Thrillist

The Lego Movie 2 ups the ante on the first hit with its elaborate setup and eye-popping new characters.

Posted Feb 11, 2019

Cold Pursuit (2019)

The weary resignation that Neeson brings to the role imbues the story with a melancholy quality, but there's also a sense that this road has been travelled too many times before.

Posted Feb 11, 2019

Abducted in Plain Sight (2017)

While it's easy to think that no one alive could be as naive as the Brobergs, the documentary is a sobering reminder of the power of manipulation, the failures of the justice system.

Posted Feb 7, 2019

Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

This movie proves that, finally, Hollywood not only has the technology, but the imagination necessary to do a great story justice.

Posted Feb 4, 2019

Big Time Adolescence (2019)

Big Time Adolescence is something of a triumph for Davidson. It's a modest, familiar movie, certainly, with themes about growing older and leaving the people you idolize behind, but his weirdly compelling screen presence elevates it.

Posted Jan 31, 2019

The Hole in the Ground (2019)

The Hole in the Ground takes a more head-down, meat-and-potatoes approach to the genre. It might not linger in the imagination as long, but it delivers effective scares throughout and -- most importantly -- never lets up.

Posted Jan 31, 2019

Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)

The movie succeeds because of its deliciously catty soul. Even as it says that art should be about more than just spectacle, it relishes in the bitchiest of bon mots.

Posted Jan 29, 2019

Polar (2019)

Polar isn't for everyone, but you can't say it pulls any punches.

Posted Jan 28, 2019

Honey Boy (2019)

Honey Boy -- with its winks at Transformers and sitcom conventions -- knows why we're watching and maybe that's enough.

Posted Jan 28, 2019

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)

Very little in Extremely Wicked is speculative, which is perhaps why it's strangely lacking in any sort of menace.

Posted Jan 28, 2019

Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2019)

Leanne Butkovic

Anyone with even a crude understanding of the Dragon Ball extended universe could sit through the English-dubbed movie and walk out of the theater having had a great time.

Posted Jan 22, 2019

Io (2019)

Despite some lofty ideas and two talented lead actors, IO is more of the same: uninspired storytelling that feels designed to feed the algorithm more than it nourishes your brain.

Posted Jan 22, 2019

Glass (2019)

Never a particularly subtle director, Shyamalan gives you all the clues you need to figure out most of his third-act twists, provided you know what you're looking for.

Posted Jan 15, 2019

In the Cut (2003)

Jourdain Searles

The camera explores the female body lovingly, with a gently curious eye. This fascinating approach begs for more imitation.

Posted Jan 11, 2019

Escape Room (2019)

It's so much fun that the payoff is ultimately a convoluted disappointment, but I can hardly complain considering how many times I gasped or cringed or whispered "yesss" throughout the rest of it.

Posted Jan 8, 2019

Aquaman (2018)

A movie where budding romance, rising palace intrigue, and swash-buckling adventure take a back seat to the quiet glee of watching a team of gifted visual effects artists recreate the aesthetic of a Lisa Frank trapper keeper on a giant IMAX screen.

Posted Dec 26, 2018

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

The initial Mary Poppins is also somewhat unwieldy, it's just a question of how inspired these modern diversions are.

Posted Dec 20, 2018

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding (2018)

I also forgot most of A Christmas Prince 2's plot because it doesn't really have one. Maybe that's too mean: it definitely has a plot, one that's actually a little interesting this time.

Posted Dec 11, 2018

Dumplin' (2018)

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

Black Christmas (1974)

Jourdain Searles

There's no doubting that Black Christmas had all the advantages of being first of its kind. The film stands as the mother of the modern slasher. It was able to make its own rules, and subsequently created a template for the films that came after.

Posted Nov 1, 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)