Captain Marvel directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's (sometimes very) fun anthology/love letter to Oakland, California doesn’t add enough of its own unique spirit to quite live up to its influences.

With a playful camera that rushes through space and embodies a ghostly spirit, Steven Soderbergh’s resourceful haunted house thriller is a midnight genre romp.

Astonishingly beautiful and vulnerable, I Saw the TV Glow's surreal art-horror speaks to lonely teenagers, past and present.

Self Reliance's comedic riff on The Most Dangerous Game benefits from writer-director-star Jake Johnson’s extraordinary ability to commit to a bit – but it's lacking a sense of danger.

This grim, acclaimed Chilean Western will dazzle your eyes, even as it crushes your spirit with its true story of genocide.

Destroy All Neighbors is a horror-comedy with a fun premise and creative effects but it’s messy in too many ineffective and wrong ways, like listening to a 20-minute jam session that never finds its hook.

Night Swim effectively exploits primal fears around water, but its comedy and horror chops aren’t strong enough to keep it from drowning in its more clichéd elements.

A semi-confusing script and heavy-handed direction from David Ayer muddle the proceedings, but enough inspired pizazz and Statham’s earnest delivery of lines like “I protect the hive” just barely bring it all home.

Mean Girls is a winning, entertaining reworking of Tina Fey’s 2004 comedy. Featuring a collection of strong original songs and a successful updating of the story and messages, it's a musical reimagining worth watching.

Role Play wants to be a star-driven caper merging complicated relationship dynamics with exciting espionage action. But despite a few brief signs of life, both sides of the film are woefully unconvincing, as are its stars. Kaley Cuoco goes way too broad, David Oyelowo looks pained, and the whole thing strains to imitate better movies.

Despite a talented cast and great director, Netflix’s Lift proves to be an exceedingly unremarkable heist film.

The End We Start From is a muddy post-apocalyptic drama that fails to nail the human connection at its core.

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

When Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is being an Aquaman story and leaning into the silliness and family aspects of it all, it’s fun. The enjoyable bits are just sandwiched between some ugly effects and a weird first act that feel cobbled together from a very different movie.

While Anyone But You isn’t a bold new take on traditional romcom formulas, it becomes an infectiously sincere and easily watchable movie featuring a charming ensemble cast and great situational comedy.

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

Migration is satisfactory but uninspiring.

The Zone of Interest is a formally precise yet completely shattering cinematic intervention that emerges as one of the most monumental films ever made.

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

Despite a great ensemble cast, Zack Snyder's space opera is let down by a derivative patchwork script, mediocre action sequences and a superficial story that fails to live up to its expansive promise.

Ranbir Kapoor is deeply committed to his brash and ugly protagonist, but in spite of the movie’s explosive action, director Sandeep Reddy Vanga seems more preoccupied with provoking outrage than with telling a coherent story.

Leave the World Behind has a worthwhile cast, but its paranoid thrills quickly fizzle out en route to a baffling final scene.

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

While Lord of Misrule has its moments, blending folk horror, possession, and murder mystery isn’t enough to make this saggy film pop.

Wonka is a celebration of music makers and the dreamers of dreams, a big, old-fashioned movie musical that uses Roald Dahl’s world just judiciously enough to avoid any serious hits to the author or Gene Wilder’s legacy. Timothée Chalamet’s portrayal of Willy Wonka is most successful in its earnestness, and Chalamet brings the character to life with a gleeful abandon that makes him easy to root for, along with an energetic supporting cast who end up carrying the banner of Wonka’s weirdness more than Wonka himself. Charming and well-staged musical numbers give the movie enough of an identity of its own to make it worthy of a taste – just remember to burp and fart if you start floating toward the ceiling at any time during your screening.

A boring, weightless revenge experiment that quickly goes awry, Silent Night features none of the charm or visual panache that made John Woo one of Hong Kong and Hollywood’s foremost action stylists.

As a historical epic, Napoleon is handsome but a little impersonal – you can really feel the absence of texture lost in getting it down under three hours. But between the textbook bullet points, a very funny anti-Great Man biopic peeks through, thanks largely to Joaquin Phoenix’s performance as a Bonaparte who’s more boy than man.

