Despite its limited scope and predictable plot, The Magician’s Elephant succeeds at being a quaint animated film with a positive message.

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.

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.

With a steely reserve and killer instinct, Extraction 2 thrives as a buffet of brutality that plays back the mercenary thriller hits with a fresh coat of camouflage paint.

In its portrait of a perennially prickly novelist (Thomas Schubert), it gets at tough and sometimes funny truths about the nature of writers.

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.

Flamin' Hot is a charming and funny rags-to-riches story with a strong cast, some clever editing, and good use of narration as comedy that make up for its superficial depth.

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.

Ethan Coen goes solo – sort of – with Drive-Away Dolls, a raunchy, dizzy road-trip comedy that’s a little too slick for its own good.

Insidious: The Red Door is a satisfying conclusion to the Lambert family’s long nightmare journey into The Further, even if it starts to rely too heavily on jump scares by the end.

Alas, The Edge is a film that, quite ironically, loses it.

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.

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.

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

Nicolas Cage’s live-wire performance fuels a compelling, if predictable, crime thriller.

It mixes the throwback feel of an old-school spy story with an engaging scenario about a tech-savvy CIA analyst thrust into the field for decidedly dark reasons. The direction and a strong cast help sell this vibe and make for an entertaining time, even if it comes to a less-than-satisfying conclusion.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.