An expanded role for Salma Hayek is the newish wrinkle here, although that's hardly cause for an encore, or even an extra apostrophe.

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.

The film simply lurches loudly from one mundane action scene to the next.

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.

Some of the elements in “Secret Headquarters” are mildly pleasant, but the film seems too content to color completely within the lines. The resulting picture might be enough of a diversion for younger kids, but even they won’t be missing much if what’s in the movie stays secret.

As thin star showcases go, it's an occasionally effective bit of comfort food, arriving as theaters reopen and served with a generous side of schmaltz.

"Minions” certainly has to be evaluated in the modest context of what it’s trying to achieve – like fueling fast-food giveaways and toy sales – but even compared to the earlier movies in the franchise, this one feels particularly limited in its scope and ambitions.

Fun in places, this World War I era story was designed to expand the franchise but appears just as likely to end it.

The title, however, feels particularly apt in describing a series that burned quite brightly when it first arose, and despite the light and heat cast by its charismatic lead, gradually fizzled, faded and flamed out.

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

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.

Even setting the expectations bar at a modest height, though, the movie doesn’t quite clear it – another case, in rom-com terms, where the idea of them, as a marquee matchup, proves superior to the execution.

The result is an interesting misfire, yielding a few amusing moments while adding up to considerably less than the sum of its parts.

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

Your Place or Mine will probably do just fine for Netflix, standing out from a pack of Valentine’s Day-timed rom-coms because Witherspoon is her, and Kutcher is him. But those awkward red-carpet photos weren’t the only part of this exercise that didn’t quite work, whatever place one happens to watch it.

The result has that calculated, tired feel about it, with a few moments of kinetic action but not enough to make the film play like anything more than a relic.

As big as he is, you still have to look pretty hard and uncritically to find much magic in "Clifford."

Black Adam features a protagonist of almost unlimited power, which only makes its puny script more conspicuous. Dwayne Johnson is saddled by a very limited range of expression as the ancient mystical being featured in DC’s latest superhero epic, a film that isn’t nearly as cool as its poster, while highlighting the inherent challenge of building stories around antiheroes.

The blessings of technology actually undermine the movie in significant, distracting ways.

Outside the Wire can charitably be compared to the kind of "B" movies that studios used to churn out, and is best consumed by tempering expectations accordingly. Because unlike its futuristic hero, there's nothing special about it.

It's possible to allow that Cinderella has its heart in the right place without concluding that the movie works. Credit where it's due for trying to squeeze the material into some new clothes, but hoping isn't enough to make the shoe fit.

Ultimately, The Gray Man is an unintentionally appropriate title to describe a movie that exists within such a narrow band of the cinematic spectrum. While a step up over the Russos’ last streaming effort, the bleak “Cherry,” it’s the equivalent of an old-time “B” movie with an A-level cast and budget.

The movie, however, turns out to be the opposite of its central character -- namely, an underachiever, despite those advantages.

By the standards of Liam Neeson thrillers (and there are a lot from which to choose), Honest Thief is pretty weak tea, a passable, low-octane action movie that doesn't do much more than steal one's time. Like second-tier John Wayne westerns, Neeson offers enough of what his fans want, but a thin script and stilted dialogue make the battle harder than usual.

For those wondering who would build a giant holiday musical-comedy around Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds, the “produced by Will Ferrell” credit provides a helpful clue. “Spirited” tries turning “A Christmas Carol” on its head, and while it’s big and boisterous, the movie (hitting theaters before Apple TV+) isn’t consistently irreverent enough to feel like much more than a streaming stocking stuffer.

What “One Love” doesn’t do, ultimately, is provide enough material to distinguish the movie from the contours of an authorized biography or documentary. In that sense, the film pays tribute to Marley’s work but winds up hampered by a love for its subject that works against its ability to deliver major insights or rock-star-level drama.

A fairly limp documentary.

Granted, the cast is too talented not to conjure a few amusing moments, but it’s hard to escape the sense of a movie that’s sleepwalking through the old neighborhood as opposed to playfully strolling down memory lane.