in the past Abu-Assad’s movies could be criticised for stridency, The Idol finds him sacrificing none of his thematic drive while locating a more humanistic, inspirational tone.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Hyena Road
    Hyena Road may be a bit underwhelming in its action set pieces and storytelling urgency, but its heart is certainly in the right place.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    10 Cloverfield Lane
    Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Goodman make for fine sparring partners and the film has enough low-key, slow-burn suspense to keep the simplicity of the premise humming along.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Krisha
    Even when the filmmaking falters, Krisha Fairchild’s unsettlingly intense lead performance dominates the movie, leaving us feeling as captive as the character’s wary kin.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
    It’s to Ficarra and Requa’s credit that they try to juggle romance and political commentary, daring to make a studio movie that doesn’t fall into cookie-cutter genre rules. But the overriding problem is that Whiskey doesn’t go far enough in its risk-taking, settling for a story that gets more predictable as it rolls along.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 30 Tim Grierson
    The Other Side of the Door
    Mothers will do anything for their children, but this film’s simplistic brand of horror never makes that devotion compelling or frightening.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Race
    Neither director Stephen Hopkins nor star Stephan James can bring Owens’ story to passionate life, resulting in a drama that’s well-meaning rather than riveting.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Triple 9
    The shifting loyalties and treacherous power plays that go on in Triple 9 are engaging, but Hillcoat especially shines in a series of three taut life-or-death sequences — one at the start of the film, one near the middle, and one at the end — that articulate more about who these characters are than anything they say.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    The Witch
    The Witch’s greatest asset is its precisely controlled menace, and so even when nothing terrifying is happening, it feels like something ominous could be unleashed at any moment.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 40 Tim Grierson
    Zoolander 2
    The stakes are higher, the action is bigger, the ambitions are grander, the jokes are appreciably less funny. Like many comedy sequels, Zoolander 2 supersizes everything in such a way that it’s that much more apparent how few of the jokes are connecting.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Deadpool
    More often than not, Deadpool’s bratty energy feels liberating, allowing for a sexier, dirtier, more hilarious superhero movie than the typical all-ages Marvel affair, which is so concerned with maximising profits that it risks offending no one.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Hail, Caesar!
    Unquestionably uneven and only occasionally inspired, Hail, Caesar! is nonetheless engrossing and funny thanks to its off-kilter energy and a lead performance from Coens regular Josh Brolin that’s a model of quietly controlled chaos.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Swiss Army Man
    Swiss Army Man is a powerfully audacious and wilfully odd odyssey that is too nervy and strangely emotional to dismiss outright but, ultimately, isn’t satisfying enough to provoke a full-throated defence, either.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Tallulah
    Helped enormously by deeply-felt performances from Ellen Page and Allison Janney, this film mostly overcomes its unevenness by finding rich pockets of emotion and insight.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Southside with You
    Though sometimes achingly on-the-nose in its attempts to foreshadow these characters’ destiny, Southside With You radiates enough wistful charm to overcome the well-meaning earnestness.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Other People
    Small moment by small moment, Other People turns Kelly’s own experiences caring for his mother into something touchingly universal.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World
    Lo And Behold, Reveries Of The Connected World is a modestly profound and consistently fascinating musing.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Frank & Lola
    Ross and his two leads set the stage for a provocatively unsteady romance that’s initially entrancing, honouring all the uncertainty inherent in new love. But eventually, Frank & Lola succumbs to a series of progressively more implausible twists that run counter to the carefully constructed everyman that Shannon has essayed.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    Equity
    Equity is a smart Wall Street thriller which is most engaging when it’s exploring the obstacles facing its female protagonists specifically because of their gender.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 50 Tim Grierson
    Eddie the Eagle
    As sunny as Eddie The Eagle is, its greatest liability is that it never pushes itself, content to let an amiable true-life tale be turned into a generic genre exercise.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Indignation
    The directorial debut of long-time screenwriter and producer James Schamus exudes a tasteful reserve, but actor Logan Lerman cuts through the seeming gentility in a performance that seethes with his character’s burgeoning arrogance and cynicism.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 90 Tim Grierson
    Hunt for the Wilderpeople
    Warmly funny and deeply delightful, Hunt For The Wilderpeople is a tale of two misfits told with such generosity of spirit and consistent good humour that it’s a pleasant surprise to discover how sneakily touching it is as well.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 100 Tim Grierson
    Christine
    A magnificent performance from Rebecca Hall is Christine’s clear highlight, but the entire ensemble shines in this stripped-down but deeply sympathetic drama.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 70 Tim Grierson
    The Birth of a Nation
    This may not be the most nuanced of films, but its blunt-force impact leaves one shaken.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 60 Tim Grierson
    Kung Fu Panda 3
    Fitfully amusing and certainly heartfelt, this latest chapter in the likeable animated saga will work best with younger viewers, but its life lessons and emotional beats feel slathered on rather than deftly woven into the storyline.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Embrace of the Serpent
    The going can be a bit slow at first, but the interweaving narratives, which comment on (and sometimes echo) each other, begin to develop a hypnotic grandeur. It’s a hell of a trip.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 100 Tim Grierson
    (T)error
    A sympathetic but clear-eyed character study transforms into something more insidious, sobering and infuriating in (T)error, a superb documentary that personalises the US War on Terror in ways that make the human toll intimate and unmistakable.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Tim Grierson
    Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens
    Robustly entertaining while carrying the weight of impossible audience expectations, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a fascinating, often satisfying mixture of rollicking mythmaking and fan service.
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