Forget such questions of whether 'Civil War' is good or bad, fresh or rotten, and any other gradation scale that comes to mind. This film is mandatory.

There's a lot of compassion in 'Back to Black' for its troubled subject, but its best intentions become its worse mistakes when it fails to direct any semblance of a critical look at the multiple tragic events in Amy Winehouse's too-short life.

Mixing Nicolas Cage's unique talent for weird horror movies and a post-apocalyptic family drama story, Arcadian stretches thin in too many directions. Fortunately, the movie’s unique creature design makes up for every plot mistake.

With skin-crawling scenes and a surprising discussion about the control of women's bodies, 'The First Omen' finds a new angle to explore the well-established franchise. The prequel doesn't always manage the tricky balance between reverence to the original and new ideas. Still, there's a lot to love, both for newcomers and returning fans.

The heart Dev Patel put into Monkey Man is clear at every turn, but the actor-turned-director might have bitten off more than he could chew in his behind-the-camera debut.

It may be over-the-top blockbuster fare first and foremost, but Adam Wingard's love letter to monster movies is far more intelligently crafted than anyone could have predicted.

Doug Liman's 'Road House' weighs in with sizzling performances, a hearty helping of great action, a script that needed a much longer timeout, and the most self-assured identity crisis we may ever see on the small screen.

We might as well let AI make the soulless nostalgia fare at this point; you'd get roughly the same result as 'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,' and that $100 million budget could have been spent on movies worth spending it on.

As it smiles and waves to the rest of the genre like a good little rom-com, you may catch a hint of a gleam in its eye and wonder, very briefly; is that who Irish Wish really is? Or did director Janeen Damian and screenwriter Kirsten Hansen just pull off one of the most maliciously untheatrical, galaxy-brain plays of the year?

Imaginary is decidedly unscary, lamentably messy proof that horrendous scripts dwarf even the brightest premises on the creative food chain.

There are sporadic sparks of magic in 'Damsel', especially when it's navigating its better-fitting element of action fantasy rather than fairytale.

You can almost hear the desperate screams of a far funnier, far more profound script in the shallowness of the 'Ricky Stanicky' we got, even if John Cena's efforts to drown them out aren't entirely fruitless.

Beautifully crafted but tragically underbaked, 'Spaceman' had the blueprints for Adam Sandler's best-ever dramatic vehicle, but wound up becoming the most unrealized one.

Dune: Part Two sets foot back on Arrakis with an ambitious fire in its eye, overcoming its unsteady but understandable hubris with cinematography and production value that comes utterly alive.

Madame Web's disastrously-woven pile of flaws exceeds the descriptive limits of not only the English language, but of the very collective of contrived sound itself.

A discordant Frankenstein's monster of a film in its own right, 'Lisa Frankenstein' certainly acts like it's interested in doing something, but it doesn't seem to have the first clue on what that something is.

With surprises, humor, and accessible profundity in spades, 'Orion and the Dark' has set the bar remarkably high for the rest of 2024's animated features.

Argylle isn't a triumph and it's oceans away from Vaughn's best, but it manages to hold on by a thread to the essence of what makes the filmmaker's work shine.

Gabriela Cowperthwaite orchestrates Nick Shafir's fantastic script and deftly on-the-ball players to uniquely jolting effect, even if the finish line was ultimately more glimpsed than crossed.

More a sacrifice bunt than a homerun, 'The Kitchen' is a commendable, if tame, addition to the dystopian sci-fi library that gets by on pure heart.

By ordinary metrics, it leaves everything to be desired. But, 'The Beekeeper' understands that better than anyone, and occupies the 'Fast & Furious'-esque niche of action filmmaking in a way that's arguably genuinely brilliant.

Chalamet might start off shaky, but once this splendiferous film is in the swing of things it brings out the classic Dahl magic... and menace.

Hayao Miyazaki's 12th and possibly final feature film could not be more relevant as a call to action, bravery, and the unrelenting hope of childhood.

