By blending facts, myths, and made-up material, Lemons weaves a strong, engaging tale but, at least on some level, there’s a sense of a missed opportunity to do something grander.

It’s a strong performance of a character worthy of biopic treatment. Dolemite lives!

The Lighthouse is a riveting but decidedly non-mainstream horror film. Even if the ending is imperfect, I’d love to see more movies like this.

Any curiosity surrounding the film may have been misplaced – it’s a bit of a bore.

If you liked "Zombieland," you’ll probably like Zombieland: Double Tap, just not as much. It has some good laughs, although they don’t come as frequently. It has some clever moments, but not as many. And the character interaction is fun, at least most of the time.

Although the second installment is effective at moving the story forward rather than re-treading familiar ground, it enters a patch of quicksand from which it is unprepared to escape. Disney is adept at doing many things but offering a sobering and intelligent examination of genocide is not among them.

When it comes to waterborne movies, Wolfgang Petersen’s "The Perfect Storm" (not a horror film) is more terrifying than Mary.

Little of the film is new or innovative and, although director Ang Lee can boast some interesting choreography with one of the fight scenes (something involving the use of a motorcycle as a martial arts weapon), his inventiveness doesn’t extend to the tired storyline, which feels like recycled pulp material.

The Laundromat uses a format not unlike that of "The Big Short" (without Margot Robbie in a bubble bath) to shine the light on the kinds of activities uncovered by The Panama Papers.

This is a disturbing film, a journey into the heart of a damaged man’s psychosis. In many ways, it’s more of a horror film than an action/adventure offering. Even Nolan’s The Dark Knight, the crown jewel of the 21st century DC/Warner Brothers cinematic catalog, traced a more traditional comic book movie template than Joker. Within this genre, there has never been anything quite like it.

The Day Shall Come is an angry film – funny at times but with an acidic underpinning.

Although Judy doesn’t adhere rigorously to the chronology of the main character’s last months, it provides a compelling portrait of the tragic decline of one of America’s 20th century icons.

With its grim tone and sickening content, this gruesome gore-fest might have limited appeal for "Death Wish" lovers who wished Charles Bronson hadn’t been such a wimp.

Of recent films, Christopher Nolan’s "Interstellar" is the best comparison. Ad Astra isn’t quite as strong but it’s in the same ballpark.

Downton Abbey is for those who loved the TV series and were sorry to see it go, and there’s nothing wrong with a little fan service for Masterpiece Theater watchers in a day and age when every Marvel film wallows in it.

There’s something delicious about the way Hustlers delivers on its promise of glitz, sex, and raunchiness while delving far enough beneath the surface to subvert the genre.

Although Peter Straughan’s stripped-down regurgitation of the story is faithful to Tartt’s narrative in the broadest sense of the word, it lacks elegance and depth. A Dickensian coming-of-age tale, The Goldfinch is at times dull and pretentious and never earns its 2.5-hour running length as an example of either art or entertainment.

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

Working with time travel is never an easy task and, when a filmmaker doesn’t take a rigorous, consistent approach, it can become a mess. Such is the case with Don’t Let Go.

To date, "The Insider" probably represents the most compelling whistleblower story to make it to the big screen and, although the subject matter is different, Official Secrets generates in the viewer the same sense of outrage.

Angel Has Fallen feels like it was cobbled together with cliched action scenes and circumstances overused by the once-popular TV series "24." Angel Has Fallen tries hard (and often succeeds) to topple the Kiefer Sutherland program on the “preposterousness” scale.

Ready or Not can be described as the fusion of dark comedy with the Grand Guignol. Unafraid to venture into cinematic taboo territory for its shocks and laughs, the movie doesn’t have many sacred cows. It’s the kind of thing we might have gotten if Monty Python had made a gothic-tinged horror movie.

Certain plot elements that made sense in the original are less logical in this one, especially when one considers the differences in bonds between mothers and children and fathers and children.

The film gets frequent laughs from its raunchiness but, underneath it all, there’s an emotionally resonant story of how children confront the demons of youth that guard the gates to adolescence.

