Live by Night, for all its technical genius, even with such a strong, electrifying cast, just isn’t very good, and as such watching it shoot so many blanks for over two full hours is nothing short of a colossal waste of time.

Young kids with a fondness for Nickelodeon and Disney Channel high-concept comedies will undoubtedly be elated, and if they’re inspired to creative endeavors after watching this that’s at least one good thing to come out of all this madness we all can applaud. Monster Trucks is dumb, that goes without saying, but it isn’t terrible, and as January victories go that’s hardly insignificant.

Patriots Day, even with its shortcomings, is a strong reminder that terror and fear will continue to fail as long as everyday people stand up and fight for the rights of their neighbors to live their lives as they see fit, the greatest act of resistance nothing more complicated than that.

I got a kick out of Underworld: Blood Wars. It’s a step up from the last entry in a lot of major ways, Foerster showcasing solid directorial chops that helps give this fifth chapter an added infusion of energy and excitement I wasn’t anticipating…If there is a final chapter, I’ll be there to see it opening night, happily paying for a ticket alongside other fans eager to see how Selene’s story comes to its end.

Beautiful, sincere and emotionally pure, there’s a lot more going on in J.A. Bayona’s powerful gothic melodrama A Monster Calls than initially meets the eye…There is nothing pandering about the director’s adaptation of Patrick Ness’ novel, he and the author joining forces to bring to life a motion picture that pulls at the heartstrings with an effortlessness that’s extraordinary.

Hidden Figures is a revelation. Not just because of the story, one that had been seemingly forgotten, if not buried, for over five decades, but also because of the subtle sincerity that drives the narrative forward, the film itself an inspiring tale of intelligence, perseverance and achievement that in lesser hands easily could have become a facile melodramatic slog and not something utterly glorious

Silence isn’t a movie for the faint of heart, the struggles of not just this pair of devout men but also those who follow them a complicated sojourn of faith, suffering, forgiveness, sacrifice and grace that left me bruised, battered and stunned by the time it ended.

This is a good movie, at times even a great one, and if not for a few minor missteps right at the end I’d not hesitate for a second to call The Autopsy of Jane Doe a terrifying little gem as well as one of the year’s most spectacularly discomforting winners.

Sing is a fun movie. More, it also has its heart stuck effortlessly in the right place, things moving along at an ebulliently jovial clip as things progress to their suitably endearing conclusion.