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.