It’s nice to see June Squibb land a starring role for once, but her quest for revenge in this Sundance crowdpleaser is more cutesy than charming.

This is a relentlessly grim film with an unsettling view of human nature; its audience will be small and self-selecting, but those who like having their guts ripped out by a movie will leave the theater satisfied.

The opposite of the soulless franchise extension it could've been, A Quiet Place: Day One delivers a prequel that elevates the series to new heights.

Mia Goth shines as usual, and Ti West's third slasher entry feels more visually polished than its predecessors, but it's also more dramatically sterile, thanks to a story that quickly falls apart and mounting references that add up to very little (if anything at all).

The Imaginary fails to capitalisze on some great ideas and wonderful animation. While it will shine as one of the best-looking films of the year with its ambitious 2D animation, that gloss can only do so much for a story that abandons its most interesting elements for a tried and tired rendition of an animated fairytale.

There are moments when Longlegs feels like a movie you’ve seen before, but with an evil filter laid over it: This is both a weakness and a strength, as Perkins’ horror surrealism renders the familiar strange, and the strange familiar.

While its chaotic new cast serves a clear purpose, Inside Out 2 is more metaphor than meaning. It explains plenty about the confusing emotions associated with puberty, often in intelligent ways, but it rarely lets them be felt or experienced, the way its predecessor did.

Idea Man is a lively if shallow journey into the mind of Muppet maestro Jim Henson.

The more The Watchers comes together, the less interesting it becomes. It’s a puzzle best left unsolved.

It’s a delightful watch for long-time fans that doubles as an entertaining sampler for those curious about this beloved series.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die provides a much more entertaining package than what came before, with thrilling and inventive action direction from Adil & Bilall. Yes, it’s as over the top and silly as ever, but it’s done with more panache and genuine wit than before, proving these Bad Boys, even at their older age, can still deliver.

The setup is forgettable, but Stopmotion builds to a grotesque and darkly beautiful finale that’s a great showcase for stop-motion animator Robert Morgan.

MoviePass, MovieCrash is an abundantly entertaining, easily digestible rendering of a ‘too crazy to be true’ story that looks at the turbulent, short life of the company from the perspective of its creators, its destroyers, and the rank-and-file workers who could do nothing but watch it all go down in flames.

Outside of watching modern Trump characteristics being absorbed from the worst influences around him, it rarely has the insight you’d hope for from a biopic centered on one of the defining political figures of the 21st century.

The Shrouds may seem impenetrable at first, but it grows in the mind and heart like a cancer. Let it linger long enough, and it also starts to feel like Cronenberg's most complete, self-assured, and dramatically accomplished work in years.

My Oni Girl is an anime fantasy that makes you wonder why its cool demon hero would waste any time with a boy so exhaustingly dull.

Sure, it’s an exaggerated and somewhat obvious film, but that doesn’t make director Coralie Fargeat’s point any less true – nor does it detract from the tremendously gory way in which she makes it.

Brad Peyton oversees a futuristic action thriller that frequently plays like a clone of other cautionary tales about AI – but those movies, shows, games, and books don’t have Peyton’s secret weapon: Jennifer Lopez. She’s able to command the screen, bicker with software programs, and sell a convincing heroine’s arc from behind a mech-suit’s windshield.

The first chapter in Kevin Costner's epic western series is a meandering, regressive snooze.

The premise is interesting, some of the scenes are nicely shot, and the acting – especially that of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Fanny Bornedal – is believable. Unfortunately, it's also weighed down by predictable twists and lackluster thrills.

Lorcan Finnegan’s smart survival thriller The Surfer sets a brutal, sun-soaked stage for star Nicolas Cage to do what he does best: go completely nuts.

Yorgos Lanthimos returns to his days of nasty absurdism, with three vicious, amusing stories about love and obsession. The recurring ensemble, led by Emma Stone and Jesse Plemmons, delivers a showcase of versatility in which they meet the director on his peculiar wavelength, leading to nearly 3 hours of unsettling fun.

It's a frequently fascinating and often moving film despite its many, often glaring, flaws.

