Mae Abdulbaki

Despite being all over the place, Antlers can be gripping and potently disconcerting, with good character development making up for its pitfalls.

Slow and frustrating, with a finale that is unearned, Red Rocket fluctuates between trying to say something and getting lost in its own premise.

Nuanced, thoughtful, and deeply effective, Gyllenhaal’s movie is assuredly executed, uplifted by a strong, striking performance by Olivia Colman.

Heavy-handed and unnecessarily long, Spencer explores Diana as a prisoner of the royal family in heart-wrenching and beautifully haunting fashion.

Campion’s film is gorgeously crafted and detailed, emotionally effective, and layered in shades of meaning about masculinity. Mesmerizing in every way, The Power of the Dog is a triumph.

Bolstered by a solid performance by Will Smith, King Richard is a feel-good, charming sports biopic that uplifts but never reaches its full potential.

Ambitious, occasionally thrilling, and visually striking, Dune is mostly set up, building out a heartless world that never truly feels complete.

Madres is extremely fragmented and painfully subpar, wasting a chance to tell an intriguing, nuanced story that is still an issue in the present.

While Needle in a Timestack aims to be profound, it loses itself within the sci-fi premise rather than exploring the central romance in any detail.

A tale of power and misogyny masquerading as honor, the film is engaging and occasionally funny, embracing its themes despite a narrative imbalance.

From a horror perspective, the film is lacking, but it more than makes up for it with well developed characters and a killer who preys on secrets.

When its focus is on Agatha Rousselle’s Alexia and the lack of control she has over her own body, Titane digs a bit deeper. However, the film’s true weakness is in its inability to explore Alexia as a person, keeping things vague while centering the extreme body horror aspects.

The film, directed by Peter Bebjak from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jozef Pastéka and Tomás Bombík, is urgent, effective, and also deeply painful.

Daniel Craig’s fifth and final outing as Bond is replete with fantastic action sequences and an emotional center despite the final act being shaky.

Heartwarming, elegant, and often profound in its exploration of loneliness and human connection, I’m Your Man is exquisitely charming and smart.

Dear Evan Hansen might be well-meaning, but it completely misses the mark. It’s not the worst movie out this year, but it’s not a musical one might be inclined to rush to the theater to see, either.

While the first half of the film struggles, the second half deftly explores the character dynamics in a tender way that makes it well worth the watch.

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain is so utterly charming and buoyant that it makes even the frustrating aspects of the film forgivable.

While the drama gets the wind knocked out of its sails after introducing other characters, Encounter gets in plenty of emotional, nuanced scenes between Malik and his sons that become the beating heart of this often unsettling, uneven, yet strangely mesmerizing film.

While its performances are lovely and tender, with the execution somewhat messy in its handling of themes, All My Puny Sorrows doesn’t dig past the surface enough to make a strong enough case for itself.

What could have been a thoughtful, poignant story about loss ended up being an unfortunate misfire.

Petite Maman is the kind of film that lays itself bare without ever being over-the-top, shaping itself into a story that lingers in one’s memory for a while after it’s over.

While Small Engine Repair’s message is clear, it doesn’t completely take off and is fragmented in its pacing, with a twisted turn that doesn't land.

Vacation Friends finds its humor in the disconcerting scenarios the characters find themselves in, but it never evolves past its empty premise.

Unfortunately, Cinderella lacks the specificity of Ever After and doesn’t commit to the full fantasy of Brandy’s Cinderella, either, nor does it have the charisma of Ella Enchanted.

While introducing a few arcs it doesn’t fully explore, Candyman is replete with haunting imagery, disconcerting horror, and thought-provoking themes.

Uplifted by an incredible central performance by Hall, The Night House twists and turns, weaving terrifying visuals and jump-scares with thought-provoking and emotional story beats. The result makes for one of the best horror-thrillers of the year.

Resort to Love doesn’t do anything unexpected or exciting and, despite its overly saccharine silliness, it is entertaining enough to watch in passing.

Annette is extravagant and ambitious, but it’s also frustrating, pompous and emotionally flat.

It’s a movie that will have a lasting impression on the audience as its themes, execution, and sharp, lustrous visuals fully take hold, leaving viewers with a lot to think about.

Die in a Gunfight is utterly empty, with poorly developed characters, clunky dialogue, and a disingenuous romance that attempts to be epic in nature.

While Old is certainly a different kind of thriller, with plenty of elements that work to create a sense of tranquility and desperation in equal measure, it grows wearisome as it evades its deeper themes for the thrill of that final discovery.

The film makes up for some of the missed storytelling opportunities with its stylish, exciting action sequences, and its swift pacing, all of which combined make for a fun, overall enthralling time.

I Carry You With Me poignantly captures the ache, the beauty of the characters’ love, and the pieces that get left behind in pursuit of something new.

