Hardly any of The Painted Bird is what you would call pleasant. It is often a difficult watch at times but is a consistently engaging one.

The Lighthouse becomes something that few movies can claim to be: memorable. Detractors might shrug it off as self-indulgent, artsy slop, but it’s too damn fun and aesthetics-minded for that accusation to hold much weight.

Thrasher Road is a fantastic story of family and forgiveness.

Despite the involvement of some skilled filmmakers, Portals is a cinematic black hole – vacuous and barely perceptible in the vastness of space lit with far brighter stars.

I won’t spoil anything, but there’s a speech in which Ron describes people’s reactions to his existence that is one of the best written moments of any movie all year.

Everything is one-note, dull and, worst of all, pretentious to the nth degree.

Political intrigues, potential murder plots – oh, and Putin’s rise-to-power and consequent 18-year-reign – Gibney serves it up, warts and all.

As a heartfelt ode to an important historical figure, it works just fine. Just don’t expect the film to mirror Virginia’s success, come award season.

Ozon knows his camera placements, musical cues, and, of course, actors, and here he barely steps wrong, pulling us into the narrative, even while dialing back on his usual extravagance.

Hardcore gorehounds will be disappointed by the lukewarm scares. Fans of throwback films will groan at the lack of tongue-in-cheek references. Anyone who’s seen a film will groan at the stupidity of it all.

Tell Me Who I Am is an incredible real-life mystery.

Waititi masterfully balances the film’s comedy with the seriousness of the subject. He plays with your emotions to heighten the impact of the story’s message. Nothing in this film feels gratuitous and the tonal shift in the film will hit you like a ton of bricks.

Supremely entertaining and hilarious, First Love will melt your brains, punch you in the gut and leave your hearts a-flutter.

Goi and his screenwriter Anthony Jaswinski must have thought that simply stuffing the film with as many shock tactics as possible would suffice. It doesn’t. This ship goes down with her captains.

Parasites is a brilliant film and for a thriller, it’s absolutely unpredictable (except in one big way).

Up There succeeds where many dramas like this fail. It balances action beautifully with dialogue. Especially as dialogue-heavy movies tend to vomit exposition at a sickening rate. A hefty portion of character development and revelation comes from its performances.

The most important thing in Marriage Story really isn’t the divorce itself. It’s Charlie and Nicole as people on their own individual journeys through one of the hardest things a person can ever go through. It’s a beautiful character piece that revels in its protagonists’ quirks and tics.

Personally, I found the subject matter fascinating. I love some sports. Auto racing is not one of them, but I also love stories about saving lives and how innovation and technology is a part of that.

The true success of this film has everything to do with Joaquin Phoenix’s masterful performance.

Liberté is shocking, but it is staged as banally as possible.

Aaron Paul brings his trademark street-corner angst to the party, and it plays just fine. As child actors go, Murphy is pretty good. McNairy and Winstead do a fine job of realizing that silent, domestic agony that neither party wants to bring out into the open, fearing it won’t go back in.

Pretenders pretends to be Bertolucci’s The Dreamers in its meshing of a saucy young love triangle with an impassioned ode to cinema of yore. Alas, Mr. Franco’s not quite there yet.

Alexandre O. Philippe is a fine filmmaker and documentarian. Memory – The Origins of Alien, however, is a bit of a class on story structure and theory.

Holbrook is talented. There is no question about that. The guy wrote, directed, produced and cut Beloved Beast together. It’s just a shame that this strange yarn couldn’t be reduced to the essentials and given real power. Had we been offered less movie with more meaning, the impact would have been far greater.

Greener Grass is over-the-top hilarity. It’s grounded. It’s smart. It’s downright disgusting.

It’s tempting to talk about Making Waves as being educational, but it is not dryly academic, though it does introduce the subject in some detail. This is a fun film to watch, with the interviews and graphics illustrating how the sound comes together, the doc is an exciting behind-the-scenes look at the effort and skill required to create movie sound artfully.

It’s so much more than a story about mobsters. It’s a story of hope, success, and failure. It’s a sprawling behemoth of a film that surprisingly, considering its length, I already want to watch again.

The film’s no-nonsense approach is a neat tribute to 1980’s action flicks of yore, where badass heroes said and did badass things.

The film’s messages are spelled out in big, bold letters. The tone and pace are, at times inconsistent, making for a somewhat-meandering flow. Nineteen Summers could have easily been 30 minutes shorter to avoid those dips in momentum. However, newcomer Emonjay Brown shines as DeAndre, by turns affectionate, resolute, angry at the system and himself.

Samantha Buck, Marie Schlingmann bring a light touch and a wonderful comedic tone to a story of one hell of a woman. This is a lighthearted comedy about resourceful females far ahead of their time.

This level was weird fun was thought to be extinct until Joe Begos came around and proved us all wrong. It’s a game-changer for sure, and the fallout should be phenomenal.

