The ultimate rarity: a sequel that is miles ahead of its predecessor in every imaginable department.

Jaafar Jackson doesn’t sing a note (nor should he), but he’s got his uncle’s moves locked in cold, and there are moments where you genuinely forget you’re not watching the real thing. Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson is flat-out frightening — the man commands every scene, and the movie actually plays down how bad Joe was, which is saying something.

Surprisingly lifeless monster movie.

Cry_Wolf has nothing going for it.

Perhaps Planet 51 should have added a dash of Pedro Almodovar, one of Spain's preeminent directors.

Tedious and ultimately pointless film.

The love story that is supposed to drive the film fails to ignite a single spark--and, hence, the film fails to generate a single iota of interest from the viewer.

Random Acts of Violence has something to say about the proliferation of torture porn and horror that glorifies violence. Baruchel does it in a smart, sometimes funny, and sometimes utterly devastating way. It’s absolutely worth checking out if you love horror, and maybe even if you don’t.

While it's too smart to be shelved on the porn rack, "YPF" (a neutered acronym for Young People F**king, its original title) shoots Judd Apatow-styled raunch into previously uncharted stratospheres of frank sexual humor.

There's a fine line between inspiration and manipulation, and from its first frame, Joshua crosses it and never looks back.

While Intoxicating is far from a perfect film, it is nonetheless a highly effective -- and affecting -- clash of two fiercely independent talents, Kirk Harris and Mark David.

This shameless excuse for children’s entertainment would be a blemish on any hack’s resume.

Disappointed fans of Michael Chabon will have to watch "Wonder Boys" for solace, for The Mysteries of Pittsburgh boasts only one core mystery: how one can take such promising material and render it completely unmemorable?

Sleep No More may not be flawless, but it is a solid and entertaining watch. The pacing is mostly excellent as things move so fast audiences barely have time to breathe. The cast is phenomenal and makes even underwritten parts feel whole. [2024 re-release]

This isn’t a movie, it is anti-cinema; an endurance test to discover how malleable a human’s brain is.

Everything that made the original Chainsaw a classic is ground into the dirt in this new version.

Has a lot going for it, but two-thirds of the way through, things fall apart. The film’s weaknesses are directly tied to the narrative.

Isn't going to win over the art house crowd, but you could do a lot worse for summer entertainment.

On all accounts, filmmaker John Swab’s gratuitous and grave Run with the Hunted fails to live up to the promise of its premise. Instead, it comes off as a lunkheaded exercise in self-aggrandizing mental masturbation.

What makes it enjoyable is that it’s a relatively grounded action film…relatively.

Eragon is laughably bad, mind-bogglingly derivative, and easily one of the worst movies of the year.

Empire is an entertaining, colorful, action-filled crime story with an intimate heart.

It may be the most winning, smile-inducing Hollywood action flick of the summer.

Yet another light weight PG-13 film that poses rather well as an honest to goodness horror film.

The type of film I would call eternally frustrating. Boasting a solid cast and an amazing look, the film is a mishmash of film noir, mystery and bluesy big band song and dance numbers that on a surface level play brilliantly.

Maybe Banderas wanted to capitalize on the popularity of the Taken or John Wick franchises, which is entirely understandable. For a man used to covering a wide range of genres, the role of the older action star is one with a certain degree of cultural cache. The Enforcer, though, just isn’t the right vehicle.

Steer clear of Balls of Fury for as long as you draw breath. Period.

Radio is a film many people may be tempted to laugh off as button pushing feel-good fluff. Before doing so, they might want to ask themselves just what it is they find so funny about a little peace, love and understanding.

Even with a look at many of these people's relationship problems, there's nothing remotely interesting to listen to when they talk. In this case, it's the fault of the script, which doesn't provide much of anything interesting to keep it going for as long as it does.

Abandoned delivers tension with a more nuanced approach to a particularly emotionally vulnerable stage of life.

Flight Risk is a fun yet simple and straightforward thriller where you have a general sense of where things are headed at first, and then Gibson pulls in a surprise or two or three.

Strong performances and moody cinematography make this film worth staying awake for, despite many pensive, hypnotically paced sequences.

