Screenwriter Jon Vitti and first-time directors Fergal Reilly and Clay Kaytis certainly give it a try, but their bag of tricks is mostly recycled and their sense of humor is aimed squarely at 12-year-old boys.

The final resolution of the plot is actually rather intriguing, but the journey to it is so slow and predictable that most moviegoers will have long since lost interest.

Unfortunately, nothing in the film –Foy's performance included – cuts the chill, and you're left trapped in a big, wintry void.

With “Maleficent’s” feminist message suffering a relapse, the sequel looks more like generic film fantasy than a fresh take on an old story. The cuddly creatures and razzle-dazzle action are enough to make two hours disappear, but it’s only Jolie’s bat-winged charisma that will rattle on in your memory.

Strange, surreal and compelling, All I See Is You is a dreamy exploration of a marriage, and what happens when all of its imbalances and insecure quirks are suddenly thrust out in the open. It’s also something of a thriller, and the two worlds don’t mesh in a way that is completely satisfying. Still, it’s riveting to watch everything unfold.

Redemption doesn’t have the chutzpah to let loose and be as dumb as it needs to be, so it instead bores the audience comatose with long stretches of sad-face Statham putzing around an apartment to justify the too-brief bursts of giddy bone-breaking.

It's a noble attempt at meaningful comedy-drama, but Braff struggles with shifting tones while mismanaging his own character. It's easier to appreciate the effort than it is to enjoy the film.

It's big and it's loud, but ultimately not much more than that.

The movie plays like a missed opportunity, with its by-the-numbers scares and a story that feels disjointed, hurried in some places, slow in others.

Awash in mawkish sentimentality, Dear John still will move you deeply - if you're a 12-year-old girl.

Daisy Edgar-Jones is affecting and effective as Kya, known to redneck townsfolk as “The Marsh Girl.” If only the filmmaking and screenwriting were as good as her performance. It’s really just a swampy Southern Gothic soap opera at heart, with designs on being something more.

Those who enjoy either World War II movies or period dramas likely will enjoy this movie, even if some of the plot twists are predictable. It's an enjoyable deviation from the typical war story, but if there were more layers of warmth and stronger emotional connections between the characters, it could have built to a more satisfying conclusion.

Newton's character is the only one we really become invested in. At least that's something. But Good Deeds leaves you wanting much more.

Director Marc Forster moves from one thing to the next so quickly the movie plays like a two-hour-plus trailer. Something feels like it's missing here, even at that length.

It’s a big disappointment, not least because of its talented cast, and Bell’s obvious talents as a filmmaker.

The action-thriller is formulaic and obvious. In other words, it's just another Neeson movie, nothing more, nothing less.

It glosses over any number of defining Winehouse moments. In the end, though, you do get a sense of who she was and why she was the way she was, and how that drove her to create such deeply soulful music.

If there is a saving grace to Monte Carlo, it's that the frothy film strikes a nice balance between the ridiculous and the, well, slightly less ridiculous.

It’s often cloying, absurdly melodramatic, and the premise exists largely as a tear-manufacturing device.

Fuqua tries to create the illusion of meaning by copycatting the style and techniques of better directors, but he can't save the naked emperor of the script.

Inevitably, embroidering upon a fairly simple idea saps some of its impact, and Glass ends up tipping more toward the self-conscious genre-riffing that “Unbreakable” offers an antidote for.

"Idiots” definitely isn’t for everyone, but its wry sensibility is several degrees more original than your average Hollywood knee-slapper.

It's definitely a family-friendly film, but some of the slower moments might bore kids. More importantly: There isn't anything astoundingly different about this film. It's about a dog, and it's absolutely cute and sweet. It's also predictably heartwarming and it offers nothing new.

Scoob! is a poorly written, nonsensical animated update of the Scooby gang.

There are some funny bits, to be sure. You can’t bring this bunch together without a few hits among the misses. But despite McKinnon’s best efforts, it’s just not enough. This is one Office Christmas Party you can skip.

Wayne Wang directed "The Joy Luck Club," a fine, sentimental look at Chinese women. Now he presents another look at Chinese sisterhood in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, and it feels like a shallow imitation: Imagine getting Kate Hudson when you expect Goldie Hawn.

It is incredibly stupid. Gleefully stupid. Relentlessly stupid. It’s also really funny. Is it any good? That does not seem to be a major consideration.

It's a competently made movie - in Jackson's hands it could hardly be anything but - yet rarely a moving one.

Nanjiani is kind of like Bill Murray. There's just something about him that makes you anticipate something funny coming, if not now, soon, so why not start laughing? I don't know whether it would work in just any film, but here he's such an oasis of intelligence in a desert of comedic stupidity that I'd like to see if it would.

At least [Teller's] presence, along with Woodley's, makes Insurgent good, if not great. And it's not too late to keep improving.

