Above Suspicion

Director Phillip Noyce returns to full form with this marvelously crafted, reality-based, and character-driven thriller. Feeling like it should have been made in a previous decade, Above Suspicion is the kind of intelligent and adult-oriented movie we don’t see enough of, anymore. The revelatory and provocative film hits all the right notes and was obviously executed by masters of their craft.

Emilia Clarke gives a completely transformative and highly courageous performance as a lower-class Kentuckian who starts an affair with the FBI agent (portrayed with an appropriately complex mixture of earnestness and shadiness by Jack Huston) who employs her as an informant. This unjustly underrated and severely under-publicized film is one of the biggest and best surprises of its year.

GRADE: A

The Addams Family 2

This sequel to the 2019 computer-animated reboot of The Addams Family features the titular clan on a cross-country road trip across America. The film is filled with witty dialogue, clever sight gags, and comically spooky characters. The Addams Family 2 is a solid and inventive piece of entertainment that utilizes harmless dark humor while still being appropriate for the entire family.

GRADE: B

Antlers

This Scott Cooper directorial effort is a sturdy, though slightly underwhelming, entry into the horror genre. The film centers on a schoolteacher (Keri Russell) who, while trying to help a troubled student (Jeremy T. Thomas), finds herself facing a highly lethal creature that was previously considered to be mythological.

The film is an overall intelligent and well-made effort, though you have to forgive it for some shortcomings that are common to its genre. Characters stupidly and unrealistically put themselves in harm’s way for no other reason than to progress the plot, the story and its primary antagonist aren’t as fully developed as they should or could be, and the ending is more concerned with setting up a sequel than it is with being satisfying in its own right. However, Scott’s classy filmmaking and Russell’s, Thomas’, and Jesse Plemons’ dedicated performances help Antlers rise above its faults and be an effectively creepy (though somewhat modest) success.

GRADE: B

Army of the Dead

This Zack Snyder film is a horror/action hybrid about a heist in a zombie-infested Las Vegas. The thrills and suspense are as present as the humor and attempted heart.

The film’s least successful aspects are those dealing with the human characters and their relationships. Lead Dave Bautista’s natural onscreen charisma can’t help a forced estranged father/daughter subplot work amongst Snyder’s gleeful carnage. As is often the case with Snyder’s work, the film runs too long at two-and-a-half hours and needs some considerable tightening. Despite its faults, however, there are still plenty of inventive, horrific, and exhilarating moments to make Army of the Dead worthwhile.

GRADE: B

Army of Thieves

This prequel to Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead is a fast-paced, mostly zombie-less action-comedy that maintains its predecessor’s mayhem-loving, thrill-inducing spirit. Matthias Schweighöfer cleverly directs and reprises his Dead roleas an expert German safecracker. Though it’s a tad predictable and formula-driven, Army of Thieves is still a genuinely funny and endlessly entertaining piece of escapist entertainment.

GRADE: B+

Awake

The odds are against Awake long before it begins. Its central premise–the world goes mad after all electricity stops and people lose the ability to sleep—is already teetering between intrigue and unintentional comedy. The conventional family-on-the-run-during-the-apocalypse storyline doesn’t help matters, either.

Awake only begins to develop and explore its ideas in its last half-hour. It’s too little, too late by that point, however. Despite some good performances (Gina Rodriguez and Barry Pepper stand out) and a few memorable moments, Awake is an overwhelmingly dull and unwittingly absurd way to spend a hundred minutes of your life.

GRADE: C-

Beckett

John David Washington portrays an American tourist in Greece who has to run for his life after uncovering a conspiracy. Thrills and suspense are effectively present in the first half, but the film’s quality drops significantly during the second half. Despite some solid filmmaking, Beckett suffers due to some overly extravagant and unbelievable action sequences and an increasingly stale and uninteresting storyline.

Washington, the film’s primary highlight, proves yet again that he can carry a film with a highly intense yet surprisingly vulnerable performance. Now, it’s just time for him to find material that is worthy of his talents.

GRADE: C+

Being the Ricardos

Writer/director Aaron Sorkin brings us another piece of dramatized history with his most recent work, Being the Ricardos. The well-written, well-made film offers a glimpse of the politics that went on behind the scenes of the beloved 1950s sitcom, I Love Lucy.

While it is an intellectually stimulating film, it often falls emotionally and dramatically flat because of an unnecessarily complex and hard-to-follow nonlinear structure. The film is still an overall solid accomplishment that hosts a number of great performances by such major talents as Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem, J.K. Simmons, Tony Hale, and Alia Shawkat.

GRADE: B

The Beta Test

This darkly comedic and intelligently satiric film centers on a phony Hollywood agent (played by co-writer and co-director Jim Cummings) whose life is turned upside down after he receives an invitation from an admirer for an anonymous sexual encounter.

The Beta Test deserves points for originality and unpredictability, but the film leaves much to be desired when it comes to having a coherent storyline and a clear point. Despite its freshness and astuteness, the film just doesn’t fully add up. Cummings’ lead performance is particularly strong, providing another attribute to this uneven but intriguing film.

GRADE: B-

Black Widow

With Black Widow, the MCU makes one of their biggest and blandest blunders. The standalone story of Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff character is a missed opportunity on just about every level. The script and execution are dull and humorless, the characters are frustratingly lifeless, and the action scenes feel like they were copied and pasted from every Marvel movie that precedes it.

After all these years of being a solid supporting player, Johansson deserved far better for her own movie than this uninspired and trite production. Marvel movies have gotten away with many things over the years, but being boring is not one of them.

GRADE: C-

Bliss

Writer/director Mike Cahill (I Origins, Another Earth) returns for another grounded, character-based science fiction/drama. Owen Wilson and Selma Hayek both give naturalistic performances that balance the fantastical aspects of the story. Bliss somewhat falters in its second half, as its narrative becomes too complex for its own good. The originality of its story, the talent of the cast, and Cahill’s distinct vision all salvage the film, however, and make it a uniquely mind-bending experience.

GRADE: B

Blood Red Sky

This German thriller/horror is an intense and overall captivating film. The film’s story involves the terrorist hijacking of a commercial airline flight, but where it goes from there is full of pleasantly terrifying surprises that shouldn’t be spoiled here. Though the pacing is occasionally uneven and draggy, Blood Red Sky is still a highly satisfying piece of entertainment.

GRADE: B+

Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed

This documentary focuses on the brutal reality behind the world-famous art instructor Bob Ross’ business. While Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed provides plenty of unsavory details, it doesn’t spend enough time focusing on Ross as a man. Examinations of his life and personality are rarely more than surface-deep. The corruption of his brand is important information, but the film fails to be truly effective because the most fascinating part of the story—Ross himself—is given a backseat.

GRADE: B

Boss Level

This could have been a really good movie—and it is except for an ending that can only be described as lousy. Frank Grillo stars in this Groundhog Day variation as a man who relives the same day over and over. The catch is, he has to repeatedly thwart a team of deadly assassins who want him dead for reasons he can’t understand.

Mel Gibson and Naomi Watts both deliver standout performances in supporting roles. It’s a fun premise and a fun movie for most of its duration, it’s just too bad that Boss Level is marred by an ending that is as sloppily abrupt as it is wholly unsatisfying.

GRADE: C+

Candyman

This direct sequel to the 1992 classic is a well-made, smart, and racially aware piece of mainstream filmmaking that manages to both entertain and provoke thought. Candyman is a rare horror movie that provides social commentary on some of its time’s most pertinent issues, namely Black Lives Matter. Despite its larger aspirations, however, Candyman is, first and foremost, a down-and-dirty genre flick that supplies its fair share of frights and gore. While it may not have the most original storyline, it still manages to be an overall freshly executed, insightful, and captivating film that rises above the potential limitations of its genre.

GRADE: B+

The Card Counter

Writer/director Paul Schrader’s late-career hot streak continues with this revenge drama—at least in the eyes of just about every critic other than this one.

The Card Counter is an overrated, sluggishly paced, and oftentimes confusing film that relies too heavily on dialogue and not nearly enough on action. Some of the most interesting and important events of the muddy storyline occur offscreen and are (rather sloppily) explained through its characters’ bland conversations. The film sporadically boasts some impressive filmmaking and it does feature some fine performances by Oscar Isaac, Tye Sheridan, Willem Dafoe, and Tiffany Haddish—but none of it is enough to save the film from its own painfully uninteresting execution.

GRADE: C-

Chaos Walking

This often-delayed, extensively reshot trouble production is much better than word-of-mouth suggests it to be. Once you forgive it for thrusting you into a very complex world with little explanation or guidance, Chaos Walking is actually a pretty cool movie filled with inventive ideas, exciting adventure, and likable characters. Its storytelling may be a little rough-around-the-edges (particularly in its first half-hour), but the film’s many positive attributes ultimately enable it to succeed.

GRADE: B

Cherry

Most critics have been rather unkind to Cherry. While it may not cover any new ground about the highs and lows of heroin addiction, it is still a supremely enthralling film told with innovation and style. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo make even the most clichéd moments (of which there are a few) feel fresh and exciting. Tom Holland delivers a focused and sympathetic performance as the film’s downward-spiraling protagonist.

GRADE: B+

CODA

A teenage girl (the excellent Emilia Jones) who is the only hearing person in her otherwise deaf family decides that she wants to leave the family’s fishing business in order to attend music school.

CODA (which stands for Child of Deaf Adults) is a funny, inclusive, and completely heartwarming film that provides an important and pity-free glimpse into the private lives of people with disabilities. It’s a nice film that doesn’t push any buttons with a storyline that doesn’t take too many risks, but that doesn’t prevent it from being a highly enjoyable and informative experience. Troy Kostur, Marlee Matlin, and Daniel Durant are all exceptional as the members of Jones’ family.

GRADE: B+

Coming 2 America

You can tell that the makers of this sequel to the 1988 Eddie Murphy classic are enormous fans of the original film, as they spend far too much screen time paying homage to it. Though it has its moments of inspiration, there’s not enough care put into breaking any new ground this time around. Still, if you’re a fan of the original, this effort will likely bring a smile to your face. Coming 2 America is a fun enough movie to be modestly worthwhile, but not nearly funny enough to be great.

GRADE: B-

Concrete Cowboy

Centering on a group of Black cowboys in modern-day Northern Philadelphia, Concrete Cowboy is a genuine, affable, and heartfelt presentation of one of America’s lesser-known subcultures. Idris Elba oozes charisma and humanity as an estranged father who is forced to care for his troubled teenage son (the excellent Caleb McLaughlin).

Concrete Cowboy is simple and elegant. Its story is told with humor and artistry, and it presents characters who are as unique as they are believably relatable. It’s a rare film about rare people, and it’s an unforgettable introduction to a world that remains primarily hidden.

GRADE: A

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

The onscreen return of the adorably devoted paranormal investigation team of Ed and Lorraine Warren is a welcome one. The characters, portrayed with commitment and ease by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, are indisputably the highlight of this third entry in the Conjuring series.

Disappointingly, the storyline is rather flat this time around, featuring supporting characters that are so underdeveloped and uninteresting that their fate feels inconsequential. Though Wilson’s and Farmiga’s irreplaceable chemistry somewhat salvages the film, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It is more mildly interesting than it is engrossing, and more harmlessly spooky than it is terrifying.

GRADE: C

Copshop

Cowriter/director Joe Carnahan’s film centers on a conman (Frank Grillo) who has to fend off a hitman (Gerard Butler) while being detained in a small-town police station. Copshop is filled to the brim with witty dialogue, humorous moments, and riveting action sequences. It is a wholly entertaining movie, but the specifics of its storyline and the characters that inhabit it are sometimes a bit unclear. The film still works rather well, however, despite its few drawbacks. Grillo, Butler, Alexis Louder, and Toby Huss all deliver lively and memorable performances.

GRADE: B+

Cosmic Sin

It’s hard to say that Frank Grillo and Bruce Willis star in this sci-fi actioner, though they are both somewhat prominently featured in it. Their names obviously gave the film the commercial boost it needed to get financed, and they’re in the movie just enough so audiences won’t feel cheated after seeing their faces on the film’s promotional images. One has to wonder if they bothered to read the script, however, as its characters are as thinly drawn as its story is as incomprehensible.

That said, there is just enough style, well-executed action, and cool low-budget digital effects to make the film marginally better than it should be.

GRADE: C-

Cruella

I, Cruella would have been a more fitting title. I, Tonya director Graig Gillespie retreads ground he already covered quite well in his previous film with this live-action prequel to Disney’s 101 Dalmatians. Humorously one-sided voice-over narration from a morally ambiguous protagonist, constantly sweeping and/or roaming Steadicam shots, and an endless parade of scenes scored to 70s pop music dominate the film’s style. While these elements might have been amusingly effective if used sparsely, their highly excessive presence is, quite simply, exhausting.

Still, the film is not without its merits. Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Mark Strong, Joel Fry, and Paul Walter Hauser all deliver theatrical and infectiously fun performances. Cruella does grow classier and more toned-down in its second half, ultimately reaching a somewhat satisfying conclusion. Despite several missteps, Gillespie does prove yet again that he is a highly gifted filmmaker. Next time, he just needs to get out of the way of his own movie.

GRADE: B-

Cry Macho

Director Clint Eastwood also stars as a former rodeo rider who goes on a road trip to Mexico to retrieve a friend’s troubled son. Cry Macho is an insightful character study that provides a surprisingly sensitive examination of masculinity and what it truly takes to be a good man in today’s world. It’s the perfect movie for Eastwood at this stage in his life and career. While the steadily-paced film isn’t exactly brimming with urgency, it still succeeds because of its simple and pleasant execution and its quietly meditative nature.

GRADE: B+

The Dig

The Dig is based on true events surrounding the archaeological excavation of Sutton Hoo in 1938. Ralph Fiennes gives a typically flawless performance as Basil Brown, an untrained but brilliant archaeologist whose unorthodox methods weren’t fully appreciated in his lifetime.

While the film works as an intellectually stimulating history lesson, it, unfortunately, falls quite flat as a piece of drama. Instead of having the movie’s full attention, the fascinating character of Brown gets frustratingly lost in its overcrowded and overambitious design. The Dig’s increasingly sprawling story structure spends far too much screen time developing secondary characters that are far less interesting. A simpler and more direct route would have benefitted Brown’s story much more appropriately.

GRADE: C+

Don’t Breathe 2

This sequel to the 2016 nail-biter lacks the effective simplicity of its predecessor by featuring a storyline that is slightly too involved for its own good. Don’t Breathe 2 is still a moderately engrossing horror/thriller, however, that pretty much achieves what it sets out to accomplish in its own gruesomely entertaining way.

The great Stephen Lang is the film’s primary highlight with his riveting return to the role of the otherwise unnamed The Blind Man. Lang, who was the first film’s villain, is, quite cleverly, this film’s oddly sympathetic (but still highly dangerous) protagonist.

GRADE: B

Don’t Look Up

Co-writer/director Adam McKay’s latest is a timely, uncompromising, and biting piece of satire. Don’t Look Up is the perfect movie for today’s shaky political climate, and a telling representation of how easily we shrug off immediate danger to our planet. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence are both excellent in lead roles, portraying astronomers who have to face the mainstream media to inform the world of its imminent demise.

GRADE: A

Dune

The most recent adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune is a victim of its own hype. Designed to be the beginning of a new cinematic universe, the film feels more like an intriguing and complex series pilot than it does its own standalone story. Though it is an impressive and exquisitely crafted accomplishment, the film lacks the heart and character of David Lynch’s inherently flawed but still beautiful 1984 adaptation of the same material. The new Dune presents its dense storyline and multiple characters in a surprisingly coherent fashion (which in and of itself is an improvement over Lynch’s film), but it forgets to make us care.

Director Denis Villeneuve presents the story’s many events in visually hypnotic snippets that favor information over emotionally engaging tension or drama. The uneven film has a cluttered and exposition-heavy first third, a haphazardly paced middle section, and a final act that just starts to find its footing when it abruptly and unsatisfactorily ends. Dune could still prove to be the beginning of something great, but it, unfortunately, falls short of being a great beginning.

GRADE: C+

The Eternals

The MCU makes a fairly hefty misstep with this overcrowded and downright sloppy entry into their canon. The film opens with a haphazardly nonlinear first act that essentially needs a roadmap to be followed. The film plays like it’s rushing to catch up to The Avengers throughout its duration, as it is saturated with far too many new and underdeveloped characters. The Eternals should have had five or six movies preceding it that feature and flesh out its superheroes before they were thrown into one massive (and overly long) movie together.

There is plenty of spectacle and adventure to make the film moderately entertaining, however, and it does manage to pick up some momentum during its last act. That being said, the film is an overall frustrating and highly underwhelming effort that fails to fully captivate or impress.

GRADE: C-

Every Breath You Take

Casey Affleck portrays a psychiatrist whose family is stalked by the unstable brother of a deceased patient in this modestly engrossing thriller. A well-written script by David Murray and excellent performances by Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Sam Claflin, Emily Alyn Lind, and India Eisley make Every Breath You Take rise above its generic presentation. Something of a milder, updated Cape Fear, the film is a solid, though occasionally underwhelming, effort that gets its job done.

GRADE: B-

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Director Michael Showalter delivers a sympathetic depiction of the notorious husband/wife televangelist team of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker with this thoughtful and revelatory biopic. The characters—who could have so easily been treated as a one-dimensional joke—are shown as complex human beings who truly believe in what they are doing but are unable to control the inherent flaws that lead to their devastating downfall. The Eyes of Tammy Faye never takes the obvious route with its subjects and is ultimately an intelligent examination of the hypocritical, corrupt, and cutthroat business behind organized Christianity.

