There’s a difference between “long” and “epic,” although in movie terms the two frequently get confused. Martin Scorsese delivers the former but not the latter with Killers of the Flower Moon.

While the movie remains a dazzling experience in terms of what the animation achieves, it indulges in what feels like sensory overload, seeking emotional heft in ways that slow down the action. The movie also falls victim, somewhat, to the blessings and curses associated with the multiverse, which offers infinite possibilities but also the occasional sense that there are so many permutations none of them matter all that much.

The Green Knight's sheer originality makes the film worth considering for anyone with a taste for such material.

The film turns out to be a fun but thin construct, fostering a sense of itchiness to see how and if it's going to pay off.

Director/co-writer Robert Eggers ("The Lighthouse") has sought to make the definitive Viking movie, and while the film issues a guttural cry for theatrical viewing, it is built around such a basic revenge plot as to blunt those simple charms.

As a first film, this movie would have surely been hailed for its promise. Held up against a debut that garnered a well-deserved Oscar nomination and honors for best original screenplay, it's easy to come way thinking that "Us" doesn't merit all that fuss.

The performances (especially the lead one by Shall We Dance's Koji Yakusho) are all quite good, but I was once again stuck watching a movie that's solely about repressed passion, perhaps the least cinematic thing you could ever try to film.

Despite its beauty, several of those narrative touches don’t fully work, leaving behind a movie that’s aesthetically lovely but narratively uneven.

The dramatic height difference between the leads accomplishes a great deal of work in “Priscilla,” visually conveying the power disparity between superstar Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu, who he began wooing when she was just 14. Unfortunately, writer-director Sofia Coppola’s version of this oft-told story moves at a snail’s pace, offering fine performances but little to set one’s soul – or anything else – on fire.

A more-is-less epic that showcases the dazzling stunt work for which the franchise is known while piling on the action to near-exhausting extremes.

It's possible to admire the performance and still come away feeling director Pablo Larrain's fictionalized movie doesn't significantly add to a story many of us already know in exhaustive detail.

Shirley was clearly intended for the film-festival circuit, offering a narrowly pitched story where it's easy to admire the performances without feeling like the journey adds up to much. While Moss captures the complexity of Shirley's personality, the movie sheds scant light on the underlying why of it all.

It’s a strange and intriguing but ultimately unsatisfying stew.

Energetic and sporadically funny, it’s a passable effort to jump-start a comic-book franchise that has enjoyed a long if uneven crawl across the screen.

Built around a predominantly Asian-American cast, it’s so determined to be crude and edgy that while its friendship dynamic lingers, its initial cleverness gets left in the rear-view mirror.

The movie’s earnestness can’t wriggle away from the pretty powerful temptation to tap out.

The heartbreaking aspect of Robin's Wish lies in the fact that Williams died without knowing what was happening to him, while there's uplift in Schneider Williams' determination to set the record straight. How well that works translating that specific mission into a stand-alone documentary is, to some extent, another matter.

The Fall Guy is too flat in the early going to fully meet that challenge, rallying toward the end without reaching the heights required to make a really big splash.

Deliver(s) adrenaline-fueled thrills, before fatigue creeps into the unrelenting mayhem about halfway through.

Kitano, thankfully, displays the occasional flash of showmanship, and he certainly establishes a unique tone, but troublesome things like plot and pacing don't seem to be to his liking.

“Ferrari” doesn’t click on all cylinders, featuring a miscast Adam Driver as the automotive mogul, in a Michael Mann-directed movie with some arresting moments that add up to less than the sum of its parts.

Overall, News of the World is a solid if unspectacular film, presenting a familiar story against an interesting historical backdrop. It just doesn't deliver quite the much-needed escape from their troubles to a contemporary audience that Kidd promises his crowds.

Fire Island primarily wants to be fun, not necessarily profound, so it needs to be consumed on those terms. Austen adaptations clearly never go out of style, but this latest variation reminds us that alone doesn't mean they pack enough accessories to completely validate the trip.

Both in its cultural specificity and the passage of time, Society of the Snow delivers a credible take on a remarkable story – augmented by the prolific Michael Giacchino’s score – while hampered somewhat by the limitations imposed by how those events unfolded.

Pixar movies have a habit for finding simple truths and tugging at the heartstrings, and Luca accomplishes some of that deftly enough before it's over.

The thrills don’t look cheap, exactly, but the whole thing feels a bit cheaper, as if this were the pilot for an anthology series titled “Tales of the Predator,” charting periodic visits through history.

