Ferdosa Abdi

What makes it practically perfect is that it accomplishes everything it sets out to do. It is funny, exciting, beautiful, and all-around meaningful.

The Monk and the Gun is a true crowd-pleaser, a poignant message wrapped up in a humorous and vibrant tale.

It’s pretty darn great. It’s goofy, endearing, darkly funny, and incredibly relevant.

Plankton: The Movie is a gem. Fans of the original series and fans born along the way will enjoy it immensely.

It is a moving portrait of a troubled young woman facing what so many face during their lifetimes. Displacement, anxiety, and self-doubt are universal experiences, and they're all beautifully captured through Chou’s vision and Ji-min’s stunning performance, which is among the best to be captured on camera.

The film is truly a feast for the eyes and ears.

From its endearing animation style, which blends a 2D aesthetic with 3D technology, to its poignant and refreshing writing, Orion and the Dark is a true joy to watch.

The Devil's Bath is bleak but well worth the watch, especially if you like being guided down Franz and Fiala's dark, twisted rabbit hole.

The Long Walk is a film that requires patience from the audience as it unfolds; there is plenty to digest. With a stellar ensemble cast and a challenging, emotionally-driven narrative, this atypical ghost story will nestle into viewers' minds until Mattie Do’s next directorial triumph.

The film, comprised of over 20 stories, is a cry for help. A cry for humanity. A cry for justice.

No matter how ridiculous the plot, and no matter how super Christmas-y these films get, Hudgens will remain the steadfast north star.

No Exit is a gratifying thriller with a stellar lead performance by Liu. It is a concise and impactful piece of work, even when it stumbles in the third act. It is well worth a watch, especially for fans of the single-location thriller subgenre.

In The Voyeurs, writer-director Michael Mohan takes all the lessons of the truly wild erotic thrillers of the 1990s and brings them into the modern age. With a dose of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Brian De Palma’s Body Double, The Voyeurs perfectly captures all there is to love about the genre.

With dazzling lead performances from Jimmy O. Yang and Nina Dobrev, Love Hard will surely be a Christmas romantic comedy worth revisiting every year.

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is bright, joyous and hopeful. The script is honest, sweet, and humorous, and comes to life beautifully with a dazzling ensemble cast led by Harwood.

The Outfit is an old-fashioned and masterfully crafted crime thriller that makes good use of its setting, charismatic cast and an excellent lead.

The film is outstanding in almost every regard. It's an uplifting, hilarious, gut-wrenching, and stunning animated adventure that reaffirms the power of a parent's love.

From beginning to end, Hellbender is an impressive, at times shocking, and enthralling triumph.

Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City is a fun and faithful adaptation of the games it is based on, but is lacking in character substance.

Fire Island is a mesmerizing, joyous experience and one of the best modern adaptations of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The film has also solidified itself as one of the best romantic comedies to date. It is filled with plenty of hearty laughs, heartfelt sighs, and heartbreaking moments, making it worth revisiting repeatedly.

If there is any justice, Door Mouse will garner the attention it deserves for being a well-defined narrative brought to life effectively and efficiently by a talented director whose imagination and creative drive become more evident with each scene.

We get two influential actors reuniting on the big screen in a film that is comparable to their acting gifts.

With an underlying theme of love and acceptance, Single All The Way blossoms into a funny, delightful, and heartwarming romcom gift for all.

What really makes That Christmas such a joy to experience is the colorful details, from the writing to the scenery to the set and character designs to the atmosphere.

Laymon expertly crafts a narrative that feels as universal as it is unique. This film embraces a hopeful path, expressing with absolute sincerity that believing in the humanity of others is essential to healing.

Swan Song is a respectable science-fiction drama. While it may feel overwrought and overly sentimental in parts, the film is immersive and engaging. Ali is magnetic and his natural onscreen charisma, paired with a terrific performance, make Swan Song an absolute must-see.

Anything is Possible is great for what it is, but its potential is even greater.

How It Ends is a quirky and grounded indie feature about facing one's issues head-on when the world is about to be destroyed by an asteroid.

The film is an effective, thrilling, frightening horror, perfect for those who enjoyed Bird Box and are thrilled by the prospect of more.

To enjoy After Blue, one should be open to an experience that overtakes the senses. Despite the long runtime, it offers a wholly unique experience.

From its compelling topic choice, a star-making lead role, stellar ensemble cast, and crafty execution, Música is a must-see.

The film effectively illustrates how hazing is not singularly a university issue.

Ma Belle, My Beauty excels in its visual storytelling, which is paired beautifully with a lively acoustic score and talented actors.

Run Sweetheart Run has a fierceness to its story that has to be admired, and paired with Balinska’s committed performance, the horror film is a must-watch.

It is a solid sports biopic that aims to celebrate the cherished memories the Antetokounmpos have and their continued success as a united, happy, and prosperous family.

