04.03.26
by

The Drama

Charlie and Emma are happily engaged when a sudden turn of events sends their wedding week, and their entire circle, into chaos.

Rarely do those films come when a few minutes in, something happens that sends your jaw to the floor, and it stays there until the credits roll. When they do, it’s quite an experience to behold, and The Drama is a shocking, hysterical and unsettling example of that. Kristoffer Borgli’s follow-up to the brilliantly absurd Dream Scenario is far more real, far more us, in the way we might be too afraid to admit. Zendaya and Robert Pattinson’s castings play so well to their characters, but the film strips down their “star power” and the actors go to the boldest and ugliest depths of their characters. Alana Haim and Mamoudou Athie also round out the excellent casting, while Hailey Benton Gates is brilliant in a standout supporting role that’s nearly as transfixing as the two leads.

Borgli, who also edited the film, creates meaning in every cut, line, and even joke, with all the elements resonating in a thrilling and charged film that’s not really like anything I’ve seen before it. The film is deeply provocative in its themes that I haven’t seen almost any film approach so corageously and in such a necessary way. It’s about so many things, from the ease at which we judge, degrade, and turn on one another, to American society’s reward of excess towards human violence and suffering. It’s sure to generate conversation — including many important ones — for audiences who are able to stomach the bluntness by which it approaches its almost terrifying subject matter. It’s best to go in blind to The Drama but its unpredictable discomfort are also its hilarity and captivation by which your eyes are glued to the screen.

04.02.26
by

Project Hail Mary

Ryland Grace awakens on the spaceship Hail Mary far, from Earth, and attempts to piece together how he got there and what his mission may be, realizing how much really lies in his hands.

A space epic as urgent in its stakes as Interstellar, Project Hail Mary is a stunning experience that makes use of every minute to move you. Ryan Gosling proves on an even larger scale his charming leading man skills, imbuing Ryland Grace with a deep cowardice, yet a purity and longing that coexists within his apparent weakness is what makes this one of his most lovable performances yet. He is not the only magic at the center of the film — the puppeteering behind Grace’s alien companion Rocky is magnificent and creates a beautiful connection between the creature and the audience. Sandra Hüller is excellent as well and her presence as the authoritative and calculated Eva Stratt, in charge of Project Hail Mary, a global effort to send an expedition to a solar system beyond ours to save Earth from impending extinction, gives the film so much. Hüller takes on something so unexpected yet essential by stripping Stratt of the coldness felt from the character in the novel, which here feels like a necessity rather than a foundation to her being, making the character not just a figure of control but of empathy.

The visual effects, cinematography, and production design are spellbinding and maintain grand scale while conveying the character’s sense of isolation and his dire circumstances. The film also has a loose and unpredictable sense of humor while maintaining its serious through line of stakes and objectives throughout its epic runtime. Despite the seriousness and tension at the center, there’s something life-affirming that Project Hail Mary discovers was always at its heart: from fear and uncertainty come the most powerful and beautiful forces in the galaxy. The film hits all the right notes, whether the buddy humor, sweeping space journey, or effortless direction from Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who create something universal (no pun intended), hopeful, and impossible to miss on the big screen: one of the most resonant, wondrous, and flat out perfect blockbusters of the last few years that you might not want to end.

03.14.26
by

GOAT

GOAT is about a goat who wants to be, well, the GOAT. Will dreams of changing the game of roarball by becoming the first “small” animal to play on his favorite time, the Vineland Thorns, though he faces adversity from both teammates and rivals.

Continuing Sony Pictures Animation’s winning streak that began with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, GOAT embraces a similar fusion of animation styles as that aforementioned film and its sequel, as well as the studio’s The Mitchells vs the Machines and KPop Demon Hunters, to create another engaging and exciting adventure that defies tropes and stereotypes and amasses an all-star cast for a delightful time. Caleb McLaughlin is great as the titular leading role, portraying Will as a humble and hard-working young athlete who wants to make it big his own way, while encouraging other to be their best, even those who doubt him.

Gabrielle Union is wonderful voicing Jett Fillmore, a local hero who can’t seem to want to share the spotlight, though this doesn’t quite make her unlikable, rather it comes from Jett’s insecurities about getting older and being pressured to retire. It’s also noteworthy that in a family film like this, the male main character’s basketball idol is a female athlete, something that’s never questioned or called out. Other standouts include Aaron Pierre as an irresistible antagonist, as well as David Harbour, Nicola Coughlan, Jenifer Lewis, Patton Oswalt, Jennifer Hudson, and NBA legend Stephen Curry, who also produced the film, which somewhat mirrors his own NBA journey.