In its ambitious efforts to cram a lot of information into a two-hour runtime, the film does glaze over a number of pertinent details (the Bakker children, Jim’s supposed homosexual tendencies) and falls slightly dramatically short as a result. The film is marginally hurt by its common biopic structure, and it would have benefitted by covering fewer events with more focus. Jessica Chastain helps the viewer look past such minor faults, however, with a downright brilliant and intricately layered portrayal of the baby-voiced, overly made-up title character who is much more than meets the eye. Andrew Garfield also provides excellent support as her well-intentioned but deeply and morally confused spouse.

GRADE: A-

F9: The Fast Saga

If you’re a fan of the Fast & Furious series, then this ninth installment will deliver all the heart, machismo, roaring engines, ludicrous action, and unbelievable stunts you could possibly desire. If you’re not, then it’s probably best to skip this one because it’s pretty much more of the same—just, at times, insanely and amusingly bigger (they drive a car in outer f*#$ing space, guys).  John Cena is a welcome addition to the familiar ensemble cast.

GRADE: B

False Positive

Offering a nightmarish take on infertility treatment, False Positive is a film whose premise is more interesting on paper than its uninspired execution allows it to be in reality. The film has a fine cast (Ilana Glazer, Justin Theroux, Pierce Brosnan, Gretchen Mol) that does its best to keep things grounded in reality. It also contains an unsettling atmosphere that effectively (though sporadically) produces tension.

The film’s highly sluggish pacing and underdeveloped storyline can’t help but mar it considerably, however. Though it has some positive attributes, False Positive is, overall, a disappointing waste of good ideas and considerable talent.

GRADE: C

Fatherhood

Kevin Hart simply shines in this genuinely funny and heartwarming film about the struggles of being a single parent. Though it can be a bit too formulaic, long-winded, and cutesy for its own good, the film is still surprisingly moving and intelligent. The supporting cast—featuring such heavyweights as Alfre Woodard, Frankie Faison, Paul Reiser, Anthony Carrigan, and Lil Rel Howery–is flawless. Director Paul Weitz keeps the tone fresh and lively while masterfully balancing comedy and drama.

GRADE: A-

Fear of Rain

A schizophrenic teenage girl (Madison Iseman) suspects that her teacher and neighbor (Eugenie Bondurant) has kidnapped a child, but is unable to tell whether or not her suspicions are the product of delusion.

Writer/director Castille Landon’s masterful Fear of Rain succeeds on multiple levels. It is a suspenseful and engrossing mystery/thriller that keeps its audience guessing until the very end. It’s also a highly evocative and impressively sensitive depiction of mental illness that refuses to cheapen itself with easy resolutions or exploitative gimmicks. Iseman delivers a powerhouse performance, effortlessly conveying the complexities and pain of her character’s illness.

GRADE: A

Feral State

Feral State had potential that is only partially realized. It is a sometimes-hypnotic film that centers on a gang of Florida runaways who are led by a cult-like father figure (an excellent Ronnie Gene Blevins). Despite its uniqueness and unpredictability, the film often suffers due to an unstructured story, clumsy staging, and some rather amateurish performances.

A questionable subplot involving a detective character (AnnaLynne McCord) sticks out rather glaringly, and it doesn’t help matters that her scenes have the lowest production value in the film.

GRADE: C+

Finch

Tom Hanks stars as a terminally ill loner who lives in a globally warmed, post-apocalyptic world with his beloved dog and the robot (voiced by the fantastic Caleb Landry Jones) he built to care for it. Finch doesn’t always seem to know who it’s playing to, as it explores many darker themes that are geared towards adults while also containing moments of bubbly silliness that seem to be directed more towards children. As a result, the film is a bit tonally jagged, but not enough to prevent it from being an overall success.

Finch is ultimately a highly moving, wholly engrossing, and intelligently contemplative film that should appeal to science fiction fans and dog lovers alike.

GRADE: B+

Flag Day

Director/costar Sean Penn delivers an emotionally impactful film that centers on the true-life story of a daughter’s (Dylan Penn) relationship with her criminal, pathologically dishonest, yet endearingly charismatic father (Penn). Flag Day is an astute character study as well as an examination of the complexities behind a broken but loving parent/child relationship.

The film is a tad heavy-handed during select moments, and its occasionally haphazard pacing is a bit too choppy in spots and too draggy in others. The overall strength of the story, the lead performances, and Penn’s grittily assured filmmaking enable the film to rise above its minor faults, however. The two Penns (who are father and daughter in real-life) share a believable and lifelike chemistry that makes the film all the more powerful and relatable.

GRADE: B+

Four Good Days

Dramas that deal with substance abuse and addiction are basically a genre in and of themselves, anymore. They are stories we know quite well, and most of them follow a formula that presents the highs, the lows, the pain, the suffering, and the harrowing effects on family members before they end in triumph or tragedy. That being said, as long as the film presents the disease of addiction with unflinching honesty, then it’s still a pertinent subject matter that deserves attention and exploration.

Despite being yet another addiction story that follows all of the above criteria, Four Good Days is still a worthwhile effort because of its integrity, its painful attention to detail, and its striking emotional honesty. Glenn Close and Mila Kunis give two powerhouse performances as a mother and daughter grappling with the latter’s opioid addiction. The story may be something we’ve all seen before, but the power and care with which it is executed makes it seem like one that urgently needs to be told.

GRADE: B+

Free Guy

Ryan Reynolds stars as the background character of a video game who goes against his programming to take control of his destiny. Free Guy is a fun, funny, and endlessly innovative movie that fully explores its unique concept. The film’s only fault is that it is overstuffed with too many ideas, forcing it to run about twenty minutes too long and making its pacing a bit uneven. Reynolds is as sarcastically innocent and as charismatic as he’s ever been.

GRADE: B+

The French Dispatch

This film from writer/director Wes Anderson is yet another quirky, star-studded, meticulously and obsessively detailed entry on his resume. Despite its exquisite artistry, however, the multi-storied and multi-character film never stays on one topic long enough to fully captivate its audience. The frustratingly overcrowded narrative deserves credit for its ambition, but that ambition is also the primary reason for the film’s lack of inclusivity and focus.

It’s easy to admire The French Dispatch for its ingenuity and craftsmanship, but its undisciplined storytelling (if you can call it that) makes it equally difficult to care about anything that happens within it.

GRADE: C+

Ghostbusters: Afterlife

This innocently funny, harmlessly entertaining, and family-oriented piece of pop culture nostalgia is nothing short of a joy. It impressively appeases the fans of the original two Ghostbusters films while introducing and developing new storylines and characters that are worthy of their own film. Ghostbusters: Afterlife sometimes gets a little too cutesy for its own good, but it overall works in the way it’s supposed to, delivering something fresh and inventive while still appealing to some great and classic cinematic memories.

GRADE: A-

Godzilla Versus Kong

You have to give Godzilla Versus Kong credit: it, at the very least, tries to be a little bit more than an hour-plus build-up to over thirty minutes of oversized monster mayhem and destruction. It tries to have relatable human characters and even goes so far as to cast some highly talented individuals (namely Alexander Skarsgard and Millie Bobby Brown) in key roles. It tries to have a stimulating and memorable storyline that complements the digital spectacle that is the film’s primary selling point.

Does it succeed? Only partially, but that shouldn’t affect those seeking a monstrously good time from enjoying it immensely. Those seeking out something a tad more substantial and memorable, however, might be in for some Kong-sized disappointment.

GRADE: C

Good on Paper

Iliza Shlesinger wrote the screenplay for and stars in this darkly comedic movie about a stand-up comedienne who falls for a seemingly great guy (a believably conniving Ryan Hansen) who might not be exactly who he claims.

Though the film is perfectly clever and witty, it also lacks big laughs or moments of real surprise. While it’s too entertaining to be labeled as flat, it’s not quite colorful or inventive enough to be great. Still, Shlesinger’s strong and likable screen presence carries the film with ease, making Good on Paper perfectly (though somewhat mildly) enjoyable.

GRADE: B-

The Guilty

This Nic Pizzolatto-scripted, Antoine Fuqua-directed remake of the Danish dramatic thriller, Den Skyldige, stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a suspended police officer who is demoted to emergency dispatch. When he receives a call from a kidnapped woman, he becomes obsessed with saving her at any cost.

The Guilty is as much of a brilliant and complex character study as it is an intense and wholly engaging thriller. The small-scale, effectively confined film redeems Fuqua of some of his more recent and flatter big-budget studio offerings. Gyllenhaal delivers another standout performance, believably portraying a gruff, often-unlikable, and inherently flawed man who can’t help but rise to the occasion when he comes across someone in desperate need of help.

GRADE: A

Gunpowder Milkshake

Though it lacks originality in its storyline and in its cool, detached, and stylized presentations of graphic violence, Gunpowder Milkshake is still an entertaining and energetic film. Quirky humor, good performances, cleverly staged action, and downright beautiful cinematography (by Michael Seresin) make the film stand on its own when compared to the predecessors—Tarantino, Super, Kick-Ass, Kingsman—that so clearly influenced it.

Lead Karen Gillan (Nebula from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies) is a believable and likable badass who has the presence and physicality of a bona fide action star.

GRADE: B

Halloween Kills

Halloween Kills picks up right where 2018’s Halloween left off. It is a consistently engaging and suspenseful sequel that is executed with skill and quality. It lacks the effective simplicity of its predecessors, however, with an over-ambitious narrative that features too many loosely connected storylines and characters. Halloween Kills never loses its audience, but its overall impact is flattened because it isn’t always clear with who or what we should be focusing on.

Despite its imperfections, if you’re looking for a well-crafted, bloodily entertaining horror flick with a high body count, you can do far worse than Halloween Kills.

GRADE: B

The Harder They Fall

A downright fantastic cast (Regina King, LaKeith Stanfield, Idris Elba, Delroy Lindo, etc.) can’t quite overcome this film’s shamelessly distracting style and obnoxiously self-congratulating cleverness.

Director/co-writer Jeymes Samuel shows promise, particularly with his handling of intense action sequences and extreme dramatic moments. His constant efforts to show off his Tarantino/Raimi-inspired presence behind the camera do nothing to aid the film, however. Like many gifted filmmakers, Samuel needs to stay out of his own way and focus on what’s best for his story and his cast next time he directs a feature.

GRADE: C+

Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard

This sequel to the 2017 action/comedy, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, is a moderately entertaining but often obnoxiously overstuffed effort. The mind-numbing and thin storyline is uninspired and littered with far too many underdeveloped side characters. The film still delivers its fair share of excitement and laughs, but its overall impact is frustratingly uneven.

Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Antonio Banderas, and Morgan Freeman all deliver amusing and solid performances, but it’s Salma Hayek’s portrayal of Jackson’s hilariously (and psychotically) impassioned wife that truly steals the show.

GRADE: C+

House of Gucci

Director Ridley Scott lends his impeccable eye and unstoppable talents to this reality-based depiction of the deceits and betrayals that went on behind the scenes of the Gucci fashion empire in the eighties and nineties.

House of Gucci is a beautifully photographed, exquisitely designed, and strikingly crafted film that sucks the viewer in and never lets go until the end credits roll. Colorful, lively, and slyly humorous, the evenly paced film never lets the audience feel its near 160-minute runtime. From beginning to end, it is a wholly captivating viewing experience. Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Jared Leto, and Salma Hayek all deliver outstanding performances.

GRADE: A

Hypnotic

The always-watchable Kate Siegel stars as a woman who discovers that her new hypnotherapist (Jason O’Mara) may have sinister intentions. The quality of the filmmaking and the strength of Siegel’s performance make Hypnotic rise above its generic, made-for-cable thriller formula. The film is nothing groundbreaking, but it is a well-paced and perfectly entertaining way to spend ninety minutes of your time.

GRADE: B

I Am All Girls

Given its subject matter, I Am All Girls is a justifiably unpleasant viewing experience. The South Africa-set thriller revolves around child sex trafficking, a topic that needs as much light as possible shed upon it. The film provokes thought and contains some gripping scenes of action and suspense. Its somewhat familiar and uninspired execution prevents it from ever fully taking flight, however.

Erica Wessels and Hlubi Mboya both give intense and heartfelt lead performances, successfully compensating for their underwritten characters. Though its impact is somewhat impeded by its flaws, I Am All Girls delivers an important message while telling an overall compelling story.

GRADE: B

I Care A Lot

Rosamund Pike stars as an ice-cold sociopath who survives by scamming the elderly out of everything they own.  She soon meets her match when she targets the wrong woman (Diane Wiest) who happens to have ties with a gangster (Peter Dinklage).

Nasty, fast, and fun, the movie is an enjoyable, if not entirely memorable, dark comedy/thriller that contains some deliciously amoral characters and some darkly entertaining predicaments. Even with its enjoyably snappy dialogue exchanges and razor-sharp performances all around, the film isn’t quite meaty enough to be more than a simple, down-and-dirty good time.

GRADE: B

The Ice Road

Liam Neeson stars as a truck driver who has to save a group of trapped miners by hauling his rig over a dangerous ice road on top of the Arctic Ocean. Writer/director Jonathan Hensleigh provides the film with the appropriate amount of suspense and action. Though it’s a bit too predictable and formulaic to be anything spectacular, The Ice Road is an overall engrossing and well-made action/thriller.

GRADE: B

Infinite

Mark Wahlberg stars in this Antoine Fuqua-directed sci-fi actioner. Given Fuqua’s exceptional talent, it should come as no surprise that the film contains a number of engaging and well-staged action sequences. These sequences become increasingly far-fetched, however, and their lack of believability becomes a distraction. It also doesn’t help matters that the reincarnation-themed plot is too convoluted and poorly explained to hold interest.

Though well made on a technical level, Infinite is often hindered by its lack of simplicity in design and execution.

GRADE: C

Intrusion

After two home invasions, a young woman’s (Freida Pinto) world is turned upside down as she begins to see that her life isn’t exactly as it seems. Director Adam Salky’s bold vision and Chris Sparling’s cleverly twisty screenplay save the film from the potentially predictable trappings of its somewhat generic premise. Grounded performances by Pinto and costar Logan Marshall-Green and a noteworthy and intense musical score by Alex Heffes also aid the film significantly.

Well-made and skillfully executed, Intrusion is a solid edge-of-your-seat thriller filled with a number of nice surprises.

GRADE: B+

JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass

This documentary by director Oliver Stone is a follow-up to his 1991, Kevin Costner-starring dramatization of the complex investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. A satisfying mixture of both old and new (thanks to now-declassified documents) information is presented in an easily understandable and enthralling way. Stone’s gift for making history exciting is on full display in this highly memorable and thought-provoking film.

GRADE: A

Joe Bell

Mark Wahlberg gives his best performance since The Departed in this thoroughly moving and uncompromisingly powerful film. He portrays a father on a mission to walk across the country to spread a message of tolerance in order to honor his bullied gay son (an excellent and painfully vulnerable Reid Miller).

Joe Bell presents its themes with honesty and grit, avoiding cheap and manipulative sentiment that could have easily been added to make it more commercially palatable. It’s a strong movie with a huge heart and a clear point that is made while still respecting its audience’s intelligence. It’s a truly nice surprise to see Wahlberg challenge himself and access emotions most of today’s audiences never knew he had.

GRADE: A

Jolt

This fast, funny action-comedy is a hyperkinetic good time that thankfully knows not to overstay its welcome with a lean, ninety-one-minute runtime. Kate Beckinsale delivers a delightfully aggressive performance as a woman with impulse control problems who sets out to avenge the death of the only man (Jai Courtney) she never wanted to kill with her bare hands. Though the film has little new to offer with its stylishly hip depictions of violence, it is still a brutally humorous and entertaining effort.

GRADE: B

Judas and the Black Messiah

In spite of good intentions, some strong filmmaking, and two flawless lead performances (LaKeith Stanfield and Daniel Kaluuya), Judas and the Black Messiah is a film that falls dramatically flat in every conceivable way.

Telling the story of the fall of the Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton (Kaluuya), the film functionally presents its characters while serving as a viable history lesson. The film fails at exposing Hampton’s heart, however, and doesn’t even begin to relay what the Black Panther Party truly stood for. The film merely exists, resembling the cold and unrelatable experience of reading a high school history textbook.

GRADE: C+

Jungle Cruise

The latest cinematic adaptation of a Disney theme park ride is an appropriately light and breezy viewing experience. While it hardly breaks any new ground, it will bring a smile to your face if you can allow yourself to let go of logic, sit back, and enjoy it.

Jungle Cruise never ceases to be a fun time, as it is filled with adventure, spectacle, and endearingly silly humor. Stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt share a wonderfully playful onscreen chemistry. They also receive excellent support from costars Jesse Plemons, Edgar Ramirez, and Paul Giamatti.

GRADE: B

Kate

Kate has a lot going for it. It boasts some of the most impressively and beautifully staged action sequences in recent memory. It also takes full advantage of its downtown Tokyo setting and showcases some downright gorgeous cinematography by Lyle Vincent. Lastly, it features a believably fierce and laser-focused lead performance by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Despite its many positives, Kate fails to meet its potential because of an uninspired and underdeveloped screenplay. The storyline—a female assassin (Winstead) has 24 hours to find who gave her a lethal dose of poison—needs more humanity and heart to combat its unoriginality. We’ve simply seen too many previous variations of this character and storyline, and we’re given too few reasons to care about this one. Aside from its exceptional production value, the film falls, quite disappointingly, flat.

