Tom Jorgensen

Who wants to go to a deserted island and watch Sam Raimi put Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien through hell? Everybody? Great! Send Help is for you.

Anchored by strong performances from Cooper Hoffman and David Jonsson, The Long Walk overcomes the repetitive nature of its story to deliver a timely and powerful condemnation of normalized violence . . . with some seriously brutal, R-rated violence.

Weapons is a righteous, fully actualized genre-bender in which writer-director Zach Cregger hones Barbarian’s blend of unbearable tension and dark humor to a new level of razor-sharpness.

Superman is a wonderfully entertaining, heartfelt cinematic reset for the Man of Steel, and a great new start for the DC universe on the big screen.

28 Years Later is as potent and timely an exploration of cultural strife as the original, and Danny Boyle and Alex Garland tug at the heartstrings with bloody, deadly skill.

In Final Destination: Bloodlines, death is the life of the party. There’s little novelty to the boilerplate family trauma plot of this sixth Final Destination movie, but what its comedy-forward take on the franchise’s established formula lacks in thematic depth, it more than makes up for with delightful, well-designed kills and boundless gallows humor.

The Monkey is one of the best horror-comedies (and Stephen King adaptations) in recent memory, exploding off the screen with both gory kills and big laughs.

Gladiator II finds strength and honor in the well-worn armor of its predecessor. Paul Mescal is adept in the belabored-hero role, going toe-to-toe with not only the delightfully deranged Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger, but also with Denzel Washington, whose mercurial Macrinus practically screams “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED” at the audience every second he’s onscreen.

Alien: Romulus’s back-to-basics approach to blockbuster horror boils everything fans love about the tonally-fluid franchise into one brutal, nerve-wracking experience.

Deadpool & Wolverine is an outrageous, consistently funny superhero comedy that succeeds largely thanks to the contagious enthusiasm of leads Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, and a surprisingly classy perspective on superhero movie history. Wade and Logan’s profanity-laced adventure forces the MCU farther out of its comfort zone than it’s been in years, even though old and increasingly frustrating issues like forgettable villains and a barely there plot show that breaking the fourth wall isn’t always enough to solve a movie’s foundational problems.

Featuring absolutely staggering visuals, Dune: Part Two is an arresting, transportive middle entry in Denis Villeneuve’s tricky sci-fi saga.

Wonka is a celebration of music makers and the dreamers of dreams, a big, old-fashioned movie musical that uses Roald Dahl’s world just judiciously enough to avoid any serious hits to the author or Gene Wilder’s legacy. Timothée Chalamet’s portrayal of Willy Wonka is most successful in its earnestness, and Chalamet brings the character to life with a gleeful abandon that makes him easy to root for, along with an energetic supporting cast who end up carrying the banner of Wonka’s weirdness more than Wonka himself. Charming and well-staged musical numbers give the movie enough of an identity of its own to make it worthy of a taste – just remember to burp and fart if you start floating toward the ceiling at any time during your screening.

The Nun II is a marked improvement on its predecessor, as the winning duo of Taissa Farmiga and Jonas Bloquet reward the faith of Conjuring fans with a scarier, meatier boarding school nightmare that makes great use of Valak the Demon Nun, even if the mythology-heavy plot specifics get a little lost along the way.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem oozes confidence, energy, and heart, and the animated adventure represents a new high for the Turtles on the big screen.

Insidious: The Red Door is a satisfying conclusion to the Lambert family’s long nightmare journey into The Further, even if it starts to rely too heavily on jump scares by the end.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse surges with visual inventiveness and vibrance in an undeniably strong evolution of the style established in Into the Spider-Verse. Miles and Gwen’s search for their place in the multiverse is relentless and exciting, almost to a fault, and though the plot is often an afterthought to the pure chaos of creation on display, strong performances and character arcs that feel true to the heroes we met last time help ensure that Across the Spider-Verse is a more-than-worthy follow-up to an all-time classic.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a fireball of animated fantasy. Mario, Luigi, and Peach’s adventure delights with its infectious energy and smart implementations of video game callbacks, and the top-shelf animation renders the Mushroom Kingdom as an Oz-like wonderland that begs to be explored in the inevitable sequels that will follow.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods may not pull the heartstrings like its predecessor, but there’s no shortage of the chaotic good humor and energetic performances that put Billy Batson and the Shazamily on the map.

John Wick: Chapter 4’s incredibly staged set pieces, engaging ensemble, and stylish production design coalesce into a modern action masterclass.

Avatar: The Way of Water is a clear improvement on its predecessor and, though its story isn’t breaking new ground, its jaw-dropping visuals make this an irresistible return to Pandora.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is at its most effective when paying tribute to its fallen king, and strong performances from the returning cast keep it afloat through its occasionally choppy plot.

Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey never lets up. It’s full of the Predator franchise’s trademark violence and tension, but it’s the ferocious, star-making turn from Amber Midthunder that stands as its greatest strength.

Thor: Love and Thunder is held back by a cookie-cutter plot and a mishandling of supporting characters, but succeeds as the MCU's first romantic comedy thanks to Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman's chemistry.

In the Earth is an oppressive, bizarre trip of sight, sound, and spore-induced psychedelia. Director Ben Wheatley sometimes sacrifices characterization for the loftier ideas about nature he wants to explore but given how innately the audience should understand how one would be affected by a pandemic, it’s a gambit that mostly pays off as the film’s third act roars toward an all-out sensory assault in the climax.