This film pulls out all the stops to appeal to its target audience: jump scares, demonic creatures, séances, graphically sinister deaths, sex, drugs, and inter-generational friction. Despite obvious manipulation, and an oddball central plot involving a fungus that grows on corpses and inside victims, The Privilege could prove a hit. The mix of genre elements makes it successful in setting viewers on edge, partly because you just don't know what will come next. Fans could be in luck: The ending leaves the door open for a sequel. Not only do the teens here save the day, they also learn they can only rely on themselves and each other. It's a reminder not to trust anyone over 30, especially your parents -- or anyone with glowing eyes. Main character Finn's spherical blue eyes express the wide-eyed fear and confusion of the inexplicably horrific events he's experienced. He admits, "I'm always scared." Anyone who isn't is probably on the dark side already. The film's modern settings, under constant surveillance (seen in grainy camera footage) are eerie in their own, cold way. Likewise, the solitary dam-crossing highway that seems to be the only road in and out of their wealthy neighborhood. The film's title incorporates the characters' lived reality, a comment that younger generations are "privileged," and a promise that demonic possession is only for the select few. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

The true crime behind this documentary is shocking, heartbreaking, and aggravating all at once -- in other words, great material. The Tinder Swindler director Felicity Morris has compiled the evidence in a way that captures and holds your attention and builds suspense, especially as the con man's scheme starts crumbling in the second half of the movie. In this engrossing unraveling, the victims take matters into their own hands, putting themselves at potential risk and involving an investigative journalistic team. That's not to say the film is perfect in its blend of interviews (why is the lighting so dark on the two main interviewees?), classic film footage (used at the start then dropped), attractive B-roll of key cities, posted pictures and videos, omnipresent mood-setting music, and a few too many screen shots of Google searches, Tinder scrolling, and WhatsApp messages. But, much like the film's poster suggests the swindler did to the women, this story hooks you. It also seems to carry a warning for our modern virtual lives. As one woman puts it, "One little swipe can change your life forever." Yet the moral might also be: "If it looks too good to be true, it probably is." And also: Don't blame the victim. When an expose of the swindler is posted online on a Norwegian news site, the women who came forward to tell their stories to help capture the perpetrator suffer the backlash of commentary blaming them for being gullible or, worse, gold-digging. There is certainly an intention here to uncover insights into what women are looking for in a relationship or from a man. One of the women describes forming her ideas of love from Disney films. She also later admits she's still on Tinder even after the swindler took her for loads of money and led her to thoughts of suicide. That admission comes in an epilogue which provides closure for viewers -- but not as much for the people involved as one might hope. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

Popular actors, a cast of lovable tween boys, and a wholesome tone make this feel-good comedy a natural audience pleaser. Home Team starts with a compelling (but ultimately glossed over) true story and mixes in a slew of goofy secondary characters and situations. The production also feels like a family affair, with siblings, spouses, and other relatives of producer Adam Sandler and star Kevin James in various roles. There's definitely some verging-on-tasteless, Sandler-style humor in this film, including making steady fun of a character who is an alcoholic and a torrential bout of projectile vomiting. But other bits are very funny, like Schneider's stereotypical hippie stepdad (who brings his special tea to games and "makes his own lavender soap"), an inept hotel manager, and the tween team's jubilant celebration party at the hotel pool ("this is what it feels like to win"). As a Super Bowl-winning coach down on his luck, James exudes the confidence of a successful man who knows his game. Taylor Lautner is his ideal counterpart, letting him take center stage both as actor and character. The boys on the team are portrayed as adorably innocent middle schoolers who keep a positive attitude in the face of total defeat and maintain their values even once they start winning. A scene where they all go as wingmen to sing back-up when one of their teammates serenades a girl he likes is memorably cute. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

If you enjoy 80 straight minutes of animated action interspersed with witty one-liners and some positive life lessons, or if you're just a fan of the Ice Age franchise, then this movie is for you. The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild carries on the franchise's formula by picking up characters and plot lines from earlier films. Opening and closing credits memorably involve cave drawings of the animal cast, but the voiceover narration recapping past events could confuse newcomers with too many names. This installment has very little character development beyond the Crash and Eddie storyline. The boys are all grown up, and despite typical teenage behavior, they announce they're ready to move out and get their own "bachelor pad." Of course, they immediately stumble into trouble. Parents might connect in a surprising way with both the boys' eye-roll-worthy shenanigans and also their eventual growth and maturation. They go from announcing "It's time for us to make our own destiny… and maybe even make our own lunch," to discovering their own strengths and demonstrating real empathy for others. Meanwhile, the surrogate parent figure, big sis Ellie, learns she has no choice but to have faith in the boys' ability to take care of themselves. The new character of Zee offers them a new big sis figure, and it's her role in this film to show them the loving patience that helps build their confidence. Plenty of positive family lessons sketched in here. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

