It feels like a filmmaker’s exercise rather than an involving motion picture. Although you may never be bored with All Is Lost, you are rarely fully engaged.

It's visually stunning, well written and the acting is top-notch. But without context, the plot falls flat, leaving behind an unsettling and bizarre film.

The themes in One Fine Morning are familiar: love, loss, loneliness. Hansen-Løve treats them with dignity, allowing the audience to experience Sandra’s emotions fully. Even so, the film as a whole doesn’t pack the punch it could have.

Moviegoers who are familiar with the source material for The Green Knight might find it a thought-provoking, updated take on the ancient poem. The film does offer interesting ideas on masculinity and honor. Just don't go into it expecting action or thrills along the way.

The ways in which Love After Love is successful at portraying the grief process is also what makes it at times wildly unpleasant to watch.

Ultimately, the movie is really boring. Any charm or spark it might have had is quashed by a lack of strong direction and writing.

The camerawork makes Mond's film lovely to look at. But whether you want to spend time with James White depends on your tolerance for yet another film about how hard it is for guys who just feel too much.

The story, meanwhile, strains to be a masterpiece. And the strain shows.

The club scenes, initially exciting, are ultimately wearying, and the movie meanders about much of the time.

One is left wanting to know more about Mr. Rogers, but the film reduces him to little more than a kind of superhero family therapist.

Come see Wildlife for Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan, but stay for the young actor who plays their 14-year-old son.

The Innocents, writer and director Eskil Vogt’s horror film about children with supernatural powers, is definitely difficult to watch, a brutal bit of business. But the thrills aren’t cheap — they’re hard earned, if you can call them thrills at all.

The Dark Divide will win over nature lovers with stunning visuals and an overarching message about the importance of conserving our unpredictable planet and relishing the beauty of exploring it.

For fans, counting up how many superheroes can emerge from the clown car of one three-hour movie is half the fun. For casual moviegoers — say, those who might skip minor installments such as “Ant-Man and the Wasp” — it accounts for half the exhaustion, a bit of world-building fatigue to go along with the sensory overload of a fantasy realm that seems stuck in perpetual apocalypse.

[Denis] definitely never holds back from shocking the audience with multiple sudden deaths, haunting rape scenes and various graphic moments. But with such little character development, why invest in these stories?

It’s an assured debut from a rising star that nails tone and pace. It would be a solid summer thriller were it not grossly undermined by its astonishingly regressive treatment of its leading lady.

It's sometimes compelling, sometimes frustrating, and usually chaotic.

Ornamented heavily with creative visual pleasures, the film is bogged down, not just by weighty thematic issues — death, divorce, bullying, unfairness — but by professions of its own grandeur.

Trachtenberg is patient building this world, and the actors do a good job inhabiting it. Winstead is a terrific actress, and she makes Michelle's desperation and inventiveness believable. Goodman is never better than when playing a nut, and while we aren't sure if that's what he's doing here, the possibility makes for an intriguing portrayal.

There is so much to enjoy about Encanto — the songs, the gorgeous animation, the cultural traditions. All of which make the script’s serious shortcomings all the more surprising and disappointing.

If you can ignore the implausibility -- nay, the opacity -- of the plot, the film is wonderfully cinematic, with great photography, exciting editing, fresh camera angles and some impressive CGI.

There's no question it looks fantastic...As for the story, well, much like the original Frankenstein's monster, it is a haphazard assemblage of well-aged source materials jolted back to life with new technology, but it isn't quite as sophisticated as one might hope.

Knoxville and the others go about their messy business with a glee that is impossibly contagious.

East of Wall looks great on paper, but when Beecroft decided to toe the line between fact and fiction, it ended up falling short of either. Neither a true documentary nor a drama, "East of Wall" lacks clear direction and the dialogue reflects that.

Interesting as it is, Narco Cultura aims to tell the story of what’s happened in Juarez and in Mexico (and, by virtue of its immense appetite for drugs, the U.S.). Instead, it feels more like a couple of intriguing chapters.

Spaceship Earth is an interesting look at the origins of one Arizona’s most interesting tourist attractions.

The film soldiers on through a couple of possible endings, and if its real destination is never truly in doubt, Mbatha-Raw makes the trip interesting.

As far as missteps go, Prince Avalanche is at least an interesting one, which is better than Green has done in awhile.

The movie ultimately winds up falling between two stools, failing as both a biography and an action film. Martial arts fans will naturally be drawn to the story, but the film does nothing to open up the world to outsiders.

It’s never a boring film to look at, but it is often a tiring one. Running over two hours, the film is bloated with portent and repetition, each story taking too long to get to its inevitable moral.

Juror #2 isn’t quite forgettable, but it’s also not the movie we’ll remember Eastwood for.

