Let’s Be Evil builds to an unsatisfying conclusion that is neither scary nor shocking, only perfunctorily anticipated, frustrating me to no end because the potential for something far more interesting and disquieting was there.

“I think people will be very surprised by the film, about the genre they think that they know. There is so much depth and layering to the story yet at the same time it is completely entertaining. It doesn’t hit you over the head, message-wise, but at the same time you’ll get a taste of a lot of provocative thoughts and ideas; how we view the world and ourselves in it, how we treat one another in it. It’s all there and more.”

This new version of Ben-Hur is consistently at war with itself, a tonal nightmare of didactic faith-based melodramatic drivel coupled with over-edited, nonsensical action poppycock that helps make the movie nothing short of an out-and-out disaster.

Not only is Kubo and the Two Strings an original tale, it is one that is both culturally sensitive to its Japanese origins as well as universally accessible to viewers the world over. It is a movie that works beginning to end, practically every piece one worthy of cherishing as events work their way towards their heroic conclusion.

It’s all pretty thin, of course, and I’m not entirely sure the story ultimately earns the reserved solemnity of its climax, but that doesn’t make Blood Father any less entertaining or a rousing return to form for the controversial Gibson. The film works, that’s it, and for genre fans this is one ferocious underground throwback worth putting forth the effort to see.

None of which makes Florence Foster Jenkins itself extraordinary, just entertaining, and in a summer season where so many movies have underwhelmed that’s one tune I’m happy to hum no matter how overly familiar it ends up proving to be.

Not only is Hell or High Water just a great, character-driven thriller that busts through genre conventions, forcing the viewer to take notice of what is going on and why in the process, it also happens to be one of 2016’s best motion pictures. It is a masterful effort that grows in power and depth as it moves along, building to a shattering, hauntingly destructive conclusion that had me sitting on the edge of my seat breathlessly excited to discover what was going to happen next.

“For a specific group of people, maybe a bigger one than I let myself imagine it to be, [Don’t Think Twice] could be a film that gets watched multiple times, viewers finding things inside of it that I didn’t even know were there. How great would that be?”

Lowery isn’t afraid of emotion, but that doesn’t mean he’s willing to let his version of Pete’s Dragon wallow in it, so when the tears ultimately flow, they do so with a luminosity so genuine the overall effect is positively miraculous. He’s crafted a movie that feels so of the moment, so of the now, walking out of the theatre I doubt I could have stopped smiling even if I had wanted to try.