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A
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The Killer
(2023)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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The Killer’s disguise as a trash genre exercise has elicited plenty of shrugs, but make no mistake, it’s every bit as potent and layered as Fincher’s masterworks of The Social Network and Fight Club.
Posted Nov 28, 2023
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A-
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Hit Man
(2023)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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In a landscape where movies try too hard to be funny and are too afraid to be sexy, Hit Man is refreshingly -- and effortlessly -- both.
Posted Oct 06, 2023
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A
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The Zone of Interest
(2023)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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“[Jonathan] Glazer conjures a prison of illusory obliviousness and never once is tempted to peek over its squat walls. The effect is immense.”
Posted Sep 16, 2023
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B+
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Barbie
(2023)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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...[Greta] Gerwig’s pink, plastic epic is infused with its director’s indie spirit and far more cognizant of the toy’s complicated legacy than you might expect.
Posted Sep 11, 2023
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A
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Oppenheimer
(2023)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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A devastating examination of the vast gulf between science and empathy…
Posted Jul 22, 2023
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A-
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Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One
(2023)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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Tom Cruise’s crusade for analog supremacy finally becomes text and the results are unbelievable.
Posted Jul 13, 2023
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A-
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Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
(2023)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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A multiverse story...fully in service of its characters rather than the other way around.
Posted Jun 07, 2023
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|
B+
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Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
(2023)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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A colorful reminder that the best of these aren’t made by committee, but by the sincere weirdos who love the craft and love these heroes.
Posted Apr 28, 2023
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A-
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John Wick: Chapter 4
(2023)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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The type of exhilarating, metal-as-hell ballet of bullets that blows the doors off action filmmaking.
Posted Mar 25, 2023
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B+
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Evil Dead Rise
(2023)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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Evil Dead Rise will have you hooting and hollering through a tidal wave of blood and guts, beckoning you with the immortal words of Ashley J. Williams: “Come get some.”
Posted Mar 19, 2023
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C
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Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
(2023)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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It certainly feels like replacing the low-stakes caper energy of the Ant-Man movies with tedious, wheel-spinning teases of what comes next is a grave miscalculation.
Posted Feb 14, 2023
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A-
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Knock at the Cabin
(2023)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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Crackling with confident, formal prowess and visual electricity, M. Night Shyamalan’s Knock at the Cabin is the director’s best film since 2004’s The Village.
Posted Feb 02, 2023
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B+
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Infinity Pool
(2023)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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It’s easy to take umbrage at more “rich people behaving badly” narratives, but Cronenberg is so blisteringly capable of constructing his own grotesque, hedonistic netherworlds that it’s hard to care too much.
Posted Jan 30, 2023
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A-
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Skinamarink
(2022)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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Skinamarink is horror as a time machine: a laser-guided missile aimed to unearth a narrow sliver of nighttime willies from days long past...
Posted Jan 16, 2023
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A-
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Avatar: The Way of Water
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
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Its wild spectacle, unbelievable detail, and technical wizardry will blast the eyeballs out of your sockets, but its honest and sincere undercurrents just might be its secret weapon.
Posted Dec 13, 2022
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A
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The Fabelmans
(2022)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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The Fabelmans is therapy via soundstage: an artist’s heart, soul, hopes, and regrets laid bare for the entire world to see.
Posted Nov 17, 2022
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B
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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
(2022)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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[Ryan] Coogler strikes an affecting balance between spectacle and elegy.
Posted Nov 09, 2022
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B
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Black Adam
(2022)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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Goofy, unpretentious crowd-pleaser mode isn’t exactly a bad look for Black Adam.
Posted Oct 27, 2022
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A
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Decision to Leave
(2022)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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Decision to Leave is a sensual puzzle box — and one of the year’s best films. Tang Wei is sensational.
Posted Oct 14, 2022
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A
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The Banshees of Inisherin
(2022)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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The Banshees of Inisherin is tragicomedy at its finest, a specific slice of a combusting amity that just so happens to capture a wide swath of the human condition.
Posted Oct 13, 2022
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C+
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Don't Worry Darling
(2022)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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There’s just no hiding the massive chasm between how smart Don’t Worry Darling thinks it is and how smart it actually is.
Posted Sep 30, 2022
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A-
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Sanctuary
(2022)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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Explores the whirlwind disintegration of a relationship that slowly chips away at the barriers between fantasy and reality, class and control.
Posted Sep 30, 2022
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B+
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Pearl
(2022)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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Pearl is the perfect companion piece to X, scratching an entirely different itch than its grimy predecessor.
Posted Sep 24, 2022
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B+
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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
(2022)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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Glass Onion is a layered machine hiding a trove of interlocking rewards, immensely satisfying when the pieces reveal themselves, but even more so when it’s all blown to bits.
