Offeris an exhilarating, and occasionally touching, experience that has viewers leaving the theater caught up in an afterglow of wonder. These days, heros like William Wallace are as rare as motion picture displays of this high, uncompromising quality.

Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei make the most of their limited screen time, injecting straight comedy into a movie that occasionally comes close to losing its sense of humor.

Although engaging, Deepwater Horizon ultimately offers a mixed bag of an experience. The setup is considerably better than the payoff, front-loading the experience.

For a while, Limbo seems like it might be a slow-burning romance and tale of redemption, but, as is often the case, Sayles takes his audience in unexpected directions (unexpected because they defy comfortable, traditional narrative routes).

The result, for those who can overcome the substantial “suspension of disbelief” hurdle, is engrossing and unsettling. As ridiculous as the premise might sound, the film is not easily forgotten. It lingers.

Fighting with My Family is as likable as it is generic. Pugh’s performance is the best thing about the movie but the story, despite Merchant’s comedic flourishes, feels stale at times.

The problem with End of Watch, a gripping police drama, is director David Ayer's stylistic decision to shoot nearly the entire movie tripod-less. Or, to put it another way, there's a whole lotta shakin' going on.

The best thing I can say about Apocalypto is that, despite belonging to an overpopulated genre, it's unlike any other movie to reach theaters this year and, because it is as visual an experience as it is visceral, it is best seen on a large screen.

It's better than most dramas showing in multiplexes.

Smile represents the latest in an impressive roster of horror films that have pushed the envelope, daring to go where most cookie-cutter fright-fests of the past decade have avoided treading. This is a dark, uncompromising movie that explores serious subjects like trauma and suicide.

The sequel often plays like pro-Biden campaign propaganda. This film isn’t going to be warmly embraced by many Republicans. Sacha Baron Cohen doesn’t simply skewer them; he spit-roasts them over a roaring fire.

That's what we get with The Adventures of Tintin - an unplayable video game that's fast-paced and amusing but never coming close to the best director Steven Spielberg has offered when in his "pure entertainment" mode.

The pervasive aura of creepiness more than compensates for the low body count and inventive use of sharp instrumentation.

Does what it sets out to do: educates about a mostly unknown historical figure (without doctoring the facts too much), entertains, and uplifts.

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.

This film is the complete package, and offers a thoroughly satisfying two-plus hours in a darkened theater.

A meditation on the pain suffered by a mother when her child turns out to be a monster, We Need to Talk about Kevin is the perfect tonic for holiday cheer.

Watching Thunderbolts*, it’s easy to forget this is Marvel. Bringing together the flotsam and jetsam of the MCU and allowing them to have their own adventure (without any major cameos) goes against the grain for a film studio whose mantra seems to be “Always Be Escalating.”

While Monster House is in no way groundbreaking, it's an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes, and is suitable for all but the youngest children.

As a dramatic thriller, Black Mass has trouble getting into low orbit. There are some tremendous scenes but the narrative as a whole feels more like a chronology of dastardly dealings than the epic tale of a criminal's rise and fall.

The Wave’s centerpiece is a critical ten-minute span between when the rockslide occurs and the wave reaches civilization. Played out in real time, this is a period of sustained and effective tension. It’s real, raw, and ragged.

The film will almost certainly speak most strongly to those viewers whose age approximates those of the characters, but the narrative and performances are strong enough to involve anyone who gives this motion picture a chance.

Infectiously entertaining comedy.

Many times, films that combine comedy and drama do so in an uncomfortable and unwieldy manner. In Slums of Beverly Hills, the approach is natural and satisfying.

It is not a step-by-step chronicle of German reunification, but it gives a perspective of the time. It's a bonus that this comes as part of an engrossing and well told story.

This is a high-wire thriller, full of masterfully executed twists, captivating dialogue, and a wildly entertaining narrative that gallops along at a pace to make three hours evaporate in an instant. Best film of the year? Yes.

Some genre fans may feel cheated by the lack of overt gore (there is some but, although it's explicit enough to have warranted an R-rating, it falls considerably short of the graphic bloodletting of slasher films), the unhurried pace, and the lack of many horror tropes, but the movie isn’t a carbon copy of every other “demon possession” movie out there.

An infectious mix of romance, mystery, and magic.