GRADE: C+

King Richard

Based on the true story of the rise of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, King Richard is an informative and heartfelt film about the power of tunnel vision and perseverance when trying to achieve seemingly impossible goals. Though the film is a bit too tidy in its portrayal of blind ambition, it still manages to be a moving and inspirational tale. Will Smith delivers an Oscar-worthy performance as the Williams’ hard-pushing yet loving father.

GRADE: B+

The King’s Man

This prequel to the Kingsman movies doesn’t live up to its potential or to the heart, character, and energy of its predecessors. Despite a great cast, some well-staged action sequences, clever camera angles, and impressive digital effects, The King’s Man is a predominantly stuffy, dull, and uneven film that fails to fully engage its audience for the majority of its duration.

The overcrowded storyline is difficult to follow and the film’s overall flow is painfully disjointed. The film’s many faults can be somewhat forgiven due to its entertaining, suspenseful, and inventive last act, but it’s, unfortunately, too little and too late at that point to make the film one that is worth recommending.

GRADE: C

Land

Robin Wright makes a capable and solid directorial debut with this moving drama about loss and the rediscovery of one’s broken spirit. Wright also stars, giving an exceptionally strong performance, as a grieving woman who cuts herself off from humanity to live in a cabin in the woods. Land has a particularly strong first act, its pacing drags slightly towards its mid-section, but it recovers with an emotionally powerful and satisfying climax.

Though we’ve recently seen variations of this story before (Wild, Into to Wild), Wright provides enough honesty and class to this particular film to make it stand on its own. Cinematographer Bobby Bukowski provides the film with some downright gorgeous imagery, and Wright’s costar, Demián Bichir, offers her excellent support.

GRADE: B+

The Last Duel

The Last Duel, a Ridley Scott directorial effort, is an exquisitely crafted and provocative piece of popular entertainment that deserves a second life on home video after a disastrously unsuccessful box office run. Though the film slightly drags in its overly long set-up, it eventually finds its footing and becomes an engrossing film that thoughtfully and uncompromisingly examines a piece of history involving the politics of rape.

The Last Duel is something we need more of: exemplary Hollywood filmmaking made for thinking adults.

GRADE: A-

Last Night in Soho

A fashion design student (Thomasin McKenzie) in contemporary London dreams of an alternate reality set in the sixties where a struggling singer (Anya Taylor-Joy) has to compromise her values in order to succeed. Last Night in Soho has a strong and intriguing premise, and its hallucinatory execution makes it particularly intoxicating during its first half. The film stumbles somewhat in its second half, however, and grows mildly tiresome. Its eventual destination, ultimately, isn’t quite as interesting or exciting as its build-up.

That being said, the film contains many positive attributes that one can expect from its ultra-talented co-writer/director, Edgar Wright: a great soundtrack, great performances, gorgeous cinematography, and inventive editing techniques. It may not quite live up to its potential, but Last Night in Soho is still a trippy and predominantly fascinating effort.

GRADE: B

The Last Son

This dark and broody Western centers on a man (Sam Worthington) who sets out to murder all of his children because of a prophecy that states one of them will kill him.

The Last Son is a well-made and well-acted film that successfully showcases an appropriately somber tone. The overall flow is sometimes a bit choppy and logic is occasionally questionable, but the film is still an overall modest success. Colson Baker, Thomas Jane, Emily Marie Palmer, and Heather Graham round out the strong ensemble cast.

GRADE: B

Licorice Pizza

Set in the Valley in the early seventies, Licorice Pizza is a character-based comedy that centers on a teenage actor and entrepreneur (the fantastic Cooper Hoffman) and his romantic fascination with a young woman in her mid-twenties (an equally fantastic Alana Haim).

Filled with organically snappy dialogue, uniquely quirky humor, and endlessly charmingly whimsy, the film is a joy from start to finish. Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson returns to his roots, delivering his most personal, vivacious, and life-affirming work in years. Though the film occasionally comes to the brink of dragging with its slightly overlong two-hour-and-fifteen-minute runtime, there’s still very little fault to be found in this surprisingly delightful and masterfully innovative production.

GRADE: A-

The Little Things

In print, The Little Things brings forth hope for a high-quality studio thriller along the lines of Seven or Heat. While one has to admire writer/director John Lee Hancock for trying something different and for attempting to challenge his audience, the film ultimately fails quite heavily at captivating its audience with any gripping tension or drama. Denzel Washington, Rami Malick, and Jared Leto all give predictably high-caliber performances, but they can’t save a film whose intentions are unclear and whose execution is insufferably flat.

GRADE: C

The Lost Daughter

Olivia Coleman gives a notably brave performance as a brash divorcee who confronts some uncomfortable memories while vacationing on the beach.

The Lost Daughter is a bold movie that dares to remind us that our wives and mothers are flawed human beings with their own selfish yet undeniable desires. Though its pacing sometimes drags and it runs at least fifteen minutes too long, there is an undeniable power and heavy emotional impact that writer (based on Elena Ferrante’s book)/director Maggie Gyllenhaal achieves with this surprisingly honest and effectively blunt piece of filmmaking.

GRADE: A-

Malcolm & Marie

Writer/director Sam Levinson’s film focuses on a volatile evening shared by a young filmmaker (John David Washington) and his former actress/recently sober girlfriend (Zendaya). Malcolm & Marie unravels like a stage play written by someone who has an abundance of opinions on many topics: race, gender dynamics, emotional abuse, addiction psychology, artistic inspiration, film criticism, etc.

The film consistently tests its audience’s patience with its excruciatingly narcissistic and unlikeable characters, often threatening to become little more than pretentious gibberish. Washington’s and Zendaya’s crackling and spontaneous performances and Levinson’s boldly passionate and innovative filmmaking save the film from itself, however. Malcolm & Marie manages to be an intriguing and insightful character study despite its own obnoxious and bloated self-importance.

GRADE: B

Malignant

Director James Wan successfully returns to his horror roots with this clever, unique, and satisfyingly unpredictable film. Malignant is a stylish and slow-burning movie. It occasionally threatens to meander while building momentum during its first half. Once it kicks in and reveals where it’s going, however, the film provides a non-stop array of surprises, thrills, and wholly inventive, successfully creepy ideas. Wan continues to prove himself as one of the classiest and most original horror filmmakers working today.

GRADE: A-

The Marksman

This film, which features Liam Neeson in yet another action hero role, isn’t necessarily a bad movie, it’s just a wholly forgettable one. Neeson stars as a rancher with (you guessed it) mad sniper skills who has to save the life of a young, endangered immigrant (Jacob Perez).

The Marksman hits every predictable note it promises to in its set-up, and it offers few surprises along the way to its underwhelming climax. It is an average movie with an average impact, and it forgets the most necessary ingredient of just about any successful action movie: fun.

GRADE: C

The Matrix Resurrections

This completely unnecessary reboot of The Matrix franchise at least knows it’s completely unnecessary. The Matrix Resurrections takes a (kind of) clever meta approach that should appeal to fans of the previous three films. The film’s quirky self-awareness only gets it so far, however, as it increasingly grows more uninspired and unspectacular as it plods through its bloated two-and-a-half-hour runtime.

While it’s fun to see Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss reprise their iconic roles, neither of them is given a movie that is completely worthy of their return.

GRADE: C

The Mitchells vs. the Machines

This exceedingly clever computer-animated, science fiction/adventure family film is an entertaining and heartwarming endeavor that hits all the right marks. Innocent enough for kids and peppered with enough intelligent references for adults, The Mitchells vs. the Machines has something to offer everyone. Though it overstays its welcome and runs about fifteen minutes too long, the inventive film is still a good time for audiences of all ages and tastes.

GRADE: B+

Mortal Kombat

There is not much to say about Mortal Kombat, the new film based on the nineties video game, because it is exactly what it wants to be. If you’re looking for some cool effects, extreme carnage, and nostalgic popular culture, then this is the movie for you. If you’re looking for something—anything—else, then it might be best to skip this one.

GRADE: C+

Mother/Android

Chloë Grace Moretz stars in this science fiction/thriller as an expecting mother trying to survive a post-apocalyptic world overtaken by lethal androids. The film’s sometimes-haphazard storytelling contains a few holes and its logic can be a little shaky, but it still works, overall, as a compelling and intense piece of entertainment. Mortez carries the film with the fiery commitment we’ve come to expect from her, and Algee Smith and Raúl Castillo offer her excellent support.

GRADE: B

News of the World

Tom Hanks and director Paul Greengrass re-team after their highly successful collaboration on Captain Phillips for this intense and thoughtful depiction of life in early America.

News of the World is a Western unlike any other: it is character-driven and filled with immense heart, but it’s also not afraid to show the darkness and ugliness of human nature when in its most primitive of settings. Hanks’ never-ending onscreen reliability is put to brilliant use. He believably portrays a character whose integrity and good nature constantly put him at odds with the savagery of his times and surroundings.

GRADE: A

Nightmare Alley

This Guillermo del Toro directorial effort is a stylish noir thriller that only partially lives up to its potential. Bradley Cooper stars as a scheming carny who takes his mentalist act to the outside world and uses it to make money off of gullible victims.

From Dan Lausten’s rich cinematography to Tamara Deverell’s detailed production design, Nightmare Alley is a downright gorgeous movie to look at. Its pacing drags, however, and never reaches the momentum it needs to be consistently engrossing.  At two-and-a-half hours, the film runs a painstaking half-hour too long. Nightmare Alley still manages to be a moderate success, however, due to its beautiful visuals and excellent performances by Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Toni Collette, and many others.

GRADE: B-

Nobody

John Wick writer Derek Kolstad delivers another tale of high action that centers on a seemingly normal man who is attempting to live a placid life until his mysteriously violent past catches up with him. Nobody is a perfectly entertaining and well-made film, though it is somewhat over-hyped. It delivers plenty of well-staged, adrenaline-inducing action sequences, but it lacks the heart or character development it needs to be truly great. Lead Bob Odenkirk is a surprisingly believable action hero.

GRADE: B

Nomadland

Frances McDormand stars as a woman who, after losing everything in the recession, lives out of her van and travels the country as a nomad.

Writer (based on Jessica Bruder’s novel)/director Chloe Zhao takes a refreshingly observational approach to the film, allowing the viewer to live alongside its protagonist without any forced commentary or perspective. Nomadland speaks volumes about the current state of American life, but it does so quietly and without oversimplifying itself, allowing the audience to come to their own conclusions about what they’re seeing onscreen. Simple, beautiful, and haunting, Nomadland is an unforgettable look at some of the many harsh realities residing behind today’s American Dream.

GRADE: A

No One Gets Out Alive

Despite some serious potential, No One Gets Out Alive is yet another modern horror movie that doesn’t know how to explain itself or end satisfactorily. The film boasts some innovative editing techniques by Mark Towns, appropriately moody cinematography by Stephen Murphy, and an excellent and committed lead performance by Christina Rodolo. It also features some truly frightening moments that could have and should have been part of a much better, more inclusive film.

Attributes aside, the film suffers from haphazard and sluggish pacing. Its confusing storyline and abrupt ending make the overall experience quite pointless and dull. It’s hard to deny there was some serious talent involved in making the film, which only further adds to the frustration that most of it went to waste.

GRADE: C-

No Sudden Move

Director Steven Soderbergh’s 1950s-set thriller/noir is a frustrating effort. It is exceedingly well made on a technical level, with attention-grabbing (almost to a distracting degree) cinematography by the director himself. The film also features a fantastic cast (Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro, Jon Hamm, David Harbour, Brendan Frasier, Amy Seimetz), who brings Ed Solomon’s twisty and complex screenplay to life.

In spite of its many attributes and an exceptionally strong first act, No Sudden Move unravels quite messily as it progresses and becomes a victim to its own overly ambitious narrative. As a result, it’s just as difficult to fully understand what’s going on by the film’s ending as it is to care.

GRADE: C+

Old

This M. Night Shyamalan film, based on a graphic novel by Pierre-Oscar Levy and Frederik Peeters, centers on a group of vacationers whose afternoon beach spot causes them to rapidly and inexplicably age. While Old has a clever premise, it’s never quite developed enough to successfully sustain its feature-length runtime. In spite of its promise, this is another example of a movie that just doesn’t seem to know what to do with itself. Old, simply put, gets old fast.

GRADE: C

Old Henry

Tim Blake Nelson stars in this intense Western as a farmer who aids a wounded stranger (Scott Haze) and consequentially finds himself fending off a group of very dangerous men. Old Henry is a smart and direct film. Its simple and minimal storyline allows room for complex character development and riveting action sequences. Great performances, beautiful and gritty cinematography by John Matysiak, and assured direction by Potsy Ponciroli (who also penned the excellent screenplay) all work in conjunction to make a film that is exceedingly worthy of high praise.

GRADE: A

Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal

This stylish and hypnotic documentary offers a detailed examination of Rick Singer’s college admissions scheme, which unfairly allowed the children of wealthy parents into the nation’s top universities.

Operation Varsity Blues mixes real-life footage with exceptionally well-made and well-performed dramatic reenactments (in which Matthew Modine excels as Singer). The overall effect is quite riveting, though occasionally uneven. The two separate styles sometimes combat one another, especially towards the film’s unsatisfying conclusion. The reenactments are so strong that they could have made up the entire film, and it is often frustrating to only see them in fragments. Despite its occasional roughness, the film still serves as a fascinating study of the corruption and entitlement at the heart of America’s upper class.

GRADE: B+

Out of Time

Drawing inspiration from more eighties and nineties sci-fi classics than can be named, Out of Time knows exactly what it wants to be. It is a charmingly low-budget effort that offers a good balance of action and humor. Though some aspects of the film are hindered due to financial constraints, there are still plenty of characteristics that make it truly enjoyable.

Blake Boyd steals the show as a time-traveling detective who is tracking down deadly aliens. His performance is stoically masculine and lovably eccentric, perfectly conveying the film’s lighthearted and quirky tone. Writer/director Matt Handy’s name is one to remember.

GRADE: B+

Outside the Wire

Good performances, some well-executed action, and a solid climax somewhat save this film’s overall stale and dull sci-fi/military storyline. Anthony Mackie and Damson Idris are both excellent in lead roles, it’s just too bad they weren’t featured in a more stimulating plot. Outside the Wire is not a bad movie, but there’s nothing particularly special about it, either. 

GRADE: C

Oxygen

Melanie Laurent stars in this sci-fi/mystery/thriller as a woman trying to escape the confines of an enclosed, coffin-like medical pod. She carries the movie with infallible expertise, giving a performance so fervently committed that it’s exhausting to witness.

The first half of the film is executed with beautiful and effective simplicity, and it could have been great had it stayed on that path. The second half is more cluttered than necessary, however, and it becomes difficult to stay focused on the increasingly intricate plot details. However scattered Oxygen may sometimes be, it is still an overall absorbing and painfully claustrophobic viewing experience.

GRADE: B

Palmer

Justin Timberlake gives a believable and affable lead performance as an ex-convict who decides to look after the neglected and adorably androgynous little boy (Ryder Allen) that lives next door to him. Though it’s predictable and somewhat formulaic, this intelligent and finely crafted film still succeeds, overall. Palmer is a moving tearjerker that hits all the right emotional notes and pulls at its audience’s heartstrings in an effectively genuine manner.

GRADE: B+

Pieces of a Woman

Vanessa Kirby delivers a powerhouse performance as a woman who, after losing her baby during a home birth, struggles to function with her grief. The film is raw and powerful, told in a series of observational long takes (courtesy of director Kornel Mundruczo) that refuse to manipulate or comfort the audience.

Pieces of a Woman feels authentic, making Kirby’s struggle all the more painful to witness. However, the film is slightly marred by its sometimes sluggish, directionless pacing and an ending that tries to wrap itself up too neatly. Despite its few drawbacks, Pieces of a Woman is an appropriately devastating film that knows how to evoke genuine empathy.

GRADE: B+

Pig

Pig centers on a truffle hunter (a subdued but fantastic Nicolas Cage) who goes searching for his kidnapped and beloved pet pig. The film initially sets itself up to be an action/revenge thriller along the lines of John Wick. Instead of progressing into a series of amped-up action sequences, however, Pig takes a quietly dramatic and refreshingly introspective approach.

Moments of conflict are filled with emotion instead of gunplay, and disputes are primarily faced with thought and conversation rather than fists and knives. Pig is ultimately a sincere and meditative film on loss and grief that makes a wholly indelible impact.

GRADE: A

Plan B

Plan B is about two teenage best friends (Kuhoo Verma and Victoria Moroles) who go on a comedy-of-errors quest to track down a Plan B pill. The film is reminiscent of such edgy, raunchy teen comedies as Superbad and Booksmart, but it also has a heart and a style that are completely its own.

Director Natalie Morales exhibits impeccable comedic timing, providing the film with numerous shocking, big-laugh moments that are reminiscent of the Farrelly brothers at their best. She successfully (and impressively) balances such moments with instances of sincere humanity. As juvenile and bawdy as its humor may be, Plan B still manages to deliver some heartfelt, inclusive messages from voices that are well worth hearing.

GRADE: A-

The Power of the Dog

Writer/director Jane Campion’s film is a frustrating effort. On one hand, it showcases some of the most gorgeous cinematography of its year (courtesy of Ari Wegner), excellent portrayals of complex characters by Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, and Kirsten Dunst, and an effectively moody musical score by the great Johnny Greenwood. On the other hand, the pacing is sluggish, the narrative is muddied, and it’s difficult to truly care about or find a point to any of it.

The Power of the Dog is a greatly made movie that fails to captivate its audience emotionally or intellectually. Though it has many positive aspects, it’s hard to appreciate them when they’re housed in a movie that consistently seems designed to put its audience to sleep.

GRADE: C+

Prisoners of the Ghostland

Prisoners of the Ghostland’s promotional materials feature a quote from star Nicolas Cage in which he proclaims that this ultra-theatrical and indisputably bonkers surrealist actioner is the wildest film he’s ever made. While this might be true (which says a lot), it certainly doesn’t make it his best movie. The film is far too innovative and uniquely beautiful to be written off completely, but it also serves as proof that there’s often an excellent reason why some things have never before been done.

Director Sion Sono doesn’t just favor style over substance, he favors it over coherency and inclusivity. Prisoners of the Ghostland can be rather painful to sit through because it has no organic flow and unravels like a series of intense, random fragments that never properly connect. Its dense world and storyline are never properly explained, often making it difficult to understand what the film is saying or depicting. A contrived strangeness that annoyingly dominates the tone only further alienates the film from its already perplexed audience.

GRADE: C+

Promising Young Woman

Writer/director Emerald Fennell delivers an edgy and colorful feature debut with this genre-oriented representation of the Me Too movement.  The film works both as a pulpy thriller and as a profound statement for its times.

Promising Young Woman, however, is moderately guilty of oversimplifying its story and its characters to prove its point. No doubt, it is a point worth making, but it could have been made a bit more astutely and with a tad more intelligence. That being said, however one-sided the film may be, it still represents a side that needs to be heard. Though it has a few shortcomings that prevent it from reaching greatness, the film does offer an encouraging glimpse of what is yet to come from a talent as strong as Fennell’s.

GRADE: B+

The Protégé

A female assassin (Maggie Q) seeks vengeance against those who murdered her mentor and father figure (Samuel L. Jackson) in this action/thriller.

The Protégé features some excellently staged action sequences, well-timed humor, and just the right amount of heart to make you care for its characters. However, the film also has an uninspired, stale, and unnecessarily convoluted storyline that features an overpopulated host of characters that never properly connect. Q, Jackson, Michael Keaton, and Robert Patrick all deliver exceptional performances that deserve to be part of a film whose screenplay was crafted with a little more care.

GRADE: C+

Psycho Goreman

This wholly entertaining horror/comedy from writer/director Steven Kostanski (co-writer/co-director of The Void) is already on its way to becoming a cult classic.

Endlessly inventive, excessively gory, and genuinely hilarious, Psycho Goreman plays like a passionate homage to eighties b-movies. Relying heavily on practical make-up and visual effects, the film has a beautiful tactile quality that sets it apart from other low-budget offerings released today. Psycho Goreman is a silly, bloody movie made with extreme care, impressive talent, and a joyously demented heart.

GRADE: A

Queenpins

Kristen Bell and Kirby Howell Baptiste star as two suburban women who become criminal masterminds after launching a successful coupon scheme.

Queenpins has a smart and amusing premise but is occasionally dumbed down with immature humor that self-consciously panders to a broader audience. Despite its faults, the film does come together in the end and mostly succeeds as an entertaining—though perhaps overly safe—alternative crime saga. Paul Walter Hauser and Vince Vaughn exhibit a natural and playful chemistry in memorable supporting roles.

GRADE: B-

A Quiet Place Part II

This much-anticipated sequel to the 2018 sci-fi/horror hit gets the job done, but doesn’t have nearly the same impact as the original. Familiar gimmicks are reused, moments of suspense are only sporadically effective, and the storyline is so unexceptional that, even at ninety-eight minutes, the pacing can’t help but drag towards the end.

Still, there are enough merits to A Quiet Place Part II that make it a moderate success. Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cillian Murphy, and Djimon Honsou all deliver intense, thoughtful, and sympathetic performances that make us care about their characters’ survival. Writer/director John Krasinski may not quite master suspense this time around, but he repeatedly proves that he can capture an audience’s attention and empathy with easily relatable and realistic characters.

GRADE: B

Red Notice

Gal Gadot steals the show with a boisterously fun performance in this kinetic action/comedy. Also starring Dwayne Johnson and Ryan Reynolds, Red Notice is overtly stylized and features a harmlessly playful tone throughout. On the reoccurring occasions that the film is too obnoxiously clever for its own good, however, it oftentimes ceases to be amusing. Johnson is solid as always, but Reynolds needs to stop playing every single role as if he were wearing Deadpool’s tights.

GRADE: C+

Reminiscence

Reminiscence is an overly complex and improperly explained science fiction/thriller that loses its audience early on and never fully recovers. Despite some great ideas by writer/director Lisa Joy, solid lead performances by Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Ferguson, and gorgeous cinematography by Paul Cameron, the film simply doesn’t work. It is a muddied and virtually indecipherable mess that lazily and unsuccessfully relies on lifeless voice-over narration to fill in its many plot holes.

Reminiscence is a movie that probably needs to be seen more than once to be fully understood, but its lack of dramatic weight and entertainment value make the prospect of repeat viewings highly unlikely.

GRADE: C-

Riders of Justice

This Danish action/thriller is an extraordinarily thoughtful examination of cause and effect—how seemingly random events can set other events into motion regardless of awareness or intention. It is also a painfully hilarious depiction of the futility of revenge. Riders of Justice is a film that attempts to work on a variety of levels, and it impressively succeeds at all of them.

Mads Mikkelsen leads a flawless ensemble cast, portraying a military member who is convinced that his wife’s death in a train wreck was no random accident. The film balances many emotions and tones, resulting in a life-like and reality-grounded experience that still manages to fully engage its audience. Riders of Justice is the ultimate thinking person’s action movie. It thrills and entertains in the moment, but later requires you to ponder its violent events, their meanings, and their consequences.

GRADE: A

Ride the Eagle

This tear-jerking and charming dramedy features a man (Jake Johnson) who is given a list of self-improving tasks that he must complete before he receives his inheritance from his departed and formerly estranged mother (Susan Sarandon). It’s nothing new, but Ride the Eagle is an exceedingly well-made and well-acted film that politely reminds us of the benefits of forgiveness and the importance of focusing on what makes us feel good in life.

Johnson delivers an extraordinarily likable performance, and J.K. Simmons and D’Arcy Carden offer him hilarious and emotionally moving support.

GRADE: A-

Shadow in the Cloud

As far as escapist entertainment goes, you can’t do much better than this exciting WWII actioner. Shadow in the Cloud has all the elements of a satisfying movie: suspense, action, spectacle, and, most importantly, a well-defined and likable lead character (portrayed with a determined commitment by Chloe Grace Mortez).

Cowriter/director Roseanne Liang delivers a feature debut that suggests the work of a seasoned professional. This is particularly impressive when considering that roughly half the movie takes place in the claustrophobic space of a ball turret under a fighter plane. Though its believability is sometimes questionable, the viewer is never completely removed from the movie’s reality. Shadow in the Cloud also manages to deliver a strong feminist message without succumbing to preaching that gets in the way of its extreme entertainment value.

GRADE: A-

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Despite a slightly rough and exposition-heavy first act, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is one of the freshest entries that the MCU has released for quite some time. Director Destin Daniel Cretton (Just Mercy) is a great fit for the material, providing the film with a splendid combination of spectacle, thrills, emotional engagement, and lovably relatable characters. Shang-Chi (played by the excellent Simu Liu) is a character worthy of many future adventures.

GRADE: A-

The Show

Everything about this neo-noir looks good on paper. Scripted by the Watchmen comic’s Alan Moore, The Show is a stylish, surreal, and evocative film with some great concepts, quirkily detailed humor, and outstanding cinematography.

The film lacks coherency, however, and its storyline’s unclear execution turns a movie that could have been exciting and unique into something rather pretentious, befuddling, and dull. Despite its robust potential, The Show doesn’t prove to be aptly named because it fails to provide much of one.

GRADE: C

Space Sweepers

A fast pace, strong visual effects, and a fun, light tone make this Korean sci-fi/actioner one of the most carefree and entertaining releases of its year. Space Sweepers takes a cue from the Guardians of the Galaxy films and mixes spectacle with grounded and identifiable characters, quirky humor, and genuine heart.  Though it runs a tad long and is a bit too cluttered to be completely comprehensible, Space Sweepers still manages to offer an evening of high-quality entertainment.

GRADE: B+

Spencer

This glimpse into the life and personal struggles of Princess Diana deserves praise for not taking the standard biopic route. Instead of covering her entire life, the film only focuses on a small period of time in which the audience is able to get to know her quite well. Her mental health issues are at the forefront of this film, and it’s an eye-opening examination of the interior damage that wealth, celebrity, and an unhappy marriage can cause.

Spencer sputters, however, in its ability to capture its audience’s interest for the majority of its duration. Despite some classy filmmaking and a top-notch performance from Kristen Stewart, the film is ultimately as stuffy and dull as the oppressive lifestyle from which the princess so desperately wants to escape. The film does pick up in its last act, but not quite enough to fully save it from its earlier setbacks. Spencer is a film with many positive attributes, but none of them are quite worth braving its sluggish pacing and lack of riveting drama.

GRADE: C+

Spider-Man: No Way Home

If you’re late getting to this title, it is next to impossible for its hype and glowing reception from critics and audiences not to affect your enjoyment of it.

Make no mistake, Spider-Man: No Way Home is a good, perfectly entertaining movie that continues the adventures of the classic superhero character portrayed by Tom Holland. Just don’t expect it to be the best movie you’ve ever seen, as it has an overstuffed and cluttered narrative that is more concerned with definitively tying together different Marvel movies than it is with telling a solid and well-paced story.

GRADE: B

Spiral

Chris Rock’s massive talent helps to significantly raise the quality of this latest entry into the Saw series. The film keeps its audience in moderate (though not necessarily edge-of-your-seat) suspense throughout most of its duration. Some fuzzily explained plot details and thinly developed characters do hinder its overall success, however. Despite its imperfections and the tired nature of its series, Spiral should still appease Saw fans looking for their next torture porn fix just as much as it should entertain series newcomers looking for a skillfully made horror/thriller flick that gets under their skin.

GRADE: B-

The Starling

Melissa McCarthy proves yet again that she is just as skilled a dramatic actress as a comedic one. Her portrayal of a grieving mother who struggles with an overly protective Starling in her front yard is funny, tragic, and heartfelt. The integrity of McCarthy’s naturalistic performance allows you to forgive The Starling’s somewhat formulaic and simplistic examination of grief. Kevin Kline, Chris O’Dowd, Loretta Devine, and Timothy Olyphant all stand out in supporting roles.

GRADE: B

Stillwater

Matt Damon gives a stellar performance as a father who travels to France to aid his daughter (Abigail Breslin), who he believes has been falsely imprisoned for murder. 

The slow but steadily paced film is a character-based mystery/drama that holds its audience’s attention for the entirety of its near-two-and-a-half-hour runtime. Stillwater puts as much emphasis on the emotional truths of its characters as it does the details of its highly enticing storyline. It’s a film that succeeds in what it sets out to accomplish with impeccable skill and craftsmanship. Breslin, Camille Cottin, and Lilou Siauvaud all provide Damon with excellent support.

GRADE: A

Stowaway

This Gravity-esque science fiction drama/thriller is an intelligent and moving film that is captivating from beginning to end. The small but exceptional cast—Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, Shamier Anderson, and Toni Collette—is pitch-perfect, portraying characters that are as developed as they are sympathetic. Though logic is sometimes a bit questionable (how, exactly, was it possible for an unplanned passenger to go unnoticed on a spaceship meant for three people?), the film’s tight pacing and riveting suspense can make you overlook such flaws.

GRADE: B+

The Suicide Squad

James Gunn’s soft reboot/sorta sequel to David Ayer’s 2016’s Suicide Squad is a mischievously entertaining, dementedly innovative, and oddly beautiful effort. Fully and unabashedly owning its R-rating, The Suicide Squad revels in gore, ultra-violence, and adult humor, making it one of the most daring comic book movies (or major studio productions, for that matter) in recent memory.

The film falls just short of greatness, however, because it lacks focus and is unevenly paced. It’s cluttered and overstuffed with too many characters, too many subplots, and too many set pieces. Even though Gunn’s love for this misfit group of antiheroes is apparent (and contagious), the over-ambitious storyline doesn’t allow any of them to have the screen time they deserve. Despite its faults, The Suicide Squad is still a gleefully insane and gloriously grotesque good time.

GRADE: A-

Swan Song

Mahershala Ali gives a typically outstanding lead performance as a terminally ill man who chooses to clone himself in order to spare his family the grief of losing him.

Swan Song is a character-based and deeply sensitive depiction of mortality and loss. It’s a dramatic science fiction film that delivers some big ideas and examines some major ethical issues about scientific progress while simultaneously captivating its audience on a deeply emotional level. Swan Song is an intelligent and wholly moving film that succeeds with its intellectually and dramatically complex ambitions.

GRADE: A

Sweet Girl

Sweet Girl is a solid, though unspectacular, action/thriller for its first three quarters. It has some riveting action sequences, excellent lead performances by Jason Momoa and Isabela Merced, and it carries an important message that speaks against pharmaceutical greed.

However, the film completely rips itself apart in its last act with a wholly unwarranted and undeveloped plot twist that is as asinine as it is sloppily abrupt. Then the film brazenly keeps on going for another twenty minutes despite already losing its audience with its lazily jagged storytelling. Sweet Girl had potential that was needlessly and pointlessly wasted with a screenplay that doesn’t know when to keep things simple.

Grade: C-

Things Heard & Seen

Though not without its attributes, this paranormal thriller is an uneven viewing experience to the point of being jagged. The melding of human drama with a ghostly storyline never works as seamlessly as it should, as the two separate elements are at odds with each other throughout the film. Nothing comes together in the dramatically flat climax, and the audience is left hanging without any form of a satisfying resolution.

Still, Things Heard & Seen has its moments, courtesy of some interesting editing choices, an appropriately tense atmosphere, and Amanda Seyfried’s dedicated lead performance.

GRADE: C

Those Who Wish Me Dead

Cowriter (based on the novel by Michael Koryta)/director Taylor Sheridan (Wind River, Yellowstone) continues his never-ending hot streak with this engrossing thriller.

Angelina Jolie stars as a classic Hitchcockian protagonist trying to overcome a tragedy from her past by becoming a hero in the present. She provides a wild hotshot quality to her character that is balanced by sincere moments of vulnerability, integrity, and strength. Though the film is a tad too formulaic to be great, it features some fantastic action, edge-of-your-seat suspense, and relatable, well-defined characters.

GRADE: B+

Thunder Force

Melissa McCarthy reunites with her husband, writer/director Ben Falcone, for this highly amusing comedic take on the superhero genre. Also starring Octavia Spencer, the film is easy to like, as it features two of the most endearing onscreen talents working in mainstream movies today. With screen presences that could make phone book readings as stimulating as Shakespeare, both McCarthy and Spencer have a great deal of fun with their roles, and that fun is undeniably contagious.

GRADE: B+

tick, tick…Boom!

If you’re a fan of musical theater, then this innovative and flamboyant biopic about Rent composer Jonathan Larson should be right up your alley. If you’re not, then sitting through a musical production about a musical maker might be akin to a visit to the dentist’s office.

Regardless of how you feel about its genre and style, tick, tick… Boom! is a well-made and informative film about the struggles of being a young artist in a large city. The personal tastes of this writer may have prevented him from enjoying this film too much, but it didn’t stop him from admiring its ambition, creativity, and enormous heart.

GRADE: B

Till Death

Megan Fox delivers one of her best performances to date as a woman who is purposefully left in a secluded area while handcuffed to her dead husband’s body. Its premise may owe a significant debt to Gerald’s Game, but Till Death is a nerve-wracking and nail-biting experience that succeeds due to its own merits. From beginning to end, the well-made film is consistently and surprisingly effective.

GRADE: B

Together Together

Together Together centers on the unlikely friendship between a single man in his mid-forties (Ed Helms) and the twenty-six-year-old surrogate (Patti Harrison) who is carrying his child. The film refuses to follow any conventional or predictable routes. It allows its characters’ behavior to organically push the film forward instead of relying on contrived plot points. Together Together is a simple, thoughtful, and realistic character study that makes an exceptional and tear-inducing impact.

Helms and Harrison both give grounded, funny, and surprisingly vulnerable performances. Writer/director Nikole Beckwith delivers a sincerely moving and sweet film that impressively follows its own formula.

GRADE: A

The Tomorrow War

Chris Pratt lends his exceedingly likable screen presence to this intelligent and captivating sci-fi/action effort. The film achieves an impressive balance of thrills and heart. The storyline—centering on time-traveling soldiers who are sent to the future to battle deadly aliens—is well executed and (thankfully) easy to follow. Though the film gets a tad too sentimental with a family-themed subplot, it’s still a remarkably entertaining and involving effort.

GRADE: B+

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Joel Coen’s first directorial effort without his brother, Ethan, as a collaborator is an exquisitely crafted and fiercely loyal adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic play. From Carter Burwell’s haunting score to Bruno Delbonnel’s rich black-and-white cinematography, every aspect of the film is executed with extraordinary care and expertise. The cast—headlined by Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand—is pitch-perfect, delivering the classic text with a subtle mixture of naturalistic ease and theatrical grandiosity.

