Sofia Coppola scrapes the bottom of the pretentious barrel in her latest turn as writer and director. On The Rocks has a wealthy Manhattanite succumbing to her aging lothario father’s misgivings about her marriage. The plot of a poorly written sitcom is stretched like taffy into a vapid character study. The result is a painfully

The Kid Detective is a noir crime drama with a fascinating protagonist and an absolutely mind-blowing climax. What begins as a story about a washed-up investigator in a small town takes a dark turn with several stunning reveals. The plot builds tension with a slow boil. There are points in the film where you wonder

Love and Monsters offers a refreshing take on the tired apocalypse genre. It’s a heartfelt, surprisingly funny adventure with a charming lead performance from Dylan O’Brien. This time around it’s the “Monsterpocalypse” and our hero isn’t an ass-kicking killer. What begins as a quest for a lost girlfriend becomes a transformative experience about being human.

Liam Neeson delivers another generic actioner with the brainless Honest Thief. This time around he’s a former bank robber trying to make amends, but gets double-crossed by unscrupulous FBI agents. The plot is mind-numbingly simple with no surprises. A lazy script has the characters running amok in Boston with law enforcement bumbling like Keystone Cops.

Robert De Niro trades gangsters for grandkids in a funnier than expected family comedy. The War with Grandpa has a grumpy retiree in an epic prank battle with his frustrated grandson. An all-star supporting cast elevates the standard slapstick through several goofy subplots. Adapted from the novel by award-winning children’s author Robert Kimmel Smith, The

Charm City Kings is a dramatic adaptation of the 2013 documentary, 12 O’Clock Boys. On the poverty-stricken streets of West Baltimore, at risk youth find purpose and acceptance by joining illegal dirt bike gangs. Who film themselves performing dangerous stunts while evading law enforcement. Their exhilaration builds camaraderie, but often leads to criminal activity. Charm

An American couple has the vacation from hell in Death of Me, the latest horror flick from Saw franchise director Darren Lynn Bousman. The film is chock full of gruesome imagery and blood, but sadly lacking any real scares. A decent first act establishes a compelling mystery that is quickly fluttered away. The narrative then

2067 is a cerebral sci-fi thriller from Australian writer/director Seth Larney. The film is set in a dystopian future where climate change has eradicated all plant life. Humans survive by breathing synthetic oxygen, but at a terrible cost. The artificial air causes a “sickness” that is killing the remaining population. 2067‘s detailed plot has several

Writer/director Jud Cremata makes his grippingly tense and ambitiously inventive feature debut with Let’s Scare Julie, a haunted horror-thriller about a teenage prank gone wrong shot in one, continuous take. Though the creative approach of shooting an 82-minute film without cuts or interruption spurs genuineness from its performances and creates sincere claustrophobia for the viewer,

Ava fumbles its attempt to mix the standard globetrotting assassin formula with an intense family drama. A cliché-ridden script with clunky dialogue devolves into a bullets and beatdowns soap opera. Jessica Chastain is formidable as always in a brutally physical lead performance. Her tremendous effort and all-star ensemble cast aren’t enough to rescue the film.