Steve and Audrey Zahn pull it off in a beautiful film that will uplift your heart after breaking it.

Wicked defies gravity for a soaring, beautifully sung return to Oz with wonderful vibrancy and a true sense of scale.

Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat is a film essential to understanding the world.

Mononoke doesn't just deliver great works of art in every frame. It challenges you to keep up with it.

The Long Walk exceeds even optimistic expectations to easily become one of the best Stephen King adaptations.

The Naked Gun's joke-per-minute ratio is truly astounding, and the fact that so many of them hit as well as they do makes that even more impressive. For goodness' sake, even the credits have jokes in them!

Train Dreams is without a doubt one of the most extraordinary films of this year, the type that will stick with you, deep in your mind and heart, long after the credits roll.

Beautifully shot and powerfully told, Sugarcane is a moving tale of resilience in the face of overwhelming injustice.

Just as credit must be given to Baker for how she so completely captures a moment in time and place, it is Nicholson who inhabits this world so naturally that you feel like you’re just peeking in on Janet’s life.

There’s so much joy in this telling, so much sophistication of craft on display, and such a delightful ode to this exemplary era of creativity, that it seems downright churlish to hold back for the sake of performative reticence.

Anora is Sean Baker's most searing and shattering film yet with a breakout performance from Mikey Madison.

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is not only the funniest movie I’ve seen at SXSW, it’s one of the funniest I’ve seen in years.

Once Arnett's Alex takes the stage, it transforms into one of the most memorable and heartfelt films you'll see all year.

No Other Choice is yet another great film from Park, and one of the best dark comedies you'll see this year.

Through it all, Collias is so confident and assured that it feels like this is her fiftieth leading role instead of her first.

Predator: Killer of Killers encapsulates much of what made the original such a classic, with surprises around every corner and characters that are easy to root for.

Poetic License is one of the smartest, most heartfelt films of the year. It never tries too hard, is sentimental without being gooey, and is brilliantly anchored by an ensemble that makes the movie truly sparkle. If this is what Apatow is delivering with her first film, we can’t wait to see what she does next.

Elliot’s stop-motion work feels authentic and unglamorized in ways that we don’t often see in many mainstream animated movies.

Bryce Dallas Howard imbues Pets with so much heart that it transcends from a pleasant fluff piece to an honest and thought-provoking look at life and loss... while still being pretty damn cute.

Chernov offers us a visceral look at what Ukrainian soldiers have been facing for the last decade.

It’s a crowdpleaser that will plaster a smile on your face from beginning to end with a high chance of some tears. Just when it teeters on overly saccharine territory, its hilarious script and earnest performances dial it back.

Ross has found an overwhelmingly perfect way to bring Whitehead’s story to the screen, one that feels like a step forward for how cinematic stories can be told. It’s beautiful, heart-wrenching, and refreshing in equal measure. Now, Nickel Boys is a masterpiece in two different formats.

The Wild Robot is a jaw-dropping and tear-jerking endeavor that immediately cements itself as one of the director’s very best, and possibly one of the best films of the year.

Baking up a storm of humor and heart, the pro-shot Broadway production with Bareilles leading the charge is the perfect treat this holiday season.

An exciting and terrifying horror movie, a fresh and nuanced entry into the zombie catalog, a mesmerizing philosophical tale, all packed into a coming-of-age structure, 28 Years Later is one of the best zombie horror movies we’ve been given in years.

It’s a breathtakingly melancholic film infused with mourning, journeying its way through subtly painful yet often poetic conversations about searching for something lost that may never be found. That only makes all the discoveries it makes that much more stunning to behold.

Everyone you'd hoped to see is here, the chemistry between Lohan and Curtis is still spot on, and the new additions to the ensemble don't detract from the narrative that won us over two decades ago.

How to Have Sex is a fearless, uncomfortable, and mesmerizing watch from start to finish.

Expansive yet focused, it is a work that is dense in terms of its ideas while also making room for more delicate emotional notes when you least expect it to.

When You Finish Saving the World is often acidic to a point that might scare away some, but at its core, Eisenberg’s film is an endearing story of mother and son who were once so close, and now struggle to get what they need from each other anymore.