If there was ever a film that screamed Best Actress Oscar-bait, it’s Judy. But damn, Renée Zellweger is absolutely fantastic in this role, and absolutely deserves Best Actress honors. Yes, I know the year’s not over yet, but the bar is set high.

The Disappearance of My Mother is rife with grand philosophical questions about beauty, capitalism, love, life, and death, while still maintaining the intimacy of a family connection.

In My Room has a The Last Man on Earth and The Walking Dead feel (don’t expect zombies) and definitely has some surprises. Do all the surprises work? No. But most do and that works.

The real problem with the film is tone and pace.

You’ll chuckle at a few moments.... You’re more than likely to wince at many more, as each remotely-genuine moment is rapidly punctuated with a forced musical cue or cheesy sentiment.

Auggie is at its best when Felix is vulnerable. The same goes for the actor playing Felix. Kind hasn’t been this good since A Serious Man.

I found McColm’s film intriguing to watch and fascinated by her satirical take on her subject. If you open yourself to the movie just a little, you’ll find yourself identifying with them in times of great personal and emotional failure.

Clumsy and meandering, Imprisoned seems unsure of whether it’s a story of personal revenge, an outcry against a corrupt regime, or a study of the Puerto Rican justice system.

Human Capital is a fantastic study of people being pushed to their limits, not just financial, but emotional and social.

Directors Calvin Thomas and Yonah Lewis deserve credit for taking a gutsy leap with the subject matter and delivering without pulling any punches.

What keeps you rapt is that permeating, subtle feeling of sadness, of bitterness and regret. Whether it was an intentional choice in a “comeback” documentary remains debatable – but that’s what truly works about it, is its driving momentum.

It is that kind of “inside the life of an astronaut” angle that keeps the film reasonably engaging, even if you don’t care too much about the characters.

Even though you can see the strings in the puppet act, the plight of the characters still sometimes manages to get to you.

It’s a strong, confident debut, with something original to say. We all have a hidden darkness, a lurking depravity, which we suppress, push away, ignore. Violence and sexuality lie side-by-side in the recesses of our minds. Seeds masterfully explores what happens when one cannot stop the dam from opening.

The film is truly gorgeous and interesting for fans of literature.

Bell is as hilarious as ever. But she also emotes great empathy. Those smiles and tears are genuine. Fittingly, she’s given all of us going through the same thing what we have been looking for: a step in the right direction.

3 Days with Dad touches upon subjects like familial differences, living up to your parents’ expectations, sibling rivalry, and generational differences. Too bad it’s all been done before, and better. Its flaccid visual approach and meandering, morose plot may make you pull the plug on your TV set.

It will stick with you long after you leave the theater. It is as moving as it is possible for a film to be.

Tom Mercier’s performance is brilliant and engaging.

It’s not an easy watch by any means, and is bound to divide critics – but there’s no denying its forceful, searing power and the long, crimson-red shadow it casts.

Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken is not only informative in the same way Super Size Me was, but his story about opening a fast-food restaurant and the journey he took to get there is entertaining and telling.

The fact that pretty much nothing makes sense renders the dull narrative that much more difficult to bear. So many questions arise regarding the laws established in this film’s universe, I frankly don’t even know where to start. So I won’t

Ms. Purple was an honest love note to the flawed amalgamation of dreams and nightmares that Angelenos call home. It is also another promising piece from Chon that has us on notice.

Overall I would say that Travis Scott: Look Mom I Can Fly is an incredibly wholesome, feel-good film that shows us that hard work and determination really can bring you grand success in some cases.

The young romance sub-plot may be a tad unnecessary, and the film ends up rather slight and anticlimactic despite the hefty subject matter. There’s no denying Huston’s mastery though, both behind and in front of the camera. Here’s to the filmmaker adding more vivid gems to his already-impressive portfolio.

Tabernacle 101 is undeniably entertaining in a trash-tv sort of way.

Toying with the audience’s own expectations and predispositions, Schimberg has made a movie that can be confidently called original.

Itsy Bitsy has some fantastic human moments inside its bland monster facade and is the only real reason I can recommend the film – however, for some it won’t be enough to redeem the played-out and wonky elements.

Give Me Liberty, is one of the most sensitive, compassionate, and poignant movies of the year. Although it is officially classified as a comedy, as it is filled with hilarious and entertaining moments, it is so much more and will make you feel a whole spectrum of emotions. Give Me Liberty is a humanist film at heart with a bona fide independent spirit.

Angel of Mine is a good movie for fans of the dysfunctional family melodrama. Primarily from the performances from its leads and a strong story that holds together to the end. The thrills are thrilling but sadly never gets to Fatal Attraction level outcomes.

Official Secrets is an incredibly smart film that celebrates the whistleblowers of the world. It also shows the occasional futility in these efforts as well. It illustrates the all-powerful machine that is government and how that machine can destroy whoever it wants pretty damn easily.

Whether you’re astonished or offended, Travolta gives a marvelous and unforgettable performance.

Before You Know It comes off as pharmaceutical-grade Hallmark Channel, which means that Utt and Tullock take the same familiar elements and end up finding some absolutely hilarious scenes that remind us why we love the movies, to begin with, just not consistently.

