A.X.L.  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- OK, so there's this experimental robotic war dog, very high tech, that's been developed for the military by an evil (of course) corporation.     But, since it's not only being tested but (so we're to understand) tormented in the lab, it...

Kin  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- As scripted by Daniel Casey and directed by brothers Jonathan and Josh Baker, "Kin" (Summit), a gritty but somewhat intriguing crime thriller with an overlay of science fiction, explores shades of right and wrong via a road trip through seamy swaths of Rust Belt and rural...

BlacKkKlansman  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- A few flaws notwithstanding, "BlacKkKlansman" (Focus) represents an effective -- and, strange as it may sound, often entertaining -- look at the vicious racism lurking at the fringes of American life and perpetually aspiring to enter its mainstream.    Since...

Operation Finale  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- World War II movies are their own genre but not many film stories are told from the Jewish perspective. "Operation Finale" (MGM) corrects that lack, giving us a story, begun during the war but only finished years later.     Some of the Nazi leaders...

Mile 22  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The sloppy, toxic mix of gunfire, explosions and cursing that is "Mile 22" (STX) makes it difficult to endure and impossible to recommend.    Dialogue and a coherent plot are afterthoughts in what must have been intended as a timely espionage thriller.  ...

The Happytime Murders  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Occasionally, as in "The Happytime Murders" (STX), filmmakers become enamored of the idea of foul-mouthed, sexualized puppets, as if no one had considered this idea before and there were some fresh, original way of going at this.    There's...

Eighth Grade  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- From a moral point of view, "Eighth Grade" (A24), a low-key, moving blend of comedy and drama, is a bit of a paradox.     As written and directed by Bo Burnham, this sly tour through all the horrors of early adolescence deals with sexuality in a...

Slender Man  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The plot of "Slender Man" (Screen Gems) is concisely summed up when Wren (Joey King), one of the creature's victims, screams, "He gets in your head like a computer virus!"    Yeah, that's his entire reason for being, in fact....

Crazy Rich Asians  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The award for the most accurate film title of the year goes to "Crazy Rich Asians" (Warner Bros), a romantic comedy about, well, members of a certain ethnic group who are insanely wealthy.    They are also, at times, out of their minds.  ...

Alpha  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The oft-repeated tale of a boy and his dog is as old as time -- or at least the last Ice Age, the intriguing setting for "Alpha" (Columbia).    Director Albert Hughes, working from his own story, imagines how mankind discovered man's best friend...

The Meg  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Forty-three summers ago (incredibly), Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" made moviegoers afraid to go in the ocean, for fear of getting bitten (or worse) by a great white shark.    That trailblazing horror film is child's play compared to "The...

Dog Days  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) – Written by Elissa Matsueda and Erica Oyama and directed by Ken Marino, the new comedy "Dog Days" (LD Entertainment) is comprised of a number of vignettes, following a variety of Los Angeles residents as they navigate life through a summer of challenges. Helping them...

The Darkest Minds  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- A strong sense of deja vu hovers over "The Darkest Minds" (Fox), a dystopian thriller about gifted teens running for their lives.    Echoes of other sci-fi series abound in Chad Hodge's script (based on Alexandra Bracken's best-selling...

The Spy Who Dumped Me  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Given its blend of genres, director and co-writer Susanna Fogel's fish-out-of-water action comedy "The Spy Who Dumped Me" (Lionsgate) is surprisingly violent.     Add some tawdry visuals and dialogue and the appropriate audience for the film,...

Christopher Robin  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- It's always dangerous to tamper with perfection. And, if there were ever a perfect world, it must be that of the Winnie the Pooh literature created by author A.A. Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepard in the 1920s.    So fans young and old may be forgiven...

Teen Titans Go! To the Movies  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Though a mixed bag of good values and a bit of dodgy humor renders it acceptable but not ideal for kids, sharp satire makes the witty animated comedy "Teen Titans Go! To the Movies" (Warner Bros.) a hoot for their elders.     As it skewers a broad...

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The exuberant kitsch that was the trademark of the Swedish band Abba lives on in the musical romance "Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again" (Universal).    Like its predecessor, the 2008 adaptation of the Broadway hit "Mamma Mia," the film, which...

Mission: Impossible -- Fallout  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Tom Cruise's by-now iconic American agent Ethan Hunt is at the top of his game in the engrossing espionage sequel "Mission: Impossible -- Fallout" (Paramount).     Despite extensive, though mostly restrained, action and the eventual showcasing...

The Equalizer 2  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Reprising his role as dispenser of do-it-yourself justice Robert McCall, Denzel Washington once again imagines that vengeance is his in "The Equalizer 2" (Columbia). Neither Washington's gifts nor the good his character sometimes achieves compensate for the gruesome mayhem...

Skyscraper  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Way back in 1958, James Stewart's character struggled with vertigo in the Alfred Hitchcock movie of the same name. But he had it easy compared to Dwayne Johnson's ex-U.S. military security expert Will Sawyer in "Skyscraper" (Universal).    Hitchcock...

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Like the excursion around which it's built, the animated kids' comedy "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation" (Sony) makes for a pleasant diversion.     If it's more likely to satisfy little ones than grown-ups, director and co-writer...

The First Purge  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- A love of violence for its own sake, a profoundly dishonest attempt to disguise itself as a political allegory and reverse racism characterize "The First Purge" (Universal), a despicable bit of slaughter porn.    This is the fourth film in -- and...

Ant-Man and the Wasp  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- There's plenty of humor and action in the fast-paced sci-fi adventure "Ant-Man and the Wasp" (Disney).     What's noticeably lacking is any exposition or guidance for those not already familiar with the characters and their relationships...

Uncle Drew  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- NBA fans will likely appreciate the mostly harmless sports comedy "Uncle Drew" (Summit). Viewers without a passion for the game and its attendant culture may be less indulgent.     Based on a Pepsi ad campaign featuring the title character, the film...

Sicario: Day of the Soldado  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Terrorism and the problem of human trafficking across the U.S.-Mexico border combine to create a crisis in the grim action sequel "Sicario: Day of the Soldado" (Columbia).     Though the artistic intent of director Stefano Sollima's follow-up...

Gotti  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Aficionados of stilted dialogue in low-budget crime sagas will likely find much to savor in "Gotti" (Vertical Entertainment).    Those not eagerly forming a queue at the cliche buffet might nonetheless enjoy John Travolta as the late mobster John...

Hereditary  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Imagine a mash-up of an intense family drama along the lines of 1980's "Ordinary People" and a foray into the occult like "Rosemary's Baby" from 1968 and you'll have a sense the unusual tone of "Hereditary" (A24).    What...

Ocean's 8  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- What with the glitterati dressing up like all manner of churchmen and saints in connection with the exhibit "Heavenly Bodies," the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual gala has been on the minds of many Catholics lately.    And now that event...

Incredibles 2  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The first family of superheroes returns in "Incredibles 2" (Disney), the highly anticipated sequel to a much-loved 2004 animated film.    Alas, the passage of time (a truly incredible 14 years) has not been kind. Despite Brad Bird's return as...

Tag  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Some rituals of childhood bonding are best left in the past. The cringe-inducing "Tag" (Warner Bros.) is a perfect example.     The plot is loosely based on Russell Adams' Wall Street Journal article about 10 classmates (one of whom is now a...

Hotel Artemis  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Viewers who check themselves into the "Hotel Artemis" (Global Road) may wind up feeling like prisoners of their own device.     Though this dystopian thriller, set in the near future, gets off to a stylish start, and features a couple of strong performances,...

Won't You Be My Neighbor?  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- First off, to answer everyone's question about "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" (Focus), the cheerful and reverent documentary about Fred Rogers, creator and host of the PBS stalwart "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood": Will it make you cry?  ...