Bombach’s documentary shows that there's much more to the Indigo Girls, presenting a remarkable duo who have not only meant the world to countless people, but have used their music and their platform to change the world as best they can.

By appealing to the more casual moviegoer without losing the best things she brings to the table, Miller has birthed her best film yet.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar feels like a project Anderson needed, a way to explore smaller storytelling in a manner that still allows him room to experiment, have fun, and utilize his very specific voice and talents.

Overall, Teen Wolf: The Movie packs a heavy punch and stands tall in the original series' six-season shadow. The film pulls on threads that have always resonated well with its loyal viewer base and continues the story of these treasured characters forward in a truly authentic way.

With its tight script, well-balanced characters, and bone-chilling scares, The Nun II is the first Conjuring spinoff operating at the same caliber as the franchise's core films, proving that this universe is far from played out.

In a career full of continuous surprises, The Boy and Heron’s biggest surprise might be just how magical and unique his work still feels after all these years.

It may be Cooper’s best historical film, and perhaps that’s because there’s a distinct melancholy to it that is etched into the bones of Virginia’s finest—just like Poe.

A New Era shows that Downton Abbey doesn’t have to sacrifice joy to also explore sorrow and pain. Amongst charming tales of Hollywood and French getaways, A New Era delves into loves lost, missed opportunities that leave its mark on our lives for years, and how one will be remembered long after they’re gone.

Jeymes Samuel is a master of all trades who can craft character-driven arcs with fun action-packed sequences all against a beautiful score. No actor misses a beat and it confirms LaKeith Stanfield remains not just a brilliant actor but a true movie star.

The cruelty at the core of this vivacious vampiric farce is blended up with sharp yet silly gallows humor, ensuring the grim absurdities Larraín gracefully teases out increasingly take flight even as he continually drags us into gruesome and gory depths.

It's a surprisingly funny movie at times, even though it deals with serious themes, deconstructing the samurai mythos while also having a solid amount of gritty sword-fighting action.

Director Margarethe von Trotta delivers a thoughtful exploration of love in a patriarchal society, which ends up being surprisingly hopeful considering how cruel reality can be.

Sure, it might not be The Searchers or Rio Bravo, but The War Wagon deserves a share of the praise The Duke’s more well-renowned movies regularly get.

From references to Lin-Manuel Miranda (Moana) to songs that don’t rhyme and even metalinguistic performances – the one with the clocks is especially good because it completely underscores a particular character’s personality – Leo shows a surprising level of maturity that we’ve only come to expect from Pixar and Studio Ghibli films.

This insanely fun sequel takes the franchise in a musically supernatural direction. It's a bizarrely entertaining film full of disturbing imagery, amazingly memorable kills, and one of the best finales in horror history.

Östlund's comedy of inequality and broken class structures might be a bit too blunt at times, slightly too long, and is often best when at its simplest, but Triangle of Sadness is too fun and ridiculous to not enjoy, and compared to The Square, is a step-up in Östlund's criticism of the bourgeoisie.

With Oliver Garcia’s exquisite costumes and Karen Murphy’s production design, both brought alive to their full potential by Jess Hall’s stunning cinematography, Chevalier is not just a compelling story, it’s a visually compelling one too.

In Earth Mama, Savanah Leaf gives us a towering reminder of the women who gave their all for us, their determination and power, the difficulties of staying afloat when you feel like you’re drowning, and how we can’t truly know what other people are struggling with, no matter how hard we try.

Love triangles, secrets, murder, and wild courtroom drama make for a gripping Hitchcock classic.

Miracle Mile could've easily coasted on the virtuosity of its stark tonal pivot, but Steve De Jarnatt expands upon these contrasting emotional modes by examining our relationship towards love and death.

Ultimately, watching Scream of My Blood is not so different from watching Gogol Bordello live, thanks to the perfect balance of unhinged fun and political purpose.

The Survival of Kindness might be too abstract for its own good, a creative decision that will alienate a good part of its potential audience. Still, this is a remarkable return for de Heer, as The Survival of Kindness lingers with you long after the credits roll, forcing the viewer to reflect on the tough questions of race and power it explores.

