But the heart and soul of Fighting with My Family is Pugh. She’s wonderful, and I loved just how open-hearted her performance as Saraya turned out to be.

In this supposed final installment, the filmmaker has delivered in ways that are affectionately wondrous, events in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World building to an emotional knockout punch that had me holding back tears while at the same time wanting to rise to my feet and cheer.

“We wanted it to be simply, how would it be to be all alone at the Arctic surviving? And then later on, how would it be becoming alive again? There’s a big difference between surviving and being alive.”
– Mads Mikkelsen

Arctic is a fine thriller that stuck with me long after it had come to an end, its existential exploration of humanity’s will to survive under the harshest of conditions a hypnotic cinematic sojourn I’d willingly go on again at a moment’s notice.

Donnybrook matters because it doesn’t hesitate to speak truth to power in ways that go from unpleasant to unbearable in the blink of an eye. It is a timely parable of life’s indignities that cuts right to the marrow, its pugilistic nightmares universal in their all-encompassing emotional magnitude.

Mega Time Squad is a lot of fun, this nutty little New Zealand effort a gonzo charmer I hope people take the time to see.

Alita: Battle Angel has its own sense of purpose and moves with a cagily confident self-awareness that’s wonderful.

Isn’t It Romantic is pretty darn amusing, and if Strauss-Schulson and the writers don’t make quite as much out of their inventive scenario as they potentially could have, that doesn’t make what they have delivered any less enjoyable.

The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part might not be as awesome as its forerunner but that doesn’t make it any less worthwhile, this amusing follow-up an irreverent gem that even with a few minor misgivings I couldn’t help but enjoy.