Reviews

Too funny to dismiss while also being too spotty to endorse beyond the mildest of mild enthusiasm.

Congrats — you now have the answer if you’ve ever wondered “What if ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ totally sucked?”

Isn’t a fun genre mash-up so much as a chance to give half the effort and require twice the suspension of disbelief.

Very much like “Frances Ha” or “Bridesmaids” with all the laughs and personality and wisdom taken out.

A pretty decent twist can’t rescue a narrative that ultimately just features a terrible couple being horrible parents.

More seductive than smart, “Black Bag” is a classy diversion about how every relationship finds a certain rhythm, and the bizarre ability for a word like “traitor” to apply in wildly different contexts.

I don’t often describe something as a good yarn, but “The Last Stop in Yuma County” is one.

Pummels suspension of disbelief into something murky and tiresome until the lingering effect is only exhaustion.

The kind of hopeful movie I want to believe in.

Recommended only for people who think “American Beauty” has aged great, or stream nothing but Prime and are too lazy to scroll two inches down from new releases.

Syrupy can have its comforting appeal, but “Goodrich” is less like what you put on pancakes and more like what you drain out of a fruit cup.

A stirring depiction of a predator who doesn’t want to play fair and his target who will fight back in any way possible.

Yes, it’s better than “The Shape of Water,” as most movies and some headaches are.

A nice diversion, and then on with your day.

Hinges so remarkably on the impossible alchemy of each essential piece of a band that carves the groove, chugs through it, floors it off the tracks, and leaves smoke and rainbows in the dust.

Treats proximity like destiny and strands excellent actors in a movie that’s — pun only sorta intended — below them.

Jumbles its chronology as misdirection from its hollowness.

The cinematic equivalent of settling for someone you don’t want.

Fun and challenging, rewatchable and impactful, accessible and specific. Love it, think about it, struggle with it, appreciate it.

There’s drama and sadness in the subject matter, of course, but that’s not a free pass to manipulate and bore. At worst, that’s offensive; at best, it’s precious time poorly spent.