Who knows what Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank could’ve been when it was originally envisioned over a decade ago, but what it ultimately became is a tiresome, tedious, and uninspired animated adaptation of a classic parody that doesn’t have any of the original’s comedic wit or bite.

The film feels like it's making use of storytelling devices and clichés that have been used over and over again in other stories. The end product is something that is serviceable and easy to digest, but also far too familiar, lacking any major innovations.

The film tries to pack in so much subplot and religious context that it leaves no time to build up a scare properly. The only people who would actually be scared by this movie are about five years too young to legally see it.

I do believe that there was a scenario where A Minecraft Movie could have been the next Lego Movie. That's clearly what Warner Bros. likely wanted out of this, but instead, we're left with a mostly disposable live-action family movie that will certainly please the young ones in the audience and will be tolerated by the parents.

Even during the fantasy musical numbers, which give cover to stray from the overall aesthetics of the film, Phillips is just incapable of delivering the genre’s requisite razzle dazzle that would surely complement Joker’s persona.

It can be said the film does indeed provide a full summary of Foreman’s recounting of the major events in his life where he comes out looking pretty great, but that hardly makes for a compelling work of cinema.

The Invitation offers an inventive reimagining of a literary classic while asserting itself as a fun addition to the modern Gothic canon.

Sarah Paulson breathes life into a so-so script, but the film's slow pace and lack of strong horror hold it back.

It is still a well-made film, with fantastic acting and a beautiful, modern house set out in the middle of nowhere, but it is not the shocker that it was when it was new. Knowing the twist, and the minor changes that were made for an American audience really soften the movie. If you enjoyed the original, the American remake would be perfect fodder for your parents.

Dan Farah's directorial debut is the kind of movie that is bound to stir up conversation, especially if it ends up being bought up by a streaming service (this feels tailor-made for Netflix). Unfortunately, it's executed in the most bland way possible.

Paint is an odd attempt to make a comedy while also doing the least amount to make that comedy actually funny.

Greedy People is somewhat tonally amiss, but not long enough for the experience to self-destruct. It's a fine working backward whodunit from the inside out.

The character-driven action epic from director Niki Caro is at times imbalanced and lacks subtlety. Yet, like its lead, it manages to get the job done.

The Parenting, which boasts an impressive cast including Brian Cox, Parker Posey, and Edie Falco, takes itself just seriously enough to maintain the impact of both the horror and the comedy, and while it doesn't end up being the most original or breathtaking thing you ever saw, it makes for a fun ride with a lot of character and plenty of heart.

Insidious: The Red Door might not be the scariest installment in the franchise, but it feels a lot more human than the others before it. The character moments end up feeling more effective than some of the film's big set-pieces and, while that may bug some genre purists, those who have stuck around since the first film released over 10 years ago will be pleased.

The problem is that these types of films feel lazy and could do so much more with their concepts, and while Screamboat tries to combat that with tame references, winks at the audience, and absurd violence, it can’t keep itself afloat.

The Union combines action, humor, and heat for a fun, exciting thrill ride fit for your next Netflix watch.

If you're a hardcore Hellboy fan, The Crooked Man has enough to keep you engaged. If you're looking for something a little bit more in your dose of Big Red, you might be better off waiting for the next inevitable reboot.

With verve and style, Heart of Stone does a great job of creating a new character in the espionage thriller genre.

When it then shifts into being about the case itself with the characters trying to get to the bottom of it all, the humor feels like it is mostly coasting off of the chemistry of Sandler and Aniston. This can hold things together for a while as both bounce off each other effectively, but the film soon is revealed to just be a recycling of jokes the first film already did better.

Yates makes Pain Hustlers part-rowdy dramedy, part-half-assed takedown, and entirely an underwhelming film that attempts to make apparent and bland points.

Foe, the beautifully shot yet scattered lo-fi sci-fi mystery thriller starring Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal, is not a good movie. However, it is an interesting one.

Ricky Stanicky could have easily been a disaster, but thanks to the cast, some effective laughs, and a big heart, it ends up making for an entertaining two hours.

Drifting between heartfelt dramedy and broad comedy, Driver’s Ed doesn’t always blend the two with enough finesse.

Waititi’s latest isn’t bad by any stretch, and isn’t close to his worst (again, Love and Thunder, watch your ass), but as a sports film and a comedy, it is fairly average.

