Happy Death Day 2U is a passable way to throw away 100 minutes if you’re willing to turn off your brain and pretend it’s making sense.

Rodriquez nails the pacing – it’s slow enough to allow for character development (at least where Alita is concerned) but ramps up during the well-choreographed battle and chase sequences. Everything moves along fine…at least until the final few minutes when it becomes apparent that we’re about to be victimized by a story that requires multiple installments to play out.

Cold Pursuit has a strong current of dark humor winding through the proceedings. With a nod or two to Quentin Tarantino, he has fashioned a bizarrely entertaining ode to violence, gangsters, and heavy snowfall in the Rockies.

A moderately entertaining but overlong film that emphasizes visual razzle-dazzle over narrative backbone.

Watching Untogether, it’s easy to wish Forrest had elected to focus exclusively on Andrea and leave Tara as a background supporting character.

At least What Women Want could be identified as an enjoyable rom-com with a dose of female empowerment. One would have to be charitable to use “romantic”, “comedy”, or “enjoyable” for this new iteration.

The PG-13 rating is an indication of how much the material has been neutered. And, although the lead character’s arc remains troubled and conflicted, the ending makes her seem more like a superhero than the material warrants.

The story is pure exploitation but the style bespeaks a more artistic bent. The film can be enjoyed (to the degree it can be enjoyed) for its excesses, perverse humor, and excursions into blood, barbarism, and violence, but the narrative doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Superficiality is The Kid Who Would Be King’s greatest weakness. It skims along the surface, always taking the obvious path, never courting interesting possibilities, and trumpeting trite messages about friendship, truth, and belief in self.

Serenity is a peculiar, niche production with minimal mainstream appeal. It will find its greatest favor with those who value oddball movies that take chances (regardless of whether they work or don’t).

It’s disposable action entertainment – a throw-away title that’s not bad enough to turn off but not good enough to seek out.

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.

All These Small Moments offers a mix of honesty and artifice. Some of the scenes simmer with truth; others are too obviously the construct of a screenplay.

Glass, the third film in what has become a trilogy, comes across as a mix of half-formed ideas baked into an uneven casserole. Overlong, talky, filled with meta references, and with a strangely low-energy tone, the movie never fully gels.

The film’s predictability is offset by what Hart and Cranston bring to the proceedings.

Rust Creek, an uneven but ultimately satisfying thriller from indie director Jen McGowan, seamlessly blends horror and thriller elements across its 108-minute running time.

The movie may attract some attention from horror/thriller fans eager for a post-Halloween fix but this is no better than a direct-to-video production masquerading as a theatrical release.

The scenario explored by Ben is Back starts out strongly but, with writer/director Peter Hedges unwilling to remain firmly rooted within the hard, mundane rhythms of a family drama, it loses focus and borders on the preposterous as it races toward an improbable climax.

Whether or not Kusama made this film with the intention of proving that this kind of story, often presented with a male character and from a male point-of-view, can be as compelling (and perhaps even more so) with a gender-flip, she has achieved that.

The movie works in large part because of the depth of Steinfeld’s performance. We haven’t seen such a well-realized character in any of the other Transformers movies.

Aquaman refuses to do anything original or unpredictable and turns into a by-the-numbers tale of how the trident-carrying King of Atlantis becomes a protector of both land and sea. It accomplishes this by hoping that special effects saturation will compensate for screenplay weaknesses.

Vice feels like a documentary-wannabe that never achieves whatever it’s trying to do. It rehashes events and information that have long been part of the public record and, despite the abundance of acting talent at director Adam McKay’s disposal, none of the characters achieve escape velocity.

Abetted by a strong lead performance from actress Felicity Jones, the film stands as a monument to gender equality at a time when that subject has become a hot-button issue due to the upheaval associated with the “#metoo” movement.

Cold War features a few too many ellipses and occasionally substitutes operatic tragedy for credible motivations. This results in a film that, although breathtaking to watch and emotionally wrenching, is strangely unsatisfying.

Mary Poppins Returns is an imperfect sequel but as a throw-away holiday film designed to provide a family viewing experience, it satisfies a need.

The film’s ensemble cast provides a case study in unforced, emotionally powerful acting.

The film’s biggest problem is its uneven pacing.

Mortal Engines, the movie adaptation of Philip Reeve’s YA novel, represents one of the most impressive examples of “world building” in recent years, surpassing such contenders as Valerian, Cloud Atlas, and even the recent Star Wars episodes.

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.

Narratively, not a lot happens during the opening 60-70 minutes, but Cuaron is marinating us so that later events have an uncommonly strong impact.

The move is a blast.

Like Kore-eda’s previous masterpiece, "Like Father Like Son," the movie uses a domestic drama to illustrate larger and more compelling concerns about society in general.

One possible misstep along the way is Willem Dafoe’s narration – it’s too wordy for the material and doesn’t quite work. Still, that’s a minor quibble about an otherwise dead-on portrait of a lost soul who may never quite find herself but who makes an uneasy peace with what the world has made of her.