A film that fully embraces what makes the best sports movies great, but takes unique and mature directions, GOAT is a great watch for all ages that’s a love letter to basketball and the dreamers everywhere, that never stops being eye-popping and fun, and puts a big grin on your face.

02.25.26
by

Scream 7

In the words of Christopher Nolan’s great superhero epic The Dark Knight, all great franchises can either go out a hero, or live long enough to see themselves become the villain. Too many great franchises that haven’t concluded on their own terms find themselves in the latter trap, running out of steam because they went on too long for the simple reason of trying to make more money. A project that may have been doomed from the start after the departure of franchise leads Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, Scream 7 feels almost like an apology for the freshness of Scream VI, trading everything that made that film exciting for more of the same that we’ve seen done several times, over and over again.

We’ve seen the series return to Sidney Prescott years later in Scream 4 and the fifth Scream, which also finally allowed the big three of Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Aqruette to give up center stage to new leads. At this point, not only does Sidney’s return feel stale, but Campbell and Cox’s leading performances feel rather boring and fail to carry the film. Meanwhile, Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding’s characters are by far the most fun and not given much to do. The film does up the gore from past installments, but the small town set pieces aren’t that engaging and the ensemble cast doesn’t hook you in much either, providing for a far less exciting guessing game about who might be behind the Ghostface mask than before, and it’s never a good sign when I was able to guess the killer less than halfway into the runtime.

Nostalgia in Scream (2022) and Scream VI was cleverly used as a tool to flip expectations and actually satirize and deconstruct the idea of nostalgia itself. Now, Scream 7 feels too afraid to critique or even surprise its audiences any longer. The commentary on other horror film and franchise tropes that has become a staple of the Scream films feels groan-worthy and half-baked here, especially because the movie is just reusing the same old tropes like a checklist, resulting in an installment that feels like a whole lot of nothing and especially underwhelming compared to the great fifth and sixth films. It’s time Paramount learned that if you don’t have anything new to say, it’s best not to say anything at all.

02.20.26
by

Crime 101

An expert theif, his rival, a police detective, and a disillusioned insurance broker all cross paths in LA leading up to a major job being planned by the former.

Crime 101 assembles a cast and plays to all their strengths while allowing its slow pace to breathe without an overabundance of massive action scenes, though when they come, they’re rather tense. Chris Hemsworth is fun in the leading role and refreshingly understated, but its the players around him who really shine here. Halle Berry is given her strongest role in years as a character attempting to take charge of her own life, while Mark Ruffalo is great as a detective on Hemsworth’s tail. Monica Barbaro also stands out as one of the film’s most interesting characters, while Barry Keoghan is always captivating and unpredictable.

The movie takes the time to flesh out its characters, even if it takes a bit of time to get invested into the conflict. Simple dialogue scenes shared between Hemsworth and Barbaro or Ruffalo and Berry are just as important to the story as the stakes and cat-and-mouse element of the lead character trying to get away with his crimes. It never quite challenges any expectations it sets, but the film’s patience rewards its audience, many of whom will enjoy the ride if they’re already fans of the action/crime thriller genres.

02.17.26
by

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die

A mysterious man (Sam Rockwell) claiming to be from the future steps into a bar looking for recruits to fight the impending apocalypse with him, but who will be the right group of heroes to survive the night? And is making it to the finish line even possible?

Gore Verbinski assembles what truly feels like a dream cast for a sci-fi action comedy that’s absolutely nuts and isn’t ashamed of it. Sam Rockwell often does a great job of playing guys who seem insane but are actually the only one in the room who’s right, and here is no exception. Haley Lu Richardson and Juno Temple are additional standouts and anchor the film emotionally as well. Though the future hints to be bleak in the story, the clever non-linear narrative pulls down the curtain on a seemingly grounded diner in the present, to reveal that this world and its past is nothing like our own, only it could be. The satire is very unsubtle but also truer than we’d like to admit; we’re often so glued to our phones and so overly reliant on social media and virtual/artificial creations for everyday tasks, and worse, gratification and comfort, that we miss the world around us and forget to use basic common sense and human decency.

At some point, the movie gives up on trying to explain itself and just starts throwing things at the wall to see what sticks, but Verbinski’s imagination make this feel like a large-scale film with scale and a ridiculous self-awareness that’s less concerned with making sense and more so with big excitement that very much succeeds at violent and endearing yet cleverly structured irreverence.