Action Point  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- There's really no point to "Action Point" (Paramount). This chaotic, poorly crafted comedy -- a star vehicle for Johnny Knoxville of "Jackass" infamy -- amounts to little more than an endless succession of painful, supposedly amusing, pratfalls.  ...

Upgrade  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- With its brief but excessively graphic scenes of bloodletting, the otherwise mildly interesting sci-fi thriller "Upgrade" (BH Tilt) skirts the outer boundaries of moral acceptability.     That's a shame because, although its message about the...

Adrift  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- One of the intractable complications of sailing on the Pacific Ocean, we are told very early in the drama "Adrift" (STX), is that, no matter how skilled the pilot, even on a well-appointed vessel, isolation produces hallucinations.    Of course,...

Show Dogs  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Distasteful jokes, usually involving something scatological, are the bane of many films marketed to children, and the otherwise amiable comedy "Show Dogs" (Global Road) falls prey to this trend in an unusually off-putting way.    The sequence in...

Solo: A Star Wars Story  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Before he grew up to be Harrison Ford, intergalactic freebooter Han Solo was Alden Ehrenreich -- or so at least the folks behind "Solo: A Star Wars Story" (Disney), the pleasing but insubstantial latest addition to the blockbuster franchise, would have you believe.  ...

Life of the Party  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Life of the Party" (Warner Bros.) turns out to be an especially poor choice of title for a campus-set comedy that is, essentially, lifeless. Flat and boring, the film also winks at -- though it doesn't display -- extracurricular bedroom activities.  ...

Book Club  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Can we please stop saying sex?" a character asks in the ensemble romantic comedy "Book Club" (Paramount). The answer, in a word, is no.    In fact, there's hardly a line of dialogue in director and co-writer Bill Holderman's...

Bad Samaritan  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Those few grown-ups for whom it can be considered acceptable will find the thriller "Bad Samaritan" (Electric Entertainment) intriguing but seamy. Writer Brandon Boyce and director Dean Devlin have created an intricate moral maze of a film. Yet following its ins and outs involves...

Pope Francis: A Man of His Word  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Veteran filmmaker Wim Wenders respectfully profiles the current successor of St. Peter in the well-crafted, sometimes moving documentary "Pope Francis: A Man of His Word" (Focus). Though Wenders also provides some narration, as his title suggests, he largely lets the pontiff...

Wraith  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The real-life evil of abortion is blended with otherworldly and occult phenomena in the horror tale "Wraith" (Out Cold). The result is an earnest but flawed message movie.    There is some originality to this story of the Lukens family -- dad Dennis...

Breaking In  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Don't mess with Mom; that's the message of the less-than-credible and excessively violent thriller "Breaking In" (Universal). As it strains its tenuous premise, the film approaches a conclusion calculated to appeal to viewers' worst instincts.   ...

Tully   (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Director Jason Reitman's comedy "Tully" (Focus) winds up strongly affirming marriage and family life. Yet his film takes such a rocky path to that positive outcome that most viewers may not wish to follow it.    As a baby present to mark the...

Overboard  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- No need to throw a lifeline to "Overboard" (MGM), a surprisingly buoyant remake of the 1987 romantic comedy.    The original film is best remembered for the chemistry between its stars, real-life partners Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. Unfortunately,...

Traffik  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- A series of onscreen statistics at the end of "Traffik" (Lionsgate) are meant to alert viewers to the extent of the very grave real-world problem of human trafficking with which the film deals. They're also there, perhaps, to reinforce the idea that writer-director Deon...

Super Troopers 2  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Imagine being confined for about an hour and a half in the boys' locker room of a high school attended exclusively by dullards, and you'll have a sense of what it's like to sit through the obnoxious ensemble comedy "Super Troopers 2" (Fox Searchlight).  ...

Beirut   (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Every word matters in "Beirut" (Bleecker Street), an espionage thriller set in 1982 during the Lebanese civil war. Negotiations are layered on top of promises and betrayals as American diplomats hope to exchange a hostage for a Palestinian terrorist who might be a prisoner...

Rampage  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Those looking for a film that seriously engages with the human condition or advances the art of cinema will not find what they're looking for in "Rampage" (Warner Bros.). Grown-ups out to kill the better part of two hours and willing to be satisfied with some campy fun,...

I Feel Pretty  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Whacks to the noggin make such convenient plot devices. In "I Feel Pretty" (STX), the latest Amy Schumer comedy, a tumble during a Soul Cycle workout gives her out-of-shape character the reverse of body dysmorphic disorder. Thus she sees herself as slim, beautiful and perfect...

Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Any animal who manages to become an honorary noncommissioned officer in the Army must have a story worth telling. And so it proves with the generally endearing animated slice of history "Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero" (Fun Academy).    This comedy-tinged...

Chappaquiddick  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- On July 18, 1969, commander Neil Armstrong and his crew were hurtling toward the moon aboard Apollo 11 and Sen. Edward M. (Ted) Kennedy of Massachusetts seemed to be running on the inside track in the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1972.  ...

Blumhouse's Truth or Dare  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- There's little authenticity or audacity to be found in the dull thriller "Blumhouse's Truth or Dare" (Universal).     Rather than chilling viewers, director and co-writer Jeff Wadlow's film merely succeeds in endangering its cast via...

Isle of Dogs  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Writer-director Wes Anderson's "Isle of Dogs" (Fox Searchlight) pushes the limits of his customary deadpan drollery with its emphasis on death and gloom.     Cute and cuddly these canines are not. So Anderson's first stop-motion animated...

God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Atheism is set at defiance once more in the franchise-extending drama "God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness" (Pure Flix).     Writer-director Michael Mason's film, the second sequel to 2014's "God's Not Dead," benefits...

Blockers  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Contemporary society's misguided outlook on sex, from which all regard for the Gospel virtue of chastity has seemingly been banished, permeates the low comedy "Blockers" (Universal). The result is a morass of bad morals.    As their prom approaches,...

The Miracle Season  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Make sure you have your tissues handy when you go to see "The Miracle Season" (Mirror).     As he did with 2011's "Soul Surfer," director Sean McNamara once again brings a tragic, but ultimately inspiring, fact-based sports story to...

Midnight Sun  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- More than four centuries have passed since William Shakespeare wrote the mother of all love stories, "Romeo and Juliet." Since then, there have been countless variations on his tale of teenage star-crossed lovers.    The latest iteration is "Midnight...

Sherlock Gnomes  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Fans of 2011's "Gnomeo and Juliet" may be pleased to discover that James McAvoy and Emily Blunt reprise their voice work as that film's title players in the animated adventure "Sherlock Gnomes" (Paramount).    Alas, they'll...

Ready Player One  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Those who may have wondered what it would be like to be a pinball crashing around inside a machine amid flashing lights and ear-splitting sounds will find that experience approximated in the sci-fi fantasy "Ready Player One" (Warner Bros).    Director...

Gringo  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Moral dilemmas come fast and furious in "Gringo" (STX), a dark, but somehow not cynical, comedy about avarice and its near-instant consequences.    Although this is not family fare, adult viewers who enjoy interlocking subplots -- they're piled...

I Can Only Imagine  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Dennis Quaid brings his formidable talent to bear in the faith-driven drama "I Can Only Imagine" (Lionsgate).    His portrayal of Arthur Millard, the abusive father whose conversion to evangelical Christianity inspired his son, Bart (John Michael...

Love, Simon  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Good-hearted and well-crafted, but morally misguided, the gay-themed romantic comedy "Love, Simon" (Fox) is deserving of careful analysis rather than off-hand dismissal.     Though its conclusion veers into crowd-pleasing propaganda, the film mostly...

The Strangers: Prey at Night  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Random murder is the order of the day in the sadistic horror flick "The Strangers: Prey at Night" (Aviron).     Director Johannes Roberts' sequel to 2008's "The Strangers" shows none of the relative restraint of the original --...

