Mary Kassel

Red Sonja falls short of expectations from beginning to end; it only succeeds in following in the footsteps of the 1985 flop.

Pieces of exposition and backstory are dropped sparingly throughout Animale. While this is a strength, the movie could've done with a little more exploration of Nejma's past and relationship with her mother.

The documentary doesn't know who Jeff Buckley was. However, it might expose what we are desperate to get from him, long past the time he has anything left to give.

Even with a literary atmosphere and a steamy romance, the fact that My Oxford Year blatantly feels comfortable exploding emotional minefields for narratively unclear reasons clouds its potential success as a basic but inoffensive rom-com.

While it can be profoundly moving to follow the story of people's small but important everyday lives, the film loses both the audience and its momentum by the final act when things should be heating up the most.

I Know What You Did Last Summer isn't the worst long-awaited horror sequel ever put to screen, but it doesn't try to be anything but a shallow reflection of its predecessor.

Delivering the blood, gore, and guts you would expect from the classics of the genre, Ziam has no intention of reinventing anything, unabashedly leaning into the tropes of these stories that audiences know well.

The movie is Davidtz's feature debut. What she crafts is something imperfect, but as nuanced as a discussion of this topic from the white perspective can be.

Going back to basics was the best thing it could have done. With a straightforward narrative and characters we care about who don't overcomplicate the plot, the film crafts something more timeless.

M3GAN 2.0 doesn't lose this completely, but the more polished and grown-up world doesn't fit as easily into the silly sense of humor that made M3GAN so popular.

Though it's more of a reboot than a sequel, 28 Years Later pays homage to the original film without sacrificing its originality & fresh spirit.

It's fun, and there's nothing inherently wrong with it, but I found myself distracted, turning away from the screen several times because I knew I wasn't missing much. Something Beautiful will come and go, and for most, it won't make much of an impact.

Watching Echo Valley isn't long at a little over an hour and a half. However, even in that amount of time, I had hoped to witness more of the story and fewer hollow twists.

Audiences want to be moved and given a reason to revisit the emotions sparked by the story, and Lilo & Stitch delivers.

The movie tells a tight, contained story, but spends a little too much time sharpening its emotional knives to craft a truly compelling supernatural story. Bring Her Back gets lost in the weeds of its desire to rip your heart out.

While fans of the Mission: Impossible franchise might shed a tear watching this emotional tribute, all audiences will be swept away by its action.

The best we can hope for is that Summer of 69 will open the door for more contemporary conversations in coming-of-age movies that aren't afraid to have more fun.

The Moogai uses the monster and horror as tactics, but it's at its best when the story shows that it's bigger than these two elements.

The Legend of Ochi isn't just a throwback in terms of style and narrative. It recalls a time when audiences had longer attention spans and were more willing to suspend their disbelief, and there's no better reason to do so than to experience The Legend of Ochi.

It's a thrilling ride, and the fun the production is having with itself is contagious. There are moments of humor and necessary breaks in the tension that let us laugh and allow us to get braver alongside the characters.

Though the actors have little to work with, they're a game ensemble, potentially making them the only redeeming quality of Hell of a Summer​​​​​​.

If Sloan and Mastroianni made Gazer with only their limited resources and spark to create something new, it bodes well for the filmmakers' futures and whatever their next project will be.

William Tell is a rare movie that I would argue should have been longer. If there's any story that could justify a three-hour runtime, it's William Tell, and the pacing would have benefited from this length enormously.

It's gripping and effective but doesn't have anything new to say.

It's a mindless good time.

Fans of De Niro and the gangster movie will have fun with this addition to the genre, but they won't find anything new in its well-tread story.

We're dumped into the action, and the action doesn't even have the courtesy to be good.

The Quiet Ones isn't action-packed enough to be pure fun or interrogative enough to be thought-provoking.