Thrillist

Dolly's always been a woman full of contradictions. Her honesty is coated with a thick layer of glam. Dumplin' is sort of a mess of these contradictions too.

Posted Dec 11, 2018

4 Little Girls (1997)

4 Little Girls is a masterpiece that needs to be seen and remembered.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

Unseen (2016)

This true-crime documentary offers a harrowing look at what fate unfortunately often has in store for marginalized women, and why society turns a blind eye to their wellbeing.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

No No: A Dockumentary (2014)

No No: A Dockumentary explores the incident, Ellis' rebellious life, and the contextual culture of the 1960s and '70s that turned the player into a low-key folk hero.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

Long Strange Trip: The Untold Story of The Grateful Dead (2017)

Love 'em or hate 'em, when someone goes this deep, you can't help but feel absorbed.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

Janis: Little Girl Blue (2015)

Until Janis Joplin came along. Her scratchy, whiskey-bruised voice arrested a generation and, however accidentally, carved a place for those without a Y chromosome. Little Girl Blue tracks her rock takeover to the very end, up to her tragic death.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

I Am Not Your Negro (2017)

This documentary, based on Baldwin's unfinished Remember This House manuscript, offers a view of the United States as disturbingly relevant today as it was in the late 1970s.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

Human Flow (2017)

In beautiful visual language, Ai Weiwei conveys the stark horror and brutalist logic of the choices people make when stuck between a rock and a hard place -- or a war and abject poverty.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

Gleason (2016)

What sounds like a completely devastating tearjerker is filled with humor thanks to its subjects' candor.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

Gimme Danger (2016)

Like Jarmusch's movies, Gimme Danger is 100% authentic cool from beginning to end, fortified by Iggy Pop's shirtless interviews and joint-smoked memories.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

The Endless Summer (1966)

There's living the dream life, and then there's living the effin' dream.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

De Palma (2016)

Pretty much anyone with an eye for great film loves Brian De Palma.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

Cropsey (2010)

One of the creepiest documentaries ever made, Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio's film shows how some urban legends are based on true stories even more unsettling than the myths.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

City of Ghosts (2017)

Not for the faint of heart, but well worth it.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

The Central Park Five (2012)

The Central Park Five dissects the political and social tension that turned an already shocking series of events into one of the most racially charged moments in New York City history.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

Cartel Land (2015)

The run-and-gun style and Heineman's jaw-dropping access will keep your heart pounding through this examination of the current War on Drugs.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

Cameraperson (2016)

It serves as a peek behind the curtain of documentary filmmaking, exposing even more than what's usually shown in the genre.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

The Bomb (2015)

A kaleidoscopic montage of archival footage of military exercises, nuclear bomb tests and more unnerving material -- some of it more beautiful than you'd prefer to acknowledge.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

Author: The JT LeRoy Story (2016)

A highly compelling collage of stylish archival footage and recorded phone conversations that flesh out this notorious Catfish-like caper of the literary world.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer (2004)

A deeply fascinating follow-up because of how much of Wuornos' story is changed from one film to the next, as well as for its moving consideration of the complex and often unbalanced relationship between documentarian and subject.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

The Act Of Killing (2013)

It all makes sense when you submit yourself to Oppenheimer's bizarre, tragic, and eye-opening experiment.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

Abacus: Small Enough to Jail (2017)

It's a slice of recent history that still has yet to become a part of the collective consciousness, but Abacus aims to play a small part in rectifying that.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

Outlaw King (2018)

Outlaw King could be considered a part of a larger Braveheart Cinematic Universe, picking up after most of the action in that film and showing Robert's rise to power.

Posted Nov 27, 2018

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Let the Coens take you on funny, yet incredibly depressing, journey through a vicious land.

Posted Nov 19, 2018

CAM (2018)

It has the same pluck and formal dexterity as Steven Soderbergh's pharmacological mental health thriller Unsane or Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman's online gaming parable Nerve.

Posted Nov 18, 2018

The Night Comes For Us (2018)

Instead of feeling like the action organically emerges from the situational demands of the narrative, it often feels like the story was reverse engineered to center around the often stunning physical feats.