The 1950 film Harvey, starring the legendary Jimmy Stewart, is a film ahead of its time. It's a film that speaks to mental illness. A film that places the value of one's quirks above societal expectations. It's a charming, funny film with an innocence that is seldom seen in theaters today.

She Said doesn't rewrite the playbook of films about journalism, but it didn't need to. Maria Schrader's direction and Rebecca Lenkiewicz's writing hit every important beat just right, leaving us with an impactful film that's genuine and never fake.

Sure, Afire's message of the inevitability of death and the absolute need to embrace life can be a little on the nose. Still, Petzold puts his own spin on the old message, by inviting the audience to laugh and cry as four lives get intertwined in a very honest and human way.

Somebody I Used To Know—like life—can’t be clearly defined. Instead, it embraces its messiness and unpredictability, and the very harsh reality that “life happens.”

In short, this is the perfect cinematic venture for those who are fond of chaotic, psychological thrillers that keep you engaged, but that don't keep you guessing when it all comes to a close.

Haunted Mansion isn’t reinventing the wheel with this haunted house story, for sure, but it’s the gratification of watching this cast have fun with each other, and the pleasure that Simien and Dippold have playing in this sandbox that makes this quite often a treat to watch.

The film's animation is charming, with a quirky, storybook quality to the whole thing that helps the tale feel timeless, even when mentions of the not-so-distant war conjure up images familiar to older audiences.

That’s the beauty of what Carney has created here, a film that wraps you in and absorbs you with its loveliness and charm, to a point that you don’t want to leave its presence.

Whether you're an uninformed novice or an established fan, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves serves up enough unabashed silliness, memorable characters, and epic storytelling to invite anyone into its entertaining realm.

A film filled with intensity, this is a worthwhile, deliciously vile watch.

Alice, Darling is a bold and powerful step forward in Anna Kendrick’s career that allows her to really show off the range we knew she had, but maybe hasn’t had a chance to fully explore yet.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio shows that if you’re going to adapt this story yet again, it’s best to bring something exciting and new to it, as well as put some of your own personality into it.

It is via a willingness to push beyond the headlines and discover something more about humanity that 2nd Chance reveals a deeper sense of the truth behind its scandalous story.

Until the Wheels Fall Off could’ve maybe explored Hawk’s personal life with a bit more focus, but Jones still creates a captivating, edge-of-your-seat documentary that manages to make the idea of landing a trick a genuinely moving scenario.

While being far from perfect, Violent Night is just too fun not to revisit, which means it can become a new holiday classic in the years to come.

With Peter Pan & Wendy, Lowery shows there’s nothing wrong with sticking close to the text, as long as you bring some new identity to the story and give the audience a reason to care about seeing this story once more. With both Pete’s Dragon and Peter Pan & Wendy, Lowery has shown the correct way to tell a time-honored story once more.

This deeply personal project for Junior is wildly unpredictable, not unlike Senior's approach to storytelling. Not only does this make it more captivating, but realistic. Sr. is aesthetically polished, but Smith and Junior are, like all of us, messy in their unique way.

Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris is a quiet delight, a perfect summer interlude that exudes beauty, optimism and charm in every scene. Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris feels like capturing joy in a bottle.

Whether you can stomach it enough to make it all the way will depend on the viewer, but Talk To Me has plenty that promises to capture the souls of horror sickos looking for a sinister spectacle.

The film's central thesis, that everyone needs somewhere to belong, seems simple on paper. However, it winds up being much more nuanced in practice.

Alfred Hitchcock's Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a chuckle-filled screwball comedy featuring one of Lombard's greatest comedic performances.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie captures the spirit of the games, the deep history, and the incredible possibilities that these games have presented for decades, all in one of the most fun animated films in years, with a team behind it that you can feel loves these characters and this world.

Funny Pages is a beguiling debut, but it’s also one of the most compelling and unique takes on the coming-of-age genre in years.

Throughout all of it, Ebrahimi gives a performance that, even in immense isolation, tells a whole story on its own and leaves a lingering impression long after the film itself comes to a close.

Leave the World Behind is a smart, compelling take on the end of the world, and proves Esmail is a writer-director who deserves larger-scale projects like this after his television successes.

