Claudia Puig

The film’s major saving grace is how it seeks to be inclusive in its depiction of Christianity. Through a collective endeavor, a sense of community and faith is reinforced.

In Cretton’s hands, this fact-based tale of an oddball, destitute upbringing rings false. It’s based on a woman’s complicated personal recollections of her traumatic childhood, and yet it feels like a cloying, one-note Hollywood tale, the beastly trauma all tied up with a pretty bow and de-fanged.

The lead actors are attractive and charismatic and give nuanced performances. Unfortunately, the dialogue they are given to speak is often trite and too many plot strands are unconvincing.

The minimal character development will frustrate filmgoers seeking substance, as will Coppola’s stilted dialogue.

Derbez brings warmth and intermittent goofy humor to this too-broad and uneven comedy.

Free Fire is an ultra-violent, gut-punching spectacle that borders on a slog. It makes you feel guilty even for enjoying minutes of it, and then empty after it’s all done.

The boxing drama Bleed for This has a powerful story and a strong lead performance in its corner, but falls short of knockout status. Hampered by clichéd writing and stereotypical portrayals, this extraordinary true-life account feels run-of-the-mill.

Cuarón’s tale of a madman Minuteman is well-shot and sharply paced, but too simplistic.

Lovely visuals are key for the success of any animated film, arguably more so even than for live-action movies. But a compelling story is also essential, and that’s where “Long Way North” trips up.

A Tale of Love and Darkness seeks to blend serious political history and probing psychological analysis. The effort does not succeed, coming across disjointed and grim.

While Kristen Wiig fully commits to her bizarre, mentally ill character in Welcome to Me, the result still feels more like an extended sketch than a movie.

The D Train is long on high-concept comedy, then runs out of steam and becomes a forced and far-fetched drama.

The story feels like a less complicated companion to "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." Obvious logical questions are ignored. For instance, if she remains 29, does that make her immortal?

Crowe's performance is the best thing about the ambitious historical drama, which takes some artistic liberties.

Home could have fashioned a more original story, dug deeper into a theme of cultural understanding and jettisoned the toilet humor.

These movies can't possibly be the best chance Neeson has got. Certainly he's offered more nuanced dramas that call on subtler acting skills and don't entail a mounting body count.

If a pointless and nasty Hollywood satire filled with vile characters and no one to root for sounds like a good time, go see Maps to the Stars.

If you've seen "Mean Girls" or "Easy A," you've seen a far better version of The DUFF.

Some of the gags are stupid-funny, others are just puerile, making for a hit-or-miss experience.

The live-action elements — mostly in the person of Antonio Banderas as cranky pirate Burger Beard, who spends most of his time addressing a flock of seagulls — don't mesh seamlessly with the animated sequences. It almost feels like two movies awkwardly melded together.

Give Binder credit for addressing racial divides even if not as profoundly as one would hope.

Strange Magic is strange all right, but hardly magical.

Despite its patina of stylishness, The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death is sorely lacking in thrills.

Aniston's portrayal feels honest, but the film doesn't rise to the level of her performance.

Quvenzhané Wallis is adorably plucky as the lead in Annie. She and Jamie Foxx as the newfangled Daddy Warbucks character have an appealing chemistry and their songs together are the best moments in the movie. But the rest of Annie is banal, shallow and markedly cynical.

Considering the controversy and chaos Sony Pictures Studios is undergoing because of it, The Interview fails to live up to the hype, floundering as a rowdy comedy as it grows duller by the minute.

Swarms of flies, oozing pustules, alligator attacks and gaggles of frogs are vividly rendered in three dimensions in Exodus: Gods and Kings. And yet this biblical epic is still bland, overly long and otherwise forgettable.

This is a joyless, frenetic film that is very rarely funny.