Conveys a much louder political message and the implementation of violence reflects as much.

Big Fur may be rather slight, but hey, if you ever yearned to know what the “huge difference” between a standing bear and a Sasquatch was, you’re in for a jolly good time.

It’s unfortunate that The Swan doesn’t fully catch fire as a family drama or a rites-of-passage story, but a film with such a rich and finely honed sense of place is one that nevertheless deserves to be seen.

The action IS pretty engaging, Sao Feng and his gang of South Asian cutthroats are a nice addition, and the constant plot explication does require you to pay attention.

A sum greater than its parts. The viewer is taken on a journey spanning nearly three decades of bittersweet camaraderie and history, in which we feel that we truly know what makes Holly and Marina tick, and our hearts go out to them as both continue to negotiate their imperfect, love-hate relationship.

Tammy’s Always Dying is a movie that does everything right but still somehow fails to be enjoyable. It is in every respect a good movie, but I can’t say that it was at all a pleasure to watch. It is well written, acted, and directed, and it skirts the line of overwrought melodrama and poverty porn.

A beautifully crafted documentary.

Tries to be a lot of things within its 78 minute running time, succeeding marvelously at some while crashing and burning on others.

It's a simple and sweet-natured movie, and one that seems appropriate even for the very young.

My assessment is that this is a kid’s movie. If you think Grogu and the other tiny creatures are cute, you’re going to love and adore this movie. Pay special attention to the new breakout character, Trapper Wolf. But honestly, I wanted more, and Trapper Wolf is not enough. The stakes are not that high. The story continues the character development of both the Mandalorian and Grogu. If they failed their mission…whelp, off to another. This is essentially four episodes of the television series padded to feature length.

Short does a good job playing Lynch but this whole Lynch thing might have played funnier ten years ago.

At 90 minutes or so, with the needless pseudo-artistic embellishments and tautology tossed out, Armand would have been an intense and cerebral little psychological nail-biter.

Director Dwight Little does a solid job to keep things credible and moving, while the script makes an earnest effort to hide the true villain until the climax.

Not terribly engaging, but surprisingly moving.

It is worthy of your time, simply because of the brilliant acting and the first and final acts but... the middle of the film feels like an endurance challenge.

In the end, the film and its storytelling is meh.

Over the course of 93 minutes, Madeline’s Madeline simultaneously feels like nothing happens and everything happens. It’s a strange, sometimes frustrating dichotomy that ultimately gives the film its bizarre edge.

While The Shade does a decent job examining grief and the complexities of a brotherly bond, it never digs too deeply, relying heavily on its central actor to reveal more depth than it contains.

Andrew Commis and Rick Rifici’s jaw-dropping camerawork is worth the ticket price by itself: Abby’s fingers brushing against the grouper, whales scaling the surface of a deep-blue ocean, the skeleton of a blue whale resting among rocks. These visuals make the abundant preaching throughout Blueback palatable but make you long for a tighter focus and a subtler approach.

If you're a college football fan, a fan of sports films or just a sports aficionado with a sense of history, this film is a safe bet.

If anyone can figure out the cosmic significance of the film's omnipresent pine tree car fresheners, you're a better man than me.

The stunts are great but they make sense and don't blow the sense of reality of the whole movie.

LaGravenese has an uncanny ability to write realistic female characters.

It's throwback, formula Ah-nuld all the way, a straightforward and simple revenge thriller.

Trying to do too much in the span of ninety minutes is an insurmountable impediment to the success of Shadow Island. Still, even so, there’s a period of 30 minutes in the film that really gels together.

Again, if you love Lou Reed or even like Lou Reed a little, musically this film is worth your time.

The movie's front-loaded with puerile, junior high humor (and, admittedly, several laugh out loud moments), which is fine, but all this still followed by an increasingly awkward and clichéd third act.

The film actually succeeds on several levels. Long and Davis both turn out strong performances, bolstered by above-average writing by the directors. The strongest element, however, comes in Julia Hapney’s gruesome gore effects.