Burns is going for smooth entertainment here, and the light tone keeps Finnegan's Foursome from diving into some of the emotional territory it could have. He's also conceived this as a story about the brothers first and foremost, and the children function mostly as an extension of their drama, rather than a chance to explore a whole new set of relationships. One can only imagine what this script might've accomplished in the hands of a more ambitious dramatist. However, those frustrations are only really allowed to surface because Burns' film takes its time getting into a groove – once it does, it's easy to become swept up in its gentle current.

I have been more engaged trying to sift through my feelings about this movie after the fact than I was actually watching it. Sometimes, when it comes to art, that's just how it is, and I don't think I could convincingly say Jinsei is unsuccessful. But I don't think it's successful enough. Though it creates striking moments and leaves a lasting impact of some kind, Suzuki aims for a scope of storytelling that his film just doesn't achieve anywhere but on paper.

With even an ounce of narrative focus, it could have had its fun while actually commenting on one of the biggest modern trends in the genre. Instead, it falls into the same traps that subsequently weakened the parody sub-genre as a whole. Despite some good gags, a committed cast, and a solid central premise, Scary Movie just can't get out of its own way.

The more standard it feels, the harder it becomes to be swept up in the narrative swells, and the film's reach eventually exceeds its grasp. But even if it isn't shattering, Miss You, Love You still entertains.

Though I won't be asking for my 60 minutes back, it's about as far from essential viewing as you can get.

Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser do terrific work in the lead roles, and they're magnetic enough to make a movie about debates over weather predictions riveting – even if the script and direction can't quite match their tone. Pressure works best as a two-hander that occasionally surpasses the material, but it's not necessarily a must-see for anyone who isn't already interested in WW2 history.

This Australian horror film has many similarly striking images in it; writer-director Natalie Erika James clearly has a talent for crafting them. In this instance, however, that proves as much an asset as a drawback. Neither Saccharine's narrative nor editing have the same vitality, and James communicates her ideas so succinctly that too much of our time is spent waiting for the story to continue along the obvious road ahead of it. There are moments of vice-like terror that use the pacing to slowly surround us and squeeze, but the movie lacks the formal tightness to keep it up for very long. Just as often, Saccharine inspires impatience.

It's a technically fine film that doesn't do anything especially inventive, but remains capable of telling a concise story with clear action. Fans of the Jack Ryan show should definitely check it out, and appreciators of military action and espionage will probably find plenty to love, too. For everyone else, Jack Ryan: Ghost War could have been something bigger and better.

The most frustrating aspect of Paper Tiger is that there’s an exceptional film here somewhere. The budding tension was magnificent, to the point where the action that followed felt like a giant sigh of relief. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough – so much so that the 115-minute runtime felt entirely too short.

Parallel Tales is exactly as advertised: The central story interweaves the lives of six people in ways that should be a recipe for delicious, chaotic drama. Yet, Farhadi's latest is bogged down by its repetitiveness and refusal to offer anything new to a story about imagination and voyeurism. What we’re left with hangs a little too long onto a thin rope of painful repetition, false hope, and jaded screenwriting.

Even though it's a short 82 minutes, a film like Fatherland requires a certain level of patience. There are missing emotional anchors tying all the themes together. In a sense, the script holds itself back from fully embracing its potential, especially for a story centering on a father-daughter duo during the peak of the Cold War. A little certainly goes a long way, but even this moody piece needed a breakthrough.

The central conceit is both interesting and clever, it's often touchingly performed, and it has some ideas that are, when dwelt on, quite profound. But the story is wrapped in a self-consciously "artistic" style that is only rarely additive. More often, it just gets in the way.

What enjoyment there is to draw from the action, which has its ups and downs, is tainted by the skepticism of this whole endeavor that's baked into the filmmaking. Even knowing better which direction they should go in, McQuoid & Co. remain frustratingly unwilling to commit to it. What they've made is tellingly at its best when making fun of itself.

