Spaceman is a wonderfully weird journey that ends on just the right and quite satisfying notes.

Hill doesn't really try to avoid the cliches in a story like this. He simply turns up the juice. Like his "Southern Comfort," "48 Hrs.," and "The Warriors," this is a movie that depends on style, not surprises. He doesn't want to make a different kind of movie; he wants to make a familiar story look better than we've seen it look recently. And yet there is a big surprise in Extreme Prejudice in the appearance and character of Nick Nolte.

Helped enormously by Rachel McAdams, whose performance is convincing because she keeps it at ground level; thrillers are invitations to overact, but she remains plausible even when the action ratchets up around her.

Smulders gives one of the most natural performances of her career, and Bean’s subtle, strong work announces her as a young actress to watch.

Has a freshness and charm, a winning way with its not terrifically original material.

What I liked most was its unforced, genuine affection for its characters.

Hacksaw Ridge is faithful to the story of Desmond Doss in every sense of the word.

While Extraction 2 doesn’t match the original action thriller from 2020 as it embraces so many clichés I lost count, it’s still a rousing international adventure with some incredible battles that will leave you feeling exhausted FOR the actors (and their stunt doubles). This is the kind of movie that leaves it all out there on the field.

There are few reasons you must see this movie, but absolutely none that you should not.

All of this is just plain enjoyable. I liked it, but please don't make me say it's deeply moving or redemptive and uplifting. It's a genre piece for character actors is what it is, and that's an honorable thing for it to be.

Although the movie cheerfully offends all civilized notions of taste, decorum, manners and hygiene, it has a sweetness that is impossible to discount, and it is often very funny.

I like the way the personalities are allowed to upstage the plot in Fighting, a routine three-act fight story that creates uncommonly interesting characters.

It has elements of sweet romance and elements of macabre humor, and divides its characters between the two.

Thanks to Villeneuve’s masterful direction, the aforementioned brilliant technical elements and a star-studded cast of actors who pour themselves into the material — you can practically see them shaking the sand out of their boots after a long day’s filming — “Dune Part 2” makes for a wondrous viewing experience.

There’s wit, rudeness, satire, lust and pathos, all effortlessly rolled up together. "Skin Deep" is sort of a filmmaker’s triathalon, and if Edwards doesn’t set any new records, he enters every event.

One thing I like about the film is the way it teasingly introduces elements that, in other films, would lead to big dramatic formulas, and then sidesteps them.

The movie is above all entertaining, if you enjoy human grotesquerie and flamboyant acting. Let's face it: Many of us do. There's a reason Hannibal Lecter remains the most popular villain in the movies.

Lost in La Mancha, which started life as one of those documentaries you get free on a DVD, ended as the record of swift and devastating disaster.

Populaire has no interest in rewriting the rules of romantic comedy, but it does run through the expected paces with admirable style.

Branagh sets the pace just this side of a Marx Brothers movie.

Has the outer form of a brave statement about the races in America, but the soul of a sports movie in which everything is settled by the obligatory last play in the last seconds of the championship game.

This is an uneven film with a couple of glaring inconsistencies, but director Slattery has a fine sense of framing and pacing, and the top-notch cast handles the clever dialogue with aplomb.

True Confessions contains scenes that are just about as good as scenes can be. Then why does the movie leave us disoriented and disappointed, and why does the ending fail dismally? Perhaps because the attentions of the filmmakers were concentrated so fiercely on individual moments that nobody ever stood back to ask what the story was about.

Planet of the Apes is much better than I expected it to be. It is quickly paced, completely entertaining, and its philosophical pretensions don't get in the way. If you only condescend to see an adventure thriller on rare occasions, condescend this time. You have nothing to lower but your brow.

All of this is actually a lot of fun, if you like special effects and gore.

An absorbing experience.

Throughout, Bill Nighy carries the film effortlessly on his slender shoulders, reminding us of why he’s an international treasure.

Hannah Arendt takes seriously the life of the mind.