Ultimately, however, owing to too many derivative elements and an erratic story that runs out of steam about halfway through, Metro is only partially-satisfying. I suppose any viewer's reaction will depend on whether they choose to see this particular glass as half-full or half-empty. Murphy fans and action junkies will probably find enough here to keep them involved and upbeat. Everyone else will likely see this material as disappointingly over-familiar. In the wasteland of early-1997 releases, you could do worse than Metro, but, by year's end, few people are likely to remember the title, let alone the premise.

Watching The Sense of an Ending, I was struck by the realization that this should have been a good movie. Unfortunately, as is too often the case, something didn’t translate from the written page to the big screen.

Some of the more serious (and non-homicidal) scenes recall "Prelude to a Kiss" (a gender-swapping movie in which Meg Ryan switches bodies with an old man).

There are far worse horror sequels clogging up the streaming services, and Ready or Not 2: Here I Come at least occasionally delivers on the promised gore and dark humor. Still, for those who just want to see Samara Weaving go scorched-earth on some devil-worshippers one more time, there are enough viscera and sharp objects to provide a passing entertainment.

Take away Bruce Willis and this is straight-to-video material.

The Equalizer 3 is the messiest of the three movies and the most narratively fractured, but it should still satisfy those who consider themselves to be fans.

The film's central flaw is that the characters are haphazardly developed, and don't come across as more interesting than the props.

This is one of those grim movies that requires viewers to endure the experience; however, instead of providing a worthwhile payoff, it never varies from the expected trajectory and leaves the viewer as cold at the end as the emotional temperature of the key relationships.

It's disappointing that so much talent has been assembled with so little to do.

The promise of Before We Vanish’s early moments is never fully realized, however, as the movie plods and meanders through an overly-familiar narrative on its way to a half-baked and uneven conclusion.

The real standout is Alfred Molina, hamming it up as a desert entrepreneur who races ostriches and avoids paying taxes.

Frustrating because it doesn't seem far removed from a wholly enjoyable motion picture, but the tempo's off, beats are missed, and the production ends up sounding out-of-tune.

The Hills Have Eyes gets points for gore and general creepiness, and for occasional periods of tension, but it's not scary enough to linger long in the subconscious.

Despite being mediocre and largely forgettable, Couples Retreat is not unpleasant, although it's easier to recommend it for home viewing than for a trip to a theater.

Just a run-of-the-mill slasher/thriller.

It’s a near-miss that offers a captivating atmosphere and strong performances to go along with an uneven tone and a climax that’s so overcooked that it bursts at the seams with unintentional humor.

Despite its numerous problems, Posse remains an entertaining film. Not only does it bring an innovative perspective to the western, it tells a solid story.

I found Materialists to be overlong but not unpleasant but there’s a lack of balance in the way the secondary characters and side-plots are more engaging than the bland central romantic triangle.

Magic Mike’s Last Dance is one of Soderbergh’s most notable misfires and, although one can justifiably argue that sub-par Soderbergh is as good as a solid effort by many other directors, that doesn’t change the end result: there’s something unsatisfying about this motion picture.

The only reason Adult Life Skills is getting attention in 2019, nearly three years after it was finished, is because lead actress Jodie Whittaker is now bigger than big.

It’s not the worst we’ve seen from either Levinson or De Niro but there’s a sense that a pairing of these two working with a Pileggi script should have borne juicer fruits.

The Answer Man is a passable way to kill two hours on a lazy summer afternoon, and perhaps an excuse to get out of the heat.

"Before Sunrise" is a great movie. The Sun is also a Star isn’t. It’s not horrible and it may please its target audience but it misses an opportunity to have a deeper and less surgically-targeted impact than what it achieves.

At its best, The Journey is riveting drama, with Paisley and McGuinness acting as proxies for the two sides in the long-simmering, bitter civil war that divided Northern Ireland for 40 years along sectarian lines.

The screenplay feels like the culmination of all sorts of things being thrown against a wall to see what sticks. As it turns out, there's not enough.

