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Review by Lewis Huckle (@the_mando)

It has been a while since the MCU has had anything interesting to share with the world. Coming off the heels of the incredibly lacklustre Captain America: Brave New World and following an alarming number of poorly received projects in the last two phases, Thunderbolts* had a lot of pressure on its shoulders to try and reinvigorate audiences and remind everyone that Marvel movies can be good, have heart, still include high-intensity action scenes and manage to convey a powerful message that leaves you with concepts to think about.

Thunderbolts* is a good film, and definitely a fun time at the cinema. It feels a lot more special when you can tell that certain of the cast and crew are truly ionate and really giving it their all. In particular, Wyatt Russell has been vocal in interviews and press for the movie as to how much he enjoyed making this movie and was interested in making it stand out from all the other MCU projects. Director Jake Schreier has also said on multiple occasions that this did not feel like making just another Marvel movie, but making a smaller, intimate movie with your friends.

Everyone plays their role to perfection – some a little too much. David Harbour’s Red Guardian is lovable and loud, which means that too much of him can get old very quickly. Whilst the movie generally balances its main cast well, it feels that Harbour is a bit too committed to the fake-Soviet accent that, after two movies, is still hard to get used to and the joke of him missing words from sentences continues to not be funny.

Florence Pugh is clearly the standout. More than anything, this is her movie and she is given multiple scenes that put her at the front of the action and at the centre of all the emotion. It’s a good thing that she is an amazing actress, because she pulls it off, not that anyone was expecting any different.

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Review by Jack Raskovich (@jackrask0v1ch)

The Legend of Ochi follows a farm girl named Yuri (Helena Zengel) on the fictional island of Carpathia, a dark fantasy-esque land where there are cars, supermarkets, vast green landscapes, and Walkmans, but also the mysterious creatures known as the Ochi, which her hunter father, Maxim (Willem Dafoe), has taught her to fear her whole life.

Feeling disconnected from her adopted brother, Petro ( Finn Wolfhard), and her father, Maxim, Yuri wanders through her days mostly in silence. Until one day, she stumbles across an injured baby Ochi, and after the outcasts connect, Yuri vows to return it to its home. The two embark on a visually stunning journey filled with life-like puppetry, colorful vistas, and gorgeous landscapes.

The cold open of the film is incredibly strong, as Yuri informs the audience of the legend of the Ochi, while we witness Maxim, Petro, and the other young men of the village launch a surprisingly violent assault on the creatures. The narration by Zengel offers the right amount of intrigue before immediately immersing audiences in this beautiful world. However, this doesn’t last long, as after the title card, the film becomes the usual family film fanfare.

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Review by Jack Raskovich (@jackrask0v1ch)

The Amateur follows an awkward CIA coder named Charlie Heller (Rami Malek), whose wife, Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan), gets murdered after a Russian-French arms deal goes south in London. Devastated by this loss, Heller begs his superiors, Directors Moore & Caleb (Holt McCallany & Danny Sapini), to let him go after those responsible. Due to his meek demeanour, they reject his request until Charlie retaliates with proof of their black ops drone strikes in the Middle East that were dismissed by the media as suicide bombings.

Moore & Caleb decide to get rid of Heller; send him to a CIA agent named Henderson (Laurence Fishburne) for training. Heller receives a port, a gun, money, and a laughable training montage where he fails every task (except for successfully building an IED). Moore sends in an order for Henderson to execute Heller and make it look like a “training accident”. Henderson doesn’t even get the chance as Charlie is on the first flight to London seeking vengeance against his wife’s murderer.

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Review by Zanda Gubecka (@zgub)

When The ant broke onto the scene back in 2016, it also broke new ground, with the film being credited as one of, if not the, first mainstream action film to feature an autistic lead character. The film followed Ben Affleck’s Christian Wolff, an autistic freelance ant who just so happens to be a highly skilled marksman and martial artist. The film also introduced us to Treasury Department head Ray King (J.K. Simmons) and assassin for hire Braxton (Jon Bernthal), who is Wolff’s brother. That’s where the appeal and setup for the sequel, The ant 2, comes into play.

The ant 2 follows Christian Wolff as he is recruited by Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), the Deputy Director of the Treasury Department’s FinCEN, following the death of Ray King at the hands of mercenaries. Together, they attempt to solve a mystery before bringing Wolff’s brother Braxton into the fold as a helping hand. The movie then takes on a tonal shift, going from an immensely grounded thriller to something more lighthearted and, most importantly, kindhearted.

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Review by Christopher Mills (@luminousdagger)

Some of the best action films that have ever been released come from Hong Kong, China. These are the films that influence filmmaker Gareth Evans in his work, and it’s very present if you watch any of his projects. The Raid and The Raid 2 are easily some of the best action films to release in a long while and are some of Gareth Evans’ best work yet. He also created the show Gangs of London which is based on the video game of the same name.

Havoc, on the other hand, is set in a detective-noir America during Christmas, where a drug heist goes completely wrong and becomes a race against time as Walker (Tom Hardy) has to fight his way through a corrupt criminal city underworld to protect Laurence Beaumont’s (Forest Whitaker) son.

If you’re a fan of Gareth Evans’ high-octane gruesome action, then you’re in for a ride, as Havoc promises you’ll be delivered an order of some bone-crunching moments. Havoc falls more in line with his work on Gangs of London than it does on The Raid, as we deal more with gun fights and straight hand-to-hand street brawling action than martial arts. The film can take a while to find its footing as it spends an hour with heavy exposition on every character and their involvement before dropping you into the first major action sequence of the film, which happens to be a nightclub fight scene.

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Review by Leah Peifer (@leahonfilmm)

After making a splash at Sundance, The Ugly Stepsister is ready to disgust anyone who sees it.

Reimagining classic fairy tales into a bloody nightmare is nothing new, but no movie has done this subgenre more justice than The Ugly Stepsister. The Ugly Stepsister is a play on Cinderella, but with a focus on one of her stepsisters instead. The movie follows Elvira, a lovestruck, awkward girl who wishes to marry the prince. Society’s standards of beauty force Elvira to endure drastic forms of plastic surgery and other supplements, so she can catch the eye of the prince. This body horror-filled twist on the classic tale is the perfect example of how reevaluating childhood stories in a modern lens is important.

Going into The Ugly Stepsister, the main aspect of the film I was hearing about was the body horror. Let me just say it delivers. It comes and goes, but the scenes we are given milk the horror for everything it is worth. There were scenes where I could not even comprehend how they got the shot. It looks incredibly real and the camera holds on the horror. There is a scene in particular where Elvira gets eyelash extensions that is not for the faint of heart. I personally have not seen a movie that utilizes plastic surgery as a form of body horror, but now that I have seen it I only want more. If you are looking for The Substance levels of body horror, you might be disappointed.

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Review by Zak Ahmed (@zakred567)

2025 has been off to a rough, slow start for cinema. With many viewers shifting their focus to the rising heights of television, film has unfortunately taken a backseat. Black Bag and Mickey 17 were just not enough of a statement to convince people to go to the theatres to watch immediately. But maybe those doubts on the year’s lack of quality can finally be put to rest with the release of Sinners, proving to defy expectations and delivering the year’s biggest revelation yet.

Ryan Coogler follows up his foray in the Marvel franchise by returning to his roots. It hasn’t been since Fruitvale Station which started his collaboration with Michael and gave him a name as a promising auteur 12 years ago. By opting for an entirely personal story built on history, arts and culture, Ryan has chosen to remind audiences why he earned his reputation as a contemporary filmmaker valued as part of the culture.

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Review by Ansh Dubey (@anshweyy)

Rather than return to his horror or science-fiction roots–though he will be doing that in a couple months with 28 Years Later–Alex Garland instead doubled down on the heavily divisive Civil War with another war film Warfare, this one set in the all-too-real dystopian recent past rather than the fictional near future. Co-directed with Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza, whose experiences the film is based on, Garland’s Warfare is a tense single location thriller that unfolds in real time starring D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai as Mendoza, Cosmo Jarvis, Joseph Quinn, Will Poulter, Charles Melton, and Kit Connor. The film follows a platoon of Navy SEALS that are pinned down in the home of Iraqi civilians in insurgent territory as they close in to their position.

As with Civil War, many have already written off Warfare prior to its release, and I wish they hadn’t as there is a lot to like, even if they are heavily flawed films. I can’t exactly blame anyone for not wanting to interact with these movies, however, given how they’ve been marketed. With Civil War, it was Alex Garland and A24 trying to offer their film real-life credibility and make it seem topical to the political climate of the United States as it stood last year, while simultaneously sitting on the fence and refusing to say anything of substance. Civil War itself had nothing much to say at all about current US politics, it was purely a way to market the film through political divisiveness. With Warfare, the marketing has gone in the opposite direction with the film intending to be a deathly serious and authentic depiction of war based only on the memory of those that lived through it, while the marketing is lighthearted. These contradictory notions of making light of the most horrific ordeals while propagating that evil is necessary is exactly how warmongering works.

