Gangster Squad provides a welcome burst of heat and color, even if those qualities are more illusory than real and subject to a fast fade.

The strongest, most consistent performance is provided by Sam Rockwell, who displays a wide and convincing range of emotions.

Monsters vs. Aliens suffers from the common 3D problems: dim lighting, poor focus in fast-paced action sequences, and too many distractions for the movie to grab the viewer.

The rousing success of the final 45 minutes cannot entirely counterbalance the stumbling uncertainty of the first 90 minutes.

An atypical Allen film. Some of his usual themes are present - in particular, his neuroses about sex and love - but this movie does not bear enough Allen hallmarks to single it out as his work.

The craftsmanship is impeccable as is the acting, but the storytelling is where the movie falls down.

There are several painfully awkward "dead spots" in Mallrats where nothing works -- not the dialogue, the acting, or the direction.

It is as comfortable and predictable as any Saturday morning cartoon, although with higher production values and a spiffier look.

Rather than taking any sort of bold step forward, Moana 2 is more of the same. Although that can be seen as a positive, it feels a little disappointing that this is the best Disney was able to craft after an eight-year wait.

Weak dramatically, and that limits its overall effectiveness.

Although Tracy Letts’ adaptation is generally faithful to the source material, this is an example of something that can work well on the written page but loses a lot when condensed and brought to the screen.

Black Widow represents the MCU looking back when it should be moving forward. Everything about the movie seems small, even the big action set-pieces. No doubt fans – and when discussing Marvel, there are a huge number of those – will be delighted to see the mega-franchise returning to the big screen but it would be a fallacy to consider this anything but a low-tier entry.

The most disconcerting thing about A Walk in the Clouds' tendency towards overt melodrama is that almost all of it is totally unnecessary. Minor script changes could have eliminated huge chunks of this, leaving behind an uplifting love story. Even as it is, however, there's still something special about the motion picture. I just wish the final half-hour hadn't been such a bloated disappointment.

It’s almost worth seeing Last Night in Soho for the glorious heights of the first hour as Wright manipulates the visuals and acts like a master magician in developing his illusion. It’s when the illusion evaporates that the movie disappoints and, because it starts out so strongly, that makes the lackluster final act all the more discouraging.

Beautifully filmed and emotionally on-target when confined to 1924, Mothering Sunday loses its way once unmoored in time and left adrift on the currents of the years to come.

Has plenty of funny moments, but there's no chemistry between stars Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston. It's hard to accept that these two characters are, or even could be, in love. So, while the film is pleasant and sporadically entertaining, it can't be considered an unequivocal success.

In the final analysis, Rising Sun is yet another book-to-movie conversion that loses something in the translation. Despite the always-welcome presence of Sean Connery, the film fails to satisfy completely. There are a few too many plot holes and logical errors. Rising Sun may be solidly-paced, but not all aspects of the production are as successful.

With each new outing, the Final Destination movies are getting better.

The French have an entirely different idea of what constitutes a "comedy" from the Americans. Little White Lies is classified as a "comedy" in its country of origin. I suppose that's meant in a Shakespearean sense, because there's not a lot of humor in Canet's screenplay, which is primarily dramatic and includes scenes of outright tragedy.

Although The Phantom is more often enjoyable than not, it lacks that special characteristic necessary to provide it with a unique identity. Arriving in the midst of so many "can't miss" offerings, I expect it to sink like a rock, moving quickly to "dollar theaters" then to video. I'd like to be able to champion this film, but the truth is that I'm tiring of the genre as a whole, and, while The Phantom opts for a different tone than most of its brethren, it's still not an especially memorable motion picture. This is the kind of movie that offers modest entertainment while you're in the theater, but is forgotten by the time you get home.

Enough things in Crossing Over work to keep the film from becoming a bore, but this is a definite step down from Kramer's past efforts, "The Cooler" and "Running Scared."

What starts out as a devilishly clever exercise in evasion and detection turns into a self-parody that climaxes with several eye-rolling whoppers. Well, at least it’s never boring.

The plot runs out of steam just past the one-hour mark and the charade, although necessary to the story, goes on for too long. The ending is, of course, the requisite happy one, but it seems a little anticlimactic.

Kalifornia is disturbing, and, while it doesn't overdo the blood, neither is the violence understated.

Contrasting The BFG to "E.T." does the new film a disservice, and it’s mediocre enough that it doesn’t need the comparison to emphasize its shortcomings. In recent years, Spielberg has become a hit-and-miss filmmaker and this is closer to a “miss” than a “hit.”

I could easily list a half-dozen movies about famous artists/authors that fall into the same general category as this one. Excepting Cumberbatch’s performance and the strong visual sense, there’s not a lot to separate this from any of them.

Although Around the World in 80 Days offers gorgeous visuals, that’s not sufficient justification for watching a film – any film – for three hours.

It's bland as often as it is affecting, and presents little that's new or original.