Safe does not succeed at everything it attempts. The film is overlong and there are times when more aggressive editing might have improved the pace. However, despite certain dramatic shortcomings, Safe is an insightful and darkly comical social commentary.

It is an accepted truth that adapting a sublime novel does not always result in a sublime movie. To an extent, this is the problem with Never Let Me Go.

Has a bold, inventive style that occasionally compensates for story weaknesses. And, admittedly, there's a certain visceral appeal to the action sequences.

There are some jokes no one under 10 will get (a few of which are pretty funny) to go along with the visual diarrhea that clutters the screen with needless “action” sequences. The resolution to the emotional component of the climax feels like an unearned cheat, but I suppose it’s okay when one considers it will probably work for children.

Despite its tendency to tread well-traveled roads, Just Cause is filmed with enough energy and craft that, for the majority of its one-hundred minute running time, it's reasonably entertaining.

At under an hour, it could have been creepy and unsettling enough to work without being weighed down by narrative issues. At over 100 minutes, it feels too long and there’s a law of diminishing returns in effect. Once we recognize the underlying dynamic, the movie becomes less of a story and more of an acting/directorial exercise.

By keeping its goals limited, it’s able to deliver what it promises, and that stands for something. I’ll admit I was more entertained by this high-concept sci-fi adventure than half the films I have seen thus far in 2023.

The good points about Unfaithful can't overcome the movie's eventual downward spiral.

Technically and thematically, there's a lot in The Darjeeling Limited to arrest the attention. Emotionally, there's a void.

The actors may not have perfect chemistry but they are as likable as they’ve ever been and it’s not a chore to spend 110 minutes with them even though one can’t help but wish the fantasy is better realized and the ending doesn’t feel rushed and unearned.

The performances, excepting perhaps Olivia Wilde's odd turn, are solid, and the central story never loses our attention, but there's a lingering aftertaste of vague dissatisfaction.

It feels incomplete and the ending is entirely too convenient.

Despite being drenched in atmosphere, Last Rites can’t conjure enough genuine scares to fend off the creeping sense of boredom.

Despite the best efforts of Barber the director, he never quite overcomes the shortcomings of Barber the writer.

The reason to see Chasing Mavericks is the same reason why people flock to shore locations when a hurricane approaches: the waves. This is less effective as a bio-pic of Jay Moriarty than it is as a big screen National Geographic Special.

Five Feet Apart’s final half-hour is disappointing and frustrating – and it has nothing to do with the eventual fates of the characters or their romance. What’s bothersome is that, after spending nearly 90 minutes of meticulously developing a sensitive, honest relationship between two ships passing in the night, the movie takes a turn into the ridiculous.

The John Wick series, now on cruise control for its third installment, has fallen into a trap. The filmmakers have become so intent on delivering “more of the same” that they have lost all sense of proportion.

The Raven is period piece fun - at least until it realizes there has to be a conclusion. That's where a certain amount of inevitable disappointment sets in. The curse of the two-hour murder mystery is that the ending never seems to justify the build-up.

Although it would be unfair to label Cars 2 as unwatchable, it is surprisingly tedious in parts and not as satisfying as one might expect.

Without the impressive photography and energetic action sequences, Blue Crush would have been a lot worse. But, if the filmmakers had invested in real characters instead of cardboard cut-outs, it would have been a lot better.

Despite having a perfect cast for a title like Killer Elite, Gary McKendry's feature debut comes across as little more than a generic Jason Statham movie with two high-profile guest stars.

The movie is still a little rough around the edges, featuring its share of scenes that, for one reason or another, don't work, but the overall effect is one of pleasant entertainment.

The pacing is too leisurely and, although Ungar is invested in telling Galvan’s story and fleshing out the man behind the dubious legend, there are times when it feels like he’s bypassing a more intense rendition of the same basic story. Bandit offers more of a diversion than an experience.

The movie as a whole is a mixed bag. It's overlong and a times sluggish. The fights and battles, designed to give an epic fantasy feel to the movie, are grave miscalculations.

