Ben Pearson

Even if you're not totally on its wavelength, watching Chokri's stylish fable is like panning for gold: It will present you with several nuggets worthy of closer examination.

Skywalkers: A Love Story is a dizzying and dazzling look at a hyper-niche culture that delivers some of the most jaw-dropping real-life footage you'll likely ever see.

Thelma's plight is handled with respect, and by putting us in her perspective, Margolin allows us to empathize and see the world through her eyes.

There are plenty of enjoyable moments here, and audiences who want nothing more than a Jason Statham beat-'em-up will surely be satisfied. But this movie's narrative and creative stumbles put into stark relief what we've known for 10 years now: The "John Wick" formula might seem easy to replicate, but to make an equally legendary action film is much, much harder than it looks.

Like all classic underdog stories, director Peter Nicks' Stephen Curry: Underrated is about determination. But it's also about second chances, and how believing in and supporting someone in their lowest moments can have life-changing consequences.

While I have a few complaints and there are a couple of head-scratching loose ends, The Flash is still a funny, emotional, action-heavy crowd-pleaser that ranks among the best DC movies ever made.

The Boogeyman doesn't set out to reinvent the wheel, but thankfully, it doesn't need to. Savage knows exactly how to push all the right buttons and pull all the right levers to engineer maximum potency, utilizing classical set-ups and pay-offs in entertaining, satisfying ways.

A mesmerizing, powerful glimpse at the irresistible siren call of the deep and a somber record of the human cost of pushing boundaries.

Lovable, uplifting, and guaranteed to put a smile on your face, "Rye Lane" is the funniest movie of 2023 so far and a highly satisfying walk-and-talk romance.

A powerful and important look behind the curtain, Beyond Utopia is one hell of a cinematic nail-biter and a stark reminder of the human rights violations being committed every day in 2023.

Carney has this genre on lock. No other working filmmaker has consistently captured what he's able to with his movies, zeroing in on the way music can bridge emotional distances.

Cassandro is a solid drama that provides another strong showcase for Gael García Bernal's many talents, and marks a largely successful transition into scripted storytelling for Roger Ross Williams.

Oldroyd lulled me into a false sense of expectation and then dropped a bomb into his movie that completely shifted the ground under my feet. I can't remember the last time I was so energized by a surprise.

Bursting with playful energy, set to a killer soundtrack, and dripping with personality, Polite Society is a winning, ultra-charming tale of sisterly love.

While this movie's story may sound familiar — it's about a religious teenage girl's sexual awakening in a stuffy community that would rather never address such things — its success is dependent on its execution, and writer/director Laurel Parmet, in her feature directorial debut, hits every target she aims for along the way.

The biggest strengths of the film are its sharp script and phenomenal lead actors, both of whom give committed performances which vacillate between ruthless pragmatism and explosive emotionality.

Cruise once referred to the '86 film as "an amusement park ride ... a joy ride [which] shouldn't be looked at beyond that," and for audiences who can watch "Top Gun: Maverick" through that lens and appreciate it as a piece of propulsive action cinema, this could end up being one of the most crowd-pleasing and satisfying movie experiences of the year.

A gripping snapshot of crimes in progress and an engrossing piece of cinematic activism, The Territory is a testament to the importance of being able to preserve your own history and tell your own story, as well as a call to action for the world to notice what's happening in the Amazon ... before it's too late.

At a certain point, Navalny kicks into spy movie mode, detailing how that "Bulgarian nerd" utilizes data acquired from the dark web to pore over phone records and flight manifests to narrow down a possible list of suspects. It's riveting stuff.

While it doesn't break any new ground in the horror space or do anything super mind-blowing from a narrative perspective, Hatching is a successful (if somewhat flat) exploration of that transitional period in one's life when an earlier version of yourself dies and a new version stands in its place.

A lovingly crafted ode to female friendship and the idea that it's never too late to embrace your true self.

Palmer's performance, disjointed though it may be because of the script, is solid in each individual time period, and though the movie speeds too quickly across the finish line after taking way too long to get revved up, its metaphors and parallels to the struggles of today are effectively drawn.

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is a spellbinding piece of filmmaking, an acting masterclass, a celebration of the written word, and a powerful cinematic plea for self-acceptance and self-love.

Even if its archetypes might feel overly familiar, the formula works for a reason, and when anything is executed with such pure-hearted joy and affection for its characters, you can't help but smile.

Ruthless, deeply cynical, and thrumming with jet-black humor, Dual is a Riley Stearns movie through and through.

An effective blend of lyrical impressionism and controlled precision, After Yang is another quietly impressive effort from Kogonada.

Fire of Love is a riveting portrait of a charismatic couple who lived life on the edge.

Is this a horror movie? A mystery? A thriller? There are elements of all of those things here, but the movie defies easy categorization, and its low-fi vibe and metaphor-heavy approach will not be everyone’s cup of tea. We’re All Going to the World’s Fair seems uninterested in adhering to genre trappings, instead focusing its attention on ideas about change.