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.