There is nothing really wrong with In Secret, yet in the end one feels dissatisfied. It’s as if you’ve just sat through a dry academic lecture dissecting the novel.

If The Wind Rises falls a bit short in regard to historical drama, however, it’s still a Miyazaki movie, meaning he casts the same magically beautiful spell.

Without Costner’s movie star equity, this thing could have fallen apart in the first 30 minutes. He keeps us involved, even as we’re thinking: Wait, WHAT just happened?

We get a parable of individualism and its perils for a turn-of-the-20th century woman, one proclaimed by a critic of her time “a revolt against nature: a woman genius.”

While Penn and Teller certainly know how to tell a story, Tim’s Vermeer is at times a chore to sit through, even with a brisk 80-minute running time. We’re literally watching paint dry.

Love may or may not be endless, but there’s no limit to what can be contrived in a movie like this.

The four leads are enormously likable and there’s still enough sharp, raunchy, sexy humor for me to recommend this version.

Winter’s Tale is a good old-fashioned train wreck of a film. This is one of those deals where all the ingredients are Grade A, but the final product is a dud.

Director Jose Padilha (the “Elite Squad” movies) knows how to create slick, sometimes clever fast-moving battle sequences... But other than Keaton’s Sellars, the bad guys are mostly generic nitwits.

There’s not much difference between this nudity-packed yet remarkably dull crime drama and the ’90s-vintage, sleazy pay-cable erotic thrillers it’s referencing, if not emulating.

It is to Lelio’s credit that he steers clear of stereotypes and lets the story unfold organically without judgment or sentimentality. There is an unflinching honesty and intelligence here.

The visuals are spectacular, the 3D technology is artfully used and the storyline is jam-packed with so many funny lines, it’s hard to catch all the jokes that are delivered in rapid-fire succession.

This is a solid albeit slow-building film with few dull moments.

Like Father, Like Son is always wise about the quandary faced by the two fathers and the two mothers.

At Middleton is an innocuous romantic comedy.

Labor Day is an admittedly strange hybrid. Rarely have I seen such outrageous plot points executed with such lovely grace.

That Awkward Moment strives to straddle the line between breezy, bromantic comedy and “Hangover”-esque guy humor. It fails miserably on both counts.

Director Philipp Kadelbach crafts a war drama cued to the ethics of the characters.

Director Felix Van Groeningen takes a story that might be too much to bear in a straightforward, linear narrative and explodes it, then artfully reassembles the pieces by jumping back and forth in time.

Writer-director Krauss embraces the spiritual elements of this story without turning it into a heavy-handed religious lecture.

Felicity Jones gives a fierce and moving performance as Nelly.

Tornatore’s ideas about art, trust and intimacy are curious, even if they do not quite click.

It’s cheery but still has a bit of a bite, makes a point without ever being too preachy and features a litany of quotable lines with a cleverness not seen since “Heathers.”

While the animation is quite good and the filmmakers have brought together an excellent group of actors to provide the voice talent, the storyline leaves us with a tale more reminiscent of Saturday morning kids’ programming.

Time and again, Ride Along comes up with a clichéd setup — and then blows the payoff.

Though directed with great precision by Branagh, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is saddled with a boilerplate script.

The positive messages involving characters searching for love and purpose in life are well thought out, but presented in a way that is just too genial and even-handed. No one ever gets really angry or passionate, and the result is a film that sometimes feels stilted.

There simply isn’t a whole lot of excitement being generated in this lackluster family adventure, though it tries oh so very hard.