Thor: Ragnarok is a blast, pure and simple.

When executed with love and peopled with actors who breathe life into their characters, Hidden Figures is precisely the delight it aims to be.

Demon is a powerful film, one that makes us wonder what greater films Wrona might have made.

A delightful look at the public career and mostly private life of the ultimate professional amateur.

Emily Blunt is practically perfect in every way as Mary Poppins. Her comedic timing is incredible, and she embraces Julie Andrews' prim and proper British snark with grace.

It’s not going to be the blockbuster hit of the summer, but it’s a cute, feel-good movie that’s combines a lot of classic elements in a creative way.

This is a film that finds horror not in the extreme, but in the mundane. That alone makes it a worthwhile entry in a genre that it both inhabits and rises above.

Gael García Bernal encapsulates the luchador in both the performances in the ring and in the more personal moments, ensuring both sides of Armendáriz’s legacy are remembered.

Blade Runner 2049 stands as its own film, in addition to a continuation of the sequel. It’s not the bolt out of the blue the first movie was, but how could it be? Instead, as the break between installments would suggest, it’s a furthering of not just the original story but the original world, and that’s quite an accomplishment.

Impressionistic, unconventional and often downright weird, it’s most of all an exploration of humanity — what that means and how it is achieved.

It's Cooper's movie, and, although he has been good in pretty much everything we've seen him in, there is a depth to this performance we haven't seen before. It's a tricky balance: As the legend grows, the man diminishes. Cooper and Eastwood do an exceptionally good job of maintaining that.

Cliff Curtis is staggeringly good as Gen.

Sometimes, a movie just has a magic about it, something that makes you look past implausibility and plot holes and whatever other shortcomings it may have and leaves you feeling good just for having seen it.

There aren’t enough scares to keep you on edge in Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, but there’s enough else going on to keep you interested.

The film is a mad whirl of influencer phoniness, paranoia, imposter syndrome and parenting nightmares.

Everything is so bizarre and deadpan, the humor just sort of sneaks up on you, until you’re laughing without even meaning to. It’s a neat mix of subtlety and over-the-top bloodshed, with everything played with a straight face.

For all its ludicrous plot twists and a mystery that falls too conveniently into place, A Simple Favor is just fun. It's light and frothy.

Most of all, though, it's a welcome, offbeat look at a couple of originals, something that's in woefully short supply.

Every image feels intentional, with nothing left to chance. (This results in some amazing images, many of them involving Stone’s face.) Along with the precision of the performances, this makes Bugonia one of the more enjoyably weird times at the movies in recent memory.

"Norman” takes a largely unlikable character and inserts him into the center of its story, a gambit that seems like a surefire recipe for disaster. It’s not, thanks to Richard Gere.

If Keanu sometimes comes off as another sketch stretched a little thin, that doesn’t put it in too shabby of company. It may not be as great as “The Blues Brothers,” but it’s up there with “Wayne’s World” — and light-years ahead of “Coneheads.”

[A] searing, perversely thrilling drama.

It’s squirmy good fun — agonizing in places, in exactly the ways you want it to be.

With The Family Fang, [Bateman] shows confidence with drama and, perhaps more impressively, with weirdness, never letting things get odd just for the sake of it. He wisely doesn’t force the issue. This bunch is plenty weird on its own.

Belle is a beautiful period piece, but it's also something more: a study of racism, classism and sexism in 18th-century England.

You can read Emma's affair and its eventual effect on Edoardo as an inverted oedipal thing, or perhaps as a metaphor for decadence, the embodiment of a family that subconsciously realizes it's in decline and must fight to warm its blood.

Grande and Erivo bring that relationship to life, making “Wicked: For Good” more emotional than you’d expect. These are two really good actors whose investments in what could have been let’s-put-on-a-show theater-kid performances go much deeper.

The action and the chemistry is stronger than the story, because Gyllenhaal and Peña are good. In that respect End of Watch works better as a series of vignettes held together somewhat loosely by a larger story.

Though polished and image-conscious, offering too little insight into the physical and psychological trauma suffered in the bullet’s wake, the film is nevertheless moving without resorting to saccharine overtures.

The Do-Deca-Pentathlon is an odd little movie about an odd family who reacts to situations in odd ways.

An infectiously joyful Australian Aboriginal musical.

