Quiz Lady works because as wacky as Annie and Jennie’s adventure gets, it’s a grounded story of sisters and siblings, thanks to writer Jen D’Angelo. Director Jessica Yu brilliantly manages the overall tone of the film, shifting effortlessly between comedy and drama. Lastly, it has a cast that’s more than up for the challenge.

Quirky and uncomfortable but hard to turn away from, Club Zero is reminiscent of Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Lobster, especially because it has a tone of below-average existence masked in contemporary and forward-thinking superficialities.

The film is a statement and will carve its place in modern Korean cinema just as surely as its conclusion penetrates so profoundly and so indelibly.

The cameras keep it lively, surfing on the laser waves of music. How they kept from falling off the roof is a mystery.

In the end, The Marvel is a superhero movie clearly made and produced by people who have never read a Marvel comic book but read Archie instead. It feels like it was made for teen girls and not for actual comic book fans.

It will be interesting to see when the mainstream catches up to the street action of underground slashers. It seems there is an unquenched need for bleeding out there. If you see The Patrolman, you best pull over cause it will cave your head in.

It just feels like a movie that was made because Cena and Brie agreed to star in it.

Your Friend, Memphis warms your heart and challenges your perception of what it means to live.

Five Nights At Freddy’s has flaws, but it is an excellent adaption. It feels like the game while still being accessible to any newcomers by crafting an original story.

The movie enables viewers to witness firsthand how indigenous people are unable to keep their cultures. It also looks at how society has corrupted men and has forever changed ancestral traditions.

Pay Or Die acts as a call to action driven by human stories.

The Universal Theory works in fits and starts but is bound to leave the audience not entirely convinced by its logic.

Nichols carefully avoids either demonizing or overly romanticizing his protagonists’ lifestyles. He portrays events just the way he imagines they would unfold.

When it comes to survival tales, Society of the Snow sets a standard that will be difficult to top.

The film is a sci-fi/horror hybrid with lofty ambitions that allow it to rise above its budgetary limitations and well-tread genre trappings. I applaud this film for its unorthodox approach to the zombie genre.

Suitable Fresh is wild and weird, but it has something to say beneath all the kinks and mind games.

The Killer is an action film with verve and brains to spare.

I give Killers of the Flower Moon a mild recommendation. It’s too long and predictable. The saving grace is its performance across the board.

Canvas is an impressive example of zero-budget independent film with a distinct and satisfying mix of sci-fi and horror elements. Its presentation is deeply inventive. It switches from nicely flat scenes of a stark and unnatural world to trippy abstraction with ease. Even if I found the plot hard to decipher or care about, I kept watching regardless, engrossed throughout.

Despite being based on true events, one could just enjoy Abeckaser’s Inside Man for what it is: a thrilling and diverting low-budget crime thriller with a committed Hirsch at the forefront of the operation.

It’s mostly light-hearted, and sadly the tone can sometimes conflict with the deeper themes the film is trying to get across. But still, this animated movie makes up for any shortcomings with its overall style and atmosphere.

The quiet pace of The Road Dance, along with the ebbs and flows of the events around the characters, give it an authenticity and space to feel the impact. You may be captivated just as the filmmaker and I were.

While it’s solidly produced from a technical standpoint, and the lead does her best to sell the most outrageous scenarios, the end result feels undercooked.

It’s a feast for the eye and for the mind, done in a nonchalant way that would make the most seasoned filmmakers jealous.

Plan C presents how, within a concise timeline that includes before, during, and after a pandemic and the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a determined group of women, veteran public health advocates, researchers, social justice activists, and digital strategists fight to increase access to abortion pills in the United States outside of a clinical setting.

Miranda’s Victim is a strong film to watch to put into perspective what victims of a sexual attack go through in a non-varnished way.

Long after the last image has flickered into your eye, you’ll be left with a deeper, overarching appreciation of what humans are capable of at their best. You can’t put a price on that. Gordon and Archambault deserve a lot of credit for adapting her life in an exciting and heartfelt way.

Palmer keeps the jokes coming at a steady pace while the cast, especially Robertson, deliver hilarious and sweet performances. So don’t think about it too hard and have a good time.

There’s a reason 70s cinema is so revered for astounding character studies. In this age of superheroes, it is nice to have a throwback that lets us see some normal humans working out their differences the old-fashioned way — by being stuck together.

The original films left kids with a sense of wonder, and while it does not entirely stack up to the original trilogy, this will still leave plenty of kids dreaming of slick gadgets and cool spy chases.

Ardent fans of Brazilian music will be able to shift through this. Others, like me, will have difficulty finding the point in all the haze.

Rustin is an important story well told, with an outstanding must-see lead performance.

There’s just no nuance here. Good is good. Evil is evil.

Bender’s film never really leaves one’s thoughts even well after it’s over.