Although Where’d You Go, Bernadette suffers from an ungainly structure and uneven pacing, the production as a whole is engaging and uplifting.

Blinded by the Light is a one-third Bruce Springsteen hagiography, one-third kitschy ‘80s recreation, and one-third feel-good father/son coming together. Surprisingly, however, it works.

Put The Angry Birds Movie 2 into the basket of sequels that no one was asking for.

The film’s depiction of cataplexy is a reasonable representation considering how it’s being used (sufferers may understandably disagree). It’s too bad that so many of the screenplay’s other elements – like its treatment of basic human emotions – are badly mishandled.

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.

The end result is something that feels like it should have been much better than it is.

Hobbs & Shaw is a “classic” summer movie in every sense. It uses Fast & Furious physics (as opposed to the Newtonian kind) to amp up the spectacle element while diminishing the excitement quotient.

The underlying idea is pregnant with promise but writer/director Shelagh McLeod, making her feature debut, is trapped by the time limitations of a film into cutting narrative corners and cheating to achieve an upbeat ending.

This is the director’s least violent feature film but it is in every meaningful way evident as a product of the man who made "Pulp Fiction."

Let me admit to loving the premise behind Supervized. The problem is that a movie needs more than a great premise – it needs to grow and nurture that idea, and that’s where Supervized falls short.

It’s probably strange to call a movie about illness and death a “feel good experience,” but Wang has pitched the film perfectly in this regard.

There are no humans in the film and their only participation was doing voiceover work. Of all the recent Disney recreations, that makes The Lion King the most curious.

Crawl is an old-fashioned B-grade monster movie made with 2019 technology. In short, that means plenty of gore and jump-scares to go along with creatures that no longer look like puppets or men in rubber suits.

Stuber is as bland and generic a mismatched buddy action-comedy as you’re likely to find.

It’s a rom-com where one of the participants is the self-described “last black man” and the other is a house.

While "Hereditary" crashed and burned in its final act, Midsommar stays afloat, although the movie is ultimately hampered by a too-long running length (147 minutes) and scenes that teeter perilously close to slipping over a cliff into self-parody.

Spider-Man: Far from Home works best when viewed as an epilogue to "Avengers: Endgame" (and, by extension, the entire MCU multi-film arc to this point) instead of a stand-alone adventure.

Although an intriguing way to deconstruct and reassemble a story familiar to most people who have taken high school English, Ophelia doesn’t live up to its promise perhaps because the lead character, even after having been “expanded,” is still rather flat.

Although the idea behind Yesterday was to craft a love-letter to The Beatles, the end result tastes a lot like a typical Richard Curtis rom-com with a generous helping of John-Paul-George-Ringo gravy.

I can’t say that Annabelle Comes Home, the third feature focused on the creepy girl doll, is the worst (because it has plenty of competition) but it’s easily among the dumbest.

Although Child’s Play is only 90 minutes long, it’s one of those movies where you check your watch so often you think it has stopped.

Even though Toy Story 4 sometimes feels like a regurgitation and retread of the earlier films, there’s something warm and comforting about spending 100 minutes in their company again.

Men in Black International is more than just an afterthought; it’s an unfortunate afterthought. Popular interest has long since evaporated and providing a new paint coat (courtesy of stars Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson) can’t change that foundational fact.

No one steals scenes from Samuel L. Jackson when he’s in this mode. His entire modus operandi is to be the biggest, baddest motherf... (watch your mouth!) on the planet. Nevertheless, Regina Hall gives him a run for his money – something she does with a lot less screen time.

For romance junkies, the film checks all the boxes. For those who want a little more, it comes complete with a smart script, likeable leads, and a willingness to occasionally tweak a trope or two. My only complaint about Plus One is that the ending feels a little rushed.

This isn’t Jarmusch at his best but it’s more accessible than some of his films and doesn’t demand more from an audience than to sit back and be amused.

Although not “bad” in a conventional sense, it’s a disappointingly mediocre effort that doesn’t have a lot to offer potential viewers over age 10. It’s a perfect example of what can happen when a sequel exists simply because its predecessor made a lot of money.