The most painful part of seeing this movie is not the fact that it fails to deliver but that it actually came close.

This is a film which resonates on a surprising number of levels. But the level on which it undoubtedly works best is the victim-goes-postal-and-takes-the-law-into-his-own-hands level.

Sure, the dialogue is absolutely atrocious, the acting sucks, Eric Roberts is a co-star, the action is lame and the fighting is boring. But all of this makes for one hilarious viewing experience. DOA is the sort of film you’ll want to watch with a drunken crowd of your friends.

American Hangman makes a mystery out of a few things that are too easy to guess, so it takes a while to get going. However, thanks to sharp direction, an original take on the dramatic police procedural, and a truly excellent, very game cast, the movie is a worthwhile 100-minute watch.

Not that there isn't a story at work here; there indeed is, but only just enough to sustain the action.

Remember when John Hughes made small, original, oh say, GOOD movies?

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

The oh-so-convenient convergence of plot threads at the climax make the film feel that much more run-of-the-mill.

It is impossible to say whether the premise or its execution is more fatal in "Death to Smoochy." One would expect something greater out of the talents assembled.

Sellers' comic mastery is completely fumbled by Martin and director Shawn Levy.

Preposterous but entertaining, Jurassic World: Dominion not only finds new ways to inspire the awe and wonder sorely lacking from previous installments, but it also recaptures some of that Spielberg magic.

It’s rarely clever enough to be funny nor frightening enough to be suspenseful; leaving it to sag like Sandler’s cargo shorts.

The 7 rating is for his movie. Vance himself, in his preachy, condescending book, gets it wrong.

Offers neither horror nor style.

It is an anxiety-inducing production that is bolstered by the astounding performances of Patric and Krause. While the ending is weak, two-thirds of the film works so wonderfully it is still worth watching.

I wasn’t much scared by anything in Final Destination 2 which is silly and illogical.

The best they were able to manage, apparently, was a grabbag of spectral sights and spooky touches grabbed from better horror films and a final act that raises more questions than it answers.

Ice Road: Vengeance hits all the beats of a standard action movie as subtly as an out-of-control vehicle tumbles down a precipitous incline before crashing and bursting into flames. There’s nothing fun or exciting or even interesting here.

Is the fare for The Last Bus worth it? Spall’s performance ensures that the answer is a resounding yes! But, there is a caveat: viewers certainly shouldn’t expect a ride filled with joy and laughter.

By its conclusion, Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin accomplishes its task of delivering a suitable level of scares in time for the witching season.

When this actor (Swank) steps into the right role, she wears and inspires it like Denzel Washington.

The production values on Dirty are so painfully amateurish that it is often hard to determine what is happening. The cinematography is murky and shaky, the editing is dull and clumsy, and the sound recording isn't exactly pristine. Not that any of this matters when you have a script where every third word is scatological.

Regardless, what probably made the show so tolerable and popular was the fact that each episode was under a half an hour long. This movie is about 84 minutes long and gets tiresome after the first 20 minutes or so.

The idea of a gay version of "American Pie" might not seem too tasty, but Another Gay Movie offers a fabulous surprise in not only matching that rude boy classic's unapologetic rude humor but by establishing its own identity as a genuinely funny and often touching coming of age comedy.

This film marks for Jon Voigt a concerted effort to unseat Christopher Walken in the competition for the Czarship of sneering, wheezing, Machiavellian, all-around weird guys. He spends much of his time standing around making a face like Beavis does when he's really freaked out.

Visually imaginative and energetic.

Easily one of the most lackadaisical movies I've seen. Don't get me wrong, the plot is entertaining enough, and there are some genuine laughs, but almost everyone in the movie is half-a--ing it.

Garris wrote the screenplay himself and adds one significant improvement over the original short: changing the date of the story from 2001 to 1969.

When a film is more conducive to a scholarly dissection than a consumerist examination, the film is incredibly clever, pragmatic, or pretentious. In the case of Domino, it's all of the above.

Thankfully, there's the relatively-charismatic and cheeky Ice Cube hogging the lens.

An unnecessary sequel to the equally unnecessary "Bruce Almighty."