The film’s primary fault, however, is that it is much too perfect, far too clean, and too obviously staged. It lacks the fire, passion, and sloppiness of spontaneous human emotion that it needs to reach its full dramatic potential. The Tragedy of Macbeth is an extraordinarily crafted piece of work that doesn’t fully take flight because it’s more concerned with achieving perfection than it is with moving its audience emotionally.

GRADE: B

Trigger Point

Some well-executed action scenes, a believably badass lead performance by Barry Pepper, and some solid filmmaking can only partially make up for what Trigger Point lacks in its screenplay. The film’s thin character development, gaping plot holes, and unsatisfying ending simply can’t be overlooked. It’s another example of a film that is clearly trying to set up its own franchise, but does so at the expense of its own quality and coherency.

GRADE: C

The Trip

This unrelenting, endlessly shocking Norwegian dark comedy/thriller is one of the tensest and funniest surprises of its year. Noomi Rapace and Aksel Hennie both deliver standout lead performances, portraying a married couple whose plans to murder one another are thwarted by a series of unexpectedly absurd hurdles. The Trip is an ultra-violent, excessively gory, and wholly unpredictable roller coaster of a movie that never stops to catch its breath until it reaches its highly satisfying conclusion.

GRADE: A

Vacation Friends

A newly engaged couple (Lil Rey Howery and Yvonne Orji) befriends an outgoing and charmingly insane couple (John Cena and Meredith Hagner) while vacationing in Mexico. All the lead actors achieve big laughs by playing highly absurd moments with complete and dedicated realism. Vacation Friends is an edgy, raunchy, and boisterous comedy that contains several nice surprises despite reaching a somewhat predictable destination.

GRADE: B+

Val

This compilation of private videos taken by Val Kilmer throughout his life is a surprisingly moving and heartfelt depiction of the eccentric actor. Whether or not you’re a fan, the film has something to offer everyone. Val is a candid and intimate glimpse into the life of an actor, celebrity, and cancer survivor.

Kilmer is an endlessly fascinating subject, and this portrait of his life is more than a mere depiction of an artist. It’s a beautiful and insightful work of art in and of itself.

GRADE: A

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

This sequel to 2018’s Venom is a perfectly entertaining effort that expands upon the general entertainment value and overall humor of its predecessor. Venom: Let There Be Carnage never takes itself too seriously and offers a refreshingly light-hearted take on the superhero genre. The film may be short on story and character development, but it stands tall with action, comedy, and spectacle.

Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson, Michelle Williams, and Naomie Harris all deliver appropriately lively performances that capture the film’s charming and playful spirit.

GRADE: B

The Unforgivable

Sandra Bullock stars in this dramatic mystery/thriller as a woman trying to reintegrate into society after being released from prison for murdering a police officer. The dramatic potential of this scenario is, unfortunately, squandered with a predictable and contrived screenplay. Bullock’s intensely focused performance is the film’s highlight, but it fails to fully rescue The Unforgivable from its generic and uninspired core.

GRADE: C

Voyagers

This underrated science fiction/thriller is a thought-provoking piece of entertainment. The film’s aspirations to reach a broad audience sometimes force it to rush and over-simplify its more complex concepts, however. Despite its faults, Voyagers still manages to be an intelligent, suspenseful, and ambitious film that delivers some big ideas while keeping its audience engaged. Colin Farrell, Tye Sheridan, Lily-Rose Depp, and Fionn Whitehead all deliver solid performances.

GRADE: B

West Side Story

This Steven Spielberg production is a socially aware, racially sensitive, and astutely topical update of the classic musical. West Side Story is something we’ve all seen, in one way or another, many times before, but this latest adaptation is fresh and lively enough to make it feel like it’s brand new.

Vivaciously and skillfully choreographed by Justin Peck, richly photographed by Janusz Kaminski, and thoughtfully directed by Spielberg, the film stands entirely on its own without warranting comparisons to previous versions. Even if musicals aren’t your thing (as is the case with this writer), this most recent production of West Side Story is still a beautiful and powerful piece of filmmaking.

GRADE: A-

Why Did You Kill Me?

This intriguing documentary centers on a family who, back in 2006, used Myspace to solve the gang murder of their relative, Crystal Theobald. The film relays its information rather haphazardly at first, and it’s difficult to understand who everyone is or how they relate to one another. It truly becomes engrossing and begins to work, however, when the focus is on Crystal’s family and their mission to find her justice.

Despite some roughness, Why Did You Kill Me? is an emotional and stimulating examination of loss and justice in the age of social media.

GRADE: B+

Willy’s Wonderland

Who else but Nicolas Cage would star in a film as a mute protagonist who has to fend off evil animatronic puppets that dwell in an abandoned, Chuck E Cheese’s-like family-themed restaurant? You have to, at the very least, appreciate Willy’s Wonderland for having the audacity to exist in the first place. The film, a darkly comedic and blood-soaked festival of insanity, surprisingly isn’t half-bad. Even without saying a word, Cage knows how to command attention every second he’s on screen.

GRADE: B+

Without Remorse

It’s hard to say why audiences and critics have been so negative in their responses to this Tom Clancy adaptation (which happens to be co-scripted by Those Who Wish Me Dead co-writer/director Taylor Sheridan). It may not be anything particularly groundbreaking, but it gets the job done with some enthralling action and suspense. Michael B. Jordan’s exceptionally watchable screen presence helps elevate what could have been a predictable and formulaic revenge thriller significantly.

GRADE: B

The Woman in the Window

Based on A.J. Finn’s novel (with a screenplay adaptation by Killer Joe’s Tracy Letts), this often-operatic Hitchcockian mystery/thriller is an overall captivating but sometimes clunky viewing experience.

The fantastic cast members (Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Brian Tyree Henry, Wyatt Russell, and Fred Hechinger) all predictably have their moments to shine. However, many of them are also hampered by what feels like a lack of direction, as certain moments aren’t as finessed, believable, or motivationally clear as they should be. Despite its faults, The Woman in the Window still boasts a successfully tense tone, some clever photography, and an overall unrelenting pace–all of which primarily save the film from the mess it often threatens to become.

GRADE: B-

Wrath of Man

Guy Ritchie’s latest effort works on a surface level if you don’t think too hard about it. It’s a solidly and stylishly made revenge thriller that features a cool-as-ice lead performance from Jason Statham. Unfortunately, it has an overly complex narrative that distracts the viewer from being fully engaged, and the film doesn’t truly come together as a satisfying whole in the end. Wrath of Man is not without its merits, but it could have been much more effective with a simpler, more direct execution.

GRADE: C+

Zack Snyder’s Justice League

After years of rumors and online campaigns, we are finally given the chance to see what Zack Snyder originally intended to do with his third entry in the DCEU with Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

The wait was worth it. This isn’t just a new edit of the 2017 theatrical cut, it’s an entirely different viewing experience altogether. Snyder has created a massive, messy, beautiful four-hour epic for his times and it is one of the boldest and most unique entries into the superhero genre ever created. A bit too bloated for its own good, Zack Snyder’s Justice League isn’t faultless, but it is a truly unforgettable effort that is a minor miracle for even existing in the first place.

GRADE: A-

Zone 414

Guy Pearce stars in this futuristic sci-fi/thriller (at least that’s what it claims to be) as a private detective who is trying to track down a missing person with the aid of an android who has human emotions (Matilda Lutz). The story is muddy and hard to follow, the execution is flat and uninspired, and the pacing is so sluggish that it’s hard to think of the movie as anything but boring.

Pearce and Lutz both give fine performances, and the film does, at the very least, look good due to its interesting cinematography by James Mather and colorful production design by Philip Murphy. Despite its few positives, however, Zone 414 is, overall, a hopelessly forgettable experience.

GRADE: C-

12 Hour Shift

Writer/director Brea Grant’s dark comedy/satire on the healthcare industry is a manic joyride full of shocking twists and turns. Angela Bettis stars as a nurse who makes extra money by illegally selling organs, and her schemes eventually catch up with her during the course of one extremely unlucky evening. Unpredictable and chaotic, the film offers a hilarious and terrifying look at what just might be going on behind the scenes of your local hospital.

GRADE: A

#Alive

This South Korean horror/thriller follows a lone survivor of a zombie apocalypse (an excellent Yoo Ah-in) as he fends for himself while barricaded inside his apartment. #Alive is an intense and suspenseful film with some effectively thrilling and horrific moments. It is balanced by likable, relatable, and well-defined characters who provide a grounded humanity to the monstrous storyline. This is a film that knows what it wants to accomplish and does so with precision, skill, and enormous heart.

GRADE: A

Another Round

This Oscar-winning Danish entry isn’t quite the masterpiece word-of-mouth suggests it is. The film’s flawless cast (lead by the great, one and only Mads Mikkelsen) is the best thing about it.

Another Round centers on a group of middle-aged men who decide that life would be more gratifying if they were drunk all the time. Though it is plenty charming and vivacious, the film is ultimately as aimless as a drunken day spent at the beach. Spending two hours witnessing grown men drunkenly make fools of themselves while waxing poetic about their youths, philosophies, and disappointments only grows increasingly tedious. It might be an eye-opener for anyone who hasn’t spent time in an actual bar but, for everyone else, it’s a bit obvious and pointless.

GRADE: B-

Arkansas

Director/co-writer (adapted from John Brandon’s novel)/costar Clark Duke (who previously appeared in Kick-Ass and The Office) makes a solid feature debut behind the camera with this darkly funny modern noir. Though the film plays like an homage to John Dahl and the early work of the Coen Brothers, it also manages to find its own voice. The stellar ensemble cast also features Liam Hemsworth, Vivica A. Fox, Vince Vaughn, and John Malkovich in some of the freest and most playful performances of their careers.

GRADE: B+

Ava

Jessica Chastain stars as an assassin who has to fight for her life after her bosses decide to terminate her for breaking protocol on her assignments. We’ve seen variations of this story told many times before, but Ava works in spite of that because of the care it takes in developing its characters and their relationships. Chastain (along with co-stars John Malkovich, Geena Davis, and Colin Farrell) breathes life into the familiar material with a performance that focuses on true-to-life reactions rather than clichéd action movie posturing. Director Tate Taylor does a terrific job of balancing carefully staged action sequences with moments of identifiable humanity.

GRADE: A-

The Babysitter: Killer Queen

This sequel to 2017’s The Babysitter captures the stylish mayhem of its predecessor, but it also suffers from a storyline that gets a little too complex and ambitious for its own good. Killer Queen rehashes the first film’s best moments in true sequel fashion and enhances them just enough for the film to be entertainingly worthwhile. The surprises and the simplicity are gone, but the heart and chaotic spirit are still charmingly there.

GRADE: B

Babyteeth

A terminally ill teenager (Eliza Scanlen) falls in love with a troubled addict in his early twenties (Toby Wallace). The pacing sometimes drags (the film runs at least fifteen minutes too long), but the overall power of the story manages to persevere in an effectively heartbreaking manner. Scanlen and Wallace both deliver devastating and naturalistic performances, and the docu-realistic style of the film makes their struggles all the more tangible. Ben Mendelsohn and Essie Davis are both excellent as Scanlen’s suffering and loving parents.

GRADE: B+

Bad Boys for Life

The return of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in their iconic buddy cop roles is a mostly fun, funny romp with some expertly staged action sequences (courtesy of directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah). The film takes itself a tad too seriously in its final act, however, with a rather somber plot twist that feels out of tune with the rest of the film and its predecessors. The movie is still plenty entertaining, however, and shouldn’t disappoint fans of the franchise.

GRADE: B

Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

The DCEU has been struggling to find its footing. Birds of Prey, though colorful and mildly entertaining, is proof of that. Margot Robbie is at home as Harley Quinn, and Ewan McGregor has infectious fun with his role as the villainous Black Mask, but they can’t save a messy script from its overall aimless narrative.

GRADE: C+

Black Bear

An emotionally distant filmmaker with writer’s block (Aubrey Plaza) stays at a woodland B&B that is owned by a bickering couple (Sarah Gadon and Christopher Abbott). What happens from there is open to interpretation, and it shouldn’t be spoiled here. Black Bear is a challenging movie that prides itself in keeping its viewers guessing about the specifics of its story and its overall meaning. What is real or imagined is intentionally vague, but writer/director Lawrence Michael Levine provides just enough relatable humanity to keep the film grounded in emotional reality.

Plaza’s performance starts off as an exhibition of her endearing dryness but eventually evolves into something painfully raw, intense, and unlike anything we’ve previously seen her do.

GRADE: A-

Bloodshot

Vin Diesel does a lot of punching while falling through mid-air in this super-digital action spectacle that seems to be intent on paying homage to Zack Snyder while forgetting to tell a memorable story with enticing characters. All the busyness and carnage can’t make up for a weak script or uninspired direction. Diesel far too heavily relies on his familiar screen presence and provides little more than macho posturing to a character that needed a tad more thought and humanity to be relatable.

GRADE: C-

Castle in the Ground

This depiction of the opioid epidemic is strikingly well-acted (Imogen Poots and Keir Gilchrist both excel in lead roles) and functionally well-crafted. Unlike many addiction-themed movies, this one focuses on the road leading to addiction rather than the extreme highs and lows experienced in the midst of it. While this angle is fascinating, the film doesn’t quite know what to do with itself in order to reach its full dramatic impact. It could have been an amazing short film, but it drags out with too many inconsequential moments to fully succeed as a feature.

GRADE: B-

The Christmas Chronicles 2

Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn appear to be having a ball as Mr. and Mrs. Claus in this joyful and colorful sequel to Netflix’s Christmastime hit. Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire) takes over the directing reigns this time around, providing the film with laughs, mischief, and saccharine sweetness. This is a seriously adorable movie if you’re in the mood for some unabashed holiday cheer.

GRADE: B+

Color Out of Space

Nicolas Cage stars in this John Carpenter-esque horror film (based on an H.P. Lovecraft short story) as the father of a family whose lives are severely disrupted by a fallen meteorite in their backyard. Richard Stanley’s (Hardware, Dust Devil) long-awaited return to the director’s chair is an atmospherically moody success. Though its tone is a tad rocky (it verges on being silly at some questionable moments), the film is still worth checking out for fans of Stanley, Cage, or the horror genre in general.

GRADE: B+

Come to Daddy

Elijah Wood has been making interesting choices since his days as a hobbit. This darkly comedic indie about a troubled young man’s reunion with his long-estranged father continues to showcase that. Wood is vulnerable and wholly committed, putting the audience right in his shoes as his character falls deeper into his own personal hell. Come to Daddy is bold, surprising, and quite oddly poignant.

GRADE: A-

The Croods: A New Age

This sequel to the 2013 animated hit about a family of cavemen fighting to survive is an endearing and entertaining effort. The animation is top-notch, and the designs are colorful and eye-catching. The script hits all the right notes to provide plenty of laughs and heartwarming moments while still delivering its messages about the importance of family, staying true to oneself, and the consequences of interfering with Mother Nature.

The highly talented vocal cast features Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke, Kelly Marie Tran, Peter Dinklage, and Leslie Mann. They all supply the appropriate amount of heart and innovation to make their characters feel alive.

GRADE: B+

Da 5 Bloods

This Spike Lee film centers on a group of Black veterans (Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, and Isiah Whitlock Jr.) who return to Vietnam to track down a stash of gold and the remains of their fallen friend (the late Chadwick Boseman).

As is often the case with Lee’s more recent films, Da 5 Bloods goes off on too many exhausting and over-bearing tangents to rank as one of the director’s masterworks. Still, it contains some great performances (Lindo steals the show), impressive filmmaking, and some important messages to ponder. A masterpiece could have emerged with some more disciplined editing decisions (particularly in the first half) but, as it stands, it’s a solid but flawed effort.

GRADE: B

The Death of Dick Long

This odd, Coen-esque dark comedy is quirkily and shockingly effective though somewhat thin in its story and character development. The characters of the film go to some fairly unmentionable extremes in their behavior—which the movie admirably doesn’t shy away from—but we’re given little information as to why. The film only scratches the surface of its unsettling subject matter, which needs more in-depth detailing to truly make an impact.

GRADE: B-

Extraction

Chris Hemsworth leaves his likable screen presence at home with his stoic portrayal of a mercenary who has to rescue the kidnapped son of a crime lord. There is one amazingly awesome action set piece that makes the film stand out, but it’s an otherwise uninteresting story that is derivative of too many far better films. Hemsworth and the ambition behind that one sequence deserve to be in a more noteworthy film.

GRADE: C

Fatman

This deliciously nasty Christmas story is a welcome diversion from standard holiday offerings. Mel Gibson stars as a world-weary, cynical Santa Claus who has to fend off a disturbed hitman (the great Walton Goggins) who was hired by a spoiled, sociopathic child (Chance Hurstfield) to take Santa out. Violent, darkly hilarious, and mischievously inventive, the film is an unpredictable and brutal ride that still manages to deliver a message of holiday cheer—no matter how deranged its delivery method may be.

GRADE: A

Force of Nature

In spite of a strong cast (Emille Hirsch, Kate Bosworth, Mel Gibson) and a well-written script (by Corey Miller), this film cannot fully rise above its own, exceedingly average production value. The editing is choppy, the camera work is uninspired, and the direction is so generic that it feels like literally anyone could have been at the helm. Though far and few between, the film has some impressive moments that show us what could have been if someone with a more distinct vision had seen it through.

