The Atlantic

The movie is at times deliberately off-putting. But it's anchored by a star-making turn from Helena Howard, who plays the fascinating, inscrutable figure at its center.

Posted Aug 10, 2018

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Rather than letting the audience reassure themselves that the story is rooted in the past, Lee firmly points the film's conclusion to the present, and to the future.

Posted Aug 9, 2018

Like Father (2018)

Clearly, given its algorithmic knowledge, Netflix knows things we don't... It doesn't quite explain why a film so willing to check all the comedy-cliché boxes would commit to humor least of all, particularly given how well standard fare can do.

Posted Aug 7, 2018

The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018)

This is a film about Cameron's core personhood, and how it stands up to concentrated efforts to transform it, and it's told with quiet steeliness and grace.

Posted Aug 3, 2018

Christopher Robin (2018)

It's an odd, melancholic experience that at times recalls Terrence Malick as it does A. A. Milne, but there will certainly be some viewers in its exact wheelhouse.

Posted Aug 3, 2018

Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)

Mission: Impossible-Fallout doubles as a manifesto for the ridiculous spy thriller, pitting Hunt's boundless optimism against Walker's cold-blooded realism.

Posted Jul 25, 2018

Blindspotting (2018)

'Blindspotting' has enough verve, humor, and passion to recommend it-even as it overplays its hand in its final minutes.

Posted Jul 20, 2018

Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)

'Day of the Soldado' would be hard to stomach at any time. It feels particularly worthless now.

Posted Jul 19, 2018

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

A light and sunny entry in the ongoing Marvel canon that gets by on the cast's easygoing chemistry.

Posted Jul 19, 2018

Eighth Grade (2018)

What most stunned me about 'Eighth Grade' was how well directed it is. It's rare that teen movies have the kind of visual acuity and verve that Burnham achieves here.

Posted Jul 19, 2018

Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot (2018)

It's hardly the worst movie of the year-Van Sant is too competent a filmmaker for that, even now-but it's frustrating for how dashed-off every element seems.

Posted Jul 19, 2018

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)

Here We Go Again is a viewing experience best described as a long nap on the beach while staying at a chain resort. It's extremely pleasant, if a little lacking in imagination.

Posted Jul 17, 2018

Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (2018)

That Williams remains elusive by the movie's end only amplifies the feeling of how original and irreplaceable he was.

Posted Jul 17, 2018

Uncle Drew (2018)

The jokes could be dirtier, the plot looser, the basketball action more gleefully ludicrous. Instead, everything feels very competent but safe.

Posted Jul 8, 2018

Leave No Trace (2018)

Leave No Trace is one of the best films of 2018 and promises to make a star of McKenzie.

Posted Jul 8, 2018

Damsel (2018)

As an indie film with a clever gimmick, it's worth seeing, though it never quite sustains the sweeping feel of its first two scenes.

Posted Jul 8, 2018

Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2018)

Nanette is the kind of work that leaves you shaken. Not because it's really funny (it really is), or because it's equally heartbreaking, but because it finds a fusion of those two modes that's incandescent.

Posted Jun 27, 2018

Set It Up (2018)

Love! Assistants! Wordplay! This film has it all-at least by the standards of a fun, disposable romantic comedy, the likes of which Hollywood rarely bothers to release anymore.

Posted Jun 22, 2018

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

The viewer might be left with a few decent frights, but at this point the mortal terror of Spielberg's original film has been diminished beyond repair.

Posted Jun 22, 2018

Ocean's 8 (2018)

As heists go, it's a moderately ingenious idea, and for the most part, the movie floats along amiably on the tide of its stars' charisma and the capable if uninspired direction of Ross, who also co-wrote the script with Olivia Milch.

Posted Jun 18, 2018

Hotel Artemis (2018)

It's unfortunately anticlimactic; what at first looks like a potential cult classic becomes a movie you might catch on basic cable in a year. Still, there are worse fates.

Posted Jun 18, 2018

How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2018)

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Posted Jun 18, 2018

Incredibles 2 (2018)

While it takes time to build up steam and set up its plot mechanics, once everyone is in costume and letting loose, it's an exhilarating ride.