While formulaic, Bruised beats the odds by being a fairly entertaining & moving sports drama that has everything one would expect from a Berry film.

Ultimately, the film has some heartfelt moments and themes, and while dark and violent, it is, in the end, an uplifting story about family, legacy, and hope.

Don’t underestimate Upgraded. The script is snappy and entertaining, the characters are colorful, Mendes and Renaux carry the romance very well, and the film is a fun escapist rom-com that gives exactly what it needs to provide us with a good time.

The Boston Strangler case may not have come to the fairest conclusion, but the efforts of these brave women will hopefully continue to light a fire under those who will catch their own Boston Strangler. If that was Ruskin’s goal with this film, then he was successful.

For all its flaws, The Deb is hilarious and entertaining. The music is infectious.

Orphan: First Kill is a kooky romp, way too relaxed to be considered a psychological horror.

Ricci’s assured and robust lead performance helps build upon some exciting ideas in the script and is ultimately the reason to watch. She is thoroughly captivating and, while the film never reaches her level of excellence, it is still a relatively fun, wonky ride.

The return of Axel will satisfy fans of the franchise, and it might encourage those who are just tuning in to watch the original trilogy, if only to watch one of Murphy’s most significant roles from the 80s, a true golden era for the multi-hyphenate entertainer.

Elevation comes across as a mild copycat rather than a compelling project that stands on its own merits.

A Perfect Pairing may not stand out to most, but its wholesome aura, charming leads, and beautiful cinematography is enough to warrant an enthusiastic watch. If the goal for any romantic comedy is to fill one with that particular, indescribable warm and fuzzy feeling, then A Perfect Pairing accomplishes that.

See For Me is an exciting home invasion thriller that dares to challenge viewers with a complicated lead, even if it somewhat fumbles the execution.

Ultimately, Cassandro is a touching tale of a remarkable person who paved the path for others to find liberation and acceptance through their chosen art.

Love at First Sight has the potential to be a go-to choice whenever one is feeling in the mood for a light cry and swoon.

Despite its flaws, it encourages a re-examination of Apartheid South Africa and a closer look at the tiny sparks that lit the flame known as the Free Nelson Mandela campaign and the overall cultural shift against Apartheid.

With an amusing ensemble cast, a sturdy script, lovely filmmaking, and the power of its leads' chemistry, Happiness For Beginners is a modest delight.

It's the right amount of romantic, funny, and thrilling, and it does what it needs to do to make its narrative feel less derivative and more dynamic and fun.

Wedding Season may appear to be another Hallmark-esque romantic comedy from Netflix, but it is actually a delightful endeavor that will warm the hearts of its viewers.

All one can hope to get is a colorful and exciting adventure that allows the characters’ personalities to shine. Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie succeeds in that regard.

Ultimately, Sweet Girl doesn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel or anything, but it tries to have fun with its material nonetheless.

Extraction 2 is weighed down by Rake’s hang-ups over his choices, but the drama of the familial unit Rake is out to rescue is enough. Hargrave's vision is clear.

Ultimately, Inheritance is a fairly good attempt to branch out into different technical abilities within the spy thriller genre. Hopefully, this method and films like Inheritance continue to inspire such attempts.

The convergence of the story of a bereaved mother with a cult-like presence in the new country she calls home does not blend as effortlessly as one would like. The third act proves it cannot. Despite this, however, The Twin makes for a fairly constructive horror that is worth a watch.

Conventional choices are thrown out the window and the audience is left with a delightful adventure worth revisiting time and time again.

Cummings and McCabe don’t quite balance the purple envelope mystery with the character study of a self-involved man, and the ending takes a sharp left towards confusion, but it is surely something worth watching.

The ending feels way too cookie-cutter perfect. Scrambled is a worthwhile experience, though, as it is a personal tale that aims to empower through laughter.

Everything in American Star hinges on McShane's intuitive performance that rejects the obvious and embraces ambiguity.

A stumble in the third act derails the whole adventure, bringing the enjoyment to a screeching halt. However, with some foresight, Windfall could have been a sure-fire hit.

Achoura is by no means a bad film — quite the opposite in fact. There is potential for Selhami’s career as a horror writer-director as his vision and ambition shine bright through his film.

A Tourist's Guide to Love is not remarkable, but its simplicity and familiarity are comfortable and, most importantly, entertaining.

The film has two major things going for it: Goldstein and Poots' casting and their characters' chemistry. The only thing that fully captures our attention from beginning to end is Laura and Simons’ undeniable spark and charming banter.

Mother of the Bride's success rests on the filmmakers' abilities to not oversell anything and trust that the collective charisma of the assembled cast will do what it needs to do — and it does, though a flimsy script and one major miscast can be distracting.

The Mother is a lean, mean actioner, but one that could have benefited from better editing and a tighter script. That’s not to say that the film is terrible or unbearable by any means, it's just that it is a straightforward narrative that does not require a nearly two-hour run time to tell it right.

