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

Brutal Heat delivers a curious experiment that never fully embraces the potential of its concept.

The movie is as sloppy as a horror movie can be, but that also contributes to its charm. The only major downside of the experience is a drag of a first act, that’ll most certainly scare away impatient horror fans, and with good reason.

Plemons, Collins, and Segel elevate this basic story beyond more than just a generic noir homage, but it’ll likely leave the audience like Nobody: willing to accept less when they should be asking for more.

For all the anticipation about this being a star turn for Styles, the lack of depth in his performance and of the film itself ensures it won’t leave nearly the impression it set out to.

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.

If only All Jacked Up and Full of Worms had a script capable of bridging the gaps between its most inspired moments, it could be praised as a refreshing experiment of shock cinema.

Whatever joy you get in individual moments is lost in the shuffle of a film that far overstays its welcome.

It’s a shame that such a solid set of performances are brought down by an underlying thread of jingoism, one that’s hard to put too fine a point on until the film’s final scene. The final shot of the film is a punch to the throat, a distinct flourish on Friedkin’s part that I absolutely adored, but its origins leave me feeling more than slightly queasy.

Fans of the Italian director have probably not seen it, and it’s surely the strangest film he’s made, with signs of his favorite cinematic elements he would bring into later, more well-known films.

Even without the questions about the veracity of the story, its rah-rah style makes it feel superficial rather than sweeping. In the end, Flamin’ Hot comes across as a selling of a story and a brand rather than a genuine retelling of one.

Susie Searches has its heart in the right place, and this could’ve been the beginning of an interesting mystery series of sorts, full of intriguing characters, twists and turns that are hard to see coming—even for Susie. But the mishandling of tone and unusual shifts in logic and character motivations makes this film more of a mystery in itself.

Ultimately, the new Hellraiser isn’t entirely bad. It’s just bland. Forgettable. And in the world of horror films, isn’t that worse than being bad?

The twist is detailed but not too convoluted, and in my view, it's not easy to see coming. If anything, A Haunting in Venice is a reminder that even when we are inundated with mystery stories, no one does it like Agatha Christie, and it's hard to believe that someone ever will again.

Empire of Light ultimately becomes a confusing mixture of ideas that never congeal into one solid narrative. Yet Mendes’ film does have the tiniest slivers of magic poking through the seams, proving his thesis about the beauty of film, even when he’s too distracted to focus on that idea himself.

Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge suffers from the same issue as superhero media in the last few years, as it demands some homework to be done so you can follow and maybe enjoy the story the movie is trying to tell. That won’t be an issue for hardcore fans, but Scare Package II: Rad Chad’s Revenge still didn’t find a way to make the franchise more widely accessible.

Extraction 2 feels like a glossier and more by-the-numbers extension of the first movie. By giving Rake, their Sad Action Hero, something more to fight for, the filmmakers accidentally stripped the character of what made him so compelling in the first place.

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.

At the end of the day, Soft & Quiet shows a shocking and unbelievable series of events that are meant to cause a reaction and leave the audience with thought-provoking questions. This is not a film for the faint of heart, and might just leave you a bit shell-shocked in the aftermath.

Sick is a decent slasher that hits all the right buttons, has some good scares and bloody kills, and has a unique take on the slasher tale—as long as you have the patience to get there. But considering this is from the writer of Scream, it’s hard to not hope for a little bit more than this.

Occupied City starts off strong, but after the intermission, you can feel how aimless the documentary is at times, with the final act feeling almost excruciatingly long.

The Survivor is too frequently going through the motions of tried-and-true biopic stories that we’ve seen countless times before, or making choices that seem daring, but ultimately hold back the power of Harry’s story.

Power Rangers: Once & Always doesn’t make the same mistake as the 2017 feature film Power Rangers, which took itself way too seriously when it didn’t need to. At the same time, the special is too aware that it should be a little serious, which prevents viewers from having fun with the truly campy moments that, although rare, fire up the screen when they pop.

Especially compared to the 2015 adaptation, A Man Called Otto is a clunky update that often feels like it's full of cartoonish characters, with poor music choices, and cloying sentimentality. But when Forster and Magee pull away from these eccentricities, the story of Otto and Marisol is often a thing of beauty, and wonderful friendship that is lovely to watch grow.

Yet even though it never quite reaches its full potential, Day Shift is enjoyable for the aspects it does want to focus on, even though it’s hard not to wish it would investigate the larger world further.

Jamojaya is at its weakest when it pushes its music industry storyline to the forefront and the family drama into the background. But Imanuel and Unru's performances are enough to give this film praise, and it will be exciting to see where Imanuel goes next in his burgeoning acting career.

DuVernay took a big swing with Origin, and that’s certainly to be commended, but the film sadly doesn’t work more often than it does. The impact of the end makes the journey worthwhile, but it’s a rocky road to that conclusion.

While often bloody, It's a Wonderful Knife is never too spooky for non-horror fans and never too focused on a cheesy love story for those watching the film for its gory delights. There is a little bit for everyone here, making for a pleasant enough viewing experience for this holiday season.