After his 2022 semi-autobiographical film, Armageddon Time, James Gray returns with another period drama that draws from his lived experience. The film, which was selected as the Opening Night title for this year's New York Film Festival, is Paper Tiger, a crime thriller set in New York during the 1980s starring Adam Driver, Miles Teller, and Scarlett Johansson. After its world premiere at Cannes earlier this year, reception was mostly positive, with some critics hailing it as a new crime classic and others underwhelmed that it did not reach the heights of Gray's previous works like…

True crime reality programming has been appointment television for decades, with one of the most recognizable shows of this type being "To Catch a Predator." That show turned the act of watching pedophiles get caught and arrested into a piece of entertainment. Much of that popularity is attributed to the provocative interviews conducted by Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC. His recognizable voice, his nice suits, the calm candor with which he spoke to these adults trying to understand their intentions with minors.

It is September, which means that the fall film festivals have begun. Just two days ago, the Venice Film Festival began, and tonight we have the start of the Telluride Film Festival, which revealed its lineup yesterday. Like last year, here are my top 25 most anticipated films that will be screening at Venice, Telluride, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival.

Four years ago, Warner Brothers started their cancellation spree, shelving feature films for a tax write-off. The first notable projects to be deleted from history were Scoob! Holiday Haunt, a prequel to the 2020 animated Scooby-Doo film, and a Batgirl movie starring In the Heights’ Leslie Grace and directed by the duo behind the two recent Bad Boys…

After its world premiere at South by Southwest and a subsequent festival run, Alexander Ullom’s directorial debut, It Ends, was selected as one of the first unreleased films to be included in Letterboxd’s Video Store program back when it launched in December. The film quickly gained popularity among Letterboxd users, which resulted in NEON acquiring the theatrical distribution rights. If you are anything like me and you feel like your life is drifting past you aimlessly, hoping that any of your pursuits of change will lead to a positive path forward, only to find yourself stuck in the same routine, then you're in for a ride.

Last year, I wrote a lengthy review for Jurassic World: Rebirth. Really, that was more of a rant about my disdain for the franchise at large and how its latest entry was emblematic of all my criticisms. The reason why that review was so extensive is because of my passionate love for the original Jurassic Park. I am not naïve enough to expect that level of brilliance from the sequels, especially as their quality was in a steep decline.

Matt Johnson is quickly rising up the ranks of the most exciting filmmakers working today. He already directed my favorite film of the year so far with Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, and is the mind behind excellent films like The Dirties, Operation Avalanche, and BlackBerry. That last title in particular has been my go-to example in recent years of how to make a movie based on a true story about a business.

Five years ago, Spider-Man: No Way Home brought together the three live-action Spider-Men on a multiverse adventure that broke box office records. More importantly, it was one of the rare examples of a blockbuster revolving its story around nostalgic fan service and paying off in a big, satisfying way. So where does Marvel Studios go next with the character? With…

In the midst of a growing sentiment among young movie-goers that sex scenes and nudity in movies are unnecessary, Gregg Araki gives us his gleefull rebuttal. The man behind the excellent, sexually explicit Teenage Apocalypse trilogy (Totally F***ed Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere) returns to cinema with the hilarious, playful I Want Your Sex, which I saw at this year's Philadelphia Film Society SpringFest.

Everyone knows at this point to expect something major when Christopher Nolan releases a new movie. Whether it be his early triumphs like Memento and The Prestige, his sci-fi blockbusters like Inception and Interstellar, or his larger-than-life dramas like Dunkirk and Oppenheimer, he has earned his reputation as one of the most highly regarded filmmakers working today. Ever since he started working on the wildly popular…

Olivia Wilde's third directorial feature, The Invite, premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival to instant raves. The acclaim has been riding sky high as the movie has played across the country in the succeeding months. Wilde has even toured a 35mm film print in several major cities to packed crowds. With that level of hype and building awards buzz, how does one manage their expectations?

Deadites, get ready for another dose of bloody mayhem. Evil Dead is in an exciting phase where different horror filmmakers put their own spin on Sam Raimi's iconic series. New stories, new characters, new ways to gleefully dismember them. The last two entries were a deliciously violent reboot of the original film in 2013 from Fede Álvarez and then Lee Cronin's chaotic, if underwhelming…

We have reached the halfway point of 2026. I have watched so many great movies so far that I wanted to take the time to recap my top 10 favorites that have released in the first half of the year. On that note, there are a handful of films that I have watched that have not released yet, so I will not be including those on this list even though they would have all cracked the top 10.

Before I begin my piece on Hamilton House, I must mention a key point of context. Jordan Rowe, the film's director, writer, producer, editor, and composer, is a friend of mine. I've known Jordan for more than a decade. No matter what my opinion is on his first feature film, my perspective is undeniably skewed through the lens of someone who is rooting for his success.

