Reviews

The official description for Netflix’s new documentary CHAOS: The Manson Murders invites viewers to “Explore a conspiracy of mind control, CIA experiments and murder.” The

Raquel “Raq” Thomas is not molded after your typical TV queenpin. She isn’t an unassuming victim who suddenly finds herself rising to power in a

So far in 2025, I’ve seen shows about doctors in urgent care, cannibals stranded in the woods, superheroes battling the forces of evil, vast governmental

Everything is not sunny in Philadelphia on the small screen this week. Both Apple TV+’s Dope Thief — review coming Thursday — and Peacock‘s Long

Persistence sure does pay off. Porky Pig and Daffy Duck have been gracing screens since 1935 and 1937, respectively, but it took until now for

For a while, Apple TV+‘s adaptation of Dennis Tafoya’s Dope Thief fits into one of my favorite subgenres of crime fiction: Longtime friends, bonded by

In his acidic 1931 satire, Black No More, the writer George Schuyler imagines a world where Black people can undergo an experimental surgery to become

It’s safe to say that films dealing with the Holocaust have a higher bar than most. The subject is so momentous that any efforts not

“I would describe my aesthetic as Old World trash and treasure,” says Margarita (Anna Baryshnikov), a few minutes into Idiotka. “She’s milking a cow at five,

Imagine the iconic diner sit-down scene between Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Michael Mann’s Heat stretched out to feature length and you’ll get

If you found Joe Johnston’s failed 2010 vehicle for Benicio del Toro, The Wolfman, bogged down by Gothic melodrama, fussy folklore and CGI excess, then

Few moments provoke more anxious dread for residents of The Jungles, the vibrant Los Angeles locale in which the hilarious new film One of Them

It’s probably premature to say Netflix has finally started finding its groove with mainstream popcorn features, but after Rebel Ridge and Carry-On delivered muscular B-movie

Rare is the artist whose work is such a game-changer that the only way to describe it is to transform their last name into an

Sometimes, the more a movie strains for realness the more fake it seems. Such is the case with the new thriller directed by Neil Burger

“There’ve been two moments in my life when I was happiest. The first was the day I met Josh. And the second was the day

Scientists say that our universe is constantly expanding. But some universes should know when to quit, as evidenced by the first television film (well, technically

First, manage your expectations: This bio-documentary doesn’t reveal much that its subject, the actor Marlee Matlin, hasn’t already discussed — particularly in her own 2009

It’s enormously gratifying to see John Magaro in a solo leading role. While he was one point of the love triangle in Past Lives, a

Mel Gibson’s first directorial effort since 2016’s Hacksaw Ridge finds the new ambassador to Hollywood working on a distinctly more intimate scale than usual. The inside of

Maybe it’s because I’m a writer, but sports competition documentaries leave me cold. Same for those harrowing true-life tales of mountain climbers, free divers and,

After Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, a virtuoso showcase for Emma Thompson that was also a rare candid conversation about an older woman’s sexuality,

Writer-director Alireza Khatami is known for a pair of semi-experimental dramas — 2017’s Oblivion Verses and 2023’s Terrestrial Verses (co-directed with Ali Asgari) — where he constantly toys with

The animation studio returns with a movie about a teenage sea monster who must confront family secrets while navigating high school. You’ve encountered Ruby Gillman,

John Gallagher Jr. costars in Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s latest, which world premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. As the war in Ukraine creates ever growing tensions

Premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival, Alice Troughton’s feature debut is a sly take on art and ego. Alice Troughton’s first feature is a jewel,

Woody Harrelson also stars in Laura Chinn’s first feature as writer-director, inspired by her own family’s painful personal history. BY DAVID ROONEY There’s a core

After the former SNL writer came out as trans, she and the comedian traveled across America to process her transition and reaffirm their friendship. BY

Directors Angela Patton and Natalie Rae look at a program that reunites girls with their incarcerated fathers for an emotional daddy-daughter dance. BY DANIEL FIENBERG

Two women investigate the real person behind an educational software from the ’80s, raising urgent questions about our relationship to technology. BY LOVIA GYARKYE If you

Chris Smith offers a welcome corrective to the misconception that the band from industrial Ohio were one-hit wonders or that their eccentricities didn’t have philosophical

Dutch directing duo Steffen & Flip’s first English-language feature stars Nick Frost and Alicia Silverstone as fictional TV parents stuck in an ultra-violent episode. BY JORDAN

Tika Sumpter and Mike Epps co-star in the R-rated Amazon Prime sports flick, which was produced by Kenya Barris. BY JORDAN MINTZER Taking the inspirational

Netflix made the largest acquisition out of Sundance 2024, paying $17 million for Greg Jardin’s psychological thriller about a reunited group of college friends and

Talia Ryder, Gaby Hoffmann and Dominic Fike co-star in Jack Begert’s satire about thwarted ambition. BY LOVIA GYARKYE There’s an admirable ambition to Jack Begert’s

In Shuchi Talati’s debut feature, a mother’s intervention in her teenage daughter’s budding romance creates an unexpected emotional love triangle. BY LOVIA GYARKYE Before Mira

Inspired by Terry Masear’s book about her work with the world’s smallest birds, Sally Aitken’s documentary follows her during a busy caretaking season in Los

The essay-like Netflix film from the ‘Strong Island’ director delves into the origins and implications of modern police violence in the United States. BY JOURDAIN

The intersex actor and the ‘Maze Runner’ star play a sex worker and a goofy gangster, respectively, in a crime drama directed by Esteban Arango.

In Klaudia Reynicke’s third feature, a father reconnects with his daughters during a tumultuous summer in Lima. BY LOVIA GYARKYE Klaudia Reynicke’s compact feature Reinas deals

Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev won the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Documentary Competition at Sundance with this look at the difficulty and necessity

Angela Bassett and Colin Hanks also feature in the voice cast of this Netflix premiere, an adaptation of Emma Yarlett’s children’s book about an anxious

Director Matthew Vaughn and screenwriter Jason Fuchs offer up a spoof of espionage antics, with a side order of romance, starring Bryce Dallas Howard and

David Schickele’s rarely seen feature stars Paul Eyam Nzie Okpokam as a version of himself, a Nigerian graduate student navigating the countercultural flowering and political

BY SHERI LINDEN When, in the opening minutes of Natatorium, a fresh-faced teen arrives at a blocky modernist showplace of a house, it seems she’s checking

Zelda Williams directs the reanimation romance about a high-school outsider and the Victorian-era corpse she summons from the grave. BY DAVID ROONEY If your idea