Ben-Hur isn’t likely to be the studio savior it has been in the past. It just drones along, explaining everything too much, weighing down any potential excitement with plot instead of character and emotion. Jesus may save Ben-Hur, but the only thing Ben-Hur will save is two hours when you don’t go see it.  

Hell or High Water isn’t a morality play or a commentary on the banking collapse, though it does have some stinging things to say about predatory banks. That stuff is a backdrop for an intensely personal story that doesn’t limit the viewpoint to just the robbers or the law enforcement but balances it between the two, making it personal for both (most notably the ending). It’s a simple but nuanced film that is a great showcase for the actors and filmmakers alike, featuring excellent performances, a fantastic screenplay and artful direction, all of which are award worthy.

Suicide Squad isn’t the saving grace of the DCEU, that will likely be Wonder Woman next year, but it is still entertaining and if you liked either (or both) Man of Steel and/or Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad is right for you. If you didn’t like either (or just one) of those films, Suicide Squad may still appeal to you, but it will be an uphill struggle. It’s a messy jumble of a picture that is a lot of fun and sets up an interesting sidebar for the DCEU, like the far superior Guardians of the Galaxy did for the MCU. Suicide Squad may not win over new fans to the DCEU, but those that are there will enjoy themselves quite a bit.

Ghostbusters doesn’t top the original, nothing ever could, but it is actually better than Ghostbusters 2. It would be easy to dismiss the film as the normal summer action/comedy shlock because of the big action finale, but that would be doing it a great disservice. It shines brightest when McCarthy, Wiig, McKinnon and Jones are just riffing off of each other, which is nearly constantly.  Everything is in service to the characters and the characters are magnificent. The action is much bigger than anything the originals could do, due to limitations in technology, but like them, the action is driven by the personalities of the characters. Bottom line: haters are going to hate. Don’t let them drive you away from a fantastic time at the movies just because they can’t get over themselves enough to realize that they can love the original and still like this Ghostbusters too, all while keeping their masculinity and childhoods intact.  

The Secret Life of Pets ended up being just another good idea ruined by a perfunctory plot that led its characters nowhere unpredictable or unprecedented. Using the excuse that ‘it’s just a kids movie’ still doesn’t give it the right to be lazy, and that’s what it feels like it is. Animated films have come a long way over the last 25 years and the best ones engage the parents as much as they do the kids. It’s not asking too much for an animated kids movie to do something different because they are films just like anything else and people don’t like lame, recycled plots in live-action stuff either. It takes more than a good idea and some cute characters to make a good film, and that’s all The Secret Life of Pets has.

The BFG will be remembered only as a minor work by Spielberg, not some grand triumph or eventually a classic, but it’s still enjoyable enough to sit with your kids and watch. It’s not something you or possibly your kids will clamber to see again and again, like with other Dahl adaptions Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Fantastic Mr. Fox (though I’m not particularly partial to Willie Wonka) but it’s a nice little film that succeeds slightly more than it fails. 

Independence Day: Resurgence ends up being a lot of second-verse-same-as-the-first, utilizing much of the same plot devices from the first film (which is noted by David as he formulates a plan to defeat them again), which is kind of disappointing. If this film had come out closer to the original, perhaps they would have worked harder to be original instead of making it echo the original so much. Sometimes this echoing of a beloved film works fantastically, as in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, but that is because they use the originals yet still tell a largely original story (despite some major plot points). That’s not what they did for Resurgence. They didn’t do it badly; they just didn’t put as much effort into making this one stand out from the original. It’s a reasonably good time, and evokes what is loved about Independence Day, but does little to distinguish itself against it.

Free State of Jones should have been at least good if not better. The subject is interesting and with a capable writer and director, the film could have been so much more. Instead, we’re left with a film that limps along over nearly two and a half hours that gives plot points with no story, characters without characterization and ultimately comes to nothing more than a waste of time and money. Ross is a filmmaker without vision or apparent purpose, which he reminds us of every time he makes a movie. Free State of Jones wants to be important, but it’s really just a dud. 

The Shallows doesn’t really do anything spectacular or special and it isn’t that good a film, but as one exiting theatergoer said “It’s not terrible” and that is exactly it. It works well enough while the film is going, but isn’t going to be remembered long after it’s over. The suspense and tension are well done and Lively is very good. In the end, however, it’s just a disposable popcorn movie, good for a distraction but little more.

