Odar does his best to manipulate Las Vegas’ seedy underbelly (City of Sin, after all), but so much of Sleepless feels like recycled, seen-it-before action genre gristle. The stuff you chew while hoping a little fatty goodness is left.

I can’t deny that Eugène Green is a talented, idiosyncratic director and his Son of Joseph has many visual and intellectual qualities to boast about. But it’s a film I appreciated much more than I actually enjoyed.

Attack Of The Lederhosen Zombies doesn't quite live up to its eye-catching name, but still offers enough undead snowboarding mayhem worth a horror laugh.

Though flawed, clunky and a bit Instagram-chic, Go North is an intriguing parable about how the next generation deals with the mess baby boomers have left behind.

The Bye Bye Man is an unfathomably inept horror film; one that’s an obvious byproduct of The Babadook/It Follows brand of horror success. It is, without apology, one of the emptiest, nonsensical haunted thrillers ever to fail genre audiences.

Ben Browder's follow-up to Bad Kids Go To Hell is less stylized and more generic, even with the same private-school mean streak.

Monster Trucks is a weird, wacky ride that's made better by its sense of good-natured, juvenile fun (for the most part).

This is dirty, abusive, sticky, heartfelt (?), enlightened (??), intellectual (???), deranged, offensive, damningly provocative filmmaking at its…most…unhinged?

Underworld: Blood Wars is the kind of mainstream horror I want to champion, but lackluster technical aspects nullify Kate Beckinsale's kick-ass performance.

The Ardennes may be saturated in dark blues and snow-covered blankness, but it burns with bright fury as Robin Pront inches closer to his film’s inevitable breaking point.

Railroad Tigers is an action epic that wants to be a comedic goofball, as it fumbles both aspects when trying to meld them together.

The doc is a great showcase for the pair’s qualities.

Though it runs into a couple of bumps along the way, Between Us is a well observed and sensitive indie drama that'll be familiar to anyone struggling with the onset of maturity.

I, Daniel Blake is a dignified film containing moments of hilarity and genuine heartbreak. It's a movie dripping with social relevance and shines a light on the red tape bureaucracy that cripples those that are in most need of help.

A Monster Calls gets off to a rocky start, but once Neeson's talking tree starts spouting tales of wisdom, everything tightens as the tears start flowing.

A surprisingly uplifting film about a very difficult topic, Youth In Oregon's remarkable ensemble cast elevate the story into something unique and profound.

There are two movies here, neither of which are given a chance to develop into something worthwhile.

It’s broody and disciplined, soaked in the pungent style of foreign auteurs who molded Scorsese’s own love of film – yet overburdened by a downward spiral lacking fire and unforgiving features.

Fences is old-school Americana that's driven by dynamite performances all around, albeit a bit stuffy in nature.

Any fans hoping that Assassin's Creed would break the long streak of poor video game adaptations are bound to be disappointed by this nearly incomprehensible mess.

Overstuffed and disappointing, Live By Night wastes a strong supporting cast. It's not a total loss, but it doesn’t hold up against the rest of Affleck’s filmography.

It’s a practically criminal waste of acting talent, it looks and sounds terrible, and (despite being all cod-philosophical) is dumb as a box of rocks. Avoid avoid avoid.

The Autopsy of Jane Doe is an age-old story of family horror that benefits from an approach focused on dark whimsy instead of typical genre jumps.

With Patriots Day, Peter Berg translates national tragedy to cinema screens with power and purpose for the second time this year – yet the question for many is with wounds still healing, do we really need to be subjected to recreations of a hateful act still fresh in our nation’s history?

There’s too much that’s intriguing in this film to ignore it, and although the third act shows signs of strain, the first two acts more than justify the film’s existence.

Collateral Beauty is a Hallmark tear-jerker in the worst way, so out of tune with human emotion that it almost becomes satire.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is some kind of miracle. It works on every imaginable level - as a heartfelt love letter to fans, an irresistible invitation to newbies, a visual marvel and a blockbuster of unparalleled emotional heft and cultural significance.

Rogue One makes up for a shaky first act by punching into overdrive for an outstanding third act battle sequence that overwhelms in scale and intensity.

Why Him? plays a fairly one-note game that gets tiresome halfway through, which is sadly still better than most comedies put out this year.

While Hidden Figures hits many of the beats one would expect, Melfi’s film strikes a delicate balance of injecting levity within the character-based historical drama that propels the story forward.

Anyone who's ever wondered how Michael Shannon would fare as a smoldering romantic lead or how Imogen Poots might handle the role of a femme fatale has their answer in Matthew Ross' engaging psycho-thriller.

