Has a strong premise and well-defined characters but is missing too much connective tissue to fully satisfy.

As a motion picture, it is disjointed and ultimately unsatisfying but as part of a larger cog in a cross-platform franchise, it does everything expected from it.

The manner in which director Alexander Payne and writer David Hemingson approach this familiar trope imbues it with freshness, honesty, and warmth.

If someone was going to make a "Hunger Games" prequel, this is about the best one might hope for.

Instead of offering engaging storytelling, it give us flashes, bangs, bad dialogue, and a mountain of fakery.

Highlights the ability of director Todd Haynes to explore complex and dysfunctional human relationships with insight and intelligence.

Challenges the kind of by-the-numbers approach that has dominated multiplex fare this year; it is brave, unconventional, and unique.

This mean-spirited and unpleasant production is unlikely to find favor with many either inside or outside of the Elvis fan base.

The film is just bonkers enough to be wildly entertaining and completely disturbing in equal parts.

"Silent Night" is the antithesis of fun. Whatever the director is trying to do with the movie, it makes it for one big lump of coal in the 2023 cinematic stocking.

It will fill the bellies of those yearning for inventive killings and a menu of viscera.

Like most rom-coms, it is comfort food although it lacks the fantasy element associated with characters who are less seasoned.

This may be the worst major animated film Disney has released in the past 40 years and its lack of creative energy doesn’t augur well for the immediate future.