Don't Look Up swaggers through tired political divisions for the sake of its out-there comedic premise. Its confidence is more impressive than its point.
Prisoners uses competent visuals and juggernaut acting to hide behind an impression of mysteriousness that its screenplay never fully justifies.
Malignant suffers through genre tropes to get to its meaty creativity. The question isn't whether it has any but whether it's worth the wait.
Speed Racer unconventionally adapted the comic book formula to a unique emotional high that now stands out in a crowded genre.
M. Night Shyamalan continues his winning streak with a well-acted high-concept thriller about the end-times. It's more smoke than fire though.
Whannell drenches the action of his remake in expository relevance to cover for a lack of basic thriller rationale in the screenplay.
The Tree of Life is an all-encompassing memory of a tiny life. It can't help but stand in for all of us.
Avatar: The Way of Water is a monument to James Cameron's business model but stutters on every other artistic or dramatic criterion imaginable.
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio shimmers with excited physical energy but never coordinates its new story ideas with its old moral responsibilities.
The Pale Blue Eye has the cast of a masterpiece and the script of a write-off. It's inoffensive afternoon viewing, but Poe would have his name removed from it.
The 1951 version of Scrooge effortlessly recreates its candleglow world. This classic story has never been better.
The unassailable influence of Stanley Kubrick's horror staple hides its dramatic shortcomings behind an illusion of prestige.