Liz Shannon Miller

If Clueless is the definitive modern-day adaptation of Emma, then Fire Island deserves the same crown for Pride and Prejudice.

The best movies are little worlds that welcome you into the experiences of fascinating characters, giving you everything you need to understand their perspectives and actions. Past Lives does so in spades, painting on a small canvas, but with rich hues of emotion and meaning, knowing that a great story and a great life aren’t necessarily the same thing.

Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé is a true odyssey, a maximalist explosion of sparkles and beats and visuals and insight.

Grounded and yet also experimental, cold at some points and intimate at others, The Zone of Interest is one of the year’s most deliberately challenging films, unafraid to explore one of humanity’s darkest moments from some unexpected angles.

The strengths of Furiosa do not eclipse Fury Road, to be clear, nor does the latter film shine as far superior. Instead, they really are two pieces of the same puzzle, different in their scope but connected not just by characters, but by ethos and aesthetic. It’s the ultimate double-feature, and afterwards, you’re gonna want to drive fast.

Every Little Thing isn’t a movie you watch for story, though — it’s a movie you watch for understanding. Not just the nuances of what it means to be a caretaker like this, but what it’s like to see the world from the perspective of the tiny and vulnerable. Because this world, in microcosm, is so full of little beauties.

The scope of Presence remains small and intimate throughout, in a way that really makes you appreciate Soderbergh’s craft, especially his attention to detail.

A rich feast for cinephiles, filled with love for the craft that makes movies like this possible.

There’s such humanity and spirit to what del Toro has done that despite the narrative differences, it genuinely feels like the definitive take on Shelley’s classic tale. He’s said what he wants to say about his beloved Creature, and we are better for it.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is a choreographed dance of an experience — one that could have easily felt like a run-on sentence. However, Anderson is skilled enough as a filmmaker to make sure to pace things out with a deliberate and sure hand, utilizing both long takes and clever edits to make 37 minutes fly by like 15.

Badlands doesn’t compromise anything we’ve previously understood about one of cinema’s most terrifying villains. It simply opens up a whole new way of thinking about them, and what they represent. Never thought I’d use the word “beautiful” in reference to a Predator movie. But that’s what makes it such a wonderful surprise.

In a time when so much of what we consume can feel plastic and cheap and mass-produced, it’s the human touch we come to crave — especially when it leads to something as fun as this.

Right to the final exhilarating moments, Challengers plays a bold game — sports action so visceral you can feel the sweat dripping off the screen, along with the emotional rallying that occurs off the court.

The film is relatively sparing in how it depicts said atrocity, but the horror of it still comes through, while never distracting from the delicate bond that emerges between Jacqueline and Callie (Alia Shawkat), another ex-pat working as a tour guide through the ruins.

In a narrative filled with numerous opportunities for scenes you’ve seen before, Durham ducks all the cliches to stay focused on what’s most important: a father, a daughter, and the words they shared between them.

Get Back is the history. Let It Be is a poem. [2024 Restored Version]

It makes for a deeply unconventional sort of fairy tale, but this is George Miller we’re talking about. What else did we expect?

There’s something relatively shocking about the way One Battle After Another comments on This Moment In Time; it almost seems like production on the movie wrapped yesterday, as opposed to mid-2024. Yet while its focus on issues of political power, immigration, and the rise of white supremacy are all too relevant, Anderson never loses sight of his characters, and the different ways in which they commit to taking action.

Spinal Tap II holds onto the real sense that these men, despite everything they've been through, have loved each other almost their entire lives. Guest and McKean in particular met in college in the late 1960s, and they've been playing music together ever since; there's something beautiful about the fact that they've found their way to this moment, after so many decades — one where the only laughter they care about is each other's.

It’s the strongest Benoit Blanc movie yet, thanks to the way that the best artists learn and grown from their previous works, applying those lessons to their future projects.

The Holdovers is the easiest possible recommendation, a perfect time capsule of a kind of movie that may not be totally extinct.