Posted Jun 13, 2018

Hereditary (2018)

Aster has crafted a story with one foot in the world of the tense kitchen-sink drama and the other in something far more supernatural.

Posted Jun 7, 2018

Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)

The film is touching, sometimes saccharine, and other times bluntly honest, but it works best as a fascinating reminder that Rogers was trying to be more than a mascot of American politeness.

Posted Jun 4, 2018

American Animals (2018)

It's a film that tosses questions at the viewer with no interest in answering them, one that can't decide if it feels for its subjects or just wants to mock their incompetence.

Posted Jun 1, 2018

The Tale (2018)

The Tale is above all a work of profound empathy, as a look inside someone's psyche would have to be.

Posted May 25, 2018

Fahrenheit 451 (2018)

And that's the problem with Fahrenheit 451: It works so ferociously to be relevant that it forgets to make sense.

Posted May 21, 2018

First Reformed (2018)

An embittered look at our world through the eyes of someone who's increasingly horrified to be a part of it, and a film that's one of the most searing experiences of the year.

Posted May 21, 2018

Book Club (2018)

Book Club is an airy dinner conversation set before a spectacular, disposable backdrop, a sure-fire bet to be the breeziest two hours you spend in the theater this summer.

Posted May 21, 2018

Revenge (2018)

Revenge won't be an experience every viewer can handle, but as a piece of extreme horror, it's an intelligent and flashy debut.

Posted May 21, 2018

Tully (2018)

As a portrayal of postpartum depression, Tully is a success-simplistic at times, but an admirable gut-punch nonetheless.

Posted May 21, 2018

Let the Sunshine In (Un beau soleil intérieur) (2018)

Denis's foray into the often-goofy world of the rom-com is at once a cold bath of realism and a bewitching portrait of the power of love.

Posted May 21, 2018

Disobedience (2018)

Ronit is rebellious, Esti is repressed-two points that Disobedience repeats over and over until the dynamic starts to feel caricatured.

Posted May 21, 2018

Zama (2018)

There's absolutely nothing else like it in theaters this year, which I mean as both a hearty endorsement and a necessary forewarning.

Posted May 21, 2018

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)

Best of all, the movie is different.

Posted May 15, 2018

Deadpool 2 (2018)

A least as funny as the original Deadpool, and better in virtually every other respect: better plot, better villains, a few unexpected narrative swerves, and, yes, at least one genuinely moving sequence.

Posted May 15, 2018

It's a well-intentioned and updated Little Women, but not quite a classic.

Posted May 14, 2018

Life of the Party (2018)

Life of the Party doesn't live up to either of the nouns in its title.

Posted May 13, 2018

John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City (2018)

With Kid Gorgeous, Mulaney is proving he can endure in a field that even the most successful and talented comics can struggle to stay afloat in.

Posted May 1, 2018

Tiny Shoulders, Rethinking Barbie (2018)

But the most fascinating aspect of the movie is how it uses Barbie as a metaphor for a culture that's still infinitely more preoccupied with what a woman looks like than what she says.

Posted May 1, 2018

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Never has the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" seemed like more of a universe, in ways both good and bad. Infinity War-the title is almost too apt-is far from a perfect movie, but it is probably close to the best movie it could have been.

Posted Apr 28, 2018

I Feel Pretty (2018)

This movie, premised on the idea that self-esteem trumps physical beauty, doesn't even believe in the product it's selling.

Posted Apr 21, 2018

The Devil and Father Amorth (2018)

The film feels like a director thinking back on the work that defined his career, for better and worse.

Posted Apr 18, 2018

You Were Never Really Here (2018)

You Were Never Really Here is not a film that particularly wants you to "like" it. But with its highbrow talent and arty flourishes, it all but dares you to admit that you disliked it. Challenge accepted.

Posted Apr 14, 2018

Rampage (2018)

It's telling that two of Rampage's big set pieces end with a gigantic albino gorilla laughing and giving the finger straight into the camera.

Posted Apr 13, 2018

Come Sunday (2018)

Ejiofor does valiant work trying to make that enough to justify the film's existence, and he almost succeeds. But I came away from Come Sunday wanting so much more.

Posted Apr 13, 2018

The Rider (2018)