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D-
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Venom: The Last Dance
(2024)
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Rodrigo Perez
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Sony faceplants again with “Venom: The Last Dance,” a disposable lark arguably more dull than horrible but so excruciatingly tedious it circles back to atrocious.
Posted Oct 23, 2024
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A
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Vermiglio
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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Vermiglio isn’t a generic portrait of an Alpine village, it is culled from Delpero’s family history and has the texture and sweep of a novel or, even better, a memoir.
Posted Oct 20, 2024
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A-
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Blitz
(2024)
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Tomris Laffly
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McQueen compassionately fashions [Blitz] with utmost humanity and a stirring sense of perseverance, building a resilient ecosystem of war-torn Londoners [through his] very own Dickensian brushstrokes.
Posted Oct 09, 2024
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B
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Ghost Killer
(2024)
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Charles Barfield
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“Ghost Killer” is still a hell of a ride, and a good time for anyone who is looking for a unique and capital-f-Fun time.
Posted Sep 25, 2024
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B
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September 5
(2024)
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Gregory Ellwood
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Even though the fate of these hostages was determined over five decades ago and you witness the events from a distance, Fehlabum and his editor will keep you in suspense as the drama plays out.
Posted Sep 23, 2024
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B+
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A Mistake
(2024)
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Brian Farvour
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As a showcase for the talent that is Elizabeth Banks, in addition to its existence as a thought-provoking exploration of the field of medicine and the human side of patient care, it’s an undeniable victory.
Posted Sep 23, 2024
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D
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Hold Your Breath
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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“Hold Your Breath” is a strange beast—there aren’t enough thrills for horror heads nor any blood and gore for slasher fans. Even as straight drama, it isn’t entirely successful.
Posted Sep 21, 2024
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B+
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Shell
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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“Shell” is a breezy watch and maintains a light, playful tone throughout— the audience is meant to laugh with and at the movie.
Posted Sep 21, 2024
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C-
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All of You
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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In its decade-spanning structure and proclamations of “true soul mate,” 'All Of You' wants to be “Doctor Zhivago” or another such sweeping romance. Only it obviously isn’t and leaves you with a feeling of much ado about nothing.
Posted Sep 21, 2024
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C+
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Unstoppable
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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“Unstoppable” has found a way to make wrestling a very coherent sport for even those who don’t follow it.
Posted Sep 21, 2024
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B+
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Eden
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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Ana de Armas’ preening, vampy, high-camp performance makes for one of the most entertaining & memorable villains in recent memory. She single-handedly elevates “Eden” to a lurid Black comedy - nailing the tone even more than Howard’s direction.
Posted Sep 21, 2024
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C
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Bring Them Down
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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Something bizarre about the character dynamics makes you wonder if “Bring Them Down” is completely miscast.
Posted Sep 21, 2024
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B
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Heretic
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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It is a measure of praise for its dramatic construction and quality of dialog that, with a few reasonable tweaks, “Heretic” could easily be turned into a play.
Posted Sep 21, 2024
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A-
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The Return
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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Fiennes displays an impressively sinewy and shredded physique through much of “The Return.” He uncorks fiery machismo and badassery in his action scenes that we seldom see from him.
Posted Sep 21, 2024
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C-
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Kill
(2023)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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Resorts to the most tired, risible, dated trope for providing motivation to the male protagonist – fridging the girlfriend.
Posted Sep 21, 2024
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B
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Hummingbirds
(2023)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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If going in, you did not know that “Hummingbirds” was a documentary, you would readily believe that it was a naturalistically performed indie film.
Posted Sep 21, 2024
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B-
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The Falling Sky
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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“The Falling Sky” bucks the charge that it might easily have been a Doc Short through its enveloping, lustrous cinematography.
Posted Sep 21, 2024
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B
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Seeking Mavis Beacon
(2024)
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Charles Barfield
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“Seeking Mavis Beacon” is one of the most interesting and thoughtful docs you’ll likely see all year.
Posted Sep 18, 2024
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C
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The Deb
(2024)
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Gregory Ellwood
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Despite a few too many storylines and Wilson’s comedic indulgence, the musical numbers are often inspired and pack a punch.
Posted Sep 15, 2024
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C+
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Relay
(2024)
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Gregory Ellwood
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Mackenzie also orchestrates a fantastic set piece at a concert hall, a hand-off gone wrong that will have you wondering if Tom is finally in over his head. It’s a very fun ride until it surprisingly stumbles to the finish line.
Posted Sep 11, 2024
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B- C+
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The Cut
(2024)
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Gregory Ellwood
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The film is compelling even when Ellis’ creative choices hinder it. Perhaps it’s the originality of the endeavor. Maybe it’s Bloom’s transformative commitment. Or perhaps the disbelief of how close the Boxer’s fictional experience is to reality.
Posted Sep 11, 2024
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B-
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Ernest Cole: Lost and Found
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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Pictures of the persecuted Black people in peril, often surrounded by uniformed officers about to execute an atrocity, horrifyingly recall Nazi Germany.
Posted Sep 11, 2024
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C+
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Went Up the Hill
(2024)
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Gregory Ellwood
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Director Samuel Van Grinsven and co-writer Jory Anast are attempting to craft a tale where two characters, who have been abused by the same individual, submit themselves to more pain and suffering to come to terms with their past trauma.
Posted Sep 11, 2024
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William Tell
(2024)
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Gregory Ellwood
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The result is a high-end B-movie that would have been in heavy rotation on cable television’s TNT or USA Network as a wallpaper movie in the ’00s. And there is something genuinely fun about filmmakers wanting to dip their toes back into those waters.