GRADE: C-

Freaky

A teenage girl (Kathryn Newton) swaps bodies with a deranged serial killer (Vince Vaughn) in this gleefully demented new offering from Blumhouse Productions. Freaky is a roller coaster ride filled with big laughs, great scares, and over-the-top gore that should appease just about any horror fanatic.

Vaughn and Newton exhibit a good deal of range in their interchanging roles, with both of them nailing comedic moments while portraying a teenager. They also both exhibit a believably threatening presence while playing a madman. Cowriter/director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day) continues to be one of the most reliable and innovative presences behind the camera when it comes to the horror/comedy genre.

GRADE: A-

The Gentlemen

One of Guy Ritchie’s less-obnoxious entries (this writer is not usually a fan), The Gentlemen is a well-written and well-made crime flick. A great cast (Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant, Charlie Hunan, Colin Farrell) elevates the already clever (though occasionally self-congratulating) material significantly. Farrell is the film’s scene-stealing highlight.

GRADE: B

Gretel and Hansel

This updated take on the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale is a fairly solid, though significantly underwhelming, effort. The film is successful in creating a dreadful, creepy tone that keeps the audience on edge for most of its duration. It just would have been nice if it featured characters who aren’t as chilly as the film’s atmosphere. It’s hard to sympathize with or root against anyone in the film, as most of its humanity gets lost in its inhuman environment.

GRADE: C+

Greyhound

Tom Hanks stars in and wrote (based on a C.S. Forester novel) the screenplay for this exceedingly well-crafted WWII thriller. Portraying a U.S. navy commander who has to continuously fight off German submarines, Hanks’ unblinking commitment to his role makes the film’s unrelenting tension all the more tangible for the audience. With a runtime of only 91 minutes, director Aaron Schneider keeps the story compact, making a large impact with little screen time.

GRADE: A

Guns Akimbo

Daniel Radcliffe stars in this hyperkinetic action fantasy as a computer programmer who gets sucked into a bizarre and violent live game after pistols are bolted to both his hands. Colorful, loud, and unrelenting, the film is a clever (though slightly exhausting) homage to and critique of the online gaming world. Costar Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) further exhibits her endless range as a savage and relentless antagonist.

GRADE: B

Happiest Season

A young woman (Mackenzie Davis) invites her girlfriend (Kristen Stewart) home for the holidays but neglects to mention that she has yet to come out to her family. Though its story is predictable, this inclusive Christmas tale has its heart in the right place and manages to be an entertaining, funny, and heartwarming effort. Davis and Stewart share great onscreen chemistry, and a strong supporting cast (Mary Steenburgen, Victor Garber, Aubrey Plaza, Alison Brie, Mary Holland) elevates the formulaic material significantly.

GRADE: B+

Hard Kill

Bruce Willis’ face may be on the promotional materials for this hopelessly generic actioner, but that doesn’t mean he’s featured in a memorable or overly prominent role. With the small amount of screen time he has, Willis is given little to do but appear uninterested and tired. It’s hard to blame him, though, since it’s nearly impossible for the audience not to feel exactly the same way.

GRADE: F

Hillbilly Elegy

Director Ron Howard and screenwriter Vanessa Taylor’s adaptation of J.D. Vance’s celebrated memoir has been treated rather unkindly by critics and audiences. Having not read the book, this writer can only guess that its many fans had a different interpretation of the story. Taking the movie strictly for what it is, however, it is an emotionally moving, exceedingly well-made, and beautifully acted (Amy Adams, Glenn Close, Owen Asztalos, and Gabriel Basso all deserve Oscar nods) study of a loving but highly dysfunctional southern Ohio family.

Though it’s been otherwise accused, the film is a sensitive depiction of Appalachian life that doesn’t rely on easy or insulting caricatures. It doesn’t sugarcoat the story’s harsher aspects (which is perhaps what some critics and audiences found so insulting), but it still manages to convey its characters’ reality with enormous fondness and heart.

GRADE: A

Honest Thief

Liam Neeson stars as a bank robber who decides to turn himself into the F.B.I. after meeting the effervescent love of his life (Kate Walsh). Whatever interesting dramatic conflict that could have been explored with the premise is thrown out the window in favor of contrived characters and a string of average and tiresome action sequences. The film’s strictly by-the-numbers execution lacks imagination and pizazz, but the strong cast (particularly Neeson, Walsh, and Jeffrey Donovan) saves the film from being a complete waste of time.

GRADE: C

Horse Girl

A young woman who works in a fabric store and obsesses over her childhood horse begins to slowly lose her grasp on reality in this uncompromising examination of mental illness. Cowriter/star Alison Brie delivers a knockout performance (one of the best of the year) that is as sympathetic as it is unnerving. This is a strong, impactful film from beginning to end that never cheapens itself with easy or contrived answers.

GRADE: A

The Hunt

This darkly comedic horror/thriller is about a group of upper-class hunters whose prey happens to be lower-class humans. The film successfully works on numerous levels. It’s highly suspenseful and provides plenty of shocks and thrills, but it’s also an astute and scathing satire of the American social class system. Though the film slightly runs out of steam before it reaches its climax, it’s still well worth checking out. Bette Gilpin (Glow) gives a strikingly strong performance as the film’s hunted protagonist.

GRADE: B+

I’m Your Woman

This dramatic thriller revolves around a young woman (Rachel Brosnahan) who goes into hiding with her new baby after her criminal husband gets into trouble.

Co-writer/director Julia Hart shows immense promise, efficiently staging scenes of highly captivating tension. Brosnahan and her costars all give excellent, thoughtful performances. The overall result is somewhat cold, however, due to an underdeveloped screenplay that doesn’t provide enough backstory or motivation to its characters. The film is exceptionally well made but lacks the appropriate amount of heart and soul needed to be fully captivating.

GRADE: B-

The Invisible Man

Writer/director Leigh Whannell continues his hot streak (following up his excellent 2018 effort, Upgrade) with this updated take on the classic horror story. Elizabeth Moss is a vulnerable, sympathetic lead as the haunted girlfriend of a mad, narcissistic scientist. The film is the perfect metaphor for an abusive relationship. Though logic sometimes feels a tad abandoned, the film is still highly suspenseful, intelligent, and thought-provoking.

GRADE: A-

Jiu Jitsu

This sci-fi/martial arts pic is essentially a conflation of Kickboxer and Predator. It’s utterly ridiculous in every possible way, but it still succeeds (in a charmingly cheesy way) due to some wild action sequences, inventive camerawork, and–it goes without saying–the presence of Nicolas Cage in a supporting role. All its elements work together to achieve unabashed b-movie glory.

GRADE: B

Kajillionaire

Quirky is something that many movies aspire to be, and some are more successful than others. Sometimes, you can just tell when a filmmaker has seen one too many Wes Anderson titles and seems hell-bent on making quirky its own independent genre. Sometimes, a filmmaker can choke on his or her own cleverness and create something that is so obnoxiously self-congratulating that it’s barely watchable.

Kajillionaire, which is centered on a family of small-time grifters, is sadly such a movie. It tries very hard to be above conventional storytelling but forgets to provide us with characters or a plot that are enticing or accessible. In spite of a highly talented cast (Evan Rachel Wood, Richard Jenkins, Debra Winger) and the film’s surprisingly moving final few minutes, the film falls hopelessly and quirkily flat.

GRADE: D+

Last Moment of Clarity

This mystery/thriller has a strong premise: a man living in Paris (Zach Avery) sees a movie featuring an actress that looks just like his departed lover (Samara Weaving) and he soon becomes obsessed with tracking her down. The first half is wholly engrossing, but the second half suffers from too much padding and subplots that are more contrived and generic than the strong central story deserves. Though the film overall works, it increasingly feels as though it was a bit too thinly stretched to reach a feature-length running time. But, man, that first half is entrancing.

GRADE: B

Line of Duty

Aaron Eckhart stars in this media-satirizing actioner as a cop trying to beat the clock to save a kidnap victim. The movie is well made, smart enough, and tightly paced. Eckhart’s commanding presence raises the formulaic (though well-written by Jeremy Drysdale) material up a few notches.

GRADE: B

The Lovebirds

Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani share great onscreen chemistry as a couple whose rocky love life is interrupted after they witness a brutal murder. Though formulaic and predictable, the talented cast always manages to keep things lively and fresh. Director Michael Showalter keeps the momentum up and the pacing quick, making The Lovebirds a tight and entertaining comedic experience.

GRADE: B+

The Midnight Sky

Producer/actor/director George Clooney’s latest is a slow-paced but hypnotic science fiction/post-apocalyptic drama that goes to some unexpected places. On first viewing, the film’s execution might seem to be a bit haphazard. It sometimes tests its viewer’s patience with its multiple storylines and complex structure. If you stick with it, however, The Midnight Sky’s final moments provide an enormous emotional and intellectual payoff that makes whatever frustrations it took getting there well worth it.

Clooney delivers a grounded and subtle performance as a scientist trying to warn astronauts against returning home to Earth because of the planet’s now-inhospitable climate. Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Kyle Chandler, and Caoilinn Springall all stand out amongst the impressively solid ensemble cast.

GRADE: A-

The New Mutants

This long-delayed and much-reshot spinoff of the X-Men series isn’t nearly as bad as it should be. In spite of some rough edges, it still manages to be entertaining throughout. Interesting characters, innovative effects, and well-staged action sequences save a somewhat muddied narrative. Anya Taylor-Joy stands out amongst the film’s solid ensemble, exhibiting a fierce and steely screen presence that steals focus every time she’s on camera.

GRADE: B-

The Old Guard

A group of immortal mercenaries who have protected the world for centuries fight to keep their powers from getting into the wrong hands. Charlize Theron heads an impressive cast as the group’s leader, and there’s no denying she has the presence or strength to be believable in the role. The film grows tired, however, with one exhausting and uninspired action set piece after another. Though it tries, the film doesn’t offer enough development to its many supporting characters to make them relatable or discernable.

GRADE: C

The Other Lamb

A teenage girl (Raffey Cassidy) begins to question the teachings of her toxic cult leader (Michael Huisman) and soon finds herself at odds with everything she was raised to believe. Though the film has a timely message of female empowerment, it’s marred by an overwhelming nonlinear editing style that oftentimes feels at odds with the film’s story and characters. Beautifully photographed and well accomplished on a technical level, the film’s stylistic flourishes ultimately distract the audience from the film’s full dramatic potential.

GRADE: C+

The Outpost

Director Rod Lurie (The Contender, Nothing But the Truth) continues his reign as one of the most reliable and underappreciated talents working behind the camera today. Set during the Afghanistan war, the film centers on a group of U.S soldiers during a surprise attack on their vulnerable outpost. The battle scenes are impressively realistic and harrowing, but it’s the ensemble cast’s commitment to their roles and the care Lurie takes in developing their characters that makes the film truly stand out. Caleb Landry Jones, in particular, showcases an effective and intense vulnerability.

GRADE: A

Possessor

Writer/director Brandon Cronenberg’s hallucinatory science fiction/horror movie about an assassin (the wonderful Andrea Riseborough) who inhabits other bodies to carry out her duties has an undeniably fascinating premise. It deserves credit for not taking the standard action/thriller route, but its intentionally vague execution grows increasingly tiresome as numerous plot threads go unexplained and/or unresolved. Unwarranted and graphic brutality ultimately distracts the audience with its excessive presence. Brilliantly executed on a technical level, the film is initially fascinating but ultimately, and quite frustratingly, unsatisfying.

GRADE: C+

Project Power

A great concept (an illegal pill gives its users superpowers for five minutes) is completely wasted with a stale screenplay and an overall derivative execution. In spite of its potential, there’s nothing new offered here except that it might be the most boring superhero movie in recent memory. The talents of stars Jamie Foxx and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are wasted with this mediocre and easily forgettable production.

GRADE: C-

Relic

An elderly woman (Robyn Nevin) needs care after returning from a mysterious disappearance, bringing her daughter and granddaughter (Emily Mortimer and Bella Heathcote) together to help her. Relic explores the psychological horror of watching a parent grow old. Cowriter/director Natalie Erika James keeps things grounded in emotional reality while still telling a story that is appropriately creepy and moody. Though its pacing sometimes drags and the ending lacks a dramatic punch, the film still manages to hauntingly linger long after it’s over.

GRADE: B

The Rhythm Section

Blake Lively’s focused and wounded portrayal of an everyday woman who seeks revenge against those who killed her family is about the only thing that stands out in this hopelessly average thriller. We’ve seen variations of this story told numerous times before, and the film’s screenplay offers little by way of inspiration. Director Reed Morano does a functionally good job of staging the action but seems to be at a loss as to how to emotionally involve her audience in a story that is fundamentally stale and tired.

GRADE: C-

She Dies Tomorrow

A woman (Kate Lyn Sheil) comes to believe that her life is going to end on the following day, and its effects spread to everyone around her when they begin to believe that their life will also end the next day. Though ambitious and adeptly trippy, the film fails at being inclusively coherent and succeeds only at becoming increasingly dull and tedious. While the moody atmosphere is at first intoxicating, it grows tiresome as She Dies Tomorrow progresses and it becomes increasingly evident that the movie is headed nowhere very, very slowly.

GRADE: C-

Smiley Face Killers

A graduate student (Ronin Rubenstein) who suffers from mental instability begins to receive anonymous and threatening messages that make him further question his sanity.

The team-up of director Tim Hunter (River’s Edge) and screenwriter Bret Easton Ellis (the novelist who penned American Psycho) should have been a match made in heaven. Unfortunately, the film falls hopelessly flat the more it unravels. Though Hunter supplies the first half of the film with effective tension, it never comes close to paying off. A severely lackluster climax will make audiences question why they bothered watching Smiley Face Killers in the first place.

GRADE: C-

Soul

A struggling jazz pianist has an out-of-body experience and then struggles to find his way back to reality so he can play a once-in-a-lifetime gig. Pixar’s latest animated effort is a life-affirming and joyous film that is filled with creativity and humor. Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey lead the vocal cast, providing humanity and heart to their well-defined and easily relatable characters.

Soul is a colorful and entertaining film that reminds us all to value what’s important in life without being overly simplistic or grossly sentimental about it. The musical score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross stands out as yet another impressive accomplishment by the endlessly talented and eclectic duo.

GRADE: A

Spenser Confidential

Director Peter Berg’s film is a fast, funny action/comedy that hits all the right notes without offering anything new to its genre. Mark Wahlberg and Winston Duke star as bickering roommates trying to solve a crime, and their playful chemistry keeps the film engaging and light in tone. Though it’s nothing astounding, the film gets the job done and is an entertaining effort.

GRADE: B

The Tax Collector

David Ayer returns to his roots with this brutal story about an L.A. gang tax collector (Bobby Soto) whose world is shaken when a local crime lord overthrows his boss. While the film’s story is a bit thin, it still manages to be a solid (though vicious) character drama. Excessively violent to the point of being unwatchable at times, Ayer seems to be exorcising himself of his more recent audience-friendly outings such as Suicide Squad and Bright. A virtually unrecognizable Shia LaBeouf offers excellent support as Soto’s loyal right-hand man.

GRADE: B

Tenet

Christopher Nolan’s latest is nothing short of a befuddling head-scratcher—at least on first viewing (which is all this writer has experienced to date).  There are, however, some magnificent and wholly unique action sequences that sometimes make the film as exciting as anything Nolan’s done to date. It just would have been nice to know what the f*&$# was going on.

GRADE: B-

The Trial of the Chicago 7

A great ensemble cast (Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen, John Carroll Lynch, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Frank Langella, Michael Keaton, Mark Rylance, Joseph Gordon-Levitt) headlines this riveting historical courtroom drama. The dialogue is snappy, the pacing is tight, and the filmmaking is flawless. Told with heart, humor, and style, the film manages to make an important history lesson as entertaining as any escapist yarn (which is no small feat).

Writer/director Aaron Sorkin further proves himself as one of the only modern dramatists who can make fact every bit as enthralling as fiction.

GRADE: A

The True Adventures of Wolfboy

A thirteen-year-old boy (Jaeden Martell) with excessive hair growth all over his face and body takes a road trip to meet his long-lost mother in this thoughtful tale about the pain of being an outsider. The performances and filmmaking are solid, but nothing is ever explored deeply enough to let the characters’ reality sink in. As a result, it’s difficult for the audience to fully empathize with them. The film is well-intentioned but not engrossing, a meaningful but underwhelming effort.

GRADE: B-

The Turning

Director Floria Sigismondi (The Runaways) makes a return to feature films with this modern retelling of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw. While she provides the film with a creepy tone and a muted color palette reminiscent of Tim Burton’s darker works, the film’s screenplay falls apart in its last act and fails to be completely coherent—and not in an intentionally ambiguous, David Lynch sort of way.

Sigismondi’s visual talents still manage to persevere, and the highly gifted cast (namely Mackenzie Davis, Brooklynn Prince, and Finn Wolfhard) salvages what could have been a complete mess with committed and believable performances.

GRADE: C

Underwater

This bottom-of-the-ocean monster flick is an exercise in tension, brevity (it only runs 95 minutes), and atmosphere. Though a b-movie by design, it uses a-level talents to elevate itself to something far more impressive. Kristen Stewart once again proves she can carry a movie without sparkling vampires; it’s just too bad nobody’s taking the time to notice.