The narrative is so diffuse that putting together the pieces is beside the point. You feel no closer to knowing or understanding the Laurents, and their collective unpleasantness gives one little reason to want to. It’s a skilled ratcheting of discomfort – but to what end?

Artfully shot and mooded-up with a jittery ambient soundtrack, Risk is compelling because the enigma of Assange is compelling.

In The Internet's Own Boy, writer-director Brian Knappenberger ("We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists") paints a portrait of Swartz as a martyr for the information age, but ultimately the story falls short of such mythic ambition.

While individually some of the scenes are terrific, they don't add up to much, making Hail, Caesar! one of the Coens' lesser comedies, better than "Intolerable Cruelty," say, but nowhere near the genius of "The Big Lewbowski."

Doesn’t plumb the depths of adolescent emotions and high-school politics so much as skims the surface in a psychedelic dinghy.

The Batman is impressively made. The acting is first rate, and the chemistry between Pattinson and Kravitz is magnetic. It’s meant to be an important statement. It’s just not a lot of, you know, fun. Or as someone famously put it in another Batman movie, Why so serious?

Pete’s Dragon is a good movie. But it could have used a little more of the magic its characters are searching for.

One kudo to this lazy effort: The climax does have a real end-of-a-trilogy feel, making further sequels less likely. Silver linings, folks.

It is clean, crisp and passionless. You almost wish for some Bravo sleaze to add a little edge to the proceedings.

There was a lot of hype surrounding it, but after one too many awkward musical numbers combined with slow pacing, I was left checking my phone for when the 2-hour and 10-minute movie would be over.

Less obvious is how his parents will react should Ravi break ways with tradition and confess his true feelings. Their struggle to maintain their sense of cultural identity in a rapidly changing world is far more moving than any grown man’s commitment issues, even when that grown man is as ingratiating as Ravi.

Tel Aviv on Fire, like the soap opera that shares its name, doesn't attempt to grapple with the complexities of the conflict. "Is there nothing between bombs and surrender?" it asks, pleading for moderation. Moderation gets you a pleasant-enough comedy. But not much more.

It’s ironic that a film about bucking formula is itself so formulaic. There’s nothing wrong with such inoffensive pleasantness, but if Late Night wants to advocate setting fire to the system in pursuit of more meaningful art, it should have led the charge.

A movie that never quite comes to life, despite its title.

Were there some oversights and cop-outs in this documentary? You bet. But they don’t get in the way of enjoying it. Child was not one to dwell on the difficult parts of life; she was far too interested in seeking out the delicious moments. In that way, the filmmakers made her proud.

Green Book is not unthoughtful in its crowd-pleasing. It’s just that such crowd-pleasing feels inappropriately quaint for 2018.

To be fair, both Anton and Green do a fair job of giving Kol and Adam believability. But do we really need another tragic period gay love story? How about yes, but do it better.

In spite of the compelling raw material in the lives of its ostensible subjects, it strikes out as an act of storytelling.

The performances are certainly compelling.

Beirut is inoffensive in its familiarity, a handsome enough thriller to pass the time. What it’s lacking are stakes.

In an era where horror films are attempting to get smarter (a nod to you, “A Quiet Place,”) this just makes everyone dumber.

An emotionally inert film that never pulls viewers into the spiraling web of deceit that the couple face.

With bright colors and jokes that are delivered quicker than you can process them, kids will enjoy this. Even though there are overwhelming changes in animation style, it's never boring to look at.

Unfortunately, “The Wasp” falls a bit short, as its slow storytelling and predictable plot twists leave much to be desired.

This brand of gonzo journalism was effective in Moore’s 1989 debut about Flint and General Motors, “Roger & Me,” but it has long since devolved into self-parody.

It's also a head-scratcher: How did a movie this stubbornly old-fashioned ever get made by such a trendy French director as Francois Ozon.

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm is certainly funny. It’s just not the flash of inspiration the first movie was — it can’t be. Baron Cohen revealed more out of contemporary America (and a lot about Arizona) with the 2018 TV series “Who Is America?” The new movie will make you laugh, but too often it’s more of the same.

Although the visuals are spectacular — a barren Colorado River looks like a landscape from a science-fiction epic — there's not much else here to grab on.

The road-trip comedy is well-traveled territory, especially in indie films. But there's something unexpectedly refreshing about Land Ho!

Thanos is the most interesting, and most complex, character here.

In "The Player," Robert Altman carves up Hollywood with knowing, surgical precision. Cronenberg is a gifted filmmaker in his own right, but here he takes a meat-ax to the place. He gets what he's after but leaves quite a mess.

The film is interesting and at times enlightening, but it's all over the map.

