Movies

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

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