Every scene is entwined in clunkiness.

Charged by dynamite performances and Bruni Coulais’s ominous score, this romantic tragedy is more gripping than most thrillers.

Crisply directed but inescapably pious and, worse, narratively poky.

A dark comedy that isn't funny and a marriage satire that doesn't break new ground.

Branagh, working from a script by Chris Weitz, gives the film emotional heft. James’ performance — never saccharine, often staunchly independent — makes the story’s more regressive elements float away.

Intimate and intellectual, the film — with a title taken from J.D. Salinger — focuses on the type of person you pass on the street, see in a coffee shop or sit next to on the subway who makes you wonder what life he’s led. One full of melody and muse, it turns out.

Often it’s the fighters themselves who best sum up the appeal of “the sweet science.”

Suckers for romance likely won’t complain, but this Josh Hartnett time-travel epic is nuts.

Fatigue is all we get from Run All Night.

Chappie is as subtle as a sledgehammer. The latest sci-fi action spectacle from “District 9” and “Elysium” director Neill Blomkamp is also sprawling, bombastic, deafening, ugly and ultra-violent.

Sam Worthington and Jim Sturgess are solid as two of the four kidnappers, but Swedish director Daniel Alfredson pushes the caper button too many times. More sly wit would have helped things come to a head.

Unfinished Business squanders almost every opportunity provided by its potentially funny premise. Instead, it becomes yet another blotch on star Vince Vaughn’s résumé.

What the film doesn’t show enough of is how these people got their positions of power. We get much more of the other side, the legitimate scientists, and too much of a magician who pops up to describe cons and double-talk. But he shows how a bunko artist is a bunko artist, whether on a corner or on CNN.

Mind control is a topic that should be fascinating, but it’s utterly forgettable in this disappointing, low-budget indie.

This dramatic thriller is a ball of confusion, but with barely any bounce. The one reason to see it: Patricia Clarkson’s subtle star turn.

Yes, there are good moments from a team of veteran British actors, but overall, this return visit to the 2012 gray-set rom-com is deadly dull.

The stories are horrifying, but essential to hear. Kirby Dick’s important documentary puts a personal face to the staggering numbers.

What on earth is Salma Hayek doing starring in this exploitative, junky piece of torture trash?

For all its venom, “Maps” is one of the more compassionate movies from Cronenberg (“A Dangerous Method,” “Eastern Promises”). The corrosive humor and icy tone eventually give way to melancholy. No one here can be saved.

Will Smith may have run through every trick in his bag. In Focus, the one-time fresh prince and former box-office champ looks tired, bored and, even worse, uninspired.

Forget the minor, derivative scares in The Lazarus Effect. The real jolt here is seeing a well-known name playing a monstrous evil force.

First-time writer/director Michael Johnson falls back on coming-of-age clichés. But overall, his sensitive, moody camerawork and the cast’s strong performances go a long way toward making the familiar feel fresh.

The direct translation of this deliciously devilish film’s Spanish title is “Savage Stories.” That’s a more fitting title.

This version of the time machine is more powerful — it’s made me go back and hate the original.

The actors are in good form, but McFarland, USA can’t find its footing.

Queen and Country features characters from the earlier movie. And it’s good. But “Hope and Glory” it is not.

Fortunately, the cast — featuring Allison Janney as Bianca’s scattered mom and Ken Jeong as her sympathetic mentor — is savvy and silly. Really, though, most of the credit goes to Whitman, who stands in, and stands up, for the DUFF in all of us.

All the low-hum, behavioral buffoonery gets a bit tedious. Still, cheers to Cross for the satirical road he covers, even with all the potholes.

This great-looking, often spellbinding film also shows Lee’s sometimes pervasive theatricality threatening to chomp into the story. But the swirling strangeness of “Sweet Blood” makes it his most mesmerizing work since the underrated “Bamboozled” (2000) and “25th Hour” (2002).

In a small theater, it’s easy to feel like you’re a part of the romance unfolding before you. But in the grander scheme of an impersonal cineplex, it’s an uphill climb.

Half amusing and half appalling, Matthew Vaughn’s shameless spy caper Kingsman: The Secret Service is ultimately done in by its own hypocrisy.

Credit goes to director Sam Taylor-Johnson and her screenwriter, Kelly Marcel, who've stripped the first book of its biggest flaws, while still honoring its essence. And lead Dakota Johnson makes for an ideal heroine, though — as doubters feared — her chemistry with costar Jamie Dornan doesn't always sizzle.

Both LeBlanc and Larter glide through the synthetic setup like pros, but they have no connection because their characters barely resemble human beings.

This is a terrific time capsule with a resonant message.

The spirit of the series remains true: cheerfully random jokes, blink-and-you’ll-miss-them references and, above all, a silly, stubbornly sentimental streak that only the crabbiest cynic could dismiss.

