Emma Kiely

From the directing to the script to the acting, All of Us Strangers is a film that will stay with you long after you watch it.

The Sound of Falling may be one of the most grim films on the female experience you’ll ever see, but it never rises above this darkness to deliver anything illuminating about being a woman.

An Cailín Ciúin is one of the most masterful meditations on childhood, family, and love.

Dahomey may not be for everyone. Unless you’re a history nut or anthropologist, there will be lulls when you find your concentration lagging. However, at a runtime of just over an hour, Diop makes every shot count and packs centuries of history, injustice, and triumph into a dense but vivid documentary.

It’s a crowdpleaser that will plaster a smile on your face from beginning to end with a high chance of some tears. Just when it teeters on overly saccharine territory, its hilarious script and earnest performances dial it back.

It doesn’t coast on its set-up, Skarsgård’s presence, or the taboos it approaches. It handles all these and then some, combining a compelling coming-of-age story, an endearing comedy, and a sex-positive odd romance into one of the best films of the year.

The chemistry between all of the Paira family members forms the beating heart of the film, devastating the audience by reminding them how happy they used to be, but promising them that nothing can shatter their sense of spirit, because they are together.

Sinners is an electric film sparkling with energy and passion.

Laxe is aiming to shock the audience, and in that, he succeeds, but the final product suffers as a result.

A first-hand retelling of how easily racism can become deadly, The Perfect Neighbor is one of the most compelling documents of how inherently dangerous it is for Black people to exist in America today.

It’s not only counterprogramming to the same formulaic true crime series that streaming platforms continue to churn out, but it’s also in direct dialog with these shows and the audience's unrelenting obsession with them.

It is at first a beautiful and ultimately tragic story of teenage dreams, lost innocence, and how abusers’ grasp extends far past their victims.

It’s an electric, atmospheric, and deeply soulful look at what it means to be human, what it means to have empathy, and how faith should never come before people.

You’ll Never Find Me gets lost in its own madness. Its ending is less ambiguous and more thoughtless.

It's a maddening and heart-pounding portrait of bureaucracy amid war and the mental torture of being helpless in the face of terror.

What keeps the movie going when the script starts to run out of ink are the brilliant performances all around.

The Balconettes is the announcement of a formidable comedic voice.

How to Have Sex is a fearless, uncomfortable, and mesmerizing watch from start to finish.

Instead of a flowing narrative, it’s a series of scenes, the worst and best parts of their 13-year relationship, and doesn’t come together well enough to feel like a complete story. This combined with the lack of Coppola’s vibrant, feminine, and electric aesthetic makes Priscilla a major disappointment from a true cinematic visionary who's capable of better.

All held together by a transcendent performance from Imogen Poots, The Chronology of Water isn’t the strongest directorial debut, but it does hold glimpses of what Stewart is capable of.

With a phenomenal performance from Frank Dillane and a thoughtful, open approach to those who lose their way in life, Urchin is a worthy contribution to the cinematic portfolio of British realism.

Carmoon establishes a plot that could have been great, but becomes too caught up in the visuals of it all, and the script pays the price.

Maestro is a refreshing subversion of the classic biopic.

An exciting and terrifying horror movie, a fresh and nuanced entry into the zombie catalog, a mesmerizing philosophical tale, all packed into a coming-of-age structure, 28 Years Later is one of the best zombie horror movies we’ve been given in years.

Father Mother Sister Brother does have little pockets of Jarmusch's genius scattered throughout, but not enough to make up for how unfulfilling the entire experience is.

It is a beautiful, haunting, and heartwarming look at the tidal wave that trauma brings not just to one person but their entire circle. With subtle but sharp notes on MeToo, cancel culture, online trolling, and sexual assault, I Used to Be Funny is a searingly relevant film without making that its main objective.

If you don’t like horror movies, then don’t go see this movie. This isn’t for you! This is for the Final Destination fans who’ve waited patiently for over a decade. It’s also for those who enjoy a ride of a movie that will raise and drop your heart rate multiple times over an hour and 47 minutes. With horror franchises constantly coming back from the dead, Bloodlines is one of the freshest we’ve seen in a while. It’s the perfect blend of going back to basics and cooking up something new, drenched in blood and snapping bones.

If The Killer teaches us anything, it’s that any director, no matter how legendary they are, can fall victim to a bad script. While Fincher’s iconic style permeates the two-hour runtime, the hollow plot and uninspired writing are impossible to ignore.