Scott Bowles

While Challenge makes for a pretty dull glimpse into the inner workings of the sea, it provides a fascinating look at the inner workings of Cameron, whose obsessive and demanding personality translated to movies that included "Titanic" and "Avatar."

And So It Goes plays a little like the graying lounge act it honors: It's impressive for its age, though not altogether impressive.

Here has a great soundtrack and some fine performances, particularly from King, who is a wonder. And credit Braff with some great imagery, deep thinking and moments of eloquent dialogue, however schmaltzy.

A picture that isn't as terrible as its title suggests now as deep as its story aspires to be.

Even horror neophytes won't be spooked by a film that looks as if it were shot with a smartphone and an Itty Bitty Booklight.

Deafening, deadening and about two hours too long, Extinction would mark the weakest installment yet of the 7-year-old Hasbro franchise — if the previous three movies were discernible from one another.

Had Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch made a movie together, it might have looked something like The Signal.

The problem is the movie's comedians, who are, to the last, unfunny.

July is solid throwback storytelling, a crime yarn that may not blow you away but can cut to the bone.

Palo Alto marks one of those rare films that is so accurate in its portrayal of characters that the movie suffers for it.

Alas, Wolf tries too hard to shock to be effective.

A slow-cooked film that's one of the most heartwarming of the young year.

And that's Fed Up's ultimate, if not fatal, weakness: The movie seems to acquit consumers of any culpability in our health crisis.

Draft's reverence for the gridiron, its heroes and the cities that worship them (particularly Cleveland) will make the movie a first-round pick of diehards.

Indisputably the most violent film of the year and disputably the worst.

Stunningly shot and stupidly written.

The result is a convoluted mess that has one good twist and two good car chases. But it's hardly enough to bring this spy flick in from the cold.

Preachy, manipulative and emotionally barren.

Hart is much like Murphy: fast-talking, mischievous and irresistible. He's so confident and good-natured that we see how Angela fell for her pint-sized slacker.

Despite some high-caliber voice talent and shimmering animation, it's hard to get a bead on this tale.

There's a fun retro camp to Hercules, with nods to classics such as Ben-Hur and Spartacus, as Hercules finds himself rowing slave ships and crossing desert expanses.

Survivor is a pummeling, frenzied ride, one of fall's most charged action films. The gunfights and rocket-propelled grenades are palpable, and Berg manages to make the chaos followable.

Grudge could have saved itself with a rousing finale, but the buildup is so tedious you just want the fight to end.

Homefront is what "Breaking Bad" may have resembled had Sylvester Stallone written the TV show.

Most Ender's fans, of course, won't care about comparisons and consider the film adaptation a long-awaited victory in itself. Those fresh to the tale — or at least expecting something fresh from it — may wonder what the fuss was about.

Alas, this all-star ensemble comedy that trumpets (too loudly) that it's a "Hangover" on hemorrhoid cream musters enough laughs to be passable, if not memorable. And that's thanks to Morgan Freeman's showmanship.

Rude, wrong and laugh-till-you-snort funny, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa not only stands as the best installment (by bounds) of Johnny Knoxville's hidden-camera franchise; it's one of the sharpest comedies of the year.

Action fans -- particularly devotees of brainless '80s shoot-em-ups -- may find enough to like here, particularly the preposterous mayhem of the third act.