One reason comic book movies provide great conversation starters with faith groups is that they often show the hero’s journey—how he or she got superpowers, how he or she struggled with them and then came out on the other end with the firm resolve to use their gifts to help people. "Doctor Strange," the latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, does not live up to this ideal.

Fans of the original Star Trek TV series get ready to be blown away. The newest film in the J.J. Abrams rebooted series, “Star Trek Beyond,” feels like vintage Star Trek with plenty of big-screen action. At the same time, the film reaffirms the franchise’s core values of embracing the best parts of flawed humanity and finding hope in people’s goodness rather than despair in our human weaknesses.

The latest film in the popular X-Men franchise falls short of its immediate predecessor, "Days of Future Past," but fans still get the satisfaction of seeing the younger versions of their favorite characters. This time around, the graduates and students of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters band together to stave off world domination in "X-Men: Apocalypse."

The great anticipation that’s been building up since the last Avengers film is finally over. "Captain America: Civil War" bounded into the theaters this past weekend with all the superheroes one could possibly want (with the exception of Thor and Hulk). Oh, well. I suppose we can’t have everything. Although billed as a Captain America film, it might as well have been “Avengers 3.”

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice fits perfectly into the Easter Season, although I’m pretty sure the seasons of the Church year had absolutely nothing to do with the consideration of release dates by Zack Snyder and crew. The film is also the first in two comic book movies this year that are pitting the good guys against each other. Maybe the film industry is tapping into our culture’s difficulty with intelligent and mature conflict resolution.The darkness in Bruce Wayne’s (B...

"Midnight Special," the new film from "Mud" director, Jeff Nichols, follows Alton Meyer (Jaeden Lieberher) on his journey of discovering who he is and where he belongs. Sounds pretty normal, right? Not in Alton’s case. This 8-year-old boy has special powers of some kind. He can’t go out in daylight and this bright light shoots from his eyes whenever he removes the blue goggles he wears.

The great delight of "The Force Awakens" is the melding of old and new seamlessly. We meet Rey (Daisy Ridley), a poor scavenger girl on a planet that seems to be full of nothing but sand and junk. She’s definitely more than meets the eye. We meet Finn (John Boyega), the stormtrooper with a conscience. Throughout the story, it’s obvious that these are the characters that will carry Star Wars into the next generation.

Matt Damon becomes "The Martian" when a severe storm hits the crew of the Ares III on Mars and Mark Watney (Damon) gets left behind, presumed dead. The story of his fight to survive and the triumph of the human spirit in the face of impossible odds is not a new story, but director Ridley Scott tells it like no other.

This second installment in The Maze Runner series begins right where the first film ends off. Having escaped the Maze, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his fellow Gladers get picked up by Janson (Aidan Gillen) and escorted to hot showers and hot meals together with other teens who have escaped their own mazes. Confusion reigns.

If you’re a big fan of the ever-expanding Marvel cinematic universe, you’ll love the addition of Ant-Man to the mix. If you’re just out to see a movie and pick this one because it sounds weird and the show time is right, you’re in for some laughs but probably won’t be overly impressed by the standard super hero plot.