Scream 4 is so obsessed with the self-referential element that made the original Scream unique that it loses the capacity to be genuinely scary or funny.

Sadly, passion and romance are two ingredients missing from this melodrama, which does an excellent job of re-creating the Depression-era circus business.

X-Men: Apocalypse is a competently made superhero action film but it’s not a game-changer and its brand of action seems a little too familiar.

Like undercooked comfort food, the series has lost its taste and appeal. Despicable Me 4 exemplifies what happens when an animated franchise overstays its welcome.

Certainly, the story told by The Monuments Men is worth telling and it's easy to see why a luminary like Clooney would be sufficiently attracted to want to direct it. Unfortunately, this treatment, written by Clooney and long-time collaborator Grant Heslov, isn't the best fit.

The International possesses the look and feel of a thriller, but not the heart or soul of one.

The Producers is a movie based on a play based on a movie about a play. And that's probably the funniest thing about it.

Too much in Nacho Libre doesn't work to enable me to recommend it to anyone except a card-carrying member of the Jack Black fan club.

Triple Nine turns out to be a thoroughly entertaining (although violent) thriller.

As YA romances go – and there are plenty to choose from – this is a lesser option.

As Nina, Aniston not only displays a surprising capacity for both comedy and drama, but she shines with the kind of star quality that only a handful of current performers exhibit.

Generic and forgettable.

This is a beautifully shot motion picture, and there's no doubt that the lush scenery upstages the actors.

The film's comedy is lackluster, with supporting actors Nathan Lane and Sean Hayes (as Tad's manager and agent) providing a few mildly amusing moments that would be at home in a sit-com.

Mixed together, all of this makes for a fascinating viewing experience, but the unfortunate ending diluted my enthusiasm for the film as a whole.

Following director Peter Jackson's powerful, true-life matricide tale, Heavenly Creatures, The Frighteners falls short of expectations by being just one of many in the long line of 1996 summer movies.

The pacing is uneven, the frenetic action is rarely suspenseful, the dialogue is neither witty nor intelligent, and the anticlimactic endgame drags out to an improbable conclusion.

"Labor" isn't just a word in the title of Jason Reitman's new film, it's a description of what it feels like to sit through the movie.

A problem with this movie, as is too-often the case with productions set within the confines of a space craft/capsule, is that the filmmakers don’t trust the inherent dangers and claustrophobia of the situation to be sufficiently suspenseful.

Jose Padilha's Robocop reboot does some of the things a good remake should do: it retains the central ideas and themes of the original while updating and rearranging the narrative to lose a derivative feel.

The weaknesses of Beautiful Creatures ultimately outweigh the strengths but the conviction of the central relationship is good enough to keep things from becoming laughably bad, even if it all comes apart toward the end.

The Intern is a romantic comedy without the romance.

Dangerous Beauty is a lavish historical melodrama that has enough suds, sex, and flashes of flesh to appeal to soap opera-lovers and enough substance to attract those of a more intellectual bent.

Haphazardly plotted, it not only falls prey to absolute predictability but chooses to have nearly every important conversation (except one) occur off-screen. That sort of laziness is unacceptable and results in a strong sense of audience dissatisfaction.

A by-the-numbers, slightly fictionalized chronicle of the rise and fall of pop singer Whitney Houston (Naomie Ackie), the film struggles to find a reason to exist beyond providing fans with an opportunity to listen to some of her most popular songs.

One key missing element: the world in which this story takes place never feels unique. We aren't drawn into it the way we were with Middle Earth or Hogwarts. In fact, with all the airships flying around, there are times when it feels like an extension of Stardust.

A Walk in the Woods is surprisingly funny at times but, like many comedies, it runs out of steam about halfway through.

Cliffhanger elements aside, I have no desire to revisit this world again. It’s played out. There’s only so far you can go with dinosaur movie and this series has gotten to that point…and beyond. Fallen Kingdom isn’t dino-myte. It’s dino doo-doo.