The American version of Speak No Evil is better than the original. Ok, I just said that to catch the attention of the 1% of people who saw the bleak and brilliant Dutch thriller. But… is that first statement so farfetched? The Dutch flick—released just two years ago—is one of the most unsettling and uncomfortable
Movies
A nostalgic sequel that delivers the ghouly goods while not entirely repeating the same batty beats, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a fun, funny trip down memory lane—even if Tim Burton can’t entirely capture the same maggoty magic. It would have been very easy for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to be a disaster—it’s a 35-year-late sequel to one of
Big Yorgos fan here. And I have to say… Kinds of Kindness is… just okay? The great news: a “just okay” Yorgos Lanthimos movie is still more intriguing, clever, and twisted than your average “just okay” movie. Consisting of three different stories—none of which are good enough to warrant their own standalone movie, sadly enough—Kinds
Soaked in style and drenched in fervor, Blink Twice is an auspicious directorial debut for Zoe Kravitz. Tense, unsettling, and ultimately f**ked up, it’s easily one of the most entertaining suspense thrillers of the year. Naomi Ackie stars as Frida, who along with her friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) is on a whim invited to join
The problem with making a sequel to the outback-set crime thriller The Dry is that if you decide to set it in the rainforest, you’re forced to come up with a stupid title like Force of Nature: The Dry 2. And here we are. I was a huge fan of the 2020 original–in fact, I
Color me orange, but… hell, do anything to me other than make me watch The Garfield Movie again. The Chris Pratt-voiced animated movie is a slog of a kid’s movie, a tedious, unfunny piece of bland filmmaking so dull that even my five-year old was squirming in her seat and later declared, “That movie felt
Who doesn’t love an uplifting and heartwarming children’s movie about death and grief? John Krasinski’s IF is a surprisingly good family film that I enjoyed and my five-year-old loved. So much so that we are already watching it again. IF begins with the main character’s mom dying of cancer and—cut several years later—her dad also
In space, no one can hear you scream. In the theater, you may hear screams of joy because after many attempts, we finally have another legit Alien movie. Alien: Romulus, from Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe and 2013’s Evil Dead), returns to the franchise’s roots with a claustrophobic and lean-to-the-bone thriller, a shift away from Ridley
Hot people battle tornadoes in Twisters, a sequel to the 1990s hit that ups the body count, delivers plenty of windy action, and adds “s” to the title. A wind-roaring good time, Twisters is exactly the popcorn movie I was hoping for: competent, entertaining, and packed with destruction. Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos
Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, and Tom Hardy star in the crime drama The Bikeriders, a well made if unremarkable depiction of the rise of a biker gang in the late 60’s. Though it gives breath to subject matter that doesn’t get a ton of mainstream attention (unless you count “Sons of Anarchy”), the movie can’t
An at-times mesmerizing love story that spirals into a murderous crime spree, Love Lies Bleeding is a head-turning piece of fiction that falls victim to unnecessary weirdness. Pulsing with a powerful score, the movie has Kristen Stewart’s Lou tangling with bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian). Their steamy romance goes sideways quickly. Director and co-writer Rose Glass
A serial killer out on a daddy-daughter date at a concert becomes increasingly anxious when he discovers that thousands of cops have descended on the arena to trap him in Trap, a high-concept thriller that is both entertaining and incredibly fucking stupid. M. Night Shyamalan is the ultimate hit-or-miss director, and despite him delivering some
You can’t really go wrong with vampire ballerinas, can you? From the directors of the last two Scream movies and Ready or Not comes Abigail, which essentially flips the script of Ready or Not—which was about a young woman trapped in a mansion with a bunch of people trying to kill her—and has a bunch
Review by Cathy Cunningham and Laura Henigson (B) It Ends With Us tells the story of one woman’s experience growing up around a physically abusive father and ultimately aiming to break the cycle of abuse her mother experienced in her own marriage. A tear-jerker? Technically, sure, bring a Kleenex or two, but there’s also plenty
When you live in a creepy fucking house, creepy fucking things are going to happen. That’s the driving force between Oddity, a super creepy movie that doesn’t quite come together. The plot, really, has nothing to do with the creepy fucking house, but Oddity dwells heavily within the dark, castle-like structure. Writer/director Damian McCarthy establishes
A stupid kid doesn’t realizing she is raising a killer spider in Sting, an effective indie monster movie about a giant alien spider that hunts the inhabitants of a small apartment building one by one. With a few gruesome kills and some fly-sticking situations, writer/director Kiah Roache-Turner establishes a mounting sense of dread that ensnares
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