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?

It looks nice, but it's not really going anywhere.

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

Clooney’s hollowed-out performance — truly, he seems exhausted by life and disgusted by humanity, with a notable exception — is effective. But as a director, he creates two distinct worlds and struggles to bring them together.

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.

The big-screen version of Entourage is constructed like the series, another chapter in a sequel-ready story. If you wanted something more, you won't get it. But you will get this, and if it does well, likely more of it.

No, Atomic Blonde isn’t lacking in sex appeal or swagger. But what it is in want of are stakes.

Yes, it’s a boxing comeback story. But the car accident makes it different, and Teller and Eckhart make it better than it ought to be.

Put this title on your Netflix queue in the first place. Just give your own Mr. Right a break and don't waste your date-night dollars on the big screen.

Treading the same raunchy path as "Neighbors" and "Superbad," the contrast of child actors uttering obscenities and utilizing sex toys as weapons is a comical mix of one outrageous mess after another.

It never quite adds up. You can’t shake the feeling that both Scott and McCarthy are aiming for something here that remains out of their reach.

The acting is first rate, the story still heartbreakingly urgent. But ultimately Parkland plays more like a re-enactment than a film in its own right.

Sam Levinson’s film is meant to be a harsh, unyielding examination of a relationship, and thanks to stunning performances by Zendaya and John David Washington, it sometimes is.

It’s when bullets fly that Bay is at his best. He stages the battles well, and builds tension effectively and at times inventively.

Although it has some serious flaws, it rises above genre fare, thanks to Greg Kinnear's intriguing performance and the work of a good cast.

It's exactly what it appears to be: a funny-enough stoner comedy with a likable cast.

The incongruity is shocking at first but wears off after a while, making Strays a good and funny bet for stumbling over while channel-surfing (or whatever the streaming version of that is), but not a lot more.

If you have a yen for martial-arts action, Man of Tai Chi could do the trick depending on how seriously you take Reeves’ performance. At the film’s worst, it’s empty yet still attractive (much, it can be argued, like Reeves).

The director is known for visually quirky choices and offbeat interviews and asides. These techniques can be a mixed bag; sometimes they help lighten up a deadly serious segment, other times they seems silly. But it’s distinctive, and “This Is Us” could have used more of it.

Character development, dramatic tension and emotional resonance all get short shrift in the checklist exposition by writer-director Gavin Hood.

MaXXXine isn't a bad movie by any means, but compared to "X," it just feels like another failed horror movie sequel.

It's plenty gory. And it definitely rocks. As for hilarious? It must've felt that way to Grohl, who liked the "Pearl Jam high-five" joke well enough to use it twice.

Deserves commendation for its fearless bravado, if for little else. [25 Oct 2012]

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 a good movie about great heroism, and you wish it was more.

Ficarra and Requa never quite strike a successful balance between comedy and drama, making the whole thing feel a bit off.

Fast-moving, stylish and gritty, but also predictable. [25 Oct 2012]

It’s not as good, nor as involving, as “Love Actually.” But like that film, it has Bill Nighy, and that’s good for something.