News of the World is a perfectly solid, decent entry into the burgeoning sub-genre of Tom Hanks Doing Dad Stuff movies. It’s well-made, direct, and unfussy in its storytelling.

Navigating the nexus of hype, commerce, ego, and bullshit that drives the modern art scene, The Square is almost too perfect in its cunning simplicity. The art world’s always been easy to drag, what with its interiority, weirdos, and frustrating games of pin-the-tail-on-the-thesis. But rarely are these ideas lampooned so beautifully.

If Battle of the Sexes is more than a little slight in places, it more than makes up for its shortcomings through sheer entertainment value.

Ultimately, what takes Bruce Springsteen’s Letter to You from bonus-material curio to required viewing is the opportunity it gives Springsteen to make a capstone argument for his continued artistic drive.

As legal dramas go, it’s quite good; as a Todd Haynes film, you struggle to see the talent for which he’s known.

A touching film that perhaps spends a bit too much time digging in the wrong places.

Maybe the formulas we’re so used to will be exactly the vehicle to introduce general audiences to the lived experiences of a community criminally underserved in media.

If Clueless is the definitive modern-day adaptation of Emma, then Fire Island deserves the same crown for Pride and Prejudice.

When it focuses on Eichner and Macfarlane, and the ever-complicated mores of queer masculinity, it stays charming and light on its feet. If it were a little less self-conscious about that homonormativity, it’d have a more cohesive identity, and be more of a slam dunk in the process.

Captain Fantastic loses its intriguing premise in a muddle of ideas about the redemptive power of family and the right of all people to live as they please.

It's a quiet little underdog story, but with enough charm to engage any audience.

Some people will think it’s a bizarre mess, others an unconventional masterwork. If there’s any justice in the world, the latter group will win out.

If Robinson’s style of humor puts you off already, rest assured that Friendship doesn’t break his existing comic bold. But for those shirt brothers in the Tim Robinson cult already, the Dan Flashes buyers and zipline pullers among us, Friendship offers next-level cringe packaged in something far more Kaufmanesque than his usual fare.

Through a distinct sense of style and riveting performances, Fennell’s debut is as bold as it is self-assured. Promising Young Woman eschews the familiar rape-revenge formula and injects a subversive female gaze, yet doesn’t cover any new ground that hasn’t been touched on already.

In making a light, easygoing, heartfelt teen rom-com with a gay kid at its center, Berlanti and company have made a top-tier example of a familiar form with one essential and very important difference.

Cautionary tales about the dangers of life in the Internet age can often feel heavy-handed and trite, but M3GAN never feels like an extended Black Mirror episode. Its accessible themes don’t come off as oversaturated, thanks to the wit of the screenplay and a great performance from Williams.

Always Shine is a fantastic thriller for two-thirds of its runtime, ending with a ballsy third act as admirable in its ambition as it is narratively frustrating.

Mickey 17 is at its best when director Bong really leans into exploring the dirty details of blue-collar space exploration.

A Haneke who’s treading water is still a bizarrely entertaining filmmaker, but the fun is tinged with a hint of disappointment and a certain feeling of lost opportunity.

It’s a movie made on the fly, and for better or worse, you can tell.

What this movie offers is a refreshing, grounded take on a part of life that can be frightening and difficult, giving it the attention and care it deserves without veering into unnecessary sentimentality or aiming to be a tearjerker.

Weathering With You’s remarkable animation and delightful characters come together for the perfect storm of creativity, inspiration, and romance. Yet, for all its exploration of the supernatural, the film carries such a profound universal feeling. Sure, it’s another solid love story, but it’s the film’s messages of hope and of keeping one’s head up in the rain that will endure.

There’s just more under the hood than your typical imitators: the antic disposition of the idle rich, the way infinite money can absolve the rich of any accountability, and the ever-predatory nature of colonial tourism. Wrap it up in a package this wild, shocking, and perverse, and it makes for a delightful bloody mess that you’ll want to go back to.

As a fish-out-of-water comedy, it’s effectively funny more often than it isn’t, and as an ode to the unlikely communities that arise around black metal, it’s entirely sincere in its intentions.

Out of an act of war, Jolie has created a film of real compassion.

What unfolds is a transparent example of why the music industry continues to spiral downward toward a fiery hell.

There’s a lot going on in Hail, Caesar!, but in the end, it’s all a bit too silly to register as important.... Nonetheless, Hail, Caesar! satisfies that one criterion that matters most in Hollywood, and will for time immemorial: it’s entertaining as hell.

The Lure somehow manages to seamlessly assemble a film equal parts hilarious, affecting, and grisly while trading and warping aesthetics and tones by the scene.