Florence Pugh’s Thunderbolts* Shocks Marvel Back to Life
Thunderbolts* is Marvel’s first piece of lively entertainment in years. Maybe there’s another decade of life left in the Marvel Cinematic Universe beast after all.
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The IP Machine Laughs at Itself
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg mock Hollywood’s creative collapse in The Studio — while continuing to churn out sequels, reboots, and branded spin-offs.
Will the Mission: Impossible Franchise Ever Die?
In the eighth but likely not final entry in the Mission: Impossible series, The Final Reckoning finds Tom Cruise squaring off against an AI “Entity.” As always, the stunts are impressive. But no force on Earth can make Ethan Hunt a compelling character.
Defending Academic Freedom in The Male Animal
At a time when academic and political repression is sweeping the United States, the 1942 screwball comedy The Male Animal offers a reminder of what courage in the face of crackdowns on a college campus can look like.
Friendship Is a Cringe Comedy About Ghastly Human Need
The excruciatingly funny Friendship finds comedian Tim Robinson pursuing a creepy bromance with Paul Rudd. It’s surprisingly well-done, using cringe humor to explore the growing phenomenon of male loneliness.
Ana de Armas Is a Battle-Weary Ballerina
Ballerina is the female John Wick spin-off you didn’t know you needed. Ignore the critics — it’s fantastic.
The New Spider-Man Is Pure Fun
The record-breaking Spider-Man: Brand New Day is gleeful, undemanding fun that doesn’t pretend to be anything more. In a superhero monoculture that keeps draining Hollywood of money, talent, and ambition, that’s about the best you can hope for.
28 Years Later and the Social Life of Catastrophe
The latest installment of the 28 Days Later franchise returns with more than zombies — it explores the strange new norms that follow collapse. It’s a vision of survival horror that focuses not just on the infected but on the ways humanity adapts.
The Crime of the Century
The mystery of Agatha Christie’s enduring popularity is rooted in a nostalgia for the certainties of the Victorian class system.
Materialists Tries to Update the Rom-Com for the Tinder Generation
Writer-director Celine Song’s Materialists follows a professional NYC matchmaker split between two charming suitors. It’s yet another attempt to update the Jane Austen formula, but without the poignancy and beauty of Song’s acclaimed Past Lives.
F1 Is a Big, Stupid Hit
Brad Pitt’s F1 is the big, dumb racing movie America’s been waiting for. If you can stomach the sports movie clichés, you’ll probably have a good time.
If You Go See Jurassic World Rebirth, That’s on You
Jurassic World Rebirth is another entry in the dinos-eating-humans megafranchise. It is exactly what you would expect. For me, that works.
Tim Curry Was Never Not Having Fun
From Dr Frank-N-Furter to Pennywise the killer clown, Tim Curry played every role at full volume — and made a six-decade career out of refusing to be small.
Conservatives Are Losing It Over Superman’s Basic Morality
Reactionary hysterics over James Gunn’s Superman reboot bring some delight to America’s otherwise plainest superhero.
Eddington: Western Noir Chaos Made Boring
For all of Eddington’s loud chaos, writer and director Ari Aster is expressing a fundamentally flat and stale vision of the world.
The Undeniable Greatness of Jaws
Jaws is rightly celebrated as a landmark, generation-defining hit. But it’s not sufficiently recognized as a great 1970s film, exemplifying that rocky decade’s political ire, acerbic social critique, and the lingering practices of realist cinema movements.
Fantastic Four: First Steps Is Light, Bright, and Kinda Boring
Will we ever get past the dominance of superhero movies in mainstream American cinema? Will they ever become any good?
The Romance of American Liberalism
Grading a century of liberal film presidents.
The Naked Gun Hits the Target
While it lacks the manic energy of the original, The Naked Gun reboot delivers laughs thanks to the ingenious casting of Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson.
Weapons Is a Generational Warfare Tale of Terror
Zach Cregger’s Weapons is high-concept horror about the disappearance of a classroom of schoolkids. Once again, an innovative horror film has turned our age of anxiety into box office gold.