The result may peter out on the way to an anticlimactic conclusion but it’s fun while it lasts and at least one of the three peerless female leads should get some kind of Oscar recognition. (My bet is on Colman.)

Those wacky Coens are at it again. And those serious Coens. And those loquacious Coens. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a paean to pre-revisionist Westerns, allows the Oscar-winning brothers to try out nearly every weapon in their considerable arsenal.

Green Book avoids sanctimoniousness in presenting this heartfelt, if sometimes familiar, story of mismatched strangers who learn to overlook boundaries of race, sexual orientation, and class as circumstances force them to rely on one another.

By playing things too safe, it loses the power and spontaneity that gave Creed its energy and drive.

It’s breezy and fun and, like its predecessor, relies more for its appeal on nostalgia and familiarity than a strong narrative thrust.

The Front Runner is a less a film for general movie-goers than for political junkies.

Despite being light in the story department, The Crimes of Grindelwald offers plenty of small pleasures and tightens up the linkage between this series and Harry Potter.

The resulting script offers the seriousness one anticipates from McQueen and the switchbacks and turns one expects from Flynn.

With the exception of a few slow spots, Outlaw King flows briskly. It’s one of the better “Netflix originals” the service has provided and worth the expense of two hours.

The actors, especially an uncharacteristically low-key Russell Crowe, are effective in bringing the personalities to life and director Joel Edgerton (who adapted the source material and also acts) avoids the kind of extreme melodrama that could unbalance a project like this.

“Hollow cash grab” is one way to describe The Grinch. Equally appropriate would be “soulless abomination.”

Distilled to its essence, The Girl in the Spider’s Web is a generic espionage/crime thriller. Although briskly paced, the plot is far from airtight and demands a deus ex machina to reach its climax.

One of the problems with Unlovable is the uneven manner in which the tone shifts.

Time Trap is a superficially entertaining science-fiction action/adventure film that might have worked better had it focused more on the “science fiction” elements and less on the halfhearted “action/adventure” ones.

It’s the best performance of McCarthy’s career, topping the one she gave in "St. Vincent."

Designed for and targeted at prepubescent girls, the holiday-themed fantasy adventure drowns in CGI, underdeveloped characters, and a plot utterly devoid of energy and excitement.

It’s too bad no one working on the production recognized the disparity in quality between the performance/non-performance scenes or they might have leaned more heavily on the former at the welcome expense of the latter.

The compelling reason to see it in a multiplex, however, isn’t so much the advantage of a larger screen as it is the absence of commercial breaks. The full impact of the movie relies on the gradual building of momentum and any kind of interruption could break the spell.

If I wanted to be kind, I’d call Luca Guadagnino’s Suspiria remake “visually striking” and “stylish.” If I wanted to be brutally honest, I’d call it “tedious”, “pretentious”, and even “painful” (although not in a good way).

Won’t win any awards for acting or writing but generates suspense when it needs to and tells an engrossing Tall Tale.

Bleak and gripping, Galveston offers a compelling experience for those who don’t demand pure escapism and are willing to sample the darker side of cinema.

Although the movie features strong performances and contains some individually potent scenes, the film’s style keeps the viewer at arm’s length, limiting the story’s overall power and emotional resonance.

This is the sequel Halloween fans have been awaiting for four decades. With John Carpenter whispering in his ear (the original director returned in an “advisory” capacity and as co-composer), David Gordon Green has taken the series back to its roots.

This isn’t just another “cancer movie.”

Bad Times at the El Royale has problems beyond its inability to stick the ending but that’s the one that ultimately sinks it.

The Old Man & the Gun’s problems relate to a lack of balance. The movie is fine when it focuses on Redford – at least until the anti-climactic final act when it loses energy and momentum – but dead-in-the-water where the other actors/characters are concerned.

When movies address fertility problems – something they rarely do in the first place – it’s usually with something less than the honesty on display in Private Life.

Unfortunately, along with his determination to burrow into the lead character’s psyche, Oscar-winning Damien Chazelle (whose statuette came for "La La Land") fully embraces the shaky-cam handheld approach.

It doesn’t offer a story of any surprising depth or emotional strength. It’s straightforward which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but the limitations of this telling of Colette’s life is defined by a familiar quality.

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.

To the extent that Venom works, it’s as a comedy not an action/adventure superhero film.

All movies have a perspective. The one presented in The Hate U Give is measured but unmistakable. The film is incisive; its manipulation is covert and strategic, engendering feeling without seeming intrusive.

Cooper directs with a sure hand, never overextending himself, and Lady Gaga proves to be a natural performer (she’s more believable in the role than Barbra Streisand was 42 years ago). She and Cooper exhibit a strong, primal chemistry. The movie works because we believe in them and have a rooting interest in their star-crossed, doomed love affair.

