It’s hard to argue with Martel’s mission, or the existence of the film at all; however, unfortunately, the director’s wide-ranging approach has the effect of muddling the story rather than elevating it.

Homebound is both especially relevant in its exploration of the marginalized communities suffering on the outskirts for the identities society deemed lesser and increasingly resonant for how it shows human endurance does continue to live and fight on in pursuit of achieving their dreams to one day escape, earn their right to freedom and show that no single person should be defined by their background or community.

Director Sepideh Farsi's startling documentary utilizes WhatsApp video chats with a young Palestinian artist living in Gaza to provide a powerful snapshot of how the deadly war is decimating lives across her country.

If anything, Tron: Ares is less a film than a cinematic pin dropped in a franchise map that’s going absolutely nowhere.

Stiller and Meara: Nothing is Lost stands not only as Ben Stiller’s best film directorial work in years but also as a very personal keepsake for him and his family. With admiration, respect and honesty, this carefully crafted cinematic family album ensures his parents’ brilliance and love will never fade.

Exhilarating running sequences are animated with such creative flourishes. It sustains a few of the lulls in this film with thrill and dramatic impact.

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.

Through puppets, recreations, and other hybrid material, León & Cociña have produced an otherworldly, and thought-provoking cultural artifact on Chile's nationalist history.

For fans of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, this is essential viewing. Whether you’ve seen the iconic musical one time or one thousand times, be sure to take a “Strange Journey.”

V/H/S Halloween is a terrifyingly worthy addition to the ranks, excitedly and expertly bringing gorgeously gory and gratuitous fun to fans who love that stuff the most — and god are we grateful for it.

By the end, Play Dirty feels less like a fresh Shane Black comeback and more like another casualty of the streaming churn, loud, empty, and forgettable.

The Alabama Solution may not provide a definitive answer, but it sparks an undeniable demand for change, making it one of the most urgent and important documentaries of the year.

Overall, Obsession turns the volume up on impassioned romances with some incredibly committed performances from stars Johnston and Navarrette, and the wild scenarios they have to navigate. This is a film that demands to be seen with an audience to experience some high-energy creeps, chills, and thrills.

Ronan Day-Lewis makes a superb debut with this expressively shot and scored tale of familial reconciliation. The cast, led by the great Daniel Day-Lewis, is uniformly spectacular.

With The Librarians, Kim A. Snyder has crafted a moving, invigorating call for tolerant thinking and freedom to prevail. Thankfully, it provides a path forward for those who will watch it with concern, showing that the best way to combat ignorance and hate is with the further dissemination of knowledge. Evil prefers a closed mind, and like a good book, these librarians seek to open them.

Anchored by another admirable performance by Fiennes, it mines its milieu effectively enough. Even if the end result doesn’t quite live up to the majesty of Elgar’s opera, or even the truly transformative societal shifts that the Great War wrought on this land, there’s enough to admire about what takes place on screen in this telling to recommend it.

Certain to energize longtime fans and generate new ones for generations to come, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is a masterwork of montage. It’s a definitive doc that gives the sense of how the artist changed popular music, but also about how at his core he was a man with a powerful voice and a zealous need to entertain.

With the help of a superb makeup team, Billy Zane delivers an impressively complex performance as the enigmatic Marlon Brando that stands in stark contrast to the rest of the comedic film.

“Infinity Castle” doesn’t feel like a movie so much as a wobbly, but often entertaining, first third of a season of television. Mileage will vary if we should grade on a curve knowing it’s the first part of a planned trilogy, but for my money, if you pay for a movie ticket, you deserve a movie ticket ending.

Good Fortune is an amusing effort from Ansari, but one can’t help but leave it wanting a bit more, especially from someone of his caliber of talent.

If one (somehow) completely ignores the utter ridiculousness of a musical performance anchored with mediocre singing (insert snarky Russel Crowe-related comments here, if you’d like), there’s still a lot of fun to be had from the film.

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

Ultimately, what you see is exactly what you get with Poetic License – an average American comedy that unremarkably plays it safe.

As Normal barrels toward its conclusion, it’s easy to look past the way it glosses over in-depth characterization.

If you’re looking for a brisk bout of debauchery and family shenanigans, Alex Winter’s latest chilly tale may well be something to be warmed by.

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.

At its best, Blue Heron soars, creating the world of Sasha’s family in impressively precise ways and allowing the underlying questions to linger without succumbing to simplistic answers or pat moments for cathartic release.

The Blue Trail, despite its many narrative flaws, stands out for a striking visual style and ability to ask uncomfortable questions about aging and autonomy.