Visually mesmerizing, lyrical and with a unique cadence, “Is God Is” is a one-of-a-kind experience. It’s angry and yet imbued with wry, fatalistic humor.

If “Remarkably Bright Creatures” only had that magnificent octopus going for it, it would be halfway to a good movie. But the human characters are interesting, as well, showing the stresses of the different stages of life.

For those who just come for the music, “Hit Me Hard and Soft” hits the spot, covering most of her best songs, from “Chihiro” to “Everything I Wanted” and “Bad Guy,” while providing a limited yet fascinating window into Eilish’s workaday world.

One might quibble that Jackman and Thompson aren’t in the film enough, but really, humans are a distraction. The movie rides on its woolly sleuths, so audiences won’t feel fleeced.

Mortal Kombat II is a sterling example of an action movie that starts out dumb but gradually becomes kind of awesome — and a little bit smarter.

The result is smart and witty, with just enough obvious nods to the present to serve as a capsule of this unstable moment in media, much as the first film captured for the waning golden days of glossy publications.

Uncertainty is a genre trope this director is particularly gifted at manipulating. So many horror films are incoherent due to a lack of good writing; if anything in McCarthy’s script isn’t fully clear, it’s in the same manner that life itself fails to make sense.

Like the King of Pop himself, “Michael” is unashamedly a crowd-pleaser.

In honor of NOFX’s final performances, the punk band produced and candidly participated in the documentary “40 Years of F—in’ Up.” The result is even wilder than expected and more heartfelt than it has any right to be. Even still, it will likely be more appreciated by fans of the veteran California punks than by anyone new to their music.

It’s a good film, very unlike most “disease of the week” pictures, in that it’s often quite funny, and it tells a fascinating story about something that remains mysterious to most people.

Lorne makes it clear that nearly everyone in the entertainment industry who is known for creating laughs owes a debt of gratitude to the master.

Instead of settling for a tour de force from McKellen, Soderbergh goes for something better — a fascinating give and take from start to finish.

Like “Nobody” and “Nobody 2”, “Normal” is a satisfyingly amusing, get-in and get-out (all three films are about 90 minutes) piece of violent mayhem.

Jonah Hill has directed and co-written an impressive little movie with “Outcome.” It could be called a Hollywood satire, but what’s striking about it — and audacious and unexpected — is that it’s dramatic and heartfelt. Here and there, it even comes close to being sentimental.

It’s Zendaya’s movie. Her layered performance holds back then lets go as Emma’s full complexity is gradually revealed. If you can’t get onboard with Emma, then you’re the problem — which partly is Borgli’s intention.

It’s a visually pleasing, vibe-rich diversion that is as enjoyable as flipping through a well-laid-out fashion magazine, or perhaps perusing through Coppola’s accompanying coffee table book on Jacobs of the same name.

Byrne makes Amanda compelling from the first moments of “Tow,” a moving if also obviously low-budget and occasionally corny underdog story.

The film details how constant propaganda, lies and outright gaslighting can effectively numb and coerce a populace.

Wang deals out absurdist humor with a deft hand, especially in scenes where Ethnos and its corporate videos extoll the so-called joys of whiteness.

While “André Is an Idiot” serves as a great reminder to schedule some basic health screenings, it also explores how best to find the quality of a life when its quantity is clearly defined.

Like “It Ends with Us,” which was also based on a Colleen Hoover novel, “Reminders of Him” is a movie whose willingness to be deeply unpleasant saves it from becoming a soap opera.

The Optimist could be described as a Holocaust drama, but it approaches that history in an unexpected way.

It’s a masterpiece of a family popcorn movie, with eye-popping hand-crafted production design and outstanding creature design and puppetry work. This is the kind of movie that could have been made in the era of moon landings and space shuttles, when the general public found science trustworthy and wondrous.

While Pixar doesn’t exactly alter the chemistry here, Hoppers is energetic and fun.

It’s a sneaky little movie about what people are really like, and it’s impressive.

Polly Findlay’s adaptation of Bernard MacLaverty’s 2017 novel is a serious attempt to delve into a complex marriage, and fortunately for such heavy material it contains two winning performances from Manville (so delightful in “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”) and Hinds (“Is This Thing On?”).

I’ve been fascinated by McCartney for decades, and “Man on the Run” made me feel like I was getting closer to understanding the real guy.

There are some heart-tugging scenes, but overall, this is the cinematic equivalent of a blissful weekend at the spa, a relaxing respite from the stressful news cycles of our times.