A Wrinkle in Time  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Director Ava DuVernay's youth-oriented fantasy film "A Wrinkle in Time" (Disney) wants to blow your mind.    Whether it succeeds will largely depend on your reaction to the sight of a giant version of Oprah Winfrey who, as a celestial guide...

Every Day  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- It's not "Every Day" (Orion) that you run into an incorporeal spirit who inhabits the bodies of different people for 24 hours at a time. But such is the unusual nature of the love interest in this strange teen romance.    Director Michael Sucsy's...

Death Wish  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Even dressed up with some style and the presumption of wit, the remake of "Death Wish" (MGM) is the same nihilistic racist vigilante fantasy that the five films in the first series were years ago.    Director Eli Roth and screenwriter Joe Carnahan...

Red Sparrow  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Not one sparrow, so we are assured on the highest authority, falls to the ground without God's knowledge.     In the case of the potentially engaging espionage thriller "Red Sparrow" (Fox), however, such awareness may represent the downside...

Game Night  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Family values and much enjoyable humor are offset by numerous distasteful jokes and an excess of vulgar language in the comedy "Game Night" (Warner Bros.).     The final score? Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein's film makes...

Early Man  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Nick Park, the creative genius behind so many Aardman Animations claymation comedies spanning more than two decades, finally makes his feature-length directing debut with "Early Man" (Lionsgate).    With its all-British cast, and despite a plot that...

Annihilation  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Writer-director Alex Garland's "Annihilation" (Paramount), a blend of sci-fi and horror, starts off promisingly, its understated tone and matter-of-fact dialogue ratcheting up audience dread.     But the payoff fizzles. Along the way, a couple...

Samson  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- While not suitable for the youngest viewers, the spirited biblically based drama "Samson" (Pure Flix) can provide a fine introduction to the Hebrew he-man's story for teens.     Adults as well will find this an enjoyable riff on the exploits...

Fifty Shades Freed  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Are you looking for a film with dialogue as smart as a whip? Or one that ties you to its characters with inescapable bonds of sympathy? Or a movie so tragic that watching it unfold will cause you the most exquisite, yet somehow satisfying, pain? Well, then, "Fifty Shades Freed"...

Black Panther  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Step aside, Huey Newton, there's a new "Black Panther" (Disney) in town.    Director and co-writer Ryan Coogler's adaptation of a series of Marvel Comics -- Stan Lee and Jack Kirby first launched the character of the title in 1966 -- is...

Winchester  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- There are many interesting things to know about the life of arms heiress Sarah Winchester (c. 1840-1922). For one, she was fabulously wealthy. For another, she believed she was cursed.    To stave off the effects of the latter condition, moreover, Sarah was...

Peter Rabbit  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- That rustling sound you hear is famed children's author Beatrix Potter spinning in her grave, distressed at what has been done to her beloved characters in "Peter Rabbit" (Columbia).     Potter (1866-1943) wrote gentle morality fables about...

The 15:17 to Paris  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The good news about the drama "The 15:17 to Paris" (Warner Bros.), as well as the real-life events on which it's based, is that, given the right circumstances and motivations, ordinary people can achieve great things.     The bad news is that,...

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The dramatic power and serious artistic intent that mark writer-director Martin McDonagh's "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" (Fox Searchlight) are too obvious to be denied.    Taken together with Frances McDormand's majestic turn...

Darkest Hour  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The spotlight shines brightly on British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in "Darkest Hour" (Focus), a historical drama about political leadership and backroom intrigue during a pivotal moment of World War II.    Churchill (1874-1965) was 65 years...

Call Me by Your Name  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Classical statuary forms a recurring visual motif in the coming-of-age drama "Call Me by Your Name" (Sony Classics).     That's fitting since the film's primary romantic relationship, which bonds an older male mentor with a precocious,...

Maze Runner: The Death Cure  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The end is nigh, mercifully, in "Maze Runner: The Death Cure" (Fox), based on the third and final novel in James Dashner's sci-fi trilogy.    And none too soon. Our intrepid band of teenagers, the "Gladers," look positively worn out,...

I, Tonya  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- At no point in "I, Tonya" (Neon) is it clear whether the filmmakers are sympathetic to the plight of disgraced Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding (Margot Robbie) or just want to make fun of both her and the peculiar, fleeting nature of fame.    That's...

Phantom Thread   (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- All rustling silk, organza, lace and tulle in the first half and a bizarre portrayal of marriage in the second half, "Phantom Thread" (Focus) is a bumpy trip through high fashion and passive-aggressive sniping in 1950s London.    Director-writer...

12 Strong  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- True military adventures don't come any more rousing than "12 Strong" (Warner Bros.), the story of a tiny Special Forces unit that won a significant early victory against both the Taliban and al-Qaida in the weeks after 9/11.    Based on Doug...

Proud Mary  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- As the title character in the drama "Proud Mary" (Screen Gems), Taraji P. Henson plays a hit woman with a heart of gold. By turns violent and sentimental, the tall tale that centers on her unlikely persona is consistently unconvincing.    A year...

Hostiles  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Hostiles" (Entertainment Studios) works from the premise that not only were white soldiers in the 1890s aware of their complicity in the decades-long genocide of Native Americans, they could feel immense, paralyzing guilt about their actions.    The...

Den of Thieves  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The hyper-violent "Den of Thieves" (STX) is a morass of crass.    It's supposed to be a rollicking, quirky and farcical saga about a gang of bank robbers in dystopian and usually nighttime Southern California led by Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber)...

Forever My Girl  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Most of the characters in "Forever My Girl" (Roadside Attractions), a gentle adaptation of Heidi McLaughlin's romance novel about an aspiring country music star, have a song on their lips.    Occasionally, someone is admonished with "stop...

The Post  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The oddest scenes in "The Post" (Fox), a nostalgic account of The Washington Post's publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1971, involve Meryl Streep as that newspaper's owner, Katharine Graham, hovering about its press and linotype rooms.    The...

Paddington 2  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Unlikely as it seems, "Paddington 2" (Warner Bros.), an endearing blend of animation and live action, sends the much-loved bear of its title (voice of Ben Whishaw) to the slammer. More predictably, once imprisoned -- in a grim Victorian fortress of a jail -- he still manages...

The Commuter  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- If you think your trip back and forth to work is trying, consider the plight Liam Neeson finds himself in as "The Commuter" (Lionsgate).    Neeson's character, police officer-turned-insurance-salesman Michael MacCauley, is already having a bad...

Father Figures  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- About the funniest joke in the threadbare comedy "Father Figures" (Warner Bros.) concerns the fact that, in childhood, its two main characters -- now-grown and estranged fraternal twins Kyle (Owen Wilson) and Peter (Ed Helms) Reynolds -- had a pet cat named Chairman Meow  ...

Just Getting Started  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- There's bad, there's awful and then there's "Just Getting Started" (Broad Green). This dismal attempt at comedy is so epically empty that it makes the average "Porky's" sequel seem like a scintillating masterpiece.    The...

Star Wars: The Last Jedi  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Despite the high price of a movie ticket these days, patrons are unlikely to come away from a showing of the engrossing sci-fi epic "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" (Disney) feeling shortchanged.     Vast in scale and operatic in intensity, this 152-minute...

Ferdinand  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Generations of children have fallen in love with the peace-loving protagonist of Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson's 1936 classic "The Story of Ferdinand."     Now that amiable bull, who was featured in an Academy Award-winning 1938 short from Walt...

Lady Bird  (Rating:

     

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I’ve always been fascinated to see what happens when a prominent actor or actress decides to take a seat behind the camera and make a truly personal artistic statement. From the stunningly dark visuals and spirit of Charles Laughton’s 1955 moody masterpiece “Night of the...

Roman J. Israel, Esq.  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Writer-director Dan Gilroy's drama "Roman J. Israel, Esq." (Columbia) is a generally intriguing character study pitting idealism against the hard realities of contemporary life and the allure of wealth and comfort.     Though the film takes...