Talk about lost in space. The whacked-out outer-space melodrama Jupiter Ascending has embedded in its genes the DNA of “Barbarella” and “Flash Gordon,” some dust from “Dune” and even a bit of Michael Jackson’s Disneyland short “Captain Eo.”

Cage, adopting an accent that could best be defined as Just British Enough to Sound Serious, adds some welcome weirdness to this otherwise generic production. He doesn’t fit in at all, but then again, who’d want him to?

This heartbreaking documentary should be shown in every high school and college — and everywhere intolerance is suspected.

Director Sergei Bodrov’s movie is based on a kids’ book in which Tom was a 12-year-old, and the actors wisely pitch their performances to a young crowd.

All the men's wives are shrews, prigs or doormats; all the conquests doe-eyed blonds with sucked-in cheeks. All the dialogue is as witty as this exchange: "You're a sick f---!" "No, you're a sick f---!" They're all sick f---s, frankly, and the actors are dreadful while playing them.

The movie's Islamists aren't true believers but a bunch of thugs. A madwoman who dismisses them with a blunt word has much greater moral authority.

Supremacy is so grueling an ordeal that its revelations barely penetrate the murk.

A racial melodrama that, until it stumbles into obvious and maudlin territory, is a thoughtful work thanks to Octavia Spencer, Anthony Mackie and especially Kevin Costner.

True, the Boys are thoughtful and eloquent, and the whole package is engaging enough to hold even a newcomer’s attention, but the end result is an incomplete story of a forgotten band hoping to celebrate — or should I say sell-abrate — an anniversary no one else remembered.

Statham brings so little energy that the fight scenes are hardly more vivid than the gambling ones. His one-liners have no heart; his cynicism is no longer sharp.

Every generation gets the time travel it deserves. Project Almanac isn’t “Time After Time” (1979) or “Back to the Future” (1985) or “12 Monkeys” (1996), but the new release does turn out to be a surprisingly jaunty trip for jaded Gen-Y kids.

Only a fool would say it to his face, but eight-time divisional boxing champ Manny (Pacman) Pacquiao has a limp swing as a documentary subject.

Johnny Depp has done so much for us. Let us now return the favor and pretend Mortdecai, a disastrously misjudged career low, never existed.

That’s the problem with Law’s submarine skipper, Robinson, in the action thriller Black Sea. He’s driven and dynamic enough, but he can’t keep the sensitivity from his eyes.

Boasting dynamite performances, Mommy excels as a confrontational, compassionate melodrama about the anguishing dilemmas of caretaking. It’s a revelation.

It’s Fatal Attraction 101.

Aniston is fine, and sometimes good even, in director Daniel Barnz’s maudlin and overly obvious drama. She has layered moments of sympathy as a woman afflicted with chronic pain. And unlike in the bad rom-coms she does too often, Aniston absolutely shows some serious chops.

Without Ewan McGregor in the lead, this flashy but aggressively superficial Aussie thriller would likely disappear without a trace.

With all the talent on tap — including screenwriter Buck Henry, who worked with Michal Zebede to adapt Philip Roth’s 2009 novel — you’d think we’d get something better than this outdated indulgence.

For her debut drama, Song One, filmmaker Kate Barker-Froyland snares Anne Hathaway. It’s a stroke of luck. Hathaway’s doe-eyed sincerity provides just enough weight to keep this sweet but slight romance from floating away.

The eerie wood was exquisitely designed. Disastrously, what goes on there suggests a Californian mall during spring break.

The danger in writing, directing, producing and casting yourself in the same movie is that there’s no one to pull you back from the cliff. Simon Helberg (“The Big Bang Theory”) did co-direct this grating vanity affair with his wife, Jocelyn Towne, but neither seems to realize how misguided it is at every step.

The manic energy of Kevin Hart is, surprisingly, toned down in The Wedding Ringer. Which may account for almost the entire first half of this wannabe-raucous buddy movie being laugh-free.

This might have worked as a short story. As a film, it’s not viciously bad, but it’s dull.

Colangelo shows a mature levelheadedness in depicting how close-knit communities fall and rise together.

The title may suggest acts of indecency, but if there’s anything this mild dramedy could use, it’s a little more raciness.

Here’s hoping Bruce Willis bought something special with whatever cash he earned from this pointless, brutally ugly rehash of 1973’s “Westworld.”

These are the best moments, when Stewart and a wisely understated Gugino are free to enact their own wistful, beautifully intuitive pas de deux.

Cute, mostly well-mannered and just a bit off-center.

Unfortunately, Mann’s newest film, Blackhat, fails to connect.

Even Liam Neeson seems bored by the imbecilic, repetitive “Taken 3,” an action movie no one was clamoring for and no one will enjoy.

