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Kountry Wayne: A Woman's Prayer
(2023)
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Sean L. McCarthy
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Remembering it’s only his debut special, I’d say Kountry Wayne has plenty of room to grow, but that it’s worth it to... see what the fuss is about.
Posted Sep 20, 2023
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A Thousand and One
(2023)
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John Serba
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Rockwell maintains simmering tension beneath a rock-solid character-driven story...
Posted Sep 20, 2023
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The Saint of Second Chances
(2023)
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Joel Keller
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The Saint Of Second Chances is a fun film about a fun figure in the history of baseball, and how Mike Veeck’s own second chances paralleled the ones he gave others on the teams he owned.
Posted Sep 20, 2023
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Superpower
(2023)
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Johnny Loftus
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When it finds its footing, and especially in the actor’s interviews with Volodymyr Zelensky, the film is valuable as an extra-journalistic look at the ongoing conflict and what it might mean for the world at large.
Posted Sep 19, 2023
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Come Fly With Me
(2023)
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Brett White
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Come Fly with Me isn’t breaking any new ground for the Hallmark movie, but it is fun to just watch one of these movies soar.
Posted Sep 18, 2023
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Notes of Autumn
(2023)
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Brett White
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Ashley Williams and Luke Macfarlane are so much fun to watch in this seasonal treat.
Posted Sep 18, 2023
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Lang Lang Plays Disney
(2023)
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Johnny Loftus
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All of the performances in Lang Lang Plays Disney are first rate. But it’s in the quietest space between an orchestral flourish and a final moment or two on the keys where Lang Lang’s playing really shines.
Posted Sep 18, 2023
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The End of Sex
(2022)
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John Serba
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In many ways it’s a lot like dozens of marital-mirth comedies that came before it, but It’s unassumingly above average as it indulges the genre’s broader tropes.
Posted Sep 18, 2023
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Rotting in the Sun
(2023)
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Marshall Shaffer
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Rotting in the Sun has its moments of excellently observed cringe comedy, but they never cohere into the larger critique Silva seems to think he’s making.
Posted Sep 18, 2023
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Once Upon a Crime
(2023)
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John Serba
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These people barely move a muscle as they explain and explain and explain and explain things in the most excruciatingly dull manner possible.
Posted Sep 18, 2023
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Talk to Me
(2023)
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John Serba
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Although Talk to Me isn’t particularly innovative, it does show considerable skill from the Philippous, who show some inspired visual acumen and keenly balance the gross/scary/funny equation, two things that better horror films do.
Posted Sep 18, 2023
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El Conde
(2023)
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Marshall Shaffer
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This combination of genre storytelling and incisive analysis is worth sinking your fangs into.
Posted Sep 18, 2023
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Theater Camp
(2023)
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John Serba
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Theater Camp will find the most traction with in-the-know audiences, but there’s just enough of a twig of an olive branch extended for the rest of us to yield a few laughs from the premise.
Posted Sep 18, 2023
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Love at First Sight
(2023)
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John Serba
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It’s no timeless rom-com, but for the target audience, it’s likely good enough.
Posted Sep 18, 2023
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A Million Miles Away
(2023)
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John Serba
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Despite its rickety foundation, the movie works for the most part, pushing past some of the rote look-at-all-the-sacrifices-Jose’s-family-made-for-him melodrama to emphasize the challenges a Mexican-American man must overcome to achieve a wild dream.
Posted Sep 18, 2023
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Buddy Games: Spring Awakening
(2023)
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John Serba
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The only consistent element to Spring Awakening is its interminable stupidity.
Posted Sep 15, 2023
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Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction
(2023)
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Liz Kocan
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Ehrengard is a charming romantic fairy tale that’s perfectly light and breezy if you take it as the farce that it is and aren’t looking for some kind of serious revisionist feminist fairy tale.
Posted Sep 15, 2023
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Freestyle
(2023)
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Johnny Loftus
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Freestyle features a handful of compelling characters and a few touches of style.
Posted Sep 15, 2023
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Love at First Sight
(2023)
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Anna Menta
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There’s no doubt that Richardson and Hardy elevate the material. But the specificity of these two characters goes a long way, too.
Posted Sep 14, 2023
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Love, Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter
(2021)
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Jonathan Beecher Field
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If you were lucky enough to eat at Trotter’s, or if you wish you had, put this movie on your holiday watchlist.
Posted Sep 13, 2023
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Kelce
(2023)
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Scott Hines
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Kelce is a nice, well-crafted documentary about a likable figure, but its appeal is probably limited to Eagles fans or truly hardcore NFL fans.
Posted Sep 12, 2023
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Rosa Peral’s Tapes
(2023)
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John Serba
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Rosa Peral’s Tapes is a fascinating story, but a frustrating watch – too frustrating.
Posted Sep 12, 2023
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Corsage
(2022)
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John Serba
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Kruetzer and Krieps had a vision for this version of Empress Elisabeth: a complicated public figure who functions as a springboard for an exploration of femininity and womanhood both past and present...
Posted Sep 12, 2023
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Barbie
(2023)
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John Serba
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It's the rare film that's as intelligent as it is entertaining.
Posted Sep 12, 2023
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Fourth Down and Love
(2023)
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Brett White
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Even if you don’t understand flag football, which apparently no one does, you’ll still find a whole lot to love about Fourth Down and Love.