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Review by Leah Peifer (@leahonfilmm)

Hell of a Summer is the feature-length directorial debut of Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk. Finn Wolfhard is the big name of the two, making a name for himself by appearing in Stranger Things and It. Hell of a Summer has a very simple plot reminiscent of 80s slasher films in the vein of Friday the 13th and Sleepaway Camp. The film follows a group of camp counselors as they are slowly picked off by a mysterious killer who is possibly someone they know. Hell of a Summer is a fun ride but it never reaches the heights of other camp slasher movies.

The most important aspect of a summer camp film for me is the kills. All of these films tend to have simple premises and archetypal characters, meaning if you want to stand out, you either have to have a great twist or gnarly kills. Hell of a Summer has neither of these things. Most of the kills, other than one stand out are all done off-screen. I found this incredibly perplexing because the film was given an R rating, but that must have been for language. The only good kill of the entire film was actually in the trailer. It is done via axe, and we do get a nice gory after shot of the kill, but it does not make us forget how uninspired the rest of them are. I have to say I was bored for most of the film because it has no horror. I would classify this as more of a whodunit/comedy. So if you are going for fun kills, do not expect to see a thing.

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Review by Ethan Hall (@wolffthehuman)

After ten years of development, ‘A Minecraft Movie’ is finally here. But is it worth your emeralds?

A film adaptation of Minecraft was first announced all the way back in 2014, and to say it went through development Nether would be too kind. From Shawn Levy, to Rob McElheny, to Jared Hess, the film went through creative teams faster than a gold shovel would break. And now, 11 years later, we at long last get to put quill to book and bring you our review of A Minecraft Movie.

I have played Minecraft all my life, and while I did have some fun with what we got, I can’t help but feel they had the items to make a much more interesting recipe. During the first half of A Minecraft Movie, my nostalgic itch was being scratched. The crew’s first night in the world really felt the most accurate to the experience of the game. Unfortunately after the main group is split up following the attack on Midport Village, my enjoyment began steadily dropping. While there were a few fun moments here and there after that point, nothing ever matched that first night.

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Review by Jack Raskovich (@jackrask0v1ch)

It seems the eat-the-rich subgenre of comedic thrillers is here to stay, as A24’s Death of a Unicorn sets its sights on the 1% and big pharma in this unfunny but original satire with forced sentimentality.

Death of a Unicorn follows estranged father and daughter, Elliot (Paul Rudd) & Ridley (Jenna Ortega), as they visit wealthy big pharma client Odell’s (Richard E. Grant) nature preserve for the weekend. On their way up to the compound, Elliot hits a unicorn with their rental car, and after it shows his daughter the secrets of their species, bashes its head in with a tire iron. They somehow manage to load the creature’s carcass into the vehicle and proceed to head to the retreat. Upon arriving, Elliot asks Ridley for one favor this weekend: act normal. What does she do? The exact opposite. At the same time, I can’t blame her, as the people she’s surrounded by are insufferable. Odell’s wife, Belinda (Téa Leoni), and son, Shepard (Will Poulter), spout mostly unfunny nonsense that tries to be jabs at how stupid the upper class is. Unfortunately, none of the comedy worked for me in this film, as all of it feels so familiar. Beyond the original concept of the setup, there isn’t anything we haven’t seen done better in other films, especially recently.

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Review by Ansh Dubey (@anshweyy)

Christopher Landon, best known for his quirky slashers Freaky and the Happy Death Day duology, and hot off his departure from the Scream franchise after a media circus that marked the exit of multiple main cast and initiated a reboot of the 7th film, is back with his newest feature Drop. Energetic, visually striking and fun as we’ve come to expect from Landon, Drop was a very surprising highlight from SXSW for me as I went in with no knowledge or expectations.

The film follows Violet (Meghann Fahy), a single mother, widow, and recovering victim of domestic violence as she navigates trying to get back into the dating pool. After much reluctance and efforts to back out, Violet agrees to a date with Henry (Brandon Sklenar) at a high-end skyline restaurant and leaves her young son Toby with her sister Jen at home. After some odd encounters with other guests at the restaurant while waiting for Henry, Violet and her date finally get seated. Instead of the pleasant time she expected, Violet begins to get bombarded by “digidrops” of ominously specific memes. As if first dates weren’t already a stressful enough experience, Violet now has to try and make the most of her night while dealing with a mysterious stalker sending her weird memes and trying to coerce her to kill her date or threatening to kill her son and sister back home. I would’ve been massively disappointed if a film called Drop, with the majority of the action taking place on the top floor of a high-rise, didn’t have someone go through a window, but it’s not something you have to worry about in the unhinged third act that culminates.

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Review by Christopher Mills (@luminousdagger)

With James Gunn and Peter Safran heading DC Studios, there has been a change in the movies and shows that were slated to come out. A few of them were unfortunately cancelled, but there were some to make the cut. DC’s Tomorrowverse ended tragically (critically) with the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” trilogy, and we got the two-part release of a newly animated Watchmen film. In late May 2024, DC announced the sequel to 2018’s Batman Ninja titled Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League. It’s likely that the movie was in development at least more than a year before this, meaning that this movie was in development pre-Gunn-Safran, but there’s also a chance it was greenlit while they were in charge.

Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League is the sequel to 2018’s Batman Ninja and is set just moments after Batman returned from Feudal Japan and thwarted Joker. Batman and his allies quickly discover that the world is not quite the same as they left it. The entire island of Japan no longer exists, and neither do the heroes of the Justice League. But before they can get a handle on what is going on, yakuza literally start raining from the skies.

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Review by Jack Raskovich (@jackrask0v1ch)

At the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con, Warner Bros. revealed a clip and concept art of a fully 2D animated Looney Tunes film that would debut on Max, however, due to the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery, the film was kicked to the curb and was to be sold off to other distributors. While this isn’t the only Looney Tunes film affected by the merger (Coyote V.S. Acme), I can’t help but feel grateful that after its year-long worldwide rollout, Ketchup Entertainment has finally released The Day the Earth Blew Up in theaters nationwide.

The Day the Earth Blew Up follows Porky Pig and Daffy Duck (Eric Bauza) after their adopted father, Farmer Jim (Fred Tatasciore) leaves the now-adult brothers to fend for themselves in a rundown farmhouse. One night after a UFO crash lands and takes a chunk of the duo’s roof with them, Daffy and Porky must take up odd jobs so they can repair their roof and avoid their home being demolished by real estate agent, Mrs. Grecht (Laraine Newman). After Daffy’s “looney” behavior causes the pair to lose job after job, they run into a flavor scientist at the local gum factory, Petunia Pig (Candy Milo) who offers them a job. As soon as they find a job that suits them, Daffy discovers the gum is being controlled by an alien, named The Invader (Peter MacNicol) who uses the sticky substance to mind control those who chew it. What follows next is a parody of B-movie horror flicks and a surprisingly poignant look at Daffy & Porky’s dynamic.

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Review by Leah Peifer (@leahonfilmm)

The latest live action remake from Disney is Snow White, though you might have a hard time connecting the old and the new story. This Snow White follows the titular character as she tries to regain her fathers kingdom after it was unrightfully taken by the Evil Queen, played by Gal Gadot. Along the way Snow White meets seven magic creatures and a group of bandits who help her become the ruler she has always had within her. I would say this film is more akin to the 2012 movie Mirror Mirror, instead of the 1937 achievement Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

I went into Snow White with an open mind and heart even with the many controversies. The main reason I had good will for this movie was Rachel Zegler as Snow White, and needless to say I was not disappointed. Zegler is the perfect Disney princess, and brings the kind soul and the fearless heart that this Snow White has to life. She is definitely the best part of the film in every way. Her songs are instantly elevated by her tremendous voice and you can tell she really cares about the film. I felt some old school Disney magic every time she was on screen. Zegler owns every moment and makes for one of the best performances in these live action remakes to date.

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Review by Zanda Gubecka (@zgub)

Steven Soderbergh returns to release his second film of the year, Black Bag, which further proves the man’s mastery behind the camera.

Its been a while since there was a great original film in theatres. With Soderbergh’s Black Bag, that timer has been reset and audiences have been treated to a slick and sensual (but not explicitly sexual) espionage thriller. Black Bag is the latest from director Steven Soderbergh, the man behind Ocean’s Eleven, Magic Mike, and Contagion, and from writer David Koepp, the mind behind Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible, Spider-Man, and Panic Room.

