Contributor: Paul Asay

While the movie leads us through its mystery via a trailing of crumbs, its problematic content comes at us in gratuitous waves.

Denial is anchored by strong acting and even stronger subject matter: The importance of protecting truth and history. And it does so while staying relatively clean.

By PG-13 standards, Masterminds doesn’t push the envelope to the edge in terms of sexual content, violence or profanity. But, man, the film’s underlying, conscience-free ethos is just sad.

Queen of Katwe is a story about hope—and about the courage, determination and skill that goes hand-in-hand with that hope.

Even in films otherwise chockfull of uplifting, pro-family messages, parents have to stay vigilant to the very end.

This violent remake presents its seven stars as flawed heroes—bad men with good hearts who sacrifice themselves to deal with even worse men.

Bridget Jones’s Baby wasn’t a horrible movie. It’s funny in places. But even though I laughed, it made me sad, too. Sad that the definition of integrity is now whatever we want it to mean.

Eastwood’s Sully is a deeply humanistic movie in the best possible way.

This movie’s title is fitting: It’s a disappointment all the way ’round.

At its core, Hands of Stone is a movie about men pounding each other into submission, even to the point of humiliation.

Mechanic: Resurrection is the Donkey Kong of the cinematic world. There’s not much of a plot, and what there is doesn’t make a lot of sense. But there is a girl to save, a bad guy to beat.

Florence Foster Jenkins reminds us all that, sometimes, passion trumps perfection. That what we love doesn’t always make sense.

We need about as much nuance to review this sick flick as comedian Seth Rogen used restraint in making it. If I see a movie that’s worse than Sausage Party this year, it will be a sorry year indeed.

While it’s not quite as grim as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, it’s even more problematic, and it’s certainly not the tonic that Warner Bros. hoped it would be.

Just because the movie isn’t quite as good as the book, that doesn’t make it a bad movie.