Freaky Friday is motion picture cotton candy - sweet while it lasts, easily disposed of, and insubstantial. It will please those who seek it out, and probably won't horrify or disgust anyone who ends up seeing it for other reasons (dragged along, bribed, or otherwise coerced). There are enough clever and/or funny moments to provoke laughter from even a scowling 13-year old boy who wants to be next door watching Terminator 3 for the third time.

The marriage of these two tales, however, should have ended in divorce court.

As long as you go into Garden State with reasonable expectations, its capacity to disappoint will be limited.

Solid performances from David Duchovny (in a cleaned-up version of his Californication character), Demi Moore (defying age), Ben Hollingsworth, and Amber Heard can't save the movie when the screenplay goes as limp as a noodle and turns into a long string of clichés.

For most of its running length, Sabotage is a gritty, compelling motion picture with twists to make a pretzel envious.

Liman applies the same frenetic approach to action scenes that made "The Bourne Identity" such an engaging and exciting affair.

In the Land of Saints and Sinners is a clear, unqualified improvement over such recent Neeson-led thrillers like Retribution and Blacklight. And, although one can argue that his once-prodigious talents are wasted in cash-grab projects of this sort, at least the movie provides 90 minutes of entertainment rather than turning into a by-the-numbers slog.

Crisply paced but undercut by hard-to-swallow plot contrivances, the movie doesn’t waste much time, taking only about an hour and a quarter to unspool.

One could argue that such an approach isn't all bad - after all, it allows us to know and like the characters - but there are times when Ladder 49 gets a little too cute.

At times, the film tends toward meandering and self-indulgence.

The humor is often muted and at times almost apologetic and a subplot involving long-ago events fails in its goal of boosting the three-dimensionality of a character.

Three-fourths of a good horror movie and one-fourth disappointing. The film, constructed as a series of episodic vignettes connected by an umbrella story, remains solidly engaging until it gets to the ending.

A nice little documentary that provides a view of recent history for those who didn't live through it, or a nostalgia trip for those who did. However, as vehicle for presenting anything new or surprising, it fails.

This is a competent, technically proficient rendering that may find favor with those who have never seen Romeo & Juliet on the big screen but it's little more than a curiosity for those with a long history of watching Shakespeare's works translated to the cinema.

Despite the presence of three top-line actors and a fine supporting cast, City Hall never lives up to its promise. There's too little grit and too much predictability, and even the central character, Calhoun, is never better than half-developed. Director Harold Becker (Sea of Love, Malice) keeps City Hall well-paced, so boredom never threatens. Even so, as political thrillers go, this one stands below the likes of even Kevin Costner's No Way Out, and isn't close to the same category as All the President's Men. There's not enough substance or energy here to warrant more than a lukewarm recommendation.

We've seen this story so many times that it's starting to wear thin. In many ways, Kicking and Screaming is mildly enjoyable, but all it really does is go over old ground with new characters.

Those expecting Dragon to offer a probing examination of Bruce Lee's life will be disappointed. This is not a "tell all" expose or a hard-hitting biography. Instead, it's a celebration of the first international Chinese-American movie star. As such, the film accomplishes what it set out to do while keeping its audience involved for its full running time.

Despite some great acting, Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool is a largely unpleasant viewing experience and the downbeat tone isn’t helped by a narrative that flits back and forth in time without rhyme or reason, sometimes confusing the viewer with the needlessly convoluted transitions from flashback to present (and vice versa).

According to Schnabel, the movie is intended to celebrate the man's life, not to mourn his death, so Basquiat's last days are not shown. It's one of many miscalculations made by the director, because, when the end credits roll, we're left without a sense of closure.

Traditional and uninspired, it does an adequate job of relating Duran’s story but falls short of providing an engaging cinematic experience.

The result is that the film comes across as preachy and clichéd. And, while the battle sequences are well executed from a technical point-of-view, they often seem repetitive and uninspired.

