Narratively, The Song of Sway Lake doesn’t have much going for it but when it comes to capturing the tone of a specific locale, the approach of director Ari Gold is without peer.

Life Itself starts out with great promise – a dizzying first act that creates the tapestry of a character’s life by offering a kaleidoscope of moments from his past. It’s poignant, effective, and punctuated by actions that are breathtakingly sudden and unexpected. However, after the strong beginning, the movie takes a conventional turn.

Unlike the Harry Potter movies, The House with a Clock in Its Walls fails to find the sweet spot for cross-generational appeal.

Lack of focus is ultimately the undoing of sophomore feature director Yann Demange – despite crafting several compelling stand-alone sequences, he is unable to stitch everything together into a compelling whole.

A fully disengaged brain is probably the key to enjoying Final Score. Employing even basic logic engenders a recognition of how truly stupid this screenplay is, especially when it comes to the resolution.

Although there’s admittedly some perverse entertainment value to be found in this soap-opera derived mystery, the movie never rises to the level of something gripping like "Gone Girl." It’s occasionally fun in a trashy sort of way, but nothing more.

Black is a capable action director so the individual fight scenes are well-executed and occasionally involving. It might have helped the excitement level if we had more than a passing affinity for any of the characters.

The sense of verisimilitude helps to ground the drama. Although MDMA goes to some dark places and features its share of ugly scenes, it’s ultimately a story of hope and redemption. It helps to remember that Wang has become a successful businesswoman and now filmmaker.

Ultimately, however, the movie is so desperate for a conventional ending that it subverts everything it was willing to try earlier.

The overall package, despite suffering from some third-act narrative problems, generally goes down easily and boasts a strong, lived-in performance by Shannon Purser (Barbara from the first season of Stranger Things).

Peppermint isn’t preaching a message; it’s intended as escapist fun. The problem is, there’s nothing “fun” about sitting through this 100-minute exercise in robotic butchery.

Five Fingers of Marseilles is simultaneously familiar and unique. As befits a film set in an isolated corner of the pre-and-post-Apartheid country, the movie incorporates its contemporaneous circumstances into the plot.

An unevenly paced but ultimately winning romantic comedy, Juliet, Naked is the latest success based on a Hornby novel, joining "Brooklyn," "High Fidelity," "About a Boy," and "Fever Pitch."

There’s nothing momentous about The Wife but it functions equally effectively as a character-based drama and an allegorical statement about the power dynamic between men and women in pre-21st century marriages.

A taut, effectively paced mystery-thriller with a powerful emotional component

As horror movies go, Boarding School is worth seeing simply because it’s different. Not weird, off-the-wall different like mother! or Hereditary, but different in a good way.

At times dull and plodding and at other times cartoonishly silly, Kin rarely works and, when it does, it’s often for the wrong reasons.

The movie, which is concerned primarily with the several weeks surrounding Eichmann’s capture, mixes factual elements with a few “Hollywood touches” to provide a compelling thriller.

First-time director Jonathan Watson crafts a film that’s neither funny nor exciting, although it often seems to be straining to be one or the other. It’s a tonal mess and its inconsistencies make it a frustrating viewing experience.

Despite being one of the shortest theatrical releases of the year, clocking in at about 75 minutes (not counting end credits), The Happytime Murders feels overlong. That’s probably because the plot is nonsensical and pointless.

If there’s a compelling reason to see the film, it’s Regina Hall.

The Swan hits many of the right notes but as an attempt to be something more, it paradoxically becomes less.

The short running length is a benefit because it means that Mile 22 doesn’t stick around long enough to wear out its welcome – a too-often evident problem in films of this sort.

Granted, one wouldn’t expect a modern-day fairy tale to be socially conscious but there’s something so overt about this materialism that it stains the overall experience.

It’s supposed to be a screwball comedy but someone forgot to include the laughs.

The Meg takes itself far too seriously. The only amusing elements are Jason Statham’s occasional one-liners coupled with his exasperated expressions.

BlacKkKlansman comes across as equally entertaining and disturbing, which is most likely what Lee intended.

The biggest crime committed by The Spy Who Dumped Me isn’t its dearth of humor or reliance on an unimaginative espionage plot but the way it wastes the talents of its leads, Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon.