Shoplifters (2018) Review: A Family Made From Stolen Time
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters finds beauty, love, and lasting memories inside a makeshift family whose reckless and sometimes criminal life together was always destined to end.
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Black Box (2026) Review: Aliens on a Plane Can’t Escape the Formula
Black Box has a convincing airplane set and one energetic alien attack, but its stock passengers, awkward writing, inconsistent creature rules, and overreaching effects leave the high-concept premise grounded.
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Hysteria (2025) Review: Representation, Suspense, and Self-Interest
Hysteria is at its best when everyone has a defensible version of the truth and a selfish reason for insisting
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Shutter Island Ending Explained: Guilt, Self-Deception, and the Choice to Forget
This essay contains major spoilers for Shutter Island (2010). I remember the first time I saw Shutter Island vividly. My
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Opus (2025) Review: Celebrity Worship as Religion
Opus works best before it explains anything. For much of writer-director Mark Anthony Green’s feature debut, the film traps its
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Never Let Go (2024): When Abuse Becomes a Monster
There is a compelling idea at the center of Alexandre Aja’s Never Let Go (2024): abuse reproduces itself. Trauma doesn’t remain sealed
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Donnie Darko: Does Sacrifice Mean Anything Without Free Will?
Donnie Darko (2001) ends by killing the young man it has spent most of its running time keeping alive. A jet
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Blink Twice (2024), When Power Depends on Forgetting
This review contains major spoilers. Blink Twice (2024) is one of those films where I could feel the director enjoying how
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Review: Talk to Me (2022), When Grief Becomes an Addiction
Talk to Me (2022) understands that the most dangerous supernatural object isn’t necessarily one that forces itself on people. Sometimes it’s
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Faith, Control, and the Illusion of Choice in Heretic (2024)
This essay contains major spoilers. Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ Heretic (2024) begins as a theological debate before gradually revealing that no
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Review: Bugonia (2025), A Disappointing Misadventure From Lanthimos
This review contains major spoilers. You’ve been warned! If you’d like to see the film for yourself, you can stream
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Review: The Substance (2024), Bubblegum Body Horror for the GLP-1 Era
Yes, I realize I’m late to the party. For quite a while, I actively declined to watch The Substance (2024). The
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Review: The Werewolf of Washington (1973), A Political Satire Without a Point
Political satire does not have to be subtle. Dr. Strangelove (1964) doesn’t pull any punches about its stance on militarism and the men
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Review: Harold and Maude (1971)
Initial reactions Harold and Maude (1971) upon its release were mixed, and it’s not hard to understand why. Harold (Bud
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Review: 28 Years Later (2025), Danny Boyle’s Best Work in Years
As someone who thinks Trainspotting (1996) is one of the greatest films, if not the greatest film of all time,
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Criminally Insane (1975), Crazy Fat Ethel Lives Up to Her Name
I’ve been on a penchant of late. Starting with John Waters’ early work (and unfortunately, A Dirty Shame), my wife
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M. Butterfly (1993), A Timid Adaptation That Flattens the Real Story
I’m not sure how I came across the true love affair between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and Chinese opera singer
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