Imagine if “The Phantom Menace” was better than every episode of George Lucas’ original “Star Wars” trilogy. Kind of bonkers to think about, right? But that’s pretty much the situation with “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes”, an enticing blend of dystopian action epic and musical drama that surpasses the previous films starring Jennifer Lawrence.

Directed by Nia DaCosta (“Candyman”), Marvels throws a ton of plot at viewers that too often falls back to Marvel-y familiarity – world-saving stakes, villain with a light-up doodad – yet enjoyably soars when it centers on its core trio and dares to go gonzo.

While Holdovers is plenty funny, Payne’s film – as with his “Sideways” – skillfully balances the humor with headier themes of personal loss, family strife and mental health.

“Elvis” is zippy and energetic while Priscilla is methodical, bordering on sedate. However, the biggest sin with Priscilla is Coppola never really digs into her wants and desires apart from Elvis.

The villains are fairly obvious in “Flower Moon,” but Scorsese asks audiences to take a wider look at systemic racism, historical injustice and the corruptive influence of power and money, intriguingly tying together our past and present.

The entire film offers a front-row seat to the grandeur. The staging is so massive that even the best seats in a stadium – and the King Kong-sized video screens – could provide only so much detail. But on the big screen, the close-ups are glorious.

Does a decent job living up to a legendary predecessor. Original star Ellen Burstyn returns in the latest film, which also goes all in exploring every parent’s deepest fears, but while it tries admirably, “Believer” is nowhere near as profoundly scary as William Friedkin’s genre-defining chiller.

The moving and eye-popping thriller, starring a never-better John David Washington, dives into the hot-button topic of artificial intelligence but more importantly mankind's tendency toward war and how we treat those different than us.

In its own terms, Dumb Money probably should sell off sooner – nothing kills storytelling momentum like congressional Zoom hearings – but you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better big-screen combo of rising stock prices and rousing joy.

For his newest starry murder mystery, based on Christie’s “Hallowe’en Party,” Branagh challenges Poirot’s deductive mind and supernatural belief system and surrounds him with spookiness that can only spiff up a creaky plot and thin characters so much.

Add in a plethora of memorable lines ready-made to repeat with friends and a movie-stealing turn from Lynch, and Bottoms is the kind of go-for-broke, satisfying cult treat that can totally beat up your favorite teen classic.

Strays is definitely a treat, especially for dog lovers who will howl with laughter and also cry at its empathetic understanding that we all, furry or otherwise, just want to be loved.

It’s a nifty change of pace for a main character’s superteam to include his parents and grandma instead of Batman and Wonder Woman.

Various spycraft tropes litter director Tom Harper’s globetrotting narrative, though Gadot’s charm offensive and her character’s righteous fervor help counter the film’s wilder plot swings.

Director Jeff Rowe (“The Mitchells vs. the Machines”) smartly casts actual teenagers as the main characters, makes them pop via a super-cool comic-book visual style and surrounds these familiar heroes in a half shell with a top-notch supporting cast. Best of all, it's the kind of zippy, 99-minute adventure bound to satisfy kids and adults alike in the cinematic doldrums of August.

Although it's a vast improvement from its early aughts predecessor (not exactly a high bar to cross), this ghoulish gathering is a family-friendly affair that's awfully vanilla when it comes to both humor and scares.

Murphy wonderfully inhabits the nervy intensity of a gaunt and troubled figure, who's deemed unstable and egoistical by his peers during the war and at wit’s end later, as he contends with politicos with a score to settle.

“Barbie” is really an insightful exploration of humanity, the meaning of life and the cognitive dissonance of a woman living in the patriarchy, all with a really big heart and style to spare.

It’s the kind of film where everybody will have their own favorite characters and riotous episodes but it doesn’t need A-list cameos or needle drops to make a mark – though it does boast one instantly memorable K-pop remix of a Cardi B hit.

Directed once again by Christopher McQuarrie, the seventh “M:I” is chock-full of gloriously bonkers stunt sequences, fresh and familiar faces alike, and Cruise running (usually literally) from one international locale to the next.

Dial of Destiny is a solid Indiana Jones adventure that ultimately dodges the giant boulder of expectations. But as a franchise closer, it’s an anticlimactic affair that, while not a memorably rousing last crusade, at least bids Indy adieu in an emotionally satisfying fashion.

The storytelling suffers from the weight of that ambition, though Elemental at least pulls off fun world-building a la “Zootopia” with a city where the residents – of fire, water, earth and air persuasions – reflect four different cultural groups and ethnicities and don’t always get along.

The series has thankfully, found its way out of the doldrums of the Michael Bay era and discovered a satisfying groove of nostalgic bliss. It’s still a whole lot of earnest diatribes, hokey zingers and assorted nonsense but it’s at least crowd-pleasing, candy-in-your-popcorn nonsense.

With good guys aplenty and a big heart, The Flash pens a love letter to DC superhero movies past, though the film runs around in circles trying to make it all work.

The sequel both honors and reimagines the Spider-Man mythos for a new generation of movie fans with an artistic bent, a love for its characters and a willingness to break the rules to create something special.

And while not everything goes swimmingly, Halle Bailey splendidly buoys this "Mermaid" as the naive underwater youngster with dreams of exploring the surface.

Both fun and frustrating, Fast X gets it in gear enough for a gutsy finale that leaves characters in serious peril. Yet with an end game in motion, and only one movie (perhaps two) left in this long-running franchise, it’s not the time to be stalling out this close to the finish line.

A hilarious, heartbreaking, touching and rather wonderful close to an enjoyable trilogy.