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Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and his symbiotic partner from space, collectively known as Venom, are on the lamb from the law, but, en route to New York the two are stopped by an interstellar bounty hunter that’s searching for a codec destined to free an evil and imprisoned king galaxies away. Now sought by officials on earth and threats from out of this world Eddie and his buddy will have to make difficult decisions that could end their partnership, lest the earth be turned to dust. Written by Kelly Marcel and Tom Hardy and Directed by Kelly Marcel, this jam packed conclusion to the Venom trilogy hits the ground running and delivers the semi-irreverent but simple enough humor and of course requisite gore to signify an alien with a taste for human flesh. Albeit, the plot line here isn’t exactly Tolstoy, but that’s not the point, fans of the graphic novel most likely aren’t looking for dramatic subtext or rich meaning, instead we’re offered a basic good guy/bad guy duopoly, and that’s it. Side plots are quickly abandoned with little explanation, end result, a rockin’ conclusion, yet even for it’s brief runtime, an hour and forty nine minutes including credits, the whole act seems a bit overstayed. But, if you’ve stayed with the franchise this long, chances are the Marvel Fatigue won’t hit now, enjoy Venom: Last Dance, which comes in with a strategic and guideline fitting PG-13 rating.

Following a tragic life event pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) finds herself on the precipice of of a world tour and stressed out, and, before long her reality and sanity begins slipping; faces of the people around her begin taking on a demonic smile dysmorphia that only she can see. But, what’s truly driving this evil, can it be explained, and can it be stopped?Written and Directed by Parker Finn, this surprisingly effective second installment in the Smile series brings plenty of jack in the box jump scares and shadow boxed punches of terror to keep horror fans happy for at least the first two thirds of the film. And, Scott is clearly a perfect foil for the character given her prowess as an actor and a singer, her talents far exceed the rather cobbled finish in the third act. Where new horror such as It Follows (2014) manages to keep audiences in suspense by specifically not showing the monster, Smile 2 devalues its scare potential dramatically by showing us the evil and it’s hard to go back once we know the monster. Still, strong production values keep this Halloween-y timed fright fest in good company and with subtle nods to Rami and Burton, fans of the genre will find the jumps and chuckles still enjoyable. Running two hours and seven minutes, a tad long, Smile 2 is rated R.

Almut (Florence Pugh) is an up and coming chef in the U.K. culinary scene and Tobias (Andrew Garfield) is a soon to be divorced U.S. Citizen working and living in the U.K.. When a chance encounter brings the two together, a whirlwind love affair is spurred with learning to navigate the tapestry of life, what will the two weave together?Written by Nick Payne and Directed by John Crowley this non-sequential love story aims to strike chords and pull heart strings through “clever reveals,” kind of like opening an advent calendar out of order, which serves the story and the art to an extent but ultimately reveals a Cream of Wheat romance that still manages to telegraph it’s anticlimactic end well in advance. In all, the performances and production value are top notch, but it’s not enough to keep this stale narrative from grounding out before the finish. If you’re looking for the feels, you’ll have to search elsewhere as the audience ends up too insulated from what tragedies life may bring. Running one hour and forty seven minutes, We Live in Time is rated R.