I laughed out loud a few times during The Big Lebowski, and Jeff Bridges, as always, is very good, but after I write this review, I'll probably never think about the movie again. And I spend way too much time thinking about movies.

A Quiet Place Part II manages to be perfectly fine, and unsurprisingly, a more generic affair -- one that offers less for audiences to cheer, quietly or otherwise, beyond the renewed sensation of being frightened in the dark.

The Outpost manages to be both harrowing and less than completely involving, a movie that can be admired for its visceral portrayal of war while leaving the characters underdeveloped.

A solidly made animated feature, but one more notable for the height of its aspirations than its consistent ability to deliver on them.

One wishes the movie had a little more heft to it. It's fine, even welcome, to see a superhero exult in his abilities, and on that level, "Shazam!" is generally fun. Even so, that lightning symbol notwithstanding, the film only occasionally conjures the spark of magic that gives the title its meaning.

Nightmare Alley spends too long spinning its wheels before getting to the more pertinent twists about the dangers of conning the wrong people, as well as the shadowy motivations of all concerned.

There's a good movie to be made about a woman wading into late-night TV's headwinds -- both in front of and behind the curtain. Despite solid moments, Late Night isn't consistently it.

Despite the can't-miss subject matter, Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal makes a near-fatal misstep, heavily using dramatic recreations in a way that leaves this Netflix production somewhere between Lifetime movie and documentary. The salacious aspects of the scandal still earn a passing grade, but due to the unwieldy hybrid format, just barely.

Written and directed by Lee Cronin, the wit and humor that Campbell brought to past incarnations (including a Starz series revival) is in relatively short supply here. The film rather relies upon lots of jump scares and gruesome makeup effects, as well as the prospect of Ellie’s possessed form trying to do in her kids. That includes her very-young daughter (Nell Fisher), a semi-distasteful element even by the standards of the genre.

Greta Thunberg's inspiring children's crusade on the climate-change crisis receives dutiful if somewhat sluggish documentary treatment in "I Am Greta," an intimate portrait of the teenage activist that at its best conveys her courage and spirit, before bogging down in what becomes a somewhat repetitious call for action.

Opening up about her bipolar disorder is surely a service, but the six-year span encompassed by this intimate Apple TV+ presentation labors to flesh out its revelations into a documentary.

For an actor known for having led his crew as it boldly explored humankind’s final frontier, “You Can Call Me Bill,” somewhat disappointingly, takes its extensive access to Shatner and doesn’t go much of anywhere.

Oyelowo's film delivers its simple message to appreciate the people you love ably enough, without leaving the intended ripples in its wake.

While it’s fun seeing “The Breakfast Club” as they near “The Early-Bird Dinner Club” years, this is one of those projects that would have benefited from a more journalistic tone.

Despite a glittering pedigree, the result is an earnest film deficient in the inspirational qualities of its subject matter.

The Idea of You will likely be most satisfying for those who choose not to sweat the details, enjoying the scenery and fantasy wrapped up in it. Think of it as one of those movies that really reinforces the adage there are no new ideas, just fresh versions of old ones set to different beats.

A "Rashomon"-like tale that tells its story from different perspectives, this fact-based adaptation of Eric Jager's book is muddy, bloody and grim but too drawn out in filtering 14th-century feudal norms through a modern prism.

Tesla even more aggressively incorporates documentary-style techniques and weird anachronisms into the drama. His story is essentially narrated by Morgan's daughter, Anne (Eve Hewson), in a way that gives the movie a decidedly off-kilter spin. At one point, Hawke even sings a few bars of the 1980s song "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," recorded decades after Tesla's death.

Long Shot is a movie somewhat at war with itself, seeking to combine political satire with crude (in the mode of many Seth Rogen movies) romantic comedy. Both elements work in fits and starts, but they tend to offset each other, yielding a film more enjoyable for individual moments than any sort of cohesive whole.

Although it's nice to see the show's creative team afforded one final swing, it's too bad they don't knock it out of the park.

The result is a humanizing look at a woman often reduced to cartoon caricature, while occasionally feeling too conspicuously like a licensed product.

Thanks to the cast (which also includes Ben Mendelsohn, near-unrecognizable as the villainous De Guiche), Cyrano is worth seeing, either now or later. But it's a relatively modest addition to the title's storied history, one where the music subtracts at least as much as it adds to the story's inherent poetry.

Pretty easy to tune out.