The film follows a premise similar to that of Mr & Mrs Smith, but doesn’t directly pit our two leads against each other, instead allowing the audience to judge the situation for themselves, enchanting the viewer with a very cool and collected mystery. That’s not to say the film isn’t thrilling however, with each new turn proving exhilarating and having you at the edge of your seat. It’s a masterclass in tension and at two times (the dinner sequences) bears resemblance to another Fassbender starring scene, the one from Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds.

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Review by Leah Peifer (@leahonfilmm)

Opus is the first feature film by Mark Anthony Green, who is better known for his work with GQ. The film follows Ariel, played by Ayo Edebiri, who is one of the few people invited to hear the next album by best selling singer Moretti, played by John Malkovich. Trapped in a cult-like compound with his many devoted followers, Ariel realizes not everything is as it seems. This new A24 horror comedy has all the usual tricks, but never ends up doing anything as interesting as the studio’s other films. In fact the film reminds me of a lot of recent horror movies, such as Blink Twice, Midsommar, and The Menu, but never reaches the highs of these other films.

Sadly, Opus is just a lesser imitation of other films you could watch instead. The film never fully commits to anything and left me more or less indifferent. The cult in Midsommar has more intrigue, Blink Twice takes more chances, and The Menu is more clever. I left Opus feeling nothing. It is not scary, not particularly funny, and never dives deep enough to its premise. The only shining star in the film is Ayo Edebiri, who proves at every turn that she is one of the best young actors working today. She decides to play the character in a very subtle way. Edebiri is not given a big, explosive freak out scene, instead having her appropriately match the situation. A worse actor would play it up, but Ayo hits the sweet spot at every moment.

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Review by Ansh Dubey (@anshweyy)

Master of maximalism, Michael Bay, has entered the documentary scene with We Are Storror, and I absolutely loved it. Bay infuses his signature Bayhem into reality to create something so epic, not in spite of but because of its confinement to the real world.

We Are Storror is Bay’s first foray into the documentary medium, and it delves into the lives of parkour group Storror. Storror is comprised of seven childhood friends from the UK: Max and Benji Cave, Callum and Sacha Powell, Drew Taylor, Toby Segar, and Josh Burnett-Blake, and follows them on a globetrotting adventure as they push their limits in 4 extreme runs. Storror previously worked with Michael Bay on 6 Underground, and it’s clear from this film that they have so much mutual respect for each other. No one other than Bay could have made this documentary, and his heart and soul, along with the Storror team’s, are so ingrained into the film.

We Are Storror is just as much an unhinged spectacle as the rest of Bay’s body of work, but it also has the emotion and stakes, and even more so than any other Bay film due to its basis in reality. The emotional core of the film is the unbreakable bond and brotherhood of Storror that will remain. Storror’s parkour escapades have been posted on the internet for all to see for years, so the main draw of the film was what goes on before and after and behind the free-run. It more than succeeds in that aspect. The Bay-esque philosophy of thrill-seeking and exhilaration permeates into We Are Storror in a way that only the film medium could capture as well. It’s like something out of Point Break, Vaya Con Dios, Storror.

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Review by Bhargav Chandramouli (@bhargav300)

Mckenna Grace embodies the soul of Shirley Chen in the hilarious, horrific, picture Slanted!

The movie follows Joan, an Asian-American who goes through a procedure to change her race from Chinese to white. Although Slanted begins with star Shirley Chen (Dìdi), it quickly becomes Mckenna Grace’s (Ghostbusters: Afterlife) adventure as we get through the film. But as Joan’s face starts to melt due to a side effect, the rest of the plot starts to melt together into a beautiful commentary on class and culture.

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Review by Leah Peifer (@leah_peifer)

The second Jack Quaid starring vehicle to hit theaters this year is Novocaine. The film follows Nathan Caine, a borderline pathetic man who suffers from a disorder that takes away the feeling of pain. Nate is living his life far from the edge, until he meets his dream girl Sherry, played by Amber Midthunder. After she is taken hostage by a group of brutal bank robbers, Nate stops at nothing, taking every hit until he saves his girl. With some fun performances, surprising gore, and clear downfalls, Novocaine is a mixed bag.

I am going to be honest I went into Novocaine expecting to feel indifferent, but I actually was pleasantly surprised. This film could have held back in many aspects, yet the directors decided to take it there. Let me be clear, this is a hard R rating. The gore in this film at times comes close to straight body horror. I really ire how they take this simple premise and take it to every level they could think of. Many people in my theater were audibly gasping at some scenes because it is quite unexpected. The marketing of the film shows some gross moments, but for the most part Novocaine looked like a safe but fun movie. It is not the best action movie by any means, but it does stand out for its commitment to its premise. The film does have a mixed tone though. For most of the screen time it is light and cheery with some witty one liners, then it goes to horror movie levels of gore. Honestly I did not hate that, the best parts of the film are when Jack Quaid is getting absolutely torn apart.

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Review by Jack Raskovich (@jackrask0v1ch)

Five years after his historic Oscar wins for Parasite, director Bong Joon Ho has returned with an adaptation of a goofy science fiction epic that blends his two English language films Snowpiercer & Okja’s themes together.

Mickey 17 follows Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), who after a series of unfortunate circumstances and a run in with a loan shark looking to collect, decides to leave Earth with his only friend, Timo (Steven Yeun), and a colonization expedition off-world. The only catch to this solution is that he has applied to become an “expendable”, a worker who is put on suicide missions that will have their body reprinted with their memories and personality intact if they unfortunately (most likely*) die. After sixteen deaths, Barnes has grown sick of his profession, only when another body gets reprinted, he finally decides to take a stand against his fascist Colony leader, Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), whose character is sure to remind plenty of audiences of a certain political leader in our reality…

Life with the colony isn’t all too bad, besides the mushy fake food, alien monsters waiting to consume your entire body, and a dictatorship running the show, Mickey soon meets Nasha (Naomi Ackie), who seems to be the only level-headed person on the spacecraft. The pair quickly fall in love in what is probably the most romantic montage I’ve seen in quite some time. However, that’s not all the romance there is onboard as leader Kenneth Marshall has brought along his hilariously eccentric wife, Ylfa (Toni Collette), who loves sauces almost as much as her pathetic husband.

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Review by Bhargav Chandramouli (@bhargav300)

I was truly unprepared for how much I would love Simone Ashley; thank you for bringing her to my attention, Prarthana Mohan, you’re the GOAT. I will say due to some negative TikToks surrounding the writing, I it I had my hesitations going into the film. But I soon had a blast following Pia (Simone Ashley) and her family throughout the movie!

The film, which releases on Prime Video on March 6th, follows 30-year-old Pia as she struggles to balance her career life with her love life. Upon attending her sister’s wedding, a guru prophecizes that she’ll find her soulmate within the next five dates, to which her mom (Sindhu Vee) and sister (Anoushka Chadha) decide to speed up the process by sending Pia on several blind dates while the month-long traditional Indian wedding ceremony progresses.

With the photography shop that she runs with her gay best friend Jay (Luke Fetherston) on the decline, things couldn’t get worse for Pia… until she runs into her ex-boyfriend turned Best Man Charlie (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) at her sister’s wedding. As blind dates go wrong and drama ensues, Pia finds herself in an emotional situation of having to confront her fears of love.

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Review by Leah Peifer (@leah_peifer)

I’m Still Here became a must-watch after being nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Academy Awards. With this, the film secured two other nominations: Lead Actress for Fernanda Torres’ performance and Best International Picture. The film follows the Pavia family living in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1970s. During this time, Brazil was under a ruthless military dictatorship that ended up tearing the family apart. Eunice Pavia is the matriarch of the family and is left to mend the pieces after her husband disappears.

Though I’m Still Here takes place in the 1970’s, it is a timeless tale. The film is essentially a story of resilience and justice. The Pavia family is targeted by the dictatorship because they criticize it. Labeled as a communist for having their own opinions. The film is, in some ways, a tragedy, but it really ends up being a film about overcoming. I found the end of the films to be extremely empowering. The last half of the film is Eunice trying to make sense of what happened to her husband. There is a beautiful line by Eunice after a reporter asks if searching for closure for something that happened years ago is worth it. What Eunice says speaks to what true justice is. It is a powerful moment that will stick with you for weeks after watching. The film as a whole succeeds in explaining why this is such an injustice and why we should care.

The true genius of I’m Still Here relies completely on the performance of Fernanda Torres. Torres devours every inch of the screen. It is one of those performances that remind you how important it is to have such a powerhouse at the helm. The film would not work without her, even if it forced Torres to go to some staggering places. It is a tragedy how government corruption can infiltrate and ruin the lives of free-thinking citizens who are just living their lives. The film starts and ends with hope, and Torres takes you along with every expression. Even in the darkest moments, Fernanda Torres adds a nuance that captures how one would truly react to being in this situation. In some moments, guarded and cold, then in others, broken and emotionally beaten. The entire film is on Torres’s shoulders, and she takes that challenge and turns in one of the best performances of the year.

