Going into it, I was ready to love Kara and her story. Though the opening party montage is great (giving us the perfect Gross Girl Summer representation), she sort of blended into the dull, brownish gray background by the end – aside from one moment during the movie's climax, which, frankly, I don't know that it earned. Coming out of Supergirl, I didn't feel invigorated the way I did after Superman. I didn't feel like I understood the character enough. I wasn't even sure if she understood herself.

When I reviewed Enys Men for ScreenRant in 2023, I was awed by the use of form on display, but wished for more of a narrative backbone to hold all that atmosphere together. Rose of Nevada, Jenkin's latest film, supplies it. The haunted, slippery feeling of his movies is very effective when applied to a supernatural mystery, and that sense of full understanding being just out of reach becomes something pulling you further in, rather than pushing you out. For something so deliberately paced, I found it completely gripping.

Girls Like Girls is a familiar plot, which is part of the point. It's a grounded love story that isn't afraid to make characters messy or deal with trickier subjects, largely executing a painfully realistic story with a good sense of craft. While some elements feel underbaked or seem one-note, the central focus and performances by Myra Molloy and Maya Da Costa give Girls Like Girls an effective emotional core.

There have been plenty of horror movies about conversion therapy, but none like this one. Though it is at times terrifying, capturing the isolation of the queer experience with bone-deep emotion, the first-time director's new film is a surprisingly tender look at the shapes love and demons can take.

It's a strong third film by Michael Sarnoski, even if it has some shaggy edges that could have been improved. Filmed with a moody sense of atmosphere and bolstered by strong performances, The Death of Robin Hood has terrific depth and thematic richness that keeps the movie from ever feeling too downbeat to stop being compelling.

Burns is going for smooth entertainment here, and the light tone keeps Finnegan's Foursome from diving into some of the emotional territory it could have. He's also conceived this as a story about the brothers first and foremost, and the children function mostly as an extension of their drama, rather than a chance to explore a whole new set of relationships. One can only imagine what this script might've accomplished in the hands of a more ambitious dramatist. However, those frustrations are only really allowed to surface because Burns' film takes its time getting into a groove – once it does, it's easy to become swept up in its gentle current.

What truly makes Voicemails for Isabelle stand out is that it isn't just another romcom that's going to get some views and be forgotten; this movie offers a genuinely meaningful story, in which audiences get to see Jill heal after this brutal loss—and that's what it's really about.

Seven years after the fourth outing, Toy Story 5 arrives with a meaningful story to tell, and does so with precision, humor, and pathos on par with the original trilogy’s heyday. Not only are the animation, of-the-moment storytelling, voice performances, and character development strong enough to warrant returning to this Pixar franchise again, but this film pulls off the impressive feat of being the funniest and most emotional Toy Story yet.

Its gripping action is so singular that it feels like a one-of-a-kind viewing experience, different from almost every other film (or show) out there.

I have been more engaged trying to sift through my feelings about this movie after the fact than I was actually watching it. Sometimes, when it comes to art, that's just how it is, and I don't think I could convincingly say Jinsei is unsuccessful. But I don't think it's successful enough. Though it creates striking moments and leaves a lasting impact of some kind, Suzuki aims for a scope of storytelling that his film just doesn't achieve anywhere but on paper.

Whatever the secret ingredient is, the result is a movie that is non-stop hilarious and unapologetically goofy. It may not be deep, it may not be compelling, but it is silly enough to be great.

This movie is made for a world that has us spending most of our time looking down, whether metaphorically, heads buried in our own work and struggles, or literally, absorbed by the phones that have overtaken our lives. As if watching the skies is too big an ask in that context, Spielberg instead uses all his directorial power to encourage us to look at each other. The result is another great film in a career filled with them. Structured like a thriller with a propulsiveness worthy of Indiana Jones, Disclosure Day is an attempt to meet this cynical, divided moment and treat it with empathy, as well as with a healthy dose of good, ol' fashioned entertainment.

The filmmakers, and co-writer, producer, and star Brett Goldstein in particular, clearly have a sense of what it is that makes studio rom-coms so appealing, and they've built this one to actually deliver on it. It's a little shaggy, perhaps, and I inevitably found myself missing the shot-on-film glow that did so much for the movies of that bygone era. But I can't really complain. My default state watching Office Romance was a giddy smile.

With even an ounce of narrative focus, it could have had its fun while actually commenting on one of the biggest modern trends in the genre. Instead, it falls into the same traps that subsequently weakened the parody sub-genre as a whole. Despite some good gags, a committed cast, and a solid central premise, Scary Movie just can't get out of its own way.