Dark Phoenix is closer to the comic book story than the previous iteration, retaining many of the core elements. Unfortunately, it suffers from a massive condensation that not only mutes the film’s emotional impact but creates an erratic tone.

Domino is a lackluster, hard-to-swallow police procedural with soap opera-ish subplots and flat characters.

Many years ago, an acquaintance of mine said “Who needs good art when you’ve got great trash” and that applies here. Although I would stop short of calling this a “gem,” it is at times creepily effective, at least during its first three-fourths. As the film approaches its climax, it loses some of its uniqueness but there’s plenty to like about it before it starts to feel overly familiar.

Overall, however, Rocketman works because it isn’t constrained by the beats of a traditional bio-pic. Although the movie will be rightfully and enthusiastically embraced by the singer’s fans, it has something to offer those with no more than a casual recognition and appreciation of the man’s music.

There are too many gaps in the cross-generational/cross-gender appeal for the movie to emerge as one of the 2019 summer movie season’s big winners. Some will argue this is all set-up for next year’s Kong/Godzilla rematch. After watching King of the Monsters, however, I sadly find myself less excited about that outing.

When the end credits roll, it’s hard to decide whether the most appropriate feeling should be disgust, despair, or despondency. This is one of 2019’s worst films.

For a movie about magic, that’s one element sorely lacking in this retread.

Perhaps the best way to describe Booksmart, the assured directorial debut of actress Olivia Wilde, is John Hughes for the 21st century. Although Hughes never came close to the level of raunchiness on display here, when one peels back the layer of vulgarity and R-rated dialogue, the beating heart of an honest teen-oriented comedy can be found.

To work, The Professor demands that the viewer believe in Richard and, from about the 15-minute point, I didn’t.

"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.

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.

More like the dramatization of an Encyclopedia Britannica entry than a fully rendered movie, Tolkien provides details about the fantasy author’s life and tries to explore his motivations and influences but loses sight of the character in the process.

Pokemon: Detective Pikachu isn’t a movie. It’s a cog in a multibillion-dollar media empire, a soulless feature-length example of product placement at its most blatant.

Unfortunately, while director AJ Jankel (Super Mario Bros – yes, she’s the one responsible for that) captures aspects of the hostility toward lesbian relationships in that earlier era, she does it without nuance. Her framing of characters is black-and-white and the far-too-pat ending offers an unearned resolution.

Ask Dr. Ruth takes the caricature of the middle-aged, diminutive sex therapist and, through the use of documentary techniques, expands and deepens the viewer’s understanding of the woman behind the image.

The only thing of interest is the zany, over-the-top and against-type performance by Dennis Quaid, who shows what happens when “ruggedly handsome” gets an infusion of a diabolical Dirty Harry.

Long Shot, a production that’s as much a fantasy in the political realm as in the romantic one, is a pleasant trifle that leaves behind a warm fuzzy feeling, which is all one can realistically ask of movie of this sort.

Unfortunately, Kelly’s reach exceeds his grasp and the movie’s thematic content comes across as muddled and superficial.

Avengers: Endgame isn’t as brash, surprising, or relentless as its predecessor but it’s a worthy conclusion to the Infinity War duology and provides a satisfying end to the First Avengers Era.

Enough conspiracies and secret codes to make Dan Brown sit up and take notice. All this and more can be found in David Robert Mitchell’s bizarre, trippy Under the Silver Lake, where the plot at times seems as perpetually stoned as Andrew Garfield’s lead character.

When the movie goes “boo!” and the viewer tries hard to stifle a yawn, something has gone wrong.

Somewhere buried in the structurally unsound and unevenly paced Red Joan, there exists the material for not only one but two intriguing motion pictures. Unfortunately, neither manages to struggle to the surface and we’re left with a mediocre mash-up of an old-fashioned spy movie and the story of a son coping with the sins of his mother.

The humor is typically sitcom-ish, tending more toward sophomoric gags than genuinely funny material.

There are no real characters in Mary Magdalene – only icons. Actress Rooney Mara does what she can with the role but she isn’t helped by a one-dimensional script whose sole purpose seems to be to turn Mary into a first century feminist crusader.