Leo looks like the kind of standard big-studio animation Netflix has been regularly knocking off, but it’s far funnier, and more unexpectedly sweet, than the average kid-targeted cartoon. In fact, Robert Smigel, Adam Sandler, and their collaborators have made one of the funniest movies of the year that doubles as a love letter to the complexities of teaching kids, in or out of the classroom.

Eli Roth finally adapts his fake trailer into a real slasher movie – and it’s not without its nasty charms

Trolls Band Together hits its chosen notes with its trademark glitter-drunk energy and some bonkers visual invention, but its mashing up of shiny pop hits (not to mention past Trolls movies) approaches exhaustion.

While Wish is enjoyable, this new Disney fairytale doesn’t measure up to those that came before.

Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain has way more laughs than the standard direct-to-streaming comedy, with some gloriously silly running gags and hilarious non sequiturs. But it lacks any real point of view behind that silliness.

A rousing, spectacle-filled blockbuster, Godzilla: Minus One takes the king of the monsters back to his roots in post-WWII Japan. The story is character-driven, but the monster scenes are exciting and effective.

Not a deeply probing Hollywood documentary but filled to the brim with fun behind-the-scenes footage. The Boy Who Lived is a likable, grounded, and heartfelt portrait of a Harry Potter stuntman whose career was cut far too short.

A super-charged genre throwback that obscures its meaning but has an alluring visual texture, Divinity is completely unique in its conception of sci-fi dystopia, for better and for worse.

Solid fundamentals make It’s a Wonderful Knife an enjoyable Christmas slasher, although not as inspired as the writer Michael Kennedy’s previous work.

Actors Tom Blyth and Rachel Zegler are brilliant additions to the franchise with equally magnetic takes on their very different characters, but aren’t given enough time to fully flesh them out.

The Marvels is a triumph. Its depth can be seen not just through its characters, but through its story as it explores war's complicated fallout; the difficulty of being a human when you are perceived as a monolith; and the hilarious and complicated virtues of family. Both funny and heartfelt, Nia DaCosta’s MCU debut will have you asking when she and her leading ladies are coming back immediately after the credits roll. It’s a pity that the villain isn’t given much to do, though.

This big-screen take on the indie-horror sensation has too much plot and not enough of the game's primal security-cam thrills.

Pierre Morel's uninspired work behind the camera goes hand in hand with the film’s nondescript title, dragging viewers through a moodless, toothless action hybrid that, at its best, plays as forgettably inept even with ammunition flying in all directions.

You’ve likely never seen a movie that tackles the specific loneliness many gay men still face today, and this one is laudable for that alone. However, All of Us Strangers airs on the side of saccharine, especially towards the end, and it would benefit overall from some more human ugliness.

Returning to cinema with a heartfelt look at the creative process, Michel Gondry dives back into filmmaking without a safety net, channeling all his artistic angst through an onscreen alter ego.

Love is put to the test in Greek director Christos Nikou’s Fingernails, a sleek sci-fi film about a near-future where couples can scientifically test their love by removing one of the titular body parts.

It takes a remarkably self-assured filmmaker to turn such a lurid tale of abuse into something so wildly entrancing and entertaining, but Todd Haynes’ mix of tenderness and camp is a perfect fit for May December.

Justine Triet's courtroom drama-thriller Anatomy of a Fall choreographs a riveting dance between tragedy and the transference into survival mode via the manipulation of reality and the power of invention. With star Sandra Hueller in full control of a bold and emotional script by Triet and and co-writer Arthur Harari, the consequences of a fractured marriage make for a deeply engrossing watch impossible not to get sucked into.

Dear David tries its best to scare, but it never quite brings the spookiness it promises. It suffers from trying to do a bit too much with the living characters and not enough with the dead ones. Also, way too much lens flare.

An affectionate take on a much-romanticized subculture, The Bikeriders purrs along rather than zips, but its stellar cast ensures a smooth ride as Jeff Nichols offers some insights into the highs and lows of a legendary motorcycle gang.

David Slade's long-delayed creature feature is ludicrous nonsense enlivened only by the occasional splash of gore.

While Bertrand Bonnello’s film is a timely, somewhat satirical send-up of dystopian futures and past traumas, The Beast doesn’t quite measure up to its heavy portents of doom.

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.

Aside from a few pacing issues, Saltburn delivers an uncompromising vision from Emerald Fennell, an Oscar-winning writer director with a unique voice. It not only capitalizes on the kudos she received for Promising Young Woman, but cements Barry Keoghan’s leading man status.