When Getty isn’t on-screen, the movie is a bit of a bore and it doesn’t help that Mark Wahlberg is woefully miscast and the thriller elements are anything but tense or suspenseful.

Unfortunately, despite a surfeit of talent in front of and behind the camera, the movie is unable to overcome a shaky narrative whose increasing preposterousness ensures it’s difficult to take seriously.

Annaud's desire to create an epic tale actually harms the production, since it results in unnecessary scenes that pad the running length to more than two hours.

Hysteria's "hook" is that it chronicles the development of one of the 20th century's most popular home appliances: the vibrator. However, although the details surrounding the deplorable state of women's medicine during the Victorian era are intriguing, the central story - a romantic comedy between a progressive woman and a forward-thinking doctor - is flaccid.

Part of the reason The Devil's Own is endurable is because, in spite of various script deficiencies, both of the stars -- Pitt and Harrison Ford -- have an undeniable screen presence. And, while star power can't save a sinking movie, it can at least keep it afloat longer.

Maybe it's foolish to be disappointed by a pure popcorn movie, but as I walked out of this film, I felt it had failed in its mission of pure entertainment.

It fails to sustain its comic momentum or high energy level. The first half is fresh and funny, but it doesn't last.

Once Upon a Deadpool is as crass a cash-grab as one is likely to find, but at least the filmmakers/studio are upfront about their motivations.

It is a recognized truth of the movie industry that even the best film makers will have disappointments, and, for Woody Allen, Celebrity fits into that category.

Howard stages several powerful sequences, including a harrowing childbirth scene, but the film falters in its final act, losing focus and stumbling toward an anticlimactic conclusion.

A palatable film. It offers a few solid laughs and will provoke some smiles.

By the time the film is well into its second hour, we begin to wonder whether there's ever going to be a variation on the carnage and mayhem. As it turns out, there isn't.

Heartbreaker isn't disappointing enough that it will cause pangs of deep regret for anyone who pays to see it in a movie theater, but it will go down more easily as a home viewing option.

Whether it’s the screenplay, the direction, or the acting, Art of Love never ascends to the level that would make it more of an experience than a way to pass a couple of hours.

The dramatic scenes aren't generally effective, but the comic bits more than make up for most of the deficiencies. Those searching for something that examines a crumbling marriage with greater depth and sensitivity would do better watching Judy Davis in Husbands and Wives.

They say the third time's the charm. Not with the Insidious series, it isn't. Admittedly, installment #3 is an improvement over #2, but it fails to reach the highs of the chilling-but-uneven original.

There are times when Austin Powers drags. It can be difficult to sustain even the best humor for ninety minutes, and this film, for all of the laughs it offers, is far from the best.

While the climax does not lack for action, the overall resolution feels flaccid and undercooked.

The Last American Virgin tries to inject some honesty and emotional depth into an otherwise silly and raunchy storyline. Its success is mixed but that element at least makes it more interesting to watch than at least 75% of its contemporaries.

The Gray Man is part of an unflattering pattern where creativity plays second fiddle to algorithms.

Loud, kinetic, unflinching action.

It's not edgy or groundbreaking, but it tells the story it sets out to tell. For what it is, Kosminsky's picture is polished and effective. If only the movie had taken more risks or possessed a keener edge...

Despicable Me 3 is an example of how even the most promising animated franchises can hit a wall if allowed to continue too long.

It’s disposable entertainment that will put some spare change in the distributor’s coffers while never coming close to replacing its venerable antecedent in viewers' hearts.

Forgettable? Yes. But good enough to provide a couple hours’ diversion.

It’s not that there’s anything fundamentally wrong with the film. Some of the individual moments are impactful or effective at evoking nostalgia. But, as they say, the whole is less than the sum of the parts. It feels like a watered-down replica of other, better coming-of-age stories.

A quirky romantic comedy that suffers from a rare cinematic malady: it's too short.

Kids will enjoy it and parents will be sufficiently diverted that they won’t be tempted to take a nap. It’s disposable entertainment but the receptacle in question doesn’t have to be a garbage disposal.