Unfortunately, Dark Match never quite settles on what kind of horror movie it wants to be, and, too often, its overall tone doesn't play to the strengths of its premise.

Luc Besson's Dracula is weird. Really weird, borderline nonsensical at certain points. That being said, its great take on its title character is enough to call this one of the Leon: The Professional and The Fifth Element filmmaker's strongest in recent years. It takes a lot of swings, and while not all of them hit, it nails the stake in the heart of what makes this story so timeless and special.

Finestkind has all the right pieces to make an interesting drama, but Helgeland can’t get them together in a way that isn’t over-the-top and downright silly.

The Old Guard 2 feels like nothing more than setup, with scene after scene of dialogue and exposition and little actual fighting.

It's a tense, mostly successful thriller with a talented cast, but greater artistry in the thematic development and greater novelty in the plotting would enhance the freshness of the crime drama.

Prom Dates mostly blends into the countless other films that cover the same subject matter, but there are a few moments here and there that elevate it to something more. While the characters are thinly drawn and their arcs underbaked, the comedy is there for the most part.

Night Swim is a missed opportunity of epic proportions, and it’s yet another in a streak of Blumhouse projects failing to bring anything new to the horror genre.

The Beast Within, a human tragedy awkwardly disguised in wolf's clothing, stumbles badly.

Poker Face constantly tries to raise the bet and bring new elements to the table, but you quickly realize it’s all a bluff. It doesn’t know how to build tension and anticipation and does no effort to work on its characters. It also doesn’t know how to convey a thrilling poker game, and after stumbling through completely disposable plot points, it tries to wrap its story up with life lessons that are as generic as the movie itself.

It feels stuck in a strange, bland limbo, unsure of what it wants to lean into and truly be. For a movie all about identities, this film lacks one.

Watching the movie is like seeing a concert from a seat in the back corner. You're still there for the music, but you have the view furthest away from the artist himself.

As the film attempts to weave itself into a screwball comedy, it unexpectedly bobs into a weak character study, skewing situations and characters while never quite touching the ground or giving us reason to care.

For now, stick with the original.

Where the Crawdads Sing is a weirdly uncomfortable movie, on many different levels. If you haven’t read the book I can’t imagine you would want to see this movie; if you have read the book, I say proceed with great caution.

There's really nothing here that should interest anyone outside of Cage and Western completionists. The Old Way just feels too formulaic to leave any sort of impact.

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey tries to be too big and too bold, when it’s the smaller moments in which this film becomes a beautiful journey.

The creatively (and morally) bankrupt and downright offensive biopic glosses over Amy Winehouse’s complicated, and ultimately, tragic life to shine a more flattering light on her father and ex-husband, distorting the real-life events in her life to tell its own narrative.

It's hard to find any redeeming qualities in Last Days. Its pacing and multiple storylines, not to mention jumping back and forth in time, only work to make the viewer disoriented when it comes to bonding with a character who already does not feel that sympathetic.

Ty Roberts’ inspirational sports drama You Gotta Believe relies on age-old playbooks to a fault. It’s a true story and a surefire tear-jerker, but Lane Garrison’s screenplay is reductively hokey at the worst times.

Anaconda had the premise and bones to be something really special when it comes to meta remakes. It had a great cast and a surprising amount of heart, but that's simply not enough to save the movie's rough pacing and pointless subplots from the jaws of a giant snake who barely appears on the call sheet.

You can tell that everybody on the set of Old Dads was having an absolute blast making this movie. It's just a shame that the end product feels so directionless and bland. The attempts to be offensive fail, the emotional beats are never effective, and despite a handful of good laughs and amusing cameos, it's never that funny.

Seinfeld has made a directorial debut that ends up feeling like a bowl of sugary cereal: not a terrible thing to eat, but not as fulfilling or substantial as you might’ve hoped it would be.

Those hoping to see their favorite killer Fisherman tackle some fun action sequences will get their money's worth, even if the villain's resolution will raise a lot of eyebrows. If you're looking for something deeper, like fleshed-out characters both new and old and a twisted mystery tale, then this newest installment doesn't hit the mark.

After the dregs of the first five Transformers films, Bumblebee felt like the shot in the arm that this series needed to make it what it should’ve been all this time. Coming off that, Rise of the Beasts feels like both a step forward and a step back.

There is never a sense that Collette is phoning it in, but the entire narrative around her is just too flimsy to hold together for a full feature. In isolation, there are some solid gags and throwaway jokes that connect. The trouble is that they are just increasingly few and far between. It all makes for a film that oddly feels like it is playing it safe, relying on the charisma of its lead and offering little else beyond that.

With Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, we get the best and worst of the DCEU, but also a reminder that there’s still hope for these characters, with a bit more focus, and a reminder of what works and what doesn’t with this world.

Hulu's Whitney Wolfe biopic never tries to break free from the predictable confines of the genre.

Dirty Angels is often too serious and too overtly political for its own good.

Suffice it to say, Captain America: Brave New World is not the 2025 start that Marvel fans may be hoping for, with more pressure now being put on Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps. If anything, the film has more in common with Sony's disastrous attempts to make its own Marvel movies than it does with the prior entries that turned the MCU into what it is today.

It's evident Cave tried her best to steer the ship, but the story feels aimless, and moments after things get interesting, Holland cuts to credits, leaving you equally puzzled and burned out.

Sarandon, Keaton, Gere, Macy, Roberts, and Bracey, elevate the script with a charm that feels entirely natural, and they make these characters shine.

There are a lot of fascinating ideas Green is throwing into Opus, and it's obvious that this is a fully realized concept that he's worked on for years; not only in the script, but in the extra work he's done in fleshing out this world. Still, we don't see enough of that work come across in the finished product, and the ideas here come off as muddled, failing to connect with the audience beyond a superficial level.

Sneaks is borderline unwatchable.

It isn’t the worst shark movie out there, but that’s not saying much. By the time we get to the “big final confrontation,” it loses a handle on what it was going for.

In its own way, Persuasion is trying to persuade its audience that Austen was brilliant in her modernity, when Austen already handled that quite well without Cracknell, Bass, and Winslow’s help.

Despite being a bit tonally uneven, A Little White Lie is a lovable indie dramedy led by the always delightful Michael Shannon and Kate Hudson that is worth bookmarking.

As the name suggests, when you watch The People We Hate at the Wedding, you're going to be watching messy characters doing things that would make someone hate them. The film successfully toes the line of making that kind of cringe comedy without completely sacrificing these characters, despite their many flaws, you do still root for these people, and you want them to resolve their issues and live happily ever after.

The movie might be called Jackpot!, but no one is leaving this one a winner.

Guadagino’s second film as a director isn’t unwatchable by any stretch of the imagination but lacks the clarity of vision that would dominate his later work. While it certainly features impressive performances from young stars Maria Valverde and Primo Reggiani, there’s not much that distinguishes Melissa P. from other coming-of-age dramas.

It's not breaking any new ground, but Prom Queen is a solid enough teen slasher that does a nice job of continuing the ever-expanding universe of R.L. Stine.

Black Adam isn’t a full-on course correction for the DCEU, but it is an encouraging new installment in this larger universe. Collet-Serra knows how to present this darkness and antihero in a way that’s effective, while also fleshing out one of the most promising additions to DC’s ever-expanding cadre of characters.

It's a perfectly watchable movie that feels designed to keep you entertained for two hours on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Smith is still a competent director, and Consecration can boast some moments of brilliance sprinkled all over it. However, the messy script drags Consecration down, and fans still expecting a new Triangle will have to wait a little longer.

Come for Lohan, stay for Harding, and watch until the end for Kristin Chenoweth — all while ignoring some of the most robotic dialogue your ears ever heard.

Is Venom: The Last Dance the best film in the trilogy? I would say so, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have quite a bit of fun while watching it.

Luckily, Neeson’s performance is compelling enough to keep you interested, even though as the case unfolds you realize that it’s going in a pretty obvious direction. That’s why the movie greatly benefits from its cast, whose undisputable talent fire up the screen and make you feel like the trip to Golden Age Hollywood — which was beautifully recreated with a grade-A production and costume design — was worth your time.

In the Lost Lands could have been an exciting story about witches and werewolves in the post-apocalyptic world, but instead, it's more lifeless than the green-screen backgrounds that consume its runtime.

The problem with He Knows You're Alone is that it's, well, boring. The characters are likable enough but dull, the subplots go on too long, there are more jump scares than suspense, the killer isn't all that scary, and his kills are mostly bloodless.

Either the twist needed to come earlier, or the filmmakers needed to do a better job of making sure it provided enough of a jolt to make the previous, largely generic 85 minutes worth the effort. As it stands, Protector's twist ending feels adrift in a movie that's not compelling enough to support it.