I can't speak to whether it's a faithful adaptation of the source material, but as someone who wasn't previously a He-Man fan, I'm eager to see where this franchise goes – and there are plenty of indications that Mattel and Amazon MGM are confident that Masters of the Universe could get a sequel.

The more standard it feels, the harder it becomes to be swept up in the narrative swells, and the film's reach eventually exceeds its grasp. But even if it isn't shattering, Miss You, Love You still entertains.

Though I won't be asking for my 60 minutes back, it's about as far from essential viewing as you can get.

The film really strives to examine the psychology of its characters in a way that it isn't fully equipped to do. Even when it falters, though, Backrooms is still an effective horror film, dealing in quiet terror over abject horror. In a world where fear is constantly thrown in our faces, having to look for it, and wanting to do so in the first place, can be just as disturbing.

Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser do terrific work in the lead roles, and they're magnetic enough to make a movie about debates over weather predictions riveting – even if the script and direction can't quite match their tone. Pressure works best as a two-hander that occasionally surpasses the material, but it's not necessarily a must-see for anyone who isn't already interested in WW2 history.

Netflix's new movie is no shoddy disaster – it's a competently, if unexceptionally, mounted production by director Thea Sharrock, featuring an impressive British and Irish cast. It's not entirely without laughs, either. But this story of a chauvinist who bumps his head and wakes up in a world where women are in charge is so fundamentally misguided that I at times could not believe I was actually watching it. A comedy sketch premise stretched to feature length, the team behind Ladies First should have spent a little less time on thinking up gender-flipped jokes and more time wondering whether they actually had a coherent story worth telling.

This Australian horror film has many similarly striking images in it; writer-director Natalie Erika James clearly has a talent for crafting them. In this instance, however, that proves as much an asset as a drawback. Neither Saccharine's narrative nor editing have the same vitality, and James communicates her ideas so succinctly that too much of our time is spent waiting for the story to continue along the obvious road ahead of it. There are moments of vice-like terror that use the pacing to slowly surround us and squeeze, but the movie lacks the formal tightness to keep it up for very long. Just as often, Saccharine inspires impatience.

Passenger lacks the kind of ambitious thematic approach or emotional depth that elevates the best horror movies, falling into typical impulses of the genre. But there's nothing wrong with being a well-constructed horror movie that doesn't want to waste time with slow-burning monsters. It won't be much of a surprise, especially for fans of the genre – but it's not hard to recommend regardless.

Almodóvar makes thrillingly clear that the moral cost of drawing on one's own life to make fiction is the true subject of this film. Everything else becomes richer through this meta lens.

Can you truly befriend or even develop an acquaintance with someone of dramatically opposing views? The optimist in me says yes. But when it comes to the development and protection of children, Mungiu proves it’s grayer than I care to admit.

This isn't a Skywalker Saga installment, nor does it pretend to be all that much bigger than the show it comes from. This is a film focused on Din Djarin and Grogu, and it delivers on that point. With those expectations set, The Mandalorian and Grogu is genuinely delightful to watch. It's funny, sweet, very emotional at times, and full of action and adventure.

An exhilarating spectacle of epic proportion, Hope is exactly the kind of violently horrific and chaotically humorous film we’ve been waiting a decade for from Na Hong-jin. He manages to continue his great streak as a master of genre mash-ups in ways that blend the best of sci-fi, horror, and action thrillers. It’s ridiculous, it’s bloody, it’s long – and it’s worth every minute of your time.

It's a technically fine film that doesn't do anything especially inventive, but remains capable of telling a concise story with clear action. Fans of the Jack Ryan show should definitely check it out, and appreciators of military action and espionage will probably find plenty to love, too. For everyone else, Jack Ryan: Ghost War could have been something bigger and better.

A beautiful yet simple story about using AI to manage grief, Sheep in the Box hits all the right emotional notes. The script glides through all stages with realism and curiosity in a way that never judges its characters, no matter which side of the AI argument they sit on.

The most frustrating aspect of Paper Tiger is that there’s an exceptional film here somewhere. The budding tension was magnificent, to the point where the action that followed felt like a giant sigh of relief. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough – so much so that the 115-minute runtime felt entirely too short.

Parallel Tales is exactly as advertised: The central story interweaves the lives of six people in ways that should be a recipe for delicious, chaotic drama. Yet, Farhadi's latest is bogged down by its repetitiveness and refusal to offer anything new to a story about imagination and voyeurism. What we’re left with hangs a little too long onto a thin rope of painful repetition, false hope, and jaded screenwriting.

