Madina Nalwanga and Lupita Nyong'o star in Queen of Katwe
Review by Zach Dennis
Queen of Katwe recognizes where it comes from, but I would be ashamed and disgusted to hear someone say they didn’t at least remotely enjoy this sweet film. Nair doesn’t craft the film with the multi-layers that something like Monsoon Wedding had, but she allows it to become a story that includes its own levels of satisfying richness.
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Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in Snowden
Review by Zach Dennis
Snowden is a deeply flawed film. The movie runs long and falls into cliches in order to evoke the emotions of the audience, but it succeeds in at least posing the question of whether or not Snowden is a true patriot for what he did.
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Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is one of the many high-profile interviewees in director Ava DuVernay's documentary 13th
Review by Alison Swafford
Ava DuVernay’s documentary about mass incarceration is a voice singing out clear, loud, and true. 13th presents the facts, unembellished by drama or sensationalist pathos, and the truth alone is enough to ring in the ears of the American consciousness unbearably until meaningful change provides us with a different world.
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Visionary German director Werner Herzog turns his camera on many internet experts with Lo and Behold
Review by Alison Swafford
Lo And Behold by Werner Herzog is an incredibly fascinating podcast--providing unique perspectives that inspire curiosity and skepticism, posing questions and exploring ideas that don’t necessarily add up to any larger conclusions.
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Wes Robinson, Callie Hernandez, Valorie Curry, and Brandon Scott star in Blair Witch
Review by Zach Dennis
Blair Witch is another in a long line of modern horror films aimed at giving the audience what it wants — a few scares over the course of 90 minutes — and nothing more. It is disappointing to relegate a genre to its most banal features and be satisfied with that, but it seems like it is where we are with horror today in the mainstream.
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Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander star in The Light Between Oceans
Review by Zach Dennis
The Light Between Oceans is never poor because of its narrative choices, but it loses its punch about halfway through and never finds it again.
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Jane Levy stars in director Fede Alvarez's Don't Breathe
Review by Alison Swafford
By flipping the script on a standard horror narrative, Don’t Breathe sets itself up as an extremely compelling genre exercise, with stakes that matter, a world you understand, and characters you identify with on both sides of the conflict...and it’s great while it lasts.
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Ralph Fiennes and Art Parkinson star in Kubo and the Two Strings
Personal Essay / Review by Jessica Carr
(Read original review by Alison Swafford here)
When I was sitting next to my parents watching Kubo and the Two Strings play out, I couldn’t help but let the tears fall from the corners of my eyes. This was a story that resonated with me so closely.
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Art Parkinson and Charlize Theron star in director Travis Knight's Kubo and the Two Strings, developed by LAIKA Studios
Review by Andrew Swafford
Kubo is a story about storytelling, but it wisely understands that we don’t just tell stories to escape into fantasy or to entertain ourselves; stories are the voices that link generations and allow the presently living to learn from past lives.
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Mike Birbiglia, Kate Micucci, Chris Gethard, Gillian Jacobs, Keegan Michael-Key, and Tami Sagher star in Don't Think Twice
Review by Zach Dennis
I don’t think Don’t Think Twice cured my dislike for improv, but it gave me more understanding. We are all on the ride of life and whether or not the highs and lows of that ride coincide with where we want them to be is completely up to chance. And despite its cringe-inducing characters, Don’t Think Twice succeeds at making you reflect on that — regardless of what step you’re on.
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Royalty Hightower stars in director Anna Rose Holmer's The Fits
Review by John McAmis
With little dialogue, a smoothly tracking camera that moves up and over the sides of pools and railings, and an eerie score of a solitary, screeching clarinet, Holmer paints a quiet picture with miles of anxious subtext.
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Oakes Fegley stars in Pete's Dragon
Review by Zach Dennis
In a time when many seem to be striving to recapture American values, this heartwarming film from writer/director David Lowery accomplishes the goal and all while working within a format that has been wrought with uniformity for so long.
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Julian Dennison and Sam Neill star in Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Review by Jessica Carr
At the end of the day, Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a feel good film. Taika Waititi gives us loveable characters with flaws and over the course of the film, we have the opportunity to see them grow into better people.
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Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, and Mackenzie Foy star in director Mark Osborne's The Little Prince
Review by Alison Swafford
This adaptation of The Little Prince, for all its beauty and intellect, is flawed in such a deep and fundamental way that the entire narrative fails--it attempts to deconstruct The Little Prince without constructing it first.
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Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg star in Cafe Society
Review by Zach Dennis
Jesse Eisenberg fields a strong performance in the lead role, even if overshadowed by the stellar work of Berlin, Stott, and Stoll, and for the most part, Cafe Society is as delicious as the wining and dining being done on screen.
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Matt Damon stars in Jason Bourne
Review by Zach Dennis
In a world post Blackhat and Mr. Robot, Jason Bourne feels like the average person’s understanding of modern technology with none of the eye-opening moments that the franchise has been known to illuminate on.
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John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Karl Urban, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Simon Pegg star in Star Trek Beyond.
Review by Zach Dennis
It isn’t a game-changer for either the franchise or blockbusters as a whole, but Star Trek Beyond is a welcome reminder that characters and story matter for blockbusters, and that doesn’t always mean that bigger is better.
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Just a few of the male teenage athletes that get tickled in the debut documentary by David Farrier and Dylan Reeve
Review by Alison Swafford
There’s plenty of substance in the first hour of Tickled that can be extrapolated upon and mulled over by viewers, but the ending seems to show the filmmakers cramming huge ideas into a tiny box.
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Bryan Cranston and John Leguizamo in The Infiltrator
Review by Zach Dennis
The technical craft and engaging writing of some of the better works of Scorsese are lacking from The Infiltrator, but the film makes up for that with a strong performance by Cranston and an exploration into the work of an actor and the two-faced mentality that has to be taken to succeed.
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Blake Lively stars in The Shallows
Review by Zach Dennis
The Shallows lacks the characters and craft that made Jaws such an iconic film, but that’s also because it never wants to be categorized in the same field. In its own rights, it is a highly successful summer pop entertainment thriller that contains all the elements you would want out of a summer day at the movies — beautiful woman, majestic scenery, and a giant shark getting in the way of both.
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