Posted Sep 15, 2022
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B-
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Barbarian
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
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There’s something sinister - and savage - broiling underground, and it can’t wait to reveal itself to you.
Posted Sep 11, 2022
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B+
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Prey
(2022)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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The latest installment in a flagging franchise, Prey weaponizes its simple formula into a sleek, sci-fi action missile.
Posted Aug 03, 2022
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C
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Bullet Train
(2022)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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From its Tarantino pastiche that’s much less clever than it thinks it is -- and much more convoluted than it has any right to be -- to its interminably droning attempts at comedy, Bullet Train feels more like a chore with every stop it makes.
Posted Aug 03, 2022
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A
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Nope
(2022)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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A movie about making movies, the pieces of ourselves we feed into the Hollywood meat grinder, and our indomitable obsession with spectacle and its capture.
Posted Jul 20, 2022
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B+
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Elvis
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
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Austin Butler, almost feral with his presence, is a perfect fit for this bombastic odyssey. He kills it.
Posted Jul 18, 2022
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|
B-
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Thor: Love and Thunder
(2022)
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Jeffrey Zhang
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Its fleet adventure feels like a tonic, free from multiverses, cameos, and the seemingly requisite MCU buildup to the next “thing.”
Posted Jul 05, 2022
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|
C-
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The Black Phone
(2021)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
A horror movie as rote, low-impact vapor...
Posted Jun 30, 2022
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A-
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Crimes of the Future
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
Sure, there’s sex, there’s surgery, and there’s Carol Spier’s signature fleshy apparati, but the true pleasures of the film lie elsewhere.
Posted Jun 18, 2022
|
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B+
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Top Gun: Maverick
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
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Like its eponymous ace, it’s a dying breed, but there’s no way it’s going out in gasps or sputters. Not while Tom Cruise still draws breath.
Posted May 12, 2022
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B-
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Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
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Multiverse of Madness feels uncharacteristically accommodating of the whims of one Sam Raimi, complete with genuinely gleeful horror, shockingly brutal violence, and a terrifying surprise villain.
Posted May 04, 2022
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A
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The Northman
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
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A sweeping tale of laser-focused retribution, woven into the alien tapestry of ancient Nordic myth.
Posted Apr 26, 2022
|
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B+
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X
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
"Skewers the soured tropes and sex stereotypes of a certain slasher era..."
Posted Mar 21, 2022
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|
A-
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Everything Everywhere All at Once
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
A thoughtful family drama detonated into brain-melting, action sci-fi absurdity.
Posted Mar 16, 2022
|
|
C+
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Watcher
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
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A creepy technical exercise...ultimately undone by its clench-fisted resistance to budge from textbook tropes.
Posted Mar 13, 2022
|
|
A-
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The Batman
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
Matt Reeves' The Batman is an invigorating balm for superhero fatigue.
Posted Feb 28, 2022
|
|
B+
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Kimi
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
Leave it to Steven Soderbergh to craft a pandemic tech thriller that is not only immensely watchable, but a paragon of the 90-minute hair-raiser.
Posted Feb 11, 2022
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|
A-
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Resurrection
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
Resurrection unspools a single mother's crushing secret in a steely structure that belies its brazen, outrageous horror.
Posted Jan 27, 2022
|
|
B
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Dual
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
Detached, darkly funny performances jangling around in a heightened reality...
Posted Jan 26, 2022
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|
B+
|
Master
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
Master finds immense power where most social horror films can't or won't these days: in its own contemplative ambiguity.
Posted Jan 26, 2022
|
|
C+
|
The Princess
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
"...very little new to offer when it comes to one of the most-scrutinized public figures in human history."
Posted Jan 26, 2022
|
|
B-
|
Fresh
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
Fresh is a stylistic blast, even if it never lives up to its queasy potential or its electric performances.
Posted Jan 26, 2022
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|
A
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After Yang
(2021)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
It's a story of "technobeings," artificial intelligence, and clones, but also one that lyrically navigates the depths of loss, discovery, and memory.
Posted Jan 24, 2022
|
|
B
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Scream
(2022)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
Lands its hits with ruthless efficiency where they count: a rollicking whodunnit that will leave you guessing until the end, and nasty kills that will sate your inner gore-fiend.
Posted Jan 13, 2022
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|
A-
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The Matrix Resurrections
(2021)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
The Matrix Resurrections inspects its own place in pop history while thumbing its nose at the very system that birthed it.
Posted Dec 21, 2021
|
|
B-
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Spider-Man: No Way Home
(2021)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
It's anything but artful, but there's no denying the power of its crossover charms...
Posted Dec 20, 2021
|
|
A-
|
Benedetta
(2021)
|
Jeffrey Zhang
|
As our entertainment becomes more homogenized and Puritanical, the more precious films like Benedetta become; they're not only art, but deliverance.
Posted Dec 14, 2021
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