Renaissance is not a concert film, it's an artifact and a time capsule of Beyoncé at "f***ing forty-two". Its every frame a reminder that although fleeting, greatness is also immortal.

A beautifully shot film that doesn't quite conquer the big screen.

Despite uneven pacing and inconsistent acting, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is a triumphant prequel and the most impressive depiction of Panem representative of a director firing on all cylinders.

Thanksgiving is a definitive passion project built on satisfyingly gory visuals, compelling storytelling, and inventive kills that provide a holiday treat for die-hard slasher fans.

There's a lot of heart and good intentions in Next Goal Wins but wonky pacing, a confusing emotional arc for its main character, and a handful of uninspired scenes come close to rendering all that useless.

Although Project X has its faults (we’ll get there in a second), the atmosphere of the party couldn’t be more perfect.

The Marvels feels like it should have been developed as a Disney+ project, but Larson, Parris, and Villani's full commitment promise a nonstop, frenetic team-up movie—and who could forget Goose!

Your Lucky Day finds Angus Cloud and the rest of the cast on sparkling form in a twisting, turning, and altogether unpredictably thrilling time.

The Marsh King's Daughter is yet another addition to the forgotten library of inconsequential and underdeveloped action thrillers.

Five Nights at Freddy's fails at being scary. The premise and setting should've made it an obvious horror win, but some baffling story choices and poor execution makes it feel like a missed opportunity.

It's not going to be for everyone, but if you've got the stomach for it, then When Evil Lurks is easily among the year's most gruesome, unrelenting, and unforgettable horrors.

The spirit of Stuart Gordon is alive and well in Suitable Flesh, with Joe Lynch picking up the baton and delivering both an ode to his inspiration and a riotous horror comedy in its own right.

The tonal balance isn’t an easy one to pull off, and filmmakers vastly more experienced than Crocker have tried and failed, so praise is due to the key creatives for taking something that sounds familiar and perhaps even formulaic on paper, but repainting it as an engaging, emotionally-driven genre film that both is and isn’t what you think it’ll turn out to be.

Plan C is an emotional journey into American culture, focused solely on one hot topic.

Dangerous Waters' starts off as one thing, but barrels directly into an absurdly entertaining third act when it decides to throw the shackles off and become something else entirely.

The ambition often outweighs the execution, but Totally Killer is still a fun and bloody riff on several different genres at once.

Bottoms is never afraid to have fun, even when it comes at the cost of a reasonable plot or political correctness. It's an hysterical teen movie featuring two of the best talents of this generation who have nailed the balance between the ridiculous and the important.

No One Will Save You stands out among a crowded field for both the swings that it does take and the way it simultaneously acts as a love letter to its many forebears, all while putting its own definitive stamp on the proceedings.

Hercule Poirot comes out to play again in this horror-leaning murder mystery which, despite looking great, is held back by and underwhelming plot.

The Expendables is far from high art, but it’s safe to say the saga has never hit a lower point than it has here, a crushing disappointment for anyone genuinely hoping for the return to form that was promised and demanded.

Despite Fuqua firing on all cylinders and Washington making the most of what will probably be his final outing as McCall, the narrative foundation of The Equalizer 3 is sadly far too rocky for even the best in the business to breathe the proper life into it, only managing gasps of what could have been if the script (and, again, the possibly-guilty final cut discussions) hadn’t been so gutless.

Even though Gran Tursimo falls short of the bar in terms of being the Rocky of race car movies that it could have been, due to the character development falling short in all of the scenes that take place outside the racetrack, it’s still an enjoyable ride, overall.

An average, predictable script is rescued from being truly irredeemable by an excellent cast of voice actors and a few bright jokes.

The best film DC has put out in a while, Blue Beetle offers fun, heartfelt action and comedy. Xolo Mariduena shines as Jaime Reyes, while director Angel Manuel Soto succeeds in delivering an ode to Latin American culture in a superhero outfit.

While the film never really finds its voice outside of the source material, lacking development and a finer tuning to its new medium, 'Red, White & Royal Blue' might still be the most deliciously fun and excitingly sexy romcom of the year.

