The Theory of Everything breaks down simply, perhaps too much so: a great performance in a good movie.

Yam Laranas doesn't leave it at that. In his low-budget, creepy thriller, he spells out why and how this particular path is so deadly, as well as what led to the crimes and supernatural horror that seem to frequent the place.

Get On Up... has some problems in the storytelling department, but Boseman tackles with gusto the unenviable task of capturing Brown.

Like Tom Hanks in Big, Levy does a great job of capturing — or parodying — the giddiness of a kid flexing his adult muscles (literally and figuratively). The two-hour-plus running time breezes by in a well-paced adventure that mines familiar comic-book tropes for laughs.

The music and the group are uplifting. The stories are inspiring.

Oh, and the title? It could be an apt description for almost any character in the movie at one time or another. The satisfaction is in finding out who, if anyone, will be set free.

If you were a theater kid, this movie will feel like an inside joke written just for you.

Tyrnauer’s film is fairly straightforward in structure — we hit the highlights up front, such as Cohn’s work advising Sen. Joseph McCarthy, a gig that would have killed most people's career — but it’s Cohn’s almost pathological need to be seen, and to be seen as tough and willing to fight, that makes the film so compelling.

Zemeckis is a master of using effects, but his films sometimes don’t live up to them.... The Walk is different. The use of 3D, in particular, is so astonishing it practically wipes your memory of the silliness going on in France as Petit was learning his trade. Once Petit is on the wire, he is free, and the liberation is contagious.

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

One of the things that really makes “Companion” more entertaining than it might otherwise have been is the strength of the supporting cast. Gage and Guillén are particularly good as a mismatched couple who discover more about each other during the admittedly eventful stay at the cabin.

It stands on its own as another in a long line of attempted explanations of what made Dylan Dylan. The more the merrier.

An affectionate documentary.

Ordinary Love is not a movie solely about cancer. It is a raw, on-screen adaptation of what hundreds of couples experience when their limits are tested — physically, mentally and romantically. This film, like the love these couples have for one another, will stand the test the time.

The whole isn't quite as interesting as the sum of its parts, is another way to put it. The parts, though, are quite good on their own.

Bouncing back and forth in time and emotional space, The Broken Circle Breakdown contains moments of beauty, power and tragedy, but the constant churning sometimes leaves the film without a solid foundation. Ah, but then there’s the music, soaring bluegrass performed with passion and talent.

The violence is gory enough to make the audience squirm, and just cartoonish enough to give it permission to laugh. Like the “John Wick” movies, it’s really one brutal set piece after another, though the choreography is not as poetic here.

At times his film is genuinely absorbing, offering insight into the madness and euphoria of artistic creation, along with the sometimes-crushing doubt. Other times it’s just Armie Hammer sitting there. Nothing horrible about that. Just not great, either.

“Raiders!” is as sloppy and imperfect as the kids’ shot-for-shot remake, but it has much the same charm.

The porn, the drugs, the smog, the bad haircuts - you can play it for laughs or play it straight. With terrific performances from Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, Black does a little of both. The film is at once a nod to hard-boiled film noir and a send-up of it.

Directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, “The Friend” is exactly what you’d expect from beginning to end — there are no surprises. The film, based on the 2018 novel of the same name, is about healing from grief, navigating a years-long friendship and finding new companionship.

Colossal is a monstrously imaginative movie with a premise so bizarre it’s amazing it ever got made. But it’s a good thing it did.

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.

Dunne's performance is quietly assured; Sandra's strength may waver, but it never falters. You root for her. You root for the movie, something that Lloyd purposely makes difficult to do at times. That’s going to throw some people, no doubt. But she resists easy resolution, making “Herself” a satisfying experience.

Much like "Ant-Man," it's a kind of pressure-relief valve, coasting on Paul Rudd's goofy charm. That's more on display than in the first film; returning director Peyton Reed manages not to shrink Rudd's appeal when he shrinks his character.

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.

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.

Count Captain America: The Winter Soldier as another success in the Marvel line. Thanks to the chemistry between Evans and Johansson and a willingness to shake things up, it's more than just a placeholder between "Avenger" films.