Directors Adam Nee and Aaron Nee manage to find just the right balance between action, comedy, and romance to make all three work harmoniously together, while playing with a team of all-stars who make the material sing.

Calibrating a horror-comedy requires intense precision, since the director has to keep the tension alive while also bringing in just the right level of over-the-top gore and mayhem to inspire laughs, not screams. I’d estimate that a good 95% of The Monkey is totally dialed in, especially when it comes to finding a level of gore that plays as hilariously disturbing.

There ends up being something really profound about the way A Real Pain lets the undercurrent of history serve as contrast to the deeply felt emotions of its core character story.

Love Me had the potential to be a little too precious in its storytelling — certainly there’s something profoundly cute about two robots falling in love, as any Wall-E fan will tell you. What keeps the narrative balanced is the raw bleakness of the setting.

Barbie is a magic trick, a stellar example of a filmmaker taking a well-established bit of corporate IP and using it to deliver a message loudly and clearly. That Greta Gerwig’s third solo film as director also manages to be a giddy, silly, and hilarious time is essential to its power, and the challenge of this review is thus trying to explore how the magic trick works, while still preserving the flat-out awe I have at what it achieves.

Wakanda Forever, first and foremost is a film about grief — which is extremely fitting for a movie that, in another and perhaps better timeline, would have starred the man who led the original film to both box office and awards glory.

There are choices here that prove reminiscent of the iconic Looney Tunes cartoon “Duck Amuck” — if “Duck Amuck” was over two hours long, and Chuck Jones had chugged four dozen Four Lokos while directing it.

The relaunch of the classic comedy series captures exactly what made the original, and other movies from the team behind Airplane!, so essential: An almost non-stop onslaught of silly and random moments, rejecting any attempt at logic to instead go for the gut — which is to say, the belly laugh.

A perfect summer movie, and a celebration of the hard work it takes to make a perfect summer movie happen.

What’s so inspiring about Better Man is that it represents the culmination of such a smart collection of choices, ones that add up to create a true portrait of an artist.

The bluntness of its messaging proves to be a bit of a detraction, but the fact remains that Where the Crawdads Sing is a heartfelt, and gorgeous picture, the kind which major studios used to make all the time, and now feel like a bit of an endangered species.

Although "Wuthering Heights" remains a deliciously horny film, it does summon a certain degree of pure romance, especially in the few moments when its leads are able to see past their misunderstandings and actually connect.

Wolfs is classy, smart, fun, and engaging storytelling, a solid film that plays great in a full theater and could have offered audiences a nice grown-up night at the movies.

While Don’t Worry Darling isn’t perfect, the only baggage it deserves to be saddled with is the baggage of attempting to tell a story with an obvious twist in our twist-numbed culture. For in the end, the real twist is this: even in 2022, true equality between men and women still feels like a fairy tale.

Watching brilliant actors face off over issues of idealism, pragmatism, and maybe occasionally faith makes for captivating viewing. Conclave even dares to make it a little fun. Which might be its most subversive element.

The Best Summer is a must-see for music fans — or anyone charmed by the bittersweet beauty of remembering the past.

The real horrors presented by the film are all internal, about what can happen to a person if they repress too much of themselves over time. There are ghosts, but they’re the ghosts of potential happiness and fulfillment. And those ghosts haunt us like none other.

It’s all too appropriate that at the center of Honor Among Thieves is a message about the value of found families, and how strong and powerful those relationships can be. That underlying sweetness, the incredibly game nature of its cast, and again, an emphasis on fun make this a film worthy of the brand, one that might even inspire some new converts to discover the adventure possible on their own tabletops.

It’s a movie that deserves our attention, if only for the elegiac peace of its narrative, and its reminder to appreciate the small things in life. Because they sometimes matter most.

The storytelling is great here, but it’s really the action where this movie shines. As with Prey, the secret sauce here is an almost Looney Tunes-esque approach: Buckets of red and green blood are spilled both due to the human stories as well as the Predator’s hunting, in inventive ways that prove thrilling right from the jump.

