For a film that traffics in imagination and phantasmagorical sights, A Wrinkle in Time is surprisingly cumbersome in its visual splendor.

Forget the real-world sociopolitical scuffle: This is a welcome addition to the Marvel playbook, an exciting and pensive drama in which actions don’t always speak louder than words.

The Last Jedi is very much its own entity, exploring new routes as it teases out themes that have always been present in the Skywalker saga. In the debit column, it’s also a tad bloated, and it contains an almost risible number of false endings —

As director, Branagh makes some lamentable decisions, trying to frame a couple of moments as action set-pieces and elsewhere adopting strange camera angles that call awkward attention upon themselves. This is especially true of the murder sequence, which Branagh grotesquely stages as if he were auditioning to direct a remake of Carnival of Souls.

There are precious few characters who don’t look and sound like they just got back from molesting Ned Beatty alongside the Georgia river.

To suggest that Dunkirk is a movie lacking in emotion because it’s lacking in sharply etched players is incorrect. Director Christopher Nolan’s strength here is his ability to place audiences right into the thick of the various struggles taking place by air, land and sea.

Writer-director Edgar Wright deserves the lion’s share of the kudos, not only for assembling a note-perfect cast but also for providing them with dialogue that’s often a pleasure to encounter.