With a run-time of only 69 minutes, The Stand: How One Gesture Shook The World is a pertinent history lesson for ALL people, American and otherwise. It’s worth investing that hour of your time to see how far we’ve come, yet how far we still have to go in this country.

From its unimaginative opening, involving a dumb tourist falling to her death to the anticlimactic day-lit finale (if you get this far, you deserve some sort of Steve Irwin award), Black Water: Abyss will make you want to Crawl back into Lake Placid. To reiterate: if you’ve come for the croc, you’ll be sorely disappointed. If you’ve come for anything else… well, why did you come at all?

Max Reload And The Nether Blasters is terrific fun. The acting is great, the action is fun, the dialogue humorous, and the plot original.

Thanks to an impeccable cast and a more substantial, interesting second half, the movie is worth watching at least once.

The Big Ugly is a fascinating beast. While the premise of the film sounds annoyingly trite, writer-director Scott Wiper develops an engaging batch of characters.

Along with Hanks’ story and performance, the reason to see Greyhound is how it builds mystery and creates thrilling moments.

The Shadow of Violence has interesting things to say about violence and, ultimately, how far you would go for your family.

It’s a reminder of human resilience that manages to be both powerful and deeply flawed.

He’s not just one of Canada’s greatest songwriters, but one of the world’s. If You Could Read My Mind reminds us why.

My biggest frustration with Summerland is three major plotlines mixed like a tossed salad. Each plot is interesting to watch as well as engaging, but transitions from one to the next can clash with the good feelings generated by the previous.

The Cuban does not develop everything in its screenplay to complete satisfaction. But what’s there is very good and believable. Combine that with the jaw-dropping directing and visual style, along with the pitch-perfect cast, and you are left with a compelling drama that is well worth it, flaws and all.

Well-executed interviews of key people and all band members, along with excellent animation and archival research, The Go-Go’s reveals a story of talent, will, friendship, addiction, and forgiveness. The backdrop of the male-dominated music business highlights that these ladies who have stayed brash and whipsmart have always been entirely punk.

There’s really only one reason to see Fisherman’s Friends, and it’s the singing.

Days of The Whale is a quiet, beautiful coming of age story.

Yes, God, Yes is a good movie overall. The narrative is strong and takes a more serious tone than Saved!.

Horror movies usually aim to scare, entertain, and teach us. Amulet mostly does all three. Very nicely done.

Go with the somewhat far-fetched concept, get past the overt sentimentality, and you’ll find a true crowd-pleaser.

The film takes a while to get into, but if you go in expecting a throwback to grindhouse adventure films or a Black Keys-esque western, this will be worth the watch.

With splendid assistance from cinematographer Mohammad Reza Jahanpanah, the filmmaker immerses his viewer into a milieu both relentlessly grim and breathtakingly gorgeous, endlessly vast and claustrophobic, evoking a vibrant halo in the midst of hell.

You don’t see people like this or interactions like this in the movies unless they’re hopelessly overdone, to the point of drying out all the truth. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets is a special movie for this reason and too many others that shouldn’t be read about but seen with your own eyes.

It’s assuredly directed with a consistent visual tone, and the cast is absolutely dynamite, especially Samberg and Milioti, who have never been better.

The leisurely directing allows the strong characters and their quirks to remain the focus throughout Deany Bean Is Dead. Coupled with Volk’s excellent lead performance and fun flourishes, the movie is never out and out hilarious, but it is an endearing, droll watch that will put you in a good mood.

The film is buoyed by Charlize Theron’s fierceness and a few shining moments of true inspiration. Roll with the inherent silliness of it all, and you may just have a good time.

Money Plane will be remembered as Adam Copeland’s first feature lead role with some heavy-hitters to back him up. The film is good, tame fun, but in desperate need of memorable, action moments for water-cooler talk.

It does get a little sappy without a hint of darkness at all. By the end, every plotline is wrapped up nicely with a pretty bow.

Gavin Rothery understands that filmmaking is a visual medium. The story of Archive is told through pictures as much as dialogue. In some of the most effective and integral scenes, no one is talking. Archive is an old story told well.

Perhaps most compellingly, it’s a reminder to open our eyes, to notice the bigger world around us for what it is, to see who we really are. Toussi never preaches, gently luring you into an utterly tranquil state, wherein you may just find yourself booking a ticket to Colombia.

Despite minor misgivings, it is a thoroughly engaging horror film with more on its mind than simply building to a climax. This is a poignant observation on aging and death that is supported by a trio of knockout performances and a female-heavy production.