Confess, Fletch isn't a ringing endorsement of rebooting projects from the 80s; instead, it is an excellent showcase of Jon Hamm's comedic chops, a well-known skill that has been primarily misused until now.

The film is very pleasant and manages to succeed in what many romantic comedies often fail to do — be entertaining and worth revisiting.

The most glaring issue with Spaceman is that the leap from page to screen leaves quite a bit of the story behind and saddles its lead actor with much of the heavy lifting.

There needs to be a vision, an ambition to make something good and memorable. Ida Red, unfortunately, seems to fall into the trap of emulating better crime dramas instead of trying to stand out on the merits of its own story.

With so many people and life going back to some semblance of normalcy, Alone Together may feel slightly too late, but Holmes' film offers something worth engaging with.

This story isn't the flashiest werewolf tale, but it is worth seeing thanks to a fresh perspective. As flawed as the story may be, the story from a child's eyes offers a new and unique entry point for the subgenre.

Falling For Christmas was the best comeback film for Lohan; it could have been better quality, but it is better than nothing. She's in her element, and her natural charisma is illuminated, partially by how uninteresting her costar is. The script and overall production leave much to be desired, but with how low expectations usually are, this one is okay.

The talent is abundant on screen and behind the camera, but a flimsy screenplay fails them all.

The film manages to be a very straightforward horror, but the lackluster character work diminishes whatever good comes from its genre shift, and the shift is substantial.

It is great that this blended family is so diverse, but if there is no thoughtful integration of their stories, they remain merely set dressing.

Praise This is wildly uneven but not entirely unenjoyable. There is enough here that makes the film perfectly fine. It is formulaic, but its earnestness and impactful narrative will touch many.

For what it is, and for who it is for, Redeeming Love is in its own way an effective showing of the power of love. Undoubtedly, however, a more compelling romantic drama about a woman finding peace with herself could have been told.

Krieps has such a clear vision of who Vivienne is when she isn’t the object of romance, violence or intolerance. Her quirks and quiet dominance ultimately shift the film toward the direction Mortensen thought he was headed.

Ultimately, Michel Franco’s Sundown feels hollow and too nihilistic for its own good.

Retribution is comically familiar, yet that familiarity breeds a sense of comfort for the average movie watcher who wants something not too complicated or tedious.

While it has entertaining moments, Black as Night isn't very balanced and the overall lack of levity ultimately makes the film a slog to get through.

They/Them is impactful for its reason for existing and the excellent ensemble cast that deserves to shine. The film is not unwatchable; it is merely without excitement. Satisfying as it is for the film to directly take aim at dangerous institutions, there is sadness in knowing this horror couldn't find a happy middle.

While Bloom and MacDowell anchor the film with their strong performances, leading an ensemble cast that is foundational to this rugged Western, the score by Mondo Boys and cinematography by Johnny Derango do a lot to embed the themes and concepts into the atmosphere of the film.

Interceptor checks all the boxes in terms of making an action film that will grab the audience's attention, have one root for the hero, and let out a few chuckles (especially for one horribly done cameo) before promptly forgetting the movie exists.

It's not outright terrible, but it's nothing to get too excited about, either. There's even a sweet subplot about mother and daughters and familial trust. It's an overall cute family movie and anyone who adores Diaz and Foxx will find a way to enjoy it.

With a stellar leading pair who make the most of the screenplay, Darby and the Dead has enough to keep audiences moved and laughing on occasion, though it is unclear whether it can bring viewers back for a rewatch. The only certainty is that Downs and Cravalho are great together and should have the privilege of leading more projects.

It is heartfelt in its embrace of silliness, and for that reason alone, it is worth a watch.

It's a visceral experience, though it doesn't reach those epic highs because the romance, while it works on paper, doesn't quite materialize as expected.

Unwelcome is many things — entertaining is one of them. But with little focus on what actually makes this film worthwhile, the result is disappointing.

The film is, unfortunately, just another instance of the book being better than the movie.

All in all, Creation Stories is by no means a loss, it's just missing that special ingredient that would transform it into a film worth being excited about. Instead, it could have simply been a spirited documentary narrated by Bremner.

It does not reinvent the wheel, but it engages viewers on a visual and cerebral level. There is a precarious balance between the heavy themes of the script and the upbeat nature of this Bad Boys-esque action film, but somehow it sticks the landing.

The best action sequence comes at the end, which bolsters the film's best use of camera movement and editing to highlight the fight choreography.

There aren't any surprises, and all that we are left with is a little bit of satisfaction and underlying curiosity as to why this movie was worth investing in.

Despite the lack of kinetic energy and well-developed characters, the movie offers a rather humorous take on the art world and its criminal underbelly with characters that are enjoyable to watch.

The Royal Treatment is ultimately benign fun. It is sweet, simple, and boring.