Without a shadow of a doubt, it’s very much a costly, star-studded, explosive attempt to build a brand new IP from the ground up that the company can call its own, but it’s impossible to shake the feeling that we’ve walked down this exact road many times before. Make of it what you will, but the end product is exactly what you think it’s going to be, for better or worse.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter makes a decent attempt at reinventing the Dracula mythos, but foregoing the early tension in favor of all-out action proves to be its undoing in the end.

Ben Wheatley's blockbuster debut reduces him to an anonymous bystander in a sequel that's inexplicably weaker than its predecessor. If we get 'Meg 3,' then somebody needs to remember these things are supposed to be fun.

With only a slightly underwhelming plot among its infractions, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem flies high on some gorgeously evocative presentation and an untouchably charming take on the eponymous reptiles.

A marked improvement over the similarly-titled 2003 film, 'Haunted Mansion' nevertheless falls at too many self-imposed hurdles to make the most of what should have been a self-sufficient recipe.

The true test of 'Oppenheimer' is whether Nolan can maintain his typically mammoth vision with a narrative that mostly comprises white men talking in small rooms. Like his protagonist, the writer/director succeeds in a grand and unexpectedly horrifying fashion.

Talk to Me is an aculmination of years worth viral content creation, mixed in with Australian storytelling. Together, it transformed a comedic short premise into something that gets your heart racing.

Greta Gerwig's summer blockbuster is well worth watching, but fails to reach the storytelling heights of her previous work.

The Unknown Country proves to be a road trip unlike any other.

They Cloned Tyrone is comfortably Netflix's most original blockbuster of the year, and being exactly the movie you think it is and something completely unexpected at the exact same time is easily its biggest strength.

Bird Box Barcelona expands the mythology in several new and fascinating directions, but it also makes the mistake of posing several bigger questions that it doesn't seem to want to answer.

Tom Cruise has only gone and done it again, with 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' delivering a stunning summer blockbuster that'll leave you wondering how it can possibly be topped next summer.

Fresh takes, classic gags, and excellent performances from its leads elevate an occasionally clunky and very packed script into something well worth watching.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a solid action-packed blockbuster that ticks all of the franchise's required boxes, even if it isn't quite a farewell worthy of a cinematic icon.

Extraction 2 is everything you'd expect it to be; bigger, bolder, brasher, louder, and more spectacular. Unfortunately, it peaks way too early and fails to recapture that early momentum.

The Flash is good, and occasionally flirts with excellence, but anyone who goes in heading the game-changer that was promised may be left feeling a touch short-changed.

What an annoyance to have a Transformers movie with well-drawn humans, only to have them choke on the exhaust fumes of franchise expectations.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse travels worlds to upend its own status quo, spinning a truly unique and sometimes devastating narrative that finally matches its visual ambitions.

The Little Mermaid is not just another useless, soulless remake from the Mouse House. Not only does it give the gift of Halle Bailey as Ariel, but it also fortifies its predecessor's story by adding much needed narrative context and emotional pull.

Kandahar finds Gerard Butler doing what he does best, and while there are some admirable attempts to deviate from formula, the end result isn't going to be regarded among the action hero's top tier.

If you like the 1992 classic you might enjoy this update, but if you don't have the time to kill, it's probably worth sticking to the original.

Fast X doubles down on everything longtime fans have come to know and love about the franchise, but anyone who isn't sold on the saga at this stage isn't going to be won over.

You can only chip away at reality so far until everything in 'Hypnotic' starts to feel sketched and feckless. Any type of resolution reads as either disingenuous or completely unearned, as viewers were never invested in the characters' emotional journeys in the first place.

Peter Pan & Wendy is a decent live-action remake stays faithful to the source material as well as its animated predecessor, but that's about it.

Watching SUGA: Road to D-Day and j-hope IN THE BOX back to back is like peeling back the layers of BTS one by one. It will also make it abundantly clear why the South Korean band has gotten as far as they have.

Evil Dead Rise is rightfully gruesome and peculiarly ghoulish. And it makes it worthy of a theatrical experience.

