The Edge of Seventeen has more than enough earnestness of heart to make up for its structural shortcomings. It’s a teen film with an uncommonly honest ear for interactions.

This is a filmmaker’s film, a fully realized statement that oozes with the assurance and confidence of a hungry visionary who not only knows what he wants to do but how to do it.

Boyle and Garland’s return to the franchise seems deliberately set on reinventing as many cliches as it can, while also exploding our assumptions about what a zombie movie might be. Make it to the end, and you’ll either be annoyed at its more over-the-top touches or delighted by the final bizarre moments. No matter what, you won’t be bored.

Despite a handful of faults, it’s that rare horror film that works on both a psychological and a visceral level.

It’s a shame, given all of the film’s strengths, that Dheepan takes such a precipitous nosedive in its final act.

It exists less as an adaptation than a love letter to the film, its large community of fans, and crazy dreamers everywhere.

If Lo and Behold is more just a collection of interviews on a series of themes than a cohesive piece of storytelling, it’s still a fascinating endeavor into how the Internet went from personal to unimaginably broad and how it could either continue to expand or perhaps even return to that infant phase again.

Rich Peppiatt’s feature debut spins the freewheeling cinematic language of Edgar Wright and Guy Ritchie into a fun, heartwarming, and suitably raunchy celebration of the Irish language.

The script, although endearing, is too poorly edited to lift its quirks to the next level, no matter how many stars show up for roll call.

A celebration of Rudy Ray Moore, the creative process, and black creativity, Dolemite Is My Name is an absolute joy to watch.

Director James Gunn’s first foray into big-budget movie making succeeds despite focusing on characters largely unknown to mainstream audiences and provides some of the most genuinely affecting moments of any Marvel film to date.

What makes A Prayer Before Dawn so powerful is also what makes it so punishing.

Simon Rex gives a virtuoso performance.

Mixing horror movie imagery with honest, heart-wrenching human truths, Bayona has created a dark, coming-of-age masterpiece.

Ramin Bahrani’s The White Tiger thrives with terrific performances, compelling characters, and a biting sense of identity that hits the thematic nail on the head. Though the poor pacing strains its true potency, the film’s striking visuals and sharp direction bolster the impact significantly, resulting in an artfully-crafted tale of ambition and greed.

Berger’s take on All Quiet on the Western Front is a searing indictment of the futility of war, one that knows the way conflict erodes the human soul and the machinery that keeps that erosion moving. Its battle scenes are as impressively staged as they are visceral to watch, despite a few hinky ropes of CGI here and there.

Despite Sorkin’s significant shortcomings as a director, The Trial of the Chicago 7 hums along mightily on the strength of its god-tier ensemble and whip-smart script. There’s hardly a false note in the cast, all of them capably handling Sorkin’s overlapping, erudite dialogue with aplomb, and many of the big moments land with a splash.

Zola‘s not without its faults. The script is a little too loosy-goosy for its own good, and the last 10-15 minutes are admittedly a lackluster resolution to the high-tension hijinks on display. But until that point, it’s downright thrilling to watch a film breeze through its grimly funny energy with such exuberant confidence, especially with such a new, vibrant voice in Paige.

Only in its final stretch does Midnight Special start to lose its distinct identity.

Tickled unfolds like a bad drug trip, starting off with giggles but quickly descending into surreal horror.

This film is a goddamned blast. To merely call it the strongest entrant in the DC Entertainment Universe so far is to call Jaws the strongest entrant in the shark movie canon. Say what you will about Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, and Deep Blue Sea, but Wonder Woman is in another class altogether.

Desperately seeking stability while her marriage to Prince Charles crumbles, Diana is tragic and three-dimensional in the hands of Stewart.

A cold, visceral, and overwhelming piece of cinema.

Gael García Bernal is astounding in this film.

Though the movie ultimately minds its business about a lot of the personal affairs it brings up, it imbues its characters with a bounty of implied off-screen life. No Sudden Move is somehow both a stylized genre exercise and part of a larger, less rigidly controlled tapestry that reveals itself as it goes.

For the majority of its runtime, Stronger manages to escape the traps that populate such films. It’s worth seeing, and worth your investment. Let’s just hope that next time around, Pollono and Green find a way to stick the landing.

Pavements is a genuinely unique watch that turns the idea of a rockumentary upside down. It at once delivers upon fans’ thirst to learn more about the band while respecting the fact that their inconsistent story is part of the appeal.

Anyone looking to have their mind changed by this new cut … probably won’t. Anyone who hates The Godfather Part III is still going to hate The Godfather Part III, and anyone who loves The Godfather Part III will probably love it even more after seeing the coda. Alas, it’s still The Godfather Part III and that’s just fine with me.