Posted Sep 11, 2023
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Guiding Emily
(2023)
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Brett White
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Guiding Emily is a thoroughly engaging drama that’s still uneven at times — but the uneven parts are saved by an adorable labrador.
Posted Sep 08, 2023
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Sitting in Bars with Cake
(2023)
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Liz Kocan
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Sitting In Bars With Cake is a classic death-of-a-best-friend movie that’s got humor and heart, and just the right amount of sweetness.
Posted Sep 08, 2023
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Hypnotic
(2023)
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John Serba
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It doesn’t even lean into its absurdity, blowing an opportunity to pitch a tent in Campville and inspire a few hoots.
Posted Sep 08, 2023
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Scout's Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America
(2023)
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John Serba
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It adheres to the talking-head/archival-footage documentary template, its simple, straightforward style helping render it a rock-solid piece of journalism with an appropriately sober tone.
Posted Sep 08, 2023
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Friday Night Plan
(2023)
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Radhika Menon
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While the film is a perfectly fine timepass, it lacks any sort of spark to make it rise above or stand out from other teen coming-of-age stories.
Posted Sep 08, 2023
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Shane Gillis: Beautiful Dogs
(2023)
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Sean L. McCarthy
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[Shane] presents as a grinning, somehow lovable oaf. But he’s no dummy. Gillis knows exactly what he’s doing onstage.
Posted Sep 08, 2023
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Strays
(2023)
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John Serba
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Sometimes you get blindsided by a slab of puerile, asinine comedy and you have no choice but to submit to it as your better judgment and notions of good taste expeditiously swirl straight down the crapper.
Posted Sep 08, 2023
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
(2023)
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John Serba
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No one’s going to accuse TMNT: Mutant Mayhem of being overly profound or poignant... but its style, energy and imagination give it considerable appeal.
Posted Sep 05, 2023
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The Banshees of Inisherin
(2022)
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John Serba
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Its heartbreak is as potent as its comedy, both intertwined with the rhythms of the dialogue.
Posted Sep 05, 2023
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Love Again
(2023)
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John Serba
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... To watch this movie is to experience molecular-level embarrassment for all involved parties.
Posted Sep 05, 2023
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A Day and a Half
(2023)
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John Serba
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Fares proves himself to be as strong behind the camera as he is in front of it.
Posted Sep 05, 2023
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Love in the Great Smoky Mountains: A National Park Romance
(2023)
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Brett White
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While Love in the Great Smoky Mountains isn’t a groundbreaking discovery, it has enough going for it to merit a watch if you’re looking for something to put on on Saturday night.
Posted Sep 05, 2023
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Happy Ending
(2023)
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John Serba
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The screenplay’s need for another draft or three is Happy Ending’s biggest issue. Otherwise, it’s a nicely shot film, naturalistic where similar American films are glossy and artificial, and the cast is game.
Posted Sep 05, 2023
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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
(2023)
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John Serba
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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is cluttered and visually problematic, but never hopeless.
Posted Sep 05, 2023
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The Last Voyage of the Demeter
(2023)
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John Serba
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Nosfera-too bad this movie is boring and terrible!
Posted Sep 05, 2023
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Women Talking
(2022)
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John Serba
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Polley continues to be a vital filmmaker.
Posted Sep 01, 2023
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Choose Love
(2023)
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Liz Kocan
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Interactive storytelling has been successful for kids cartoons, trivia shows, and for those HR harassment training course we all have to take every year. It’s just not the future of filmmaking.
Posted Sep 01, 2023
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The Boogeyman
(2023)
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John Serba
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It’s just math: A couple of creepy moments can’t compensate for dozens of irritating, repetitive cliches.
Posted Sep 01, 2023
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Killer Book Club
(2022)
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John Serba
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These characters are too generic to even be familiar types, and don’t even give the actors any cliches to lean into. They’re just tools of the plot, which needs to be exceptional in order to transcend those flaws – and it’s far from exceptional.
Posted Aug 29, 2023
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Meg 2: The Trench
(2023)
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John Serba
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Wheatley dishes out pedestrian CG FX, frames Statham in a few heroic poses and careens his way to a third act that plays as if the writers saw how people praised the third act in the first movie, so they just rewrote it.
Posted Aug 29, 2023
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Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World
(2023)
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John Serba
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The movie plays like his Wikipedia entry, covering all the bases without the intimacy of character it needs to inspire our emotional investment...
Posted Aug 28, 2023
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Squared Love Everlasting
(2023)
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Liz Kocan
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Is it hokey and predictable? Yes. Is it still charming and filled with good-looking people and gorgeously scenic backdrops for a wedding? Also yes.
Posted Aug 25, 2023
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Vacation Friends 2
(2023)
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John Serba
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Vacation Friends 2 is a phenomenal waste of time and talent, but some of you will mindlessly press play anyway. Please don’t!
Posted Aug 25, 2023
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Past Lives
(2023)
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John Serba
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Every shot is well-considered, every line of dialogue neatly parsed, each performance exquisitely choreographed to convey a thoroughly conceived idea in a naturalistic style. It’s a lovely, lovely film, and one of the year’s best.
Posted Aug 25, 2023
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Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar
(2023)
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John Serba
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Army of the Doomstar doesn’t click on all cylinders like the best Metalocalypse episodes, but it’s nevertheless a worthy conclusion to a beloved cult series.
Posted Aug 25, 2023
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