New York Magazine (Vulture)

Toy Story 5, which was directed by studio stalwart Andrew Stanton (who co-wrote the script with Kenna Harris), is both the best thing Pixar has done since Turning Red and disappointing in a way that only something you once found utterly captivating could manage to be.

All this setup, and the sparse and sometimes clumsy writing, is just scaffolding to support the mind-boggling set pieces and fight sequences, which come frequently and involve a rewarding variety of settings, from your classic split-level nightclub to a freezer room full of bodies frozen into slabs of ice.

The film is a refreshing retreat to a bygone world of mid-20th-century spirituality; it’s also a sometimes painfully honest primer on the stories behind and in between the band’s biggest songs.

Disclosure Day can be messy, but much of its beauty lies in that messiness. It’s an astoundingly personal film, and we can sense Spielberg trying to feel his way through the conflicting aspects of his vision.

Most of its gags require not surprise but surrender. Because while some dumb jokes are (as noted) funny the first time and never again, on the opposite end of spectrum lie those bits that are funny only after the fifth or sixth or 11th time, at which point the comedy comes not from any inherent wit but from the doggedness of the teller. We laugh because we’re defeated.

Masters of the Universe isn’t a real movie. It’s a bunch of half-realized, semi-contradictory ideas accrued over years. It takes the rough shape of a comedy without ever really landing a joke.

Backrooms suggests that while we’re teetering on the verge of something new, filmmakers are going to have to do more work to wrestle these nonnarrative, non-centralized ideas into something that can sustain a story.

For the most part, the film is a model of narrative economy and clear character development, all grounded and enhanced by Scott’s delicate performance.

Riley’s film only works in fits. Its stunning visual bravura can’t distract from what’s lacking within its filmmaker’s arsenal of storytelling tools.

The Black Ball is itself mighty compelling, though it’s also the kind of film that feels weightier during the watching than it does when looked back on the next day, when in retrospect its achievements start to seem like they might have been outstripped by its considerable ambitions.