The A.V. Club

Taken as a whole, the faction-shattered drama between exploited tourists, reckless experts, proud pros, and the unforgiving mountain is as brutal and clear as ice.

Indeed, elements of the New Yorker story that highlight the women’s experiences after the attack—how their Christian faith has somewhat coerced them to forgive in spite of their trauma; their latent anxiety that this soldier was returning to kill them—are scrapped from Atonement, leaving these characters hollow.

Verity staves off resting boredom for most of its runtime; it’s too silly and starry to be a slog. But it also lacks the rigor of a genre workout, settling instead for mere exercise.

Choppy, meandering, and frustratingly dim (literally and metaphorically), Beware Boiúna squanders a great concept, and swamps the moments it does manage to deliver under loads of narrative and visual murk.

Digger lacks emotional depth, being much more interested in the showmanship of tricks and razzle-dazzle than character development. While Cruise puts on a good show, he’s walking around the loose threads of the script to get there.

Paper Tiger is a cross-city odyssey that feels of its time but also of the moment.

Heart Of The Beast wants both to soak in its testosterone-drenched fable, where a man and a mutt (and a military supply of equipment) can overcome everything, and find the softer underbelly of that same tale, where man’s best friend can also function as a surrogate recipient for his stifled emotions. It’s sometimes admirably gentle in that latter regard, but so much of the film is spent putting on a blandly tough face that this small glimpse at vulnerability comes, in what might also be relatable for the men it’s aimed at, too late to matter.

Like in McDonagh’s previous comedies about complicated relationships, Wild Horse Nine is more than just about the shenanigans that get these men into trouble, it’s about the lonely misfit souls who find camaraderie in the least likely of partners.

It’s funny and charming, but when the film slows down for an emotional catharsis, Forgotten Island struggles to tie its disparate charms into a single bracelet. It has all the right parts in all the right places; it simply has too many of the right parts in too many of the right places. Like the many baubles dangling from Jo and Raissa’s wrists, it could stand to lose a few.

Despite its jarring stylistic distractions, at the movie’s core, there’s a genuine feel-good story, a real love of ballroom dancing, and great performances from its ensemble cast.