Just when things begin to feel like they’re leading somewhere, it dissipates in such an inorganic manner.

Dragonfly could have been a gem to watch with a cup of tea on a rainy day. It has brilliantly nuanced performances and a heartwarming tone, but it doesn’t seem to trust the quiet power of its story. Instead, it’s ultimately undone by a clumsy, horrific final act. It’s a film that needed more faith in its own heart.

The so-bad-it’s-good last act may be fun enough to convince you that “The Housemaid“ is a good time on the whole, and yeah, it kind of is. But that doesn’t make it good.

Denis’ directorial prowess stems from her immaculate compositions, an iconic aspect of her oeuvre that’s diluted by her overt reliance on Koltès’ dialogue-dependent source material.

This new Anaconda does have some occasionally clever bits, and a smile can indeed stretch across your face from time to time. But those moments are fleeting, buried under a sea of other jokes that don’t land and a cash-in on nostalgia that is never really warranted.

What could have been an effective investigative drama and character study loses all momentum in the film’s structure.

All the ingredients for a good movie, or at the very least a fun one, are present in Cold Storge: A charismatic and talented ensemble, a clever story, and an overall sense of playfulness that extends from the effects work to the production design of the 24-hour self-storage facility built over the old government bunker used to contain the fungus. However, that sense of playfulness doesn’t extend to the overall tone, leaving the movie feeling like a wasted opportunity.

This film may be more memorable because of its filmmaking, but it’s all sound and fury, amounting to very little. The momentum is lethargic, the characters shallow, and the narrative lacking any sense of intrigue from the romance that is supposed to anchor it.

Those who exist within the warm bubble of environmentalism will surely connect the dots between the tidbits the filmmakers present. But those who take the film’s paean to critical thinking at face value will be left disappointed, searching for answers.

Him falters as a comedy and even more so as a horror film, rarely putting in the effort to build tension or create memorable scares.

Regretting You is a baffling romantic drama that reinforces why this genre, despite its loyal audience, has struggled to evolve.

Balagov is a fearless filmmaker, unafraid of showing what many directors would avoid. And while that uncompromising spirit has served him well in the past, here it seems that some self-imposed guidelines would’ve spared him from crafting something so purposelessly unpleasant.

A handful of compelling sequences of physical action cannot save a narrative weighed down by a mundane plot, pedestrian characters, and an intolerably sluggish filmmaking style.

Wyatt’s big-budget foray is an oddity, as it feels like it should be truly epic and a film for Hollywood studios to gobble up, but something went seriously wrong when making it.