Odie Henderson

Perhaps by making the audience walk a mile in the shoes of Black characters, Ross is engendering some much-deserved empathy.

Song masterfully simplifies things on an emotional level, allowing us to switch back and forth between feelings or simply to meditate on the outcome we wish for, and to understand why it’s OK if we don’t get it.

This is one of the year’s best films, and the most fun you’ll have at the theater this summer.

As a star-studded (and highly fictionalized) history lesson, Air is massively entertaining and one of the best films of 2023 so far. It also works as a nostalgia piece for people like me who, in their youth, lusted after the pricey footwear.

Robot Dreams reminds us that animated feature doesn’t mean “movie for kids.”

BlacKkKlansman presents racism as a dichotomy between the absurd and the dangerous; the film’s intentional laughs often get caught in one’s throat.

This film is a powerful love letter to the Black Church, offering a soul-shaking introduction for the unfamiliar and a grandmotherly yank of the arm for those who know—it drags you from the theater straight into the pews.

There are no grandiose moments here, only little ones that, cobbled together, create a moving and profound experience.

The viewer is not only a fly on the wall at this party, they are also on the dance floor being carried along as the music moves them.

Hard Truths is a definitive work in Leigh’s canon.

This is one of the year’s best films, a heartbreaking stunner that’s not easily shaken.

For all its bells and whistles, “Project Hail Mary” is also a lovely, bittersweet character study, a pas de deux between man and alien that elicits a surprising amount of emotions by the time the credits roll.

All in all, “The Secret Agent” feels like a memory play filtered not only through its director’s reminiscences but through the cinema’s past as well.

Massively entertaining.

This down-to-earth approach works surprisingly well because Southside with You never loses sight of the primary tenet of a great romantic comedy: All you need is two people whom the audience wants to see get together—then you put them together.

The film's messages are cleverly wrapped in Smoczynska's entertaining, original vision. It's sexy, fearless, fun, and unrepentantly nasty.

The Color Purple ultimately works far better in pieces than as a whole. Considering those pieces contain some of the best moments I’ve seen in 2023, I’m able to put my concerns aside as a mildly nagging uncertainty.

This is a very patient movie, filled with equally patient performances, lyrical camerawork and some stunning images of its characters residing within the frame.

Though this isn’t very gory, the intensity level is impressive in the haunting scenes, so much so that, at one point, I caught myself watching through my fingers. The sound design also deserves mention, because a haunted house is only as good as its noises, creaks, and moans.

The archival footage Pollard uses has people saying the same things they’re saying today, and the same negative ideas are being thrown around in regard to the rights of Black and brown people.

As far as spin-offs go, “Lightyear” is a lot of fun. The voice talent is topnotch, especially Palmer and Evans.

The entire cast does stellar work, but this is Culkin’s movie. The “Succession” star makes Benji’s arrested development relatable instead of pitiful, and you can’t help but feel for him even when he’s being obnoxious.

Fremon Craig has made a completely satisfying crowd pleaser full of first-rate performances.

All In: The Fight For Democracy is a valuable public service wrapped in an educational, informative and engaging documentary.

The Outside Story is barely 85 minutes long, but Henry's performance is rich enough to make this small film feel rather epic.

Overall, the film is superbly acted and a lot of fun to watch, which I suppose is not enough hardcore critical substance to hang three and a half stars on, but there you go.

This is a very good movie and perfect summer counterprogramming.

These documentarians masterfully construct their vision to elevate and serve their subject. The result is more low-key than one might expect from a movie about rap. It is also more powerful, bypassing the expected artist braggadocio to stand on the rarely visited street corner of sociology and hip-hop music.