Earwig and the Witch feels like a film going through the motions, but not understanding the emotion behind the big narrative beats it’s trying to pull off. It’s a film matched by its flat animation style: incomplete and uninspired.

It's easily one of the biggest surprises of this year. While it doesn't yet settle the debate about where video game movies will go from here, it proves the subgenre is evolving. Video game movies, especially "Mortal Kombat" movies, don't have to be radical reinventions, nor do they need to be relegated to fan service slop. They can be more.

It feels remarkably honest and true to itself, demonstrating again that taking such a popular character seriously is nothing to laugh at.

There's something near-magical about the strands of multicolored lights that occupy nearly every frame of the film, offering a winter wonderland contrast to all the carnage. 

On the positive side, Cailey Fleming makes for a compelling young lead with a touching performance.

If there is anything new to this film, it's the sense that the series is self-aware enough to understand that it's time to wrap up.

Those looking for the next "The Sixth Sense" will inevitably come away disappointed (though, contrary to popular belief, that wasn't M. Night's actual debut film either). But as a bold announcement that the next evolution of the Shyamalan name is upon us, Ishana leaves plenty of reason to believe that the best is still ahead of us.

There's just so much ineptitude running (or rather, leisurely walking) through They/Them — from a lack of fright, not a single interesting character, wooden performances, and no discernable plot — that one would assume this project came from a first-time writer-director.

Laal Singh Chaddha is hardly a Terrence Malick-like contemplation of pacifist philosophy — it's ultimately a broad, sentimentalist opera designed to have audiences reaching for their handkerchiefs — but it does have a more complex and gentle point of view than the film it's remaking. Despite how corny it is, Laal Singh Chaddha it unexpectedly disarming.

Those who remember a time when afternoons were spent pumping quarters into Street Fighter II and fantasizing about Sylvester Stallone beating up your bullies, will no doubt feel a surge of nostalgia — and a healthy dose of dopamine — watching Samaritan.

The sentimentality threatens to veer into melodrama at points, which Pratt struggles to handle. But The Tomorrow War has got a trashy popcorn vibe to it that it wholeheartedly embraces, and a cornball machismo that you can’t help but get taken in by, even if just for a second.

Produced by horror legend Sam Raimi and a remake of the Argentinian film "4x4," your mileage may vary with "Locked," an intimate piece with dedicated performances and a weirdly relatable thematic core, but thrills leaving much to be desired.

Uncharted has fun moments . . . but its overreliance on unfunny quips and uninspired retreads of the action-adventure genre makes it another disappointing non-MCU outing for Holland, and another spiritless adaptation of a beloved video game.

The Pope's Exorcist is by no means a good movie, but there's a modicum of fun to be had from watching Crowe do his thing. And if you have a problem with him, you can take it up with his boss — the Pope!

Dogman is one of those curios that you don't understand how it got made and just kinda marvel while it's happening, but once you try to put all the pieces together, nothing fits, and you're left wondering what the hell you just watched.

It is superior in acting, lighting, pacing, and clarity. It's also raw and confrontational in a satisfying way. But it's also a glorified remake more than it is a sequel. "Platform 2" is not an expansion, but a retread, nihilistically sifting through violence and cannibalism to get to a point it repeated over and over. Second verse, same as the first. 

Hess and his army of screenwriters (only five are credited) have taken the wisest possible route with their adaptation: A Minecraft Movie is a broad, slapstick farce without a hint of seriousness, reverence, or coolness. The most shocking thing? It's not terrible. 

The Lie probably could’ve worked in a shorter form – a half-hour episode of a TV show, perhaps.

I want to see more from Jessica M. Thompson, who has an eye for atmospheric creepiness that would be better served with stronger material. And I want Nathalie Emmanuel to land a lead role worthy of her talents. As for The Invitation, there's not much to sink your fangs into.

Goodnight Mommy isn't a downright horrible movie, but it certainly won't stick with you. Well, maybe the ending will, but that's not a good thing.

Paint almost gets by on its shaggy dog charm mostly thanks to Wilson, who remains loveable enough to guide us through this world. But the comedy is flat and the drama is dry, and none of it adds up to a pretty picture.

Nostalgia is fine in limited doses, but the sequel ends up feeling like J.J. Abrams directed "Now That's What I Call Ghostbusters," undoing any of the goodwill established by the film's first two acts. The movie is trapped in the past so much that it might taint any potential future there might be to keep the franchise alive with these new characters.

For how borderline cheesy the movie is on occasion, director Lucie Jourdan does an excellent job of emphasizing the heinous nature of the doctor's actions, while humanizing the patients and making the children's plight sympathetic.

While there's enough action (murky action, but action all the same) to keep you at least half-engaged with the material, you might want to spend Mother's Day weekend doing something else instead.

Queenpins boasts a cast of talented ringers, who elevate the muddled material far more than it deserves, without actually resulting in an all-around good movie.

Insidious: The Red Door closes the book on the Lambert family and delivers more than a few thrills and chills. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, and it doesn't really add a whole lot to the series as a whole.

This is a major misfire that will have you scratching your head and wondering how it all came to be.

Ultimately, The Marksman hits its generic target. It is the kind of film you watch on accident more than seek out, but you probably won’t regret the accident.