But for all its missteps, it's tough not to be engaged. Cruz's full-tilt flamboyance is just too much fun, and her more down-to-earth moments can be devastating.

What it has instead is really bad acting set against often-stunning cave-wall backdrops and underwater action sequences.

The film is at its best when it focuses on real-life human drama rooted in character: failing marriages, crushing poverty, professional malaise. Davis in particular delivers as impassioned a performance as ever -- good enough that you wish you could airlift her character into another movie.

There’s a lot going on here, not much of it all that interesting. Although you do get to see Rob Lowe clomp around in the woods. And that's something.

Despite its looks, talent and pedigree, Transcendence never becomes the movie it could have been.

The Internship has some funny moments. The cast is too talented for it to come up completely dry. But for a movie about a place so filled with ambitious climbers, it is far too lazy.

Writers and directors Bob Fisher and Rob Greenberg don't do anything particularly clever or inspired, but they display a knack for snappy dialogue and draw solid work from the cast. It's enjoyable watching Leonardo and Kate draw closer together, and the film's emotional moments strike the right notes.

Inferno...is the kind of movie that stops — and stoops — to explain, early and often. Not that the explanations amount to much; the movie makes almost no sense.

It’s surprising how much you miss the star power of the original Avengers bunch. Or maybe it’s not surprising. Whatever the case, watching this movie too often feels like you suspect there’s a better party going on next door, but you can’t get in.

The food, it must be said, is beautiful. (Mario Batali and Marcus Wareing were consultants on the film.) And Cooper, despite the shortcomings of the role as written, goes all in. So does Miller. This should be a better movie than it is.

Bad Samaritan is a horrible little movie with two things going for it: one wigged-out performance and one genuinely terrific line that's so great, you want to be able to say that it saves the film.

The buddy comedy Papi Chulo could go wrong in all sorts of ways, so it’s kind of a minor miracle how much it actually gets right. Funny, empathetic and tender, it pretty much sneaks up and catches you off-guard with its sly charms.

Not that there’s anything wrong with raunch. But in the Judd Apatow era of raunch-coms, Anders’ version is pretty weak tea.

Subtle, it's not.

Austenland plays out like an overly elaborate excuse to have people act silly in corsets and bloomers.

Under the Electric Sky is a bedazzled (if not quite dazzling) 3D documentary.

The film is packed with moments of rank idiocy.

Its real accomplishment is that, with so much money behind it and a true visionary at the helm, it manages to feel so dated.

Yes, The Family has skills. They’re like “The Incredibles” — except they’re heroes for sadists and sociopaths only.

Doesn't really know what it wants to be. Morel would have done better to remember the "to thine own self be true" bit, and stayed with the dunderheaded shoot-'em-up vibe, with Travolta having a blast, often literally.

Plenty of families harbor resentments, but the goings-on here become ridiculous. Which is too bad, because Cold Turkey has the seeds of a good movie.

This "Transformers" is better than the second film (though that's not saying much), with some enjoyable bits here and there.

While Below Her Mouth is no doubt some classy-looking porn, it’s a pretty lousy movie, because all that sex leaves precious little time to develop character, plot or thematic depth.

How much of this is actually funny is a question of taste, but even a confirmed Perry hater might get caught laughing once or twice.

Breaking In is a shallow nod to female empowerment, not the embodiment of it.

There is a lot of yelling and emoting and it all gets strident very quickly — as in, the first 10 minutes. Hogan keeps everything self-consciously quirky, with lots of bright primary colors all over the place, but it feels like wild overkill.

The problem with movies based on a single joke is that a single joke is rarely funny enough to sustain the running time of a feature-length film. And with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the whole joke is in the title.

The House That Jack Built is more than just an epic piece of cinematic trolling; it’s von Trier taking a microscope to his creative process in all its obsessive ugliness, creating a sophisticated meta-commentary on his art and daring the audience not to be entertained by his extreme indulgence in all the predilections for which he’s been roundly criticized.

It's funny enough, and Grace is an engaging actor, always making a good impression but never quite getting over the hump to become the star it seems like he ought to be.

The cast is intriguing, with Uma Thurman, Christina Ricci and Kristin Scott Thomas as the targets of Pattinson's ambitious amour. But they're not given a whole lot to do -- at least not much that's interesting.

Despite its familiarity, A Bad Moms Christmas is a touch better than the first bacchanal.

Suburbicon is a hybrid of two ideas — two movies, really — and it isn't clear whether either would have worked separately. What is clear is that they don't work together.

There are some fun bits in the film. Law is kind of funny, in and over-the-top, does-he-mean-to-be-like-this way. Hunnam is game for playing Arthur. But Ritchie, in his attempt to ensure there’s never a dull moment, makes it all exhausting.

The look of the film is impressive, as are the effects. Overall, however, it's a big, loud, 3-D-drenched jumble.

The movie falls flat, playing like the best-cast bland romantic comedy you've ever seen.