The complex and likeable characters of this film keep it interesting despite a slow-moving narrative arc and some awkward humor. The young adults in Definition Please, led by Indian-American Monica (director-star Sujata Day), her bipolar brother (a charismatic Ritesh Rajan), and a couple of high school friends, have not yet truly launched. This purgatory phase naturally allows for a blend of drama (the difficulties of overcoming the past and facing the future) and humor (living a prolonged adolescence). An introductory montage of Monica's childhood fame, clips her mom still proudly watches, is concise and memorable. Monica and her brother have some past trauma to deal with, but also a strong bond. Their banter and competitiveness are entertaining, but an overlong scene involving a play they put on for their mom is almost painful to watch. A surprise resolution to their mom's illness also doesn't get processed in a satisfactory way for the audience. Otherwise, the depiction of first versus second generation Indians in America feels right on, and setting many scenes to Indian music was an inspired choice. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

This Canadian drama set against the Punjabi Sikh immigrant community offers an authentic tale of growing up and facing life's challenges. Donkeyhead writer-director-star Agam Darshi convincingly embodies the main character, whose struggles to overcome childhood trauma and grapple with the responsibilities of adult life impact all of her siblings. The delayed adolescent is a frequented trope that can grate on the nerves of adult viewers who've done their maturing. Darshi imbues Mona with genuine pathos, but despite her very real pain, it's also hard not to empathize with her siblings' frustration with her increasingly childish antics. As director, Darshi places her characters in noticeably dark, sometimes almost claustrophobic settings, all of which feels symbolic. Likewise, the outdated décor and chronic plumbing blockages of the family home seem to echo Mona's mental and emotional state. The actors playing Mona's siblings all bring something individual to the family mix, especially Stephen Lobo as Mona's twin and the family's conflicted prodigal son, Parm. His coming out provides a lesson in blended identity. Grieving relatives constantly buzz around in the background, embodying generational differences as well as the way traditions get carried on and perhaps lose some vitality in immigrant communities. One or two scenes could have been cut to bring Donkeyhead down to a tighter run time. But the film offers many memorable characters and moments and plenty of food for thought about growing up and growing old. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

This warmhearted, well-intentioned movie is ultimately sabotaged by a lack of originality and a wacky hodgepodge of accents. It would be an understatement to call The Royal Treatment predictable. The filmmakers seem intent on admitting as much with an early reference to another faux kingdom, Genovia of The Princess Diaries, and several nods to Pretty Woman, including a process of refining two unsophisticated hairdressers and a romantic finale on a fire escape. In between, a sheltered prince and his love interest from the barrio discover their mutual restraints of family obligations and their shared desire to "change the world." The film's heavy emphasis on fighting injustice and caring for those less fortunate is surely admirable, and lead actress Laura Marano is nothing less than charming. But there's also some musty stereotyping, from the communally merry poor to the snooty palace workers, heart-of-gold laborers, no-holds-barred New Yorkers, and capitalist Texans. The New Zealand production has local actors pretending to be Italian, American, French, and Lavanian (whatever that is in the mix of accents happening there). It's a mistake to think audiences won't notice or care about how false this rings, especially in a film peddling the importance of being genuine. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

