Clint Worthington

To be fair, the comedy works—its limitations come when it tries to juggle those jokes with sex and power.

It’s gloopy, gory, and greasy, which is all you might want from a zombie movie. But “Colony” feels like it wants to do more, and comes up short in the bargain.

One would hope, in the absence of legible dialogue, the story, or at least its images, would find thematic purchase. Unfortunately, “Hot Spot” feels content to cycle through its hallucinogenic, albeit stylish, beats with the hazy remembrance of a dream.

If this felt a little more sophisticated about the violence inflicted on women’s bodies (of which there is a lot, even and especially from other women), it’d be easier to lean into its squirminess. Instead, this feels like having its rape-revenge cupcake and eating it too.

That lack of focus means it doesn’t quite fire on all cylinders like Wain’s prior pictures, but when the bone-dumb gags fly this gleefully (and frequently), it’s hard to care overmuch.

It’s a genuine triumph, not just in its construction as a kid’s movie comedy sequence but also as a distillation of all the cinematic pioneers who paved the way for something like the Minions to exist, let alone succeed.

That sense of community solidarity and immigrant resilience weaves through the fabric of Sehiri’s quiet, observational drama, which tells the story of a tight-knit group of Black immigrant women trying to survive and make ends meet amid Tunisia’s unwelcoming immigration environment.

It wants to be the crowd-pleasing, audience-nudging, Easter-Egg-having ode to the toy line that Mattel clearly desires, while also avoiding accusations of taking the whole thing too seriously. In so doing, it’s a film that tries to serve two masters, and doesn’t have the power to really honor either.

Stolen Kingdom still sits comfortably alongside other very capable docs about the kind of vaguely criminal youth countercultures that spun off in the 21st century, intended to stick it to the man: “Secret Mall Apartment” and the upcoming “Santacon.”

It may feel like damning with faint praise, but “LifeHack” is easily one of the more tolerable screenlife thrillers of recent vintage.