Moonfall, unfortunately, becomes a mixture of Emmerich’s usual clichés that are starting to show their age, a script that only occasionally embraces the insanity of this idea (even though the third act goes all-in on getting mind-numbingly stupid), and a scope that doesn’t do this story justice.

By the film's end, both the film and its titular protagonist become honed, complex, and much-improved. It's an inconsistent sword-and-sandal epic, but one that lands some major notes as the sequences and combat get bigger, bolder, and feature better grounded performances.

Freeman's charismatic and versatile performance as the embattled teacher injects a fascinating level of humanity into the fleshed-out character.

Smart, stylish, and suspenseful, The Woman in Cabin 10 works in large part because of Knightley’s performance.

The humor ultimately feels lazy, and while the original film has had some mighty staying power, this new installment feels dead on arrival.

Shelby Oaks is a promising debut from Chris Stuckmann that’s equal parts eerie and soulful despite some third act shakiness.

For all the faults O'Dessa has, it's clearly a film made with an abundance of passion and creativity. It's a gender-swapped, punk rock, post-apocalyptic reinvention of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It's also a movie that largely doesn't work and trips over its own ambition.

While the road is frequently more important than the destination, the lack of surprises may test the audience’s attention span, especially in the third act, when both characters are already well-established and we understand their inner struggles. That said, You Sing Loud, I Sing Louder is still a powerful family drama enhanced by phenomenal performances.

Every actor probably knows that this script is pretty useless, but that doesn't stop any of them from putting their best foot forward. Including Lohan, they all look like they’re having a blast and that really comes through to the audience.

Despite its sometimes rocky editing and crowded ensemble, First Time Female Director does what it sets out to do: make you laugh and laugh hard.

It's got enough charm and entertainment value to keep fans of Brando entertained and satisfied from start to finish. In short, Billy Zane makes Waltzing With Brando an offer that's hard to refuse.Waltzing with Brando is in theaters now.

The direction that The Carpenter's Son is charting is the right one, as there are some moments of genuine intrigue, and it's not always clear if the titular character is going to fall into the path of the dark side or take on a more noble path. However, Cage's supporting role and the rest of the movie's more meandering moments and subplots, including a rushed ending, prevent it from being heralded as the enduring cult classic that a lot of Cage's other recent hits have become.

You know every single beat of how their relationship is going to turn out, but because of how cute the dog is and how cute Deschanel and Cox are together, you can't help but buy into it. They're great together, and their charm elevates a script that could have easily been translated into yet another streaming Christmas romantic comedy.

Though there are movies that are worse than 65, it is part of a select few that manage to utterly and completely squander their own potential.

Bloat really doesn’t seem like a movie that knows what it wants to be.

In the end, Meg 2: The Trench is not much different from the first installment in the franchise, for better and mostly worse.

Varley's talents as a director are evident for the first half at least, but after that, The Astronaut becomes a head-scratcher.

At the end of the journey, Lift ends up as a double disappointment. It doesn’t work as a comedy, it doesn’t work as an action film, and its claim to the heist movie subgenre is tenuous at best.

The problem just keeps coming back to Harlow. Not only is he just out of his depth in hitting the necessary comedic notes, but the hollowness of his performance also becomes impossible to overlook when his character goes through a rough patch and must find redemption.

Despite its best efforts, Space Cadet never reaches its potential as a comedy or an aspirational tale. Instead, the movie gets lost in the realm of forgettable, lukewarm rom-coms, having lofty aspirations but, unlike its lead character, remaining firmly on the ground.

Where Slumberland truly shines is with its cast. While Slumberland is one of Barkley’s first feature credits, along with Spirited, the young actress already shows she can deal with a huge range of emotions. And while Slumberland’s story can feel bloated, Barkley’s Nemo is the emotional anchor that holds everything together. The biggest surprise of Slumberland, though, is Momoa, who embraces a dad energy we didn’t know he had.

Maniscalco has built himself a very large and dedicated following through his work in stand-up, and with About My Father, he's finally able to bring his jokes to the big screen in a way that will please his fans but also garner him some new loyal followers as well.

There's a sweetness buried deep inside The Family Plan, but it gets completely smothered beneath all the jarring and poorly cut action and weird subplots that lead nowhere. Outside a few chuckles and a likable cast, there's nothing that makes it stand out.

The pieces are all there for a perfect summer favorite, so it’s a shame that none of them really come together to form a cohesive whole.