Matt Fowler

Derek DelGaudio's In and Of Itself is a beautiful, powerful performance that employs art, illusion, storytelling, and its own audience to explore aspects of identity, isolation, and our own desperate drive to figure out who we are as individuals. There's nothing quite like it, which, as goes the uniqueness of humanity, is the point.

The Vast of Night is a minimal marvel, drawing out fear and anticipation with not much more than a cunning script, stirring performances from its young stars, and the starkness of the dark skies above them. Within it you'll find a Spielbergian love for sci-fi peppered with a twisted appreciation for negative space and the unknown.

I Lost My Body stands as one of the year's best and most profound pieces of animation.

Sergio Pablos' Klaus is a beautifully animated mix of old and new - offing up a unique and quirky take on Santa's humble beginnings. It's a fun, fresh story about friendship and the power of kindness that coats snowbound cliches with a shiny sheen.

Fyre delivers greatly on the delight in the misfortune of the wealthy and the shallow that we all expect and crave, but it also smartly doesn't hang its hat on it. It's mostly about the actual well-intentioned people involved in this fiasco and how anyone can be suckered into a vision or dream when no one in a collective is willing to speak out as a lone voice of reason.

This contest of wicked wills is a vibrant, penetrating Pandora's Box of predicaments and likeable yet evil central characters, played with satirical skill by Rosamund Pike and Peter Dinklage.

The Rental boats a strong cast, an intriguing set up, and a compelling mystery. It's a fun and feisty web of lies and deception with the added bonus of having a shadowy, stalking presence surrounding everything and everyone like a God-hand. It's a small film, but it's tense, dense, and delivers a harrowing final act.

Jungle Cruise is a rollicking adventure full of humor and heart anchored by Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt's winning heroes.

It plays into the dystopian fantasy of being able to reinvent yourself in a lawless world, delivering a clever tale about what it takes for someone who's not a part of existence to want to reengage with life.

The Courier is a tense, well-executed spy drama that wisely focuses on character and performance more than thrills, knowing that if we actually care about these men it will drastically heighten every narrowed glance, near miss, and frightful chase. It's not always the freshest adventure, but that's when the acting carries the piece and breathes life into these unlikely heroes.

The Outpost is a cleverly, and respectfully, crafted war film that uses a segmented, episodic approach to help you invest in the characters while building up to a very impressive battle sequence.

The Mitchells vs. The Machines is a ridiculous, riotous, and relevant adventure fill with great humor and winning sentiment.

Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey already feels like a timeless treat. Though it's a little longer than it needs to be, Jingle Jangle is still filled with enticing visuals, holiday heart, and seasonal cheer. It instantly feels like a snug, fabled world ready to be explored.

The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot lays all its cards on the table up front, but then still manages to never quite be what you expect it to be. It juggles a lot of ostensibly ridiculous ideas, but they all land just right because the film's deliciously dour tone, that sort of snuggles everything within the warm embrace of Sam Elliott's ruggedness and regret.

The King is a relevant reshaping of Shakespeare's Henry V featuring a stunning turn by Timothée Chalamet.

The film's a fun and humble horror offering set among the world of pretension and status.

Triple Frontier features a cool cast and a gruesome story about greed, but it fails to capitalize on its own premise.

Cole Sprouse and Lana Condor are a fun duo, capable of feeling human and endearing in the midst of cosmic turmoil. The movie's not a full home run, but it's surprisingly silly and shrewd.

Extraction works because its simple, yet sufficient, story allows the film's action to take center stage. If the stunt work were mediocre, the entire thing would be an utter waste of time. Thankfully though, Extraction boasts an exhaustingly awesome showcase of expertly choreographed fists, knives, guns, and explosions.

The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two, directed and co-written by Chris Columbus, once again takes full advantage of Kurt Russell's exuberance as Santa -- and the full addition of Goldie Hawn's Mrs. Claus -- for a rewarding romp about young Kate Pierce's need to rediscover the holiday spirit.

The dystopian fantasy elements of the saga are now at their thinnest, painting a cinematic world that may hit too close to home for some. Ultimately, it's a solid entry that can either act as an ending or a new beginning.

Between Two Ferns: The Movie does its best to coat Zach Galifianakis' dense and dopey TV host with a larger story but, in the end, the best parts are still when it's just him glassily staring into the eyes of a movie star and telling them how much they suck at acting.

A pleasant surprise that both undermines and elevates typical revenge sagas, Riders of Justice is a unique blend that charms and captivates.

Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers isn't the first movie to do what it's doing -- with live-action and animation sharing the screen, helping nurture a meta-comedy adventure -- but it's damn fun and one of the cleverest uses of elder pop culture properties in a while.

Coffee & Kareem keeps it simple, short, and to the (ultra) violent point as a raunchy cop comedy with clever jokes, zany action, and fun chemistry between leads Ed Helms and young Terrence Little Gardenhigh. It's a small cast but everyone in it is pretty funny, and the director easily knows how to craft a compelling mismatched partner scenario.

Peninsula feels fairly derivative when compared to the tighter and more terrifying Train to Busan, but on its own, as an expansion of this universe, it's a rollicking ride through a hollowed-out hellscape. It's almost a complete genre shift, but not an unrewarding one.

Werewolves Within easily separates itself from the pack by delivering a quirky monster mystery filled with gentle laughs and massive maulings. Not every joke lands, and not every character fits, but overall it's an entertaining alternative to the season's more ghoulish and grim offerings.