Contributor: Paul Asay

Tim Timmerman, Hope of America mostly offers families a nice, watchable alternative to more salacious comedic fare.

Logan is, in short, frustrating. It’s painfully bloody and oddly beautiful, insanely profane and strangely spiritual.

But whatever important ideas about racial alienation this movie may be trying to illustrate, we also can’t lose sight of how it chooses to express itself—in bloody, profane ways.

Collide is really a mess of a movie—as jarring and nonsensical as any of the many, many crashes we see in it.

Fist Fight tries to tell us that what we say and do, and how we live our lives, matters. But it undercuts its own message by not caring much about its own story or content or, frankly, its audience.

This movie is as funny as a puppy with cancer.

If this film wanted to make a salient point about the value of hard work or the perils of greed, that’d give us at least something to work with. But Gold’s core reveals little of value.

This is the sort of movie that makes your standard shoot-em-up videogame look subtle, the Fast and Furious franchise (star Vin Diesel’s other claim to fame) look like a Jane Austen novel.

The Founder tells Ray Kroc’s story, a tale of oversized success built on beef and buns. And in its cautionary subtext, it asks us, the folks in the audience, what we value.

Hidden Figures inspires as it entertains. It acknowledges racial divisions while insisting that there’s more than one way to fix them. And while it can be crass, its heart is good.

Paterson is enjoyable without being entertaining. It’s a shyly thoughtful story that asks its viewers to stretch themselves and dream a little … but to not be in a rush to quit their day jobs.

Even though its dialogue can be harsh and its protagonist can be a monster, Fences has some important things to say.

Lion is a gripping, moving, inspiring film that’s high in heart and relatively low in content.

Why Him? This zany, raunchy movie asks. When I left the movie, it had me asking another question: Why me?

Even in a place and time when brutal forces mercilessly sought to silence the faithful, their voices could still be heard. In their prayers. In their screams. In their stubborn, resilient devotion.