QUEEN AT SEA Review: A Masterclass in Acting, Writing, and Directing
Returning to feature-film filmmaking after an altogether too long 18-year hiatus, writer-director Lance Hammer’s (Ballast) drama, Queen at Sea, revolves around an incredibly difficult, nearly impossible end-of-life decision. As Leslie’s (Anna Calder-Marshall) dementia robs her of her mind, memory,...
KEN RUSSELL'S THE DEVILS Review: One of 2026's Best Films Was Released 55 Years Ago
[Uncensored, restored, and rereleased, Ken Russell’s The Devils, a controversy-courting masterpiece of religious horror, repression, and persecution, returns for a limited theatrical run under the auspices of Warner Bros. and its Clockwork specialty film division.] Condemned in 1971 for its...
A TALENT FOR MURDER Review: Mirren and Ehrenreich Elevate an Otherwise Middling Psychological Thriller
Over five decades, Patricia Highsmith wrote 22 novels and numerous short stories. Of those singular works, seven stand out in the popular imagination: the five Ripley-centered novels, Strangers on a Train (published in 1950 and adapted by Alfred Hitchcock...
CLAYFACE Review: Newly Revived DCU Saves Its Best for Third
Ranked by one supposedly well-respected site as only the 73rd “best” Batman villain, Clayface’s journey from the comic book panel to the big screen has taken a long, not quite circuitous route. Thanks to horror auteur Mike Flanagan (The Fall...
KLARA AND THE SUN Review: Uneven, Unwieldy Adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's Bestselling Novel
Taika Waititi's new film stars Jenna Ortega, with Amy Adams and Natasha Lyonne.
THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK Review: John Turturro Steals a Character Study That Doubles as a Crime Drama
Directed by Noah Segan, the film stars John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Will Price, Tatiana Maslany, Victoria Moroles, and Steve Buscemi.
MUSK Review: Must-See Doc That Sadly Will Go Mostly Unseen
At 12:01 p.m. on January 20th, 2029, the 48th president of the United States will be sworn into office. His name — because more likely than not, the next president will be a “he” — will not be Donald...
TENZING Review: Necessary, If Hagiographic, Corrective to Cultural History
When newspapers, radio stations, and television news programs reported the first successful summit of Mt. Everest on May 29th, 1953, Edmund “Ed” Hilary, a New Zealand member of a spring expedition organized by the British, received prime, sometimes sole credit...
YOUR MOTHER YOUR MOTHER YOUR MOTHER Review: Singularly Engaging, Singularly Provocative Religious-Themed Action-Thriller
The title of the Mahershala Ali-led, Bassam Tariq-directed Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, an action-thriller with more than just action or thrills on its mind, derives from a well-known “Hadith,” a saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad in Islam....
HEART OF THE BEAST Review: Brad Pitt and a Dog Named Odin Elevate Survival Thriller
Only a year and a half ago, the Boy Scouts of America officially changed the name of the century-old youth organization to Scouting America, a move intended to be more inclusive than its gender-specific predecessor. (Currently, Scouting America includes roughly...
THE WEIGHT Review: Gold, Greed, Betrayal, Violence, and Murder, Made Remarkably Engrossing
Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe star in Padraic McKinley's feature directorial debut.
RESIDENT EVIL Review: Zach Cregger Brilliantly Reimagines the Decades-Old Series for Our Discontented Times
After 25 years, seven films, an animated series, and even a live album, it took Zach Cregger, the writer-director behind back-to-back horror standouts, Barbarian and Weapons, to properly adapt Resident Evil, Capcom’s survival-horror videogame franchise, into a live-action film that...
THE UPRISING Review: Brooding Andrew Garfield Leads a Semi-Enthralling Medieval Epic
For a brief, not-quite-shining moment, Paul Greengrass’ (Captain Phillips, United 93, the Jason Bourne series) latest film, The Uprising, bore a subtitle added by studio marketers, “The Rise of Robin Hood,” only to remove it after howls of outrage from...
FILIPIÑANA Review: Rafael Manuel's Feature Redefines Must-See Filmmaking
There’s a moment in writer-director Rafael Manuel’s often brilliant, always enthralling feature debut, Filipiñana, an expansion of his award-winning 2021 short, where Clara (Carmen Castellanos), the American-born-and-raised niece of a wealthy Filipino businessman, Renato (Carlitos Siguion-Reyna), refuses to bend —...
BUDDY Review: Cringe Comedy Transforms Into Absurdist Horror
Casper Kelly directs Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn, Keegan-Michael Key, Jamie King, Michael Shannon and Topher Grace in a horror comedy.
INSIDIOUS: OUT OF THE FURTHER Review: Non-Essential Entry Over-Promises and Under-Delivers
After an all-too-brief, barely noticed three-year hiatus, the highly profitable Insidious series returns with its sixth and unfortunately, far-from-final entry, Insidious: Out of the Further. Co-created by James Wan and Leigh Whannell as a counter to the graphic, ultra-violent...
MANHUNTER: THE FINAL CUT Review: Michael Mann's Masterpiece Receives a Much Anticipated 4k Upgrade
[For now, at least, a lucky, privileged few can catch Manhunter: The Final Cut, StudioCanal’s 4k restoration of filmmaker Michael Mann’s masterpiece, as it tours arthouses, rep houses, and other assorted houses around the country.] Released in the summer...
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY Review: Willem Dafoe Cuts Imposing Figure as Tyrannical Greek Oligarch
When Patrikios (Christos Stergioglou), onetime/longtime physician to Marcos Timoleon (Willem Dafoe), an Aristotle Onassis-inspired Greek titan of industry and all-around oligarch, casually suggests the latter’s resemblance behavior-wise to Marlon Brando’s title character in The Godfather, Marcos laughs, instead suggesting the...
SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY Review: MCU's Superhero Shines in Fourth Essential Entry
Marvel and DC’s declining box-office fortunes provide ample, if indirect, evidence that superhero fatigue is real and here to stay, the not unexpected result of market saturation. But for every rule or sweeping generalization, there’s an exception: On the...
I WANT YOUR SEX Review: Close Encounters of the Sexual Kind
Gregg Araki's new film stars Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman.