Baker cuts straight to the feeling – and because of his fearless filmmaking, this career-best film, in all its crushing and chaotic glory, demands to be felt.

The Garfield Movie applies some nice animation to an annoying all-ages comedy of product placement, phone jokes, and daddy issues.

Megalopolis is so chock-full of ideas that Coppola’s melding of time periods eventually buckles under its own weight in a controlled demolition that initially confounds, but eventually shatters the screen in thrilling fashion. The film ends up not only being a cautionary tale about the end of empires, but one that likens the Hollywood system to empire as well (or a tyrannical extension of it).

The Strangers: Chapter 1 might freak you out if you aren’t old enough to remember The Strangers, but where its predecessor was subtle and interesting, Renny Harlin’s reboot chooses to be ridiculous and boring.

It’s hard to overstate how immaculately crafted Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is, both as a prequel to Max Max: Fury Road and as a stand-alone story of how the Wasteland created a powerful character.

Though the celebrity cast is giant, none of the colorful creatures they’re voicing are particularly memorable. And Krasinski favors trite platitudes over any real insights into the adventure of growing up; his dialogue will leave you pining for the strategic, well, quiet of his last onscreen family. What IF lacks is what it champions: the magical imagination of childhood.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes It’s not as emotionally complex as Dawn of the Planet of the Apes or War for the Planet of the Apes, and isn’t attempting to punch you in the gut like those films do. But as this series enters its post-Caesar, Disney-owned era, Planet of the Apes is still on remarkably solid footing.

Tarot seems perpetually uncertain about whether it should play its thinly conceived premise for laughs, or actually pursue real scares. It winds up with neither, stumbling around in the dark and turning its small ensemble into a crude means of timekeeping for its surprisingly sluggish 90-minute runtime.

French creature feature Infested delivers the creepy-crawly kicks promised by its title, although its human elements don’t really go anywhere.

Overstuffed and wearisome, pulpy action comedy Boy Kills World proves that there can be too much of a good thing.

This futuristic sci-fi thriller has some good moments of ambiguous tension, but it’s too scaled back to make much of an impact.

In a Violent Nature is a clever slasher experiment that underdelivers in the story department but more than makes up for it with some clever kills that will be sure to linger long after the credits roll.

Despite revolving around a group of heroes battling to save existence from total annihilation, the film struggles to build meaningful stakes and establish a sense of dramatic weight. The lack of narrative focus around a single, main protagonist also severely hinders the film.

Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths – Part One knows what it is and strives to do right by its source material. There's no depth, no moral murk, no optional profundity for the insight-hungry. Just good, clean, marginally sensical fun.

The second part of Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon space opera, The Scargiver, delivers a half-baked conclusion to a well-trodden story with flimsy character studies and lacklustre action.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare is a solid Guy Ritchie take on World War II that tells an incredible, sort-of-true story that’s plucky, punchy, and quite entertaining.

Spy X Family: CODE White captures the series’ appeal in microcosm, its stylish action, heartfelt found-family dynamic, and incredibly silly comedy all working in entertaining harmony.

Arcadian is an effective creature-feature B-movie that gets the job done in under 90 minutes.

Sting is a creature feature that tinkers too much with familiar horror/sci-fi concepts but has plenty of heart to make it memorable.

Abigail is a hilariously gory romp that banks on a memorable ensemble cast and a witty screenplay that invigorates vampire tropes with a refreshing drollness.

A film that volleys back and forth in time, Luca Guadagnino's Challengers builds the relationships between its leading tennis trio in exciting and exacting ways. Enhanced by layered physical performances from Mike Faist, Zendaya, and Josh O'Connor, the result is one of the sexiest and most electric dramas of 2024.

The First Omen is a fiendishly entertaining origin story for both the antichrist and a filmmaker to watch.

Riddle of Fire is a charming, fantastical debut just begging for a cult audience to ride its uniquely silly wavelength. It’s familiar, and yet like nothing else you’ve seen.

Problemista is a deeply considered, fantastical tromp through a wonderland of the mundane.

