Though Benh Zeitlin clearly has a knack for directing children and an eye for shooting beautiful locales, Wendy ultimately falls flat. The pacing is uneven, the overt messaging spirals from hamfisted to uncomprehensible, and as good as the children at its core are, the film never offers up a story or film that is deserving of them.

Morbius is unspectacular in ways that waste the potential of what could be an intriguing hybrid of sinister horror and superhero thrills.

Vivarium rates as an ambitious near-miss.

This journey from sun-soaked beaches to chilly English country, from heart-racing flirtation to soul-shattering stress, from new love to old regrets, feels dry and flaccid. Much like Mrs. de Winter, the long shadow of Hitchcock's Rebecca proves just too powerful to ignore.

Minions: The Rise of Gru is more Minion compilation than Gru prequel. It wastes its fun ideas and comedic setups in favor of disconnected slapstick gags, which may delight the diaper-wearing crowd, but will end up a chore to anyone forced to comprehend its inert dramatic scenes and ’70s pop culture references.

Though visually engaging, Malignant can’t overcome the genre identity crisis at its core.

The story's lifted a bit by some of the solid comedic actors, and the WWE Superstars who make a run-in, but when the story isn't sloppy, it's paint-by-numbers.

Ultimately, it's bland, not bold, and achingly absent of enchantment.

Ultimately, this storied provocateur deals out shocking imagery and disturbing scenes, but he refuses to lay down a thrilling climax much less anything satisfyingly entertaining.

Hubie Halloween is aggressively stupid, sure, but it's also occasionally endearing (with a guilty chuckle or two).

Despite the efforts of Idris Elba and the cast, Concrete Cowboy never explores its characters or premise in much depth.

The movie plays up sexual innuendo more than a group of junior high school kids, and it comes across almost as juvenile. Some of the jokes are indeed funny, but there aren't enough laughs to propel things through the dry spells.

Try as it might to capture lightning in a bottle, Black Adam never manages to find its spark.

Glenn Close and Amy Adams shine in Ron Howard's new, rather unfocused film about abuse, poverty, and addiction.

Cherry is big on style and features a bouncy, pricey soundtrack but its examination of the grim reality behind the veteran/addiction cycle feels rather routine. Holland breaks down many barriers here, performance-wise, and delivers the goods as a fantastic surrogate for societal ills, but the movie is plodding and, overall, an underwhelming patchwork of previous projects.

Malcolm & Marie is a well-acted but frustrating exploration of art and bad romance.

Rebellious game developer Midway's rise and fall gets a surprisingly tame retelling in the doc Insert Coin.

It’s disappointing to see a triad of talented actors like Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto wasted in The Little Things, a straightforward and seldom surprising murder-mystery.

Outside the Wire is too long, too impenetrable, and not fun enough to warrant its lofty man vs. machine gimmick. It's fun to watch Anthony Mackie assume the role of a smart, cordial killbot, but the film's occasionally exciting bits of action aren't enough to breathe life into this muddled mess of a story.

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

Super Mario Bros. has a solid cast of characters who are thrust into a psychedelic smattering of scenes hastily glued together in nearly offensively stupid ways, but it’s also strangely ambitious at times.

The Marksman is perfectly watchable old man reckoning cinema, held together by good performances by Liam Neeson and young Jacob Perez, but it's ultimately not much more than an assembly line of non-surprises.

It's a heartbreaking tragedy, dreamer's comedy, and saucy stumble through double-edged "success" stories, but most of all? It's a bloated, brass-band-swingin' mess.

Though Jessica Chastain delivers a heartfelt performance as Tammy Faye, her faith in the filmmakers can’t save this drama from falling flat.

While there’s plenty of large entertaining set pieces, Sheridan’s intriguing premise withers under its overabundant components.

There are moments in The Unholy that strive for shocking, even sacrilegious. But Spiliotopoulos lacks either the imagination or the guts to create something truly soul-rattling.

Cry Macho has spare moments of charm and tranquility, but mostly it's a dry and unfinished story that fails to hit even the most basic of Story 101 beats.

There's not much to praise here. The script is beyond parody, the jokes fall flat, and it arguably wastes some of Hollywood's biggest names. But if you want to see lots of people getting blown up in some very pretty locations while Salma Hayek and Samuel L Jackson make sweet (gross) love while torturing Ryan Reynolds, then this one's for you.