Beneath the layers of magical realism and dot-com satire, American Society feels personal and raw, capturing the real depth and range of emotions that a person of color is made to feel, living in a country where racism remains ever-present, especially now.

With Sinners, Coogler confirms that he has a real talent for exploring and reinventing genres, while still telling a story that feels wholly original. There are a few points where characters make dumb decisions — much like real-life humans do — but execution-wise, the movie is quite the roller coaster, a ride worth taking.

Multiverse of Madness isn’t wildly unconventional in its story choices, but the fun it has exploring the possibilities of this narrative makes it a treat.

The Bone Temple once again pulls off the 28 Days Later trick of finding moments of grace at the end of the world, with enough beautiful moments to balance out the grotesque ones.

In many ways, Thunderbolts* feels like a breath of fresh air and a notable step forward for the MCU as a whole, which is pretty remarkable given that this is a cast of characters where the literal point is that they’re the scraps left over from past Marvel adventures — loose ends left adrift.

Beyond the gross-out humor and music video homages, there’s a sweet and emotional story about finding family in the world where you’d least expect it, and the strength that can be found in friendship.

As personal as some of this material feels, it feels like a real collaboration of artists, all enabling Cooper to tell a heartfelt story with universal scope. Cooper’s not one of our finest filmmakers, but like Alex, he’s getting better with each effort. And whether you’re talking about relationships, comedy, or life itself, effort counts for a lot.

This new Lilo & Stitch manages to capture the real emotion embedded in this story, while also nailing all the fun that comes from an agent of chaos discovering he has a heart.

It's easy to imagine Tom Cruise watching F1 and seething with jealousy. Because the racing sequences look like they were as thrilling to shoot as they are to watch.

Separated from the most exciting/controversial/unexpected moments in play, and without the element of surprise, does No Way Home hold up as a good story well told? The answer is yes to a degree…but it could have gone further.

In Heartbreakers Beach Party, Crowe is ten years into his career as a music journalist, and does seem to have internalized these lessons to some degree. What he’s learned is how to seem like the band’s friend, which makes the film’s most honest and revealing moments possible. But there’s still enough fan in him for the film to ultimately feel like a celebration of their work.

While the best thing about this movie is its clarity of intent, the worst thing about it is that it uses blunt force to call out its reference points, name-checking both Die Hard and Home Alone repeatedly.

Renfield knows exactly what it wants to achieve and does so effectively, anchored by its lead performances and some very enjoyable super-violent action sequences which earn its R rating honestly.

There’s still plenty of originality in the mix, if only because of the boundaries pushed: Easily the most exciting moment of watching Lisa Frankenstein is discovering just how far Cody and Williams are prepared to take this story (which is to say, to places you just might not expect). That daring attitude is the spark which brings the monster to life — and it’s a monster you can learn to love.

Haunted Mansion uses its existence as an opportunity to tell a story about life, death, and what it means to let go of someone you love — yet another reminder that in the right hands, previously existing intellectual property isn’t necessarily a roadblock for storytellers. Sometimes, it can be the car that makes the journey possible.

The reason to watch this, aside from its in-depth look at the world of independent lucha libre, is star Gael García Bernal, who throws himself into this role and the ring, performing a truly impressive series of stunts while celebrating Cassandro’s achievements.

The world-building might not be 100% there, but it’s a true crowd-pleaser that’s paced within an inch of its life.

Johnson never fully disappears into the role, but were he to do so, it might almost diminish his performance — one which never distracts from the narrative, but keeps present the awareness that Johnson is really going through it here. If he made it look easy, it somehow wouldn’t be quite as impressive.

Calling First Steps the best Fantastic Four movie yet is accurate and also easy, thanks to the low-budget hilarity of 1994's Roger Corman-produced effort, the two lackluster (and blatantly sexist) 2000s movies, and Josh Trank's 2015 disaster. Yet just on its own merits, it's a solid comic book adventure that's not embarrassed by being a comic book adventure — in fact it finds real power in its love for its roots.