Raw is a lot of things: a terrific feature debut by a promising filmmaker; an effective metaphor; an acting showcase; and, not least of all, a gross-out horror film.

A funny, heartfelt look at families, relationships and the lies that prop them up as much as tear them down.

It is affecting, surprising, heartbreaking.

he beauty of The Wind Rises — and it really is gorgeous — does not mask the troublesome aspects of its story, or of human nature itself.

The film is nakedly candid, but Stritch is also a ham who is almost always aware of the camera.

Thanks to Layton's filmmaking choices, American Animals ends up being not so much a crime movie as an examination of truth and memory, as well as blame and responsibility. And it's a lot better for it.

This is one of those films in which you feel like you’re known the characters for years; Moretti and his actors establish a kind of instant empathy that makes the story all the more affecting.

It’s not a warts-and-all treatment because, at least in this telling, there are no warts. It’s more about securing Berra among a new generation of fans as one of the greatest players who ever lived. And on that front, it more than succeeds.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2 is a dark film, in a dramatically satisfying way.

As the film comes to an end, more and more of "Blood Simple" is translated directly to China, even to the last drop.

April and the Extraordinary World is a visual delight, an animated French steampunk adventure that is smart, exciting and wonderfully weird.

Eileen is indeed a weird little movie, but it leaves a big impact.

The Erwins pound home their message, but they do with such skill and accomplished filmmaking the movie never becomes heavy-handed or too preachy.

For anyone with an interest in dance, Pina is a must-see. For anyone not interested in contemporary dance, Pina is a should-see. It could change your mind.

Do all of the aspects of the story hold up? It’s to the credit of the film and Kravitz that those questions never occur to you while you’re watching “Blink Twice.” You’re too engaged to notice.

While Zwick doesn’t dig as deeply as he might in searching for answers, the subject matter, combined with Tobey Maguire’s performance as Fischer, makes this a compelling film.

The strength of Peace Officer is that it doesn’t attempt to pit the viewer against the police. Its target, rather, is the system.

It's all brutal good fun, with laughs scattered generously throughout the bloodshed.

20 Feet From Stardom is frequently sad and frustrating. But while there’s heartbreak aplenty, the film doesn’t function as a pitying paean to unmined talent — it’s ultimately a celebration of the unsung.

The cast is uniformly outstanding, a pleasure to watch. It's a more toned-down role for the often-fiery McAvoy, and it suits him.

A delightful discovery, a charming little film about fathers, sons, New Zealand and Michael Jackson.

A sequence set during Carnival is equally engaging, with giant floats and throngs of people watching the parade. Several scenes are shown from the birds' points of view, which make for a dizzying, dazzling experience.

There are no winners here. Maybe that’s cynical, or maybe it’s true. But it’s a bleak and sometimes powerful message that Villeneuve delivers with blunt force.

The reason to see it is the humanity the outstanding cast brings to the film. The emotions these people feel, the moments of grief, of anger, of love and of clarity they experience, feel both real and recognizable.

The look of the film is jaw-dropping at times, beautiful to behold. If the story... can't quite keep pace with the look of the film (and, alas, it can't) it will take you awhile to notice.

It’s tempting to say that Song went a more traditional route, but her second film is in fact a bold reshaping of the romcom. I can’t wait for her third.

Gere is terrific. It’s a tough job standing out at a distance, especially when we have to make an effort to find you, but Gere always commands our interest and attention.

Wingard and screenwriter Simon Barrett last worked together on You're Next, a ferocious film that is also intelligent. They're even more successful here.

[Huppert's] remarkable. So, too, is Things to Come.

A Romanian political allegory — in Romanian — might sound like tough sledding, but thanks to a searing performance by Luminita Gheorghiu, Child's Pose is anything but.

Ad Astra is one giant leap for telling intimate stories on a grand scale.

It’s a uniquely affecting experience, and a uniquely affecting film. Cameraperson shows us the power of image as a tool of recording life, but also finds reasons that even in the worst situations, it’s still worth living.

This isn’t a war movie; it’s an after-the-war movie. But the battle lines are still drawn, and every ragged breath the film takes braces for an explosion.

It's not a great movie so much as it is great moviemaking. It's basically a potboiler genre film, a B-movie with big talent attached.

Directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo are armed with seemingly endless self-shot footage for Val, a moving, fascinating portrait of the actor. But disarming is a better word for how Kilmer, reputedly a “difficult” actor, comes off.