In the hit-and-miss subgenre of horror anthologies, V/H/S/85 is a shining beacon. Filmmakers are given the space to explore a gamut of ideas, none of which feel restrained to fit a specific anthology mold.

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.

It’s a distinctly less subtle look at misogyny than her #MeToo masterpiece The Assistant, but Green further distinguishes herself as one of the most exciting and provocative feminist filmmakers around.

Eileen is a nifty little shapeshifter of a thriller made of tremendous parts, just lacking a bit of steam upon exit.

The result is a visually rich film that finds moments of entertaining inspiration but suffers from a frustrating lack of focus.

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.

Despite a capable cast and crew, Foe is a muddled mess that feels more like Black Mirror Lite than powerful sci-fi commentary.

Pet Sematary: Bloodlines tastes a bit better than a nothingburger, but lacks seasoning that you’d hope for from something tied to Stephen King’s bibliography.

Though its predestined, blockbuster exorcism sequence just manages to provide a satisfying conclusion to the story, the underdeveloped synchronized possession element creates more problems than it solves and adds bloat to a movie which would have benefitted from a leaner, more measured approach.

PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie feels more like a legitimate feature film than its predecessor, but it’s still well within the realm of distractor cinema rather than something parents would want to watch with their kids.

Benicio del Toro's understated performance as a soft-spoken detective is about the only interesting thing about this new Netflix thriller, which drowns a thin murder mystery in lots of ominous atmosphere.

Totally Killer may not reinvent the wheel, but its blend of Scream meets Disney Channel Original movie gets the job done quite admirably. The cast and the story’s heart makes up for any technical missteps, and while it definitely falls into the usual time travel traps, it makes fun of itself while doing so!

Almost 20 years into the franchise, Saw X showcases an emotional depth that manages to take one of these stories higher than ever before. Make no mistake, though, the traps are still on full display and Jigsaw still has full intent to showcase the true evils of humanity.

Godzilla and Rogue One director Gareth Edwards returns with an original (albeit derivative) science fiction vision: the story of a future war between man and machine, as told through the bond that develops between, well, a man and a child-sized machine. As pure spectacle, The Creator is often jaw-dropping in its imagery, its relatively frugal special effects, and the detailed depth of its futuristic design. It's shakier as drama and sci-fi – and in its sentimental depiction of synthetic humans just trying to live their synthetic lives, a bit out of step with the anxieties of our increasingly AI-dominated age.

It Lives Inside feels desperate to project specific cultural experiences, but it has neither the tact nor the aesthetic flair to weave a competent horror movie around them.

What it lacks in so-bad-it’s-good silliness it makes up for with its heart and mostly practical slaughterfests. Kevin Bacon and Peter Dinklage having an absolute blast in their roles doesn’t hurt, either.

No One Will Save You is at its best when it marries the tension of a home invasion thriller with the thrills of an alien abduction film, and Kaitlyn Dever proves she has the chops to carry a whole movie on strength of her facial expressions alone. However, the film ultimately fumbles when it becomes both a convoluted action film and an on-the-nose parable about overcoming grief and guilt.

Expend4bles is a crushing disappointment that lacks any of the nostalgia, charisma, and charm that made the franchise appealing in the first place. Perhaps worst of all, this failed mission is boring. There is no pleasure taken in saying this once highly entertaining action franchise is well past its AARPrime. It would have been great to have rounded the series off with a fifth entry, but after this flat and uninspired effort, the franchise doesn’t deserve that last hoorah.

Alexander Payne finds deft balance with The Holdovers, in which every glance and verbal exchange may as well be set up for something equally hilarious and touching.

Satanic Hispanics attempts to bring authentic Latin folklore to modern horror audiences and boasts great doses of monsters and gore. Unfortunately it’s also held back by some uneven storytelling and humor that doesn’t always land.

With a tour de force performance by Glen Powell and a sharp script, Hit Man delivers the kind of intense romance sorely lacking in sexless Hollywood movies. It’s a fascinating character study that, though directed by Richard Linklater, gives off the vibes of a chaotic, dark crime comedy from the Coen brothers. Come for Powell's ascendance to superstardom, stay for one of the funniest and most entertaining movies of the year.

A quick, funny victory lap for anti-establishment Redditors and stonk enthusiasts.