The Man Who Invented Christmas  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Its rather ill-chosen title notwithstanding, "The Man Who Invented Christmas" (Bleecker Street) involves no denial of the Nativity.     Instead, this charming fact-based historical drama tells the origin story of Victorian author Charles Dickens'...

Coco  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Will "Coco" (Disney) be your cup of tea? That largely depends on how well equipped you are to interpret this visually rich animated fantasy's presentation of the afterlife, one which owes little to Christianity and much to the pre-Columbian beliefs associated with Mexico's...

Let There Be Light  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Let There Be Light" (Atlas) is an evangelical Christian drama with a familiar plot: A wayward sinner, in this case a famous atheist, experiences a change of heart.    The film is being marketed as a family-friendly event for church groups. The promotion...

Justice League  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- When it comes to repetitiously threatening the world with annihilation, Hollywood is almost as persistent as North Korean state media.     So the global danger looming over "Justice League" (Warner Bros.) feels all-too-familiar, a case of Yogi Berra's...

Wonder  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Wonder" (Lionsgate) is a beautiful film about ugliness. Its protagonist is August "Auggie" Pullman (Jacob Tremblay), a 10-year-old boy born with facial deformities whose misshapen visage becomes a moral Rorschach test for the people around him.  ...

Novitiate  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Writer-director Margaret Betts takes a stab at a genre that always seems to fascinate people, even those with no religious affiliation: nun movies.     Unfortunately, "Novitiate" (Sony Classics) falls short of presenting a well-rounded picture of...

Daddy's Home 2  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Silly slapstick predominates in "Daddy's Home 2" (Paramount). Though this follow-up to the 2015 comedy about the blending pains of a post-divorce family is mostly harmless, late scenes mix lame holiday-themed sentimentality with weirdly uncomfortable humor concerning...

Murder on the Orient Express  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- A formidable list of actors, including Albert Finney, Peter Ustinov and David Suchet, have taken on the role of Agatha Christie's famed Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot.     Now Kenneth Branagh makes the possessor of the celebrated "little gray...

Jigsaw  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Butchery accompanied by siren-wail screaming, franchise shock value that has long since played out and a rapid descent into self-parody, this is "Jigsaw" (Lionsgate).     The eighth, uh, film in the "Saw" series -- which is now about seven...

Thor: Ragnarok  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- There's plenty of combat but relatively little bloodletting in the sweeping Marvel Comics adaptation "Thor: Ragnarok" (Disney). So at least some parents may deem this second sequel to the 2011 original acceptable for older teens.    As for adult...

A Bad Moms Christmas  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Aggressive vulgarity is the incongruous hallmark of the holiday-themed sequel "A Bad Moms Christmas" (STX).    Like a stocking stuffed full of nasty surprises, the script, as penned by returning screenwriters and directors Jon Lucas and Scott Moore,...

Victoria and Abdul  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Judi Dench is no stranger to playing royalty, and she shines once again as the titular queen in "Victoria and Abdul" (Focus).    Beginning in 1887, director Stephen Frears' historical drama, adapted from the book by Shrabani Basu, follows the...

Suburbicon  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Corruption lurking under the placid surface of life in the suburbs is hardly a new theme.    But the image of universal middle-class depravity presented in the failed black comedy "Suburbicon" (Paramount) is so lurid as to render the movie fundamentally...

Thank You for Your Service  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- For many soldiers returning from war, a brand-new battle for survival begins at home. That struggle is depicted in "Thank You for Your Service" (Universal), a powerful drama about the devastating impact of post-traumatic stress disorder.    Writer-director...

The Snowman  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Though it presents itself as a complex, thinking person's thriller, "The Snowman" (Universal), director Tomas Alfredson's adaptation of Jo Nesbo's best-selling crime novel, is not above dabbling in penny-dreadful sensationalism.    ...

Only the Brave  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The heartbreaking true story of an elite Arizona firefighting team comes to the big screen in "Only the Brave" (Columbia).    In 2013, the Granite Mountain Hotshots -- as the group was known -- risked their lives and raced into a raging inferno to...

My Little Pony: The Movie  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Looking for an instant sugar rush but don't want all those empty calories? Saddle up and lasso "My Little Pony: The Movie" (Lionsgate), a super-sweet animated musical featuring those candy-colored Hasbro toys.    Amid relentless prancing and...

Blade Runner 2049  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Misogyny hangs over "Blade Runner 2049" (Warner Bros.) as blithely as the thick yellow fog of the post-apocalyptic Los Angeles it portrays.    While that's hardly unusual for science-fiction epics with a substantially male core audience, director...

Happy Death Day   (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- With a name like "Happy Death Day" (Universal), a sweet, wholesome story is unlikely to unfold.    You can say that again.     Rather, "Happy Death Day," directed by Christopher Landon ("Scouts Guide to the...

'Til Death Do Us Part  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) – "'Til Death Do Us Part" (Novus) takes a deep dive into the shallow end of the melodrama pool with predictable results.    Moreover, its improbable plot centered on a faked death is carried as a badge of honor. The film's moral...

Flatliners  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Far from heavenly, but not exactly hellish either, the tepid afterlife-focused thriller "Flatliners" (Columbia) is more like a visit to limbo.    Comparisons to a spell spent sitting in your doctor's waiting room might be equally apt, since...

The Mountain Between Us  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The proverbial call of the wild sounds more like a roar in "The Mountain Between Us" (Fox), a trapped-in-the-wilderness survival drama based on the 2011 novel by Charles Martin.    At an Idaho airport, Alex Martin (Kate Winslet) is desperate. The...

Battle of the Sexes  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The early 1970s in all its revanchist sexism, double-knit-fabric garishness and choking cigarette smoke is the setting of the coming-of-age story that is "Battle of the Sexes" (Fox Searchlight).    That the coming of age arrives for Billie Jean King...

A Question of Faith  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- As with so many of its forerunners in the religious message movie genre, the sober drama "A Question of Faith" (Pure Flix) seems better suited to preach to the choir than to attract the indifferent or the merely curious.     Still, those committed...

The Lego Ninjago Movie  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Third time lucky? Not for the Lego screen franchise, alas.    In following up on 2014's "The Lego Movie" and "The Lego Batman Movie" from earlier this year, directors Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher and Bob Logan -- the latter two also co-writers,...

American Made  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- "American Made" (Universal), the wild, fact-based story of airline pilot-turned-gun-runner Barry Seal (Tom Cruise), is far too turbulent for youngsters and even too bumpy for most of their elders.     That's a shame because, given a different...

American Assassin  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The award for the most obvious film title of the year goes to "American Assassin" (CBS Films), an action thriller about -- you guessed it -- a professional killer from the United States, specifically Rhode Island.    This adaptation of the 2010 novel...

Mother!  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Even as its end credits roll, there's a great deal that remains puzzling about the chaotic, exhausting, genre-blending allegory "Mother!" (Paramount).     What's all too apparent, however, is that the film's treatment of religion --...

Kingsman: The Golden Circle  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Stylish but wayward, director and co-writer Matthew Vaughn's action sequel "Kingsman: The Golden Circle" (Fox) spoils its own fun by refusing all hint of restraint.     This leads to cartoonish but gruesome mayhem as well as a distasteful bedroom...

Home Again  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Genteel decorum prevails in the romantic comedy "Home Again" (Open Road). At least, it does so everywhere beyond the confines of its protagonist's bedroom. The result is a morally mixed film in which kindly characters follow the misguided marital and sexual dictates of...

It  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Moviegoers looking for nothing more than to be unsettled will likely be satisfied with the horror adaptation "It" (Warner Bros.). However, while director Andy Muschietti's generally effective screen version of Stephen King's 1986 novel promotes friendship and fear-conquering...

The Good Catholic  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- A self-identified romantic comedy built around a priest's struggle with his vocation is bound to be doubtful fare for viewers of faith. And so it proves with "The Good Catholic" (Broad Green).     While free of sensationalism, writer-director...

