James makes for a charismatic hero, and former “Saturday Night Live” star Sudeikis is a revelation as the steadfast Snyder.

Where to Invade Next isn’t his funniest documentary, but it may be his most poignant.

Smart, sexy and outrageous, Deadpool delivers.

Based on a true story, The Lady in the Van is a well-acted but somewhat wearying exercise in British whimsy.

The zombie scenes are startling, but only PG-13 horrifying. That will probably be just fine with most Jane Austen fans.

Unfortunately, Hail, Caesar! comes across as far less than the sum of its parts.

Daringly unsentimental, 45 Years makes a persuasive case that marriage demands not only patience, but guts.

In a small role as a self-absorbed film producer, Mark Wahlberg is touchingly effective.

With spot-on vocal performances from Thewlis, Leigh and Tom Noonan, the film is nothing less than mesmerizing — and must viewing for serious cinephiles.

As cop comedies go, Ride Along 2 gets the job done.

Boldly original, The Revenant puts everything else playing at the multiplexes in the shade.

The Forest is flawed on so many levels. It’s a tiresome bore, and the story is filtered through white characters when an Asian lead could have carried the movie just fine.

If you’re looking for a film that’s just about guaranteed to make you feel good, you’d be well advised to drop by Daddy’s Home.

At its heart, Carol deals with the rules that society imposes on individuals, and the courage necessary to throw those rules out the window.

Working from a self-penned screenplay, Tarantino has come up with one of the wordiest Westerns on record, and even some of his most diehard fans may grimace at the film’s occasionally slow pace. But The Hateful Eight more than compensates through its intriguing characters, ominous atmosphere and palpable suspense.

The Big Short is the film that “The Wolf of Wall Street” wanted to be.

Only when the camera is on Vikander does the film transcend its artifice. In one of the year’s best performances, she imbues Gerda with such poignancy and grace that Redmayne all but fades into the background.

A mention must be given to John Cena, who also appeared in “Trainwreck,” for his comedic talents. Here, he’s a stone-faced drug dealer with a supermarket of goods.

Perhaps the greatest triumph of Star Wars: The Force Awakens is that it justifies the enormous hype. Working from a screenplay that he co-wrote with Michael Arndt and Lawrence Kasdan, director J.J. Abrams (“Star Trek”) brings fresh energy to the franchise while adhering to the storytelling values that made it matter in the first place.

Macbeth takes liberties with the particulars of the Shakespeare play, but is fascinatingly true to its spirit.

An oddly uninvolving adventure story.

Chi-Raq is a mess — tonally inconsistent, overbearing in its earnestness and badly in need of editing. But it’s also director Spike Lee’s most passionate film since “25th Hour” (2002).

Perhaps the larger issue is that we just expect better from the company that gave us so much more originality and smarts in movies such as “WALL-E,” “Toy Story” and “Inside Out.” Enjoy it for what it is.

Working from his own screenplay, director Brian Helgeland clearly has a feel for the Krays’ criminal milieu, but it’s not long before repetition sets in. There’s only so much brutality that even the most bloodthirsty audience can tolerate.

Often, extending a film franchise signifies a lack of imagination. But Creed is a knockout.

If you think they don’t make movies like they used to, Brooklyn is glorious proof to the contrary.

An exciting, involving finale, streamlining the complicated end game of Collins’ story without shortchanging the climactic action.

In addition to starring, Jolie Pitt wrote and directed By the Sea. She has given herself relatively little dialogue, but stuck her husband with lines like “Stop acting like this!” and “You resist happiness!”