Movie Reviews

  In 1972, filmmaker William Greaves gathered some of the key artists, musicians, librarians, poets, journalists, actors, photographers, teachers, and critics of the Harlem Renaissance at Duke Ellington’s home for a party, which he filmed. The footage turned into Once Upon a Time in Harlem, one of the best documentaries of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and probably the year. Watching Once Upon a Time in Harlem is like being a plus-one at a party full…

  I Want Your Sex opens with a scene reminiscent of the classic noir Sunset Boulevard. We are introduced to Elliot (Cooper Hoffman) stumbling out of a luxurious mansion in lingerie with blood on his face. He sees the lifeless body of Erika (Olivia Wilde) floating in a pool and jumps in to try to save her. Elliot is arrested and questioned by the cops (Johnny Knoxville and Margaret Cho) and explains the story of…

As of writing this review, it is the end of January. 2026 is still fresh, and we have a whole year of new and exciting movies still to come out. However, I firmly believe that there will not be a more important movie in 2026 than Poh Si Teng’s American Doctor. This shocking, masterfully made documentary drops us right in the middle of the Palestinian-Israeli war and shows us the horrors of what is going…

  Petra Biondian Volpe’s Frank & Louis is one of the most disappointing movies I’ve seen at the Sundance Film Festival because of its unoriginality. The film takes place in a prison and follows Frank (Kingsley Ben-Adir), a man in jail for life for a murder her committed when he was younger. He gets a job caring for aging inmates with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Frank is tasked with looking after Louis (Rob Morgan), who used…

  The Huntress is a brutal and surprisingly inspirational tale about standing up to injustice when all hope seems lost. Writer/director Suzanne Andrews Correa takes us deep into the darkness of Juarez, Mexico to show us how one woman took a stand against violence in her community. Set over the course of a stressful day, The Huntress opens with a woman shooting a bus driver in cold blood in front of several people. This woman…

  Fair warning before diving into this review: as long as it was competently made, I was going to like The Disciple, Joana Natasegara’s documentary about the rap group Wu-Tang Clan and their mysterious and infamous 2015 album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin. I love the Wu-Tang Clan. Their debut album, Enter the 36 Chambers, is one of my favorite albums ever, and any time I get to learn more about the group that…

  I was not as over-the-moon for Danny Boyle’s 2025 28 Years Later as other critics, but there were elements that I did like. I liked Ralph Fiennes as a quietly deranged doctor who has built a shrine of bones to those who have perished in this apocalyptic zombie hellscape. I liked the idea of a seemingly indestructible zombie named Samson who terrified zombies as much as humans. I like the film’s grim tone, bold…

  Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On? is a more fascinating movie in Cooper’s filmography than it is a good movie. That isn’t to say the film is bad; it’s actually quite good. But the scale of the film, its subject, and how it is filmed compared to Cooper’s first two films is more interesting to think about. Is This Thing On? is a midlife crisis dramedy. The film opens with Alex Novak (Will Arnett)…

  Marty Supreme follows Marty Mauser, played by Timothée Chalamet, in an undeniably great performance, a young man who thinks he is something that he is not. Set in 1950s New York, Marty Mauser has dreams of becoming a world-famous ping pong champion. The sport is still on the rise, and nobody takes his dream seriously. Marty will literally do anything to get to the top and see his face on the front of a…

  Before my screening of New Group, director Yûta Shimotsu introduced the film and heavily emphasized that the movie was “weird.” Coming from the director himself, I knew we were in for something unique, and New Group did not disappoint. It is a bizarre, hilarious, and at times terrifying film with a strong social message. New Group takes place at a prestigious high school in Japan. Ai (Actress) is a typical student who is easily…