Chase Hutchinson

Stopmotion is a one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted horror film with a great performance from Aisling Franciosi.

A magnificent work of minimalism, the film is about these minute moments just as it’s about the most existential parts of life.

The funniest element of what vaguely gestures toward dark comedy is how poorly written this story about writers is.

Trần Anh Hùng’s The Taste of Things is a beautiful film that finds splendor in both its characters and their culinary creations.

Out of Darkness is an often jaw-dropping horror debut that arrives at a more substantive conclusion that makes everything more interesting in retrospect.

Skin Deep is the type of quietly ambitious film that never forgets about the personal while immersing us in vast ideas about the underpinnings of identity itself. It is a poetic and profound gem of an experience you wouldn't dare swap for anything else.

Much like the character he plays, Mikkelsen does a lot with very little, giving life to a barren world that is often defined by death and suffering. It is in his piercing stare that we are taken into the entire interior world of tumult he is trying to contain.

This supposed breakout strains to be edgy while remaining painfully inert. It initially makes for a sporadically fun game to play before revealing how little it has on its mind.

It takes a group that bumped up against the boundaries and instead just operates within them.

It certainly is a throwback, but it not only stops far short of being a comedy touchdown, it barely feels like it brings anything new to the field.

After pushing up against the confines of a conventional musical biopic, it does end up mostly operating within them, hitting all the notes you’d expect it to hit, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t ring mostly true when it counts.

Through it all, Collias is so confident and assured that it feels like this is her fiftieth leading role instead of her first.

Unabashedly silly, yet effectively sincere, it is a film that grows on you.

Cinema as an art form is made infinitely richer via films like Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell. As we let it linger in our minds just as the camera does up until one final unbroken shot, you drift somewhere you've never been before and may never be again.

The Settlers' is a beautiful yet brutal look at historical violence and the lasting impact it has on all who come into contact with it.

Through it all, Scott gives one of the year’s best performances, creating life in small moments.

In the end, Bayona’s film takes us right into the heart of this story with clear-eyed focus and the necessary technical craft to make it work.

It gradually starts to shift into something more comprehensively striking and somber the longer you sit with it.

The Zone of Interest is a formally precise yet completely shattering cinematic intervention that emerges as one of the most monumental films ever made.

For being based on such a memorable story, it's incredible how forgettable The Boys in the Boat is. Clooney's direction is so empty and the writing so trite that it leaves the committed cast stranded out on the water with nowhere meaningful to go.

For all the ways a four-hour experience may seem daunting, every facet of the film is necessary to understand all of this world and the people that populate it.

As the film becomes about the conflict between a handful of key characters, it takes on the machinations and trappings of a psychological thriller surrounding a mystery of sorts that we already know the answer to.

Without talking about how, why, or in what manner, it is Acken who emerges as the darkly delightful standout of The Sacrifice Game.

Much like the scene from which it gets its name, where a photo from an old album is flipped to reveal those four words, turning things over and holding them up to the light is the necessary starting point to finding the truth.

It is very much an ensemble film, yet it also serves as one of the final demonstrations of how Cloud could command a scene like no one else. That alone makes Your Lucky Day a bittersweet gift, but the sharp film also has quite a lot else going on as well.

It is the vibrancy to the presentation that remains the standout though the performances are also good fun.

While it is not going to be among the very best of 2023 when it comes to its story, the craft that went into its presentation is unlike anything you’ll see this year or any other. It manages to burst through the surface of its frequently stormy narrative waters and grab hold of your heart just as it does your eyes.

Godzilla Minus One more than carves out its place among the best entries of this long-running series.