After last year's Superman, I was optimistic for the future of the new DC Studios. James Gunn's film not only stood on its own as a fantastic Superman story, but also laid down a strong foundation for more characters to come. When we were introduced to Milly Alcock's Supergirl in the final scene of that movie, I was excited to see more of her in her own movie.

The term “elevated horror” has always rubbed me the wrong way, but the reasons behind that frustration have evolved over time. In the early days of that phrase making its way into film discourse, it felt like an excuse by non-horror fans to justify their appreciation for a specific horror film by painting it as something above the genre rather than embracing strong execution of its greatest traits.

With the Cannes Film Festival coming to a close and the summer movie season in full swing, it is time for my annual predictions for what films might play at the upcoming fall film festivals! As I have done in the past, I will run down a list of 50 titles that I suspect may appear in at least one of the major fall film festival lineups, those being the Venice Film Festival, the Telluride Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival.

My earliest memory as a child in the 1990s was sitting in front of the television, where I saw Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Mr. Potato Head, Rex, and a bunch of lovable toys come to life when their owner, Andy, wasn’t around in Toy Story. The first time I ever sat in a movie theater, I saw Woody discover where he came from and meet Jessie, Bullseye, and Stinky Pete in…

Full disclosure: my history with Steven Spielberg's films is quite complicated. Obviously, he is responsible for many of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time, whether it be Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, or any number of his early masterpieces. However, I have found myself mostly underwhelmed with a number of his works in the 21st century.

When attending the Toronto International Film Festival last year, Daniel Roher’s narrative feature debut, Tuner, was one of the notable titles that I missed. I recall buzz being strong among my friends and colleagues that saw the film there and various other festivals such as Telluride and Sundance. So when scanning the Philadelphia Film Society SpringFest lineup, I immediately circled the screening of…

7 years after the Skywalker Saga ended with a deafening thud, and numerous shows released on Disney+ in the interim, Star Wars has finally made its return to theaters. What direction has LucasFilm decided to go with a galaxy far, far away? They decided to take The Mandalorian, their most popular Disney+ series, and turn the next chapter in that story into a summer blockbuster.

Within the past few years, there has been a fascinating rise of YouTube personalities directing movies. This is not a particularly new trend. After all, we did have talent like Bo Burnham, David F. Sandberg, and Dan Trachtenberg all started their careers on YouTube. But this career trajectory has been more noticeable in the post-pandemic era, especially in the horror genre.

The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival has officially begun! This year promises to be a stacked lineup full of highly anticipated titles, and the day one lineup that I had live…

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Darren Aronofsky is best known for directing deeply uncomfortable, often depressing, always maximalist films like Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, Black Swan, mother!, and The Whale. His style of…

Fall film festival season has arrived! The Venice Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival begin this week, with the Toronto International Film Festival starting next week and the New York Fil…

If you have been following the global theatrical box office this year, you might have already heard about the Chinese animated blockbuster Ne Zha 2. The film has earned an astonishing $2.2 billion …

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Spike Lee and Denzel Washington are one of cinema’s most electric director/actor pairings. The duo have worked together on Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, He Got Game, and Inside Man, the …

Fixed is a tale, or should I say "tail," of two movies. One is an R-rated animated dog comedy that leans too hard on its raunchy gross-out humor that comes off as reheated rejects from the much funnie...

The night before the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival began, I attended a screening of Zach Cregger’s Barbarian hosted by the programmer of the festival’s Midnight Madness secti…

The night before the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival began, I attended a screening of Zach Cregger’s Barbarian hosted by the programmer of the festival’s Midnight Madness secti…

Holy crap, The Bad Guys 2 rocks?!? I like the first one well enough, even though I don't consider it to be a top tier DreamWorks animated film. But this? What a blast! Amps up all the stylish creativi...

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Together underwhelmed me, sad to say. On paper, it features some interesting ideas about relationships, codependency, and the all-consuming nature that comes with "your better half," but it gets bogge...

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To quote another comedian Bo Burnham, Akiva Schaffer is “healing the world with comedy.” He is famous for the iconic music from The Lonely Island alongside Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccon…

The road to getting a good adaptation of the Fantastic Four has been cruel. We have gotten three attempts at bringing Marvel’s first family to the big screen (four if you count the unreleased…

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Ari Aster is an undeniably ambitious talent. Ever since he burst onto the scene in 2018 with Hereditary, he has taken advantage of his immediate good graces with hardcore film fans, particularly ho…

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Every attempt at a Superman movie since Richard Donner’s 1978 classic with Christopher Reeve has been a rocky one. Even its three sequels, one with a director’s cut, never quite lived u…