While "Love, Actually" succeeded in providing well-developed characters in (mostly) interesting situations, He's Just Not That Into You is often flat with subplots that feel rushed and/or contrived.

The ending is muddled as an unsuccessful attempt is made to provide closure to a story that, if told frankly, shouldn’t have one.

Unfortunately, a little too much pointless running around coupled with the underdevelopment of several key characters results in a movie that's never more than mildly diverting.

Grim but holds the attention; it does not, however, offer the kind of mindless action excursion that many will be anticipating.

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.

For the most part, the documentary segments, in addition to being unilluminating, are intrusive.

Narrative weakness and bad horror tropes get in the way and Mama's ending disappoints.

Perhaps the most disappointing thing about Suffragette is that it too obviously wants to be an important movie. The self-consciousness of this desire is evident.

Although the How to Train Your Dragon series hasn’t been reduced to the harebrained level of a big-screen children’s cartoon, the latest chapter is the least sophisticated of the movies, emphasizing slapstick humor, one-dimensional characterization, and obvious messages.

Most of the humor in Your Highness is obvious, tepid, and often crude. There are some amusing one-liners but the majority of the comedy makes one realize how brilliant "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is.

The 1972 movie was better paced and presented a superior story but this one has its own pleasures. It's an interesting failure - a film that works more successfully as a study of technique and writing than as a motion picture.

At best, Without Remorse is a serviceable action thriller but there are times, as in the rushed and unsatisfying final 20 minutes, when such a description is overly generous.

The jokes, which are frequent and frequently successful, make this motion picture worth sitting through, even though, at nearly two hours, it runs on for far too long. For those who are just looking for a movie that scores high on the feel-good comedy scale, Multiplicity is a can't- miss choice. In the end, however, I couldn't help wishing that Ramis had tried for something a little more ambitious, rather than settling for a multiplicity of laughs without much genuine substance.

For what it is, Summerland is solidly made, but don’t expect anything extraordinary from the production.

The problem with the movie isn't the acting, it's the story, which falls considerably short of the promise of its premise. For a plot about super-intelligent people, the screenplay is surprisingly dumb.

District B13 is action porn. It's a series of amazingly choreographed, kinetic action sequences tied together by a laughably bad script and worse acting.

Unfortunately, an A-list group of actors doesn't mean a lot when there isn't much of a script.

The film fulfills its limited mandate of providing fast-paced adventure and some nice eye candy without adding anything memorable to the tale of The Boy Who Can Fly.

Devotees of either the classic animated Disney cartoon or the remake featuring real, live actors may find a few reasons to delight in Cruella. If one puts aside the film’s antecedents, however, what’s left is an unremarkable (although certainly not awful) family film (with a PG-13 rating) that lacks a compelling reason to exist.

It’s a passable production with some interesting performances but the bumpy screenplay and uneven pacing keep the audience at arm’s-length and limit the effectiveness of the narrative.

Lovers of drama featuring quirky characters will find things to appreciate.

On balance, one could argue that Seven Psychopaths warrants a better rating than a mediocre **1/2, but the aftertaste is so bitter that it diminishes the sweetness that started off the meal.

In the Rambo canon, where does this one fit? The tone is closer to "First Blood" but the body count is more "Rambo III." No matter how one dices and slices this new Rambo, the first one in 20 years, it will likely please fans of the long-in-the-tooth series.

What's missing? Simple: the romance. This movie is so intent upon getting cheap laughs and putting the protagonists in uncomfortable situations that it forgets they're supposed to be falling in love.

Violent Night isn’t going to go down as a classic (although it may have cult classic potential) but, despite all the gore and violence and other R-rated material, it’s arguably less offensive than the kind of bilge proliferated by Netflix and Lifetime/Hallmark/etc. in the name of Holiday Cheer. There are certainly worse ways to spend a chilly December evening.

Kogonada's direction crafts a variety of visually arresting—though not ostentatious—set pieces. Yet somehow, it doesn’t all come together. The whimsical magic evident early on grows stale. The movie’s tone is herky-jerky and never settles. And the ending feels undercooked and unearned.

A mildly enjoyable romantic comedy.

This movie is about mayhem on wheels, tough guys viewers can root for, and villains whose comeuppances audiences crave. That's what Death Race is all about and, for what it is, it does a solid job.