In a perfect world, Philibert’s film will serve as a wake-up call for reconfiguring how we approach the treatment of mental illness on a global level.

See Scratch for the history, see Scratch for the music, see Scratch for a lesson in scratching, but, most of all, see it for the passion.

A moving and stark reminder that the casualties of war reach much further than we imagine.

Fast-paced, at times even a bit frantic, Under the Skin of the City is above all a mother-and-son story.

While the more dramatic side of The Planters does not totally gel, when the movie works, it is a slice of delightfully idiosyncratic comedic genius. The cast is terrific, the screenplay is amusing, and the whole affair is immensely rewatchable.

Clara Sola is an intriguing film ripe with symbolism and strong performances.

Supremely entertaining and hilarious, First Love will melt your brains, punch you in the gut and leave your hearts a-flutter.

Changing the Game makes important arguments that need to be heard.

Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts is simple at a glance, nuanced under scrutiny, and is a damn fine time at the movies.

Strongly infused with an unmistakably exotic Bollywood flair.

Bukowski is one of my all time favorite writers and now I have an all new respect for the man thanks to John Dullaghan’s phenomenal film. I’ll be breaking out “Post Office,” “Ham On Rye,” and “Notes of a Dirty Old Man” again very soon.

A powerful film worthy of a truly extraordinary American.

What works about Carolina Caroline is how it looks and feels.

Björn Runge’s The Wife is an unmissable drama, largely in part to Glenn Close’s stunning performance in the title role.

I highly recommend this decades-spanning, engrossing, hilarious, sad, and informative documentary to all music fans, whether you liked Davis beforehand or not.

Fascinating, horrifying and hilarious.

The Black Guelph is as gritty as gritty can get.

The result is stunning -- both as a narrative film and as a document of the place and time.

The story, centering around family, culture, and identity, comes from a unique perspective. Some sub-plots go unaddressed, yet Tedaishivili’s excellent performance always brings you back with the worn gaze of a battle-weary wrestler.

While maybe not top-tier Jarmusch, the film certainly marks his most mature effort to date.

Where Licorice Pizza was fun, bombastic spectacle of performances, I Like Movies is a more subtle, more human, more cohesive film with a devastating and distinctive point of view.

It’s hard to underestimate how knowledgeable this movie is about the difference between what people think they want and what they really want.

What separates Adventureland from something like "Garden State" is a commitment to realism and plausibility. In fact, at times, it is almost too realistic given the location's inherent value as a comic prop. For a film set primarily in an amusement park, it isn't terribly amusing.

The Last Resort could have been a slight, sunny picture postcard from Biscayne Bay. A piece of fluff that would delight our cravings for the past — whether or not we were actually around to observe that not too distant past firsthand. But instead it’s a heartfelt and jubilant love letter to a paradise found, lost, and reclaimed — Miami’s South Beach.

Essential viewing for those who want a complete perspective on the history of film. Tons of information is packed into an hour and thirty-seven minutes and much of it I didn’t know before watching.

The primary weakness is in the story itself, which at times seems like mere background for the snappy banter and knowing glances.

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.

I Carry You With Me is an emotional powerhouse that had me and the other moviegoers crying our collective eyes out.

Contains enough magic and sincerity to cover the proverbial multitude of cinematic sins. And, better yet, for all the Irishness, it contains not a single alcoholic and not one barroom brawl!

The cast and crew can take pride in the fact that they’ve crafted one of the more singular experiences of the year.

It's damn funny. It's also the best date film I've seen in a long time.

Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story is a phenomenal documentary and jubilant tribute to one of the best!

[Simon Rex] goes all-in and sells it with incredible skill and passion. Suzanna Son as Strawberry is also a revelation. She has star quality and a screen presence that is extremely rare. We will be seeing her again.

Mangold has time to build sensational, studied characterizations, brilliant pacing (courtesy Mike McCuster, who also edited the director’s previous effort, the Johnny Cash biopic “Walk the Line”), and blistering action.

Extremely funny, side splitting good time.

A bleak and powerful movie, made all the more sobering by how much of it isn't fiction.

Dreamgirls is a better musical than "Chicago" or "Rent," but then, that isn't really saying much.