Tulip Fever  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Horticulture was never as steamy -- or silly -- as in "Tulip Fever" (Weinstein), a period drama based on the 1999 novel by Deborah Moggach.    Despite a handsome cast, lavish sets and a script by no less than Tom Stoppard ("Shakespeare in Love"),...

Good Time  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Gritty and intense, the ironically titled crime drama "Good Time" (A24) actually charts some very grim hours in the lives of its central characters.    In doing so, the film conducts viewers on a journey through a bleak urban landscape many entertainment...

All Saints  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Sincere but less than slick, the low-key, fact-based drama "All Saints" (Sony) celebrates Christian faith and family life. Believers, accordingly, will likely be inclined to overlook its artistic shortcomings.    Director Steve Gomer and screenwriter...

Leap!  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Ballet enthusiasts of all ages should jump at the chance to see the charming animated film "Leap!" (Weinstein). Set in 1880s France, and originally entitled "Ballerina," this French-Canadian movie, produced by L'Atelier Animation and directed with brio by Eric...

The Glass Castle  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Anyone who's endured the ignominy of grinding poverty with an alcoholic, out-of- work parent understands that there's nothing ennobling about the experience.     It's something to endure, to escape if one can, and it leaves deep psychic scars...

The Hitman's Bodyguard  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Morality is never allowed to get in the way of style as Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds find creative ways to dispatch a host of extras in the excessively mayhem-ridden action flick "The Hitman's Bodyguard" (Summit).     Some dialogue justifying...

The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Much of the action in the animated children's comedy "The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature" (Open Road) unfolds at a frenzied pace. Yet, for all the sound and fury, this is in the end a bland film, unlikely to please any but the least discerning viewers.  ...

Brigsby Bear  (Rating:

     

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For the past four seasons of “Saturday Night Live,” cast member Kyle Mooney has created a series of unique video shorts that have thrown comic curveballs at viewers with a decidedly twisted point of view. In his new film “Brigsby Bear,” Mooney takes on fanboy obsession...

Kidnap  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The compact thriller "Kidnap" (Aviron) has Halle Berry's expressive face going for it, but not a whole lot else. The film is less a story about a mother's enduring love and sacrifice for her young son than it is a long drive in an amazingly durable minivan.  ...

A Ghost Story  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- "A Ghost Story" (A24) could be the best film about purgatory you'll see this year.    That depends, of course, on whether you think that purgatory is the state in which Casey Affleck's recently departed character exists. Writer-director...

Detroit  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- A dark chapter of the Motor City's history is revisited in "Detroit" (Annapurna), a searing period drama.    The setting is the summer of 1967, when race riots broke out in several cities across the country. In Detroit, simmering discontent...

The Dark Tower  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Awash in high-flown metaphysical hooey, director and co-writer Nikolaj Arcel's dull sci-fi fantasy "The Dark Tower" (Columbia) is inappropriate for the impressionable.    As for grown viewers, they should be prepared to slog through an involved...

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Despite its ponderous title, "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" (STX) turns out to be a flashy but lightweight sci-fi adventure likely to divert those grown viewers content to munch their popcorn and enjoy a break from the heat of summer.    Moviegoers...

Atomic Blonde  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Aspiring to be edgy and stylish, the espionage thriller "Atomic Blonde" (Focus), matches sometimes sadistic brawling with exploitative scenes of aberrant sex. The result is not only degraded but tedious as well.    In the weeks leading up to the...

The Emoji Movie  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Tech savvy viewers will especially enjoy the wacky proceedings of "The Emoji Movie" (Columbia). But patrons of all stripes will appreciate the film's themes of loyal friendship and faithful romance.    Set within the smartphone of high school...

War for the Planet of the Apes   (Rating:

     

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The idea of mankind being trapped in a world where apes have managed to evolve and turn the tables by dominating humans has proven fascinating ever since Charlton Heston made the first “Planet of the Apes” movie nearly 50 years ago. The new “War for the Planet of the Apes”...

The House  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Had "The House" (Warner Bros.) been made as a taut, dark comedy about the price of greed, it might have some merit. Instead, director Andrew Jay Cohen, who co-wrote the screenplay with Brendan O'Brien, has produced a sloppy, illogical, cringe-inducing time-waster.  ...

Spider-Man: Homecoming   (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- There's much to like about the vibrant comic-book adaptation "Spider-Man: Homecoming" (Columbia). Besides an unslacking pace and a clever central plot twist, there's the fact that the mayhem on display is kept virtually bloodless.    And...

Baby Driver  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Stylish and energetic, the high-octane crime drama "Baby Driver" (TriStar) blends pop music, dizzying car chases and some dark humor to impressive effect.     While the film's basic values are sound, however, late plot developments involve a...

Despicable Me 3  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Director Pierre Coffin's animated comedy "Despicable Me 3" (Universal) -- the second direct follow-up to the 2010 original -- turns out to be something of a disappointment, falling short when compared to its predecessors.     There is good news...

All Eyez on Me  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Radical politics and the wayward values of hip-hop culture take "All Eyez on Me" (Summit), a sometimes intense but overlong and rarely insightful biography of rapper Tupac Shakur (Demetrius Shipp Jr.), off course.    Add to these elements a script...

Transformers: The Last Knight  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Grown-ups who yearn to connect with their inner 11-year-old boy are given a two-and-a-half-hour window of opportunity to do so in "Transformers: The Last Knight" (Paramount).     As for the literal preteens who might somehow enjoy this long, loud...

47 Meters Down  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Way back in 1975, Steven Spielberg taught the world just how scary sharks can be with his classic "Jaws." Apparently the two main characters in the thriller "47 Meters Down" (Entertainment Studios) failed to get the message.    As a result,...

Rough Night  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Weekend at Bernie's" meets "Bridesmaids" in the raunchy comedy "Rough Night" (Columbia). The result is pure dreck.    Political candidate and bride-to-be Jess Thayer (Scarlett Johansson) joins her four best friends --  ...

Cars 3  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Fasten your seatbelts and start your engines for a wild (and often ear-splitting) ride in "Cars 3" (Disney), the latest installment of the family-friendly animated franchise.    Six years after the initial sequel and 11 since the series began with...

Megan Leavey  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Man's best friend is also a lifesaver in "Megan Leavey" (Bleeker Street), the inspiring true story of a female Marine corporal and the bomb-sniffing dog she bonded with during the Iraq War.    Leavey (born in 1983) and Rex, her trusty German...

The Mummy  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The clumsily fashioned horror flick "The Mummy" (Universal) turns out to be anything but tightly wound.     Predictable pagan mumbo-jumbo aside, there's not much to bother grown viewers in the film. But its globetrotting -- from Ancient Egypt...

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- If you can say or even read the name of the planet Uranus without bursting into gales of giggles, then "Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie" (Fox) may not be the film for you.     From a giant mechanized toilet running amok to an orchestra of...

Wonder Woman  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Close to eight decades ago, William Moulton Marston -- whose name seems more suited to a stodgy novelist than a writer of comic books -- created Wonder Woman. In the years since, the character has, of course, become a staple for DC Comics.    She has also...

Gifted  (Rating:

     

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The small film "Gifted" (i.e. small in scope, feel, settings, and in its pint-sized protagonist) is delightful and well-crafted, and asks what it really means to be a successful human being … what it really means to be "gifted." Mary, a 7-year-old math prodigy like her mother...

Everything, Everything  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Cynics beware: The teen-oriented romantic drama "Everything, Everything" (Warner Bros.) bears more than a little resemblance to one of those fairy tales involving a princess locked up in a castle who needs a handsome prince to rescue her.    Anachronistic...

Alien: Covenant  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Once you've seen one vicious extraterrestrial gnaw its way out of a human body from the inside, you've seen 'em all. Or so at least the jaded -- or squeamish -- moviegoer might be tempted to think.     And yet, the success of the durable "Alien"...