Memory is a good-enough movie that could have been a lot better. Neeson is to thank for most of the good. Turns out he, like his characters, does have a particular set of skills. They involve acting.

For a movie that aspires to be heartwarming, it sure does inspire a lot of eye rolling.

The worst thing about What to Expect When You're Expecting, director Kirk Jones' fictionalized film version, is how fake it is, how cartoonish the experiences.

Dumb fun can be, well, fun. G.I. Joe: Retaliation is way too much of the former and not nearly enough of the latter.

Turns out there can be too much of a good thing. Or a campy thing. Or a silly thing. Or a subtle-as-a-brick-in-the-face thing.

The movie drags on way too long, but there are things to like.

Home Again is a romantic comedy with its heart in the right place. And that’s just about the only thing it has going for it. It’s facile, disingenuous, artificial in nearly every way.

While the good outweigh the bad, it's a close race. But what is good, particularly a heartbreaking performance by Allison Janney, is really good, enough so that Colfer emerges as a talent worth watching on the page, not just on the screen.

The Purge is one of those unimaginative horror flicks that depend on skreeky music and sudden appearances to startle, but never actually frighten, the audience. The characters are undeveloped, the twists clumsily telegraphed and unsurprising.

Pacino, long ago having given up subtlety for bombast, continues along that path here, but he's still fun to watch.

You can practically see Hart straining to break free of the script and let loose with a wild improvisational rant, and you never lose hope that he might. (Spoiler alert: He doesn’t.)

Without Remorse is neither a classic nor a failure; it falls somewhere in-between. But like Kelly on a seemingly doomed mission, there’s Jordan, giving it all he’s got to save the day.

With Sarah Palin: You Betcha! director Nick Broomfield manages to screw it up.

If you’re just going to rip off the action movies of yore, why not rip off more of the good stuff?

Kick-Ass 2 has a mean-spirited vigilante streak the first film lacked (it seemed more concerned with justice, in its way), as well as a fatigue. It’s still funny, particularly when Hit Girl spews profanity and wields weapons. It’s just not as good.

There is no sense of dread or impending doom; instead it's just one jolt after another. It's like having someone jump out at you every five minutes, and about as much fun.

It fails to offer as single compelling character as a sacrifice to the angry volcano.

I could see The Woman in the Window becoming a kind of channel-surfing cult classic. But not as long as Rear Window is out there somewhere, too.

There's no question that a soft-spoken person can be a great leader, but Caviezel underplays Ladouceur to the point that you wonder how the players could even hear him, much less be inspired by him.

The Day is not a classic, not by a long shot. But it's not a disaster, either. With movies like this, that counts as a small victory.

Where the film falters a bit is with the story. The final act is reminiscent of any of your garden-variety sci-fi adventure movies, which is a jolt after we’ve spent the rest of the movie watching these two figure each other out and try to make peace with their situation.

Director David Ayer is using the blood and guts to make a point about the insane violence committed by drug cartels, yes, but the bloodshed is unrelenting and, ultimately, exhausting.

Kidman and Firth both deliver compelling performances, although this kind of plot-driven fare is no real challenge to their considerable acting talents.

What really saves Super Troopers 2, to the extent that it even wants to be saved, is how gleefully the Broken Lizard bunch goes about its work.

Josh C. Waller’s movie is just prurient nonsense, a film only a couple of notches up from the women-in-prison films that were popular years and years ago.

Blomkamp regular Sharlto Copley is quite good — as Chappie, in a motion-capture performance. (He also provides the voice of the robot.) If this were somehow a commentary on man's increasing lack of humanity or something, that would be fine. Instead, it's just good work buried inside a movie made up of intriguing ideas that never really go anywhere.

Check your driver's license - if you have one, you're probably too old to get the most out of it. If not, you may find your satisfaction a little harder - though not impossible - to come by.

It’s well-staged, well-acted, all the right people die in the end. It comes down to, well, Romeo and Juliet, really, and Douglas Booth and Hailee Steinfeld prove capable in the title roles.

Jenkins is a fantastically adaptable talent. It helps that his character here is supposed to be innately likable (by everyone, evidently, but his girlfriend's family), since Jenkins is so likable as an actor. Good thing, because there is little else to like about Darling Companion.

Without Lohan, Falling for Christmas would be another of the near-anonymous morass of holiday movies so prevalent during the season. Even with her it’s not much more.

Between the siblings' adventure scenes, family tragedies and familiar characters it's hard to stay engaged with a film so gloomy, sad and sluggish. In the end, you’re left wondering what was real, whether it was all just a dream or if you're just too grown up to understand.

It never really comes together in a satisfying way, and given the talent involved, that adds up to a big disappointment.

At times it’s a learn-your-lesson story. At times it’s a shoot-’em-up that does not skimp on the gore. Whatever trope it dips into, it does so without much originality.