Though it's an often beautiful showcase for the Arabian desert landscape, Desert Warrior is a slow, awkward jumble, trying so hard to be cool and lacking any of the style or charisma to pull it off. The climactic battle has some redeeming qualities, but after waiting 90 minutes to see it and finding it so choppily edited as to be distracting, the prevailing feeling I carried with me after it ended was still disappointment.

With thin character work and a familiar story surrounding it, the movie ultimately proves more disposable than enjoyable.

Some adaptations, it seems, are far less equal than others.

While Lowery's film is ripe for interpretation, and will no doubt be better received by those who enjoy that style of filmmaking, those wanting actual answers will find frustratingly little satisfaction. Mother Mary is, at heart, more about vibes and style than anything else.

Despite having a decent budget and some recognizable actors to work with, writer-director Tommy Wirkola, known for Nazi zombie film Dead Snow and his Santa action film Violent Night, ensured what ended up on screen was a pretty fun B picture. It doesn't have the stylistic touch that can sometimes bring a little something extra to playful genre films, nor does it have a true standout sequence that could give it a chance at a longer cultural life. But it does have just the tone you'd hope it would, especially as it nears its climax, and that's all it really needs to deliver the goods.

Hill is willing to look critically at some of his industry's darkness, but he's also far too inclined to let his lead off the hook, and his film is weaker for it. As dark comedy, Outcome feels underbaked; as drama, it lacks sufficient introspection to have earned its emotional catharsis. Part of that is length: At under 90 minutes, the film is sometimes choppy and out of breath, and more time to flesh out its ideas might have helped it feel more tonally balanced. But no one change could fix a problem that's rooted in the vision for this material.

The movie asks a lot of its audience in terms of suspended disbelief, and while it occasionally handles its cheesier moments by poking fun at itself, there are times when cringe-worthy lines are delivered with absolute sincerity. Particularly early on, in fact, You, Me & Tuscany seems doomed to be yet another trope-y romcom that fails to set itself apart. What ultimately saves the movie is unquestionably its cast. Unsurprisingly, given their respective romance backgrounds, Bailey and Page are everything audiences want in romcom leads.

Not all movies need to be action-packed, and that was never Mermaid's goal, despite what its opening, horror-themed mermaid encounter might have led one to believe. However, for a film that sets out to take viewers into the mind of a broken man clinging to his last shot at change, Mermaid does not pack the emotional punch that is needed to hook the audience all the way through.

Margot knows the dangers of social media – her backstory has shades of cliché, but it's still effective in pushing her down the rabbit hole that her coworkers' superficiality precludes them from exploring. That investigation involves a string of missing persons and a killer obsessed with the dark corners of the internet. The biggest issue with Faces of Death, though, is that it's just not all that dark down there.

In The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, as in the 2023 film, surprise character cameos, nonstop gags and action, and references to 40 years’ worth of games that fly across the screen at 100 mph take precedence over plot, character development, and pacing. However, if you’re ready to turn off your brain for a little under two hours and bask in the impressive animation and countless Easter eggs, there’s a lot of fun to be had in this sugar rush of a sequel.

It sits somewhere at the intersection of Quentin Tarantino and Sam Raimi, though without the former's control of form and the latter's splatstick comedic timing, it can't quite live up to the potential of that mashup. Still, it's plenty of fun. Zazie Beetz is the ideal badass heroine to carry this movie, and there are more than enough moments of stylish violence (and violent style) to get the whole theater cackling.

Sam somewhat shrinks into the periphery of the story to make way for Amanda Peet's Dianne, whose tonal world is welcome, but certainly different. Rather than hold things together, Shear the filmmaker seems to step back, too. The result is a film that only exists in moments: sometimes funny, sometimes interesting, always lacking the cohesion necessary to add up to anything.

Director Vicky Jewson and her stunt team... properly make dance a large part of its central characters' fight sequences, which gives them a very different flavor. However, this only elevates the film so far beyond its fairly underwhelming script.

She Dances seems almost scared of its own premise.

Ultimately, Over Your Dead Body is too messy for its own good. It is unable to settle into any one choice. The repeated motif of flashbacks and plot twists is fun, but not always useful in keeping the ball up.