It’s still more of a spectacle than a movie. But as spectacles go, it’s a big one. And with more elements of an actual film creeping in here and there, who knows? By the time we get to the fifth one, we might have some actual cinema on our hands.

There’s a story within a story here, one more compelling and relatable than the other. Perhaps that’s by design. But even if that’s the case, it doesn’t mean the two parts co-exist comfortably, no matter what the intent.

It’s as if Boyle is saying he isn’t afraid to visit the past. And he does it about as successfully as one could — T2 is a movie worth seeing and enjoying if you’ve seen the first film (less so if you haven’t). What he’s not as successful at is telling us why.

Welcome back, Whit Stillman -- with Damsels in Distress, the hipper-than-thou club is back in session.

No one wants to live in the past, but in The Peanuts Movie, the old stuff still stands up, while the new story is just flimsy glue holding the classic bits in place.

Wonder will make you cry — that’s one of the main purposes of its existence — but it’ll also drive you a little crazy.

Despite the lethal force that inevitably gets applied to poor Lisbeth, we never really fear for her safety, but we do fear for her future happiness. That is where the real drama lies.

It’s a mix of good films that could have been a single outstanding one.

It’s a variation on a theme that Solondz has been working through his whole filmography, and when he’s successful, he convinces you to believe the worst in people and laugh at it. But when he’s not, the film can feel like punishment.

Ultimately “The Last Showgirl” is worth watching for its final scene alone, but a lack of character and relationship-building leads to the film being as deep as a kiddie pool.

It’s fun while it lasts, but ultimately forgettable, kind of like the people they stole from.

The report is important. Its findings and the attempts to undermine them and the investigators, shouldn’t be forgotten. That The Report tries to keep these lessons in a fickle public’s consciousness is a good thing. If only anything committed to screen here were memorable.

The movie is not uninteresting, but a viewer isn't breathlessly waiting to see how things will wrap up, either. By the third act, you even start to get impatient with the characters. That's not exactly a ringing endorsement.

While there is some magic here, it’s not the transportive experience it might have been.

The modern interpretation of King Arthur will entertain young viewers, eager to follow a story that doesn’t require Merlin’s magic to see where it’s headed.

It's a chocolate whimsy-filled film that gives Chalamet a chance to show off and that makes it worth sitting through at least once, maybe even twice.

Cate Blanchett gives a ferocious performance as the steely Mapes, and she mines some genuine emotion out of the material.

The true story, along with Boyega’s amazing performance, prop up what would otherwise be a lackluster thriller. From the trailer, I expected to like it a lot more than I did, but it doesn't do Brown-Easley's story the justice it deserves.

The film is a live-action cartoon down to its main character's name -- Wilee, "like the coyote." It's just a few sticks of dynamite and a 10-ton anvil short of going full Looney Tunes, and is all the worse for that restraint.

An unruly mix of science, morality, family dysfunction, horror and finger-down-the-throat gross-out ridiculousness.

More brains and less brawn probably isn’t a prescription for box-office success for a movie like this. But it’s a movie I’d rather see.

Obama is so smart and insightful, even in response to the canned and near-sycophantic questions during the question-and-answer sessions on stage, that it makes you yearn for a real interview, a tougher documentary, one that trusts both Obama and the audience more.

Despite all its noble qualities, the movie boasts a stiffness that keeps it from ever feeling fully alive.

McKenzie and Taylor-Joy are both affecting as two sides of not-quite-the-same coin. Their performances are the best thing about the film, which is good — but not as good as it might have been.

The lyrical book is filled with touches of magical realism. On the other hand, the movie is sorely lacking in both magic and realism. It’s all very empty and blah.

Bill & Ted Face the Music is sweet and hopeful and, of course, kind of stupid, but that’s a big part of the point.

The Conjuring 2 won't make anyone forget the first film, but it's good enough that you'll hope they make another.

Good for its uncommonly level-headed characters, less so for viewers watching a movie in which not much happens.

Suffice it to say that it's something that would make Austin Powers blush, baby, but it's not supposed to be funny.

Wild Grass retains a literary feel with the help of an unseen narrator, who offers intriguing poetic observations. And Resnais' visuals are equally lyrical. What can you say: The French sure know how to make pretty pictures.

The film winds up being a collection of striking visuals without any emotional heft.

It’s a jumbled, intriguing, inconsistent mess — and yes, it is uncomfortable by design.

The film’s intentions are noble enough, but its story doesn’t always live up to them.

One can forgive the trying-too-hard aphorisms -- "You don't choose a life ... you live one" -- but savvy cinephiles are sure to be annoyed by Tyler Bates' hypnotic ambient-folk soundtrack, studded with such despoiled musical gems as Nick Drake's "Pink Moon" and the Shins' "New Slang."

It’s an admirable film, though not a particularly memorable one.