02.14.26
by

Wuthering Heights (2026)

Passion, envy, and tension flies in the air in this fresh adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel proves Emerald Fennell as one of this generation’s finest filmmakers. The cinematography and score are especially what take the story to a whole other plane, with stunning backdrops and a transfixing score and soundtrack casting a spell on you. Charli XCX’s original songs enhance and transform some moments in the film, and leave you maybe even wanting more from them. Margot Robbie is splendid is Catherine Earnshaw, who finds her conflicted in her sense of self, including lust, love, and wealth, in a star-crossed romance with Heathcliffe, brought to life with a quiet yet thundering longing from Jacob Elordi. Hong Chau is also a huge standout as perhaps the most moral character in the film, as is Alison Oliver who takes her role to many surprising places.

It’s truly Fennell’s vision that elevates this story that’s been told over several installments, but the beauty in many emotional scenes comes from the push between a world that rewards status and control and characters born of virtue and good, who uncover deep dark capabilities within them. I again can’t understate the power of the music that takes a whole life of its own. Though the back half threatens to drag, it picks up for a strong ending, by which Robbie, Elordi, and Chau have stunned with their performances in this eye-popping and transporting romantic drama.

02.04.26
by

Send Help

Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien are employee and conceited millionaire boss who are forced to survive together after a plane crash leaves them stranded on an island. Sam Raimi embraces his horror/thriller roots with humor more clever than his past entries, and an exciting structure that pulls out another surprise every time you think the concept is about to wear out.

McAdams is always such a delight in any role she graces, but this may be one of her best performances — a woman whose lack of validation from others in her life turns into the ability to make horrific decisions. O’Brien is delightfully awful yet there’s a pity to the way he is unable to carry himself like a mature, generous human being. The CGI has a few distractingly bad moments, but that also contributes to the film’s silliness that it finds within the dark situations it finds, and then escalates. It’s a survival thriller that’s not a full on comedy, or a full on horror film, but has a bit of it all. The more the runtime goes by, the more intrigued you are to see what bloody chaos will play out between the two, with a true sense of unpredictability to it.

01.17.26
by

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple


28 Days Later is not only a fascinating zombie film, but has spawned a unique and exciting franchise since. Releasing two films within the span of seven months isn’t something most film series can truly earn, but 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple continues to embrace the violent setting and genre while flipping the themes and styles of its predecessor on their axes. Nia DaCosta’s direction is far more patient and just as dark, but there also seem to finally be some cracks of optimism in the world that’s gone to hell, with people fighting against a terrifying virus, and some humans even killing one another. That hope comes in the form of Dr. Ian Kelson. Ralph Fiennes’ intelligence, compassion, and gravitas serve as a light in the film and to the circumstances that have turned the world into a landscape of fear and carnage. Equally captivating on the other end of things is Jack O’Connell as a vicious cult leader. O’Connell brings to life a character whose ruthlessness takes up so much space on the screen, led by his conviction that his duty is to spread Satan’s work and better the world by preying on the weak and selecting only the strongest to serve him as his acolytes.

Alfie Williams is a strong breakout star as the lead of this new trilogy within the franchise. Spike is a kid who’s lost so much but always determined to stay noble and do good to himself and others, even as he’s forced into a murderous cult. DaCosta brilliantly utilizes some soundtrack choices, and creates some stunning set pieces. Thematically, these films have thrived on the idea that as humanity is being threatened by the apocalypse, it’s actually doomed to tear itself apart, but here, the script proposes that maybe there’s something after those ideas of cruelty and nihilism, which is that goodness and integrity may still prevail. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple doesn’t answer all these questions, but it’s certainly one of the most unnerving and inventive horror films of the decade and the best one in the franchise yet.

01.01.26
by

Song Sung Blue

It’s hard to imagine who was asking for a film about a Neil Diamond tribute band, but this true story works due to its immense charm. Hugh Jackman shines as Mike Sardina, a misfit who dreams of bringing success to his Neil Diamond show. His charisma and excellent passion for music shine in the role. Kate Hudson gives one of her strongest performances as the band’s other half — together they’re “Lightning and Thunder”. Claire faces great tribulations but her resilience and desire to not be made small by those around her define her character’s journey.

Craig Brewer directs the music performance scenes with a power that anchors the film, and though it doesn’t set out to reinvent the biopic, it works well thanks to its underdog energy and emotion. This drama about the convergence between music, love, and the strength to carry forward, has touches of strong humor but will also tug on your heartstrings, and may also make you curious to learn even more about the true story behind the duo at the film’s center — and listen to some Neil Diamond hits — after the movie ends.