Movie Reviews

  Due to director James Cameron’s obsession with creating new technology for underwater filmmaking, it took over a decade for him to make a sequel to his 2009 juggernaut, Avatar. Having that technology readily available, the time between the second Avatar film, Avatar: The Way of Water, and the third and newest Avatar film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, has been only three years. Avatar: The Way of Water was a perfect mix of sequel, reintroduction,…

  Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is a testament to Rian Johnson and his skills as a writer and director. It’s another thrilling and expertly crafted mystery from Johnson that, despite being the third entry in a franchise that’s only been around for six years, feels fresh and new. It marks the return of our charismatic and quirky detective Benoit Blanc while also delving into a darker world and asking bigger questions….

  There is a sort of “boomer” naivety to Ella McCay. Writer/director James L. Brooks’s newest film, his first since 2010’s How Do You Know, has a whimsical and idealistic point of view that could only exist in the mind of an older, wealthy person whose cinematic prime was in the 80s. It feels like Brooks has no idea what is going on in the world or in American politics. He has no idea how…

  Jay Kelly is one of the strangest movies I have seen in 2025, as I am unsure what I am supposed to take from it. Noah Baumbach’s newest film is a glossy and expensive Hollywood tale about a movie star coming to terms with his life. The film is part obituary, part vanity piece, part Oscar-bait, and part Baumbach film, and I’m not sure what to do with any of it. George Clooney plays…

    There is not a lot in common between Edgar Wright’s The Running Man and Paul Michael Glaser’s 1987 The Running Man. Glaser’s film, which starred Arnold Scharzenneger in the titular role of Ben Richards, is a loose adaptation of Stephen King’s 1982 novel and is a film more concerned about meeting the needs of what a Schwarzenegger film is than actually adapting King’s novel. Wright’s film, on the other hand, is a very…

  One of the most delightful cinematic experiences I have had in 2025 came from director Hikari’s Rental Family, a sweet, warm, lovely movie that features the best performance of Brendan Fraser’s career. Fraser plays Phillip Vandarpleog, an American actor working in Japan. Phillip primarily works on commercials and small parts in movies, struggling to find his place and purpose in Japan. As he waits to hear back from his agent about a big acting…

  Predator: Badlands is not your daddy’s Predator movie. Since John McTiernan’s 1987 masterpiece, we’ve come to know the Predator character as an intergalactic human-hunting extraterrestrial (or a xenomorph-hunting extraterrestrial on a couple of occasions). There has never been much of a backstory to the Predator and, until now, that’s been just fine. Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator: Badlands shows us the Predator in a new light. The movie is entirely focused on the Predator. It is…

Below are capsule reviews of two films from the International Competition category at the 2025 Chicago International Film Festival. Both films won prizes at this year’s festival.   Oliver Laxe’s Sirât is a movie that begins as one movie and then slowly becomes another one as it goes on, taking us on a twisted, pulsating journey through an endless desert. Sirât opens at a rave taking place in the middle of the desert and mountains…

Below are capsule reviews of two films from the Snapshot category at the 2025 Chicago International Film Festival. The Snapshot category aims to showcase diversity in contemporary cinema.   The first film I want to look at is Spilt Milk, a stirring family drama set in 1980s Ireland. The film follows Bobby O’Brien (Cillian Sullivan), an 11-year-old boy obsessed with TV detective Kojak. Bobby is always trying to solve small cases for his schoolmates when…

  The Voice of Hind Rajab undoubtedly tells an important story and is one that everyone should know about, especially those who do not know about what is and was going on in Gaza. However, how the story is told is very underwhelming, making this harrowing film far less interesting and affecting. The Voice of Hind Rajab is based on a true incident that happened in Palestine. It takes place inside a Red Crescent building…