Horror sequels are a tricky business. The best of them build on their predecessors, deepening the mythology and taking creative risks that push the story into new territory. The worst? They settle for recycling familiar beats, banking on spectacle over substance. Smile 2, sadly, falls into the latter camp. It
In a year dominated by bold, all-caps cinema—like Furiosa, Dune: Part Two, and The Substance—A Real Pain takes a different approach. It trades bombast for quiet intimacy, delivering a story that’s just as profound and emotionally resonant as its flashier counterparts, proving that subtlety can hit just
Is Heretic the movie we need right now? A thriller about a manipulative, egotistical aging creep who preys on young women and forces them to question their beliefs to the breaking point? Maybe not. But it’s here, and audiences are already paying attention. The latest from A24, Heretic premiered
Anora grabs hold with a raw, infectious energy, then plants questions that echo long after you’ve left the theater. With his latest film, writer-director Sean Baker (The Florida Project and Tangerine) spins a story that starts as an unconventional romance but veers into territory that’s way more complex—
Can I just say I absolutely love I Saw the TV Glow? But it’ll be a long time before I’m ready to watch it again. Writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s genre-bending drama is one of the most emotionally powerful films I’ve seen all year—a viewing experience so
John Carpenter has often described his 1978 film Halloween as “a simple idea, done very well,” capturing the essence of what would become one of the most iconic horror films ever made. But as the franchise slogged through middling sequels and misguided reboots over the decades, it seemed to lose
Some horror films grab you; Longlegs pulls you under. In director Osgood Perkins’ latest, it’s not the plot that haunts you—it’s the immersive world he’s built: a dark, hypnotic landscape that feels as though it might swallow you whole. The recent drop of the trailer for
I finally caught Maxxxine, the much-anticipated finale to Ty West’s “X trilogy,” and while it’s packed with gorgeous visuals and boasts a powerful lead performance, it’s ultimately underwhelming. The first two entries in West’s trilogy—X (2022), the gritty horror that introduced us to fierce final
I couldn’t resist the chance to see The Matrix (1999) on the big screen again when it returned to theaters recently for its 25th anniversary. Any cynicism I’d built up about the film simply faded away as I watched it unspool, reel by reel, in a dark theater
Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice (1988) was a perfect blend of absurdity, quirky charm, and darkly creative chaos, all anchored by Michael Keaton’s gonzo performance as the titular “bio-exorcist.” The film managed to be both comfortingly heartwarming and gleefully subversive. So naturally, when the sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, was announced more