Director Joseph Kosinski, despite being best known for handling the technical difficulties of "TRON: Legacy," shows the ability to push an audience’s buttons.

Apparently, someone turned up the heat because The Snowman is a sloppy mess.

Has some interesting things to say about someone thrust into the spotlight against their will but the sometimes heavy-handed emotional manipulation limits the production’s overall power and effectiveness.

Although the production is sporadically amusing, it feels like a 20-minute short that was expanded to feature length to its considerable detriment.

Marking the directorial debut of Andy Serkis, it’s competently made but not exceptional.

Uses drawn images to peer into the dark corners of teenage life: bullying, self-loathing, and depression.

The movie feels like Baumbach is working through some family issues.

In terms of overall visceral impact, The Foreigner is perhaps not as satisfying as a John Wick or the aforementioned Payback because it’s a more serious, complex movie. Nevertheless, it’s well-made, nicely paced and accomplishes what we expect from this sort of film.

By limiting the film’s time frame, the narrative is allowed to breathe and, as a result, we get a distinct snapshot not only of the main character but of the setting that resulted in his becoming historically important.

By turns frustrating and tedious, this can sink even the most intriguing story.

6 Below is meant to be inspirational and, although it’s not specifically designated as a faith-based movie, it often feels like one.

Director Lucky McKee and screenwriters Jared Butler and Lars Norberg take a standard premise and tweak it sufficiently to make it interesting and, at times, even darkly humorous.

It’s a fun film that breezes by and, despite any liberties it takes with history, offers a valuable look at Wonder Woman’s real origin story. For adults with curiosity, this makes for an offbeat companion piece to the big-budget blockbuster.

The last scene is unforgivably cheesy in a non-self-aware fashion. And don’t get me started on the dog…

Despite a seemingly straightforward slice-of-life storyline, The Florida Project achieves something rare and magical: presenting existence from the perspective of a young child while, at the same time, providing enough “clues” that viewers are able to decipher what’s really going on.

I enjoyed The Osiris Child enough that, when it stopped with the complete story half-told, I felt a flash of irritation. For that reason, until more is made (if more is made – a prospect that seems questionable at best), I can’t really recommend The Osiris Child.

The pressure on filmmakers to equal or exceed the impact of a beloved original is intense. In a case like this, when the reputation of a movie has built over decades, expectations are elevated to an almost impossible level. With Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve has met those expectations by crafting a film that rivets the attention, excites the imagination, and engages the mind.

Relying more on existential and philosophical issues than action or cheesy special effects, Realife represents the kind of movie I want to see more of.

It’s a surprisingly flat bio-pic of King’s life between 1972-73 with little attempt to make Riggs into anything more than a two-dimensional caricature/foil.

What we get is a mediocre remake of a mediocre original – not exactly must-see cinema.

Frears isn’t just telling a pleasant story about an unusual friendship; he’s asking us to take a look at whether we have advanced as far in 120 years as we believe we have. The question lingers after the movie is over.

The movie is more about the events that resulted in Felt becoming Deep Throat than his work in that role. Although not the definitive Watergate movie, it illustrates an aspect of the scandal that to this point has not been given ample attention by filmmakers.

The screenplay is quirky enough to resemble an unfinished Coen Brothers narrative but mainstream enough to appeal to a broad audience.

The movie may be marketed to art house audiences but it has something to say to (and about) us all.

When it doesn’t work, it’s because it tries too hard to provoke laughter with clichéd jokes and subpar physical comedy.

The film conveys energy, color, and movement from start to finish, irrespective of whether Polina is dancing, bartending, or trying to catch a few moments of sleep in a laundromat.

Although at times fictionalized to make for a more cinematic retelling, the movie is largely accurate and rigorously avoids exploitation.

The comedy is sporadically amusing but never laugh-aloud funny and the drama, which one might charitably argue is trying for a Toy Story-level emotional response, fails utterly. (However, I imagine most kids up to about pre-teen age will love it.)