It’s a beautifully animated film that never loses sight of its goals as it seamlessly blends goofy humor and action, an imaginative setting, and powerful emotional moments to produce a memorable and highly relevant family film.

Who wants to go to a deserted island and watch Sam Raimi put Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien through hell? Everybody? Great! Send Help is for you.

Belfast is a love letter to both a city, and the ghosts of Kenneth Branagh’s past. There’s clearly soul-searching going on as he re-examines events from his childhood, and how they affected those he loved, and the decisions they made.

Civil War delivers a challenging, thrilling, heart-pounding movie about the importance of journalism in times of conflict, about how easily we become desensitized to violence when we’re living through it.

An obvious codependency metaphor becomes a body-horror blast in Michael Shanks’ Together.

When Evil Lurks is a capital “H” horror film that risks it all and hits the jackpot, pummeling its audience into submissions and still leaving us asking for more.

The Bob’s Burgers Movie is a glorified episode of the series, but that’s hardly a bad thing.

There’s plenty to flinch (or even gag) at when directors Danny and Michael Philippou spill some blood , and Sally Hawkins and young Jonah Wren Phillips commit to the intensity of their roles, but the decidedly unanswered questions posed by the plot contribute to some dissatisfaction

A House of Dynamite has the acting and directing goods, but its weak resolve arrives late in the game.

Co-writer/director Julia Ducournau delivers a superb sophomore effort, which surpasses her cannibal horror-comedy Raw in provocative content and twisted laughs. Newcomer Agathe Rousselle is an extraordinary find, hurling herself face-first into grisly violence, lusty dances, and nerve-rattling emotional terrain.

Top to bottom, Frozen is a delight. The writing is witty, the voicing is excellent, the story is nuanced and the songs are some of the best since Beauty and the Beast. It's a throwback to a wondrous time in Disney animation, and just a ton of fun.

Hatching is a scattered body-horror romp with the best child performance this year.

They Cloned Tyrone is a comical mash-up of genres that pays homage to 1970’s Blaxploitation. It features a strong cast, an engaging premise, and a stylish aesthetic that sets it apart from similar films.

Thoughtfully conceived and brilliantly acted, it’s one of the most bleakly funny films to come out this year.

Raya and the Last Dragon is a beautifully animated, action-packed hero’s journey, and a great next evolution of Disney’s modern-day princess films.

The familiar story and underdeveloped characters aren't nearly as magical as the animation, but there's still a lot to enjoy in Mary and the Witch's Flower, even if it's not Hiromasa Yonebayashi's best.

My Old Ass is a sweet, hilarious coming-of-age story anchored by Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella’s excellent comedic and emotional chemistry.

The film is a beautiful work of art to look at with some scenes that you just want to pull off the screen and have framed on your wall. Its use of color, character designs, and subtle CGI combine to create one of the best-looking traditionally animated films ever made.

The fourth (and hopefully final, for the sake of its cast) Jackass is a nostalgic laugh riot.

A lush, richly conceived cannibal road-trip romance, Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All lives in the intimate space between love and self-hatred, with characters who connect over their shared hunger for human flesh.

Dune is a gorgeous but imperfect epic, a technical wonder that spends too much time setting up a third act that never comes.

There’s social commentary here, but it’s largely incidental. Instead, Armageddon Time stops short of any meaningful statement, spending most of its time admiring the view.

Trier manages to make a movie about passion that feels almost completely detached, right to the end. It’s an approach that gives Thelma, the movie, the appearance of portent without fully exploring the fascinating themes, characters or storylines that might actually have justified that self-serious tone.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem oozes confidence, energy, and heart, and the animated adventure represents a new high for the Turtles on the big screen.

It’s the kind of thriller that only comes along every once in a while – truly unsettling and with enough twists and turns to not only keep you interested but on your toes.

Cryptozoo may be overstuffed with ideas, but its central dilemma is a fascinating and poignant message that carries a dazzling animated adventure.