In one of the most optimistic indie films so far this year, Alex Trewhitt delivers a staggering central performance, turning this teen drama into something special.

A mixed bag of elements, Renfield resonates with eclectic vibes. There was a potential for a huge hit here, but there’s just occasional intrigue and leisure that relaxes the audience to a considerable extent without coming close to greatness.

Vapid and meaningless, the consumer-friendly 'Air' tells a revolutionary story in the blandest, slickest way possible.

Nintendo knows what's great about the 'Super Mario Bros.' games, and perfectly brings them to life on the big screen.

Florence Pugh gives another magnetic performance in this hard hitting redemption drama, written and directed by Zach Braff. Aided and abetted by Morgan Freeman, an otherwise average melodrama is elevated by two movie stars on top form.

The exorbitant running time may end up testing the patience of many, but 'John Wick: Chapter 4' does exactly what the franchise does best, but somehow on an even grander and more gripping scale.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is a substantial step down from its predecessor, hardly ideal when the future of the entire franchise likely depends on it.

Boston Strangler has more to say than some might think by promoting a forthright, focused, and professionally progressive approach in those central performances. Roles which are only made to look easy by Knightley and Coon, purely because they embody them so effortlessly.

Taron Egerton and Toby Jones make Tetris one of the most intriguing video game movies for some time. Slick, savvy, and with no shortage of dry wit - audiences should lap this up.

Though it's no easy task to connect and absorb everything it throws at you, Inside is a captivating thematic feast anchored by the ever-masterful Willem Dafoe.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves' manages to put a winning spin on the fantasy genre with its high-stakes plot, compelling characters, and a huge world with opportunities to share more stories.

The latest installment proves 'Scream' still has the chops to outdo itself consistently and cleverly. An effortless balance of dark comedy and intense set pieces make it worth checking out. Come for the return of a beloved franchise, and stay for a killer joy ride through New York City.

Jordan’s clear vision for Creed III is hindered by a couple of melodramatic crutches that are typical of the genre, and constant, incredibly distracting and tacky product placements throughout. Small faults in what is otherwise a self-assured, confident, and refreshingly vulnerable sports epic. The actor and filmmaker is dead serious about his craft, and it’s great to watch.

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre delivers exactly what you'd expect from an R-rated Guy Ritchie spy caper with Jason Statham in the lead role, with the offbeat and energetic espionage adventure worthy of at least a sequel or two.

We Have a Ghost shows plenty of ambition as writer and director Christopher Landon broadens his horizons, but it never feels anything more than a series of disparate parts failing to come together as a satisfying whole.

Cocaine Bear almost runs its premise into the ground, but delivers some outrageous rampage sequences and laughs along the way.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the weirdest, most fun movie of the three. Yet, it's bogged down by serving as another stepping stone on the road to Marvel's Multiverse Saga.

Brooding, powerful, and every inch the Americana melodrama - Devil’s Peak packs a punch and just keeps on coming.

This complex political thriller from writer/director Eromose falls just short of greatness.

As movie star Sophie Wilder, Monica Barbaro is effortlessly charming, while Diego Boneta imbues assistant hotel manager Alejandro with equal amounts of charisma. 10 times better than audiences will expect, At Midnight is worth a watch.

Piled high with plot twists and packed full of peerless performances, Sharper brings together Sebastian Stan, Julianne Moore, and John Lithgow in a brooding long con thriller from Apple. Delivering something fresh from the streaming service, which continues to champion originality without limits.

Only M. Night Shyamalan could make an apocalypse film that has audiences rooting for the end of the world, if only to bring the running time of 'Knock at the Cabin' to a merciful end.

The Integrity of Joseph Chambers' is a staggering study of fractured masculinity.

The Last Wish is better than it has any right to be. From charming animation that combines digital and analog sensibilities and takes cues from fairytale books to performances that are pitch-perfect, it works! It would be a mistake to write it off as a late-in-the-game sequel or nostalgia cash-grab when it’s clear there’s true craftsmanship behind the work.