Glass

Lacks both shine and clarity of origin’s origins. Fractured characters are grafted together but rather than lending each other narrative strength, they take turns bashing holes in panefully fragile premise. Shyamalan’s characters fuse while he cracks open his neglected tank of tired twists and dramatically drowns his franchise in frivolity.

Atomic Blonde

Jane Wick is half bombshell, half monster as she tears through irrelevant baddies and tedious dialog in equal parts. Political Tinkerings, Watchmen music, Birdman continuity & Curiosa sex-scenes can’t heat up this chilly ice bath of action. About as subtle and tasteless as straight vodka, though not nearly as neat.

Split

The M Night Returns with cohesively fragmented Splitchcockian gem. Perfectly proportioned seriousness to silliness and monstrously meaningful moral message add further psychological support to writing and directing that are almost as strong as McAvoy’s performances combined. Despite Signs to the contrary Shyamalan ended up Breaking out of his Senseless streak.

Trance

Boyle’s Nolan knock-off barely simmers as it falls through a series of clunky twists without so much as an empathetic character to cling to.  Delves far too deeply into the pseudo-science that must have been used by Boyle to get then-girlfriend, Dawson to use her Rosario as a plot point.   

The Conspirator

Redford’s post-Lincoln pic drowns its talent in the overly theatrical lighting, stagy direction, and tedious dialogue of a historical reenactment, and thus assassinates chances at cinematic success.  McAvoy’s underwhelming lead strives valiantly to accomplish nothing resulting in the most frustrating courtroom scenes ever filmed.  Plenty of potential seems suspiciously unrealized.