It is fascinating how Elordi takes something so deadly and still manages to maintain a shimmering vulnerability.

So think of it this way: Miracle at St. Anna is a Spike Lee joint that possesses a European texture in the vein of Guillermo Del Toro and Jean Pierre-Jeunet. Imaginative, thought-provoking, and intense.

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

From the plotting and the characterizations to the explosions and excessive use of blue light filters, everything about Bad Company has been done and seen before.

A fun movie. It accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. It’s a great first date movie.

So remarkably free of laughs I might as well have been watching John Wayne Gacy’s home movies.

Thoroughly entertaining and will possibly get you thinking about certain choices you've made in your life.

Comes up short in many ways, but none more so than its failure to fulfill Penn's and Zaillian's desire to provide the catalyst for political sea change.

It used to be that the main allure of features was that they could deliver what cable couldn't, but now it's the other way around and one of the biggest problems with Analyze That is that it doesn't show us anything new or really funny, certainly nothing that we can't get on HBO.

The marriage of Johnson, Reynolds, and Gadot is beautiful, and they support one another incredibly well.

Figgis has spent too many years crafting thoughtful, innovative films to have much of a knack for storytelling this mechanical and many are the moments when he does indeed seem to have been asleep behind the wheel.

Both Democrats and Republicans take it on the chin here, although the left-leaning bias is obvious.

The movie contains not one surprise, not one shock, not one scare, not one bit of interest for any moviegoer over the age of ten (mentally or physically).

Performances alone cannot save an uninspired script. The story is not bad per se, but it’s not original or inspired and therefore Making Babies wallows in mediocrity, when it needed to make a choice between going for real laughs or have something profound to say about having children to make the journey worth taking.

It makes no sense, but then again neither does much of anything in The Country Bears.

If you’re going in hoping for something the whole family can genuinely connect with on a deeper level, you’ll be disappointed. It’s a kids’ movie, plain and simple, and there’d be no way I’d see this if I didn’t have kids.

There are pleasures to be had early on in Crush, but they get fewer and farther between. Nice while it lasts, the glow wears off all too quickly.

One of those films that makes you walk out muttering dark things about the future of the human race.

It isn't going to set the world on fire, but it's perfectly acceptable for what it is.

Seven Pounds is the very definition of a 'noble failure.'

A mild but diverting farce about misperceptions involving gays and goombas.

It’s all about the action, and the story only gets in the way a little bit. I have high praise for this, though I’m not sure if The Killer’s Game is the vehicle that will launch Bautista into the action star he’s capable of becoming.

Every rumor you’ve heard about this film is true; it’s an absolute wreck.

Overall, this is just another boxing movie with few surprises and an awkward message to viewers.

A decidedly sharp drop in quality from the first film. It’s still a somewhat decent horror flick if you’re looking for cheap scares and eerie imagery.

Mathew Broderick is likeable enough as the gizmo and gadget-toting cartoon hero in-the-flesh, but the plot, to which the FX wizardry is strung to, is in serious need of a tune up.

Diesel is good in the movie. He gets to dance, cry, romanticise…things we’ve rarely see him do in other movies. There are actually hints of a real actor there.

Perhaps this movie would have been better off if it starred Steven Seagal and Tom Arnold.

It tries to toe the line between romantic comedy and vulgar pseudo-satire and fails at both.

Lackluster dialogue, ludicrously unbelievable storyline, and the fact that the entire film looks and sounds like it was shot on a camcorder mean nobody outside of the studio’s target demographic is likely to check this out.

A hilarious film for anyone who remembers lying as a kid-- and anyone who wants to see a movie that's just plain fun.

Will strike a chord with people having mid-life love crises. Maybe for them, this film will stand as a sign that love is out there and it will prevail. As any other type of audience goes, I don’t think they’ll find that this love works.

Kids of all sizes and genders are going to be disappointed.

Dumb, loud, and ludicrous in the extreme, and I actually enjoyed it.

The Wicker Man isn't all that bad a movie; it's visually striking and ambitious in some ways. It just fails to bring enough to the table to fully distance itself from the original.