Filled with a lot of action, The Forever Purge is at times thrilling, but it remains at surface-level rather than delving further into its themes.

The concept is promising, and the violent delirium of the movie's visuals show that this could have been a fun, adrenaline-fueled romp. Instead, it's just an unfunny comedy that leaves a bad taste in one's mouth.

The biggest disappointment is perhaps that it doesn’t do enough to focus on Natasha, opting to set up Yelena as her successor. There is just enough Black Widow, however, to make this a distinct film, one that is less of a traditional superhero outing in the MCU, with the film more interested in exploring the lengths of human cruelty, perseverance, and the ties that bind despite everything.

India Sweets and Spices has a lot of overall great ideas and themes, even if it doesn’t always rise up to the potential of its setup and story.

Poignant and raw, the film is effective in all the ways it should be. While it does a better job engaging with its revenge-fueled storyline in lieu of a more familial exploration in the wake of the tragedy, the film still manages to land a heart wrenching blow.

Marks’ sophomore outing can be quite charismatic and fun, but it’s a misfire when it comes to exploring the couple and their attempts at polyamory.

Neville lingers long enough, painting a picture of a lost soul who brought so much of himself to the world while also wondering about his place in it.

Somewhat disorienting and riddled with deep-rooted anxiety, fear, and uncertainty that is expertly portrayed, All My Friends Hate Me is a standout.

Censor is chilling, an assured horror that blurs the line of reality for its protagonist as she delves into that which makes her most vulnerable.

Leon imbues the film with an uncertain sense of dread, but he doesn’t lead the story or its protagonist anywhere worthwhile. It’s as though the narrative was designed specifically to capture the feeling of being lost in the city and what that might do to someone, but there’s very little exploration of Alina’s interiority for it to be satisfying.

7 Days is emotionally resonant, sweet, tender, and genuinely funny.

Luca is a wonderful coming of age story with a nice message that balances deep emotions and a lot of adventurous fun.

While the film does take its time stepping out on its own and out of the shadows of Aladdin and its "tale as old as time" story (Long's own words), Wish Dragon is a heartwarming, charming film with a great message and lovely characters.

The lack of a strong narrative and characters, paired with pacing issues, turn the film from an intriguing premise to a boring, hollow, and overall tedious watch.

It isn’t an exaggeration to say that Plan B is one of the funniest, most thoughtful films of the year and deserves all the love and attention it gets.

The film is chilling, balancing its actually scary horror with a lot of heart, advancing the Warrens’ story and providing audiences with a change of pace from their usual cases.

A Quiet Place Part II feels hollow where it could have brilliantly captured the nuances of the characters and their journey. The sequel provides some new information, but doesn’t do the work to deepen the story.

While the pacing dawdles just a bit in a few places, The Outside Story is an unexpectedly warm film that asks its audience to engage with their own surroundings in the hopes that they, like Charles, might find something worthwhile.

It's underdeveloped and underwhelming, with clunky pacing and choppy scene transitions. What could've been a thoughtful, engrossing story unfortunately fails in every way imaginable.

The characters, in their fight to live another day, and the thrilling, suspenseful sequences are what make the film worth watching. However, Those Who Wish Me Dead could have more thoroughly explored the very details that drove the plot, which would have elevated it beyond a basic action-thriller.

There is so much that could have been done with the film’s plot and twists, but it’s never confident enough in what the story has to offer to lean into any of what might have made it thrilling.

Driven by the emotional drama that is constantly bubbling to the surface, the film handles the unsettling feelings of its characters and tension-building with ease, leaving the audience with a complex, compelling story.

The film attempts to deliver an emotional, compelling, and entertaining story, but it struggles with balance despite some lovely, uplifting moments.

While the film’s leading cast gives fantastic performances, Four Good Days lacks focus and fails to expand upon its emotionally powerful moments.

With an outstanding cast and compelling themes, In the Heights soars, bringing emotional beats together in a celebration of culture and community.

The film balances multiple storylines with intense action sequences and, despite pacing issues, packs a major punch that will keep audiences riveted.

Limbo handles its themes with enormous grace, balancing despair with levity and a realism that makes this drama emotionally intense and worthwhile.

It’s a rousing horror with entrancing lore, an eco thriller with interesting themes, and a hostage drama that banks on gruesome and disorienting actions. Not everything comes together cohesively, but the story has a lot to offer and it’s grounded enough to leave a big and lasting impression.

While there's an attempt to convey a message about relationships, We Broke Up is more focused on awkward shenanigans than in exploring its characters.

Reliant on specific political clichés and a twist the audience will see coming from a mile away, Without Remorse is utterly bland and devoid of moxie.

It’s a passion project that, while evoking emotion in the wake of grief, could have used some more editing and fine-tuning for a better and smoother journey.

Despite the film's underwhelming and bizarre story developments, French Exit will remain memorable for Pfeiffer's performance alone.