Ernest & Celestine draws on plenty of classics, animated and otherwise, for inspiration, but the film manages to be delightful on its own offbeat terms.

Blackfish is a disturbing movie, one that will make you rethink parks like SeaWorld and their value.

It's not often anymore that you find a film everyone in the family can enjoy, but The Adam Project is that and more. Think "Guardians of the Galaxy" vibes, but a little more low-key.

There are some funny bits here, and younger comics like Sarah Silverman push the limits even farther; to the minds of some, they cross them.

Captain Phillips is a voyage well-worth taking.

In many ways Lady Macbeth is remarkable for what it isn’t. It isn’t a staid period drama. It isn’t romantic. It isn’t predictable. And it certainly isn’t comfortable.

The Is the End is a different take on the R-rated comedy, a raunchy laugh riot that actually gives you a little to think about.

These are characters for whom true belief in a cause has probably become impossible; they know how much that costs. Marsh does a compelling job of illustrating that for the rest of us.

Purely from a standpoint of craft and storytelling, it’s a good flick, although maybe not well attuned to the bombastic times.

It’s not derivative. It’s just familiar. But it also boasts two unique elements.

The love the two have for each other, particularly she for him, is obvious and moving. So, too, is not just the desire to create, but the need to.

Happily, this is a movie about not just idealism but practical idealism, and the struggle that maintaining it requires. It looks drop-dead gorgeous and, despite a few storytelling short cuts, it's unexpectedly moving.

Aubrey Plaza is brilliant in Ingrid goes West, Matt Spicer’s smart, satirical and sometimes scathing takedown of the vapidity social media sometimes injects into life.

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.

Wakanda Forever misses Boseman greatly — the entire film is about missing him — but it moves the story forward in a way that seems logical and fitting.

What it lacks in thematic innovation it more than makes up for with enough memorable characters and visual splendor to make Zootopia a perennial Disney favorite.

Beautiful Creatures rises above the rabble thanks to an eminently watchable cast and a sharp screenplay by writer-director Richard LaGravenese.

A frenetic movie that combines a video-game sensibility with cartoonish, whacked-out violence. As with all good modern horror, one minute you're laughing out loud and the next you're covering your eyes. [19 Mar 2004, p.1P]

You expect the big joke in Casa de Mi Padre to involve Will Ferrell mangling the Spanish language. Instead, the movie is funny because of just how commendable the actor's Spanish is.

The whole thing runs through Stewart, and she’s great — just one of those movie stars you can’t take your eyes off.

If the purpose of Girls State is to give high-school students a taste of how government works in real life, “Girls State” makes a case that it does its job only too well.

Pattinson is what helps us keep pace. He completely inhabits Connie with his jittery, twitchy efforts — he can’t stand still, so neither can we.

A Ghost Story may be the ultimate litmus test of where you fall on the line between artistic merit and laughable pretension.

Although not everyone in the cast is as comfortable with the dialogue as Acker, for whom it seems natural, there is a clear love for the material here in every performance, in every shot. It’s not stuffy or remote. It’s fun.

Widows works best as a slow-burn thriller, a masterclass of patient reveals and cleverly withheld information (which, as any fan of her knows, are Flynn’s hallmarks). But Widows has more to say, touching on the topics of generational power, the dynamics of race in politics and marriage, the institutional racism present in police violence.

Checking in at nearly three hours and so full of passions and appetites, it’s impossible for it not to exhaust you.

It’s disheartening that it took until 2018 to get a gay version of this adolescent staple from a major studio. But at least it was worth the wait.

At times the film threatens to become relentlessly bleak, but never fully so, thanks in large part to Plummer’s performance. And cinematographer Magnus Nordenhof Jønck finds beauty in the most desolate places; even flashing police lights set against nightfall are inviting.

The film is fascinating in its exploration of the give-and-take between art and commerce.

It’s a really good film, but it’s certainly not an easy one to watch.

Overall, Radioactive is a fitting tribute that is not entirely glowing (outside of the bottle of radium Curie takes to bed every night), but rather an honest and touching depiction of one of the finest scientists to ever live.

We’ve seen crusty old geezers with hearts of gold plenty of times in films. Here we see how this one got that way, and thanks to Lassgard and Holm, it’s a journey we care about taking.