The film peels back the layers of a mystery. Who knew what, and when? And how could someone choose this path? The film is rich with artfully framed interviews of newly discovered family members, like Reuveny’s quarter-Jewish German cousin considering a religious conversion. Even the music and finely observed interiors are so cinematic that you often forget this is a documentary.

As an exercise in atmosphere, this claustrophobic creeper does a lot with a little, even if the movie winds up providing just superficial shivers.

A palpable sense of environment and strong performances from Noah Wyle and musician Steve Earle can’t balance the extensive flaws in this unconvincing Appalachian melodrama.

Predestination may have the trippiest, weirdest take yet on the time-travel concept.

The darkened rooms and spooky fog are undeniably gorgeous. Teen horror buffs will be bored but design majors and sketchpad artists may find themselves inspired.

Chandor (“All is Lost”) has made a movie that quietly but ferociously immerses us in a time and place, with atmosphere done in minimal yet evocative strokes.

The battle it documents is both a cornerstone of the past and a reflection of ongoing struggles. DuVernay infuses Selma with that dichotomy, never forgetting how Selma, the place, was a pledge to march ahead.

When you get through it, though, you can’t help but feel uplifted by this tough-skinned movie that can stand with the best muscular wartime dramas in the American movie canon.

No wonder the vodka bottle beckons in this wrenchingly acted, remorseless modern masterpiece.

The best movies are ever-shifting, intelligent and open-hearted enough to expand alongside an audience. American Sniper, Clint Eastwood’s harrowing meditation on war, is built on this foundation of uncommon compassion.

Understatement is one of Mark Wahlberg’s greatest assets. But that admirable trait winds up working against him in The Gambler, Rupert Wyatt’s otherwise intriguing dramatic thriller.

Burton structures the film, right up to the fascinating finale, as both a damning tale of male privilege and a moving story of a woman’s liberation. The actors reflect these themes accordingly. Adams is touchingly restrained and Waltz is monstrously charismatic.

Loyal fans of the Sondheim original may feel a bit let down themselves. There’s much to love here. But working with original “Woods” writer and Sondheim collaborator James Lapine, Marshall tones down the crucial dark shading in some places and has trouble with pacing in others.

A heartfelt, bittersweet and often amusing portrait of early middle-age.

There are big special effects, of course, but refreshingly, this third (and final?) movie in the franchise is like a pleasant stroll through familiar halls.

Winter Sleep won’t appeal to action lovers, but if you like endless verbal warfare, this is a joy.

Spall is best known for his supporting performances (Winston Churchill in “The King’s Speech,” Peter Pettigrew in the “Harry Potter” films). But he’s among the highest class of character actor, able to make a role of any size his own. Leigh has given Spall the gift of a lifetime in J.M.W. Turner.

For all the talent involved, the overall effect is surprisingly flat. Foxx appears disconnected, Byrne is wasted and a painfully hammy Diaz seems to be in another movie altogether.

Real-life geopolitical blunders aside, The Interview generally hits its marks. And every time it does skid into juvenile idiocy — with too much scatological humor, for instance, and an overuse of “you-go-bro!” attitude — it follows it with a stride or two toward uproarious meta-satire.

There’s far too many moments of sabre-rattling, and too much confusion about who is aligned with whom, and why. Those who know and love Tolkien’s texts will have a vested interest. Everyone else may grow restless.

Franco himself is ponderous playing Williams, which tends to overwhelm everything. A cool concept, and A for effort.

The heart of the film is the touching relationship between two lonely souls. The lovely, feisty chemistry between Rowlands and Jackson will keep even the most cynical viewers on their toes.

Most tales come from the inimitable mouth of the man himself, who could make ordering dinner sound like Shakespeare. He had a life to match. Workman covers all of his subject’s years, even if very few of them truly belonged to Welles.

They’ve turned Thomas Pynchon’s work into a slapstick noir homage that doesn’t just reward but demands multiple viewings.

It’s one of the most vibrant, sly romantic comedies this year.

Surely an Oscar-nominated filmmaker like Atom Egoyan (“The Sweet Hereafter”) can do better than this nasty and unconvincing thriller.

Shallow and frustratingly misguided drama.

This eye-rollingly bad movie is silly, sluggish and miscast.

It's no surprise that first-time director Scott Cohen is a nature photographer by trade: he's made one of the most gorgeous movies you'll see this year.

Poisoned air, feral night-vision critters and hard-to-read hieroglyphics are just the tip of the pyramid for the world's dumbest squad of adventurers who walk right into their own curse.

This one can't handle the pressure.

Liv Ullmann’s screen version of August Strindberg’s 19th-century drama is an austere, pared-down take that does one thing extremely well: It allows actors Jessica Chastain, Samantha Morton and especially Colin Farrell to shine. But this emotionally brutal work is anything but cinematically engaging.