13 Reasons Why  (Rating:

     

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I think the verdict is now out. The wildly-popular, or at least widely-seen Netflix series "13 Reasons Why" – (based on the book by the same name) about a teen girl who commits suicide – may actually have the reverse effect of its intended purpose. The purpose of the book/series...

The Circle  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Big Brother is watching you, and he has nothing to do with the government. Such, at least in part, is the message of the confused cautionary tale "The Circle" (STX).    While perfectly acceptable for a wide swath of grown-ups, director James Ponsoldt's...

How to Be a Latin Lover  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- There are so many plot threads going in "How to Be a Latin Lover" (Pantelion), they never quite come together. Rather, the film becomes a scattershot comedy wavering uncertainly between warm family fare and a sex farce.    The uneven tone, together...

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Sound fundamental values underlie the spirited sci-fi follow-up "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" (Disney). But thematic elements demanding discernment, together with some less than family-friendly dialogue, make this return to the stars best for grown-ups.  ...

Beauty and the Beast  (Rating:

     

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The live-action "Beauty and the Beast" is a lovely and faithful rendition of the animated version – faithful to the point of an almost frame-by-frame facsimile. Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as The Beast play their roles with precision. The stunning Audra McDonald –...

Free Fire  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The premise of "Free Fire" (A24) is that a single extended gunfight can sustain an entire film, provided the participants in the showdown keep making incongruously funny and mordant remarks.    This is the genre of the siege movie, somewhat in the...

Unforgettable  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The few adult viewers for whom it's suitable might be tempted to nickname the feverish domestic drama "Unforgettable" (Warner Bros.) "Wifie Dearest."     That's because Tessa Connover (Katherine Heigl), the obsessive, perfectionist...

Gifted  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Endearing and well-acted, director Marc Webb's drama "Gifted" (Fox Searchlight) might have been a family-friendly movie.     Elements in screenwriter Tom Flynn's script, however, make this thoughtful film -- which examines the proper balance...

Bitter Harvest  (Rating:

     

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The new film, "Bitter Harvest," is a long overdue depiction of the "Holodomor" – the starvation of 7-10 million Ukrainians (1932-1933) at the order of the communist Soviet Union's Jozef Stalin. Does it succeed as a film? Not exactly, but it should still be viewed in...

The Blackcoat's Daughter  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- This year's crop of demon-possession plots -- that hardy stalwart of horror -- kicks off in high style with the very adult "The Blackcoat's Daughter" (A24).    Although this story gives unusually short shrift to the rite of exorcism, which...

The Zookeeper's Wife  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Moviegoers of goodwill may ask themselves, while watching the fact-based historical drama "The Zookeeper's Wife" (Focus), why they aren't enjoying themselves more. The story the film tells is undeniably inspiring. But the manner in which it's told is dramatically...

The Case for Christ  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Christian apologetics, the branch of theology devoted to proving the reasonableness of belief in Jesus, is almost as old as the faith itself. Three documents in this genre, for instance, survive from the writings of St. Justin Martyr, who died in the middle of the second century.  ...

The Shack  (Rating:

     

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Wow. Where do I begin? "The Shack," the book, is a New York Times bestseller, first published in 2007. It was written by Canadian William P. Young, who experienced healing in his own life; and as a Christian, needed to wrestle with the perennial "problem of evil" question. That's...

A United Kingdom  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The historical drama "A United Kingdom" (Fox Searchlight) tells the story of Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo), an African royal who faced down mid-20th-century racial prejudice to marry Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike), a white office worker he met in post-World War II London.  ...

La La Land  (Rating:

     

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Is the fêted "La La Land" really so great? Yes, if you like sheer escapist films and golden-era Hollywood films. Also, it's pretty much a quasi-musical. It doesn't try too hard, and is very tongue-in-cheek about what it purports to be, so it's an overall light and uplifting...

Fences  (Rating:

     

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  In my humble opinion, good plays will make good film-plays – even if not given the full film treatment. Bad plays ... well, you get the picture. "Fences" is a good play. Denzel Washington's Oscar-nominated film is an adaptation of a Pulitzer-Prize-winning 1983 August...

A Cure for Wellness  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The Swiss spa that serves as the primary setting for the creepy, but otherwise pointless horror exercise "A Cure for Wellness" (Fox) operates, it seems, on the Hotel California plan.     As fans of the Eagles' 1977 hit will recall, that means,...

John Wick: Chapter 2  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The stylized, nearly cartoonish nihilism and resulting high body count in "John Wick: Chapter 2" (Lionsgate) create most of the apparent appeal of this second drama about a professional assassin.    The rest, as directed by Chad Stahelski from Derek...

The Lego Batman Movie  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- In 2014's "The Lego Movie," Will Arnett voiced an amusingly self-absorbed version of Gotham City's Dark Knight. With the entertaining spinoff "The Lego Batman Movie" (Warner Bros.), Arnett's character, together with his inflated ego, takes center stage.  ...

Arrival  (Rating:

     

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The Oscar-nominated sci-fi film "Arrival" is a vacuous, insipid waste of time, in my humble opinion. I can't stand alien movies, but everyone assured me this wasn't an alien movie, or not your typical alien movie. It is. "E.T." and "Close Encounters of the Third...

Gold  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Little glitters in "Gold" (Weinstein). To put it another way, there's a sour taste to this loosely fact-based story that a strong performance from Matthew McConaughey in the lead role fails to dispel.    McConaughey plays Kenny Wells, a scrappy...

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter" (Screen Gems) is the sixth -- and presumably last -- in a series of video game-based films that began back in 2002.    The movies have always kept their connection to the console on open display. This makes them...

The Space Between Us  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Moral blemishes mar the science fiction-tinged romance "The Space Between Us" (STX), making it unsuitable for youngsters and teens.     Dramatically, director Peter Chelsom and screenwriter Allan Loeb waste a promising premise as they imagine the...

Split  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Split" (Universal), the latest psychological thriller from writer-director M. Night Shyamalan, posits that victims of childhood sexual abuse are not only prone to dissociative identity disorder -- split personalities -- but also that each persona can have unique physical...

The Bye Bye Man  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Don't think it! Don't say it!" Such is the frantic, oft-repeated mantra of the bewitched and bewildered -- not to mention generic -- characters who populate "The Bye Bye Man" (STX). Their struggle to evade the malevolent specter of the title (Doug Jones)...

Sleepless  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- There's little chance of catching a quick nap during "Sleepless" (Open Road), a noisy, vulgar, and highly violent police drama.    Based on the 2011 French film "Nuit Blanche" ("Sleepless Night"), this tense thriller, directed...

Silence  (Rating:

     

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The new Martin Scorsese film, "Silence," based on the 1966 historical novel (with the same title) by Japanese Catholic, Shûsaku Endô, is a worthy and nuanced take on: missionary activity, Christianity, the priesthood, the sacraments, religious persecution, torture, suffering,...

La La Land  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Though it's set in present-day Los Angeles, the comedy-drama "La La Land" (Lionsgate) takes a spirited stab at reviving the musicals of Hollywood's golden age.    Writer-director Damien Chazelle ("Whiplash") dreams big in this...

Hidden Figures  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- The struggles of the civil rights era provide the backdrop for the appealing fact-based drama "Hidden Figures" (Fox 2000). Along with a personalized insight into the injustices that still prevailed in American society in the early 1960s, director Theodore Melfi's adaptation...

Manchester by the Sea  (Rating:

     

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Kenneth Lonergan, writer-director of the Oscar-buzzy Amazon Studios' "Manchester By the Sea" is a playwright, and his films reflect that: minute detail to human discourse and a wallowing in emotionally-charged depths. Lonergan's mother is Jewish and his father is Irish –...

