An eccentric local priest spouts nonsense, blood gushes out of the shower, bodies twist and contort at impossible angles, and creatures from hell crawl towards the camera. By the time the convoluted, shrieky finale arrives, it all blends together into nothing more than dull background noise. Your investment in the story will be indirectly proportional to its running time.

Hero Mode might make some adult viewers roll their eyes or just groan with its misunderstanding of technology. But the screenplay offers up some genuine laughs along with a general sweetness making it great for viewers of all ages.

The mundane is only as mundane as you make it, and the supernatural can be painfully mundane.

A Quiet Place: Part II offers another round of impressively staged set pieces, a few cheap (but damn effective) “gotcha” jumpscares, and a heavier dose of those spindly, flower-headed aliens.

The Oak Room is a movie that purports to be seen as a dark and twisty backwoods noir but takes so much time getting to where it actually wants to go that by the time the story winds itself up, we’ve lost interest.

This version stands on its own, problems and all, as an interesting tale of an anti-hero… or is it about a tragic villain?

These iconic images seem endowed with a sort of “livingness,” as if they have acquired special powers.

We’ve seen it all before: the obsessive cop with emotional baggage, the small-town folk being interrogated, the lovey-dovey subplot, the tonal dreariness. The filmmaker isn’t aiming to avoid tropes, and what the film does, it does splendidly, though an injection of humor would have certainly been welcome.

It might be a typical Guy Ritchie film and loaded with every cliché in the book, but it’s still fun.

It is a thorough examination of over a decade of conflict and strife, packaged into a feature film, which is no small feat. But its failure to focus on the FBI investigation and muddying its portrayal of King hurts the overall production.

Into the Darkness serves as a keen portrait of a deeply divided country, unsure of where its allegiance lies. Heavy-handed and slow-moving at times, further bogged down by extended speeches about the future of Denmark’s economy/industry, this behemoth nevertheless impresses, simply due to the sophistication of it all.

Few seasoned filmmakers can boast the lightness of touch, the comedic timing, and proficiency with an ensemble cast that the 21-year-old Lindon so nonchalantly possesses. The film would’ve been a treat if it were made by an established auteur; the fact that a complete newcomer concocted the entire thing makes it even more impressive.

Whether you’ll have a blast with this beat has nothing to do with your affinity for metal music and everything to do with your tolerance for “heart-on-the-sleeve” independent filmmaking.

Anyone seeking motivation, or just looking for inspiration, will marvel at the life story of Valerie Taylor, her sharks, and her love of the sea. She is a treasure, as is Sally Aitken for bringing her story to the screen.

Drunk Bus, directed by Brandon Laganke and John Carlucci, is a deja-vu inducing coming-of-age story with enough character and good cheer to make you forgive how unadventurous it is.

Billie Piper’s first feature-length movie as screenwriter and director may have bitten off more than it could chew, but it is a daring debut that marches to the beat of its own drum. I respect it for that and enjoyed it more often than not.

George Kosturos carries American Fighter. His acting is above average, and his fighting makes him look like this kid look believable. The bouts never feel choreographed or staged for the camera.

Beautiful and atmospheric but essentially empty and pointless, Berlin Alexanderplatz hits you with the bluntness of a sledgehammer.

As we all creep back into the theaters from our COVID cocoons, it serves up just the right amount of cinematic comfort food to keep us coming back for another serving.

It's jaw-dropping how slapdash Sheridan's approach is to what's supposed to be the heart and soul of the story – the bonding between Hannah and Connor. The characters are so cardboard, it's a wonder they don't catch fire.

Iranian cinema has always been very good at reminding you of your humanity, and Rasoulof’s anthology plumbs those depths perfectly.

It pulls viewers to the edge of their seats and never relents, and never stops prodding at the emotions of everyone watching.

When the film isn’t deafening you with the sounds of bullets and screams, it revels in silence, in birdsong, in the buzzing of flies, in the tranquil sounds of nature. These sequences are captured beautifully by cinematographer Andrew Commis, Arnhem Land’s emerald ponds and breathtaking vistas forming a stark contrast to the bloodshed and fire and chaos.

Papers Spiders is everything you want out of a teen drama, more Lady Bird than The Fault in Our Stars. That’s not to say fans of the latter won’t respond to Shampanier’s genuine gem. Don’t let this one slip under the radar.

There might have been time for some plot-holes to be fixed, characters to be developed deeper, or some such, but Undergods manages to mesmerize and captivate every minute of the way with a bewitching visual palette and an appropriately fitting electronic score

The Paper Tigers presents a fresh take on an old genre.

Rather unexpectedly, the result is gripping and immersive, bolstered by a committed cast and some remarkable visuals.

Leaving a traditional narrative structure in the dust, Beshir uses breathtaking cinematography to bring you into the Horn of Africa. The movie is moving poetry about the struggles in khat fields and Ethiopia itself.