Olivia Colman is a diamond in the rough, but even she can’t rescue a movie this flat and uninteresting.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire serves up a berserk dreamscape with plenty of payoff to please the MonsterVerse faithful. Shame about the human stuff, though.

Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 takes the Terrifier 2 approach for a sequel with an absurd dedication to glorious slasher violence. It's inarguably better than the original, but that’s not saying all that much.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Kingdom’s tiresome, bloated plot and expansive roster of characters will leave you out in the cold.

Whimsical though it may be, The Concierge leverages its visual humor, creative premise, and expressiveness for a surprising and touching reflection on humanity's relationship to the world around us.

Civil War delivers a challenging, thrilling, heart-pounding movie about the importance of journalism in times of conflict, about how easily we become desensitized to violence when we’re living through it.

This is an irreplicable experience that speaks volumes about following your dreams despite the challenges that await. The reward will always be worthwhile, even if it’s just about the friends you make and NPC cops you massacre along the way.

Weaving’s expressive face and boundless energy make her a compelling heroine, and her will to survive is unstoppable.

A self-reflexive love letter to Hollywood stunt work, The Fall Guy is the perfect vehicle for Ryan Gosling’s comedic timing – not to mention, his romantic charm alongside an equally dialed-in Emily Blunt.

It’s beautifully shot, and very loud. But much of the film is simply too mild and reliant on jump scares, and Syndey Sweeney’s performance doesn’t achieve the hysterical heights a movie like this needs until it’s too late.

If you can look past Road House’s horrendous cinematography, CGI fights, and poor lighting, there's a fun movie to be found.

Y2K is a deadly unserious disaster comedy featuring fantastic cyber-monster effects and humor inspired by the time period.

Dev Patel’s diehard sincerity clashes with unwieldy religious imagery in an India-set revenge saga whose tepid action scenes fail to make up for its muddled politics.

Imaginary nearly perfects its so-bad-it’s-good shtick. This is not a good movie, in the traditional, artistic sense – but it is a total joy to watch if you’re willing to buy into its particular blend of juvenile scares and stupid self-seriousness.

A weak script and boring performances make the Netflix fantasy film Damsel a real slog, torpedoing its attempt to be a subversive spin on classic adventure tales. Any sense of wonder or magic is diluted by cheap-looking CGI and its overly repetitive action sequences.

It would be great to see Peter Farrelly recapture the comedic magic he and his brother achieved in their terrific 1990s run, but he doesn’t do so with Ricky Stanicky. It’s focused on too many un-engaging characters with a lot of would-be comedic banter that falls flat, while the attempts to blend drama with humor feel out of place.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - To the Hashira Training is a visual delight which will please the series’ biggest fans.

Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate is nothing more than a lazy, 14-years-too-late cash-in on DreamWorks IP.

It’s a good movie too chronically polite to achieve anything like greatness.

Despite thoughtful visual artistry, and a great dramatic performance from Adam Sandler, Johan Renck’s Spaceman ends up too scattered, and too literal, to make its tale of a lonely astronaut feel remotely important.

Ethan Coen goes solo – sort of – with Drive-Away Dolls, a raunchy, dizzy road-trip comedy that’s a little too slick for its own good.

Featuring absolutely staggering visuals, Dune: Part Two is an arresting, transportive middle entry in Denis Villeneuve’s tricky sci-fi saga.

Madame Web has the makings of a interesting superhero psychological thriller, but with a script overcrowded with extraneous characters, basic archetypes, and generic dialogue, it fails the talent and the future of its onscreen Spider-Women.

Not as memorable as the ’80s and ’90s high-school romps and creepshows it pays tribute to, there's still lots of gory fun to be had with director Zelda Williams’ feature-length debut thanks to Newton's electric lead and the sparks she throws off opposite Cole Sprouse’s game portrayal of a reanimated corpse.

A bizarre tale about a family of sasquatch is an emotional masterpiece of experimental cinema and fart jokes.

A Different Man is a twisted, sometimes grueling, frequently darkly funny ride with standout performances from Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson.

