Armageddon Time is above all what it sets out to be: a story about growing up, and all the joy and pain that entails.

The beauty in Maines’ script, and in the performances, is how perfectly modulated everything is. Maines clearly gets some digs in at the Catholic Church, and Catholic education particularly. It’s really funny.

It's refreshing to see an animated movie that doesn't look as though the idea for the Happy Meal came first.

Laurence Anyways is like a big, ornate, overstuffed pillow of a movie. It’s attractive and comfortable, even if there’s just too much of it.

Still Mine is a rewarding, performance-based film, ultimately a small pleasure to spend time with.

Fantastic acting by the likes of Garret Dillahunt, Chris Cooper and Joel Torre lift characters above the cliched, offering a one-sided history lesson that is still well worth learning.

The Lost City of Z is a throwback, an epic film about a grand adventure.

It’s one part history lesson and one part ode to the rapidly fading quality of refinement. But mostly, it’s a chance to indulge in juicy celebrity stories, catnip for those who love that kind of thing.

The easiest way to describe My Golden Days is as a coming-of-age romance, but Arnaud Desplechin’s film, with its memories and carefully nursed grudges and moments of heartbreak and betrayal, feels weightier than that.

White House Down aims to be a low-brow slab of mindless summer fun. Most of the time, it comes pretty close to hitting the bull’s eye.

Breathe is a valentine, but it's a valentine that is quite moving.

Among other things, “The Outfit” is a celebration of those who sit quietly, who soak in what everyone else is saying, who you overlook.

For all the documentary's focus on Quatro's role as a trailblazing woman in rock, the film also serves as an intriguing and entertaining overview of her career.

It seduces us with imagery and metaphor.

Long Shot is a love story for underdogs, whether they're gifted but out-there wackos or glamorous glass-ceiling breakers. It's unsurprising that this raunchy dark horse could charm anyone to hit the polls.

That's not a pretty story, of course. But it's a compelling one and, thanks to Wells and a cast that includes Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones and Chris Cooper, an entertaining one.

As with all of the films he writes, Sheridan takes us to places that are foreign to many of us, yet immerses us so deeply into the sense of place that everything feels familiar, recognizable. It’s a trip worth taking, making “Wind River” another stop on the unique cinematic travelogue Sheridan is building.

For most of the film, Weitz, riding a fantastic performance by Demián Bichir as the landscaper in question, succeeds in showing the day-to-day struggles that exist beneath the political rhetoric and upper-case headlines.

In many ways BlackBerry is the standard-fare cautionary tale of tech start-ups. Insert your Icarus metaphors here. But there is a kind of sweetness to the film that makes it more compelling than the typical rise, crash and burn movie.

An intriguing look at the effects on one man's life; whether they're worth the cost is something Steinbauer leaves up to us.

It's very much an old-time moviegoing experience; the film could have been made in 1940, and that's a compliment.

Brigsby Bear is charming, sweet, creative, different and disturbing.

Koreeda makes thrilling the rich inner lives of four young women trying to navigate rocky emotional terrain in the wake of their father’s death.

So much of "The Hunting Ground" describes the behavior of college students at their worst. Watching Pino and Clark find some measure of peace and healing while offering the same to others shows it at its best.

Stuff just happens, some of it funny, some of it uncomfortable, some of it good, some of it bad. Just like real life, which is what makes Turn Me On, Dammit! so weirdly enjoyable.

If you’re a fan willing to look past his misfires (or why he agreed to a “Bad News Bears” remake) or a film buff wondering about how a director operates on a set, “Dream Is Destiny” will be a delight.

A sequel, by definition, can’t be as innovative as the original. And there is no sure-fire crying scene here like — spoiler alert — the fate of Bing Bong in the first film. (I rewatched it again to make sure it still has the desired effect. It, ahem, does.)

It shouldn’t work, honestly. There’s too much going on in too many directions at the same time. But Villeneuve brings it all together somehow. We’re more than five hours in between the two films (this one is 2 hours and 46 minutes), and while the lack of a sequel wouldn’t be as infuriating as it was last time around, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I think I’m ready for more.