There’s certainly entertainment value in “Mercy,” especially in a late-film chase captured largely via dashcam, and in the film’s gamified version of criminal court, which has a video-game-like appeal. But with a concept so close to the real world, you need to engage with the ideas to connect with the audience beyond the surface, truly.

Gavras awkwardly swaps politically charged potency in exchange for an unmemorable satirical take-down of those contributing to our planet’s ongoing environmental destruction.

The Wrecking Crew simply relegates itself to the walls of screensaver cinema, destined to be ambient background noise.

What’s present here is one of the most visually horrid and banal “Star Wars” creations to date. Is the allure of getting children in a theater to see Grogu enough to keep this franchise afloat and, more importantly, on the big screen? Who’s to say, but if it’s any indication of what the next decade of storytelling for the “Star Wars” universe will be, then we’re in deep trouble.

Kogonada channels something, often in the replication of the works of Jacques Demy and Hayao Miyazaki. Yet, it isn’t enough when the central dynamic at its core fails to elicit the yearning spirit that makes any viewer hopelessly head over heels.

In its attempt to create extreme good vs. extreme evil characters, California Schemin’ schemes one click too far.

The film’s refusal to engage with its own material and its franchise’s legacy may not be the only problem with “Scream 7,“but it’s certainly the biggest. For every good element, there’s an equally bad one. The performances are either good (Campbell has always been great as Sidney, but this may be her best performance in the franchise to date) or barely functional (Courtney Cox looks and sounds like she’s sleepwalking through playing Gale Weathers despite getting an all-timer entrance).

It all makes one wonder why any of the original team returned for a sequel that not only undoes some of the far more impactful emotional beats of the final season but also leaves audiences in limbo about whether they even want to see Jack Ryan suit up for another disaster to solve.

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.

The film seems disinterested in carrying on any discussion itself, even in an obtuse way. Perhaps that’s the idea: that we’re meant to completely project our assessment onto the film rather than follow nonexistent leads from Harari as to his intention. But ultimately, the film is too vacant, too aimless, and worst of all, too dull to inspire much worthwhile discussion.

The action sequences are banal, the narrative underwhelming, and the acting unextraordinary save for a few standouts. Maybe there is room one day for a thoroughly enjoyable render of this material, but this is sadly not the finest effort.

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.

It’s hard to see Groundswell in anything other than superficial terms. For one, it’s a pretty dull affair, needlessly repetitive, and feels much more like a corporate presentation than a cinematic event. Secondly, its mix of sullen seriousness and winking wryness makes for a tonally bizarre watch, lingering needlessly on given moments while brushing aside real questions of scalability given the global drive for food from an ever-exploding population.