Although unintentional, Puzzle is what its name implies. Despite an Oscar-caliber performance from Kelly Macdonald, the film is hampered by sluggish pacing and a sterile mood that sucks the life out of various emotionally-charged situations.

Blindspotting is a compelling film with much to say about subjects like gentrification and race – things it approaches with a mix of wit and seriousness. However, when it comes to punctuating a core theme of the Black Lives Matters movement, it falls short of the gut-punch delivered by a film such as "Fruitvale Station."

Although perhaps a little too long and not as tightly plotted as Rogue Nation, Fallout offers everything a viewer could reasonably expect from a Mission: Impossible production. It’s reliable.

Though not unusual for animated movies to provoke tears, Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms is perhaps the second animated film I would openly classify as a “tearjerker” (the first being Grave of the Fireflies).

Occupation accomplishes the previously unthinkable: an alien invasion film that makes "Independence Day" look smart.

The Equalizer 2 represents a solid follow-up to "The Equalizer" and an effectively understated entry into the 2018 summer movie sweepstakes.

Dark Web is a sequel only in that it mimics its predecessor’s style. The story and characters are new and, because the supernatural element has been eliminated, the movie adds a dash more suspense to go along with a heap of misanthropic nihilism.

More of the same. One senses viewers wouldn’t want anything different.

Be advised, however, that the idiotic ending doesn’t redeem the uneven middle portion.

Leave No Trace is one of the most moving motion pictures thus far of 2018 and it achieves its power without resorting to the overt manipulation favored by many movies.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Siberia is effectively well-paced, offers instances of tension, and doesn’t cheat at the end.

Like the little-seen 2004 mockumentary, "Confederate States of America," Sorry to Bother You blends conventional comedy with political satire to produce a film that will generate laughter and a sense of discomfort in equal doses.

The high production values, excellent acting, and strong writing make this a cut above what is often accorded this sort of release pattern. For those intrigued by the material, it’s worth seeking out.

Ant-Man and the Wasp offers nothing close to what we have come to expect from entries into the MCU. Plodding, repetitive, replete with technobabble nonsense and lifeless action, this is easily the worst-written of any of the 20 MCU offerings and may be the worst all-around film featuring a Marvel superhero since Sony rebooted Spider-Man.

Boiling off the divisive political subtext and its associated sociological aspects, what we’re left with is an old-fashioned exploitation thriller. Seen in that context, The First Purge isn’t half-bad. It’s competently made, delivers its share of thrills and edge-of-the-seat moments, and gives the audience an opportunity to stand up and cheer.

Day of the Soldado retains the edge-of-the-seat and nihilistic qualities of its predecessor, but there are shifts to the overall tone, which is neither as stark nor as ominous.

Despite a committed performance from lead actress Mackenzie Davis and a promising opening, the film quickly corkscrews into a death spiral of trite dialogue meant to obfuscate the lack of a coherent or meaningful narrative.

The acting in Beach House is uniformly strong and that’s one reason why the film works despite various narrative shortcomings.

Cliffhanger elements aside, I have no desire to revisit this world again. It’s played out. There’s only so far you can go with dinosaur movie and this series has gotten to that point…and beyond. Fallen Kingdom isn’t dino-myte. It’s dino doo-doo.

It’s another comedy that falls prey to two common problems: (1) predictable, uninspired humor, and (2) inept attempts to inject drama into the proceedings during the last act.

Constrained by expectations and established character/plot limitations, Incredibles 2 lacks the freshness and ingenuity displayed by its predecessor. It’s good, fun family entertainment but it’s not incredible.

By making the key participants in The Valley an Indian-American family with many traditional values and customs, Kariat emphasizes the universality of the problem.

A frustrating crime thriller that incorporates too many plot threads into the overall narrative at the expense of character identification, suspense, and emotional heft.

Bernard and Huey is a small pleasure; it’s almost always welcome to watch a character-based film crafted without pretentions.

The humor is often muted and at times almost apologetic and a subplot involving long-ago events fails in its goal of boosting the three-dimensionality of a character.

The movie spends perhaps too much time on the planning of the caper and too little time on its execution, which turns out to be on the underwhelming side. It’s also not terribly exciting.

The film functions as a time machine to take the viewer back to when (s)he watched “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” on television and re-introduces the man who functioned as a friend/mentor/father-figure.