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Review by Bhargav Chandramouli (@bhargav300)

As we inch towards the Oscars on Sunday, I finally went out to watch Best Picture Nominee Nickel Boys. Directed by RaMell Ross, who’s known for his 2018 documentary Hale County This Morning, Nickel Boys is a triumphant examination of Black Americans’ history within the American education system. The film stars Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson as Elwood and Turner, respectively, and was released in theatres last December.

It tells the story of an abusive reform school in 1960s Florida and is told through the lens of two young African-American boys (Herisse and Wilson) and is especially relevant in today’s society, following racial equality movements.

Nickel Boys excels in many categories, including an engaging screenplay, pristine cinematography (including adopting a clean 4:3 aspect ratio), and captivating performances. The film isn’t ever afraid to portray violence, yet it never oversteps its boundaries like so many other films have. This tight balance that Ross keeps control over helps keep the runtime of the film from feeling sluggish, an impressive feat.

What makes the film unique is its insistence on using a POV shot 98% of the time. Not only does this affect how we, the audience, experience the story and setting; but this camera angle also allows for a foreboding apprehension as the latter half of the film switches between the ongoing story and flashbacks to the future, focusing on only one of the two main characters.

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Review by Jack Raskovich (@jackrask0v1ch)

Osgood Perkins’ follow-up to last year’s smash hit, Longlegs, is finally being released to horror fans worldwide. The question is: Will audiences respond as strongly as they did last year to Oz’s monkey business?

The Monkey is based on a short story from Stephen King’s 1985 compilation novel, Skeleton Crew, but uses a much more humorous tone than the melancholy source material. Perkins’ approach to the concept of a toy monkey facilitating the absurd deaths of random people it chooses, is wholly comedic and incredibly entertaining. While Neon is trying to capture the same success as Longlegs, their abundant marketing has become utterly annoying this time. Every ment for the film boasts hyperbolic pull quotes about how it’s one of the most disgusting films ever made, yet last year’s Terrifier 3 makes this look like a children’s film. However, that’s not to say this film isn’t gory at all, it features some jaw-dropping kills, but just as many were disappointed last year due to Longlegs’s marketing, I fear the same result will happen again.

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Review by Jack Raskovich (@jackrask0v1ch)

The Brutalist follows Jewish-Hungarian Architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody), who, after liberation from the Holocaust, hops aboard a ship to Ellis Island, New York, for a chance at a better life without religious persecution. It turns out that he is entering the belly of the beast that is America when a mysterious and wealthy client (Guy Pearce) commissions him to build a monument. Will it chew him up and spit him out? Or will he conquer adversity to create a building that truly lasts?

The Brutalist begins with Brody’s László on the boat from Hungary arriving in America, treating audiences to an upside-down shot of the Statue of Liberty as the Overture’s score roars, highlighting the growing promise and impending doom that lured in so many immigrants post-WWII. From the glorious Overture to the built-in 115-minute Intermission and ending with an Epilogue, Corbet and his crew have crafted a living and breathing depiction of the 1950s-60s America that we do not see anymore.

In another effort to make this film feel like it’s from the period, Corbet and cinematographer Lol Crawley decided it was paramount to shoot the film on 8-perf 35mm VistaVision, a long-dormant format Hitchcock used many times, with the last time it was used was in 1961. Shooting on this format made Corbet’s 70mm roadshow dreams come true, with the film running horizontally through the gauge instead of vertically, allowing for the film to be blown up to 70mm.

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Review by Lewis Huckle (@the_mando)

Bridget Jones is back, and she’s bringing her entire roster of side characters from the rest of the franchise back for its new entry (aside from Patrick Dempsey, but he was only a one-film replacement anyway). Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy sees Bridget up against overarching grief following the death of her husband, Mark Darcy, leaving her a widow.

This presents an interesting shift in the franchise, considering Darcy has been a constant in the trilogy and an integral character to these movies, so losing him would presumably be of detriment to this fourth entry. However, it is not a negative as the film plays the right notes, and his spirit is felt even when he’s not explicitly on-screen.

As it’s the fourth movie, naturally, the creatives behind the cameras want to shake things up and find ways to keep people interested in coming back for another movie that appears different enough from the other, and they succeed in doing that. The movie has an almost perfect balance of maintaining the familiar whilst also bringing in fresh ideas and modernizing this world, including scenes that feature Tinder conversations and age-gap controversies. Thankfully, instead of becoming a film at war with its own concept, it embraces this and actually confronts interesting concerns about getting older and being in a relationship with someone younger.

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Review by Carlos Miguel Gedaro (@Carlos_Miguel)

After a successful concert tour in 2022 of The Golden Hour: Under the Orange Sun, IU returns to the concert stage again for her first world tour and ninth concert, the HEREH World Tour. The concert film took place and filmed in Seoul World Cup Stadium during the last leg of the world tour and marked IU’s 100th concert in her career. This concert film is directed by Oh Yun-dong, who also directed popular concert films such as NCT NATION: To the World in Cinemas and BTS: Yet to Come in Cinemas.

The multi-talented South Korean singer-actress has once again mesmerized fans around the world in an enchanting concert. IU CONCERT: THE WINNING is a perfect mirror of IU herself –a concert that’s delicate yet powerful and full of charming presence. Read our full IU CONCERT: THE WINNING review below.

I have been following Lee Ji-eun (IU) since her early acting days as Kim Pil-sook in the 2011 South Korean television series, Dream High alongside South Korea’s biggest stars, Bae Suzy (Uncontrollably Fond, While You Were Sleeping, Doona!) and Kim Soo-hyun (My Love from the Star, Moon Embracing the Sun, Queen of Tears). Dream High is a show about six friends who wants to be a K-Pop Idol that involves singing, songwriting and dancing.

IU already has two successful albums in that year and with her debut as an actress in Dream High further cemented her as Korea’s ‘little sister’. For fans who have followed IU throughout her acting career to her rise as a vocal powerhouse in the music industry, IU CONCERT: THE WINNING is a testament to her growth as an artist and performer.

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Review by Zanda Gubecka (@zgub)

To say this phase has been tumultuous would be an understatement. From the highest of highs seen in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to the lowest of lows in Echo and Secret Invasion, patience is wearing thin for audience . This has led to a lot of weight being laid on Captain America: Brave New World, the fourth entry in the now quadrilogy which was originally led by Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers, who ed the mantle onto Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson back in Avengers: Endgame. The movie has suffered a lot in the media, with rumours (albeit incorrect ones) of expensive reshoots, and a controversy based on the history of Shira Haas and her character Ruth Bat-Seraph. But did this movie beat the odds?

Captain America: Brave New World follows the adventures of Sam Wilson, who has now ed down the mantle of Falcon to colleague Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez), whilst stepping up to fulfil the role of Captain America. In the film, he embarks on a journey once his friend Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) is mind-controlled and falsely sentenced to death for an attempted assassination and is forced to stop a plot pushed by a familiar but long-unseen villain.

From the very get-go, it’s very obvious this movie was butchered in both the edit and writing stages, with the two developmental processes combining in a borderline unwatchable experience on par with failures such as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. While the rumours of the entire film being reshot was greatly exaggerated, it is clear that the entire story was reworked several times over during post-production, leading the editors to piece the film together in a way that inevitably is incoherent. The result is a story that focuses on Sam Wilson as a protagonist but not as a character, leading him to not have an arc and end back where we started.

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Review by Leah Peifer (@leah_peifer)

Romance and horror are blended together to create a genuinely gory and romantic time at the theater. Heart Eyes follows Ally, played by Olivia Holt, a down-on-her-luck love hater. Every Valentine’s Day, the Heart Eyes killer strikes, killing not just couples but anyone in its path. On a business dinner, Ally and her coworker, played by Mason Gooding, are hunted by the killer. Heart Eyes does not take itself too seriously, making for an overall fun killing spree.

Heart Eyes is almost two movies in one. It is half romcom and half slasher. It handles these tonal shifts the best it can. There is about a forty-minute stretch after the cold open that is just romcom, which I can see losing some people. But I was not even mad at the film for this. The romance is actually quite charming, all thanks to the chemistry of the two leads. Mason Gooding was particularly endearing, which makes me eager to see him take on a full rom-com one day. The two can carry the horror-action side of the film as well. They are not given a lot to work with, and their characters lack a lot of substance, but the film seemed more interested in entertaining anyway. Without the commitment of the two leads, I do not think I would have liked the movie as much.

