Boy Erased ★★ “Most of the elements are in place, from the aforementioned cast to what should have been a compelling story, based on a memoir by Garrard Conley, whose onscreen counterpart was oddly renamed Jared Eamons (Hedges).” Read more »

Can You Ever Forgive Me? ★★★★ “This year will likely be remembered as a time when women continued to take on the patriarchy and gain a public voice. So, it’s only fitting that one of the year’s finest, most delightful films contains a career-best performance by an Oscar-nominated actress…” Read more »

Creed II ★★★ “With Coogler unavailable to helm Creed’s inevitable sequel, one might worry that this film would be the embarrassing rehash expected in the first go-around. But that would be for naught.” Read more»

Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch ★ ¹/₂  The iconic curmudgeon tries to steal Christmas from Whoville in Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch. Read more »

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald ★ “Her second, even worse screenplay in the Potter prequel series—Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald—manages to suck most of the life out of the few appealing characters, Alison Sudol’s Queenie Goldstein and Dan Fogler’s Jacob Kowalski, she concocted for the previous film.” Read more »

The Girl in the Spider’s Web: A New Dragon Tattoo Story ★ ¹/₂  “With a narrative that’s nearly as unwieldy as the film’s full title, this latest “Dragon Tattoo Story” from director Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe) does nothing to improve upon David Fincher’s 2011 misfire, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo…” Read more »

Green Book ★★ ¹/₂  “…even though this frequently charming road trip through the Jim Crow South circa 1962 is “based on a true story,” subtlety is not the strong suit of this crowd-pleasing inverse of Driving Miss Daisy.” Read more »

Halloween ★★  Jamie Lee Curtis returns to face the terror in an overhyped, empty sequel. Read more »

Instant Family ★★★  “Director Sean Anders’ latest defied my low expectations, as it’s far less broad and vapid than the disposable pair of Daddy’s Home movies he made in Massachusetts.” Read more »

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms ★ ¹/₂  “If Disney had decided to make a more traditional adaptation of The Nutcracker, Makenzie Foy (Interstellar) would have made a splendid Clara. Instead, the 17-year-old’s soulful talent is mostly wasted on a largely unrecognizable version of the Christmas season classic…” Read more »

Ralph Breaks the Internet ★★★ “As the title of this more ambitious sequel—once again directed by Rich Moore, who’s joined by co-director Phil Johnston, a writer on the last film—implies, things don’t go so smoothly. ” Read more »

Widows ★★★ ¹/₂ Viola Davis leads a strong female cast in a heist movie for the here and now. Read more »