It's A Wonderful Knife might make its points with steel blades, but that doesn't negate the saccharine earnestness that assures this one as a new Christmas horror favorite with a heart three sizes bigger than you'd expect.

When the film quite literally runs out of plot, only the filmmaker's sheer determination and commitment to the bit manage to salvage an ending that throws logic and reason out the door several times over.

An aggressively misguided, strangely dour affair that starts off bad and only gets worse.

With Eternals, Marvel turns a risky gamble into another piece of the puzzle. Its cosmic ambitions, its prevailing humanism amid a nihilistic outlook, and its gestures at maturity — the (real!) sex scene, the depth and warmth that they give to Henry's LGBTQ relationship — are not enough to make Eternals more than just another film to fit neatly in the Marvel Studios mold. But even so, Zhao brings an elegance to the film and the cast bring a vulnerability and care to their characters that leave a lingering impression, even as the last super-punch fades.

While Snook and LaTorre give it their all, Run Rabbit Run is just another example of a movie not working unless it knows what it wants to be.

There’s a beating heart at the center of First Date, but unfortunately, the movie is less interested in exploring that central relationship and more amused with its zany cast of idiotic supporting characters. Good pacing can only get you so far.

The film is undeniably at its best when grappling with the push and pull of technology versus old-school espionage.

Every aspect of the production is nearly flawless, from the production design to direction to the performances, and it all builds to an absolutely perfect ending that's hinted at from the very beginning. If you're looking to get your heart rate up and your mind racing, there are few better ways to spend an afternoon inside than by checking out Windfall on Netflix.

The best that can be said about everything surrounding Powell and Sweeney in Anyone But You is that they mostly have the good sense to move the plot quickly and then let the stars sparkle.

Rather than the gritty drama of the first film or the delightful fantasy of the second, we instead get a dull romance with paper-thin characters, lame voice-over narration, and rather clean and puritan dance numbers, resulting in a film that feels more like an advertisement for the "Magic Mike Live" show than a movie.

Over Your Dead Body pulls off the magic trick of bringing exploitation cinema into a timeline that's a walking parody of itself, delivering one of the bloodiest and most entertaining films of the year.

I don't know if I'd call this a memorable take on Dracula, but as a simple little monster movie with plenty of atmospherre, it does the trick.

The Contractor challenges expectations in many ways, it just never goes quite far enough.

80 for Brady isn't the most original play in the playbook, minus the sheer atypicality of aiming a gang of protagonists with around almost 400 years between them at a sports event for which they aren't the usual fanbase. That said, the comedy has enough charm, memorable moments, and charismatic performances from legendary actresses that it's a good, breezy time.

There's a place for brainless, R-rated action movies like this in theaters, and there always will be. But, hopefully, it's not asking too much for one that properly justifies the average moviegoer's time and hard-earned money.

Parents are frequently looking for transitory horror films to help bridge the gap between certifiable children's films to hard-R horror, and The Watcher in the Woods is a perfect addition.

The overstuffed "Despicable Me 4" abandons any pretense of caring about characters or narrative, choosing instead to fit in as many gags, characters, and little stories with as little consequences as they can.

It's really a movie about a couple reconnecting with each other and with their kids through the power of the lottery. It's very silly, yes, but the movie at least seems to sincerely believe in this.

When "Final Cut" works, it's mostly because it just repeats what "One Cut of the Dead" did, and as ill-conceived as this film is, the jokes still land. Of course, that only says more about the success of the original film than this one. The problem is that, outside of the French market, it is hard to recommend this movie to anyone.

This is just another run-of-the-mill, dramatically limp music biopic meant to be pure brand management. There are so many scenes of Naomi Ackie lip-synching full performances of these songs, and all you can say is, "Yeah, Whitney Houston was such a great singer." I don't need this movie to know that. I can just stay home and listen to her, which is an infinitely more rewarding experience.

For casual fans, "World Heroes' Mission" is solid enough in its watchability, crowdpleasing action, sight gags, and core relationship. But for all the wealth of material, there's little substance here.

Dark Harvest is ultimately a film of style over substance, but hell, that style sure is grand.

If you want to watch a bunch of silly rich people get murdered by a unicorn, this is the film for you. And if you want to watch Jenna Ortega co-lead a horror/comedy slasher movie again, you're gonna have a good time.

While its premise is fairly run-of-the-mill for a teen flick, its underlying messaging and approach to a taboo subject matter elevates the material into a uniquely moving film fit for ages pre-teen and up. Darby and the Dead feels made by people who have gone through a hard loss: It's a love letter to those grieving, reminding us not to forget to celebrate life too. 

Despite the film's clear edict to include as many tasteless jokes as possible . . . Quasi possesses a strangely disarming, hangout quality, leaving it feeling ultimately harmless and even a little bit friendly.