Posted Oct 23, 2018

The Hate U Give (2018)

Ann-Derrick Gaillot

While the film simplifies the story somewhat, it never loses its heart, the brilliant emerging of Starr into her own voice and pride in the community that lifts her up.

Posted Oct 22, 2018

Apostle (2018)

A grimy period piece that puts lofty, unresolvable questions about fanaticism through a creaky, hand-operated torture device.

Posted Oct 15, 2018

Private Life (2018)

In its commitment to documenting the specificities of its characters' lives and their ongoing struggles, the film takes on a sprawling quality. If you follow the movements and digressions over a long period of time, you'll be rewarded.

Posted Oct 10, 2018

Quincy (2018)

Quincy offers access and intimacy, but occasionally skimps on psychological nuance or insight into the work itself.

Posted Sep 25, 2018

Widows (2018)

Despite the widows' common goal, they are not chummy. They are bound solely by need, so there's a grimness to their mission.

Posted Sep 11, 2018

Sierra Burgess Is a Loser (2018)

Though the script's characterization of Sierra is at times uneven, Purser figures out her mix of confidence and insecurity.

Posted Sep 11, 2018

Life Itself (2018)

The movie wants so desperately to be clever, and just comes off looking lame. All this adds up to a film that thinks it's being charming and inspiring, but is instead merely a cruel joke on its audience.

Posted Sep 10, 2018

The Predator (2018)

Black's new movie is less the goofy, garish sequel we were hoping for and more an act of universe-building. But, hey, at least there's a bigger, badder Predator on the scene, one that looks like he's been doing CrossFit.

Posted Sep 10, 2018

4.5/5

Upgrade (2018)

Scott Weinberg

It's not easy to combine action, horror, and sci-fi into one nifty little 95-minute package that actually works in all three departments, but this movie gets it right.

Posted Sep 7, 2018

4/5

Mohawk (2018)

Scott Weinberg

A brutal chase thriller told from a perspective we rarely see.

Posted Sep 7, 2018

The After Party (2018)

The soundtrack might feel sourced from Rap Caviar, but the narrative structure is lifted from the '80s and the early '90s.

Posted Aug 24, 2018

The Happytime Murders (2018)

The Happytime Murders is as limp as a puppet without a puppeteer.

Posted Aug 24, 2018

Crime + Punishment (2018)

A rare issue film that is constructive and inspiring.

Posted Aug 24, 2018

Mile 22 (2018)

Wahlberg has created a star vehicle for himself that lets him shoot people, save lives, and yell his head off. But by mixing his chatty energy and his man of action schtick, he's shot himself in the foot with his own comically large tactical rifle.

Posted Aug 23, 2018

Minding the Gap (2018)

Part memoir, part social problem film, Minding the Gap is a treasure of a documentary.

Posted Aug 20, 2018

To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018)

Like any teen story, To All the Boys has some growing pains... Still, we'll forgive it. Sure, it hits at core truths about new love. But it's still a fantasy, just not the bodice-ripping one of Lara Jean's teen daydreams.

Posted Aug 17, 2018

Generation Wealth (2018)

A deeply personal work with a compelling first-person narrative in which Greenfield reflects on her career photographing the excessively and garishly wealthy.

Posted Aug 16, 2018

Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda (2018)

Unlike most music documentaries, this one isn't so much geared for fans of the artist as it is fans of intimate character portraits.

Posted Aug 16, 2018

McQueen (2018)

Don't care about fashion? Don't know who he was? Not a problem, since McQueen's rags-to-riches story is universally compelling and thoroughly riveting.

Posted Aug 16, 2018

Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)

There's a little history lesson here, a subtle political jab there, and yes, a guaranteed tear-jerking moment ... It's a beautiful film for a neighbor.

Posted Aug 16, 2018

The King (2018)

Eugene Jarecki, who tends to swing for the fences with big ideas, hits another home run.

Posted Aug 16, 2018

Flavors of Youth (Si shi qing chun) (2018)

John Maher

Perhaps the biggest collective success of Flavors of Youth is the way the wistfulness of each short remains distinct.

Posted Aug 14, 2018

The Package (2018)