The conclusion of Astrakan is a riveting, almost revelatory experience that is vastly different from anything seen prior. It may be hard to digest for some, but it adds additional layers to the motion picture and colors the events in a completely new light.

It’s missing a nice, tidy resolution that would greenlight this in Hollywood. I’ll say there’s a sweetness and sadness to the film’s final moments.

Limbo stands out as a competent cop-drama noir. Our three heroes are put through the wringer and barely come out with their sanity and their lives. Cheang holds nothing back.

Brightwood rocks from beginning to end. The screenplay twists and turns and bends like all the best thrillers do. The direction maintains the mystery all the way through the surprising finale. The two actors are great and play off each other nicely. Elcar’s first feature-length film is one of the year’s best.

Goodbye, Petrushka is a heartfelt narrative and very much writer/director Nicola Rose’s story. It’s not a perfect film, but it’s a very personal one.

Lee is beautiful, daring, and elusive, as all great art should be. It’s a fitting tribute to a woman whose work exhibited the same qualities.

The Creator marks the first time, it seems, that the filmmaker stepped out from the shadows of franchises and dipped back into what made him stand out in the first place. He's proven to have a flair for mesmerizing visuals, a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, and plenty of pathos.

The director lets us take an intimate look at the San Quentin 1000 Mile Club and some of these prisoners’ stories while they run 26.2-mile marathons around the dirt and gravel-filled prison yard.

The success of the film mostly rests on Jessie Buckley in the lead role and her chemistry with Riz Ahmed as her potential romantic interest.

Every scene with Del Toro is magnetic — this is his best role in years. The film is worth watching for his performance alone. It is almost a modern noir, but in a fresh take, the detective has a happy relationship.

Even with everything else going for it, Ezra either fails or succeeds based on the title character’s performance, and William Fitzgerald knocks it out of the park. As with any child acting performance, Goldwyn deserves a share of the credit for getting exactly what was needed from the young actor.

Arcel and Mikkelsen have struck a deeply human chord with The Promised Land. It is a tale of undoubted savagery but also one of hope in all its divine illumination.

Barber may not be a mind-bending mystery, but Aiden Gillen’s performance and the cinematography elevate it to something worth seeing.

It’s charming in its own modest way (it ain’t Laika), but the simplistic character design is made up for with energy and creativity. Whether all the cadavers, complex inventions, existential musings, themes of progress and censorship, and politics will alienate the wee ones remains to be seen – but, again, at least it’s not pandering. The Inventor is charming and modest but also honest and true – a rarity these days. Hurry up and check it out before Gen Z cancels Leonardo for being a misogynist.

Camp Hideout is another fun feature from Sean Olson, who is quickly becoming the go-to filmmaker for solidly made, independent, family-friendly fare. The action hijinks are both exciting and funny. The cast is good, and the direction keeps the momentum at a steady pace.

This is an action film, meaning that’s where the fun lies. Cage gets to show off his special skills with unique bits of punctuation after each kill. There are plenty of chases, gun combat, and hand-to-hand fighting. The only disappointment you’ll feel is that everything is done for comedic effect. This is much lighter in tone than you probably want it to be.

Remembering Every Night is an ethereal experience that shouldn’t be missed. It reminds viewers that cinema is a visual art first and foremost and that the composition of the frame and movements within it often speak much louder than words ever can.

The Beast is a bold, creative, and heady dystopian film that clocks in way too long at 145 minutes.

A Haunting in Venice marks the best, most succinct, and humorous adaptation of an Agatha Christie story by Kenneth Branagh yet.

It is a charming affair featuring a stellar cast with believable chemistry. Plus, there is enjoyment in getting to decide Cami’s fate and seeing where it takes you. I am going to rewatch this and choose another path.

Borgli’s feature is just another somewhat edgy movie that has nothing to say.

This period drama may be a bit slow during some scenes, but the devious dark plot is such a pleasant surprise the payoff is worth it. On top of that, The Critic has a beautiful score, excellent set design, and great cinematography.

López and his band of dedicated filmmakers have created a movie with offbeat comedy and complex human drama. It is a thoughtful look at what it means to be really alone.

Trying to do too much in the span of ninety minutes is an insurmountable impediment to the success of Shadow Island. Still, even so, there’s a period of 30 minutes in the film that really gels together.

Remember when action films were fun? Get yourself into the theaters, exercise those subtitle muscles, and enjoy an intense and wild ride with Jawan.

Boy Kills World is a two-hour roller coaster. You’ll leave exhausted and beaten, and yet feeling like maybe you too can defeat the fascist dictators in your life.

If you’re in the mood for a biographical film, Joyce Carol Oates: A Body in Service of the Mind is a splendid example. Seek it out, wherever it may be playing or streaming.

In Amerikatsi, Michael Goorjian channels his inner Roberto Begnini and even Charlie Chaplin to bring humor and levity to a solemn subject. But the best part is he shines a light on the Armenian people and their resurgence to re-establish their culture after great tragedy.

