While there are explorations of difficult topics in Remarkably Bright Creatures, the movie is ultimately about the good in people, and how human connection can lead to a fulfilling life. As such, it wouldn't be surprising for the film to wring a few (or a lot of) tears from its viewers, with its themes of resilience and recovering from devastating grief. But Newman and Whittington's script balances the darker moments of the movie's story with plenty of levity, helped along by Remarkably Bright Creatures' idiosyncratic octopus narrator.

At times coming across like a fusion of Babe and The Thursday Murder Club, The Sheep Detectives gets by a lot on pure charm. The mystery is compelling enough to keep audiences guessing, while the central characters are engaging enough to follow as they find out more about George's death. The film doesn't quite overtake other entries in the cozy mystery genre, but the sweet morals and clever twists make this a worthwhile watch.

Cameron has said in interviews that sharing directorial credit was his idea, and he repeatedly shows us why. In one pre-show scene, the two of them map out where to place the cameras to best capture a particular part of the performance; in another, Eilish explains to camera what she's after with the show's song-specific color scheme. This concert is a work of art, and Eilish is its director – with this film, Cameron is less striving to create his own art than to capture Eilish's.

Both the dramatizations and the interview segments of the film are artistically gorgeous, showing a remarkable grip on genre styles, from film noir to pastel-soaked satire and shadow-heavy psychological thrillers. With animation from April Kovacs and Brad Brown also deployed to tap into Werhun's love of literature, there's not a single frame of the film that doesn't immediately catch the eye.

Hokum is a refinement of what came before, not a rehash: a terrifically composed throwback that knows when to play things grounded and when to embrace the horror for its full potential.

In the moment, I thought it was very successful, and quite moving. In retrospect, however, the lens that we're forced to view the film through cheapens what we actually spent most of our time watching. Omaha can't really be seen the same way twice, but it's well worth it for that first viewing experience – and for John Magaro's performance, which will surely be some of the most quietly powerful work of the year.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 is a well-constructed sequel that finds a healthy balance between nostalgia and forward momentum. It might not be as richly compelling as the first film, but there's still a lot to enjoy – especially when it turns inward.

Blue Heron is the kind of movie that begs to be written about at length. For now, I'll have to be content with assuring you that this is one of the year's best movies. If it comes to a theater near you, don't miss it.

The finished product has more than justified the cost. From the casting to the costumes to the full-fledged concert performances, Michael lives up to the legendary status of its namesake.

For a film that clocks in at around only 90 minutes and doesn't tackle any one subject outright, Wasteman effortlessly makes you think about many issues.

Writer-director Lee Cronin holds onto the essential mythology while bringing in elements from a host of other influences, including the Evil Dead series, The Exorcist, and Hereditary, to try and shake up what mummies can be on screen. Discovering the true nature of this film's mummy, and what it's capable of, is part of the fun. The result isn't quite a 28 Days Later moment – one way to understand the film's full title is that this feels like one filmmaker's interpretation of a classic monster, rather than a new template for others to follow – but it's definitely the scariest a mummy movie has been in years.

Pizza Movie is a refreshing delight. The simply titled Hulu comedy knows who its audience is, and it delivers plenty of gross-out gags for them to laugh at. But it also takes its genre's formula and infuses it with a real shot of originality that gives even non-stoner-comedy fans plenty to sink their teeth into.

As it tells a thrilling story, engineered with expert precision to keep you hanging on every turn, it embarks on a truly fascinating thought experiment about the nature of identity in relationships: who we are to other people, how easily that can change, and how disruptive it can be when it does. This film is rooted (to steal one of its laugh lines) in "double empathy," exploring when and why we condemn others without itself condemning any of its characters. It may be an entertaining conversation piece, but make no mistake, The Drama is also one of the best movies you'll see this year.

That's what makes Forbidden Fruits feel both timely and timeless. We rarely leave the inside of the mall, giving the film a claustrophobic feel. The girls use cell phones – it'd be strange if they didn't – but any recognizable social media are absent. It feels like a distinctly modern take on female friendship, but one that owes a great deal to the films that have come before it. And it's lost the sort of optimism that those films often came with.

Kontinental '25 is an acerbic film which makes you feel uncomfortable for chuckling your way through it, because by doing so you acknowledge an awkward sense of resonance with the guilty.

It would be an understatement to say that Dead Lover is unusual. It may be more accurate to call it entirely novel.

As fun as the film is when it leans into its genre trappings, Touch Me wouldn't be anything without its small-but-superb cast. Olivia Taylor Dudley, largely underutilized beyond her time on The Magicians and with Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls, is transcendent as Joey, easily delivering a career-best performance.

The film may not always conquer its genre's tendency toward oversimplification, but what complexity makes it to the screen is enough to come away from it with something to chew on.

Sender is not the easiest watch. An anxiety-driven nightmare, Goldman's film doesn't just examine surveillance habits and the cycle of supply and demand, but our relationship to these things and the comfortable embrace of addiction. This is where Julia Day (Severance's Britt Lower) lives, and to help us understand what it's like to be inside her head, Goldman and editor Marco Rosas cut with dizzying alacrity, snapping space and time like a folded belt.

Wheatley is such a strong technician that the film easily rises above its, well, normalcy, to become something much more distinct.

Einbinder, who is about to enter into the last season of Hacks, for which she has won an Emmy award, turns in a magnificently dialed-in, heart-forward and honest performance. Theroux has rarely been this funny and he somehow makes what could be a cartoonish character feel believable and sympathetic. Reynolds and Gluck equally bring forth gravitas to two roles which are tricky for any actor in that neither character is particularly open with who they are, nor where they want to go. And yet their lives feel written all over their faces. It's one of the best ensemble performances of the SXSW festival.

From top to bottom, Brian just really works. It knows what game it's playing and does it with grounded honesty and the kind of blistering comedy that can only emanate from a truly genuine place.

This may well be Fanning's best performance to date, an intricately laced characterization of someone who is as filled with determination and dignity as she is by indecision. As Wendy, Fanning has a special way of presenting someone that can be both open and closed in equal measure: smiling through difficulty, forceful and righteous when angry, light and airy when experiencing joy.

Power Ballad continues Carney's long run of success with yet another charmer. Of course, it's easy to charm when you have Paul Rudd as your center.

Day's commanding performance as Jimmy is Kill Me's other greatest asset. For a good portion of the film, he taps into the comedic skills he's famous for, at times playing Jimmy like a more grounded take on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's iconic Pepe Silvia scene. But when the film turns to Jimmy confronting his demons, Day really shines."

It is, ultimately, a film completely uninterested in subtlety. That's both to its credit and to its detriment.

Infused with a sharp exploration of the immigrant experience in America and a smattering of such high school tropes as mean-girl cliques and prom queen competitions, the movie is a wonderfully bonkers ride.

Stephen Lang’s career has been defined by authoritarian roles, with physically grounded performances and command-heavy dialogue. It is surely surprising to see Avatar's fearsome Colonel Miles Quaritch be so vulnerable and tempered, with the spring in his step dampened by age. Even though this is not his first biographical role (he previously portrayed Stonewall Jackson in Gods and Generals), this is arguably his most restrained and moving performance.