With a powerhouse cast including Robert De Niro, Adam Scott, Michelle Monaghan, and Michael Keaton, you might expect a new terrifying classic. But this slow-burning thriller spends more time promising chills and thrills than actually delivering them.

Just think about that: a movie about a little guy fighting back against a corporation almost got buried by a corporation that decided it was worth more unseen than seen. You couldn't write a better punchline. That real-world irony gives every ACME joke extra bite, and it makes Wile E.'s underdog fight feel a little more personal.

Ultimately, The Dog Stars deserves a lot of credit for aiming to be a slower and more thoughtful post-apocalyptic movie. Its best moments prove that the approach could have worked. But the movie’s split personality trades away its quiet strengths for generic action beats, then can’t bring either half to a satisfying ending.

Director Matt Johnson zeroes in on a small, early chapter in Bourdain’s life, long before Kitchen Confidential, TV fame, or worldwide recognition. It’s a bold and clever angle, even if it leaves Tony feeling more like a tasty appetizer than a full meal.

No one buys a ticket to a Jason Statham movie expecting an Oscar-worthy masterpiece. You want a ridiculous premise, a memorable villain, some clever fight choreography, and a handful of great one-liners, and then let Statham do what he does best. Mutiny can't even manage that much.

A few predictable tropes don’t matter much when a movie cares this deeply about the story it’s telling. Don’t Say Good Luck knows exactly how to touch your heart without ever overdoing it. Every tear feels earned because the journey is full of real laughter, awkward moments, and genuine affection.

On paper, watching two leaders discuss nuclear policy and human rights might not sound exciting, but director Michael Russell Gunn deserves much credit for turning what could have been a dry history lesson into a real movie experience. He wisely avoids including action sequences, trusting that the conversations themselves provide all the tension the movie needs.

The Rivals of Amziah King is funny, exciting, heartfelt, and wonderfully quirky. More importantly, it has a personality that helps it stand out from most movies today. With its wild narrative swings and magnetic lead performance, the movie feels alive and completely committed to its own unique rhythm.

The End of Oak Street isn't a bad movie, but it is a very frustrating one. It's competently made, occasionally fun and exciting, and has a great high-concept premise at its core. But for a movie about a regular neighborhood suddenly facing real dinosaurs, "competent" feels like a backhanded compliment.

Audiences can accept crazy premises if a movie sets clear rules and sticks to them, but The Last House rewrites its rules whenever the plot gets stuck.

The movie takes its high-concept premise and delivers one of the most conventional rom-coms imaginable. Even though it’s marketed as a modern, slightly edgy sex comedy, the final product is surprisingly tame, dutifully going through the usual meet-cutes, misunderstandings, separations, and romantic reunions we’ve all seen countless times before.

In a killer shark movie, the attacks should be the highlight, but there’s no real suspense or cleverness in the staging here, and the kills have little impact. Most of the deaths happen because the characters make really bad decisions. And boy, do these characters make some really bad decisions.

Spider-Man isn’t great because he can save the world. He’s great because he keeps trying to do the right thing, even when his own life is falling apart. Brand New Day captures that fundamental aspect of the character and gives Tom Holland his best Spider-Man story yet.