James Berardinelli

The film captures a specific fissure in American history, where the ancient, superstitious wilderness was beginning to yield to the steam and steel of the industrial age.

It doesn’t feel fresh, but neither is it stale. Despite the very modern setting, the throwback elements are by far the most welcome aspects being offered, proving that sometimes, sticking to the basics is the smartest move a director can make.

Delivered with dashes of black comedy, thriller elements, and pathos, this film illustrates how even a seemingly decent, hard-working man can be driven to unthinkable lengths in pursuit of a job that's to die for… or, more appropriately, to kill for.

Made well, this sort of material has the potential for a deliciously lurid two hours. But Feig's lack of aptitude with the material results in a cheap and artificial product, never really drawing the viewer into its web and spinning an overlong yarn that fails to embrace an identity.

Marty Supreme is a flawed beast—occasionally irritating, sometimes shallow, and undeniably exhausting. But that exhaustion is the point. Safdie drags the audience through the wringer not to punish us, but to make the final release that much sweeter. Driven by Chalamet’s fearless performance and a directorial style that refuses to blink, the film leaves an impression.

Sentimental Value offers a powerful story about fathers and daughters, roads not taken, the thirst for redemption, and the path toward reconciliation.

Song Sung Blue is a good story—heartwarming, uplifting, tear-jerking, and chock full of a beautiful noise.

Alex is certainly worth spending a couple of hours with, even if the slow pace is better modulated for a night in than a night out.

This is as good as spectacle moviemaking gets: old-fashioned in intention but fully modern in execution. It may not stand quite as high as its two predecessors, but the fall-off is neither extreme nor precipitous.

For fans of the genre, Wake Up Dead Man delivers exactly what they have come to expect: a sharp, stylish puzzle box that is a joy to unlock.

With its curious fusion of tear-jerking drama and fish-out-of-water humor, Rental Family is indeed a strange brew—one of those films that sounds slightly ridiculous in synopsis but blossoms into something unexpectedly tender when experienced moment-to-moment.

It’s a seamless continuation of the stories and relationships introduced in Zootopia, moving things forward without making any radical changes to the underlying formula—and that consistency may be exactly what audiences want from a return trip to this animated menagerie.

It’s quirky, a little unpredictable, and never feels like warmed-over leftovers. There’s a bite to things – an edginess that doesn’t cut too deeply but keeps the sentimentality in check. One of the year’s most pleasant surprises.

Although not as good as the first Sisu—which made my 2022 Top 10 and has since become a cult favorite—Road to Revenge is a worthy follow-up.

Hamnet ultimately feels like the sort of mid-budget literary drama that used to be commonplace from the late 1980s through the early 2000s but has since become rare. It proves a better fit for Zhao than the blockbuster ambitions of Eternals: the intimate scale and emotional concentration suit her strengths.

Suffice it to say that those who love the play will sit enraptured through Wicked for Good and not think it’s a minute too long. Those without the same depth of connection may leave wishing Chu had hired a less generous editor and made better use of his pruning shears.

Although I didn’t find the film particularly noteworthy, I enjoyed visiting Paris in the late 1950s and appreciated the behind-the-scenes tour. Like many hangout films, it’s simply enjoyable to spend time with the characters, even if nothing momentous occurs (depending on one’s definition of whether the making of a classic movie qualifies as “momentous”).

The entire affair is so badly bungled that there isn’t even a briefly satisfying moment of catharsis. The obvious next act for these Horsemen is to vanish—and never come back.

Given some of the dubious decisions made in crafting the 1987 film, there was ample opportunity to make vast improvements. Unfortunately, this Running Man fails to take advantage and, while stumbling on approach to the finish line, it trips and falls in the final moments.

Del Toro's filmmaking instincts are solid and he makes this an engaging 150-minute journey, but when it was over, I never felt I had truly explored something fresh, and that was a mild disappointment.

When the story moves into the 2000s, Christy finds its true identity—not as a tale of athletic triumph but as a portrait of endurance and survival. It’s messy, painful, and deeply human, which makes it far more compelling than the average true-life sports drama.

The film lingers, not because it’s enjoyable, but because it refuses to let go. It’s the sort of movie you admire for its daring and endurance but would never want to watch a second time.

The decision to partially reinvent what a Predator movie can be is what makes Badlands work. While it leans on familiar sci-fi tropes and doesn’t exactly revolutionize the genre, it feels fresher than the other sequels and far less beholden to the original.

There are moments of brilliance, but overall this is a bit of a chore—and the ending renders the whole enterprise kind of pointless. Of the director’s six English-language films, this is his biggest misstep and the one I’ve liked the least.

Deliver Me from Nowhere wants to be profound, but it mostly feels like it’s still searching for a chorus.

Taut, relentless, and uncompromising, A House of Dynamite’s greatest strength is its sense of plausibility.

In truth, this feels more like a half-baked comedy sketch stretched far beyond its breaking point—until even the last traces of humor have leaked out like the gooey innards of a Stretch Armstrong toy that’s been tortured by a sadistic kid.

The Black Phone 2 stands as a strong companion piece to the original—firmly rooted in horror, maintaining continuity, yet not shackled by the tropes its predecessor embraced.