The surprise heart of the film, in this respect, is Pamela Anderson, who takes effortlessly to the kind of broad, marker-drawn, boiled-too-hard noir caricature that would’ve slotted right alongside Canada’s late king of deadpan, and effortfully to the kind of boisterous clowning and physical comedy erupting out of this po-faced caricature that would do the Zuckers proud.

Harper’s source material is a hard-boiled tour de force, and while Rowland’s adaptation adjusts and simplifies the novel on which it’s based, it successfully bottles the energy and unleashes it onscreen.

Stranger Eyes belongs to Lee. Whether or not Yeo wrote it with him in mind, I can’t think of a better performer to flesh out the chasm that powers the film: between different ways of looking, between fears as old as time itself and the state-of-the-art technology used to bring them to light.

Folktales captures a crucial moment in the lives of these young adults amidst a very particular setting with stark, unblinking honesty.

While the film may embrace a low-budget, drab-naturalistic aesthetic, it’s far from dull. Duplass, Strassner, and Larsen brilliantly execute one of the year’s finest romantic comedies.

González-Nasser captures something essential about Sofia’s life: the exhaustion. The film, more comedy than drama, breaks both the viewer and Sofia down in equal parts, pushing either to continue this never-ending day, showing the pressure of a job that many others tell her is “so cool.”

Vigalondo has a ton of fun with the premise of two worlds by changing both aspect ratio and fidelity.

Alexandra Simpson’s No Sleep Till plays out in a slice-of-life documentarian style. It’s a quiet piece with gorgeous images (kudos to cinematographer Sylvain Froidevaux) and interesting characters engaged in the seemingly wild juxtapositions inherent to maintaining a mundane status quo through the uncertainty of impending chaos.

It can be said that Rebirth is a stronger entry than Colin Trevorrow’s films simply because low-budget VFX whiz-turned-director Gareth Edwards has a much better eye for shooting dinos, while the overqualified cast is better company than Chris Pratt’s wack pack. Yet it’s pretty hard to shake how dull and perfunctory the entire thing is; a lack of passion emanates from almost everyone involved.

Videoheaven embalms a world of choice, and greater sociality, that was once the cutting edge of modernity and now is history; so it goes. But as the film’s sucker-punch final line confirms, it matters to commemorate it––not because the video “era” was great. It matters because it was a chapter of American life.

Anybody who watches Ponyboi knows there is probably nothing Gallo can’t do. Their charisma and screen presence alone make this worth a watch.

Kosinski delivers a solid entry for 2025’s summer session: a slick, glossy blockbuster that’s a feast for the senses and easy on the brain.

There’s a lot of depth to this story. More than you might anticipate at the start.

Armed with a bevy of iPhones, 28 Years Later is definitely an “I’ve still got the moves” gesture from Boyle. It’s a case where his frenetic energy, paired with returning writer Alex Garland’s structurally odd screenplay, creates a film that one never feels a step ahead of––a deep compliment for something about to be unleashed on multiplexes. Even if that doesn’t necessarily result in a great film, per se.

Splitsville is overflowing with one-liners and gut-busters that make it ripe for subsequent viewings.

In a time where authoritarianism is rampant, genocides are actively taking place, and journalists daily risk their lives giving voice to the victims of history, Meeting with Pol Pot is a noble, timely, incendiary counter-narrative that devises a way to look forward by making a project of the past, where the act of re-imagining the truth radically remembers the traces left behind by a lost generation.

Sex, which Haugerud has said is more about love––and that Love is about sex––is a film teeming with ideas in which “sex,” both as an act and identity, is eruditely investigated in search of an unnameable essence.

The film is still recommended viewing; they still know how to draw a good performance and nail an emotional beat. All four of their young stars are given the opportunity here and duly rise to the occasion. In each sequence is the audience is left to consider questions with no easy answers; all it ultimately asks for is a little empathy.

It’s difficult to think of another debut that combines such crowd-pleasing sensibilities, political resonance, and cinematic sweep.

Yuknavitch’s book is one of reflected pains and joys, a testimony to the resilience of a woman’s own body; Stewart’s filmmaking renders them not visible, not audible, but deeply felt.

Overall, The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire shows us how this discourse falls away––or most essential points are refined––when elaborated upon by such voluptuous cinematic form.

With The Mastermind, Reichardt has made a unique film, even amongst similarly cryptic genre exercises. . . I left the cinema gripped and unusually rattled.

A surprising coda that leans into more genre-friendly jolts can feel at odds with what came before, yet A Useful Ghost marks an impressively ambitious, layered debut about a spirit’s ability to illuminate the ills and complications of modern life.

This up-tempo comedic murder mystery is a breezy, fun means of showcasing delicious chemistry between legendary actors.

With The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, Céspedes has proven both the skills to assemble a film and an understanding of his story’s significance––you can feel the hot-blooded indignation behind every frame.

Romería‘s exploration of closure and self-discovery makes for an absorbing watch.

Narratively and stylistically chameleonic, it’s a sci-fi-flavored, century-spanning cinematic collage and profound invitation to dream. Bi Hive, rejoice: this is Palme material.

The characters are so fleshed-out, the diction so lived-in, the backstories and present stories so engaging. Their conversations seem less like scripted scenes than real moments lucky to have been captured. In creating a relatively small and recognizable film that can feel revelatory, Trier shows sleight of hand that could only belong to a young veteran at the height of his career.