Where'd You Go, Bernadette: AKA How Bernadette Got Her Groove Back
Richard Linklater returns with the bubblegum comedy Where’d You Go, Bernadette. The film marks Linklater’s fifth adaptation and his first collaboration with actress Cate Blanchett. Though it falls in the lower tier of Linklater’s body of work, it’s still the kind of singular effort you’d expect from a filmmaker of his caliber.
Read MoreLong Gone By: An Emotionally Resonate Thriller
We’ve got the early insight into writer/director Andrew Morgan’s feature debut, Long Gone By, which is set to premiere at HBO's New York Latino Film Festival on August 17, 2019 (more info here). Understated and emotionally raw, Long Gone By is an intimately unnerving portrait of a woman willing to sacrifice everything to give her daughter the chance at a life she never had.
Read MoreOnce Upon A Time ... In Hollywood: A Tarantino Love Letter To Cinema, Moviemaking, And The End Of An Era
Writer/director Quentin Tarantino is back to take us on a blast to the past with his 9th feature, Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood. This slow-burning buddy hangout finally unites Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, and gives us another slice of revisionist history in that particular Tarantino way. Get strapped in, its wild antics are sure to take you for one helluva swinging ride.
Read MoreThe Farewell: A Modest And Poignant Family Drama
Writer/director Lulu Wang’s second full-length feature, The Farewell, a modestly complex family drama, is nothing short of an indie breakthrough. Backed by the consistently great A24, the story is one that’s close to the chest for Wang, and while its story is culturally specific, the universality of its themes give it a relatable appeal that transcends cultural background and geographical borders.
Read MoreCrawl: A Surprising Chomp
Director Alexandre Aja seeks to bring a bit of French Extremism to the disaster thriller with Crawl. Though its premise isn’t anything new, its taut execution and solid central performances more than make up for the screenplay’s dull teeth. You may just be tickled pink by this surprising chomp!
Read MoreThe Art Of Self-Defense: A Refreshing Karate Chop To The Funny Bone
Writer/director Riley Stearns’ latest effort is just as surprising and refreshingly offbeat as his cult-centric debut, Faults. Audacious and kooky, The Art of Self-Defense is a wholly original dark comedy with something more to say. This one is sure to deliver a karate chop straight to your funny bone.
Read MoreMidsommar: An Unsettling, Sun Soaked Breakup Fairytale
Writer/director Ari Aster’s much anticipated follow up to last year’s phenomenally disturbed Hereditary is finally upon us. Midsommar, somewhat of a spiritual cousin to Hereditary, finds Aster probing deeper into the themes of loss, grief, and codependency, dragging the horror into the sunlight and letting the festivities run red with blood in this delightfully twisted adult fairytale.
Read MoreAnima: A Beautifully Choreographed Dystopian Nightmare
Acclaimed director Paul Thomas Anderson teams up with music icon Thom Yorke to create an audiovisual feast with his “one-reeler,” Anima. Commissioned by Yorke in support of his new solo album of the same name and distributed by Netflix, the film is a blissfully haunting marvel that packs a lot of juicy images and an array of feeling into its 15-minute runtime.
Read MoreLate Night: An HR-Appropriate Workplace Comedy
From the mind of Mindy Kaling comes Late Night, an HR-appropriate workplace comedy about a falling star’s fight to maintain relevance. While the film confidently takes on a variety of issues with charming gusto, it ultimately bites off a bit more than it can fully chew and is safe to a fault.
Read MoreThe Last Black Man in San Francisco: A Bittersweet Love Letter To A City
Childhood friends Joe Talbot and Jimmie Fails’ debut feature, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, made massive waves at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it won awards for Best Directing and a Special Jury Prize for Creative Collaboration. Based in part on Fails’ own life (he co-wrote the script with Talbot, who produced and directed), the film is a poignant and personal love letter to a city that’s up against a considerable amount of change. Ripe with poetic lyricism, it’s as visually appealing as it is emotionally resonate.
Read MoreChild's Play (2019): Chucky Takes On Technology
Director Lars Klevberg takes the Child's Play franchise into the modern era with his debut, a reimagining of the original horror classic penned by first-time screenwriter Tyler Burton Smith. There’s some welcome changes, like Mark Hamill voicing Chucky, and there’s some fun sequences, but ultimately, this soft reboot fails to reach the heights of its updated premise’s potential.
Read MoreThe Dead Don't Die: A Deadpan Satire On The Over Saturation Of The Undead
Writer/director Jim Jarmusch has taken on the western (Dead Man), the samurai film (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai), the assassin film (The Limits of Control), the vampire film (Only Lovers Left Alive), and now sets his sights on the zombie genre with his latest, The Dead Don’t Die. With a phenomenal cast and self-aware wit, Jarmusch delivers a slow-burning satire that seeks to gnash its teeth into the innards of zombie over saturation.
Read MoreUnder The Silver Lake: Looney Noir
After several delays, David Robert Mitchell’s Under the Silver Lake quietly snuck out on Video on Demand. It’s a surprising move from A24, who seemed to have no faith in this quirky neo-noir mystery that is equal parts Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, and Thomas Pynchon. With an ambitiously wild premise full of twists and turns, the film is about one man’s quest to find meaning in a confusing world, and its two and a half hour journey will either wow you or lull you to sleep.
Read MoreGodzilla: King Of Monsters — More Monsters, Worse Characters
Trick ‘r Treat and Krampus writer/director Michael Dougherty follows up Gareth Edwards’ 2014 film with the highly anticipated Godzilla: King of Monsters. The film promises spectacular kaiju action and loads of carnage, but are dazzling special effects any match for a compelling story?
Read MoreMa: One Messy Party
Director Tate Taylor, most well known for The Help, takes a stab at the horror genre and brings long-time collaborator and acting powerhouse Octavia Spencer along or the ride in a prominent role — something that shouldn’t be as rare as it actually is. Ma certainly aspires to bring the ruckus to the party, managing to be a pretty good time on that front, but it also winds up too sloppy drunk, completely losing sight of what it’s trying to say.
Read MoreBooksmart: A Gut-Bursting Good Time
Olivia Wilde is making waves with her directorial debut, Booksmart, and for good reason, too: it’s an absolute blast! Filled with lovable characters, wild antics, and heart, Booksmart is the female driven comedy we’ve all been waiting for.
Read MoreLong Shot: A Nice Blend Of Political Satire & Raunchy Humor
50/50 and Warm Bodies director Jonathan Levine seeks to meld raunchy humor and political satire with the rom-com in Long Shot. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and it’s not going to save the genre, but it does provide a surprising dose of energetic and infectious fun that has kept moviegoers returning to the romantic comedy time and time again.
Read MoreThe Hustle: A Shameless Scam
The Hustle brings Dirty Rotten Scoundrels back to screen with a gender-swapping twist, trading Steve Martin for Rebel Wilson and Sir Michael Caine for Anne Hathaway. While the unlikely duo of Wilson and Hathaway work relatively well together, the film has little to offer outside of its feminine renovation.
Read MoreTolkien: A Basic Biopic With Little Magic
Finnish film director Dome Karukoski (considered to be one of Finland's most successful film directors) takes on the story of beloved author John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (J. R. R. Tolkien) in the biographical drama, Tolkien. The film captures the period milieu, but it lacks the emotional resonance and imagination necessary to do the subject matter justice.
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