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Review by Leah Peifer (@leah_peifer)

‘Bunnylovr’ follows Rebecca, a Chinese American cam girl who is struggling with multiple relationships in her life. From her estranged father to an abnormal client, Rebecca can not seem to grapple with what to do with these connections. The film is directed, written, starring, and produced by Katarina Zhu. Along with that, ‘Bunnylovr’ is produced by Rachel Sennot, who plays the ing character of her best friend Bella. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

‘Bunnylovr’ is a very standard female character study filled with daddy issues and uncomfortable sexual situations, but none of these aspects are dived into in a very exciting manner. I appreciate what Zhu is attempting to do with the film, but it fell very flat. There were some moments that I felt reared too close to ‘for the shock of it’ scenes. Everything that was done with the bunny in question was unnecessary and never explained. The problem with the movie is that everything is left in the open, and nothing is touched on in a meaningful way. Just presented to the audience. I can tell the film wants to say something but can not find the words.

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Review by Leah Peifer (@leah_peifer)

The main draw of ‘Companion’ is how truly fun it is. So fun in fact that its thinly veiled plot does not even affect my enjoyment of the movie. The film follows Iris as she goes with her boyfriend Josh on a lake house getaway with his friends. A death leads to a chain of unhinged events that touches on gender roles and toxic relationships. Knowing as little as you can before seeing ‘Companion’ will only enhance the experience, so I highly recommend going in blind.

Over the past couple years we have been flooded with films about evil AI robots, including ‘Megan’ and ‘Subservience.’ ‘Companion,’ unlike those films, is not about a robot just turning evil, it is the complete opposite. Iris does not know she is a robot. Making most of the film about her discovery of what she really is and her exploration of trying to regain ownership of herself. What is most unique about the film is that it relies on the viewer to have sympathy for the robot, a risk that ultimately pays off thanks to Sophie Thatcher’s expert performance.

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Review by Bhargav Chandramouli (@bhargav300)

Last October, I had the wonderful opportunity to watch Bollywood A-Lister Boman Irani’s directorial debut, The Mehta Boys, before anyone else. The premiere, which screened at the Chicago South Asian Film Festival, brought in the whole top cast and crew for the weekend. Along with getting to interview Irani himself, I also had the wonderful opportunity of meeting Avinash Tiwary, Shreya Chaudhry, and co-screenwriter of the film Alex Dinelaris (Birdman).

Boman Irani’s The Mehta Boys follows Amay (Avinash Tiwary), an architect having to deal with the loss of his mother when he comes home to his sister and his father, Mehta (Boman Irani). In a sudden turn of events, Mehta is forced to stay with Amay at his place for an extended period of time. Tension breaks through, and the father-son dynamic is turned on it’s head as Mehta disrupts Amay’s relationship with Zara (Shreya Chaudhry), downplays Amay’s work as an architect, and constantly tries to nitpick every little thing Amay does. But what else is a father for?

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Review by Zanda Gubecka (@zgub)

For the last few years, comedic legends from the late 90s and 00s have been taking a break on the back burner, including the likes of Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon. Now, exactly those two actors have ed to star opposite each other for Prime Video’s You’re Cordially Invited, a wedding film with a twist.

You’re Cordially Invited follows the unfortunate repercussions when two weddings are booked on the same day, at the same location, and what happens when you can’t rebook it. The film sees Jenni (Geraldine Viswanathan) wanting to marry her partner in the place where her father (Will Ferrell) and late mother were married, but when the establishment double books a wedding between Neve (Meredith Hagner) and Dixon (Jimmy Tatro), the two parties are forced to make some compromises. This puts Ferrell and Neve’s sister Margot (Reese Witherspoon) at odds, leading to some hilarious scenes.

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Review by Zanda Gubecka (@zgub)

Flight Risk, the latest film from now Hollywood Ambassador to the White House Mel Gibson, is finally in theatres and after a comical trailer that leans perhaps a bit too heavily into the ulterior motives of its villain, we can discuss the picture in length. From bald Mark Wahlberg to Topher Grace’s bathroom schedule, the movie has a lot to dissect.

Flight Risk is Mel Gibson’s sixth directed film, and his first since 2016’s heavily critically acclaimed Hacksaw Ridge. The film follows Deputy US Marshal Madolyn Harris (Michelle Dockery) as she apprehends a fugitive, Winston (Topher Grace), and transports him to Seattle to get ready to testify in a plea deal against a ruthless mob leader. Their method of transport? A small private plane, complete with a personal pilot (Mark Wahlberg). The twist? Their pilot is not the man he seems, and is instead an assassin sent to kill the marshal and witness. As a result of this premise, the film is quite isolated and features a minimal cast, leaving a lot of weight for the cast and screenplay to do heavy lifting with.

The film, marketed using Wahlberg’s fame as an advertising vehicle, misuses Wahlberg’s acting prowess and relegates him to a ing antagonist role, where he is left unconscious for large periods of time, over several sequences. While the film markets itself as a thriller, with Wahlberg’s unnamed assassin posing a major threat, the film instead tries to replicate the survival subgenre. It’s like if the 2022 film Fall was on the run, with a middle aged balding man lurking in the background sometimes.

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Review by Zanda Gubecka (@zgub)

Despite not having seen the original 2018 Den of Thieves film, I took a leap earlier today and followed up my screening of Edward Berger’s Conclave with Christian Gudegast’s heist flick Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. While I do plan on visiting Den of Thieves in the near future, this review will be based on Den of Thieves 2: Pantera as a standalone project, judging it on itself and only itself.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera follows broke LASD sheriff Big Nick (Gerard Butler) travelling to Europe to team up with a past foe (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) for an international diamond heist. The film blends the dad-core genres of Steven Soderbergh Ocean’s films with the gritty LA realism of Heat, culminating in a unique but derivative blend that makes for a really enjoyable theatrical experience. The official synopsis of the film reads as follows:

Gerard Butler (Plane, Has Fallen series) and O’Shea Jackson Jr. (Straight Out of Compton, Godzilla: King of the Monsters) return in the sequel to 2018’s action-heist hit Den of Thieves. In Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, Big Nick (Butler) is back on the hunt in Europe and closing in on Donnie (Jackson), who is embroiled in the treacherous and unpredictable world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia, as they plot a massive heist of the world’s largest diamond exchange.

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Review by Zanda Gubecka (@zgub)

Fresh off a well-received film in The Invisible Man, which surprised both critically and commercially back in 2020, Leigh Whannell’s output has been steely calm. But now a follow-up film, in the form of Wolf Man, has been released this time tackling themes of parenthood, family, and sins of the father.

Wolf Man follows father Blake Lovell (Christopher Abbott) who, following the disappearance and death declaration of his father Grady (Sam Jaeger), moves back home to the family’s property in rural Oregon. There, he and his family (Julia Garner’s Charlotte and Matilda Firth’s Ginger) are met with torment and a supernatural threat unlike one they’ve ever seen.

Prior to watching the film, I had been going through a bit of a backwoods horror kick, from stuff like The Blair Witch Project, to more grounded stories like Deliverance, that whole subgenre really interests me and the atmosphere created within really struck me as something compelling. So when the opportunity to re-explore some of Universal Monsters’ more grounded characters presented itself in Wolf Man, I said sign me up and got ready to view the film.

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Review by Nick Williams (@nickwillreview)

Henry Danger: The Movie sees the titular character Henry Hart (Jace Norman) stand out on his own as a hero in the fictional city of Dystopia alongside his partner Jasper Dunlop (Sean Ryan Fox). When he encounters the energetic Missy Martin, he’s forced to step back into his role as Captain Man’s (Cooper Barnes) sidekick, Kid Danger.

When I initially saw commercials for Henry Danger: The Movie, I was put off by it. While I’m always open to franchises trying something new, Henry Danger in a potentially serious tone just felt wrong to me, losing the charm that the original series had. Fortunately, that serious tone was restricted to the opening of the film, and the Henry Danger I knew came back into the fold.

Speaking of the opening, I was surprised by how cinematic it felt from the way it was filmed. There’s no easy way to say this, but it genuinely felt inspired by the Marvel films we’ve grown accustomed to. The film keeps that momentum all the way, especially in its final moments. I even found the special effects to be of higher quality than the TV shows.

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Review by Leah Peifer (@leah_peifer)

Every film Keke Palmer stars in stands as a reminder of her natural star power and infectious charisma. She lights up the screen, making every character instantly likable and deeply relatable. One of Them Days has the actress starring as Dreux, a hard-working waitress in search of a better, higher-paying job. After entrusting the responsibility of handing in the rent to her eccentric best friend, Alyssa, the two are left scrambling to make the money up before six after Alyssa’s deadbeat boyfriend steals it. Trouble ensues, and obstacles present themselves, which lead the characters to question if they will have a place to sleep that night and still be friends by the end of the day.

