U.S. Release Date: 2022-01-21
MPAA Rating: "PG"
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure
Director: Sean McNamara
Cast: Pierce Brosnan, William Hurt, Kaya Scodelario, Benjamin Walker, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Bingbing Fan, Pablo Schreiber, Crystal Clarke
Calling a movie a “fairy tale” is not a sufficient reason to abandon things like intelligent plotting and compelling character development.
U.S. Release Date: 2021-12-24
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Sexual Content, Nudity)
Genre: Comedy/Science Fiction
Director: Adam McKay
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothee Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Scott Mescudi, Melanie Lynskey
With this star-studded cast, the classification of a “missed opportunity” doesn’t do it justice; it feels closer to a tragedy.
U.S. Release Date: 2021-12-17
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence, Profanity)
Genre: Drama/Musical
Director: Joe Wright
Cast: Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Ben Mendelsohn, Bashir Salahuddin
A handsome looking period piece with too many mediocre songs and a major downer of an ending.
U.S. Release Date: 2021-12-03
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Violence, Sexual Content, Nudity)
Genre: Drama
Director: Nathalie Biancheri
Cast: George MacKay, Lily-Rose Depp, Paddy Considine, Eileen Walsh
The world-building is inadequate and the storyline is erratic. There are some good performances here, but the movie as a whole doesn’t work.
U.S. Release Date: 2021-11-12
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence, Profanity, Sexual Content)
Genre: Action/Comedy
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, Ritu Arya
You can have The Rock, Wonder Woman, and Deadpool, but it doesn’t mean much if they don’t have clever things to say and meaningful things to do.
U.S. Release Date: 2021-11-05
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence, Profanity, Sexual Content)
Genre: Action/Fantasy
Director: Chloe Zhao
Cast: Gemma Chan, Barry Keoghan, Lauren Ridloff, Brian Tyree Henry, Lia McHugh, Kumail Nanjiani, Kit Harrington, Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Richard Madden, Don Lee
Despite trying to be a departure from the superhero generic norm, it misses wide of the mark and ends up being a major lapse.
U.S. Release Date: 2021-10-01
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence, Profanity)
Genre: Action/Comedy
Director: Andy Serkis
Cast: Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Williams, Naomie Harris, Reid Scott, Stephen Graham
With its short running length, this drunk-on-CGI production is less a movie and more the outline of something ambitious.
U.S. Release Date: 2021-10-01
MPAA Rating: "PG"
Genre: Animated
Director: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Kroll, Javon Walton, Snoop Dogg, Bette Midler, Bill Hader, Wallace Shawn
A series of loosely connected skits, this lacks a coherent narrative and appears to have been targeted almost exclusively at the pre-teen crowd.
U.S. Release Date: 2021-09-24
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Profanity, Suicide, Mental Illness)
Genre: Musical/Drama
Director: Stephen Chbosky
Cast: Ben Platt, Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Amy Adams, Danny Pino, Amandla Stenberg, Colton Ryan
There’s a dissonance between the film’s darker subjects and its seeming desire to offer something uplifting at the end, and the mediocre songs are a distraction.
U.S. Release Date: 2021-08-20
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence, Profanity, Sexual Content)
Genre: Science Fiction/Thriller
Director: Lisa Joy
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson, Thandiwe Newton, Cliff Curtis, Daniel Wu, Brett Cullen
Although made with care and competence and featuring a strong underlying premise, the film as a whole is forgettable.