“Brad Pitt gives one of the best performances of his career in this film that may finally start to make director James Gray more of a name that audiences are familiar with.”

It Chapter Two arrives in theaters with some lofty audience expectations. While the sequel floats in some respects, sadly, it sinks in other areas.

Good Boys may not quite live up to the expectations of being Superbad in sixth grade, but it comes close. The three lead kids are individually funny and work well as a group of friends trying to make their way through the hardships of middle school.

As long as Johnson and Statham are game, I suspect we will be seeing a Hobbs & Shaw 2 in 2-3 years’ time. That wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. It’s a reliable summer action flick.

At this point, it seems like we should know what we’re getting with a Quentin Tarantino film, right? There’s going to be loving to old films he loves, great characters with great dialogue, and at least some moments of hyper-violence. With Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Tarantino manages to keep the formula fresh and vibrant. He’s also expanding his storytelling palate, which is probably going to be slightly divisive for some.

The arc of Pride Rock in the movie feels like it is paralleling how these Disney adaptations are going; at the beginning, it was teeming with life and growth and possibility, but it is now starting to look a little rundown, soulless, and, if things don’t change, it could start to look desolate. Aside from stunning visuals, there is a lack of substance in The Lion King that is becoming much more common in these Disney adaptations.

Crawl has just the right amount of creature feature substance and quality thrills to make it an enjoyable and effective summer flick.

Overlooking the occasional misstep, Spider-Man: Far From Home is a fun continuation of the story of this iteration of Spider-Man. Tom Holland has pretty much cemented his place as the best Spider-Man we’ve had.

Beyond being a truly entertaining, cinematic thrill ride, I’d guess that “Midsommar” will act as a Rorschach test for viewers.

Even though it’s not my new favorite Toy Story movie, Toy Story 4 is still a very enjoyable and satisfying movie. If this is the end of the road for these characters, then it’s been a great run. If they continue the story, then I’ll be very interested in what that new direction will be.

I won’t need to be neuralysed to forget Men in Black: International; it’s completely forgettable on its own, which is a shame because I’m a huge fan of practically everyone involved.

With X-Men: Apocalyse and now Dark Phoenix, it is clear that the X-Men franchise, which once set the tone for the genre, has been surpassed by nearly everyone else. It’s a sad sight to see.

Musical biopics are highly formulaic and while Rocketman doesn’t reinvent the formula, it has enough flare and personality to make it stand out and not be derivative.

I enjoyed 2014’s Godzilla when it came out. This is a major step down. Godzilla: King of the Monsters is a series of amazing visuals shots that brings practically nothing else to the table.

Aladdin is not a whole new world. It’s also not an outright disaster, which is damning with faint praise. It brings very little of anything new to the table. There were some elements that make me laugh and chuckle to myself and that were enjoyable, but there were just as many elements that fell flat and didn’t work.

Opening in Toronto is the new project by Kenneth Branagh, All is True the dark story of William Shakespeare’s last three years as a brooding, introspective retired poet.  Shakespeare, of course, is immortal as a storyteller, but Branagh’s film reminds us that Shakespeare, himself, was a story.  

John. Wick. Baba Yaga. The man you send to kill the boogeyman. A former assassin who got sucked back into the criminal world because someone stole his car and killed the dog that his dead wife had got him to help him grieve. Who knew when we were first introduced to this simple but effective action movie premise that we were going to be treated to the best action franchise of the decade? John Wick set the stage, but John Wick: Chapter 2 took it to a whole other level in 2017. That film expanded the horizons of the world we were introduced to in the first film. Now, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum has arrived and while it does expand the scope of the Wide World of Wick some, it is more interested in exploring the studio space that has been created for it. No, really Baby, explore the space!

Pokémon was a phenomenon of the 90s that came in just as I was ageing out of the target demo it was aimed at. Because of that, I’ve never fully understood the craze or the appeal of them, but I know it is a beloved thing of many a person’s childhood, even if I was largely dismissive of it for the more than 20 years it’s been around now. I openly made fun of my friends who lost their minds over Pokémon Go a few years ago.

It’s 2019 and they’re making movies about everything now. First it was The Angry Birds Movie. Then came The Emoji Movie. Now we’re getting Shazam!. Look, not every phone app needs a movie! Ok, so Shazam! is actually not about the music app on your phone. It’s actually another superhero movie, which may cause some people to groan, by DC, which may cause more people to groan. But it’s actually a pretty entertaining movie and comes at the superhero genre from a unique if not quite fresh perspective.

Early on in Us, a homeless man is seen holding up a cardboard sign that says Jeremiah 11:11. When I got out of the theater from seeing Us, I quickly looked up this Bible verse, curious as to what it said. “Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them.” This ominous verse from the prophet Jeremiah, spoken to the people of Israel, is a warning of judgment for breaking their covenant with God. It’s an interesting find by Jordan Peele, the director of Us, the follow-up to his debut directorial effort, Get Out.