Peter Travers

I think you’ll love John Early as a dishwasher who becomes a bulimic food influencer. I know I did.

The queer horror of this spellbinder isn’t new, but it hits a raw nerve in this time of a new resistance to LGBTQ rights. Aussie director Adrian Chiarella mixes horror and homophobia into a trenchant social commentary that needs to be heard.

Hugh Jackman digs deep into the role of the oldest, most broken Robin Hood ever. Gifted director Michael Sarnoski delivers a dour experience not for those expecting a madcap romp to help them forget their troubles and just get happy.

Cowgirl Jessie (love her!), with help from Taylor Swift, joins Woody and Buzz in a heartfelt plea for toys you can take home and love and not just on your iPad.

This raucous runaway choo-choo comedy starring RuPaul as the POTUS we need right now is perfect fun for Pride month. Even when the jokes miss more than land, this fan valentine never laughs at the drag queens, always with them. And that counts.

Here is the martial arts movie for people who don’t like martial arts movies. Prepare to be wowed.

Emily Blunt amazes in a new Steven Spielberg alien close encounter that probes his classic earlier work without deepening it. Lucky for us, the master still hasn’t forgotten how to deliver full-body chills that knock you sideways.

Hammer another nail in the romcom coffin as Brett Goldstein adds a touch of Roy Kent macho to a straight-to-Netflix Jennifer Lopez romcom that can’t handle the heat. A fresh idea here would die of loneliness.

A better than it should be reboot of a 1980s relic that still falls far short of deserving a hero’s welcome, though He-Man Nicholas Galitzine and scary Skeletor Jared Leto add just the right tone of mocking irreverence.

Even at a tiny fraction of their laugh power, it’s good to have the Wayans bros back spoofing horror movies, but would it be asking too much if the hit-and-miss jokes could maybe nudge an inch beyond the obvious?

You’ll be screaming and climbing the walls with Renate Reinsve and Chiwetel Ejiofer in this claustrophobic, let-me-outta-here groundbreaker from 20-year-old director Kane Parsons. This dude is diabolical.

Climate patterns are everything in this D-Day war drama with weatherman Andrew Scott stealing scenes from POTUS Brendan Fraser. Is it “the ‘Saving Private Ryan’ of meteorology” or a “dad movie” likely to induce dozing. You decide.

Standup’s comedy king of clean Nate Bargatze riffs on Mr. Mom for his screen acting debut. He deserves better than this phoned-in excuse for family fun. So do audiences.

Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas sing and act their hearts out in this ode to the power of music. But I can’t help thinking there’s a thornier, more emotionally raw movie hiding under the crowdpleasing surface of this one.

Allison Janney and Andrew Rannells share prickly laughs in this way-too-talky HBO dramedy, but it’s their emotional connection as two grieving strangers that sneaks up and gets you.

The gifted John Krasinski can do anything, except turn the livewire CIA operative he played for four TV seasons into something other than a pale shadow of his former self trying to pass muster in an ill-conceived two-hour movie.

In a minor crime thriller that pays major dividends in humor, heart and sweet music,rising Brit newcomer Leo Woodall pairs up with all-timer Dustin Hoffman as piano tuners turned small time crooks and their teamwork is an unalloyed, unexpected pleasure.

It’s Keke Palmer vs Demi Moore in a fashion smackdown from radically funny director Boots Riley who steals laughs from places you never thought you’d find them.

This one-shot movie of a scrapped Disney TV series slides by on the indisputable sweetness of Baby Yoda and Pedro Pascal as his helmet-head daddy. The rest is faking it.

Charlize Theron gives everything she’s got to a survival thriller right out of the cliché spin cycle, but there’s no contest when she pits herself against a raging Mother Nature and Taron Egerton’s psycho cannibal killer. They never had a chance.

A sexy, snappy Eiza Gonzáles steals the show from costars Jake Gyllenhaal and Henry Cavill, but this Guy Ritchie mission impossible is not that bad, just generically, disposably ordinary, a good way to kill time while nodding off on a flyover.

It’s Russian history for dummies, but a never better Jude Law paints a portrait of Putin as a young tyrant that rings thrillingly, scarily true, as does Paul Dano as the dangerous puppeteer who trains him.

In this fiery revenge thriller from debuting director Aleshea Harris, twin sisters plot to kill the monster daddy (Sterling K. Brown) who burned their house down. There’s no way to take your eyes off what’s on screen. No way in hell.