GRADE: A-

Unhinged

Russell Crowe stars as a murderous, mentally unstable man who experiences a severe case of road rage after a driver (Caren Pistorius) honks her horn at him at an intersection. Brutal and unrelenting, the film plays like an intelligent slasher flick, something like a cross between The Hitcher and Falling Down. Though logic is oftentimes thrown out the window in favor of plot progression, the movie is believable enough to be modestly captivating for the duration of its 90-minute runtime.

GRADE: B

The Vast of Night

This ultra-low-budget science fiction drama is set in 1950s New Mexico and revolves around a mysterious radio transmission that could have been sent by aliens. Told in a series of masterfully roaming long takes, the film is a brilliant exercise in tension building. It keeps you on the edge of your seat for most of its 91-minute duration, but the story’s eventual destination isn’t nearly as fascinating as the journey getting there. A worthwhile though mildly disappointing effort, the film ultimately serves as a brilliant build-up to a disappointing pay-off.

GRADE: B

VFW

A great cast (Stephen Lang, William Sadler, Martin Kove, Fred Williamson, George Wendt, David Patrick Kelly) significantly elevates this low-budget action/horror flick about a group of veterans who defend their VFW post from a gang of zombified drug addicts. The suspense is plentiful, the action is well-executed, and the pacing is unrelenting. This is a solid, gruesomely entertaining genre effort.

GRADE: B+

Waiting for the Barbarians

A colonial magistrate (Mark Rylance) questions the brutal interrogation tactics of an army colonel (Johnny Deep) who has recently arrived at his frontier outpost. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this well-acted and beautifully photographed (by Christ Menges) film, it’s a bit too dramatically flat to fully involve its audience. Unfortunately, the film’s numerous attributes can’t fully save it from its sluggish pacing and lack of involving tension.

GRADE: B-

Wander

Aaron Eckhart stars as an ultra-paranoid conspiracy theorist/private investigator who is hired to investigate the death of a young immigrant woman. Director April Mullen excels at instilling an unsettling and chaotic sense of confusion in her audience that mirrors the protagonist’s fractured mindset. Wander asks quite a lot of its audience and does require patience, but it ultimately comes together and pays off in the end. Running at a brisk 94 minutes, the film could have slowed down its pacing to develop its characters and intentionally convoluted storyline a little bit more clearly.

Heather Graham, Tommy Lee Jones, and Raymond Cruz round out the excellent supporting cast. Eckhart delivers an intense and haunted portrayal of a delusional man whose reality may or may not be stranger than anything he could have imagined.

GRADE: A-

Wander Darkly

A young married couple (Sienna Miller and Diego Luna) is involved in a severe car accident, and the woman shortly thereafter experiences a surreal, stream-of-consciousness journey into the past, present, and future.

Wander Darkly requires its audience to surrender to its complex execution. Though it is sometimes a test of patience, it is an overall enveloping and meditative examination of life, love, and death. Miller and Luna are both excellent, and writer/director Tara Miele does an impressive job of balancing real and relatable characters with a sizable (though tasteful) amount of mind meddling.

GRADE: B+

The Way Back

Ben Affleck stars as an alcoholic former high school basketball star who is given a second chance at life when he is presented with the opportunity to coach his local high school team. Affleck’s committed and grounded performance elevates the formulaic but still effective material. It’s a movie-of-the-week premise, but one presented with expertise and sincerity.

GRADE: B+

We Can Be Heroes

Writer/director/cinematographer Robert Rodriguez’s latest family-friendly effort centers on the children of superheroes who have to save the world after their parents are kidnapped by alien forces.

The movie is overall snappy and fun, but it, unfortunately, doesn’t respect its audience’s intelligence enough to be something truly special. The humor is dumbed-down, the story is a bit of a jumble, and most of the kids give smiley-faced, unnatural performances that feel more like staged caricatures of television commercials than the behavior of actual children. Though Rodriguez offers enough innovation and pizazz to make the film entertainingly worthwhile, We Can Be Heroes still can’t help but choke on its own forced cuteness.

GRADE: C+

The Witches

Cowriter/director Robert Zemeckis’ updated take on the Roald Dahl classic is a joy from start to finish. Sure, it’s a remake (Dahl’s book was previously adapted by director Nicolas Roeg in 1990) that nobody was asking for, but it still manages to make the material its own by updating it with well-defined characters and impressive modern-day visual effects.

Anne Hathaway has infectious fun with her role as the Grand High Witch, but it’s Octavia Spencer’s lovable humanity and grounded screen presence that truly gives the film its heart. This is a fun, creepy film told with a playful tone that is balanced by sincere moments of warmth.

GRADE: A

The Wolf of Snow Hollow

This unique werewolf tale takes us to some unexpected places. Darkly funny and poignantly dramatic, the movie takes a number of tonal shifts that are sometimes a tad jagged but usually pay off. Writer/director Jim Cummings uses the small mountain town setting to the film’s advantage, creating a beautiful yet discomforting atmosphere that suits the film nicely. The late Robert Forster gives a great, bittersweet final performance as a man, quite fittingly, facing his own mortality.

GRADE: B+

Wonder Woman 1984

Gal Gadot reprises her role as everyone’s favorite Amazonian superhero in this sequel to 2017’s Wonder Woman. Set in the 1980s, the film serves as an astute though harmless satire of the decade’s “greed is good” mentality. The somewhat cluttered film falters with its rushed development of its villains, but the talented cast (namely Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, and Pedro Pascal) manages to rise above the script’s shortcomings by providing plenty of life and humor to their roles.

Director/co-writer Patty Jenkins spends more screen time exploring Wonder Woman’s character than she does her heroics. While this approach adds humanity to the spectacle, it weighs down the film’s first half and makes the second half’s action feel too brisk and uneven. There are still plenty of attributes going for Wonder Woman 1984, however, to make it a fun, funny, and heartfelt entry into the DCEU.

GRADE: B

You Should Have Left

Writer (based on Daniel Kehlmann’s novel)/director David Koepp and star Kevin Bacon reunite after their highly underrated 1999 supernatural thriller, Stir of Echoes. While this collaboration isn’t quite as effective, it’s still a top-notch haunted house story filled with ample amounts of tension.

First and foremost, however, You Should Have Left is a well-developed character drama that uses its genre story to provide insight into marriage, guilt, and aging. Bacon’s presence is as reliable and watchable as ever, and Amanda Seyfried provides excellent support as his much-younger and questionably motivated wife.

GRADE: B+

If there were ever a cinematic equivalent to getting punched in the gut, it’s The Devil All the Time. The breathtaking and paralyzing film puts its characters through many harrowing ordeals, and they just keep getting darker and more dangerous with each new entry. When you think it couldn’t get any worse, The Devil All the Time goes and does just that; it gets worse. Much worse.

The film revolves around Arvin Russell (portrayed by Tom Holland in later-day scenes). As we see in the film’s opening act, he tragically loses his parents (Bill Skarsgård and Haley Bennett) at a young age while living in southern Ohio. Arvin then moves to a small town in West Virginia, where he grows up with his grandmother (Kristin Griffith) and another orphaned child who is raised as his sister (portrayed by Eliza Scanlen in later-day scenes). Reaching his late-teens in 1965, he finds himself facing unrelenting evil. Encounters with high school bullies, a sleazy southern preacher (Robert Pattinson), a serial-killing couple (Jason Clarke and Riley Keough), and a crooked sheriff (Sebastian Stan) all send Arvin on a downward trajectory where the violence of his past meets the reality of his present.

Based on Donald Ray Pollock’s bestseller, The Devil All the Time is a refreshingly novelistic film. It unravels in a sprawling, organic fashion without relying on a typical story structure. The characters are given time to live and breathe onscreen, regardless of whether or not they are pushing the narrative forward. The film’s old-fashioned and literary voice-over narration (performed by Pollock) never feels like a crutch. It provides enriching glimpses into the characters’ interior lives, revealing fully drawn and complex motivations behind their actions.

Though it has traces of quirky dark humor that is reminiscent of the Coen Brothers, the film is primarily dominated by a dead-serious and naturalistic tone. Cowriter/director Antonio Campos doesn’t try to distract us with any stylistic flourishes. His direction is so matter-of-fact that it’s almost blunt, which is exactly what the material needs to succeed onscreen as it does.

The Devil All The Time is an unapologetically violent film, but it never feels exploitative. Violence is a part of the characters’ reality, a fact of life in the world they inhabit. The violence in the film is abrupt, sloppy, and shocking without a hint of sensationalism. Campos doesn’t revel in the gruesome details; he simply presents them in a realistic and honest fashion.

There isn’t a weak link in the film’s stellar ensemble cast. Tom Holland more than proves he can carry a movie without his Spider-suit. He is vulnerable, intense, and wholly sympathetic as his character falls deeper into hell. Robert Pattison further proves his seemingly endless versatility as the high-voiced, ill-intentioned preacher. Eliza Scanlen (Sharp Objects) provides excellent support as Holland’s stepsister. Her graceful and childlike presence reminds us that her character is the film’s one true representation of innocence.

As dark and ugly as it gets, The Devil All the Time is a surprisingly profound film. It explores damaged lineage and the lingering effects of violence in the frankest and most uncompromising manner imaginable—but still manages to be oddly hopeful in the end. The Devil All the Time may not be the most pleasant movie released this year, but it’s easily one of the most unforgettable.

GRADE: A

It’s hard to say what, exactly, is going on in Charlie Kaufman’s new movie, I’m Thinking of Ending Things. There is no definitive conclusion to come to other than there is no definitive conclusion to come to. It’s simply not supposed to fully make sense. One could argue, however, that it does provide just enough detail for the audience to understand its multi-layered intentions on a very basic emotional level.

A young man (Jesse Plemons) is driving his girlfriend (Jessie Buckley) through a snowstorm to meet his parents for the first time at their farm. As we repeatedly hear in the young woman’s voice-over, she’s thinking of ending things. When they finally arrive, the young man’s eccentric parents (Toni Collette and David Thewlis) make the already tense situation increasingly unbearable. The parents’ not-so-firm grasp on reality is contagious, and the young woman soon begins to experience what can only be described as a series of surreal hallucinations. Interspersed throughout, we see a lonely and elderly high school janitor (Guy Boyd) who seemingly has nothing to do with the story go about his day.

The less said, the better about where the movie goes from there. This is partially because its surprises shouldn’t be spoiled, but it’s also because words wouldn’t cut it. I’m Thinking of Ending Things is something to be experienced rather than described.  

The film defies the standards of genre to exist entirely within its own logic. Psychological horror is the closest one can come to categorizing the film, but that doesn’t begin to do it justice. There’s too much absurdist humor, too many introspective ideas, and far too many feelings explored to label it as any one thing.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things is like cinematic jazz. It constantly and freely flows amongst differing moods and tones—oftentimes in the same scene. As intellectually puzzling as the story may be upon first viewing, the emotional notes that the film hits are quite intentional and specific. Though chaotic on the surface, it’s apparent that the film was wholly thought-out and designed.

Adapting Iain Reid’s novel, writer/director Charlie Kaufman makes the material his own. Kaufman has built a career out of writing (and later directing) perplexing, absurd, and intellectually profound films. Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Synecdoche, New York, and Anomalisa all share similar sensibilities with his most recent effort. I’m Thinking of Ending Things showcases Kaufman’s growth and evolution, as it is the most complex film he has ever completed. It is the product of a mature filmmaker who has practiced and perfected his methods but is still pushing himself to reach new heights.

The entire cast lives up to the challenging task of bringing Kaufman’s ideas to life. No character is who they appear to be, and their purpose in the story isn’t even partially clear until the film’s final act. Portraying characters with such vague definition, the actors admirably play each moment with complete realism and honesty, which allows for the film’s otherworldly dream logic to be all the more tangible and effective.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things works on so many different levels that it’s almost dizzying. It’s a stream-of-consciousness meditation on regret, loneliness, aging, media-influenced thinking, and the acceptance of one’s own reality. It’s one of the most challenging films to be released by a major studio (in this case, Netflix) this or any year. It’s Charlie Kaufman at the height of his head-scratching abilities and talents, an unforgettable and unique film amongst a career of unforgettable and unique films.

GRADE: A

A young couple (Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots) is looking for the perfect home. A strange real estate agent (Jonathan Aris) takes them to the surreal subdivision, Yonder, where all the houses are literally identical. While inspecting one of the modest homes, the agent disappears and leaves the couple alone in the otherwise vacant neighborhood. Inexplicably, the couple is unable to locate an exit to Yonder and soon find themselves trapped.

Following in the footsteps of David Lynch and Charlie Kaufman, Vivarium is a film that works completely on its own wavelength. It speaks in metaphors to express the dissatisfactions of monotony and the unrelenting will of nature. It mutates the banality of everyday life into a horror show filled with unanswered questions. Vivarium is never confusing to watch so much as it is completely and utterly mystifying. It’s like a Twilight Zone episode that never gives its plot twist away, a nightmare that you never fully wake up from.

Vivarium creates anxiety and tension out of the unknown. You always get the sense that director/co-story writer Lorcan Finnegan and writer Garret Shanley know exactly what’s going on. However, the movie’s intoxicating sense of mystery is reliant upon the fact that they never fully disclose it. There’s a full and intricate world presented in Vivarium, but the audience is thrown into it without explanation right along with the characters.

Eisenberg and Poots are both at their best. They play everything naturalistically, even when what they’re reacting to is anything but natural. Charming, funny, and obviously in love, they are the perfect everyday couple the audience can relate to. Their effortless chemistry provides a necessary warmth to the film’s otherwise chilly tone.  

Finnegan exhibits intelligence and restraint behind the camera. Though Vivarium is plenty absurd and surreal, he always keeps things grounded and slightly detached, more observational than stylish. Many filmmakers have attempted something as strange as Vivarium, but few have pulled it off so elegantly.

Vivarium is impossible to categorize. Any expectations you have walking into it need to be thrown out the window. It’s a comedy. It’s a horror movie. It’s a piece of mind-bending science fiction. It’s also a highly unsettling examination of the human condition presented in the driest and least sentimental manner imaginable. Vivarium is several different movies concurrently existing in one, and they’re all hell-bent on challenging their audience to view everyday life from a point of view that can only be described as alien.

GRADE: A

It’s been nearly thirty years since we last saw our favorite pair of dim-witted, big-hearted, time-traveling metalheads grace our screens. As any kid of the eighties already knows, 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is essential viewing. Its brand of off-kilter, feel-good, sci-fi comedy may have been next to commonplace at the time of its release (comparable to films of its era like UHF, My Science Project, Weird Science, and several others), but today it feels fresher and more unique than ever. As old as it may make me sound to say it, they just don’t make movies like it anymore.

1991’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey is an adorably demented funhouse that saw our heroes rock on, defy Death, and battle evil robot versions of themselves. The sequel is an almost-surrealistic take on the characters that left some fans scratching their heads but also left just as many in awe of how far out it was willing to go. Many wanted more Bill and Ted after Bogus Journey. After years passed with no sequel in production (we won’t count the short-lived 1992 sitcom or the two-year animated series that started in 1990), hope dwindled to nothing more than wishful thinking for the most die-hard of fans.

No doubt capitalizing on today’s obsession with eighties and nineties nostalgia, there is finally a third installment to make Bill and Ted’s adventures into a trilogy. The recently released Bill & Ted Face the Music is about as heartfelt and necessary as an opportunistic cash grab can get—and I mean that as nothing short of a compliment. In the days of Covid-19 and extreme political unrest, Bill and Ted’s latest adventure simply could not have come at a better time.

Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves reprise their iconic roles of Bill and Ted. At the film’s beginning, they are now fifty-something, washed-up has-beens who still haven’t written the song that will unite all of humanity. Time begins folding on itself as a result, and the world is at risk of imploding. The solution, of course, is for Bill and Ted to time travel to the future and steal the song from themselves.

Concurrently, Bill and Ted’s spitting-image daughters (Brigette Lundy-Paine and Samara Weaving) decide to do a little time traveling of their own so they can form a band of history’s greatest musicians (including Jimi Hendrix and Louis Armstrong) to back their struggling fathers. Meanwhile, a highly deadly though increasingly needy robot (Barry’s Anthony Carrigan) is sent from the future to end Bill and Ted’s existence.

If it sounds a little cluttered, that’s because it is, but it wouldn’t be a Bill and Ted movie if it weren’t. So much happens in its 91-minute runtime that multiple viewings are almost necessary for the humor to fully sink in. Director Dean Parisot keeps the pacing airtight, making the more subtle comedic bits hard to catch with all the detail swirling around them. As of this writing, I’ve seen the film three times. I laugh louder with each viewing and have been pleasantly surprised to find something new to appreciate every time I watch it.

Reeves and Winter do a great job of keeping their youthful energy while obviously accepting the fact that they’re not portraying teenagers anymore. The older, not entirely wiser Bill and Ted are a welcomed new interpretation of the characters. The actors’ talents have impressively developed over the years, and their maturity brings an interesting new weight to their roles. Portraying future Bills and Teds in various incarnations (from pub performers living out of a van to testosterone-fueled prison inmates), the actors get multiple opportunities to sink their teeth into some meaty comedic moments and always live up to the task grandly.

William Sadler also reprises his Bogus Journey role of the Grim Reaper. Insecure and narcissistic as ever, Sadler’s absurdly human portrayal of the supernatural being is one of the film’s many highlights. The true scene-stealer of the film this time around, however, is Anthony Carrigan as Dennis Caleb McCoy, the lethal but guilt-ridden cyborg from the future. Carrigan’s neurotic and playful performance verges on too much at times, but in a movie where “too much” is often the norm, it manages to ultimately stand out as the most inspired piece of lunacy the film has to offer.

