Jeff Ewing

It's a film that subtly reminds the audience to slow down, be present, and enjoy what one has, because it can be gone in an instant, while also encouraging hope. It's a beautiful cinematic journey and one not to be missed.

The Outlaws is a lean Western tale of paranoia and betrayal that mostly hits the target, but lacks greater all-around development.

It’s a solid, aspirant crowd-pleaser that may not reinvent the wheel, but it proudly boasts a good enough set of them and confidently stays on the tracks.

Carmen is a largely enjoyable outing, fueled by a fresh take on the narrative and two leads with great expressiveness and a lot of on-screen chemistry. Barrera's dancing is truly beautiful, the choreography is inspired, and the gorgeous score pulls it all together.

Inconsistencies and issues aside, Shazam 2 hits the comic book movie sweet spot. The performances are strong, the humor lands, and the stakes feel high with comic book panache and the kinds of visuals one only gets in a comic book (business-destroying minotaurs, anyone?).

Altogether, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a fun MCU entry that finally starts to feel like the new Saga is pointing somewhere interesting.

It takes some smart turns in the finale that modernize old tropes and give familiar beats a refreshing upgrade to relevant (but perhaps insufficient) degrees. The dialogue and situations feel real and authentic, and the performers land the material and have strong cast chemistry. At the same time, much of the movie is enjoyable but feels inescapably familiar.

80 for Brady isn't the most original play in the playbook, minus the sheer atypicality of aiming a gang of protagonists with around almost 400 years between them at a sports event for which they aren't the usual fanbase. That said, the comedy has enough charm, memorable moments, and charismatic performances from legendary actresses that it's a good, breezy time.

From a horror standpoint, M3GAN could be scarier, but it's difficult enough for a film to balance suspense, a nuanced look at grief, and intelligently meta jokes, and M3GAN does all that surprisingly well. The long and the short of it is that, while M3GAN could perhaps be scarier and it doesn't feel entirely conceptually novel, it's a genuinely great addition to the horror-comedy canon.

A Man Called Otto has its moments, both humorous and heartwarming, and it works better than it should due to the strength of its performances. Unfortunately, it's also plagued by choices that blunt its overall coherence, seeming like Forster wanted to make an entirely different kind of film than the material dictated.

One can't help but note the irony of a film about the pivot from the silent era to the talkies having such a loud, booming start but ending with a muffled thud.