Movies

Steve Carell returns to voice Gru in Despicable Me 4, but does it even matter when Minions are involved? A just-okay entry in the just-okay franchise, we’re a long way from the cleverness of the original. And that’s just fine–like its predecessors, Despicable Me 4 is a mindlessly entertaining romp for small children, with enough

Funny, inappropriate, and full of gory action, Deadpool & Wolverine is the jolt the MCU needs right now: a self-aware slap on the fucking ass. Its ridiculousness masks some shortcomings, but it’s hard to picture any fans giving a damn about flaws when there are a thousand cameos, Easter eggs, and self-deprecating jokes to distract

Sometimes a movie just makes your bones shiver, and Longlegs is one such experience. A bleak, unsettling, and disturbed descent into the dark abysses of Hell, this horror-thriller from writer/director Oz Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter) is as atmospheric and creepy as they come–just don’t buy into the hype cycle that it’s the second coming of

With MaXXXine, Ti West rounds out his X/Pearl trilogy and reaffirms that the director has a strong knack for compelling subject matter–but not all-around great films. A letdown from Pearl, MaXXXine is nonetheless a creative and unpredictable thriller, even if it goes limpdick in the end. Years from now, most people won’t remember what happens

Kevin Costner spent $100 million to turn the first chapter of his 10-plus-hour passion project–Horizon: An American Saga–into a reality. This reality would be more rewarding if he had hired a ruthless editor to whittle it down to a more tolerable–and more coherent–hour and a half. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 is a

Further proof that my beautiful girlfriend has set her standards too low: in addition to dating me, she also enjoyed the so-so Bad Boys: Ride or Die a lot more than it deserves. Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, and directors Adil and Bilall return for a fourth entry in the now decades-long franchise, and the results

Angry aliens who just want you to shut the f**k up attack New York City in the prequel A Quiet Place: Day One. These hard-to-kill creatures just want to sit back, sip some tea, and listen to audio books, but pesky humans keep screaming, running, and breathing too hard to give them any damn peace.

Boys. In a boat. Rowing. Competing against the Ivy League. And fucking Nazis. That’s the plot for The Boys in the Boat, a generic sports drama that doesn’t work as the awards contender it clearly wants to be but thankfully serves as a satisfying crowd pleaser. From director George Clooney, The Boys in the Boat

American Fiction is both a touching drama and hilarious comedy. It’s also one of the best movies of 2023. Jeffrey Wright gives a terrific, head-turning performance as novelist Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, who thinks so highly of his intellectual work that he lives up to his snobbish name. The problem is, as a black author in

A pleasant return to form for Disney-Pixar, Inside Out 2 may understandably not feel as fresh or vibrant as its predecessor but still serves as a strong and enjoyable continuation of Riley’s emotional journey. Kelsey Mann makes her feature-length directorial debut, bringing to life a screenplay by Dave Holstein and returning writer Meg LeFauve. The

In The Watchers, Warner Bros. tricks you into thinking you’re watching a new M. Night Shyamalan movie (reality: his daughter is making her feature-length debut), Dakota Fanning looks exactly like the Dakota Fanning we remember from 20 years ago, and the story descends into stupidity and boredom the more it progresses. Ishana Shyamalan, who wrote

There was a time when the summer movie season kicked off with a bang, with an explosive blockbuster sure to pack theaters worldwide. In 2024, we get pure mediocrity in the form of The Fall Guy. Much has been said about the state of cinema, the box office, and The Fall Guy’s inability to draw

Welcome back to the Wastelands, and what a welcome it is! Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a deliriously explosive action epic that meets the high expectations set by its predecessor Fury Road. Humming with high-octane energy, this prequel is weird, imaginatively twisted, and inventively exciting, all the hallmarks of a successful Mad Max tale.