Samara Weaving and Brigette Lundy-Pain are appropriately loveable as Billie and Thea, Bill and Ted’s aimless, music-loving daughters. While they inhabit their roles with the proper puppy dog body language, they’re unfortunately never fully given the opportunity to make the characters their own. Their performances never go deeper than being spot-on and highly amusing impressions of young Bill and Ted. In a movie as full of jokes, atmosphere, and characters as this one, it’s only natural that some things get slightly lost in the mix. Hopefully, we’ll get to see Billie and Thea’s personalities develop further in future adventures.

Minor grievances aside, it’s hard to pick on Bill & Ted Face the Music because it knows exactly what it is and exactly what it wants to achieve. Screenwriters Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon— the original creators who also wrote Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey—constantly ride the line between absurdity and earnestness. Both extremes have always been given the same care in the Bill and Ted universe, which is what makes both their pay-offs so astoundingly high.

Bill and Ted were created to bring a message of hope, no matter how preposterous the road leading to it may be. The weirdness and wackiness littered throughout Bill & Ted Face the Music is always balanced by the characters’ humanity and the film’s overall theme of unity. Bill & Ted Face the Music dares to be optimistic at heart, which allows for its humor to be all the more effective and grounded—regardless of how extreme it often is.

Is it a deep movie that pushes the boundaries of filmmaking? No, but it’s not trying to be. Bill & Ted Face the Music is unabashed cinematic joy filled with wit, creativity, and goodwill. It’s amazing how something so stupid can be so intelligent and how something so silly can be so sincere. It simply makes you feel good to watch it. What more could you possibly ask from a movie today?

GRADE: A–

Because of some pesky behind-the-scenes production squabbles, co-producer/costar Mel Gibson, who had nurtured this film as a personal passion project for years, has chosen to completely distance himself from the released cut of The Professor and the Madman. Cowriter/director Farhad Safinia (in his directorial debut) also took his name off of the film and is instead credited as P.B. Sherman. Whatever movie Gibson and Safinia had in mind must have been truly spectacular because, even as it stands now, The Professor and the Madman is a highly watchable film.

Gibson stars as James Murray, the editor primarily responsible for compiling the first Oxford dictionary in the 19^th century. Dr. William Minor (Sean Penn) is a brilliant psychiatric patient suffering from hallucinations who begins contributing to Murray’s cause from the confines of an asylum. A friendship develops between them, and the film evolves into a relevant examination of mental illness, redemption, and the power of the written word. Not to mention, its subject matter alone makes for a pretty fascinating history lesson.

Penn and Gibson give what you’d expect with their performances. The dream pairing of the two acting giants is every bit as spectacular as it should be. Whatever remains of his work and original intentions, it is obvious that Safinia has a great deal of potential as a filmmaker, as the film exhibits a balance of craftsmanship and sincere passion that is hard to accomplish.

The film, however, doesn’t quite soar as it should in its final moments, and it ends with a slightly rushed and forced thud rather than a powerful culmination of its interwoven themes. Though such clumsiness causes the film to fall short of greatness, there’s no denying the overall quality, heart, and compassion with which The Professor and the Madman was executed–however compromised its original intentions may be.

GRADE: B+

We were all heavily anticipating Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman—his long, VFX-heavy and Netflix-funded adaptation of Charles Brandt’s nonfiction narrative book, I Heard You Paint Houses. The book and film examine the life of Frank Sheenan, a mafia hitman who claims to have killed Jimmy Hoffa—the labor union leader to whom he was exceptionally close both personally and professionally—in 1975.

Many critics have hailed the film as a masterpiece since being released last November (with a controversially limited theatrical run), saying it might be the best film of the director’s legendary career. General audiences, however, have expressed disinterest and boredom with the film on social media. The Irishman seems to have caused heated debate amongst popular audiences and film enthusiasts as to what great movies truly are today. Certain remarks about Marvel movies not being real cinema that were made by Scorsese himself during The Irishman’s press tour indisputably had a hand in igniting it.

All that being said, it is with some guilt and shame that I have to admit I did not love The Irishman. Maybe it means I don’t appreciate great filmmaking anymore because I’m a big dumb American who also watches and loves a few Marvel movies, but it might also mean I’m not going to hail something as the cinematic Second Coming just because I can see what it’s trying to do or just because it’s by Scorsese and stars Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked The Irishman. I appreciate its artistry. I admire the fact that I sat through its three-and-a-half–hour runtime without feeling it– for the most part, at least. Longtime Scorsese editor Themla Schoonmaker should be a household name right beside his. Steven Zaillian continues to exhibit some of the most subtle and intelligent screenwriting techniques known to man. And, it goes without saying, nobody on this planet knows how to direct a movie like Martin Scorsese– arguably the world’s greatest living filmmaker. The Irishman looks, sounds and flows like it was made by genius professionals because it was. There’s no denying it is an impressive accomplishment, but that doesn’t necessarily make it a great one.

Keitel is memorable but brief and Pesci steals the show with quiet command as Sheenan’s Mafioso mentor, but De Niro and Pacino rarely showcase the greatness we all know to be in them. They both appear to be on autopilot in The Irishman, relying on mannerisms we’ve seen and line readings we’ve heard countless times before.

In his portrayal of Jimmy Hoffa, Pacino is entertaining but also seems to have temporarily forgotten (as he can often do) that a variety of ranges between extremely loud and extremely quiet actually can exist. He huffs, puffs, rants and raves like only Pacino can, but the heart of what drives the man is never fully understood in The Irishman (see Danny DeVito’s much-underrated 1992 film Hoffa starring Jack Nicholson for that). It’s not Jimmy Hoffa we’re watching, here, it’s Al Pacino impersonating Al Pacino impersonating Jimmy Hoffa—and a movie of this scope needs more shading and depth for such a pivotal role.

De Niro portrays Frank Sheenan in various stages of his life as he climbs the career ladder from truck driver to mob hitman to union official. He appears tired and uninterested with every age he portrays—and not in a way that suggests it’s a character choice. Of course he’s always solid (and completely nails a few key moments), but De Niro simply may have little left to give this type of character. I see more moments of inspiration in his supporting roles of the last decade (Silver Linings Playbook, Joker etc.) than I do in his massive amounts of screen time in The Irishman.

It doesn’t help that De Niro is completely physically miscast. We’ll get into his age in a moment, but there are no digital enhancements or blue contact lenses on this planet that could ever make the Italian-American icon believable as an Irishman. A younger, hungrier (and fully or at least partially Irish) presence like Colin Farrell or Sean Penn would have been been a more appropriate choice for the role.

All of the actors’ work suffers from the film’s (in)famous digital effects—which are used to de-age them at different intervals of the time-hopping story. In De Niro’s defense, his performance has to bear them the most. When the effects are most prominent, skin appears porcelain and facial expressions are noticeably flattened—particularly around the eyes. Most glaringly, the actors can’t help but move and behave like elderly men (and ones who are wearing very strange masks, at that). While viewing what is supposed to be a forty-something De Niro throw a man though a store window, I actually wanted to reach out and help him so he wouldn’t hurt himself in the process.

Such VFX techniques have had more success in video games or Marvel movies (sorry, Mr. Scorsese) in recent years—but that’s largely because they fit into the digital tapestry of those works. The Irishman—with its period settings and true-to-life aspirations—is completely at odds with them. Last October’s Gemini Man actually worked (in my opinion, at least) when we saw a middle-aged Will Smith battle his twenty-something self. This is partially because Smith is still in good enough shape to pull it off, but it’s mainly because the effects perfectly blended into that particular film’s slick blockbuster aesthetics.

From a historical perspective (the accuracy of which is questionable depending on which account you read), the film is fascinating. However, the unique combination of gusto, passion and humanity that is always present in Scorsese’s greatest works– even the quieter ones like Kundun or Silence–is missing from The Irishman. You don’t feel any love or hatred between the characters, you just dispassionately observe them with no connection or empathy.

When Hoffa tells Sheenan halfway through the film that he loves him, it comes across forced and abrupt. When Sheenan desperately attempts at a reconciliation with his estranged daughter (Anna Paquin) later in life, it’s not entirely believable that he would care. The Irishman may succeed at being a stimulating intellectual experience, but it ultimately fails at being an emotionally engaging one.

Many critics have praised Scorsese’s subdued style for The Irishman and how it reflects its spiritual themes of guilt, regret and loss in the final stages of life—but I simply found the film to be a tad flat. For all the massive efforts put behind it, watching The Irishman and the strained performances of De Niro and Pacino within it is kind of like watching your grandfather hang Christmas lights from a tall ladder. You applaud the effort, but you’re also trying to figure out a polite way to tell him that he really shouldn’t be doing this anymore.

GRADE: B

Charlize Theron is a straight-laced Secretary of State in preparation to run for the U.S. presidency. She meets Seth Rogen at a party and soon remembers him as the cute little boy next door she used to babysit when she was a teenager. He’s now an (unemployed) extreme left-wing journalist, and she shortly thereafter hires him as her speechwriter. As they often do in these situations, opposites attract and things become as complicated as they do romantic.

While it sounds formulaic (and it is), Long Shot is executed with such intelligence, heart, and wonderfully timed humor by director Jonathan Levine that it makes you forget its recipe. Theron and Rogen have a shockingly unexpected and magically natural chemistry, playing off of each other with effortless humor and genuine emotion.

Astute political observations are casually dropped into the narrative, but they’re never overbearing. The screenplay (by Dan Sterling and Liz Hannah) is refreshingly open-minded towards examining a variety of viewpoints. As silly as it gets, Long Shot is an incredibly smart movie that makes subtle attempts to reach audiences with conflicting beliefs (with the exclusion of Nazis, as the film’s opening makes quite clear).

Long Shot may belong to a genre we’ve all experienced many times before, but it does so with an evolved, sincere, and spontaneous perspective that makes us feel like we’re experiencing it for the very first time.

GRADE: A

While recently reviewing Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, I was struck with the realization that I am no longer able to separate my love and knowledge of the filmmaker’s career from my opinion of his most recent films. It is very important to note before reviewing his new ten-episode, thirteen-hour Amazon Prime series Too Old to Die Young that I am now, officially, unable to do the same with Nicolas Winding Refn.

Along with Gaspar Noé and Harmony Korine, Refn is one of the few filmmaking auteurs from a generation that has little room for auteurs. With each new entry, Refn’s films have progressed to a place that run entirely on their own logic and play by their own rules. From his gritty beginnings with the Pusher trilogy to his flirtation with the mainstream through Drive to his ingeniously nonsensical fashion horror comedy The Neon Demon, Refn has been refining his own personal genre for over twenty years. 

Refn’s genre consists of infinite cinematic references and is filled to the brim with depictions of heavily stylized and graphic violence, torture, incest, rape and other depravities that go beyond most of our imaginations. As he’s evolved, he’s further pushed himself into the territory of modern surrealism (if there’s any current successor to David Lynch, it is unquestionably Refin), creating action films and/or genre efforts that are filtered through dream logic and other arthouse sensibilities. The predominant atmosphere in his films has come to resemble an eighties exploitation b-movie, but one that is consistently balanced with moments of ethereal beauty—which has been properly highlighted by the skilled electronic ambience of composer Cliff Martinez since 2011’s Drive.

The good news for Refn fans is that Too Old to Die Young is a complete and unapologetic culmination of where his career has been heading up to this point. It’s an epic crime saga about revenge, corruption and perversion that is told at a leisurely pace in the most dreamlike of manners—and it’s all peppered with random and sudden bursts of absurdly graphic sex and violence.

Miles Teller headlines the series as a corrupt police officer. After his partner is gunned down by a drug lord’s son (Augusto Augilera) seeking vengeance, Teller starts moonlighting as a hired killer for a powerful drug dealer (Babs Olusanmokum). His seedy life gets more complicated when his disturbed underage girlfriend (Nell Tiger Free) introduces him to her sleazy millionaire father (William Baldwin) right around the time he is also being promoted to detective.

Teller’s investigation of a murdered pedophile leads him to a dying hitman (John Hawkes) who only hunts predators. Hawkes is working for a lawyer (Jena Malone) who specializes in defending abuse victims and uses her practice as a means of finding new targets. Teller develops something resembling a conscience, and decides to only kill the really bad guys for his boss while he starts training to work with Hawkes and Malone.

After lying low in Mexico, Augilera returns to America with his new wife (Cristina Rodlo) to take over his departed drug lord mother’s business. His first task is to stop Olusanmokum from dominating his mother’s established territory, and a war ensues with many parties caught in the crossfire. An avenging female known only as The High Priestess of Death soon raises her head and chaotically throws any preconceived notions (of the characters or the audience) completely out the window.

While that covers the gist, it doesn’t even being to explain the experience of watching Too Old to Die Young unfold into its beautifully twisted entirety. Part of its disturbed joy comes from understanding early on that there’s no way of predicting the outcome of any scenario. For all its audacity and because of the singularity in Refn’s vision, there is nothing else quite like it in episodic—or any other–format.

Too Old to Die Young always feels like it’s following the course of a larger (albeit insane) plan—no matter how many seemingly random deviations it takes from it. Each of the series’ ten episodes (or “chapters” as they’re technically referred to) works at its own carefully specific pace to cover its own selection of events. It is ultimately a sprawling story told in segments that amounts to a grand and dizzying whole.

Aesthetically, the series is a continuation of the impeccably assaultive neon lighting and nonlinear, expressionistic editing that dominated the styles of Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon—Refn’s two previous feature efforts. “Normal” lighting for Refn and cinematographer Darius Khondi is to bathe the actors and their surroundings in thick red and blue hues–which the admittedly colorblind Refn appears to favor to the point of fetishisation.

Every member of the cast blends seamlessly into their roles and into Refn’s world. Teller gives a grounded, stoic and near-silent (think Gosling in Drive) performance. Like most Refn protagonists, he reacts and conveys emotion through stillness, and the inherent charisma of his presence (again, like Gosling’s) allows us to empathize with and care for him—in spite of how morally devoid his character repeatedly proves himself to be. Teller portrays a conflicted character, a man torn between two worlds and two sides of himself. He’s able to convey this with subtlety and restraint, and the young actor proves himself capable of achieving a mature and long-lasting career.

It’s almost needless to say that veterans Malone and Hawkes deliver outstanding performances. They both represent Refn’s version of a hero—flawed, broken and filled with pain and regret. The only good they can make of it is to unleash destruction and vengeance on those worse than they are. Olusanmokun gives a breakout performance as Teller’s drug dealer boss, portraying the character in bouts of quiet and focused intensity that crack into moments of unbridled insanity under the most extreme of circumstances.

Aguilera has a steely and wounded presence as the newly appointed Mexican drug lord who really needs to get over his obsession with his dead mother. His perverse little boy lost portrayal is as strangely sensitive in the series’ beginning as it is horrifically brutal by the end. Rodlo shines as the dominant wife with a mysterious past, believably and effortlessly owning every character she comes across onscreen.

The true standouts in the cast, however, stem from the subplot involving Teller’s unwise decision to date a minor. Free portrays his underage girlfriend, who is traumatized by the suicide of her addict mother, with a tough-shelled, soft-cored vulnerability. She consistently reminds us she’s the true victim of the series’ events without excessively advertising it. Baldwin, completely and perversely unhinged, portrays her father as a loving man who sincerely wants what’s best for his daughter–but also can’t hide the fact that he’s indisputably the source of what compels her increasingly poor and reckless decisions.

Too Old to Die Young is a conclusion that Nicolas Winding Refn has been coming to for his entire career. It is filled with heart, humor, passion, blood, guts, romance, innovative technique, and uniquely refined artistry. Its beauty is in its ugliness—and vice versa. The important thing to remember is that all these attributes are being mirrored through Refn’s skewered perspective—where humor is a Trump-era police lieutenant portrayed by Hart Bochner (aka Ellis from Die Hard) re-enacting the crucifixion of Jesus to inspire his squad, where passion is gunning down a trailer park filled with rapists and child molesters and where romance is a man having his wife pretend to be his mother while sodomizing him with the handle of a bullwhip.

Needless to say, those wanting the Refn who melded his sensibilities with the mainstream and made Drive (which did not originate with him) will be sorely disappointed by the epic arthouse installment of his subconscious that is Too Old to Die Young. Those who can’t get enough of his candy-colored madness will be nothing short of thrilled as every minute of its thirteen hours unspools before their eyes. It is an unabashed celebration of a filmmaker in full command of his gloriously bold, dementedly special voice.

I’d like to think that Too Old to Die Young could be a strong, sweeping finish to this chapter of Refn’s career as he embarks on pushing himself elsewhere in the next. I’d like to see him ground himself like he did with Drive and do a project that’s a tad more accessible while still retaining his own unique aesthetics—then see where his unfiltered artistic whims take him after that. If Refn keeps following the same unchecked trajectory he’s currently on, there’s potential that his next effort could implode as a result.

While Nicolas Winding Refn hasn’t quite reached the level of exclusivity that many auteurs do later in their careers, he’s getting dangerously close. All great works walk the line between success and failure, accessibility and pretension–but Refn’s line is getting thinner with each new project. That’s part of what makes his work so utterly thrilling, however, and part of why Too Old to Die Young’s pay-off is ultimately so great: it always keeps you guessing just where, exactly, it could fall.

GRADE: A