Danielle Deadwyler shines in 40 Acres, a post-apocalyptic home-invasion thriller that injects heart and soul into standard thrills.

Crazy Rich Asians stuns with its glamour, and gives us the sort of vicarious wish fulfillment that is the appeal of Cinderella stories the world over.

Cartoon Saloon's latest animated film may disappoint those waiting for a new movie with the level of brilliance of Wolfwalkers or The Breadwinner, but My Father's Dragon still entertains with its tale of friendship aided by two great performances.

The Duke sets up a hilarious social satire under the guise of a comedy crime caper, with buckets of British humor.

You Are Not My Mother effectively mixes folk horror, family drama, and slow-burn scares to deliver an unsettling story elevated by some fantastically nuanced performances.

Nicolas Cage plays a mediocre stand-in for all 'canceled' men in this provocative cringe comedy, driven by a sharp screenplay and subtly surreal filmmaking.

Highest 2 Lowest features an enormously theatrical Denzel Washington and the kind of wild tonal swings only Spike Lee can manage.

Lin-Manuel Miranda tries to turn Jonathan Larson’s one-man show into a traditional musical, but ends up getting stuck halfway in between. However, Andrew Garfield delivers a tremendous, running-on-fumes performance as the real-life Broadway mainstay, whose impending 30th birthday pushes him to his creative and emotional brink.

An artless retelling of major events, She Said chronicles the investigation into Harvey Weinstein in mechanical fashion, flattening its tale of victimhood, paranoia, and perseverance into a journalism movie checklist.

A goofy, kitschy- but- fun romp and the most purely entertaining of the three Thor movies, marked by its distinctive designs, ‘80s synth score, and assemblage of spirited characters. It’s carried by the excellent chemistry between Thor, Hulk, and Valkyrie, who give humanity to a visual effects-heavy spectacle that finally makes good on Thor’s title of God of Thunder.

Marked by a pair of powerful lead performances, Queen & Slim is a stunning feature directing debut by Melina Matsoukas.

In Final Destination: Bloodlines, death is the life of the party. There’s little novelty to the boilerplate family trauma plot of this sixth Final Destination movie, but what its comedy-forward take on the franchise’s established formula lacks in thematic depth, it more than makes up for with delightful, well-designed kills and boundless gallows humor.

Unfortunately, great performances and reverence for the sport aren’t enough to save a film at odds with itself.

Concrete Utopia is a polished disaster drama with a bleak and brutal view of human nature.

Val is a refreshingly candid documentary that uses its title star’s impressive array of archival footage to delve into larger questions about the nature of stardom itself.

Few Hollywood genre films are as honest about capturing the underlying reasons relationships implode; even fewer are as adept at turning that implosion into razor-wire corporate drama.

While its chaotic new cast serves a clear purpose, Inside Out 2 is more metaphor than meaning. It explains plenty about the confusing emotions associated with puberty, often in intelligent ways, but it rarely lets them be felt or experienced, the way its predecessor did.

A self-reflexive love letter to Hollywood stunt work, The Fall Guy is the perfect vehicle for Ryan Gosling’s comedic timing – not to mention, his romantic charm alongside an equally dialed-in Emily Blunt.

While Creed III may not stray too far from the very familiar format of a Rocky movie, seeing Creed truly begin a legacy of his own apart from Rocky Balboa is an exciting chapter for the series.

Wicked is a well-oiled machine in the hands of Jon M. Chu. This film adaptation epitomizes what modern movie musicals can and should be, embracing its source material while cleverly translating it to screen. Tear-jerking performances by Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo make the movie, playing to their individual strengths to bring to life the rapport between Glinda and Elphaba, who’ll go on to become the good and wicked witches of Wizard of Oz fame. If as many people love this film as much as I did, Wicked will undoubtedly immortalize the Grande and Erivo in movie musical history.

Director Yorgos Lanthimos lures us into his dream and shackles us there, for his own fascinating reasons. The experience is exquisite agony, both revelatory and painful. This is one of the best and most disturbing movies of the year.

Air is an underdog crowd-pleaser with a standout ensemble cast sharpened to a point. As both director and co-star, Ben Affleck finds a balance between comedy and explanation that remains accessible to all audiences.

Chock full of inventive set-pieces and brutal kills, while also providing new facets to the intricate underworld lore fans of the franchise have come to enjoy, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum pushes its title character to his breaking point and back while offering fresh information about his backstory.

The script is very clever, funny and tightly written, and manages to avoid almost every horror movie cliche.

There is a lot of suspense (this isn't an action film like Ronin), and I was on the edge of my seat for most of the movie.

It may not always succeed, but it arrives with an energy worthy of the TV comedy legends.

It walks a tightrope with its topics, but Williams is delicate and confident with every step — his performers following close behind, dominating the screen.

The chase scenes are top notch. Unfortunately, the movie has a lot of slow parts as well. Another bizarre aspect of Mad Max is that the voices were re-dubbed. Director George Miller, decided that the American public wouldn't be able to understand the Australian accents. It's not as bad as it sounds, but it's definitely a noticeable annoyance.

Funny Pages may be the most cringeworthy movie you'll see all year — and that's a good thing.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is sweet, witty, and fast-moving fun.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish mixes stunning animation with a poignant, surprisingly mature story to deliver the Shrek franchise's answer to Logan we didn't know we needed.

Marrying a tight and effective script from Andrew Kevin Walker, smart performances from Michael Fassbender and Tilda Swinton, and sharp editing, this assassin odyssey is one you’ll want to watch again and again.

Leaning away from blood-pumping thrills and towards family drama, Ferrari benefits from another great turn by Adam Driver and a handful of masterfully choreographed race scenes but is ultimately too risk-averse.

Paul Greengrass and Tom Hanks have given us something truly special with their latest collaboration: a film that is engaging and challenging but also just makes you feel good.

You’ll believe a dog can star in a horror movie with Good Boy, which makes the most of its high-concept approach of centering a haunted house story not on a man but on man’s best friend.

Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson in the same picture. How much more bad-assedness do you need?

A great first feature from Cathy Yan, Dead Pigs paints a vivid backdrop of globalization, wealth inequality, and the anxieties of a dual Eastern and Western existence. With these complexities in mind, it forces its idiosyncratic characters into personal and financial battles which often feel unwinnable.

This is a relentlessly grim film with an unsettling view of human nature; its audience will be small and self-selecting, but those who like having their guts ripped out by a movie will leave the theater satisfied.

The look of the sequel builds off the vibrant world of the original, and while thematically the movie may bite off more than it can chew, Zootopia 2, like its bunny-cop hero, shares a contagious hope that things can always change.

That's Entertainment won't enrich your mind, won't move you emotionally (except for maybe Kelly's classic rain sequence, but who hasn't seen that one already?) and unless you're already a fan of the musicals, probably won't entertain you much. And if you are a fan of those classics, you're better off getting them individually.

It’s a downright magnificent film that puts most modern studio comedies to shame. There isn’t a single joke that doesn’t land with gut-busting precision (even the most ludicrous, over-the-top gags are deeply character-centric), and when the filmmakers want to slow things down and make you take stock of key relationships, Ahn and de Ray know precisely how to paint with light in order to make moments feel like memories.

At its best, All the Money in the World is a rich and exciting story about a woman trapped in a universe of apathetic and powerful men, fighting her way out any which way she can. At its worst it’s a well-shot but ultimately middling thriller.

Anna Diop gives a captivating performance as a Senegalese immigrant working to be reunited with her son in an uneven but haunting meditation on motherhood.

Tim Robinson’s first movie-star role is like an extended I Think You Should Leave sketch with fancier camera work and a guest appearance by Paul Rudd.

Layered with great performances and an interesting story, The Lady in Red is a good, if somewhat dull exploitative play-by-play of the events that lead to Dillinger's death.