The cast does a lot of the heavy lifting in the film, which evades exploring the characters' trauma. The emotional drama is a vehicle fueling a messy story in a film primarily concerned with elevating the mystery that so easily unravels by the end.

Poignant, funny, and emotionally resonant, Language Lessons organically develops a heartfelt friendship while its cast exudes warmth and charisma.

There's a lot to like in this engaging and unnerving drama, but the finale doesn’t come together to deliver on an intriguing and chilling first half.

While the film tells a raw, intriguing story, it isn’t always smooth sailing.

Violation is trenchant and effective, deftly handling the emotional trauma at its core.

While the human characters are there for exposition and could’ve used additional development, Godzilla vs. Kong is engaging and visually stunning.

With strong characters and a twist that meaningfully adds to their story, Long Weekend is an engaging romantic tale that offers a satisfying journey.

Despite everything, it has its fair of shining moments. There's a clear direction Snyder's Justice League has that the 2017 version of the film does not, and for that alone viewers can appreciate this film a whole lot more because of it.

Crisis tries its hardest to be like Traffic, but fails in creating a satisfyingly thorough world with enough high stakes or tension.

There are minimal bursts of potential lurking in Chaos Walking’s messy execution, but it doesn’t deliver much but stagnant characters and dull action.

Despite some genuinely funny and endearingly nostalgic moments, Coming 2 America attempts to do way too much with its plot rather than keep it simple.

Despite a weaker final act, Night of the Kings is spectacular, enthralling, and gripping. It's nearly poetic in its execution and that alone makes it well worth the watch.

The film is bolstered by the strength of Cooke's magnetic performance and is energetically entertaining, heartbreakingly sad, and darkly humorous.

The Father dives deep into the mind, delivering an engaging film that is unsettling, achingly sad, and is strengthened by Zeller’s assured narrative.

The film has its fair share of intoxicatingly gripping moments and watching Kaluuya as Hampton is visceral and empowering. Unfortunately, it never feels like the story gets out of its own way enough to flourish, nor does it explore the complexities needed to emphasize and humanize the characters in the way that it should.

The Mauritanian is an incredibly powerful, poignant, enraging film, one that is uplifted by an incredibly magnetic lead performance by Tahar Rahim.

It’s fraught with frenetic energy and delightfully charming performances, but Blithe Spirit is not as funny or absurd as it sets out to be.

Flora & Ulysses has all of the right ingredients, but falls short of bringing them all together, leaving the film an uncharismatic and empty shell.

With no buildup, tension, or interesting characters, The Sinners fails in its execution and exploration in the themes it puts forth.

Tonally inconsistent, writer-director J Blakeson takes a big swing and misses with regards to the film’s message. Rosamund Pike gives a fiery, powerhouse performance, but there is something completely missing from I Care a Lot that makes it a hard pill to swallow.

Silk Road has the makings of a gripping thriller, but it surprisingly lacks the tension required for it to work.

The film does an outstanding job elevating its horror with a sprinkling of disconcertment, but it takes a wrong turn by offering a muddled message.

The film is overly long, dragging out its story unnecessarily, with Daniels haphazardly shifting focus away from Holiday constantly. The film is unbalanced, generally failing to center on the song driving the story while romanticizing an affair between Holiday and a FBN agent.

The World to Come has the ingredients to build a blossoming love story, but the script is thin and far too rigid for the romance to ever fully soar.

From a bizarre villain to unexpected musical numbers, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar is egregiously bad, but with splashes of occasional humor.

In Land, actress Robin Wright’s directorial debut, the sad, isolated feelings that come with bereavement saturate the story, but the film has surprisingly very little to say about grief.

Written and directed by Mike Cahill, Bliss has strong ideas about economic inequality and it ambitiously works to pull off being a sci-fi thriller that is layered with social commentary. However, the film falls short of delivering something more compelling and complex, primarily because it's trying to do too much at once.

Where there could have been thoughtful, poignant commentary about life’s regrets and the turmoil that can continue to permeate a father-son relationship over time, Mortensen drops the ball completely. Without a cohesive story, Falling spirals and offers little beyond good performances.

While the film could have spent more time specifically exploring Margaret’s life, The Map of Tiny Perfect Things is a thoughtful, charming, and heartwarming film that utilizes the time loop aspects to great effect.

Ultimately, First Blush works as an engaging, compelling exploration of how a change in a relationship can also wake up unresolved personal issues. However, while the first half is incredibly strong, Neumark struggles with bringing it all together in the end by rushing to bring the characters into conflict with one another.

Earwig and the Witch has all the parts needed to be a fun and memorable film, but seems to lack the manual for how to bring it all together.

Masterfully written and directed, Saint Maud is a captivating, compelling, and disquieting horror film that is distinct and incredibly intense.