The indie dramedy Who Invited Charlie? washes away any reservations you might have about a movie set in the COVID times and, more importantly, lets Adam Pally show us what he is capable of.

Glazer’s latest fits within his distinct style, breaking down a genre and working with the skeleton that’s left over in order to get at the heart of what makes these stories so jarring.

What makes The Stranger work is how this all creates an experience that feels as though the two men have become almost doomed to a life where they will aimlessly wander in what feels like an Australian purgatory. Whether they ever manage to escape and uncover some sort of closure is irrelevant to the growing rot that threatens to consume their souls no matter what they do.

Given its troubled production history, Messiah of Evil is far from perfect. Mood can only get you so far when not much happens for a good hour of the film. But it flows with the blood of New Hollywood in its veins, defining the wave as more than just gritty dramas and excessive blockbusters.

Bursting with laughter and heart, Joy Ride is not only chock-full of ribald comedy, but it's a wholesome story about friendship which is what grounds these types of movies.

There is a wonderfully withering sense of humor in how American Fiction explores this as all of the conversations Monk begins to have around the book he wrote as a joke sees it spiraling out of his control.

It’s a sophisticated commentary wrapped up in a beer-soaked package and is sure to linger with you long after the credits roll.

Limelight resonates today because of its awareness of the gravity surrounding Chaplin's legacy without favoring too far into self-indulgence. The film's endearing conclusion, that the humbling appreciation of humanity stands as the driving force behind art, is the thematic idea that Chaplin embodies.

Timberlake's acting aside, Reptile is the perfect kind of digestible, mid-budget crime thriller that we just don’t get enough of.

If you’re looking for a typical teen movie riddled with clichés and stereotypes, keep scrolling through your Netflix queue. This daring dark comedy both pays homage to and deconstructs the ‘90s high school set films you know and love, and does so with deliciously satisfying results.

Kill is every bit as insanely violent as you could hope for. It mixes melodrama, romance, and an aggressive amount of violence in ways that few filmmakers are capable of doing.

After the Bite could initially be mistaken for just another part of a trajectory of movies that has become defined by this trend-chasing rather than something more. However, if you begin to look closer, you’ll discover a measured reflection on our relationship to both the predator of the deep and the habitat that has come under threat.

The beauty of Decision to Leave is how Chan-wook can set his table with so many ideas, diversions, and elements, all making for an overly exquisite experience. Not only does Chan-wook blend detective mystery and romance, but Decision to Leave is weirdly funny, full of dark humor that fits in perfectly with everything else.

While Devotion may not look to reinvent the genre, it does carve out its own space in this year’s impressive slate of war films. It’s a solid, straight-laced story, that doesn’t shy away from the realities of war or the 1950s. Once it finds its wings in the final act, it soars to a place of real power.

Contrary to the film's critical reception, Fallen stands out as one of the most interesting portrayals of demonic possession ever put to film (not to mention managing to be a compelling detective thriller).

Apollo 10½ can at times feel like the greatest hits of Linklater and what made him who he is, but that’s a welcome change, and a reminder of his strengths as a filmmaker.

Joan Fontaine is so fantastic in Suspicion that she won the Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the only Oscar-winning performance in a Hitchcock movie.

When it all comes together it proves to be yet another poetic and patient cinematic reflection on the families we build for ourselves from one of the best observers of humanity to ever do it.

Accepting the World’s Fair Challenge isn’t a way to experience a The Ring-like challenge that will probably lead to horrors beyond one’s wildest imagination, it’s a way to be part of something, damn the consequences. Schoenbrun’s impressive debut latches onto that idea of online communities, coming-of-age, and finding one’s own people through a genuinely uncomfortable and unique horror story unlike any other.

The Bad Guys brings a deep love for heist films to this animated adventure, and in doing so, creates one of the year’s best animated films.

It is a character study that creeps up on you, deploying well-timed darker comedic moments that set up the cutting dramatic ones all the better. There is no pretentiousness or ego to either of the stunning performances, ensuring we are hit with the maximum impact of a maniacal masterclass of acting from Abbott and Qualley.