Matthew Vaughn’s latest directorial effort doesn’t traffic in the same edgelord button-pushing as his Kingsman series, but as that relief fades, it becomes clear how much Argylle is recycling ideas and imagery from those (and other, better) movies. Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell make an endearing pair, but they’re committed to an occasionally loony adventure that lacks the grace necessary to match its stars.

If the animation is nothing special, the script is better than what drives most animated movies aimed at a young audience. And you can certainly feel Kaufman’s neurotic touch on the material.

Love Lies Bleeding combines intense lesbian sexuality with shocking, graphic violence for a film that really gets the blood pumping. Kristen Stewart embodies her dirtbag character with the jumpy physicality she does so well, and her chemistry with co-star Katy O’Brian is powerful. The film loses focus as it escalates to hysterical heights in its second half, but its pulpy, fetishistic pleasures are potent.

My Old Ass is a sweet, hilarious coming-of-age story anchored by Aubrey Plaza and Maisy Stella’s excellent comedic and emotional chemistry.

Anchored by a rich and resonant performance from Daisy Ridley, Sometimes I Think About Dying deftly explores the debilitating effects of social anxiety and chronic loneliness, and the transformative power of human connection.

As much as its focus is technological, it’s an emotional exploration too – a wry and thoughtful magnification of what life feels like when you lose and re-discover your purpose, or you learn to see yourself through someone else’s eyes.

Captain Marvel directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's (sometimes very) fun anthology/love letter to Oakland, California doesn’t add enough of its own unique spirit to quite live up to its influences.

With a playful camera that rushes through space and embodies a ghostly spirit, Steven Soderbergh’s resourceful haunted house thriller is a midnight genre romp.

Astonishingly beautiful and vulnerable, I Saw the TV Glow's surreal art-horror speaks to lonely teenagers, past and present.

Self Reliance's comedic riff on The Most Dangerous Game benefits from writer-director-star Jake Johnson’s extraordinary ability to commit to a bit – but it's lacking a sense of danger.

This grim, acclaimed Chilean Western will dazzle your eyes, even as it crushes your spirit with its true story of genocide.

Destroy All Neighbors is a horror-comedy with a fun premise and creative effects but it’s messy in too many ineffective and wrong ways, like listening to a 20-minute jam session that never finds its hook.

Night Swim effectively exploits primal fears around water, but its comedy and horror chops aren’t strong enough to keep it from drowning in its more clichéd elements.

A semi-confusing script and heavy-handed direction from David Ayer muddle the proceedings, but enough inspired pizazz and Statham’s earnest delivery of lines like “I protect the hive” just barely bring it all home.

Mean Girls is a winning, entertaining reworking of Tina Fey’s 2004 comedy. Featuring a collection of strong original songs and a successful updating of the story and messages, it's a musical reimagining worth watching.

Role Play wants to be a star-driven caper merging complicated relationship dynamics with exciting espionage action. But despite a few brief signs of life, both sides of the film are woefully unconvincing, as are its stars. Kaley Cuoco goes way too broad, David Oyelowo looks pained, and the whole thing strains to imitate better movies.

Despite a talented cast and great director, Netflix’s Lift proves to be an exceedingly unremarkable heist film.

The End We Start From is a muddy post-apocalyptic drama that fails to nail the human connection at its core.

Society of the Snow humanizes the gruesome tale of a group of rugby players trapped in the Andes.

When Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is being an Aquaman story and leaning into the silliness and family aspects of it all, it’s fun. The enjoyable bits are just sandwiched between some ugly effects and a weird first act that feel cobbled together from a very different movie.

While Anyone But You isn’t a bold new take on traditional romcom formulas, it becomes an infectiously sincere and easily watchable movie featuring a charming ensemble cast and great situational comedy.

The Color Purple strands a passionate cast in a passionless movie musical that’s eager to skip to the end.

Migration is satisfactory but uninspiring.

The Zone of Interest is a formally precise yet completely shattering cinematic intervention that emerges as one of the most monumental films ever made.

Unfortunately, great performances and reverence for the sport aren’t enough to save a film at odds with itself.