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.

A triumphant, inspiring movie about the heroism of human decency, Ironbark is a rock solid spy drama that, if it came out 20 years ago, would have easily become a mainstay on TNT or TBS. Hollywood doesn’t make movies like this very often anymore, and if does prove to be part of a last gasp of character-focused period thrillers, at least the genre is going out with some style.

Most of the time, attaching visuals to these songs I know so well enhanced my experience because actually seeing the performers, chests heaving and sweaty from performing choreography while singing, gave me a newfound appreciation for the disembodied voices that have been branded into my brain. But occasionally, a lighting or camera choice actually lessened my enjoyment of a song.

Underneath all the jokes and humorous moments, the movie is fundamentally about how important it is to love yourself – and about how something so seemingly simple can sometimes be incredibly difficult.

The movie works mainly because of the magnetism and sincerity of its cast, who are giving it their all throughout. Engels and Noel have excellent chemistry, and their world is populated with charismatic, dynamic supporting players, best represented by Saunderson’s maximalist take on Mercutio. If this is what it takes to introduce a new generation to a classic story, so be it.

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.

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.

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.

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.

There’s a beating heart at the center of First Date, but unfortunately, the movie is less interested in exploring that central relationship and more amused with its zany cast of idiotic supporting characters. Good pacing can only get you so far.

It’s a soulful slice of life movie, but one that has so many slices that you end up with multiple pizzas by the time the end credits roll. And hey, everyone loves pizza, right? But when you have a belly full of it, you can look back and realize that there is such a thing as too much. One thing’s for sure: you won’t see another movie like it this year.

The film reiterates every detail you already know from the key reports that have been published about him, but the true power of this movie (and for me, the only reason it should exist at all) comes in its interviews with Weinstein’s victims, and the stories from these women are just as heart-rending and disturbing as you probably imagine.

A maniacal whirlwind of cinematic insanity, it feels equally likely that Prisoners of the Ghostland could become a cult classic or disappear into the fog. Whether its overall inscrutability is a bug or a feature remains to be seen.

The movie never arrives at a place where all of its conversations and provocations feel like they coalesce into a clear thesis, and its frustrating ending leans toward emotional resonance but doesn’t land with the punch the filmmakers were hoping.

A Glitch in the Matrix is more than just a conspiracy theory movie: it’s about how we function in a societal system, how we interact with other people, and what happens when we embrace a worldview which seemingly offers answers to things in life that don’t make sense to us. But the movie stumbles over its muddled execution of some of those ideas, and as a result, can’t help but feel like a letdown.