It is a straightforward narrative of racism where one man’s courage and refusal to give up provides an outlet for success and reform.

It’s a fitting tribute to Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse and makes you long for a time when storytelling was someone just telling a story.

What The Phantom of the Open has going for it is a sweet and unconventionally inspirational story.

While simple, there is great depth to this uncomplicated story.

We Are The Thousand is a phenomenal music documentary and experience for anyone, especially musicians.

My Dead Dad could have been histrionic, filled with overacting, based on just its plot synopsis. However, thanks to carefully written characters, an excellent cast, and some jaw-droppingly inspired editing, the drama finds the truth in the small moments between people.

It is an offbeat, twisted thriller about love, violence, psychopaths, and redemption. This type of film isn’t for everyone, but that’s what indie filmmaking is all about.

The real miracle of this film is in its performances and direction.

The Hensman brothers’ The Prey: Legend of Karnoctus is really not that different from Crawl, whose CGI crocs were just a smidge more realistic than the concealed-in-shadows puppet here. Now I’d love to put my “critic hat” back on and review a movie by the same filmmakers that doesn’t contain an oversized rat.

As an indie thriller, American Siege does what it needs to accomplish in building tension as the filmmakers bring us into a town where everyone is compromised one way or the other and these compromises cause the town to implode.

Alas, instead of a scathing critique of racial injustice, a revamping of the “man seeks revenge after his family is murdered/kidnapped” trope, the director delivers gratuitously violent, vulgar, clichéd, jaw-droppingly sexist, and racist cinematic bile.

The Belcher family’s adventures are heartwarmingly engaging as they pull together while annoying the crap out of each other. The music is catchy, and the characters are beautifully drawn, both figuratively and literally. The Bob’s Burgers Movie is the best family-musical-murder-mystery for the Adventure Time generation you’ll see this summer.

Sometimes, the greatest tales in rock n’ roll involve bands or singers who haven’t made the Hall of Fame or made the playlists for classic rock stations. If you want both the best sounds or the best stories, you have to search. Thankfully, Bobbi Jo Hart has saved the rest of us a lot of effort with her new documentary Fanny: The Right to Rock. She doesn’t have to exert herself to prove that the early 70s combo deserves a place in the pantheon. The ample performance clips from the era speak for themselves loudly.

Mixing dark comedy and mild suspense, Dan Mirvish’s 18 ½ is not the movie many would expect it to be. But the unpredictability of it all makes this madcap political fiction thoroughly diverting.

An on-the-scene documentary filled with interviews, action, and archival footage, We Feed People is inspiring to watch and understand how one man can activate so many.

Mondocane is the finest Italian post-apocalypse movie ever made.

The blending of animation and live-action is incredible, the pacing is swift, and the cast gives it their all. When combined with the strange but excellent sense of humor and strong characters, the picture becomes a lovely surprise. Overall, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers is a fast-paced, humorous, action-packed ride the whole family will get a kick out of.

Although overwhelmed by the use of memes, Diamond Hands: The Legend of WallStreetBets captures a voice and flavor for why GameStop, Robinhood, and WallStreetBets have a meaningful place in history.

Randy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon is a fun and fascinating film for people like me who love rock.

Garland is a master at ratcheting tension to an almost unbearable degree, and he flexes that muscle hard in Men. The way he gradually presses the acceleration pedal, allowing the narrative to gather momentum until it almost implodes in its final third, is really quite remarkable.

At a crisp 90 minutes, Cordelia is as enigmatic as its title character for the majority of its runtime. But with its lush cinematography, archaically creepy set design, and outstanding balancing acts from both Campbell-Hughes and Flynn, it’s never muddied to the point of being opaque and remains enthralling throughout.

Kai paints her subject lovingly, hitting the classics like the world’s greatest visual jukebox. Like a Rolling Stone: The Life and Times of Ben Fong-Torres is a fun-filled look at a member of the old school who wasn’t a class clown.

The narrative is mournful about a man who lived a long tragic life, a dark and depressing tale of young men having to hide their sexual orientation and its emotional and psychological toll in carrying their secret into their senior years.

There is plenty of good meat on the bone here for the hungriest horror hounds. If you have some time to burn, the new Firestarter is definitely worth it.

The film teeters on a fine line between soulful triumph and B-movie cheese.

Overall, The Cherry Bushido is a fun time, and I found it to be a very different sort of samurai film. It’s loud, brash, and seeks to propagandize the Japanese to embrace their warrior nature. I quite enjoyed that. If you’re into unsubtle tales of demons and samurai, this is the film for you.