As unique as the story is, Becoming Burlesque succeeds in large part to Shiva Negar’s performance as Fatima. She’s engaging and charismatic, and she guides Fatima character arc flawlessly. Your eyes are on her, and you’re with her all the way from caterpillar to butterfly.

An ode to the artist and his city, Jay Myself may just make you stop and recognize beauty in a random light pattern, or in the way dust blankets an old photo.

I highly recommend this decades-spanning, engrossing, hilarious, sad, and informative documentary to all music fans, whether you liked Davis beforehand or not.

I loved the acting, the cinematography, and individual sequences work stunningly. The whole does not equal the sum of its parts.

Yes, it’s all uber-violent, in-your-face, completely lacking sophistication – but I’ll be damned if it’s not entertaining.

It’s not that Euphoria lacks good intentions or comes off as superficial in its treatment of death and dying. It’s just that there’s so much potential for grace or humor or despair or horror inherent in its premise. It’s sad to see so much of that thematic territory go so thoroughly, if politely, unexplored.

What you find is this isn’t a political film about the self-destructive life of a conservative blowhard. It’s a family drama, set in the world of politics with a message of daring to change the conversation by listening to one another.

Freaks subtly subverts the superhero formula under the guise of a hallucinatory, cautionary tale of paranoia, delusion and extreme parenthood.

The film is fast and tight and hits all the beats perfectly.

The problems with this story stem from its convoluted and utterly ridiculous script that refuses to make any sense.

The human stories are at the center, but, for better or worse, they are surrounded with side stories that only acted as a (nice) distraction, and it never really digs deep into the concept of heresy itself.

With an authenticity rarely seen in contemporary cinema, it examines the lives of those that struggle to survive in ecosystems that function according to their own decrepit principles.

Some of the navel-gazing in Use Me verges on gratuitous. Certain scenes lag momentum and pacing. Yet Shaw touches upon compelling themes: the futility of our pursuit of the American Dream, the fragile line between “fetish” and “addiction,” and the effects of society’s digitalization.

Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero is a highly enjoyable and very well made animated feature. It has something for the whole family, is visually impressive with excellent animation, and a fantastic voice cast.

You have to remind yourself constantly, this is real. There are no special effects.

The problem with the film is although we walk away from the theater with a good feeling inside, the film lacks an edge…particularly a dark one. Everyone in the movie is good, wholesome people. No one’s really the villain. Bernadette’s problem is not all that surprising.

For all its claims to be rebellious, Good Boys is surprisingly tame by today’s standards.

Gelfer may have missed the mark with this one, but she displays enough technical skill and empathy for her characters to deserve another shot.

For the most part, Gwen achieves what it sets out to do. It surrounds you in scenic hopelessness and lets you stew in it until you’re done, or Gwen’s done. By the end of this movie, somebody’s definitely done.

Good story and strong acting are a killer combination in this independent film.

Director Sam Dunn weaves wonderful mythology that leaves you happy for the band’s longevity and ready for more from the sharp-dressed men.

The story is unique, and the end revelations are clever but fall short of mind-blowing (which is the bar). Lathrop Walker carries the film from beginning to end. He’s exciting and likable. He excels at his stunt work and provides the empathy we need for his character to carry us to the finish line.

From a macro level, Brian Banks should just be a social justice film, but as we peer into the life of Banks himself, you’ll see a deeper and more profound story.

Them That Follow is a dark and richly atmospheric experience. Despite its missteps, this is one snake-infested cinematic pit worth investigating.

Everyone has defined, and distinct characters and no one is phoning it in. Just sit back and enjoy this unique romantic comedy.

Summer Night has an easy, breezy presence about it, but there’s not much going on beneath the surface.

Affleck carries a great deal of weight in the movie, but its Pniowsky who shines as the young pre-teen learning quickly what it means to be an adult.

The movie is also just plain out fun, and I feel like a lot of other horror films could take a lesson from it.

A Score to Settle reveals itself as a swarm of cliches that ring louder than bullets.

The Peanut Butter Falcon refuses to condescend to its star and tells a story that’s authentic to the life and experiences of adults with Down Syndrome.

Tel Aviv on Fire moves with purpose, even if it occasionally trips over its own ideas. It has a lot on its mind but doesn’t tackle all of them deeply, focusing on the satire and outlandish comedy. Thankfully, that’s where the movie succeeds the most.

Hobbs & Shaw is an action film in every sense of the word. You’re meant to check your brain at the door, shove your face with popcorn, and have a good time. Why would you expect more? This isn’t Shakespeare!

Its dismal grey/brown color palette doesn’t help the film’s sluggish pacing, making The Operative one of the most head-scratching, aggravating experiences of the year so far.

While decent in capable directorial hands – or as a supporting character – based on the evidence on display here, Carano doesn’t seem quite capable of carrying a film yet, let alone pull a dreary feature like Daughter of the Wolf out of the murk.