The most vital ingredient for a successful buddy comedy like this is the chemistry between the two leads. Luckily, SZA and Palmer have a dynamic back and forth that makes the main relationship feel lived in and authentic. SZA was especially surprising to me since it was up in the air whether she would be able to keep up with the endlessly entertaining Palmer. SZA not only keeps up but matches Palmer’s energy in an exciting manner. These women understand the commitment needed for every bit and riff off each other perfectly. Palmer and SZA are the main reasons for seeing the film.

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Review by Christopher Mills (@luminousdagger)

Cameron Diaz returns to acting after 11 years in Netflix’s latest action/comedy, Back in Action, starring alongside Jamie Foxx.

Cameron Diaz has been a fan favorite since she made her acting debut in The Mask, alongside Jim Carrey. A film that I’ve regarded as one of my favourite films of all time. In 2014, Cameron Diaz retired from acting. 11 years later, she makes her return to the spotlight, alongside Jamie Foxx, who was her co-star in her last film, Annie. This return is a huge one, as it’s her first film in so long, but it feels like it’s just easing her back into the world of Hollywood before she stars in one of 2026’s biggest blockbuster films, Shrek 5.

Back in Action follows Emily (Cameron Diaz) and Matt (Jamie Foxx), two former CIA spies who return to the life of espionage as their identities are exposed, putting them and their two kids, Alice (McKenna Roberts) and Leo (Rylan Jackson), in danger.

Within the last year, we’ve not only seen a rise in action films but also spy movies and television. Just last year, we got a remake of the Mr. and Mrs. Smith show, which this film loosely takes inspiration from as we follow a couple who are CIA agents. Unlike that show, Back in Action doesn’t really do anything unique to set itself apart from the hundreds of action/comedies that follow this exact formula of a couple returning to action and trying to protect their kids, who they’ve been lying to for years.

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Review by Nick Williams (@nickwillreview)

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is a perfect conclusion to the first trilogy, offering a funny, action-packed experience that isn’t afraid to get a bit dark at times.

There was never a dull moment in the film, I was always invested in a good joke, a thrilling scene or learning any details about Shadow, a character that’s always caught my attention but I’ve never had a backstory that I associated with them.

Shadow’s visual effects throughout the film were well done, but I especially have to focus on certain scenes such as his breakout from stasis that shows an amazing level of detail that had me in awe. That’s not to say that Sonic, Tails (Colleen O’Shaugnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba) aren’t great as well, they feel especially more vibrant in this film.

Jim Carrey absolutely kills it as both Ivo and Gerald Robotnik, offering some funny exchanges as well as an overall good time for audiences to experience. Maria Robotnik (Alyla Browne) also helps a lot in humanizing Shadow for the audience, offering some heartwarming scenes between the two characters. I will say I was a bit disappointed with Director Rockwell (Krysten Ritter), as it never felt clear where her allegiance was during the entire conflict.

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Review by Vishu Lakkamraju (@vishion8)

It’s clear why MGM and Artist Equity—Matt Damon & Ben Affleck’s production company were interested in bringing Anthony Robles’ story to the big screen. There’s so much to work with, but the movie itself feels like the most generic version of that story imaginable.

Unstoppable tells the story of Anthony Robles (Jharrel Jerome), a top high school wrestler who only has one leg. He earns a scholarship from Drexel University, but instead opts to be a walk-on at Arizona State University to stay closer to his family. The film follows the journey of Anthony’s college years and his struggle to make it from a walk-on to a real NCAA championship contender while balancing the struggles of his home life.

The real-life story of Anthony Robles is awe-inspiring, to say the least. I wasn’t familiar with him prior to this film, but what Anthony has accomplished in wrestling is no easy task in the world of sports. Getting to the level he did while only having one leg is absolutely incredible. There are so few wrestlers in general who can say they have accomplishments that would even compare to his.

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Review by Bhargav Chandramouli (@bhargav300)

Coming out hot from showing off his musical talent in Wonka, where he channeled his inner theater kid to play the chocolate-loving sweetheart, Timothée Chalamet delivers a surprisingly confident musical performance in A Complete Unknown to embody the character of the ever-so-famous Mr. Bob Dylan. This was a tough feat for Chalamet to hurdle, having only focused on acting for the majority of his career.

But the challenge did not go unnoticed, as he explains in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe. In fact, Chalamet pushed his limits and sang Dylan’s classic songs live on set. His reasoning for committing to the bit was simple, “How do you satisfy an obsessive, far-reaching fandom that’s had more than six decades to calcify their ideas and sharpen their attention to detail while also engaging a younger audience for whom the draw may be the star rather than the subject?”

While the casting might have been initially deemed controversial back in 2020, Chalamet has definitely proven his range and worth since. In A Complete Unknown, Chalamet becomes an entirely different persona altogether and embodies Dylan all the way down to his voice.

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Review by Leah Peifer (@leah_peifer)

Gia Coppola’s new film, The Last Showgirl, is a stunning portrayal of a woman grappling with the fact that the career path she sacrificed so much for might not even be worth it. The film follows Shelly, a showgirl who has been headlining a show in Vegas for the last thirty years. It is announced that the show is coming to a close, leaving Shelly lost and trying to figure out what the next part of her life will be. The Last Showgirl is a tale of female friendships, resilience, and the debilitating aspects of being devoted to one’s art.

I want to start things by discussing Pamela Anderson’s extraordinary performance. Shelly feels like the perfect comeback role for Anderson. The character is naive yet unapologetic, and Anderson brings a deep sense of understanding to the role. The performance is riddled with layer upon layer of nuance, making it one of the more interesting performances in recent years for me. For most, the character’s main intrigue is the similarities between Anderson and Shelly, but I argue the character becomes her own separate entity thanks to the talent of Anderson. From The Last Showgirl, one can only get excited to see what is to come for Pamela Anderson after this.

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Review by Bhargav Chandramouli (@bhargav300)

After two years of iconic AMC Theaters ads, Nicole Kidman returns to the big screen with a bang after an unfortunate Aquaman sequel and an okay-ish Netflix movie, The Family Affair, with A24’s steamy erotic thriller Babygirl.

Dutch Director Halina Reijn has proven not to be messed with. After directing the 2022 film Bodies Bodies Bodies, a movie that received tons of acclaim, Reijn returns to the directing chair with a self-written thriller, Babygirl. The film stars Nicole Kidman as Romy and Harris Dickinson as Samuel, with Antonio Banderas and Sophie Wilde playing ing roles. Kidman’s lead struggles with the ups and downs of work-life balance and the sexual frustration that can arise from such a situation, soon taking a keen eye on a young intern – Harris Dickinson’s Samuel.

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Review by Leah Peifer (@leah_peifer)

Jacques Audiard’s new film, Emilia Pérez, is a genre-bending musical starring Karla Sophia Gascon, Zoe Saldaña, Adriana Paz, and Selena Gomez. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews, going on to win the Jury Prize and the Best Actress Prize, awarded to all four actresses mentioned above.

The story structure of Emilia Pérez is split into three acts. Act One follows Rita, a hardworking lawyer, who is offered an abnormal job by a powerful crime boss who desires to transition into a woman without the world knowing. The crime boss transitions into the titular Emilia Pérez, played expertly by Karla Sophia Gascon. Act Two showcases what Pérez sets out to do after her transition, which is to recover missing people across Mexico with the help of Rita. Act Three, Peréz is held for ransom by her ex wife, played by Gomez, leaving Rita to find out how to rescue her before it is too late. I think this structure is fine since the film is trying to fit so much at once. I like how distinct all the acts feel because you can tell when you reach a different section of the film since they all have such a high contrast from each other.

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Review by Chaitanya Sharma (@sherlockkd)

All We Imagine as Light is a glowing directorial debut from Payal Kapadia; her film is illuminating the world yet struggles to get a proper wide release in her home country. Her film is an ode to Mumbai but most importantly to the spirit of Mumbai, that haunts itself. The reality and illusion, the possibilities and impossibilites of the Mumbai dream cum nightmare. The politics are germane to the plot, the background socio-economic critique is rarely foregrounded, for most importantly it’s a film about sisterhood, harmony and beauty of communion, made with comion.

The film offers not just a view of Mumbai, but Mumbai itself, an inside-out look from the perspective of working-class population. It doesn’t fit the box that stereotypes the stereotypical representation of working class in an arthouse film, a super-stereotype; for it’s neither exploitative like Slumdog Millionaire nor schmaltz laden preachy melodrama like Laapata Ladies: and god knows what the Film Federation of India meant by their kinky comment w.r.t. Laapata Ladies, describing “Indian women” as “a strange mixture of submission and dominance”, to justify it’s Oscar-entry, which naturally didn’t make the shortlist (pretends to be shocked).

