Supergirl
Rating 4/10 James Gunn and Peter Safran are now two films into their new DC Universe. I admired parts of Superman, but couldn’t embrace its awkward mix of sunny optimism and casual cruelty. Supergirl continues that same sensibility. It’s filled with goofy aliens, offbeat humor, and comic-book wackiness. You’d think all of that would give […]
Leviticus
Rating 6/10 Leviticus is a book of the Bible that contains religious laws governing moral boundaries. This is a coming-of-age story shaped by the fear of falling outside God’s will. The title presents an isolated Australian town where biblical law is used to condemn desire. In this case, the attraction between two teens becomes the […]
Toy Story 5
Rating 7/10 Every Toy Story movie has centered on some existential threat to a toy’s purpose. The original feared replacement by something newer and shinier. The second was about being discarded because you’re damaged or no longer useful. The third explored the pain of being loved, but inevitably outgrown. The fourth questioned whether a toy’s […]
Tuner
Rating 8/10 This indie crime thriller came and went with little fanfare, but it’s one of those hidden gems that’s absolutely worth seeking out. Directed by Daniel Roher, the Oscar-winning documentarian behind Navalny, and co-written with screenwriter Robert Ramsey (Life, Intolerable Cruelty), the saga has a sharp sense of tension. Lowell A. Meyer’s cinematography also […]
Disclosure Day
Rating 4/10 Steven Spielberg has spent much of his career proving that aliens are the wondrous foundation of great cinema. From Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to War of the Worlds, his stories work when spectacle serves engaging characters and a strong emotional core. Disclosure Day has plenty of big […]
Power Ballad
Rating 8/10 Irish writer-director John Carney has built a remarkable career by celebrating how artists find connection through a melody. From the Oscar-winning Once to Begin Again, Sing Street, and Flora and Son, Carney has always found fresh ways to tell stories about people whose lives are transformed by music. His latest continues that streak. […]
Masters of the Universe
Rating 6/10 Masters of the Universe has ornate costumes, synth-rock, and plenty of camp. That is both its charm and its problem. He-Man lives somewhere in the middle of a heroic fantasy and a Mattel toy. Director Travis Knight embraces that with real affection. However, there is a difference between welcoming absurdity and drowning in […]
Pressure
Rating 6/10 The Allied invasion of Normandy is one of the most famous military operations ever undertaken. June 6, 1944, is a date etched into history. The Allies land on the beaches. The war’s turning point arrives. The challenge for this narrative is persuading us that any of it was ever in doubt. That is […]
Backrooms
Rating 8/10 Long before it became a movie, Backrooms originated from the internet’s preoccupation with “liminal spaces.” Users began sharing photographs of normally crowded areas, like malls, school hallways, and office buildings, that became strangely anxiety-inducing when deserted. These pictures weren’t traditionally frightening, but they evoked a peculiar mix of loneliness and unease. The liminal […]
I Love Boosters
Rating 7/10 There is something comical about an anti-capitalist critique being sold as entertainment that demands you purchase a ticket within the very system it wants to indict. But that contradiction is also part of the surreality. Director Boots Riley has given us a work too gleefully ridiculous to be received as a solemn manifesto. […]