Have I got a movie for you—a next gen Fatal Attraction that turns dating into a bloody horror show, makes a star out of Inde Navarrette, and announces newbie filmmaker Curry Barker as the most perversely fierce and funny voice in erotic thrillers since Brian De Palma .

It’s a delicious irony that emo queen Billie Eilish and blockbuster king of the world James Cameron have teamed up to go small on the most massive screen imaginable, in 3D yet. I couldn’t have liked it more.

Sally Field mothers a talking octopus in a shameless tearjerker that doesn’t shy away from eye-rolling cliches but may just be the empathy booster we all need right now.

Hugh Jackman shepherds a tale of sheep crimesolvers that tickles the funnybone, touches the heart and just may end up as the summer’s sweetest surprise.

Jokester Karl Urban leads a cast of battling gamer brawlers against a plot that doesn’t exist. No matter. All you need to love it is blind devotion

The stellar Adam Scott stars in an Irish horrorfest from Damien McCarthy, a visionary new talent who really knows how to scare the hell out of and into you.

Forget anything new. Director Renny Harlin is merely spitpolishing his same old bag of shark tricks. But the dude knows how to deliver assembly line product like nobody’s business.

George Orwell’s dystopian satire of aggression in the form of anthropomorphic farm animals becomes a cutsey, cardboard kiddie cartoon of staggering ineptitude and an endurance test for audiences of all ages.

Even when the sequel loses momentum, and it does like to repeat itself, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci are comic virtuosos not to be resisted. That’s all.

John Magaro is touching and vital in a wrenching family drama that speaks to what’s broken about family in America.

Jason Segel and Samara Weaving get laughs, but their murder comedy is total tonal chaos.

As Tourette’s activist John Davidson, Robert Aramayo gives an astonishing performance that hits you like a shot in the heart.

This sugarcoated and sanctified biopic sees Michael Jackson as a creative musical genius with a terminal case of arrested development. Except for the glorious music and star Jaafar Jackson, this is an insight-free gloss on a life minus anything raw, relatable and scandal adjacent.

Can a brainwashed boy in Hitler Youth learn to stop worrying and love being a Nazi hater? Beautifully directed by Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin, this unexpectedly tender mesmerizer has an answer you won’t see coming

Lee Cronin makes two hours of borrowed horror inspiration—The Exorcist should sue—feel like an eternity.

For all the mirth and mayhem, Bob Odenkirk and his merry pranksters are exposing how violence is wired into the American character.

Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel are dynamite in a pop rock opera from director David Lowery that wins points for visuals and suffers from a terminal case of grandiosity

Rushed off to Netflix when theaters are readily available, this fitfully competent “Jaws” ripoff will have to do until the real thing comes along. Condolences to leading lady Phoebe Dynevor who deserved better.

Director Jonah Hill’s satire of Hollywood cancel culture in the age of TMZ leaves out all the laughs that define character and sinks Keanu Reeves and an all-star cast in a muddle of jokes creaky enough to qualify for assisted living.

In this romcom that evaporates while you’re watching it, a mismatched Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page fight a losing battle to outshine the scenery.

An electrifying Ian McKellen hits a new career peak and takes an early shot at Oscar in Steven Soderbergh’s unmissable tale of an artist and his forger, played by the brilliant Michaela Coel.

Israeli filmmaker Navid Lapid is taking the risk that audiences will embrace a tragically real situation about his country’s military culture presented as an absurdist comedy. Say yes

Even when the laughs evaporate in the final stretch, Gaten Matarazzo and Sean Giambrone know how to breathe comic life into a stoner buddy comedy that’s high on its own shitfaced supply.

Peachy for fans and painful for newbies, this animated joyride is on the run for box-office glory. So what if doesn’t have an ending. It just stops as if totally exhausted. Now that I can relate to.

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson bring a bracing charge to the premise of turning a romcom about wedding jitters into a deep-dish think piece about the limits of condoning violence, real or imagined. The ending doesn’t work, but oh the drama!

This shamelessly silly crowd-pleaser has an extra 'Nick' and a double comic dose of Vince Vaughn and a knack for springing surprises that you don’t see coming.

Amanda Peet fans rejoice! This tale of broken connections returns this acting sorceress to films, after 10 years, playing an aging star out to restart her career and her love life. She’s funny and fierce in all the right places.