Ilana Glazer and Michelle Buteau star in Babes, a mildly enjoyable if largely unremarkable comedy-drama about two friends navigating pregnancy and parenting. The movie feels like a less-entertaining episode of the irreverent comedy series “Broad City,” which Glazer wrote and starred in for several seasons. I didn’t watch a lot of “Broad City” myself, but

A couple of ultra-violent kills don’t make up for negligent ineffectiveness with In a Violent Nature, a slasher movie where the singular hook is that the movie is shown from the killer’s point of view. And it doesn’t even do that particularly well. Written and directed by Chris Nash, In a Violent Nature follows an

Thelma, the Seattle International Film Festival’s opening film, is an entertaining crowd pleaser, an opportunity for June Squibb to flex her geriatric muscles (or at least awkwardly roll over mattresses) while tracking down the bad guys who tricked her out of $10,000. Squibb plays the title character, an elderly woman who still lives alone despite

Moving the action several generations after the events of the War for the Planet of the Apes, Wes Ball (The Maze Runner) takes over directing duties and delivers another enthralling apes adventure–albeit one that doesn’t quite live up to the lofty expectations set by the previous three films, one of the best trilogies of all

In the steamy drama Challengers, Zendaya plays a tennis star at the core of a contentious love triangle, though love may not be the right word. Lust? Power? Control? Tennis? Regardless, Challengers is a provocative, sexy, and uniquely gripping experience. Elevated by a standout score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Challengers moves as fast

Sometimes you watch a movie that makes you permanently dumber for sitting through it. May I present The Beekeeper, an inane Jason Statham action movie with a stupid story, annoying characters, and Jason Statham doing what Jason Statham does best: kicking ass. The Beekeeper is about… hell, I worry that trying to explain the plot

Over the years I’ve enjoyed several of Zack Snyder’s movies, but his Rebel Moon franchise is further proof that, contrary to his fandom’s belief, the guy needs more studio oversight, not less. Scargiver, or Rebel Moon #2, is a #2 if you get my drift. Or my whiff. The first one was bad enough, with

Further proof that Broadway plays don’t always make for good movies, the new Mean Girls feels more like a high school adaptation than something that improves upon what most would say is a pretty damn flawless original. Not to be confused with the original non-musical Mean Girls, upon which the play was based, upon which

A deaf and mute dude violently kills people in the off kilter society of Boy Kills World, which feels like an alternative and more ambitious R-rated version of The Hunger Games. Bill Skarsgaard plays the scrawny and brutal fighter known only as Boy, who has been trained his entire life to take down the evil

Trailer Originally Published Here.

Trailer Trailer 2 Originally Published Here.

A Sasquatch family wanders through the woods in Sasquatch Sunset, a movie that simultaneously holds your attention while making you wonder why did anyone waste their time making this movie? From the writers and directors of the excellent Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, Sasquatch Sunset for some reason stars Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg as fully

Incredibly fun and deliciously action-packed, Guy Ritchie’s The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare has all the makings of a classic: humor, excitement, violence, and Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson kicking serious Nazi ass. I went into Ministry completely blind. Had no idea who was in it. What it was about. What type of movie it was.

If you suffer from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), then you better watch the buzzy cult horror movie Late Night with the Devil. Pronto. If you suffer from FOWR (Fear of Wasting Time), then for God’s sake trust your gut instinct. The new horror flick from writing-directing duo Cameron and Colin Cairnes gives longtime character

Alex Garland’s Civil War depicts how shit would go down in the United States should the federation fracture. A viscerally entertaining suspense thriller that works better as just that–versus the commentary on the current state of the union many were expecting given… the current state of the union–Civil War is a worthwhile experience, even if

In the horror-thriller Arcadian, Nicolas Cage battles angry night monsters, his son attempts to hook up with the one hot female left in the world, and the other son plays MacGuyver. It’s a surprisingly effective combination.  I almost dismissed Arcadian sight unseen. I had only heard about it three days ago, it starred Nicolas Cage

In Immaculate, Sydney Sweeney covers her best known assets with the cloth and still manages to get knocked up. More importantly, at a tight 90 minutes, the movie is a deliciously dark and occasionally depraved horror-thriller that gets better as it goes along. Early on, Sweeney appeared miscast. She’s a talented actress (look no further