Made for the National Geographic Channel, Science Fair was devised as a television project. As such, it’s more than worthy of the time spent viewing it. The material is strong enough, however, that for those who appreciate documentaries of this sort, it’s a reasonable candidate for theatrical viewing.

There’s a sense that, in trying to add humor and cinema-friendly “touches” to her narrative, Gleason occasionally takes us too far from reality and, during those times, the movies loses its focus on the 16-year old protagonist, Jamie Winkle (Joey King).

In his latest diatribe, Moore throws everything at the viewer including the kitchen sink and hopes something – anything – will stick. Sadly, not much does.

Although there are times when the story loses its focus (mostly during the scattershot and occasionally confusing second half), the overall impression is one of satisfaction and the animation is better than anything to emerge from Japan since Miyazaki “retired.”

Narratively, The Song of Sway Lake doesn’t have much going for it but when it comes to capturing the tone of a specific locale, the approach of director Ari Gold is without peer.

Life Itself starts out with great promise – a dizzying first act that creates the tapestry of a character’s life by offering a kaleidoscope of moments from his past. It’s poignant, effective, and punctuated by actions that are breathtakingly sudden and unexpected. However, after the strong beginning, the movie takes a conventional turn.

Unlike the Harry Potter movies, The House with a Clock in Its Walls fails to find the sweet spot for cross-generational appeal.

Lack of focus is ultimately the undoing of sophomore feature director Yann Demange – despite crafting several compelling stand-alone sequences, he is unable to stitch everything together into a compelling whole.

A fully disengaged brain is probably the key to enjoying Final Score. Employing even basic logic engenders a recognition of how truly stupid this screenplay is, especially when it comes to the resolution.

Although there’s admittedly some perverse entertainment value to be found in this soap-opera derived mystery, the movie never rises to the level of something gripping like "Gone Girl." It’s occasionally fun in a trashy sort of way, but nothing more.

Black is a capable action director so the individual fight scenes are well-executed and occasionally involving. It might have helped the excitement level if we had more than a passing affinity for any of the characters.

The sense of verisimilitude helps to ground the drama. Although MDMA goes to some dark places and features its share of ugly scenes, it’s ultimately a story of hope and redemption. It helps to remember that Wang has become a successful businesswoman and now filmmaker.

Ultimately, however, the movie is so desperate for a conventional ending that it subverts everything it was willing to try earlier.

The overall package, despite suffering from some third-act narrative problems, generally goes down easily and boasts a strong, lived-in performance by Shannon Purser (Barbara from the first season of Stranger Things).

Peppermint isn’t preaching a message; it’s intended as escapist fun. The problem is, there’s nothing “fun” about sitting through this 100-minute exercise in robotic butchery.

Five Fingers of Marseilles is simultaneously familiar and unique. As befits a film set in an isolated corner of the pre-and-post-Apartheid country, the movie incorporates its contemporaneous circumstances into the plot.

An unevenly paced but ultimately winning romantic comedy, Juliet, Naked is the latest success based on a Hornby novel, joining "Brooklyn," "High Fidelity," "About a Boy," and "Fever Pitch."

There’s nothing momentous about The Wife but it functions equally effectively as a character-based drama and an allegorical statement about the power dynamic between men and women in pre-21st century marriages.

A taut, effectively paced mystery-thriller with a powerful emotional component

As horror movies go, Boarding School is worth seeing simply because it’s different. Not weird, off-the-wall different like mother! or Hereditary, but different in a good way.

At times dull and plodding and at other times cartoonishly silly, Kin rarely works and, when it does, it’s often for the wrong reasons.

The movie, which is concerned primarily with the several weeks surrounding Eichmann’s capture, mixes factual elements with a few “Hollywood touches” to provide a compelling thriller.

First-time director Jonathan Watson crafts a film that’s neither funny nor exciting, although it often seems to be straining to be one or the other. It’s a tonal mess and its inconsistencies make it a frustrating viewing experience.

Despite being one of the shortest theatrical releases of the year, clocking in at about 75 minutes (not counting end credits), The Happytime Murders feels overlong. That’s probably because the plot is nonsensical and pointless.

If there’s a compelling reason to see the film, it’s Regina Hall.

The Swan hits many of the right notes but as an attempt to be something more, it paradoxically becomes less.

The short running length is a benefit because it means that Mile 22 doesn’t stick around long enough to wear out its welcome – a too-often evident problem in films of this sort.

Granted, one wouldn’t expect a modern-day fairy tale to be socially conscious but there’s something so overt about this materialism that it stains the overall experience.

It’s supposed to be a screwball comedy but someone forgot to include the laughs.

The Meg takes itself far too seriously. The only amusing elements are Jason Statham’s occasional one-liners coupled with his exasperated expressions.

BlacKkKlansman comes across as equally entertaining and disturbing, which is most likely what Lee intended.

The biggest crime committed by The Spy Who Dumped Me isn’t its dearth of humor or reliance on an unimaginative espionage plot but the way it wastes the talents of its leads, Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon.