Côté’s film does work very well for the most part as a somewhat cold, ornamental study of what our epidermal tissue looks like at terminal mass.

Aster displays proficient skill in eerie tone-setting, elaborate production design, and the type of scares that will leave a pervasive imprint on the mind, even if the underlying mythology gets over-complicated by the finale.

This film is often slight but always welcoming. The two leads have a pleasant chemistry that elevates each exchange and build out a meaningful–and meaningfully deep–relationship that’s easy to engage with and root fo

Choe shows a deft hand in her brevity and economy of action. So little happens yet it matters so much.

American Animals is a legitimately exciting, funny, suspenseful, and at one point deeply upsetting crime film, ably demonstrating a command of genre trappings in service of a narrative about people warped by those very clichés.

The Tale is a soul-excavating reckoning with the suppression of trauma and a testament to the courage required for a victim to confront the most damaging moments of their lives.

If we spent a little less time on Mary and Percy, and a bit more watching Mary actually create, the result may have been different. Sadly, Mary Shelley is just not alive.

Its authentic depiction of unprepared young love is delicately innocent.

First Reformed...may be the full realization of Schrader’s vision.

It’s pure, maximalist filmmaking in the hands of a master who can put it all out there within the right emotional context to prevent it all from falling apart.

Angels Wear White becomes a bottomless pit of despair consuming complex characters with nowhere to go.

There is much to savor in this beautifully-crafted movie.

Disobedience‘s journey is one of authentic emotional honesty excelling in instances of insecurity and fear.

While it’s definitely hard not to crack a smile at all the head-banging that ensues, or how almost outright tacky and frankly uncool the film risks being at times with its bevy of musical numbers, they speak to the overall earnestness and conviction that arises from the film.

It’s tonally and thematically so fragmented, the context simply isn’t there.

It’s a worthwhile document of tennis history and that of two of its greats.

Its characters are unforgettably batty yet impressively noble...sympathetic yet fierce.... And their actions consistently achieve dramatic merit despite always culminating with a joke.

Lean on Pete is certainly not a film without qualities (credit to the supporting cast and Magnus Nordenhof Jønck’s cinematography in particular), but viewers might just feel the gnawing sense of a director losing his grip on the reins.

Thornton establishes himself as a director to watch, and with fine performances from Neill, Brown, Gorey-Furber, and, especially, Hamilton Morris, also reveals an ability to make an epic tale feel deeply personal.

This may be Iannucci’s weakest-written film, but it’s by far his best-directed one.

How Joelle Touma’s script progresses is heavy-handed in its desire to augment the tensions and provide justifications, but it’s still powerful nonetheless.

The genius and creative dexterity of Maoz are on full display here.

I, Tonya succeeds because of the pathos it creates.

Give Me Future isn’t just a film for Major Lazer fans; it’s a light, yet illuminating geopolitical documentary that’s rousing while just stopping short of tearing the roof off the theater.

It’s hard to imagine Literally, Right Before Aaron existing without The Graduate as a template. Ryan Eggold’s lame-brained paint-by-numbers romantic comedy relies a little too heavy on functioning as homage to the Mike Nichols classic.

I won’t lie and say Mystery Road kept me on the edge of my seat for its duration, but there is a lot to enjoy in its delicately peeled back layers.

Moonlight is a quietly introspective depiction steeped in unparalleled honesty of the ways in which we’re saved and damned throughout our lives.

If more ancient wisdom both changed and was changed by the dream of incorporation in A Confucian Confusion, Mahjong finds an austere allure in the depravity / con of making a living.