The film is a double first: the first Indian film to win a Grand Prix at Cannes and Kapadia the first Indian woman to do so. For a country that lives and breathes cinema, it’s concerning that it took- how many years since Swaham? 30 years?- that long for another film to participate in the main competition. Nonetheless, her win sparks a wave of optimism and hopefully India undergoes some internal new wave movement of its own since Hindi cinema, to put it generously, is burying itself every Friday: the extraordinary lack of creativity in storytelling is hilariously infuriating.

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Review by Zanda Gubecka (@zgub)

Over the past 25 years, filmmaker Peter Jackson has been crafting some of the most groundbreaking films ever. Beginning with his adaptive trilogy of J.R.R Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, which released yearly from 2001 (The Fellowship of the Ring) to 2003 (The Return of the King), to his legacy prequel adaptations of The Hobbit, expanding one book into three films, he’s responsible with, in my opinion, creating some of the best films ever. That initial trilogy has been a tradition for me each year, watching each extended edition in one sitting annually. The Hobbit films, while poorly received in comparison, I can find some enjoyment in too, largely put down to the Odyssey-like storytelling and a charismatic cast. So when I heard a Peter Jackson-produced anim(e)ated Lord of the Rings film was in the works at Warner Bros., it immediately skyrocketed to the top of my anticipation list.

Now that the film is here, it’s easy to see that my initial expectations had not been met, but my adjusted expectations, a product of lack of hype and lack of marketing, definitely were. Kenji Kamiyama, the directorial mind behind several popular series’ like Blade Runner: Black Lotus, and Ghost in the Shell, served as director here and brought a new style to Middle Earth, the world in which the films take place. The decision for this project to be animated did turn out to be a poor one but not for a lack of effort on Kamiyama’s part. The animation is both too detailed and not detailed enough, where the backgrounds almost feel life-like and the character models are by comparison bare. It’s this combination that ruins a lot of the immersion in the film, and it looks pretty good when you calculate the individual factors themselves, but those two factors don’t make a good whole. This combined with the animation lacking a sense of massive scale, which is one of the best aspects of the original films, makes me think that this story shouldn’t have been tackled in animated form.

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🎬 Read Zanda's Letterboxd entry here!

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Review by Ansh Dubey (@anshweyy)

From a childhood dream to a ion project 10 years in the making, Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu has finally graced us. He has come and we have succumbed. Though I won’t dub it the definitive version of the classic story, it’s certainly a very welcome retelling.

Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu is a remake of the 1922 film of the same name directed by F.W. Murnau. Murnau’s film was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula, and has since been considered a masterpiece, the father of vampire films, and a staple of the horror genre.

Nosferatu (2024) is the story of newlyweds Thomas (Nicholas Hoult) and Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp). Thomas is a real estate agent tasked with traveling to Transylvania to broker a property deal with the mysterious Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård). After a strange and surreal journey, Thomas arrives at Count Orlok’s castle and is greeted with a nightmare he never expected, while Ellen faces her own back home in Wisborg.

Eggers is a master at creating his overbearing, bordering on claustrophobically dark environments and atmosphere, and as such, Nosferatu (2024) is no different. From the get go, we are thrown into a nightmare and at daybreak there is still no respite. Contrary to the original 1922 film, there’s no lighthearted atmosphere to turn sour and ominous. The world is dark and brooding and eternally overcast. Eggers’ film wears the original and its other iterations on its sleeve, and it is not trying to reinvent the wheel. Nosferatu (2024), for better or for worse, is not a fresh, new take on the story. It is not a reimagining or a reinterpretation, it is a fairly standard remake. Instead, it mostly sets itself apart from other iterations with its unique tone and minor, but significant additions and changes. Eggers did not set out to replace the original, and his film, in no way, does. His remake comes entirely from a place of respect and adoration for the original.

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Review by Bhargav Chandramouli (@bhargav300)

The 15th Doctor is back for the annual Doctor Who Christmas special, “Joy to the World”! Nicola Coughlan guest stars as Joy.

It’s that time of year again! Yup, another warm and cozy Doctor Who Christmas Special to watch as your kids play with their presents and your parents ire the ‘#1 Parent’ mugs they got.

The last time we saw The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), he had dropped off his Series 14 companion, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson), back to meet her biological mum. As a result, Ncuti Gatwa gives a stellar performance to The Doctor in this episode, bringing a lot more weight to how his version of The Doctor grapples with loneliness.

Notably, this special was written by Steven Moffat; Executive Showrunner of Series 5-10 and who most recently wrote the third episode of Series 14, “Boom”. In my opinion, Moffat handled the structure of a time-loop episode with enough care so that it didn’t feel repetitive from his own episodes (Series 9’s “Heaven Sent”) or even from the previous season (“73 Yards”).

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Welcome to the new season with some bright, beautiful movies.

Read our full list here: featurefirst.net/10-movies-to-watch-this-spring/

• The Young Girls of Rochefort
• Le Bonheur
• Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
• Sleeping Beauty
• The Heiress
• Saved!
• Atonement
• Sabrina
• A Tale of Springtime
• Midsommar

Here is a list of eight movies directed by women about women to watch on International Women’s Day.

Read the full article here: featurefirst.net/movies-to-watch-on-international-womens-day/

• Dance, Girl, Dance
• Mamma Mia!
• Marie Antoinette
• Cléo from 5 to 7
• Daisies
• Revenge
• A New Leaf
• The Watermelon Woman

As February rears its beautiful head, it’s time to get in the romantic mood as it may be the shortest month, but it merits some of the best movies to watch. Time to snuggle up with the person you love, or your best friends, and watch a film that gives you butterflies.

Read the full article here: featurefirst.net/10-underrated-romance-movies-to-watch-this-valentines-day/

• If Beale Street Could Talk
• Design for Living
• In the Mood for Love
• Emma.
• Four Weddings and a Funeral
• The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love
• How to Steal a Million
• Bones and All
• Punch-Drunk Love
• Set It Up

September is always a slow month for movies, whilst this year’s isn’t much different, there are a few heavy hitters that stand out as worthy to see and add to your watchlist. Whether you’re eager to get to the cinema as often as possible or enjoy a motion picture on a rare occasion, we have compiled a list of the most unmissable movies this month so that your viewing decisions can be made easier.

Read the full article here: featurefirst.net/september-2024-cinema-preview/

• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
• The Killer's Game
• Speak No Evil
• Lee
• Transformers One
• Never Let Go
• The Wild Robot
• Megalopolis

With the release of Tim Burton’s latest film, in a career spanning over 45 years, we thought it was only right to rank every movie Tim Burton has ever directed!

Read the full ranking list in detail here: featurefirst.net/every-tim-burton-film-ranked-from-pee-wees-big-adventure-to-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/

1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
2. Edward Scissorhands
3. Ed Wood
4. Sleepy Hollow
5. Corpse Bride
6. Beetlejuice
7. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
8. Big Fish
9. Dark Shadows
10. Batman Returns

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

One of the most unique and gritty comic-book franchises has just released its fifth movie, so us as we rank all five The Crow movies.

Read the full ranking list in detail here: featurefirst.net/all-five-the-crow-movies-ranked/

1. The Crow
2. The Crow
3. The Crow: Salvation
4. The Crow: City of Angels
5. The Crow: Wicked Prayer

With the release of the ninth Alien film imminent, we thought it appropriate to rank all nine Alien films. From Prometheus to Alien(3), the franchise is a diverse one ranging from masterpieces to catastrophes. us as we rank the Alien franchise.

Read the full list in detail here: featurefirst.net/all-nine-alien-films-ranked/

1. Alien
2. Alien: Romulus
3. Aliens
4. Prometheus
5. AVP: Alien vs. Predator
6. Alien Resurrection
7. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem
8. Alien: Covenant
9. Alien³

With the release of Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine, the Fox X-Men films are finally relevant once again! So, it is time we rank all 15 instalments in the franchise!

Full article now live on Feature First: featurefirst.net/all-15-fox-x-men-movies-ranked/

1. Logan
2. X-Men: Days of Future Past
3. X-Men: First Class
4. X2
5. The Wolverine
6. X-Men
7. Once Upon a Deadpool
8. Deadpool 2
9. Deadpool
10. Deadpool & Wolverine

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

As we the halfway point of 2024, many great movies have been released. We polled our staff here at Feature First on what the best films were, find out our findings below.

Full article now live on Feature First: featurefirst.net/the-best-2024-films-so-far/

1. Dune: Part Two

   Dune: Part Two stars Timothee Chalamet, Austin Butler, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson and Javier Bardem. The film received a 9.36 weighted average based on the reviews of eleven staff .

