The Electric State really aims to be an epic, spectacularly shaped, crowd-pleasing blockbuster, but missing the mark so often, it just veers more and more off course, to be a loud, blustery, hectic extravaganza that’s all noisy dressing and no depth or humanity. It says nothing and offers little other than a folding laundry distraction.

Holland is full of good ideas, good acting, and stylish design. However, it is too much to overcome with a meandering narrative and a deeply exploitative main character that oscillates between being framed as sympathetic and unlikeable.

There is a winning buddy comedy deep inside The Accountant 2, but it’s buried under so much tedious meandering that it never gets to fully see the light of day.

It all makes for a clever, measured, mirthful, and joyous film with the real potential to be a modern monster movie classic whose legs could easily see it sprinting into being a routine rewatch every single year.

Another Simple Favor is a sequel that never makes a case for its existence. It’s many of the same jokes that serve less as callbacks and more as reminders of how much more fun the first film was.

Fortunately, the events onscreen do little, if anything, to tarnish the careers of two beloved actors who are still consistently operating at the top of their game despite the seemingly accidental efforts of director James Ashcroft.

A marriage of dramaturgy and remembrance, Seven Veils dances through its themes and character history with thoughtful intention that would impress Salome herself. Emotionally bracing and infused with a meta-text that leapfrogs the story and the characters themselves, it is almost good enough to lose one’s head over.

With its mix of splatter-speckled horror, dark humor, and unexpected emotional depth, The Monkey is an absolute riot that lands high on the rewatchability scale. It may not be as sleek as “Longlegs,” but Perkins proves once again that he’s one of horror’s most unique and daring voices.

This lacks the zest and dynamism of Jude’s more subversive output, though even a minor work from a major filmmaker still manages to thrill and tantalize.

It won’t be remembered as the best Paddington film by any stretch of the imagination, but that’s okay, as that’s a high bar to clear. It still proves to be a trip worth writing home about, and when the traveling companions are as charming as these, it is one you’d happily take again.

Seeds may be indebted to the elder subjects that Shyne centralizes, but it’s also a film that dares to look forward, suggesting that — despite everything — these farms will continue.

With a weak script, no visual engagement, and limp comedy despite the comedic actors on board, Kinda Pregnant was always a sure-fire miss.

There are some well-shot fights, even some decent use of weaponry to further ramp up the intensity a bit, but for a movie that wears its action ancestry fully displayed on its sleeve, more was expected.

Yes, the film is a heartfelt homage to Lorenz Hart, but also to the strength necessary to say goodbye to the world as you knew it, so even the occasional bitterness Hart speaks with has a balmy quality to it.

Bong succinctly riffs on old Hollywood to maintain his legacy of class-conscious films that challenge the status quo appealingly and refreshingly.

In the depths of the abyss below, The Gorge mostly turns into a high-concept action film that’s so dull, predictable and ugly to look at it’s extremely easy to tune out and have your mind go on autopilot while the otherwise charismatic Teller and Taylor-Jones are wasted.

The messages director Rachel Fleit has attempted to bring onscreen become lost in their own wake as scenes shift quickly; in a way, it is in keeping with the attention span of the TikTok generation, and much like your average TikTok, it will be over before you know it.

It is a film you won’t fall head over heels for, but one you can’t help loving many parts of. You’ll just have to do your best to fondly recall the good parts, namely Quan and Lynch, while hopefully forgetting all the rest.

‘Sly Lives!’: should we file it under good doc? Sure, it’s very watchable. But does it really unpack the burden of black genius? Well, that is a thing, to be honest. The culture moves on fast and the standards to which black artists are held are always way more ruthless and higher. I’m just not entirely convinced it lands this thesis as well as it hopes it does.

When you arrive at the final bittersweet destination, swept up in its dizzying collage of history, emotion, time, and space yet floored by the vision you experienced, you’ll find yourself drawn to watch it back all over again.

A sporadically interesting though ultimately superficial exploration of online connection, video games, and modern alienation, writer-director Flora Lau’s Luz is a film in search of something greater than it is never quite able to grab hold of.

Trying to clarify the fog of war is a patently paradoxical task, Gates successfully argues – and she can prove the assertion within the grand satirical framework of the script or in a wry comic detail derived from the immediacy of a scene.

It would be easy to turn “Ricky” into something more, a commentary on recidivism and the hardships of a criminal coping with life in this day and age. Still, by only touching on these, a simple story performs the heavy lifting, unfolding as it does. We want to hope for Ricky, cheer his successes, and wish him a better life, not only for Ricky but for all those who are the same.

A good film captures merely a life. A great film like Train Dreams encompasses an entire way of life. Bentley’s modest, moving epic of the common man is a thing of rare beauty.

It’s the rare film that can hit a nerve as well as an artery.

Condon’s conducting of the whole affair is technically competent … dazzling, even, in sections. But all that flashiness is not blinding enough to conceal the gap between the tune it sings and the routine it dances. That is to say: Kiss of the Spider Woman may be about movie magic, but the film itself isn’t always magic.

It may be straightforward in execution, but the care dedicated to bringing “Serious People” to life is just as evident.

It may seem like bias runs rampant, but that couldn’t be further from the truth, as Osit tries to answer his questions while looking behind the scenes in a manner that could if nothing else, showcase the obvious spin of mass media. In looking back at “To Catch a Predator,” Osit takes a look at much, much more.