Even though it's a short 82 minutes, a film like Fatherland requires a certain level of patience. There are missing emotional anchors tying all the themes together. In a sense, the script holds itself back from fully embracing its potential, especially for a story centering on a father-daughter duo during the peak of the Cold War. A little certainly goes a long way, but even this moody piece needed a breakthrough.

Corrigan approaches his film's many user interfaces with a show-don't-tell philosophy. Every click, every keystroke, is treated like an opportunity to reveal personality. It not only keeps the screenlife conceit interesting, but makes it feel vital.

With particular attention paid to character dynamics, Guy Ritchie returns to what he does best. His most successful projects, such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, thrive on that quick and snappy dialogue. As his career has progressed, he’s expanded his horizons and proven that he can craft a compelling story apart from his origins as a filmmaker – but whenever Ritchie leans back into those core elements, it feels like a welcome return. That’s exactly the case here, and the three leads are the clear beneficiaries.

The central conceit is both interesting and clever, it's often touchingly performed, and it has some ideas that are, when dwelt on, quite profound. But the story is wrapped in a self-consciously "artistic" style that is only rarely additive. More often, it just gets in the way.

In an era when so many films are aesthetically bland and unappealing, Is God Is stands out. The colors, such as those seen on the sisters’ clothing, truly pop on screen, helping to hook the viewer in. This, combined with the engaging story being told, makes this film one that audiences dare not look away from. It may not be a blockbuster, but it's more than worth watching on the biggest screen possible.

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.

What enjoyment there is to draw from the action, which has its ups and downs, is tainted by the skepticism of this whole endeavor that's baked into the filmmaking. Even knowing better which direction they should go in, McQuoid & Co. remain frustratingly unwilling to commit to it. What they've made is tellingly at its best when making fun of itself.

Unfortunately for the streamer, their latest outing, Swapped, is not merely bound to be forgotten. It's also one of Netflix's worst animated movies yet."

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.

Though it's an often beautiful showcase for the Arabian desert landscape, Desert Warrior is a slow, awkward jumble, trying so hard to be cool and lacking any of the style or charisma to pull it off. The climactic battle has some redeeming qualities, but after waiting 90 minutes to see it and finding it so choppily edited as to be distracting, the prevailing feeling I carried with me after it ended was still disappointment.

With thin character work and a familiar story surrounding it, the movie ultimately proves more disposable than enjoyable.

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.

Some adaptations, it seems, are far less equal than others.

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.

While Lowery's film is ripe for interpretation, and will no doubt be better received by those who enjoy that style of filmmaking, those wanting actual answers will find frustratingly little satisfaction. Mother Mary is, at heart, more about vibes and style than anything else.

Despite having a decent budget and some recognizable actors to work with, writer-director Tommy Wirkola, known for Nazi zombie film Dead Snow and his Santa action film Violent Night, ensured what ended up on screen was a pretty fun B picture. It doesn't have the stylistic touch that can sometimes bring a little something extra to playful genre films, nor does it have a true standout sequence that could give it a chance at a longer cultural life. But it does have just the tone you'd hope it would, especially as it nears its climax, and that's all it really needs to deliver the goods.

Hill is willing to look critically at some of his industry's darkness, but he's also far too inclined to let his lead off the hook, and his film is weaker for it. As dark comedy, Outcome feels underbaked; as drama, it lacks sufficient introspection to have earned its emotional catharsis. Part of that is length: At under 90 minutes, the film is sometimes choppy and out of breath, and more time to flesh out its ideas might have helped it feel more tonally balanced. But no one change could fix a problem that's rooted in the vision for this material.

The movie asks a lot of its audience in terms of suspended disbelief, and while it occasionally handles its cheesier moments by poking fun at itself, there are times when cringe-worthy lines are delivered with absolute sincerity. Particularly early on, in fact, You, Me & Tuscany seems doomed to be yet another trope-y romcom that fails to set itself apart. What ultimately saves the movie is unquestionably its cast. Unsurprisingly, given their respective romance backgrounds, Bailey and Page are everything audiences want in romcom leads.

Not all movies need to be action-packed, and that was never Mermaid's goal, despite what its opening, horror-themed mermaid encounter might have led one to believe. However, for a film that sets out to take viewers into the mind of a broken man clinging to his last shot at change, Mermaid does not pack the emotional punch that is needed to hook the audience all the way through.