Despite some impressive visuals and a few good supporting actors, Netflix's Spectral fails to leave an impact.

While there are moments to enjoy in Sugar Mountain, they simply don’t come often enough and by the end, you’ll find yourself struggling to care what happens to any of the characters here.

You'll want to call Slash a "romantic comedy," but that wouldn't do justice to all the social norm blurring that's more about important relationships than a goofy love story.

Beyond The Games plays to the nostalgia crowd instead of adopting 21st century scares, but still finds a way to explore untapped VHS potential.

Obvious and sometimes aggravating no doubt, but still effective in raising blood pressure given a backstory so instilled with old-school cultism.

Abattoir feels like it should still have an "Under Construction" sign warning viewers of the unfinished business to come.

Office Christmas Party is a naughty Xmas comedy stuffed with enough ho-ho-hos and ha-ha-has to corrupt this holiday season.

La La Land feels like a throwback and also like something we've never seen before, resulting in a dreamy musical that hits just about every note.

A well-acted, slow burning indie, The Fixer uses thriller mechanisms to examine insular, tribal cultures through the eyes of an outsider.

Pet is scariest when exploiting our social fears of being rejected, and at its worst when playing some psychological switcheroo in a Saw-like basement.

The Duelist isn’t deep enough for the viewer to attempt to draw meaning from beneath its glam surface, but it’s still interesting to watch the film as a look at where Russia is at as a nation.

Incarnate is just another buried Blumhouse special, and I assure you its neglect is with good reason.

The Belko Experiment rides a gushing wave of carnage through the elevators of an unsuspecting office building, gleefully making wolves out of sheep.

Rarely is a performance so strong that it’s able to carry an entire production, but – thankfully for John Madden – Chastain wills Miss Sloane into relevance through nothing but sophistication, spunk and champion grit.

SiREN never takes Bruckner's original idea and runs with it, failing to capitalize on a demonic romance that so many V/H/S fans demanded to see more of.

The Hollow Point is a blazing contemporary western that finds pleasure in punishment.

Evolution is undeniably beautiful, but it's a small-scale story which ignores a larger world that needs far more exploration.

Lady Macbeth begins as a biting tale of female empowerment but slowly reveals itself to be something much crueler. Period pieces rarely feel this contemporary.

This is a glamorous, commanding and important watch, primed to corrupt audience minds for a multitude of passionate reasons – first and foremost of which is that Takal stages one damn fine free-thinking thriller.

Tank 432 does right in building battlefield tension without any gunfire or attacks, but misses its mark in neatly wrapping up yet another paranoid psychological thriller.

A United Kingdom is well-intentioned, with impassioned performances from Oyelowo and Pike, but it's executed as drily and inoffensively as so many middling Brit period dramas.

Lion may be a little too Oscar-bait-y, but it's not without loud emotional roars.

Bad Santa 2 is the same holiday depravity with half the enthusiasm, too drunk on its own despicable tone.

A listless cast and a crushingly flat script fail to illuminate the lives of high-wire electrical workers in Life on the Line, which instead resorts to tired story beats and a false sense of self-righteousness.

Visually, Moana shines like a diamond at night.

Allied is a prestige drama without the prestige, wooden in appearance and lacking any true drama.

Officer Downe is a vicious, violent bit of midnight madness that shoots first, and then shoots again for good measure. No need to ask questions.

Idris Elba makes a dynamite action star, but this politically charged thriller doesn't give him the support he needs to become the next Liam Neeson.

Fantastic Beasts is both a slice of magical monster mayhem and severely underwritten storytelling, landing somewhere between “pretty passable” and “zany fun” – but certainly nothing fantastic.

Nocturnal Animals confirms Tom Ford as an essential director, as he gives us two dazzling stories that combine for one powerful movie experience.

It’s a movie where even seasoned cinemagoers who feel like or claim to have seen everything are likely to marvel at how director Kenneth Lonergan was able to achieve something new, interesting, painful, hilarious, or beautiful, or some combination of all these things, in every single scene. It’s the type of movie that makes a person reach for the nearest hyperbole to describe it.

To make a movie about such an elusive figure is a challenging undertaking, and it’s a testament to the quality of Magnus that the film succeeds as well as it does.

True Memoirs Of An International Assassin scores a few lucky shots, but ultimately overstays its welcome.

Almost Christmas doesn't set a new standard for family holiday comedies, but its cast and a handful of outrageously funny moments make it worthwhile for fans of the genre.

Ang Lee’s depiction of life after war (or on leave) is a respectful one not without derivative roadbumps, but honest in appeal.