Political intrigues, potential murder plots – oh, and Putin’s rise-to-power and consequent 18-year-reign – Gibney serves it up, warts and all.

The film is one chillingly authentic scene after another... In the end it's more of a war movie than "Saving Private Ryan" ever was.

Stunning newcomer Agnes Bruckner and indie vet David Strathairn star in this oft compelling yet eventually disappointing character study of a young girl's rise out of the doldrums of adolescent life.

The film is near perfect in its attempt to properly mix the irrationality of war in with an interesting love story.

Jay Sebring…Cutting to the Truth is a great documentary.

Indeed, many professed aficionados of non-narrative cinema are averse to such formal adventurism, but with the right state of mind and their curiosity peaked, there’s no doubt that adventurous film-goers will find this to be one of the most striking documentaries of 2024.

The film works so well because of the development and portrayal of Nanning. He’s such a compelling character, slowly uncovering his family’s moral failings as the film progresses. He displays an inherent empathy for the world around him.

The Pez Outlaw has something for everyone. It’s a crime thriller, rom-com, family drama, corporate espionage flick. It is also a sincere and loving look into the Pez collecting community, which is full of the sweetest people imaginable. This is the kind of film you’d show to someone who doesn’t like documentaries to change their mind. It is that good and powerful.

This is one of the best films of the year.

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

Ghostbox Cowboy is a wonderful mishmash of mockumentary that lends comparisons to Ulrich Seidl’s work or Harmony Korine’s earlier films such as Julien Donkey Boy and Gummo, with the weirdness of Terry Gilliam and the idiosyncratic brutality of Werner Herzog, while also being a completely unique animal apart from these influences.

McQueen has aced the task of translating Stigters’s book, putting her research into an educational and provocative collage and bringing it gracefully to another medium and a wider audience.

Dunn does an incredible job of condensing this extremely complex battle into a story that is simple and understandable, as well as extremely compelling.

Benjamin Naishtat directs with a steady hand and a strong vision. Pedro Sotero’s cinematography reveals the place and time in a respectful style that captures the period without satirizing it. This is a film that satisfies on every level and bears repeated viewings.

What sets Bier's film apart from similar fare are the consistently fine performances and powerful scenes of surprising ferocity.

Directors Cristina Costantini and Kareem Tabsch have created a heartwarming testament to a man whose singular message was one of love and inclusion.

Polsky packs a lot into the film’s slim 80-minute running time. It’s dense but never overwhelming, presenting facts and anecdotes in a coherent, intuitive, supremely entertaining fashion.

Any thinking person – no matter what political stripe or moral belief – needs to see this important film then try to apply its valuable lessons to today's, still, unstable planet.

Son of Monarchs is a type of philosophical journey but one of beauty and mystical discovery.

Kusijanovic’s feature-length debut is nothing short of revelatory. Murina is the perfect summer film. Beautiful scenery, nuanced performances, and canny filmmaking provide one of the most memorable coming-of-age stories of the 2020s so far.

Benson and Moorhead have crafted yet another lo-fi sci-fi masterpiece.

Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis) is a grand rock and roll buffet with something for everybody.

Meditations on the toll of waiting, the damage of estrangement and the fickleness of trust echo in a well-acted, assuredly directed, sometimes brutal, watch.

You're going to hear a lot about 500 Days of Summer over the next few months. All of the good stuff is true. Any bad stuff you hear is not.

A real treasure in the guise of yet another Sundance dramedy.

Although Soderbergh complicates his cinematic dish with too many flavors, No Sudden Move still offers plenty of bites to savor.

Novelist Cormac McCarthy explored the idea that violence can be regenerative and redemptive. In Sisu: Road to Revenge, Helander has painted that concept on the movie screen 20 feet tall, near death, and dripping with gore. By becoming inhumane, Aatami seeks to recover his humanity. Never before will you have felt so cleansed by such brutality.

Normally film is considered a director’s medium, but this one belongs to cinematographer Paolo Carnera. The footage of Felice rediscovering Naples is nothing short of stunning. Martone wisely understands that he has three resources in Nostalgia that other filmmakers do not: Carnera’s eye, Favino’s acting ability to quietly emote with no wasted motion, and a city that is heartbreakingly beautiful to behold.