Margot knows the dangers of social media – her backstory has shades of cliché, but it's still effective in pushing her down the rabbit hole that her coworkers' superficiality precludes them from exploring. That investigation involves a string of missing persons and a killer obsessed with the dark corners of the internet. The biggest issue with Faces of Death, though, is that it's just not all that dark down there.

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.

In The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, as in the 2023 film, surprise character cameos, nonstop gags and action, and references to 40 years’ worth of games that fly across the screen at 100 mph take precedence over plot, character development, and pacing. However, if you’re ready to turn off your brain for a little under two hours and bask in the impressive animation and countless Easter eggs, there’s a lot of fun to be had in this sugar rush of a sequel.

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.

It sits somewhere at the intersection of Quentin Tarantino and Sam Raimi, though without the former's control of form and the latter's splatstick comedic timing, it can't quite live up to the potential of that mashup. Still, it's plenty of fun. Zazie Beetz is the ideal badass heroine to carry this movie, and there are more than enough moments of stylish violence (and violent style) to get the whole theater cackling.

Sam somewhat shrinks into the periphery of the story to make way for Amanda Peet's Dianne, whose tonal world is welcome, but certainly different. Rather than hold things together, Shear the filmmaker seems to step back, too. The result is a film that only exists in moments: sometimes funny, sometimes interesting, always lacking the cohesion necessary to add up to anything.

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.

Director Vicky Jewson and her stunt team... properly make dance a large part of its central characters' fight sequences, which gives them a very different flavor. However, this only elevates the film so far beyond its fairly underwhelming script.

She Dances seems almost scared of its own premise.

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.

Ultimately, Over Your Dead Body is too messy for its own good. It is unable to settle into any one choice. The repeated motif of flashbacks and plot twists is fun, but not always useful in keeping the ball up.

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.

It's something of a disappointment that the film, as a whole, fails to live up to Byrne's great work in it. But it's certainly not a bad film.

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.

With its molasses pacing and bland direction, this film is an absolutely forgettable dud.

The film boasts a twee quirkiness in style, but in its narrative, that promise never really comes to fruition. It is, in other words, a much more normal affair than what is promised. In spite of many genuine laughs, that just translates into a disappointing experience.

In between nonchalant murders, Beers, Bacon, and Sedgwick aim for grounded heart-to-heart conversations of a kind that don't exactly feel at home in the movie's otherwise topsy-turvy world. But being that this is a real family that has worked together for decades, their chemistry elevates the somewhat lackluster writing to deliver a pleasurable, if tame experience.

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.

If Ready or Not was a chess match, Here I Come is tic-tac-toe.

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."

Thankfully, despite the movie feeling imbalanced in parts, One Another still proves to be a generally charming enough diversion.

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.

Unfortunately, Reminders of Him isn't a very good film, at least in the traditional sense. But, like Regretting You, there's a certain level of lizard brain enjoyment that transcends much of the film's flaws and allows for all the soapy, melodramatic elements to be enjoyed at their own level.

Perhaps it's fitting that a horror film set around a podcast flits in and out of being engaging, since that's more or less the experience of listening to one, but it doesn't exactly make for a cohesive viewing experience.

Lord & Miller's film is a remarkable achievement.

Despite its outward sullenness, The Projectionist is so well observed in its smaller moments that it contains within it an unusual kind of hope.

This Is Not a Test suggests a filmmaker content to operate within the familiar confines of the horror genre rather than push beyond them.

To put it simply: it's just not very stimulating to watch two people who have a hard time talking... have a hard time talking. Stella and Gerry's love may be stuck in the wintry cold, but so is the film, utterly unable to be thawed.

It's rare that a film is this devoid of characterization, rarer still that a serial killer horror is this lacking in tension.

It's a deliriously perfect, laugh-a-second satire.

For all of its missteps, calling Dolly an outright bad movie still doesn't quite prove an accurate descriptor for Blackhurst's slasher thriller. It's got a solid cast of performers, occasionally stylish direction, and some shocking brutality, but can never quite find the right rhythm to bring it all together.

If Heated Rivalry could help with queer representation in sports, perhaps Youngblood could help crack the foundation of racism in hockey.

Every life is a universe unto itself, and Ricciardi was clearly the kind of unique soul whose spirit enriched everyone around him, but its actually in the margins of this sometimes preening doc that Benna's film really hits its target. When the film rests, it destigmatizes a process that everyone will eventually go through (albeit in a range of ways).

While it has a mix of fresh and familiar concepts, Protector ultimately still feels too routine to stand out from the crowd.