The Atlantic

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)

The Rider is the best film I've seen so far in 2018. It also feels like the announcement of a major artistic talent in Zhao.

Posted Apr 11, 2018

Coriolanus (2011)

Monika Bartyzel

It's genre writing that entertains while tapping into enduring truths.

Posted Apr 10, 2018

A Quiet Place (2018)

A Quiet Place is an undoubtedly taxing affair for the nerves; fortunately, it's also a deeply affecting one.

Posted Apr 7, 2018

Blockers (2018)

A generational clash as old as time-the parents who think of themselves as progressive and cool, versus their mortified children who view them as anything but.

Posted Apr 6, 2018

Lean on Pete (2018)

When it's at its subtlest, Lean on Pete sings with power; but when things get outwardly grim, it loses a little of its impact.

Posted Apr 5, 2018

Chappaquiddick (2018)

It's a film looking to challenge America's gauzy perception of the country's most famous political family, loaded with all the bleakness that task requires.

Posted Apr 5, 2018

MATANGI/MAYA/M.I.A. (2018)

Spencer Kornhaber

[Stephen] Loveridge's movie is a fantastic and kinetic fulfillment of Maya Arulpragasam's desire, back then, to be heard as more than an entertainer.

Posted Apr 2, 2018

Outside In (2018)

Takes some time to develop that tension into something genuinely dramatic, but Falco's performance is strong enough to make the film compelling even in its softest moments.

Posted Mar 31, 2018

Gemini (2018)

Gemini is a decent little thriller that's been spruced up by a very impressive Instagram filter.

Posted Mar 30, 2018

Ready Player One (2018)

That's what Ready Player One ends up feeling like: a decent meal with tantalizing hints of something more complex, a Big Mac with Roquefort sprinkled on top.

Posted Mar 29, 2018

Isle of Dogs (2018)

It's true that Isle of Dogs is a film about scapegoating, political hysteria, and deportation. But it is also--and at its best--a film about dogs. May they never go unpetted.

Posted Mar 25, 2018

Pacific Rim Uprising (2018)

Even with that childish joy in mind, Pacific Rim Uprising doesn't do anything to really justify its existence.

Posted Mar 22, 2018

Tomb Raider (2018)

Vikander, who can balance flinty charm with sympathetic humanism, helped keep me invested, but Tomb Raider could best be described as a solid step forward, away from past wrongs.

Posted Mar 21, 2018

Unsane (2018)

Unfolds like a series of furtive, conspiracy-theory videos that have been secretly posted on the internet-a missive from a dark corner of reality.

Posted Mar 21, 2018

Arthur Miller: Writer (2018)

That documentary, which airs on HBO Monday night, is a true labor of love-a charming 100-minute film that offers an insider's account of a complicated life.

Posted Mar 19, 2018

The Death of Stalin (2018)

Iannucci did not intend The Death of Stalin to be a direct commentary on the Trump presidency, and it should not be taken as one. But as they say: First time tragedy, second time farce.

Posted Mar 18, 2018

Love, Simon (2018)

Love, Simon is the kind of movie you could easily catch up with on cable TV years later and forget just as quickly-but even that's a kind of step forward.

Posted Mar 13, 2018

A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

Judged on its own terms, A Wrinkle in Time is a pretty good, perhaps even a quite good, movie. But it is a children's movie. See it with a child or--as DuVernay recommends--with a child's wonder. Otherwise, probably don't bother seeing it at all.

Posted Mar 11, 2018

Claire's Camera (La caméra de Claire) (2018)

Hong is an acute observer of the subtleties at play in each interaction, of the tiny power shifts that can take place over the course of a conversation.

Posted Mar 9, 2018

Thoroughbreds (2018)

For those seeking a wickedly dark little confection, Thoroughbreds should prove a diverting watch; but those looking for anything deeper will find a lot left to be desired.

Posted Mar 9, 2018

Red Sparrow (2018)

Red Sparrow is like 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,' but only if it were directed by Showgirls-era Paul Verhoeven. That's something of a compliment, but it's also a warning.

Posted Mar 2, 2018

Foxtrot (2018)