Usually, films of plays are dull things. Limited access to camera angles, bad sound, lighting that doesn’t work for the movie camera. Theater and film are (appropriately) distinct media. Enter Spike Lee. He’s a master craftsman and his skills are as relevant as ever. Lee made use of all those potential disadvantages to inform his cinematic vision and encapsulate the stage performance into a striking moving picture.

It’s a beautiful visual and spiritual journey through the glorious highs and devastating lows of a brilliant artist who was ahead of his time.

Plays like a fever dream that won't quit until you lose consciousness or your lunch, whichever goes first.

A glacially-paced disease-of-the-week movie blown up to big screen size.

Judge and Hertzfeldt take us on an international trip through the world of animation. From the silly, to the beautiful, to the terminally lame and pretentious, there’s a little something for every taste here…yeah, even for those who love farts.

All around, King Richard is a solid, inspiring film.

Beautifully filmed and incorporating interviews and impressive archival news footage, Pray Away digs deep into the pathology of fundamentalist Christian conceptions of reparative therapy. By showcasing survivors of the “ex-gay” movement and illustrating the personal tragedy that has resulted from individual involvement, the film provides a lens of hope for those who think there is none.

It’s Odessa Young that does much of the heavy lifting acting-wise, though overshadowed by Moss, as she is the one who ultimately transforms throughout the story. It wouldn’t be fair to leave out director Decker’s visual vision for the film or Sarah Gubbins’ screenplay as they continually keep you off balance from the start and second-guessing almost everyone and everything to the end.

While at times the film begins to feel like a laundry list of bad deeds, the first-person accounts pack a wallop.

Vampires Vs. The Bronx is a great way to introduce your kids or pre-teens to the vampire genre, and a fun look at how Gen Z plans to deal with armies of the undead.

Sevigny and Beckinsale, looking very Parker Posey-esque here, give solid performances, but it's not enough to out weigh Stillman's smugness.

The real tragedy is that all of the characters in Holler seem incomplete.

Tigers Are Not Afraid isn’t quite the masterful dark fairy tale it aspires to be. The humor is entirely unnecessary and tonally misplaced. But what it gets right, it does brilliantly. The acting is superb, the mix of fantasy and realistic drama is sublime, and the story is haunting and fascinating in equal measure.

The movie is a shared experience between a mother and daughter that could tread into the undeniably cheesy or depressing territory but has a tattered joy to it. It’s a low-budget slice of life, which we don’t see too many of these days.

The acting is unquestionably strong, the songs are integrated appropriately (functioning as both audio bridges and dramatic enhancements), and yet something is missing in how the individual pieces of the film--the story, the themes, and the violence--fit together.

The stories are small but the outcome of each means so much to the characters, you’ll find yourself drawn into their very real world.

A very funny and painfully relevant two hours of entertainment.

It is both inspiring and beautiful and makes an even stronger case for protecting shark since Sharkwater. The message is heavy-handed, but his visual images are stunning to soften the blow.

Even in the more chaotic moments, the filmmaker still delivers a beautiful, exciting, and interesting movie in a way only Wes Anderson could.

Linklater was a visionary experimenter in his youth, but now he’s grown into a true master, one able to buck the orthodoxy, not just for its own sake, but to achieve something transcendent.

The Stranger may not be at the same level as Citizen Kane, but what is? On its own terms, it is a fine and invigorating experience that deserves to be sought out and enjoyed.

Easily one of the funniest comedies of the year and one you wouldn’t mind seeing again and again.

Don’t come in expecting high-stakes melodrama, soul-twisting resolutions, or fiery exchanges. This is one of those meditative films about a fragment of life, wherein we find distinct familiarities. It demands that we slow down and appreciate its leisurely pace, its elegiac/humorous tone – and primarily, its lead performance.

West’s bold, stylish direction and brilliant use of color and shadow push Pearl into a whole different level of horror. Goth carries the picture with a bit of acting that is subtle and over-the-top at the same time. How? I don’t know, but I know it works wonders.

The true-to-life repartee between the leads – at times tender, at others snappy, one minute heated, brutally cold the next – is a joy to behold.

What is surprising is how fresh Demme’s version is and how close it approaches the original in terms of quality.

Strong performances from Vera Farmiga and Hugh Dillon keep things from becoming overdramatic.