Unfortunately, following a key narrative inflection point, the suspense starts to leak out like the air from a slightly punctured balloon as the screenplay stumbles through minefield of hostage movie clichés on its way to a predictable and moderately unsatisfying conclusion.

The Broken Hearts Gallery meanders through its fantasy island version of New York City with meet-cutes and complications-with-exes until it reaches the inevitable climax.

For a director whose reputation is built on aggressively in-your-face subjects and styles, Snowden stands as a strangely inert outlier, a project that lacks passion although not perspective.

As disappointing as the wrap-up is, it can't erase the chilling psychological warfare that represents the majority of what precedes it.

The final minute of Halloween 4 remains as unsettling today as it was during its 1988 theatrical run. The real reason to see this movie is not for the predictable build-up, but for the cliffhanger provided by director Dwight H. Little and screenwriter Alan B. McElroy.

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life is too low-key for its own good and could have benefitted from a stronger connection to the titular author than the finished product delivers.

Lost Highway is unusually bizarre even for this atypical director. Co-written by Barry Gifford, the film ventures deeper into the nearly psychotic supernatural than any feature Lynch has previous overseen.

The end result is an unremarkable, unmemorable movie that deserves neither praise nor approbation.

Enjoyable in a shallow way, but there's nothing so special here that it warrants more than a cursory glance.

Deliver Me from Nowhere wants to be profound, but it mostly feels like it’s still searching for a chorus.

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.

The result is sometimes enchanting, but, more often than not, it's frustrating, because the disparate elements of the plot never quite gel.

Because Wonder wants to attract viewers of all ages and seeks to provide a “positive” experience, it glosses over the darker aspects that a story of this sort should address. In doing so, it at times feels dishonest and the Pollyanna-ish ending borders on cloying.

The message is laudable and Luca’s heart is in the right place but its sledgehammer tactics make parts of the movie feel more like a homily than summer entertainment.

The tone and pacing of Dead Man Down have a distinctly European flavor, which may explain why American viewers, used to having background and exposition pared down and cleanly delivered, may feel adrift at the outset.

It’s an enjoyable enough parfait but far from a theatrical destination.

John Wick Chapter 4 has its high points, including a well-earned ending, but it’s characterized by an exhaustive repetitiveness that diminishes what was so good and unique about the first two installments of the series. The time has come to put John Wick to rest.

How to Eat Fried Worms belongs to a vanishing breed - live action family films.

It's not bad enough to walk out on but neither is it good enough to walk into.

The Crazies is imperfect but it's made with a degree of assurance that will limit fidgeting and keep most horror-lovers involved for a majority of its running length.

It takes the usual chases, explosions, and shoot-outs, and places them in plot that involves all sorts of computerized and electronic gadgetry. Often, as is the case here, not much attention is paid to whether the "science" is technologically feasible, but if something looks and sounds neat, why not use it?

There's a little bit of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" in Shoot 'Em Up, although this production isn't as smart or as slick.

The movie develops in two pieces - one dealing with the quest for the hidden riches and once concentrating on the relationship between father and daughter. The latter works; the former doesn't.

Agreeable enough motion picture, but not one that leaves any sort of lasting impression.

Although an intriguing way to deconstruct and reassemble a story familiar to most people who have taken high school English, Ophelia doesn’t live up to its promise perhaps because the lead character, even after having been “expanded,” is still rather flat.

The Last Exorcism is one of those rare films where the marketing campaign is more interesting than the film it publicizes.

Like the candy from which it gets its name, Jawbreaker is fun at the start, but can turn into a chore to complete.

It may work for those in search of a good cry but as a story of a damaged woman to touch the soul, it misses the mark.