The movie is a pointless retread with nothing to recommend it beyond McShane’s commanding presence.

The synergy between the root cause of the peoples’ unrest and some of what we see today will not be lost on many viewers; it gives Peterloo a sense of immediacy that some history-based films don’t have. I learned things while sitting in the audience and that’s a claim I rarely make about any motion picture circa 2019.

This is what serious horror is like and it’s not for everyone.

My sense is that, while The Best of Enemies may be met by stinging criticism from the far left and far right (for different reasons), those with centrist leanings will appreciate it for what it is (as opposed to for what it isn’t).

In Shazam!, the positives outweigh the negatives. The film’s fresh aspects are strong enough to keep the stale ones at bay.

If ever there was a production that embodies all the negative Masterpiece Theater qualities, this is it.

Although nowhere near as lush, artistic, and downright entertaining as the Warren Beatty/Faye Dunaway interpretation, The Highwaymen hews closer to the historical facts (with the climactic ambush being filmed on-location where it happened).

Although it’s being marketed as a love story, The Aftermath is more about grief and recovery than romance. In fact, the film’s illicit relationship is a cold, passionless affair that generates as much heat as a dying ember in a snowstorm.

An unconventional tale of redemption that earns its upbeat ending by not falling prey to every cliché of the genre or giving in to the temptation to become too maudlin or sentimental.

It’s made with families in mind – the material will resonate with children and parents (thankfully) will be sufficiently engaged not to wish to be elsewhere. Unaccompanied adults, however, may not be quite as enchanted.

There’s something enormously refreshing about the openness and honesty found in Keith Behrman’s coming-of-age film, Giant Little Ones.

If there’s one thing that saves Us, it’s that, even as the movie descends into a narrative morass from which it never escapes, there are many individual scenes that, taken in isolation, pack a punch. The problem is that, once assembled into the larger whole, it doesn’t all work.

The Hummingbird Project is too slow and confused to work as a thriller, a drama, or something in between.

An unconventional heist film in which a majority of the action occurs after the loot has been liberated, Triple Frontier features impeccable photography, strong acting, and well-staged action scenes that ooze tension.

Captive State is a messy, incomplete affair. Attempts to assemble it into a workable package in the editing room didn’t work, so we’re left with a weird cross between "District 9" and "The Battle of Algiers" that doesn’t do either of those apparent inspirations justice.

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.

Older viewers are more likely to appreciate the film’s intentions than fully embrace the story and its characters. Kids, on the other hand, will probably enjoy the frenetic action sequences; plucky heroine; cute, talking animals; and colorful visual representations.

By incorporating a strong Jamaican flavor and infusing the mix with reggae and dance, Elba provides something more interesting than the standard tale of gang warfare and drug deals that forms Yardie’s skeleton. However, although these unique elements form an effective distraction, their ability to captivate wears thin, exposing the threadbare, overfamiliar story that struggles mightily to keep viewers engaged.

An intriguing blend of globetrotting neo-noir and road trip plot elements, The Wedding Guest often seems on the cusp of greatness without ever getting there. The film classifies more as a disappointment than a success because, despite its little triumphs, it fritters away too many opportunities and suffers through a turgid middle act.

Captain Marvel, coming only a year after the fantastic "Black Panther," is a disappointment. The acting and special effects are solid but the writing, by co-directors Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck (elevated from the indie productions where they made their mark) with an assist from Geneva Robertson-Dworet, is lazy.

We don’t see many movies like Gloria Bell these days. Simple, adult character studies with major stars have become a rarity in today’s movie climate. Gloria Bell is sedate in its approach – it tells a story but the narrative is devoid of sensationalistic happenings and manipulative melodrama.

Saint Judy has a serious agenda and, in service of that, it eschews action scenes, thriller elements, and conventional contrivances. It tells a worthwhile story and provides a primer on aspects of immigration law without becoming didactic.

For the movie’s first half, director Neil Jordan does a reasonably good job of it. Then, unfortunately, he falls victim to the most dreaded of horror movie clichés: supposedly smart characters doing irredeemably dumb things.