Miss Sloane  (Rating:

     

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A striking performance from Jessica Chastain as the ruthless Washington lobbyist of the title propels director John Madden's forceful study of political corruption. The win-at-all-costs wheeler-dealer shocks her colleagues when, driven by personal conviction, she abruptly changes sides in the fight...

The Bounce Back  (Rating:

     

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Pleasantly compact romance in which the author of a best-selling self-help book (Shemar Moore) and a therapist (Nadine Velazquez) clash over what she considers his pat answers to life's complicated dilemmas, their snappy exchange goes viral and they're launched on a nationwide media tour --...

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- With "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," last year's promising reignition of the iconic franchise, "The Force Awakens," gains a worthy -- and equally family-friendly -- companion.     Interstellar derring-do is once again the order of...

Collateral Beauty  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Collateral Beauty" (Warner Bros.) is a strange, pretentious drama about overcoming grief.     While that's obviously a subject about which a good film -- perhaps many of them -- might be made, the treatment of it in director David Frankel's...

Believe  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Evangelical Christian faith hovers in the background of the holiday-themed drama "Believe" (Freestyle). Though not as rose-colored in its outlook as some religiously-inspired projects, the movie -- which is suitable for most age groups -- lacks polish.  ...

Loving  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Dignity and understatement are usually noble qualities in a film. "Loving" (Focus), the fact-based story behind a landmark 1967 Supreme Court decision, is so restrained and decorous, however, that it nearly obscures the historical significance of the events it recounts.  ...

Office Christmas Party  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Cubicle drones cuts loose in "Office Christmas Party" (Paramount). The result is a sleazy soiree, an "Animal House" toga wingding for the spreading-middle and receding-hairline set.    What matters here is that seemingly respectable bourgeois...

Incarnate  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Somewhere in the planning stages of "Incarnate" (BH Tilt), someone must have thought it would be a good idea to combine elements of Christopher Nolan's 2010 tour de force "Inception" with tropes that have been familiar to moviegoers at least since Linda Blair's...

Rules Don't Apply  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Warren Beatty wrote, directed and stars in "Rules Don't Apply" (Fox), a loosely fact-based tale set within the secretive world of eccentric industrialist Howard Hughes (1905-1976).    Part romantic comedy, part biopic, the film suffers from...

The Edge of Seventeen  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- A sense of missed opportunities looms over the coming-of-age comedy "The Edge of Seventeen" (STX).    The film features many of its genre's familiar elements: a precocious, angst-ridden teen girl, awkwardness with the opposite sex, a sense of...

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Fans of British novelist P.G. Wodehouse have a special place in their hearts for one of his most memorable comic creations, a shy and eccentric newt fancier with the immortal name Augustus Fink-Nottle.     Gussie, as his pal Bertie Wooster always called him,...

Don't Breathe  (Rating:

     

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"Don't Breathe" is an 88-minute, solid thriller that left me wanting more. It is a much-ballyhooed suspense-thriller from 38-year-old Uruguayan horror-meister Fede Alvarez that I was very eager to see. I don't do straight-up horror/slasher films, but I sensed that "Don't...

Doctor Strange  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- What Tilda Swinton can conceive, Benedict Cumberbatch can achieve in "Doctor Strange" (Disney).    As directed and co-written by Scott Derrickson, this first big-screen adventure for the Marvel Comics superhero who debuted in print back in 1963 showcases...

Hacksaw Ridge  (Rating:

     

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Mel Gibson has done it again. "Hacksaw Ridge" is the cinematic event of 2016-2017.   "HR" is the true story of Private Desmond Doss, a Seventh-Day Adventist from Virginia who enlists in World War II, but – as a conscientious objector – staunchly refuses...

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- One thing you can say for the title character in "Jack Reacher: Never Go Back" (Paramount), the fellow does enjoy a good punch in the face.     Whether giving or receiving the jabs, Tom Cruise -- in his second venture as the former Army officer turned...

Keeping Up With the Joneses  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- "I am everyday people." Such was Sly and the Family Stone's boast in a classic 1968 song, and a similar sentiment pervades the action comedy "Keeping Up With the Joneses" (Fox).    Despite its celebration of the lives of honest, decent,...

Max Steel  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Yet another action figure leaps off the toy store shelves and onto the big screen in "Max Steel" (Open Road), the coming-of-age chronicle of a Mattel-made superhero.    A human-alien hybrid (think G.I. Joe crossed with a Transformer), the eponymous...

Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Kids the same age as its preteen main character are clearly the target audience for "Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life" (Lionsgate/CBS Films).    But numerous elements in the film seem ill-suited to such youthful viewership. In particular,...

Voiceless  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- An overheated tone and characters' questionable tactics in the struggle against abortion undercut the obviously good intentions behind the pro-life drama "Voiceless" (ArtAffects).    While it's clearly meant to serve as a cinematic rallying...

The Accountant  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- In effect, the action-drama "The Accountant" (Warner Bros.) argues that those with autism have a license to kill as well as to abet a litany of other criminal activities.    If this summation makes the movie sound preposterous and morally bankrupt,...

Denial  (Rating:

     

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A new film aptly entitled "Denial" – about a famous Holocaust-denial court case – is a jewel. I hope it will be used in classrooms. I will be doing some “spoilers” in this review in order to pick apart the storyline, as well as the reality of dealing...

Priceless  (Rating:

     

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I'm debating whether to include a teensy little spoiler of the new Christian film "Priceless." But this is a review, and I must divulge the subject of the film: human trafficking. The title, of course, is apt. It's a line of dialogue as well as a prominent theme in the film. Human...

Snowden  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Few figures on the contemporary scene are as controversial as Edward Snowden, the former intelligence officer who, in 2013, revealed to the press the existence of a secret National Security Agency program for the collection of mass data that he considered abusive.  ...

Blair Witch  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Turning the 1999 ultra-low-budget "The Blair Witch Project" into a franchise has meant turning the saga into a conventional slasher film with little suspense and predictable setups.    Now, it might as well be a drinking game: "Another stick...

The Magnificent Seven  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- A chivalrous parable that showcases self-sacrificing heroism, "The Magnificent Seven" (Columbia) can be read as illustrating, in microcosm, Catholic theology's theory of a just war.    Essentially, that teaching holds that, just as an individual...

When the Bough Breaks  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- If you recall the familiar nursery lullaby, you'll know that "When the Bough Breaks" (Screen Gems) foretells doom for both cradle and baby.    So it comes as no surprise that this lurid thriller about the desperate measures prospective parents...

The Wild Life  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Daniel Defoe is spinning in his grave.    The English author's celebrated 1719 novel "Robinson Crusoe," which set the standard for thrilling, realistic adventure fiction, has morphed into a 3-D animated kiddie comedy called "The Wild Life"...

The Disappointments Room  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Mixing a psychological drama with the dependable haunted-house formula must have sounded appealing to the makers of "The Disappointments Room" (Rogue).    Unfortunately, nothing in this morally bereft story works. A meandering plot line about the...

Bridget Jones's Baby  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Typically, romantic comedies do not revolve around characters our youth-crazed culture tends to dismiss as middle-aged. "Bridget Jones's Baby" (Universal) is a charming exception.    An over-40 heroine and her two mature suitors prove more than...

Mechanic: Resurrection  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- For Arthur Bishop, the protagonist of the "Mechanic" franchise, the sole purpose of existence is to effectively dispatch bad people using elaborate, spectacular methods in exotic locales.     The fact that he targets only villains means there's...

The Light Between Oceans  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Beginning with 1979's "The Europeans," the producer-director team of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, whose partnership was already of 15 years standing, churned out a succession of high-quality period films. The duo's pictures were famous for their lush cinematography,...

Ben-Hur  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Few films come to the screen with the kind of storied pedigree that lies behind "Ben-Hur" (Paramount).    Subtitled "A Tale of the Christ," Civil War Gen. Lew Wallace's best-selling 1880 novel, which had previously been made into a...