If you need to spot the narcissist lurking behind a friend or lover, this Maria Tomei bonbon may be just instructional romcom you’re looking for. Or maybe not.

A zowie Zazie Beetz takes a fiery axe to anyone who messes with her sister, but we’ve seen it all before and better. Boring is too small a word to hold the heaps of tedium that come with relentless repetition of kill scenes where no one dies

This animated tale of a grumpy fish is as bland as blueberries, yet some wonder if sad Mr. Fish can inspire suicidal thoughts. Nah. Positive messaging swims will all these fishes.

Scream queen Samara Weaving is back in this horror comedy as a bride who takes her vow of “till death do us part” way too seriously. There’s more of everything this time, except for the irreplaceable shock of the new.

Even when her film dips into melodrama, Rose Byrne grounds her portrayal of an unhoused woman living her car in a humanity that feels detailed and true.

In the most purely pleasurable movie so far this year, Ryan Gosling has a blast as a science guy who rockets into space to save all our asses with jolts, jokes and smarts that won’t quit.

Shallow, sycophantic and absent a single unguarded moment, Melania is a near-two-hour infomercial disguised as a documentary. What’s the movie actually worth as entertainment? I’ll start the bidding at two cents.

In his final film, James Van der Beek raises the bar on a standard-issue thriller through the sheer force of his talent and magnetism.

Maika Monroe brings battered heart and soul to a Colleen Hoover soap opera that renders “big” emotions with the small details that make them count.

Even when it hops off course, this animated gem is funny and fierce in all the right places. Pixar is back, baby. Haters deserve a good squishing.

Cillian Murphy’s gangster icon Tommy Shelby makes his big-screen debut in a standalone film that can’t stand up against the great series that spawned it. For all its entertaining fan service, it’s an unnecessary coda to an unforgettable TV classic.

Despite Christian Bale and a wow Jessie Buckley as Frankenstein and his missus, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s big swing at remaking a horror classic is a hot, unholy mess. One caveat: no one who still values artistic risk should dream of missing it.

In Morgan Neville’s intimate and insightful musical doc, Paul McCartney finds his musical wings without the Beatles but with wife Linda riding shotgun and teaching him about hard to reach places in the heart.

Forget the biopic imitations, the found concert footage in this music doc soars with 100 essential minutes of The King back on his throne and thrillingly alive on stage and off. I’d call that a must-see.

Seven is not a lucky number for this amateurish return to the well of a once hella horror franchise that drops the ball on gore, giggles and a reason to care. Its disposable, defanged thrills feel like chatgpt prompts fed the wrong info about what constitutes scary.

Watching Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds is usually time well spent, but this woebegone wintery love story makes you want to jump into an Amsterdam canal.

This medieval borefest drags down the talents of Sophie Turner and Kit Harington, but can be commended for one thing: truth in advertising. It’s dreadful to the max.

In this sadly stunted comic thriller, a delightfully depraved Glen Powell must kill seven of his family members to inherit $28 billion. Would you? By the end, the film’s lockstep quality commits the worst crime of all by killing our interest.

Sam Rockwell excels as a wild man from the future in this deceptively profound satire that holds up a dark mirror to the dangerous game we’re playing with AI. A true film for its time.

This hoop dreams animation romp from producer Steph Curry isn’t NBA quality, but it gets the job done for family fun. The inclusivity messaging abut teamwork is laid on thick, but still worthwhile for immature audiences of all ages.

Margot Robbie and Jacob Eloridi get steamy in Emerald Fennell’s overheated but undercooked take on Emily Brontë’s classic Gothic romance in which they suck each other’s faces with a wild, porny abandon that would shock Victorians. No complaints here.

Chris Hemsworth leads a starry cast in a heist drama that fascinates even through a veil of familiarity. Near the end, a standout Halle Berry flashes a smile of sweet satisfaction. My guess is that you’ll feel the same way.

The bloodsucking Count is back again, but this time in a strangely bloodless love story that even wickedly seductive fangboy Caleb Landry Jones can’t save from the cliché stockpile.

See this romcom for the soft side of Kevin James as a jilted groom in Roma and Italian scenery that’s gorgeous in any language. That’s the only way to come out ahead.

The visuals dazzle, the plotting not so much in this gender-switched take on “Hamlet” as a warrior princess revenge epic from Japanese anime master Mamoru Hosoda.

