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.

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.

A movie that offers gore, comedy and just plain silliness, but falls somewhat short of a complete meal.

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.

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.

At its best Ghostbusters: Afterlife simply delivers a good time, combining the upgraded special effects with comedy and youthful angst, while taking a little too long to get to the good stuff.

The story's unrelenting nature works against it, blunting the lure of seeing Adam Sandler in one of his occasional dramatic performances -- a showy role, yes, but in a movie that proves all that glitters is not gold.

Jon Stewart resurfaces with a politically savvy directorial effort, Irresistible, that's a bit too heavy-handed to live up to its title. Delving into the corrosive influence of money on politics, Stewart's second film exhibits passion for its topic and cleverly registers an important point before it's over, but labors too much getting there.

Helen Reddy might seem so 1970s, but her song "I Am Woman" became a feminist anthem of its time, and serves as the title and centerpiece of a reasonably good movie biography, if one that -- perhaps due to the nature of her life -- feels a little like the Hallmark Channel version of "Bohemian Rhapsody."

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.

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.

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

In theory, it's all pretty familiar stuff, but veteran action director Martin Campbell ("Casino Royale") and writer Richard Wenk ("The Equalizer" movies) have sought to spice things up where they can.

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.

As war movies go, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare ends up in a kind of no-man’s land, draping elements of “Mission: Impossible,” “Inglourious Basterds” and director Guy Ritchie’s brand of violent action-comedy over the bones of a fascinating World War II true story. The underwritten, somewhat messy results are broadly entertaining if not fully seaworthy from a dramatic point of view.

Whenever and wherever kids do see it, they're apt to enjoy it, while the theme reminds the adults in their lives that the differences and that come between families -- from politics to something as frivolous as a kid's bedroom -- finally aren't as significant as the deeper bonds that they share.

Trigger Warning might not be packing anything unexpected in the chamber, but for those who come to it with the proper mind-set, the movie doesn’t wind up firing blanks either.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

The appeal of Fatherhood really boils down to its title, the resilience of the human spirit, and Hart being bold enough -- like his alter ego -- to think that he can do this. And like Matt, by the time it's over, he's demonstrated that he pretty well can.

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.

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.

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

Diana: The Musical might make for a fine night out at the theater, but viewed on Netflix, what's billed as a "special presentation" becomes another shiny bauble that ultimately doesn't feel particularly special.

The net effect is mildly enjoyable, creating a throwback caper film that showcases its stars doing what they do best, or rather for which they're best known.