Kubo and the Two Strings  (Rating:

     

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EW YORK (CNS) -- While it uses animation to recount the fantastical adventures of a young boy, "Kubo and the Two Strings" (Focus) is not really suitable for the most youthful moviegoers.    Adolescents and grownups, on the other hand, will likely have no difficulty...

Florence Foster Jenkins  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Like the World War II-era New York socialite it profiles, "Florence Foster Jenkins" (Paramount), a charmingly eccentric blend of comedy and drama, has its heart in the right place.     Yet moral complications are integral to this fact-based story,...

The Little Prince  (Rating:

     

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The beloved classic, "The Little Prince," recently was released simultaneously in theaters and on Netflix, and it will not disappoint fans of the fable. Jeff Bridges' rich, warm, craggy American voice brings to life Saint-Exupéry, the author and aviator. Three different kinds...

Indignation  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Set in the early 1950s, the challenging drama "Indignation" (Summit) portrays a version of American society that in many ways -- and for both good and ill -- no longer exists.    It's a world where an intellectually gifted young Jewish man might...

Suicide Squad  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Initially stylish but ultimately ridiculous and chaotic, the DC comics-based adventure "Suicide Squad" (Warner Bros.) also features some dubious moral values. Add to that the film's lurid atmosphere overall and its appeal, along with its appropriate audience, dwindles...

The Secret Life of Pets  (Rating:

     

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With a juicy, promising title and a screen populated with adorable, fuzzy furballs of varied shapes and sizes, the animated smash hit "The Secret Life of Pets" is a fun summer escapade for all ages. The different personalities of species and dog breeds are, well, typecast. The goofy guinea...

Star Trek Beyond  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Fifty years after its debut on television, "Star Trek" bursts onto the big screen again in its 13th feature-film outing.     While the bad luck dreaded by triskaidekaphobes fails to curse the aesthetics of this latest production, there is an unwelcome...

Ice Age: Collision Course  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Weakly constructed and inappropriate, in some respects, for its target audience, "Ice Age: Collision Course" (Fox) has little to recommend it.     This fifth installment of the animated franchise for children that dates back to 2002 also is tainted...

Liberating a Continent: John Paul II and the Fall of Communism  (Rating:

     

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I'm going to call the latest documentary on John Paul II an "almost perfect documentary." Its title is "Liberating a Continent: John Paul II and the Fall of Communism." Why is it almost perfect? It is Rolls Royce super-classy in every way; the production values are off the chain;...

'Free State of Jones'  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) –- The ambitious historical drama "Free State of Jones" (STX) considers a little-known aspect of the Civil War: armed dissent within the South born of opposition to how the war was being conducted and to the principal reason it began.    Earnest...

'Independence Day: Resurgence'  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Something like pondering leftovers discovered in the back of the refrigerator, a movie studio decided, "Hey! This hasn't gone bad!"    The result is "Independence Day: Resurgence" (Fox), a reprise of the hit alien-fighting epic of...

'The BFG'  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Like its source material, Roald Dahl's eponymous1982 children's book, "The BFG" (Disney) comes packed with specialized terms for its own fantasy elements.     A golden phizzwizard, for instance, is the best kind of dream, while frobscottle...

'The Purge: Election Year'  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- It's little cause for surprise that "The Purge: Election Year" (Universal) sticks to the commercially tried-and-true formula of its franchise predecessors by appealing to the very impulses it pretends to condemn.     With equal predictability,...

'The Legend of Tarzan'  (Rating:

     

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NEW YORK (CNS) -- Just beneath the surface of "The Legend of Tarzan" (Warner Bros.), a Gilbert and Sullivan opera is trying to claw its way out.    That's not to say the latest big-screen take on Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Lord of the Jungle" creation...

'The Innocents'  (Rating:

     

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"The Innocents" is a truly religious film. Religious films focus on God, not the trappings of God or His human mouthpieces. “The Innocents” is about nuns - and we can never have too many films about nuns! It is set in a convent in Poland in 1945 (at the end of World War...

'Spotlight'  (Rating:

     

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"Spotlight" tells the story of a team of intrepid investigative reporters at the Boston Globe who broke the Catholic Church's clergy sex abuse story in January 2002 – mainly concerning the Archdiocese of Boston. For starters, this is not a Church-bashing film even though it easily...

'Jem and the Holograms'  (Rating:

     

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  “Jem and the Holograms” is a live-action “tween” movie based on the animated TV series of the same name that aired from 1985 to1988. Although I have been informed by some fans of the TV series that the film is not cleaving exactly to the TV version,...

'Hyena Road'   (Rating:

     

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  "Hyena Road" is the latest film about the war with no end in sight … Afghanistan. Canadian writer-director-actor Paul Gross delivers what is now a standard, sand-infiltrated, khaki-camo screen adventure in the nouveau tradition of "Jarhead," "Hurt Locker"...

'Pawn Sacrifices'  (Rating:

     

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  I'm declaring the riveting and flawless "Pawn Sacrifice" – the story of chess prodigy Bobby Fischer, played with acting genius by Tobey Maguire – the best film of 2015. This film has it all: high drama, low drama, human drama, international intrigue, unbeatable...

'War Room'  (Rating:

     

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  "War Room" is a winning film about prayer. A film about prayer? How do you make such a thing? Why would you make such a thing? Who would make such a thing? Obviously, the Kendrick Brothers are at it again ("Facing Giants," "Fireproof," "Courageous")....

'90 Minutes in Heaven'  (Rating:

     

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"90 Minutes in Heaven" is the screen version of a book by the same name that came out several years ago. It is a memoir, a firsthand account of a Christian pastor's near-death experience. The book is excellent. The film? Far from it. In fact, it fails pretty miserably as a film, and also...

'The Gift'  (Rating:

     

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  Looking for a tight, suspenseful thriller? Look no further than "The Gift," the weak-titled, but strongly-executed directorial debut of the ever-fascinating Joel Edgerton – who also wrote the screenplay and stars in the film. The trailer is not a trailer but a spoiler –...

'I am Potential'   (Rating:

     

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  The new movie, "I Am Potential," is based on the true story of the Hughes Family whose son was born without eyes and unable to walk. I almost didn't want to even tell you that, because I had the experience of coming at the story cold, and was hit by the element of surprise at...

'Self/less'  (Rating:

     

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The idea and ideology of "transhumanism" (that human beings are basically just brains in containers, and that if we could just find a way to upload our brains into computers or robots or such, we could live on forever) is the subject of the new film "Self/less." It was also the subject...

Inside Out  (Rating:

     

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"Inside Out," the new Pixar movie about Riley, an 11-year-old girl whose world is turned upside down when her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco, is good – but not great. It's very much a kids’ movie – with knowing asides to parents, as these films...

'Fury Road'  (Rating:

     

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  Oftentimes I am sure I'm going to like a movie and am very disappointed. Rarely am I sure I will detest a movie and turn out liking it. "Mad Max: Fury Road" is one of those latter films. Although named for "Mad Max," this is not his movie. It's really Imperator...

'Far from the Madding Crowd'   (Rating:

     

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Fans of "Pride and Prejudice" will love the new adaptation of Thomas Hardy's 1874 novel, "Far From the Madding Crowd." It's a romance of class divisions as well as gender divisions – in the sense that a fiercely independent and independently wealthy female sees...

'Ex Machina'   (Rating:

     

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Editor’s note – The Message occasionally publishes reviews of films rated R, and this is one of them. Pauline Sister Helena Burns reviews “Ex Machina,” which earned its R rating due to full-frontal female nudity and some gore. Although not suitable for children...

'Little Boy'  (Rating:

     

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  "Little Boy" is a new film by Alejandro Monteverde (who brought us "Bella"). I am a big fan of "Bella," and was looking forward to Monteverde's second major film. Most unfortunately, I must report that this is a misconceived film. If it were not, I would...