2. Challengers

   Challengers stars Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O’Connor. The film received a 9 weighted average based on the reviews of nine staff .

3. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

   Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlee Fraser, Alyla Browne and Chris Hemsworth. The film received an 8.75 weighted average based on the reviews of eight staff .

4. I Saw the TV Glow

   I Saw the TV Glow is written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun, and stars Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Danielle Deadwyler, and Fred Durst. The film received a 7.86 weighted average based on the reviews of seven staff .

5. Love Lies Bleeding

   Love Lies Bleeding stars Kristen Stewart, Katy O’Brian, and Ed Harris. The film received a 7.83 weighted average based on the reviews of six staff .

6. Hit Man

   Hit Man stars Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, and Austin Amelio. The film received a 7.71 weighted average based on the reviews of seven staff .

7. Monkey Man

   Monkey Man stars Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher, and Sobhita Dhulipala. The film received a 7.67 weighted average based on the reviews of nine staff .

8. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

   Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes stars Owen Teague, Freya Allen, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, and William H. Macy. The film received a 7.5 weighted average based on the reviews of eight staff .

9. Inside Out 2

   Inside Out 2 stars Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Kensington Tallman, Ayo Edebiri, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Paul Walter Ha, and Yvette Nicole Brown. The film received a 7.5 weighted average based on the reviews of six staff .

10. Civil War

    Civil War stars Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny and Jesse Plemons. The film received a 7.25 weighted average based on the reviews of eight staff .

Read the full list in detail here: featurefirst.net/all-30-films-featured-in-ariana-grande-s-discography/

• Batman Returns

  “the boy is mine” eternal sunshine (2024)

• Once Bitten

  “the boy is mine” eternal sunshine (2024)

• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

  “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” eternal sunshine (2024)

  “eternal sunshine” Ariana Grande (2024)

• Sixteen Candles

  “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” eternal sunshine (2024)

• Don't Look Up

  “Just Look Up” (with Kid Cudi) Don’t Look Up (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film) (2021)

• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

  “34+35″ Positions (2020)

  “Boyfriend” (with Social House) Boyfriend – Single (2019)

  “Break Free” (feat. Zedd) My Everything (2014)

• Metropolis

  “34+35″ Positions (2020)

• Charlie's Angels

  “Don’t Call Me Angel” (with Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Ray) Charlie’s Angels (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2019)

  “Bad To You” (feat. Normani, Nicki Minaj) Charlie’s Angels (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2019)

  “Nobody” (feat. Chaka Khan) Charlie’s Angels (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2019)

  “How I Look On You” Charlie’s Angels (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2019)

  “Got Her Own” (with Victoria Monet) Charlie’s Angels (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2019)

• Dumb and Dumber

  “Boyfriend” (with Social House) Boyfriend – Single (2019)

• The Nutty Professor

  “Monopoly” (feat. Victoria Monét) Monopoly – Single (2019)

...plus 20 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Read our full list in detail here: featurefirst.net/8-films-to-watch-on-fathers-day/

• Nebraska
• Somewhere
• C'mon C'mon
• Kramer vs. Kramer
• Paper Moon
• Beautiful Boy
• October Sky
• A Bronx Tale

Read our full list in detail here: featurefirst.net/top-10-must-watch-queer-films-for-pride-month/

1. Paris Is Burning
2. Shiva Baby
3. I Saw the TV Glow
4. Other People
5. Eileen
6. Happy Together
7. Desert Hearts
8. Funeral Parade of Roses
9. The Talented Mr. Ripley
10. D.E.B.S.

Read our full ranking article in detail here: featurefirst.net/all-10-planet-of-the-apes-films-ranked/

1. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
3. War for the Planet of the Apes
4. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
5. Planet of the Apes
6. Planet of the Apes
7. Beneath the Planet of the Apes
8. Escape from the Planet of the Apes
9. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
10. Battle for the Planet of the Apes

• Alvin and the Chipmunks

  Perhaps one of the most underrated Christmas movies because people forget that it is one. It’s got great humor, culturally impactful characters and songs, and it gets you in the spirit of the season.

• The Holdovers

  By far the newest film on this list, and probably the most emotionally endearing!, The Holdovers is as cosy as you can get without ing for nostalgia. It follows several hardened people becoming weaker around each other during the Holiday season and eventually bonding, this one is for sure good to spread the Christmas spirit!

• Elf

  Considered by most as a modern day Christmas classic, this heartwarming film from Iron Man director, Jon Favreau, will have you cackling at every turn. This is perhaps the role that propelled Will Ferrell from an SNL comic to something much much bigger.

• The Santa Clause

  Definitely one of the more appreciated films on this list, The Santa Clause is perfect for a family audience. With plenty of adult humor but also accessible to children, the question is.. Who cant enjoy this one?

  This film belongs to a trilogy of films which all cant be recommended enough and it currently is being continued as The Santa Clauses on Disney+ which is now in its second season.

• The Nightmare Before Christmas

  Now here is a controversial one... is it a Halloween film or a Christmas film? Nobody seems to have a definitive answer, but what we will say is that its the perfect transitioning film from the end of the spooky season to the beginning of the festive one.

  Tim Burton's classic story has left millions inspired ever since it first graced the screens 30 years ago. With plenty of amazing animation and good songs to sing a long to, this one is definitely for the family.

• The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

  Takes a beloved franchise already invigorated with heart and manages to make it even more cosier and heartwarming than usual. It can be enjoyed all times of the year and on its own so its not only a fantastic Christmas special, but also a fantastic special on its own.

• Jingle All the Way

  One of Schwarzenegger's most accessible roles for children he gets to be both an action hero and a family man here! If you like stories about fathers going above and away for their kids then this one is for you!

• The Polar Express
• Krampus
• Die Hard

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

All films (and shows that are on Letterboxd) that are part of James Gunn's and Peter Safran's DCU. Will be eventually ranked upon release. Films that were canon to DCEU that may have been brought over will later be added once confirmed.

Current Project Count: 15

DCEU Projects that are canon in some form to the DCU:
The Suicide Squad (2021)
Peacemaker Season 1 (2022)
Blue Beetle (2023)

DCU Projects that are not on Letterboxd:
Peacemaker (2022-) - (Serializd)
Lanterns - (Serializd)
Booster Gold - (Serializd)
Waller - (Serializd)
Paradise Lost - (Serializd)
Creature Commandos - (Serializd)
Matt Reeves' Untitled Arkham Asylum Series - (Serializd)

• The Suicide Squad

  Unknown level of canonicity, Viola Davis is reprising her role as Amanda Waller in the DCU, John Cena is reprising his role as Peacemaker, Sean Gunn is reprising his role as Weasel, Steve Agee is reprising his role as John Economos.

• Blue Beetle

  Unknown level of canonicity, Xolo Mariduena's Jaime Reyes is confirmed to be in the DCU.

• Superman
• The Brave and the Bold
• Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
• Swamp Thing
• Teen Titans

All films (and shows that are on Letterboxd) that are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Current Project Count: 70

MCU Projects that are not on Letterboxd:
Daredevil (2015- 2018) - (Serializd)
Jessica Jones (2015- 2019) - (Serializd)
Luke Cage (2016- 2018) - (Serializd)
Iron First (2017- 2018) - (Serializd)
What If...? (2021-) - (Serializd)
X-Men '97 (2024-) - (Serializd)
Agatha: Darkhold Diaries (2024-) - (Serializd)
Ironheart - (Serializd)
Daredevil: Born Again - (Serializd)
Wonder-Man - (Serializd)
Vision Quest - (Serializd)
Eyes of Wakanda - (Serializd)
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man - (Serializd)

• Iron Man
• The Incredible Hulk
• Iron Man 2
• Thor
• Captain America: The First Avenger
• The Avengers
• Iron Man 3
• Thor: The Dark World
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Guardians of the Galaxy

...plus 45 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Planes, Trains and Automobiles

  Planes, Trains and Automobiles is the perfect feel good comedy to start your day or to kick back and relax to. With a strong back bone in the form of Steve Martin and an absolutely hilarious performance from John Candy, this one is for the whole family!

• Free Birds

  Certainly no masterpiece but just with the right level of irony, this film can just be the pinnacle of cinema. Featuring an all star cast and some solid animation, it can be a fun time!

• A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

  Marking its 50th anniversary be sure to give this classic animated special a view. Quick and to the point, this one is perfect for those low on time.

• Thanksgiving

  The newest film in this guide is for those who hunger less for cranberry sauce and more for blood! Eli Roth brings his A-game here and provides an extremely fun film using the holiday as a backbone.

• Black Friday

  To end our guide off with something that ends off all Thanksgiving's, Casey Tebo's Black Friday. With an incredibly fun cast and a solid premise, this one is for sure going to appease those with more of a sci-fi taste!