Author:   Scott Douglas

The Story: An alcoholic finds sobriety and a new lease on life after a drunken car crash renders him paralyzed, leaving him to find the humor in his plight through cartooning. The Lowdown: An engaging story with strong performances, shortchanged by aesthetic and narrative missteps from writer/director Gus Van Sant.

The Story: Former CIA badass Robert MacCall comes out of retirement (again) to hunt down the baddies who killed his former boss. The Lowdown: Redundant, repetitive, and regressive sequel that pulls its punches in the story and character departments. Of course it's No. 1 at the box office this week.

In Brief: Argentinian writer/director Lucrecia Martel's feature debut is not exactly a feel-good story. It's a tense, transgressive tale of middle-class decay in a sultry South American setting, and the only thing Martel captures as acutely as the steamy backdrop is the moral dissipation of the families at her narrative's core. Anchored by a riveting performance from Graciela…

The Story: A young man finds success as a telemarketer, only to be ensnared in the megalomaniacal machinations of an unhinged corporate fat cat. The Lowdown: A surrealist satire with an anarchic streak that defies description, as insightful as it is brutally funny.

The Story: A widower and traumatized war veteran raises his daughter on the fringes of society, surviving in densely forested parklands while trying to avoid the authorities. The Lowdown: A moving melodrama with a resonant emotional core that benefits from immaculate characterization and a beautiful backdrop.

The Story: A father must rescue his family from mercenaries in the flaming wreckage of the world's tallest building. The Lowdown: A derivative foreign market cash-grab that leaves audiences between The Rock and a hard place. If there's any justice in the world, a Chinese poster will mistranslate the title to the far more accurate "Sky's Crapper."

The Story: Between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, current Ant-Man Scott Lang reteams with new Wasp Hope Van Dyne and original Ant-Man Hank Pym to rescue original Wasp Janet Van Dyne from the Quantum Realm. The Lowdown: A fun — and funny — superhero spectacle that tactfully avoids getting bogged down in mythology and epic…

The Story: A young woman must save her teen brother from violent civilians and government goons as the first experiment in temporary lawlessness gets underway. The Lowdown: A tepid prequel that contributes color — but not much else — to the popular politically minded torture porn franchise.

In Brief: Considering the recent recension of Saudi Arabia's ban on female drivers, it seems like a good time to revisit writer/director Haifaa Al-Mansour's Wadjda. The first feature film shot in Saudi Arabia, as well as the first to be directed by a woman, this story of a rebellious young Saudi girl trying to buy a bicycle easily…

In Brief: Easily the best-known work of Swedish silent-era auteur Victor Sjöström, 1921's The Phantom Carriage still packs a punch. Although most notable for its innovative special effects work, courtesy of cinematographer Julius Jaenzon (credited here under as “J. Julius”), The Phantom Carriage is no slouch in the narrative department. Jaenzon's use of double exposure perfectly captures the otherworldly, supernatural elements of…

The Story: The story of prominent street artist Jean-Michel Basquiat's early career is told from perspective of those who knew him. The Lowdown: A solid but slight documentary that provides breadth but not depth in its examination of an influential artist.

The Story: A lovelorn man attempts to track down the love of his life after they're separated, but not everything is as it seems. The Lowdown: A chronically confused Coen brothers knockoff that starts out strong but fizzles fast.

The Story: A government agent is tasked with starting a war between Mexican drug cartels in the wake of a terrorist attack by kidnapping the daughter of one syndicate's scion and pinning it on the other. The Lowdown: An overwrought and unnecessary sequel lacking the ideological nuance of its predecessor.

The Story: A lionizing look at the life and legacy of PBS children's show host Fred Rogers. The Lowdown: An emotionally evocative tribute to a man who dedicated his career to selflessly helping children cope with an increasingly intimidating world, rendering an intimate portrait of a human being every inch as genuine as his public persona would…

The Story: A young Rinpoche and his caretaker undertake a perilous journey to Tibet in the hopes of reuniting the boy with the monastery he led in a previous incarnation. The Lowdown: An emotionally stirring character study that shows admirable restraint on the part of its documentarians but also stubbornly defies expectations.

The Story: The dinosaurs of Isla Nublar must be rescued from a volcanic eruption, but the financiers of the operation may have motives that are not altogether altruistic. The Lowdown: A distinctly strange but not particularly compelling entry in a franchise that seems to have better chances of surviving extinction than the dinosaurs ever did.

In Brief: Francis Ford Coppola’s feature directing debut, Dementia 13, may not be perfect, but it is essential viewing for the horror completist. Co-written by Coppola with pre-eminent schlockmeister Jack Hill (Spider Baby, Foxy Brown) and produced by the venerable Roger Corman, this film is arguably the genesis of the slasher subgenre. Sure, it’s got its…

In Brief: Frank Capra was no stranger to screwball comedy, and It Happened One Night (1934) is considered by some to be the progenitor of the subgenre. Potentially the best-known — if not necessarily the best — of Capra's comedic works, it's as charming and breezy as it is silly and cynical. Neither as outright funny as Capra's later comedies or as…

The Story: The Parr family, also known as the superhero team The Incredibles, fight to regain the legality of their collective avocation as a mysterious villain known as Screenslaver threatens to undermine their efforts. The Lowdown: Visually stunning but narratively regressive, director Brad Bird's return to Pixar lacks the punch of its predecessor.

The Story: Cocaine dealer Youngblood Priest goes after one big score  after a nightclub shooting makes him contemplate getting out of the game. The Lowdown: Inferior to the original but true to its spirit, mindless fun aimed squarely at the adolescent male id.