Green seems to have no sense of timing or pacing at all, making this an incredibly boring film. So boring, in fact, that my 12-year-old son, a boy smack-dab in the target demographic for the film, fell asleep during the film and continued to drift in and out of sleep for at least half of the film. When you can’t even entertain a kid that practically begged to see your film, you’ve got a big problem.

Alice Through the Looking Glass is a tired test of patience. It goes by quickly (mercifully), and it doesn’t feel like a waste of time while it’s playing, it just never particularly engages and the stakes are so minor that there is no involvement by the audience whatsoever. Everything just happens and when it’s over, you walk out of the theater and barely give the film a second thought. It’s not anger-inducing bad, it’s forgettable bad and that may be worse in the long run because it can’t even muster that most basic of emotions. 

The X-Men franchise is now 16 years old now, and you’d think it’d be old enough to drive itself, but daddy Singer just can’t seem to let go and let the franchise be more independent. It’s true that Singer is responsible for the three best X-Men films (the first two and Days of Future Past) but it’s time for him to move on and let others take over, others that may be able to actually figure out how to utilize the vast and unique characters that populate the X-universe without just throwing them onscreen for the sake of simply including them. First Class seemed to herald that shift, and Days of Future Past continued it (though it did suffer a bit from over-inclusion) but alas it didn’t hold. That’s not to say that X-Men: Apocalypse is bad, it isn’t. it’s just mediocre and coming after the best film in the franchise makes it even more disappointing. 

With any luck, Angry Birds will spend a couple of weeks in theaters and then disappear from the memories of all who saw it and no one will ever have to endure it again. This is the kind of animated feature that we used to be subjected to before Pixar and Dreamworks really hit their strides and they’ve largely disappeared, but every once in a while, we get something like Angry Birds that insults its audience by being so dumb it pains the audience. This is a poor excuse for a film by any standard and will hopefully nip any more app-based movies in the bud. 

The Nice Guys certainly entertains all the way through, even giving some genuine laugh-out-loud moments. It continues the recent trend of ‘70s period pieces that pays homage to the decade as much as it mocks it. With a strong script and direction and some welcome, unexpected performances, The Nice Guys is a smart and funny film that will hopefully be remembered come awards season.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (or MCU for short) has come a long way from its reasonably modest beginnings in 2008 with the release of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. Producer Kevin Feige envisioned then executed an elaborate, interwoven universe filled with solo hero films then bringing them together for a couple of Avengers movies and now they are showing up in each other’s solo films, like Falcon (Anthony Mackey) appearing in Ant-Man with Paul Rudd, Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow co-starring in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and now with the third Captain America film is also a mini Avengers 3. It is an interesting and unique thing the MCU is attempting (and largely achieving) in that as the canvas grows and the inter-connected stories are building to an enormous conclusion in Avengers: Infinity War due out in two and three years, they keep the individual films rooted in the characters and the focus narrow, always with an eye to the larger picture.

It’s often tough for comedians to successfully jump from the small screen to the big screen, largely because the material given to them is someone else’s interpretation of their strengths instead of the comedian writing for themselves (as they are many times untested screenwriters, studios are unwilling to take the gamble). Last year, Amy Schumar proved that a first-time screenwriting comedian can craft something very good while remaining inside the persona they want to project. Now, we see the feature film debut of the comedy team of Key and Peel, famous for their Comedy Central sketch show Key and Peel. Many wondered how the duo would transition to film given their shorter segments but they’ve emerged victorious with Keanu, a roast of buddy action comedies that sees our heroes going out of their element to retrieve one of the cutest kittens ever, named Keanu.

Elvis & Nixon is a pleasant little film that serves as a fun distraction, but little more. It’s not breaking any ground nor is it quite good enough, even in the acting, to be remembered long. But it is entertaining and knows not to take itself too seriously given the odd story it’s telling.  

The Jungle Book is a work of sheer collaborative will, anchored by a director with a clear vision who worked hard to see it through and it shows. This film is the best reason to date to justify Disney’s intent to bring their animation into the real world, and given the upcoming slate, it’s likely going to stay the best. With compelling characters, amazing animal animation and an immersive world and story, The Jungle Book hits every note well and never fails to entertain and reminds us why we go to the movies in the first place.