While it picks up threads from the original, like the mysterious curse of their dying drummers or stage props misbehaving, nothing gets anywhere close to the original.

Though it starts out as a promising slasher throwback, Clown in a Cornfield struggles with a jokey tone and a political message that lacks teeth.

Fountain of Youth is a robust showcase of Guy Ritchie’s eye for action, but it falls well short of capturing the magic of the quintessential treasure-hunting movies it’s so clearly trying to replicate.

Abraham’s Boys has some interesting ideas when it comes to a Van Helsing-based Dracula spinoff. Unfortunately, its weak visuals and lack of atmosphere stop it from fully delivering.

Roofman’s excellent performances are hampered by a middling script that’s executed with minimal visual flair or excitement.

There’s a fun slasher buried beneath the too-faithful reboot plot of the new I Know What You Did Last Summer. Unfortunately, it’s overshadowed by too many callbacks to the first movie in the series and too little originality. The mix of new stars and returning favorites provides some urgency, but does little to give it an identity all its own.

Amazon’s Heads of State is a near-humorless buddy comedy film, saved by its compelling leads and elaborate action sequences.

Now You See Me: Now You Don’t serves as a reminder of how they manage to coast by just enough, providing a good time thanks to the notable talent and charm of their expanding cast and the inclusion of the magic trick element to provide a unique flair. It’s the epitome of “We’re just having fun here” entertainment, and while little of it resonates, it mostly gets the job done.

The film’s themes may be fundamental in their commentaries on parental gender disparity or qualities about motherhood so many refuse to publicly acknowledge, but they still land like a haymaker. You’ve gotta hand it to Ramsay; she’s a fearless visionary when rocking on all cylinders—which, frustratingly, Die My Love only dishes out in smaller servings.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is an agreeable, if unnecessary sequel which, through its larger scale, proves that less is often more.

Alma & the Wolf is an amusingly off-kilter combo of monster movie and psychological thriller let down by a disappointing ending – but it’s a showcase for rising star Li Jun Li.

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

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle offers plenty of action and some emotional flashbacks, but it suffers from an overuse of flashbacks that undermine the story's pacing.

V/H/S/Halloween is an enjoyable assortment of vicious holiday horror shorts that might take a step backward after last year’s fantastic V/H/S/Beyond, but it’s hardly a throwaway sequel.

Swiped is constructed well-enough for the movie it’s trying to be, but its lack of ambition and nuance keep it from being its best self. It can still be a worthwhile enough watch for Lily James’ admirable performance as Whitney Wolfe, but the movie never affords its subject the same level of depth as what James tries to imbue her with.

Riz Ahmed makes for a vigorous lead in Aneil Karia’s contemporary British-Indian Hamlet, which loses its emotional clarity beneath an intriguing exterior. Its use of silence and intimacy grants it a fascinating texture, but the film never challenges or re-invigorates Shakespeare’s greatest work, ensuring that it ends up somewhere in the middle of a lengthy pile of adaptations.

Crime 101 has everything a heist thriller ought to have… but not much else.

Scream 7 packs in plenty of satisfying slasher action, and may even bring some lapsed fans back into the fold by focusing down the scope of that action after Scream 6, but the new ideas it does bring to the table are either too thin to fully explore or ill-advised enough to detract from the success the movie does find in playing the hits, the deep cuts, and the killer tracks.

On the heels of several other Dracula-based films in very recent memory, Luc Besson’s take on the story doesn't do enough to set itself apart, despite its fair share of weird comedic moments.

War Machine has just enough juice to prevent it from being a Snore Machine.

A tale of miserable spouses plotting each other’s demise, it doesn’t always work, but its action comedy stylings are enough to keep it entertaining even when it swerves into ugly excess or extraneous subplots.

If you think ballerinas using their dance skills to fight and kill bad guys sounds fun, Pretty Lethal does deliver on its premise. However, it takes too long to get going, and is ultimately a somewhat amusing trifle instead of the more fun spectacle it could have been.

The Cloverfield Paradox is a paradox in itself. Split between trying to be a standalone sci-fi space horror and a key linking point in the Cloverfield mythos, the film never truly succeeds at either.

The Darkest Minds is a wholly rote YA sci-fi adventure that continues a genre that is pretty much dying out. Despite this, the film is capable and enjoyable and features a great lead actress in Amandla Stenberg.

The Halloween monster mash iconography is incredibly strong and the cast is excellent, but Goosebumps 2 is in far too much of a hurry – and perhaps too eager to be widely accessible – to be actually scary or wholly effective.

Green Book lacks the depth it aspires to, and only works on a very superficial level. Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali give exceptional performances but this message movie fumbles its message.

If you can get past the many bizarre inconsistencies, The Star is a relatively decent film for young Christian audiences. The writing, voice-acting and animation are unremarkable, but they get the job done, and the film’s heart seems to be in the right place.

Birth of the Dragon is not the Bruce Lee biopic you’ve been waiting for, as strong performances and martial arts action by Philip Ng and Xia Yu are wasted on a movie that had too little faith in the real story.