It’s impossible not to imagine what the man being chronicled here would have thought of this…Nonetheless, Trumbo is a solid effort made close to unmissable thanks in large part to Cranston’s magnificence, the resulting biopic a gripping return to a Hollywood of yesteryear where the themes being examined couldn’t be more appropriately timely.

To their credit, the filmmakers match the tone of Collins’ book more or less all the way through (save for a subtle – yet important – change during the closing seconds), attempting to craft a war-torn parable that has more in common with Platoon or Apocalypse Now than it does to Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

[The Hallow] builds to a nicely nuanced conclusion, one that overflows with emotion and sacrifice, propelling things into the realm of a dark fairy tale the likes of which Brothers Grim would have been proud to have called their own.

While the elements in The 33 that do not work frustrate, the stuff revolving around those who truly deserve to be labeled as heroes thankfully never does. Their story has weight, it has meaning, and with everything pulsating to the delicate, emotionally pure refrains of late composer James Horner’s (Southpaw, Titanic) final score the miners’ collective triumph ends up being a rousing celebration of all that’s good and decent in this world I could not help but be moved by.

Freddie Joe Steinmark’s story is an incredible one. Thing is, while Pizzo’s heart is in the right place, he just can’t seem to get inside this particularly story in the same way he did with both Hoosiers and Rudy. He lets the melodrama driving the narrative overwhelm things, losing sight of the complexity of his characters in the process. My All American means well, and as a film it isn’t without merit; sadly there just isn’t enough of it for this inspirational sports story to emerge victorious.

McCarthy makes this investigation personal, universal, its intimate vivisection of this complex, destructively abhorrent tale impossible to turn away from. But the real glory is how the filmmaker shapes things into a chronicle of inspiration and hope, Spotlight giving center stage to unsung warriors for truth who understood telling the story right, without embellishment, without melodramatic editorial excess, was the greatest victory of them all.

[The screenwriters] understand Laney on a deeply personal, exhaustively intimate level, thus the place they leave her story at might not be heartwarming but it sure as heck ends up feeling real. I Smile Back might not rewrite the addiction or mental illness melodrama rule book but that doesn’t make it less affecting, Silverman’s spectacular performance alone making the price of a ticket well worth spending.

Catherine Hardwicke’s (Twilight) cancer melodrama Miss You Already is a big, brash and bold weepie in the grand old Hollywood tradition…Writer Morwenna Banks’ script hits all the anticipated marks, knows exactly which button to push, everything building to the expected tear-filled coda guaranteed to have the majority of those sitting in the theatre grabbing Kleenex and smudging their eyes dry.

The Peanuts Movie might not be anything more than what it is expected to be, but, just as importantly, it isn’t anything less than that, either. To paraphrase a speech made once upon a time in a pumpkin patch, there’s no hypocrisy to be found in any of this, just sincerity, pretty much as far as the eye can see.