Come And Find Me is a fine-and-dandy missing persons thriller with a romantic twist, suitable for those whose Aaron Paul senses tingle upon reading the film’s synopsis. First-time features are anything but safe bets, so a cheers is in order for Whedon’s accomplishment – no matter how small.

Warren Beatty's Howard Hughes retrospective, Rules Don't Apply, is equally tone-deaf in humor and drama, cobbled together in ways that never seem to fit.

In the end, The Monster does more by way of thrilling tension and heartfelt admissions than it does through any scares, but that doesn’t make it a bad horror film. Bryan Bertino reveals a gushy soft side, only to tear out his heart and hoist it for all to see.

Loving has Jeff Nichols' trademarks but it lacks the nuanced storytelling that made his previous films so successful.

Prisoners isn’t bringing much new to the tradition of crime thrillers and missing children horror stories, but it does speak mightily to how quality of craft separates an airplane page-turner from a minor triumph of pulp poetry.

The acting, craft, and tone of Sicario are so precise that the absurdity of this cartel yarn is both its greatest weakness, and maybe its entire point.

Army Of One is a waste of talent across the board.

The Edge Of Seventeen boasts an emotional journey filled with wit, humor and heart, resting easy on the back of Hailee Steinfeld's dynamite performance.

The Frontier is a stale film from another era, with an unfortunate story that's about as frail as a tumbleweed.

Girls Lost fills the magical realism, gender dysphoria, Swedish indie teen drama-shaped hole in your life. It's just a damn shame it all falls apart in the final act.

Plainly put, Last Girl Standing explores a unique horror convention from a fresh angle, but can’t execute when it counts.

Though it's a bit of a wobbly mess at times, Hacksaw Ridge ultimately winds up being a deeply moving character study about an unlikely American hero.

While The Ivory Game's ambitiously broad look at the illegal ivory trade takes on a bit more than it needs to, it does shed some definite light on a growing global problem.

Rainbow Time is all over the place dramatically, but somehow Linas Phillips ties together a sometimes wacky, otherwise off-beat family dramedy from perspectives unknown.

Based on the popular toy line, Trolls bears all the earmarks of a blatant cash-in on a recognizable property, with little imagination to speak of and predictable creative choices from beginning to end.

The Love Witch is a seductive 60s time-capsule that calls back to the technicolor charms of early genre filmmaking.

It's hard not to anticipate many of Verhoeven's moves, but Isabella Huppert is too good to ignore in Elle.

Arrival challenges viewers to a brainier sci-fi conundrum than they're used to, which makes for an intellectual breath of fresh air.

Much like its central characters, Nerdland is a dismal, unfunny failure, wasting all its potential and entirely unaware that it is every bit as stupid as the stupid people it so despises.

Dog Eat Dog is all bark and no bite, playing around in a sandbox of vulgarity with little rhyme or reason.

Trash Fire blazes with pitch-black wit and a dark, volatile story of redemption so good you'll be laughing your way straight to Hell.

The Windmill is all about kills, but can't generate enough energy to power this derivative, sometimes nonsensical plot.

Doctor Strange is the psychedelic kung-fu spectacle that Marvel hoped director Scott Derrickson would deliver, but it’s got a strange problem – the doctor himself.

12 Years A Slave will beat you down emotionally, scene after scene, without any mercy - but that's just a testament to the brilliant direction, transformation-like performances, and unapologetic storytelling that elevates Steve McQueen's movie high above the masses.

Fear Inc. wastes a devious idea on a slew of reveals that bring momentum to a crushing halt.

The obvious political agenda behind Before the Flood may turn off those who still maintain that climate change is a myth, but the evidence presented in the film should at least cause open-minded viewers to rethink their position on the issue.

Inferno feels every bit like the second sequel in an exhausted franchise, stunted by unfocused storytelling and a blandness that's almost sleep-inducing.

A few images sear with the burning sensation of undead terror, but that only accounts for a few short minutes of an otherwise more-daunting-than-it-should-be cinematic exploration of death.

Keanu Reeves effectively anchors The Whole Truth, but a capable cast can only do so much to keep the lingering mystery afloat before logic weighs it down.

King Cobra has the intensity, excitement and poison every thriller needs, and wild, engaging performances to boot.

National Bird is a scathing and clearly delineated expose on America’s use of drone warfare and the effects it has on both the victims of the attacks and the crews operating the aircraft.

Tyler Perry never wants to scare you, and I assure you, he never will. Perry DOES want to make you laugh though, succeeding when jokes are bite-size and contained – but most scenes ramble on and on as Madea searches for multiple ways to land the same punchline.