What Bumblebee does best is remember that this is a franchise for the young, and embrace that fact without any shame while also still delivering on the action. There’s no self-importance, no grafting of ultra-patriotism and too-dense mythology onto what should be a simple narrative.

Quantumania might be key to kicking off the big arcs to come in the MCU Phase 5, but it doesn't forget to have a good time.

The story may never break free of its more dated tropes, but the Dune movies represent a remarkable collection of talent coming together to, if nothing else, remind us of the power of epic storytelling on a big screen.

While the stakes are never less than serious and the tone never wavers, there’s still a playfulness to many of Monkey Man’s fight scenes that makes them thrilling to watch — and to generate excitement for whatever Patel might choose to do next.

BlackBerry holds up well as a blunt portrait of BlackBerry’s ascendance as well as its eventual decline, with cinematographer Jared Raab riffing on the documentary-esque filming approach of Succession to keep the action kinetic.

One of Sometimes I Think About Dying‘s strongest qualities is that Fran’s emerging bond with Robert isn’t presented as a saving grace — instead, it’s just one potential opportunity to pull her out of her comfort zone.

What this film does achieve is telling a solid new Batman story, one with some pretty compelling twists and a strong point-of-view on who, exactly, the Caped Crusader is. By default, that makes it one of the better Batman movies ever made.

Loud, gory, sometimes silly, sometimes scary, and nearly always constant fun, Studio 666 is tailored to a pretty specific audience but has the potential to break outside of that niche, thanks to its commitment to old-school horror tropes with a hearty side of rock and roll.

Heart of Stone is the rare streaming movie that does not open with an in medias res action sequence, followed by a “[Some Amount of Time] Earlier” card and a flashback to simpler days.

At its core, it’s simply a sweet personal story — made by a guy who, as we see here, started off wanting to do exactly that.

It’s a performance worthy of all the acclaim it’s received, not just because of the emotional impact that Anderson’s involvement brings. Her work is instead a reminder that none of us are obsolete as long as we keep breathing. We always have a chance to tell our stories.

Because that’s ultimately what Reitman succeeds at with Saturday Night — capturing the allure that’s kept audiences tuning in for what will be 50 seasons, come September 28th, 2024. The sense that something magical is going on in a little studio called 8H. No one knows what will happen. But they want to find out.

In a lot of ways, Top Gun: Maverick is the platonic ideal of a film sequel, constantly in dialogue with the original project, and committed to growing and expanding upon that source material.

Like in fighting, there are some movies of a certain caliber, which excel because they know exactly what kind of movie they’re meant to be. Road House is definitely a fun watch — because it doesn’t punch above its weight class.

Lady manages two remarkable achievements at once: Delivering both a slice-of-life narrative, rich with cultural details, while at the same time telling a galvanizing, even inspiring story about what it takes to activate a person towards speaking out for real change.

Grim and gritty are words this movie firmly rejects, instead leaning into the human side of everyone involved, even its villains. There are a few choices that work less well than others, but the end result is a movie that doesn't sacrifice its titular character in service to franchise-building. Instead, it focuses on celebrating the values that Superman himself has embodied from the beginning.

Anyone who’s ever been to a great concert knows that it’s the very rare movie that can fully capture the transcendence of live performance. Hit Me Hard and Soft gets damn close thanks to the dual perspectives of its directors: The artist at the peak of her abilities, and the observer in awe of what he’s witnessing.

If the Avatar universe is going to be James Cameron’s preferred delivery method for visual spectacle on this scale going forward, then, let’s face it — by then, we’re all going to be itching for our next trip to Pandora.

Craig’s performance on its own is worth the price of admission, and if nothing else Guadagnino really knows how to transport the viewer to a completely different place and time from today. With his films, the cliche has never been more true: The journey is the destination.

