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.