The video footage is demented, hysterically funny, and supremely dark. In presenting Carson’s antics and dissecting his style as a presenter, A Life on the Farm provides a horror-tinged giggle fest.

This is a great hour and 49 minutes of action film.

The story remains rooted in the outlaw couple on the run subgenre of crime film, but it then metamorphoses into an entirely different type of category. It has humor, but it is not a comedy, as the delivery and intent is coming from somewhere else.

Documentarian Patrick Gramm manages to weave a fascinating tale.

Bottoms falls right in my wheelhouse of comedy. Be offensive and don’t care about offending anyone. Bottoms goes after everyone without apology. It’s what comedy used to be; we’ve strayed so far off the path in the last ten years. There’s no place to play it safe in comedy. We need to return to this form of comedy oh so badly.

Ultimately, this drama is an essential piece of cinematic contemplation on the value of war.

The Owners is an uncomfortable and pointed satire that will remind you how and why some things never change.

Gran Turismo captures a truly remarkable young man and his journey to professional legitimacy. This is for anyone needing a jolt to the system and focusing on getting back on one’s true path in life.

There’s no doubt that Scrapper is a gem, and it features two of the most impressive debuts of the year in filmmaker Charlotte Regan and her star Lola Campbell.

I’d recommend Retribution if the weather is too hot and you want to spend a few hours in air conditioning. Otherwise, it’s a pass.

Trauma Therapy: Psychosis is poorly paced, with the interview interjections feeling tacked on and forced in (they were). That’s too bad, as the rest of the film is a creepy and engaging thriller about what it takes to break someone.

I like Mr. Jimmy solely because of its fascinating character study of an obsessed fan, Akio Surakai.

Everyone loves a good underdog story, and Bank of Dave fits that mold, despite needing to be tighter.

The fact that it purports to function as a not-so-thinly-veiled parable about the limitlessness of sexuality, gender fluidity, and the marginalized makes it that much more unbearable.

It doesn’t talk down to audiences, instead inviting them to experience something relatable, something that both challenges and provides answers. How refreshing.

It’s beautiful and heartbreaking in equal measure.

The Last Autumn is a marvel to look at. The powerful imagery immerses audiences into a world most don’t know about. In fact, there are times when things feel rather otherworldly.

The confused tone and largely inert script render this adaptation more beast than beauty.

The animation is beautifully done, with striking color and simplicity.

With more daring in the direction and more inspiration in the writing, the movie could have been entertaining, even if it was something done many times before. Instead, it is utterly derivative and routine in every aspect. It is a picture that attempts nothing and achieves nothing.

This cast keeps the story grounded as each man is tested throughout the film.

In preparing A Compassionate Spy, James seamed together a spellbinding collage concerning the life and times of Ted Hall and his family. It is a wonderful documentary, and I encourage everyone who wants a greater sense of the story of the Atomic Age to check it out.

Strays hits my sweet spot in comedy. It is goofy, silly, and filthy. Your mileage may vary, but I can’t wait to see this again.

Mercy Falls asks viewers to make a giant leap of logic to work fully. It makes everyone seem foolish for a brief moment. But the kills and action are brutal and intense. The cast, McKeown and Lyle especially, is giving it their all. The directing and cinematography show just how well Hendrick is honing his craft.

Blue Beetle is worth seeing, but it has many missed opportunities.

Streaks of sadism emphasize the prevailing humanity, as do the borderline-psychedelic brushstrokes: the intentionally murky nightmarish visuals, Ariel Marx’s nervous score, the bleak set design, the impassivity with which cinematographer Chananun Chotrunngroj’s camera observes the two women’s descent into madness.

Peter Case: A Million Miles Away is an eye-opening portrait of an unsung songwriting powerhouse.

A biopic like Oppenheimer allows viewers to take pause and understand how the human mind has powers that propel life and change the world forever.

The heart of Return to Dust is centered on the married couple’s efforts to construct a new home by hand. It’s grueling work, but through Li’s stunning visuals and mastery of pacing, we become engrossed by the details not only of the labor but by their burgeoning love.

Rub comes out of nowhere and reinforces your belief in the magic of independent filmmaking.

Bobcat Moretti speaks to everyone with its inspirational story.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem has something for fans of all ages.

Casting and premise are Haunted Mansion‘s greatest strengths, though many of the best ensemble moments or narrative choices are fleeting.

Walid is a satisfying tale of good and evil that rolls out some moral instruction on principles, but the icing on the cake is the long-form hand-to-hand Silat fighting that rounds out the film.

It signals a strong new voice in the genre with the Philippous that is equally confident, commanding, and committed to slinking under your skin.

In The Elephant 6 Recording Company, Stockfleth has assembled the definitive document about a scene that is exceedingly difficult to define. The achievement of getting his arms around the concept and presenting it as such a coherent and entertaining experience is impressive and important.