Do Revenge isn’t about stretching conventions but rather simply finding another wrinkle on what has become an established formula. It does that, but for a movie where the characters speak often about their Ivy League aspirations, creatively speaking it lands more in the safety-school category.

Still, the madcap nature of the exercise -- and narrative road map that the earlier movie provides -- can't help but make this incarnation feel less inspired, for all its colorful irreverence, before rallying a bit at the finish.

A vehicle with roughly the weight of a stiff breeze.

Park and Wong are both innately likable, which makes the movie pleasant enough to watch, but also a bit of a slog given the ostensible inevitability of where it's heading.

"Elvis” has entered the theaters, but in a package that often recalls the excesses associated with his Vegas-residency years: Looking bloated, gaudy and at times bordering on self-parody. Those missteps, courtesy of director Baz Luhrmann and an ill-used Tom Hanks, squander Austin Butler’s brilliant moments in the title role, which deserve a much better movie.

While the film traffics in thoughtful ideas as well as spectacle, it doesn’t complete the vital emotional connections between its head and its heart.

The story plays like a rather tired excuse to redo the first story with a few cosmetic tweaks, hoping to tap into adult nostalgia while potentially attracting a new generation of kids.

More an examination of human nature than a thriller, the space-faring movie deals with weighty issues but doesn't possess much pizzazz or gravity, making Netflix the logical home for its launch.

“Scoop” juggles so many timely balls it’s a bit of a shame the film doesn’t accomplish that task with more dexterity.

Placing a trans teen at its center adds some heft to material that would in an earlier era would have been presented as an after-school special, but the uplifting and timely messaging can’t completely elevate this earnest but thin Amazon movie.

Call Jane is a good example of how a few questionable choices can muddle an otherwise-powerful story, with the recent HBO documentary version of these events, “The Janes,” outshining this fictionalized dramatic account. The portrait of an underground abortion network pre-Roe v. Wade is obviously timely, but its slightly askew focus blunts the overall impact.

Sly possesses value as a pop-culture record, letting an influential talent tell their story to those weaned on their work. Compared to the best of that fertile genre, though, it’s more of a lightweight than a genuine contender.

Despite a stellar cast and showy moments (given who’s involved how could there not be?), the writer-director’s sprawling, messy, three-hour-plus endurance test isn’t ready for its closeup.

Peter Pan & Wendy wants to conjure magic but turns out to be low on fairy dust, yielding a dreary live-action adaptation of the 1953 movie that transforms Neverland into what vaguely feels like a discount version of Pandora.

Earnest to a fault, Respect spells out a handsome tribute to Aretha Franklin, with Jennifer Hudson and her peerless singing pipes as its formidable anchor. Yet this biography never fully sparks to life, as the Queen of Soul fights in episodic fashion to establish and later protect her musical legacy from the domineering men in her life.

The simplicity of the premise puts more pressure on the animation, which is crisp and occasionally beautiful, but not especially imaginative in its design.

Blue Beetle tends to fare best in its smaller moments, which merely reinforces the concept’s limitations thanks in part to the sheer glut of similar fare driven by streaming. The cultural specificity is also an asset but feels rushed in a format that, unlike the pacing of a series, creates a greater imperative to get to the next battle.

There's a lot of teeth-sinking, bordering on scenery-chewing, in this latest film from writer-director Dan Gilroy, which reunites him with Gyllenhaal and real-life spouse Rene Russo after their collaboration on "Nightcrawler."

A sort of welcome throwback, a horror movie cleverly designed to be more spooky than truly grisly. That leaves it, however, in a bit of a no-man's land, as this PG-13-rated film is still too scary for the tweens that might be drawn to the challenge and not jarring enough for older horror buffs accustomed to far worse.

In "Suicide Squad," Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn was the best part of a bad movie. That's true again with Birds of Prey, which moves the Joker's sadistic sidekick front and center, then proceeds to assault the senses in much the way its protagonist wields a baseball bat.

It's the uninspired writing, more than the general template, that keeps the movie from finding its stride.

The love showered on Brendan Fraser out of film festivals inflates expectations for “The Whale” wildly out of proportion, in a movie based on a play that occurs almost entirely within a lone apartment. Weighted down not by its morbidly obese protagonist but rather its stick-thin supporting players, Fraser deserves praise for his buried-under-makeup performance, but that’s not enough to keep the movie afloat.

Anchored by an impressive performance from Matt Damon, Stillwater confounds expectations in mostly frustrating ways.