In this queer BDSM romdomcom with a core of sweetness, Alexander Sarsgård and Harry Melling bring passion and compassion to a taboo subject rare in mainstream cinema. It’s about time.

This lean, mean, R-rated action machine is way better than you might think since Momoa and Bautista take the time, between fights and jokes, to examine the bruised places in the hearts of these half brothers. You feel for them, and that makes all the difference.

I kept smiling watching this fractured family drama. A bizarre reaction for an Icelandic movie about the end of a marriage. But it’s the high spirits that stay with you in Hlynur Pálmason's charmer about the intangibles of love.

A sexy tennis bum (Sam Riley) and a married woman (Stacy Martin) meet at a luxury resort and stir up murderous thoughts in a too cryptic thriller from German director Jan-Ole Gerster that recalls Hitchcock and Antonioni while revealing a tormented mind of its own.

Props to Charli xcx for grabbing her brat moment at Sundance. The dance-pop princess shows real acting potential, even though this misbegotten mockumentary gives her few chances to show her range.

Looking for fun and a chance to scream bloody murder, then send for this terrific horror comedy in which Rachel McAdams crash lands on a desert island with her bullying boss (Dylan O’Brien) and decides to painfully alter his jerk DNA. Despite a divisive ending, I smell a hit.

In this slow but touching biopic, Claire Foy excels as an academic who buries her grief about her father’s death by caring for a predator goshawk, so both can relearn to fly.

Maika Monroe plays a drug dealer facing off with her rodeo champ dad Troy Kotsur in a by-the-numbers thriller minus any real thrills. It’s the hints of a better film—fiercer, funnier, more attuned to a woman’s point of view—that nag at you.

Chris Pratt sits in a witness hair for most of this action movie while I sit in wonder about how a movie with such timely potential—an AI arbiter (Rebecca Ferguson) serving as judge, jury and executioner— manages to fall so hard on its fatuous pretentions.

One thing is for sure about this century-spanning story about the dangers faced by young women trying to negotiate a safe space in a world of men—you’ll never forget it.

Jodie Foster speaks French with elan, but even her indisputable star power and fun bond with costar Daniel Auteuil can’t keep the lights burning in this frothy bauble.

It’s the Mattfleck starshine, plus the indisputable action bonafides of director Joe Carnahan, that sell this cop thriller when formula threatens to overtake it.

You’ll be thinking about this scary, savvy fright fest long after you wake up screaming.

In a fresh film take on Amiri Baraka’s 1964 race play, Kate Mara’s sexed-up subway rider hits on André Holland like a white Eve out to destroy a Black Adam through assimilation, intimidation, and worse. You can’t watch it passively. It dares you to engage.

Kristen Stewart’s directing debut is not an easy sit, but with actress Imogen Poots, she creates an indelible, impressionistic film about a competitive swimmer that doesn’t follow tidy biopic rules or, let’s face it, any rules at all.

As killer ape movies go, this one’s a bloody wonder—it’s too bad no one bothered to add plot, character or a reason to care

Love that Gus Van Sant has crafted his true-crime hostage drama in the grand 1970s tradition of Sidney Lumet’s “Dog Day Afternoon.” Bill Skarsgard drops his Pennywise psycho clown persona to make his unmasked mark as an actor. And does he ever.

Before it reverts to moldy zombie tropes, this low-budget, no-frills survival thriller puts a fresh spin on the familiar thanks to Daisy Ridley as a human living among the walking dead.

Stodgy? Maybe. But the sincerity of this old-fashioned crowdpleaser starring Ralph Fiennes as wartime choirmaster is a refreshing alternative to the glut of computer-generated junk that crowds our movie houses.

A terrifying first film in which a tween water polo team becomes a "Lord of the Flies" metaphor for the hell of modern bullying. The scares are killer, but it’s the violence of the adolescent mind that hits hardest and haunts you longest.

It may be tonally all over the place as cinema, but in his first film, actor turned director Harris Dickinson cuts a direct path to the heart and certifies star Frank Dillane as a major talent.

Nothing about the pulsating ‘Sirāt’ is appropriate or expected or traditional or fully comprehensible. It just is. And it is utterly transfixing.

Kate Winslet makes her directing debut with a script written by her 22-year-old son and acted by A-listers who, try as they might, can’t save it from dying-at-Christmas clichés.