Kenneth Branagh’s third Poirot film is his best and strangest yet.

For all the fun that the cast seems to be having with Dicks, it’s never as creative in execution as it needs to be. There are chuckles to be had, but the overall experience is defined by narrowness rather than naughtiness.

Hayao Miyazaki delivers the perfect coda to his illustrious career with a stunning animated adventure that reminds us how lucky we are to live at a time when Studio Ghibli is making movies.

The Nun II is a marked improvement on its predecessor, as the winning duo of Taissa Farmiga and Jonas Bloquet reward the faith of Conjuring fans with a scarier, meatier boarding school nightmare that makes great use of Valak the Demon Nun, even if the mythology-heavy plot specifics get a little lost along the way.

A passionate, well-intentioned deviation in style, Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Evil Does Not Exist doesn’t quite hit the mark with its meditations on nature. However, in its best moments, it’s another entrancing dramatic piece from the Japanese maestro, whose strengths lie less in observing natural environments, and more in observing people’s nature.

Harmony Korine’s infrared assassin movie Aggro Dr1ft is a video-game-inspired experiment that’ll have you in a trance.

Sofia Coppola proves to be the perfect choice to tackle the life of Priscilla Presley through a film that deeply understands the desires and dreams of a teenage girl

All Fun and Games is an appetizer of a movie served as the main course, lacking in creativity when it comes to turning childhood games into pure horror.

Poor Things is sex-comedy Frankenstein by way of Jules Verne, and one of the most imaginative comedies in years.

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.

Perpetrator wavers between absurdity and gravity when it should just pick a lane, but thanks to a scene-stealing performance from Alicia Silverstone and some good gory gags, it’s a worthy addition to the booming world of unhinged-teen-girl horror.

Hardcore genre fans might appreciate a few of the gorier moments, but they also might agree that a movie called Beaten to Death should not be as drearily maudlin as this.

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.

The Equalizer 3 ends the trilogy strong with a style, energy, and cohesiveness that most sequels aren’t capable of. Fuqua and Washington’s circle feels complete and delivers a showstopping dessert at the end of a solid three-course meal they’ve been preparing for almost a decade.

Vacation Friends 2 adds a few fresh elements to its too-soon sequelizing, but they can’t change this comedy’s listless, laugh-light trajectory.

Landscape with Invisible Hand is brimming with ideas and storylines, but they never come together as a satisfying whole.

For a movie about a guy trying to save himself and his kids from a car that might blow up at any moment, it's curiously low on thrills and complications.

Netflix’s The Monkey King is an example of a potentially great film that’s undone by poor pacing, uneven animation, and a truly unlikable protagonist.

The film is pure sports-movie hokum, done with just enough conviction (much of it courtesy of David Harbour, who's typically excellent in the stock role of a racing veteran-turned-mentor) to help you ignore how relentlessly Gran Turismo advertises the games themselves.

Part sci-fi satire, part futuristic dramedy, and almost entirely sterile, The Pod Generation seeks to make lofty comments about our world, and the politics of women’s and workers’ autonomy. However, it scarcely has anything to offer beyond the sleek technological designs it tries and fails to critique.

The filmmakers definitely go for it in the gross-out gag department, with jokes about droppings and marking and red rockets. But beneath the vulgar laughs, this is a comedy nearly as formulaic and sentimental as the sappy tearjerkers it's lampooning. Its bark is worse than its bite.

Despite its missteps, Blue Beetle remains a good time at the theater. Amid the action and the comedy, its emotional core resonates with the experience of growing up in a Latine family. The film is comedic without being cheesy and, hopefully, a massive launchpad for Maridueña’s career.

Heart of Stone is so busy trying to start a franchise that it forgets to be a movie good enough to merit a sequel in the first place.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter should delight horror fans raised on Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and offers an R-rated bite of vampiric brutality for genre fans with a stronger bloodlust. Øvredal does well to transport his cast to a time when scary stories were told around lanterns in the dead of night, and even if the moodiness evaporates due to a protracted runtime and the foregone conclusion of Dracula’s landfall, the director accentuates the basics of violent feeding sessions in hair-raising fashion.

Meg 2: The Trench has all the excitement of fishing solo for two hours without a single bite. Wheatley is a shell of himself behind the camera, devoid of personality and originality.