Fennell's film is a reflection of its antiheroine, a live-wire, exciting, dazzling, and dangerous. Fennell coats this heady blend of humor and horror in candy-colored palette of pinks dusted with pop music perfection and enriched by performances from a crackling ensemble cast.

M3GAN capably proves herself more than a horror villain meme, although the film does sometimes struggle to balance the horror and comedy.

A deeply depressing comedic experience (thanks at least in part to accidental political timing), Bong’s remix of Edward Ashton’s novel presents a Trump-like villain and no worthy heroes, resulting in a farcical sci-fi adventure whose symbolism makes up for its misshapen character drama.

Tightly wound on almost every front, His House packs an enormous emotional punch even once its scares grow stale.

Ufotable’s jaw-dropping visuals alone make Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train well worth a watch, even if the film stumbles a bit at the climax.

Weathering With You still marks Makoto Shinkai as one of Japan’s finest directors when it comes to artistic vision and capturing the essence of turbulent, romantic youth. But it’s also safe to say that Shinkai’s formula, while tried and true to success, may also seem like an all too familiar territory for folks looking for something a little different.

Before Infinity Pool loses its way toward the end, it proves to be an enticing work of depravity that explores money and privilege through horrifying, violent excess.

It’s a straightforward celebration of these heroes’ lives, with a few meaningful revelations along the way, but nothing that will completely blow your mind. These are interesting, likable people who led interesting, exciting lives.

The Sheep Detectives is a very sweet, and often quite moving, family comedy about grief and death. I know that sounds weird, but director Kyle Balda and screenwriter Craig Mazin are mostly successful at threading that needle, with the broad humor of some of the human characters being the film’s weakest aspect. The sheep characters Lily and Sebastian have compelling arcs that highlight the movie’s themes of acceptance and growth. As dark as the story can sometimes get, there’s still enough warmth and wit to make The Sheep Detectives appropriate for younger audiences.

The Outwaters is found-footage fearlessness that needs to be seen to be believed, but will be met by only the most divisive of reactions.

If Spirited Away can be considered the top anime film of this age, Castle of Cagliostro is most certainly its age-old counterpart, and a true masterpiece.

The Color Purple strands a passionate cast in a passionless movie musical that’s eager to skip to the end.

The story itself is timeless and almost always funny. Of the many road trip comedies out there, Planes, Trains and Automobiles ranks among the very best.

It doesn't always work; it loses its way midway through, as though in desperate search of purpose. But when it finds that purpose, it makes a powerful emotional impression: Visually splendid, emotionally arresting, and features some of the finest filmmaking of Guadagnino's already-accomplished career.

Bugonia is a film that tries to balance barbed sci-fi themes and conspiracy looniness funneled through Lanthimos’ trademark quirks, but it slips off the pommel horse on the dismount.

If the animation is nothing special, the script is better than what drives most animated movies aimed at a young audience. And you can certainly feel Kaufman’s neurotic touch on the material.

Takashi Miike’s blood-splattered and emotionally ripping Blade of the Immortal is a terrific samurai thriller.

I wholeheartedly love Evil Dead II. It's a great midnight movie, and one of the best horror-comedies ever made.

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie is a tense, well-written story with a brilliant performance from Aaron Paul.

Crackling comedy, a sizzling age-gap romance and a new kind of sincerity make Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy second-best only to the original.

Nia DaCosta’s slow-burn sequel makes Candyman feel vital, both building on and course-correcting the movies in the series that came before it.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is an accessible fantasy adventure that both roasts and respects D&D culture without losing newcomers along for the ride.

A gorgeously crafted tale of time travel, Arco fills two sci-fi futures with hope like if Miyazaki had made Interstellar.

The Wolf Man is one of a kind.

Despite a problematic ending, Midsommar is an emotionally harrowing and slowly insidious journey, languidly forcing dread on the viewer, wrapping them in a weird nightmare summer camp of sunlight and cheer.

Grand Prix is not just a wonderful 'race movie'; it's a brilliant cinematic achievement, period.

Society of the Snow humanizes the gruesome tale of a group of rugby players trapped in the Andes.