Though the plot might feel a bit overly complicated, given the level of Serious Business being discussed in serious tones by these characters, it never drowns out the key emotional connection. There’s nothing seismic here, just a colorful, enjoyable yarn by one of the best cinematic confectioners around. One with some real heart to it.

Mangold’s steady direction doesn’t quite live up to Spielberg’s signature flair, but this is a solid entry in the franchise, solid enough to even inspire interest in future installments.

There are several sequences where the comedy of Thelma really sings, but if the film was just a parody, it would maybe be a funny yet rough watch. Fortunately, its depth of feeling for its elderly characters elevates it to a strange hybrid that works remarkably well, with Squibb’s performance in particular bringing it all together.

Does Rebirth set up a promising new future for the franchise, as its title suggests? Not exactly — again, this feels very much like a stand-alone adventure. But it does prove that it’s still possible to tell a suspenseful and exciting stand-alone story within this franchise; while it might not quite match the original, it at least doesn’t lose sight of its most compelling elements. Dinosaurs might be dying out. But the audience’s desire to watch them gobble up humans will never go extinct.

While the filmmaker is very much the protagonist of this story, the personal touches included don’t overwhelm the story — and in fact add a certain sweetness, especially as both women face setbacks in their quest, and their friendship grows deeper.

It all leads to a cinematic experience that’s powerful, scary, disturbing, and often quite funny.

There's a confidence to respect in this film, as it tells a story which feels fresh within the established framework.

Armstrong’s dialogue flows like no one else’s, but there’s something just a little bit unbearable about listening to stupid people talk like they’re smart, and Armstrong doesn’t pull away from that aspect.

It’s a committed portrait of an artist, with White’s devotion to capturing Bruce’s soul almost overcoming the lack of physical resemblance… And you do eventually get used to that. For he’s not trying to be the definitive Bruce Springsteen, either — just a ghost of a man who was lost, and found what he was looking for in his music.

Ultimately, The Substance isn’t saying anything new, but the extremes to which it’s willing to go make it unforgettable cinema.

It’s the sort of odd curio made possible by the streaming age, and even if you’re not a huge fan of Lopez’s work, it’s fascinating to see just how much and how little she’s ready to say about herself; an experience more presentationally honest than truly honest about her life and her choices.

Grant’s performance makes this film worthy of note. But expect to leave Heretic with perhaps less faith in mankind than you had already. (Wherever your levels were to begin with is a whole other question.)

Mortal Kombat II ends with a pretty clear set-up for a third movie, which is already in development, and fingers crossed it'll do what this movie did: Improve on what came before, take the piss out of itself whenever possible, and never forget, at the end of the day, the reason people want to watch movies like this in the first place.

If you don’t mind your action comedies laced with a bit of meta, Red Notice is a treat.

As a viewing experience, Oppenheimer is a whole lot of movie, a man's life given the epic treatment — because he did do truly epic things, things that elevate his life story beyond the limitations of genre. And thus, the film proves exceptional at drawing the audience into the experience, when it lets the power of its images do the talking. Its best moments stand out as some of the most original and exciting filmmaking of the year, highs that do a lot to counterbalance the sequences which dive back into bureaucracy and comparatively petty rivalries.

The stakes might technically be high, but at a certain point, Argylle abandons all connection to reality to deliver pure romp from beginning to end. Yes, this at times tips over into silliness, but during a time of real geopolitical upheaval and political uncertainty… maybe there’s nothing wrong with that.

It’s the fresher lines, not the repeats, which draw bigger laughs — in fact, in some cases it feels unfair to the actors, making them recreate scenes that were already stellar in the original.

Venice, if nothing else, is a pleasant reminder that stories can be spooky without aiming for hard scares. Sometimes, the vibes of Halloween can feel like an all-or-nothing proposition, but for us scaredycats, sometimes it’s nice to just enjoy autumnal vibes with just a hint of terror in the air, like the first whiff of wood smoke while walking through your hometown on a brisk October day.