Posted Sep 11, 2024
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B-
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The Last Showgirl
(2024)
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Gregory Ellwood
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When Curtis walks onto a table in the middle of a casino and starts dancing to Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” throwing her job away as visitors barely notice, you know there is something special here. You just wish there was more of it
Posted Sep 11, 2024
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C+
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The Assessment
(2024)
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Gregory Ellwood
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Driver gleefully delivers almost two minutes of exposition that immediately makes your ears perk up. Everything she’s describing, the class conflict, humanity’s battle with one another. That’s the movie you want to see.
Posted Sep 11, 2024
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C-
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Without Blood
(2024)
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Gregory Ellwood
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Then the film changes focus and becomes stuck at a table where two characters talk around each other in circles. And when you realize you neither care for them nor their stories, it all fades to dust.
Posted Sep 11, 2024
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C+
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The Fire Inside
(2024)
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Gregory Ellwood
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"The fact T-Rex’s story has even made it to the big screen might just be the real win, however. Those underdog stories fade fast. And as the end cards reveal, at arguably the most emotional moment in the film, her story is one for the history books."
Posted Sep 11, 2024
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B
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The Wild Robot
(2024)
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Gregory Ellwood
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Tthe empathetic instincts of Sanders and his talented artists result in a tearjerker of an ending that may have you bawling.
Posted Sep 11, 2024
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C-
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On Swift Horses
(2024)
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Gregory Ellwood
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Whether it’s MInahan’s direction or Edgar-Jones and Elrodi’s performances, it ultimately feels forced, empty, and narratively head-scratching.
Posted Sep 09, 2024
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A-
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Hard Truths
(2024)
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Gregory Ellwood
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Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths,” features a powerhouse performance from none other than Marianne Jean-Baptiste.
Posted Sep 09, 2024
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C-
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Nutcrackers
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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David Gordon Green’s rote family drama drowns in clichés & schmaltz.
Posted Sep 09, 2024
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B
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We Live in Time
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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Pugh’s a gifted, charismatic performer, demonstrating once again why she is one of the brightest stars in the constellation of Hollywood.
Posted Sep 09, 2024
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B
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The Life of Chuck
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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Get past the opening act, and there are glories to be had – a terrific childhood coming-of-age tale anchored by a star-making turn by Pajak and exceptional dancing by Pajak and Hiddleston.
Posted Sep 09, 2024
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C+
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Nightbitch
(2024)
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Ankit Jhunjhunwala
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An actress capable of bringing forth a more malignant edge might have been able to milk the weirdness harder.
Posted Sep 08, 2024
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C+
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Elton John: Never Too Late
(2024)
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Chris Barsanti
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Wraps searing 1970s concert footage In ho-hum valedictory package.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
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A-
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Look Into My Eyes
(2024)
|
Brian Farvour
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Director Lana Wilson chooses to ultimately eschew cutaways, soundtrack, and a filmmaking flex or two for an intimate experience that’s ever so slice-of-life.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
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C
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Slingshot
(2024)
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Rodrigo Perez
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Overall, “Slingshot” is arguably a serviceable space thriller and nothing more.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
|
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A-
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King Ivory
(2024)
|
Rodrigo Perez
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Tense, taut, and deeply gripping writer/director John Swab’s dramatic drug cartel/fentanyl trade crime thriller “King Ivory” is a terrific surprise.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
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C+
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I'm Still Here
(2024)
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Marshall Shaffer
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If only Walter Salles had made a film that could have captured that anguish more palpably. In “I’m Still Here,” that constant present tense to which Eunice alludes manifests as a past tense trauma.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
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B+
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2073
(2024)
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Marshall Shaffer
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“2073” might sacrifice some eloquence to make its creative points, but the sincerity shines poignantly and powerfully. Let it be a galvanizing call to action.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
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C
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Harvest
(2024)
|
Marshall Shaffer
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At two hours and change in runtime, it’s too lengthy to maintain an ambiguous or elemental edge to its allegorical sensibility.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
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B+
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Pavements
(2024)
|
Marshall Shaffer
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Rather than just trying to mimic the mastery of the band, “Pavements” finds exciting new avenues to understand the group befitting their evolution and adaptation over time.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
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C
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The Room Next Door
(2024)
|
Rafaela Sales Ross
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“The Room Next Door” a surprisingly vapid case of style over substance, unable to mask its tameness under the smokescreen of a peculiar premise.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
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B+
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Pavements
(2024)
|
Gregory Ellwood
|
Rather than just trying to mimic the mastery of the band, “Pavements” finds exciting new avenues to understand the group befitting their evolution and adaptation over time.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
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B-
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Nickel Boys
(2024)
|
Gregory Ellwood
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One could also argue that “Nickel Boys” needs a little more Terrence Malick inspiration to serve Ross’ vision.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
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C
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The End
(2024)
|
Gregory Ellwood
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The songs are impressive enough that it’s not hard to envision “The End” becoming something of a cult musical.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
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B
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Queer
(2024)
|
Marshall Shaffer
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“Queer” feels unsettled and inconsistent—but never anything less than fascinating to watch unfold.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
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A-
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Rebel Ridge
(2024)
|
Rodrigo Perez
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“Rebel Ridge” kicks ass in the best possible sense, entertaining, thrilling, and always captivating.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
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B
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Joker: Folie à Deux
(2024)
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Rafaela Sales Ross
|
Of all the things Phillips does better in “Joker: Folie à Deux” than he did in “Joker,” the best is by far his course correction in catering to radical misogynists.
Posted Sep 06, 2024
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