While there are some visually striking action sequences as Diana and her new super-powered foe square off -- and Gadot remains extremely appealing in humanizing the character -- the last act devolves into a bit of a mess.

Although the movie is visually impressive, the Chinese-American co-production suffers from a too-thin story, built upon a heavy-handed message soaked in that oldest of Disney tropes: a dead mom.

Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is an awfully long-winded title for a movie with roughly the same plot as the 1989 squabbling buddy vehicle "Tango & Cash," only with bigger -- well, pretty much everything -- and better special effects.

House of Gucci takes a seemingly can't-miss combination of talent and material and produces what feels like the knockoff version of a really grand drama. Lady Gaga and Adam Driver bring buzz to director Ridley Scott's dive into the dysfunctional family behind the fashion empire, but in a movie that doesn't rise to the level of delicious trash, winding up largely defined by its stylish accessories.

Makes puzzling choices in harvesting the material, mostly providing an incentive to go back and watch the last one again.

After a lengthy buildup, this "thrilla" in the "MonsterVerse" -- for anyone with even modest expectations -- qualifies as a pretty sizable letdown.

Add "Stephen King's Doctor Sleep" -- the long-delayed sequel to "The Shining" -- to the list of movie and TV adaptations based on the author's work that shine at first, before flaming out down the stretch.

Watching Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani riff off each other is intermittently fun, but that's all there is to recommend The Lovebirds, a dark, somewhat chaotic romantic comedy.

As is, this update of a brand of buddy action-comedy Hollywood churned out with regularity way back when is a pretty shoot-by-numbers affair, beyond the mild kick of acknowledging that the central duo are getting a bit old for this sort of thing.

Director Todd Phillips is best known for "The Hangover" trilogy, and has seemingly overcompensated for his comedy roots by delivering a movie virtually devoid of humor.

The key performances are strong, but director/co-writer Julie Taymor's movie meanders too much, dragging through the beginning and again toward the end.

It drags on nearly three hours, until a level of numbing repetition creeps into its elaborately staged scares.

After a year where people could pause and rewind to catch missed dialogue, this is one of those movies where missed lines don’t matter, and the only direction this vehicle goes is forward, even when it’s just spinning its wheels.

Playfully presented, it’s the kind of mildly tasty cinematic snack that doesn’t exactly stick to your ribs.

This adaptation of Simon Rich's novella has some fun contemplating how the modern world would like to a 20th-century immigrant, before scraping the barrel for deeper themes.

George Clooney takes his biggest directorial swing yet with "The Midnight Sky," and comes away with a decidedly mixed result. A beyond-bleak post-apocalyptic thriller, the sci-fi film reaches a reasonably satisfying finish, but follows an uneven orbit in getting there.

An awkward, uneven film, with writer-director Taika Waititi conjuring some touching moments, but unable to pull off the magic act this "Rabbit" trick requires.

The closing kick of The One and Only Ivan is somewhat stirring -- and certainly works hard at being so -- but it's pretty tepid until then.

The Laundromat makes a pointed political statement, while spinning out a garbled mess of a movie. In the process, director Steven Soderbergh mostly squanders a cast toplined by Meryl Streep, in a Netflix film that plays like a darkly satiric connection of vignettes that lost something -- mostly, a coherent narrative -- in the rinse cycle.

The net effect isn't necessarily bad assuming that expectations are modest, and there's something to be said for a more understated, small-scale approach to horror that doesn't confuse body count with scares. Yet considering where the story starts, the place where Antlers winds up doesn't leave much to hang one's hat on.

The challenge with any reboot invariably involves capturing what people liked about its inspiration while bringing fresh wrinkles to it. On that level “Road House” moderately works – specifically, for the intended audience – with the disclaimer that trying to look bigger and being bigger aren’t necessarily one and the same.

While this might represent a diverting lark in its dizzying combination of movie conventions, this is another one of those instances where what happens in Vegas probably should stay there.

The sequel, Extraction 2, hammers away at the same basic outline, while feeling particularly simple minded even by the standards of the genre.

The result is a sturdy but unspectacular film, one that honors Chisholm’s place in history while representing just one, too-concentrated facet of her giant shadow.

The impressive mix of tones and styles that director Taika Waititi pulled off in “Thor: Ragnarok” largely fizzles in “Thor: Love and Thunder,” which isn’t as funny as it wants to be, as stirring as it needs to be or romantic as it ought to be.

A wholly forgettable movie, most likely to be remembered, lamentably, for its contributing role in Neeson landing in hot water.