This oddball animated film for adult viewers picks up steam over the course of its three chapters, with the last 30-minute tale providing the most emotionally satisfying of the three. The first chapter of The House is a disconcerting story of a doomed family that movies into a haunted house. Placing two small girls at the heart of the story, populated with pasty-white, beady-eyed, fuzzy characters, makes it purposefully hard to watch. The second, more surreal chapter is flat out gross as it devolves into a feast of giant, beetle-like creatures. The final chapter introduces a bit of humor and ends on a magical note. The animation is surely commendable, and larger themes seem to have been intended, but all this effort is undermined by stories with limited narrative appeal. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High meets Clueless in this update on the teen sex comedy that manages to be both innocent and at times shockingly raunchy. The naivety comes from Sex Appeal's earnest main character (a convincing Mika Abdalla), who pursues sexual knowledge and experience with an academic intensity. Her three moms and her high school friends are a portrait of decency, even while openly discussing explicit sexual and anatomical concepts. They also play against type (according to high school movies) -- the cheerleader is the prude, the jock always gets in trouble, the bespectacled Asian guy seems to know the most about pleasing a woman, and the love interest (Disney alum Jake Short), who looks like a young, curly-haired Justin Bateman, plays the trumpet. Some of the funniest scenes in Sex Appeal happen when characters orgasm: these are envisioned as elaborate and hilarious stage sets (Esther Williams-ish synchronized swimming numbers or a Grease-style ballad, for example). They're meant to portray the sheer wonderment the characters are feeling, how physical pleasure transports them each to their own magical worlds. The actors charmingly convey the irrepressible hormonal energy and excitement of first love. Paris Jackson's cameo as a world-weary and sexually experienced older lady is a great addition. Sex Appeal will turn some viewers off, but what it aims to do, it does with originality and wit. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

This made-for-TV-style movie is neither as sexy nor as scary as it hopes to be, and it takes itself too seriously to provide campy fun. Brazen is set up as a vehicle for star Alyssa Milano, but she isn't entirely believable as a best-selling author and crime-cracker grieving her sister's death. You just know from the opening scene she's going to end up playing the dominatrix before the end credits roll (the action builds toward this). The film suffers from unnatural dialogues, overly-deliberate reactions, abrupt musical interludes, and a tale that boils down to a suspect with mommy issues. Other elements with potential are left underdeveloped, like the DC political players, the bitter ex-husband, and even the central love story. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

This film succeeds in crafting both a bleak, watery, post-apocalyptic Earth and a warm, involving human story about relationships. The capacity for connection, particularly between parents and kids, drives the characters in The Colony. It's also what sets humans apart and what draws the viewer into an otherwise not entirely stimulating futuristic story. The pan-European cast, led by stars Nora Arnezeder and Sarah-Sophie Boussnina, manage to convey the emotion compelling them to survive in desperately hostile circumstances. That includes constant threats to their lives and a muddy, foggy environment -- all filmed in dark blue and silver tones with occasional wide shots of ship debris and damp sand, set to suspenseful music. The film's environmental message is clear -- humans "plundered" everything Mother Earth offered, leaving her barren -- like the humans on Kepler. One can't help but wonder about other possible symbolism: do the farming out of prisoners and seeming attempts at eugenics have Nazi overtones? The film makes some subtle suggestions at how humans might find inspiration in the past to build the future. But, as with all futuristic films, some aspects feel less well imagined -- will classroom structures, toothbrushes, clothes, and silverware not have changed at all? Also, how do the humans on Earth manage to keep making clothes and find enough food to look so healthy and strong out of their muddy environs? Still, the Kepler humanity's motto of "for the many" is a positive one for today's Earthlings too. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.

Real-life father-daughter pair Baloji and Bebel Tshiani Baloji are the pulse of this heartwarming and entertaining Belgian film. As the titular character Binti, the tween star is especially buoyant and brings a joyful presence to her character, an aspiring vlogger. Her videos are filmed as if from her handheld phone camera, but then cleverly shown as if already edited together with effects. She's matched by up-and-coming Belgian actor Mo Bakker as Elias, the well-meaning and tender-hearted misfit. There's symbolism in his obsession with a rare species taken from its African homeland by European captors as well as in his own repeated retreat into the forest. The magic of childhood seen in their exuberant playfulness is contrasted with the dire reality of an immigrant child who feels "nowhere is home." The film constructs a gentle and earnest tale that aims to show the human side to immigration. The physical tenderness between father and daughter is captured with great visual detail. At risk of being sent "back" to Congo, a country she doesn't know, Binti is portrayed as thoroughly Belgian and insistent that she does indeed "exist" even if she has no papers. Elias's innocent question of why she can't stay in Belgium when there's clearly "plenty of room" is poignant. It's heartbreaking to see Binti and her dad chased or arrested, and it's also heartbreaking to see the pained look of one of the policemen involved. The film could be considered overly simplistic in some aspects, but it makes a convincing case that these characters deserve humane treatment and a happy ending. Read the full review at Common Sense Media.