Knock on Wood

If you missed the first part of our Fall Summary, click here!

Woman of the Hour

Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut does an excellent job of showing the ways women feel unsafe and belittled, and how scary it can be to know that just because a man knows the right things to say does not mean he is safe. The women are at the center of the story, but their pain is not. The film is interested in their fear and their anger, but not their suffering. Kendrick uses only enough violent imagery for the audience to understand what is about to happen or what has just happened, but refuses to glamorize or even really depict any overt acts of violence. It’s an empathetic and powerful adaptation of a true crime story that does not feel even remotely exploitative, which feels rare these days. (Davis)

Available to stream on Netflix.

Rumours

Rumours is a movie that has a lot to say, and is clearly full of texture and nuance — but I will admit I was disappointed. Political satire is clearly its primary focus, but if you don’t know what is being satirized, its strength is immediately sucked dry, and all that I see is a bony, expressionistic comedy that I couldn’t connect with at any point, however much I tried. Honestly, I would love to hear more about what did work for other folks. Aside from a few stray lines of dialogue that I could recognize as pointed commentary, none of it rang true for me. (Rowan)

Venom: The Last Dance

The first two Venom films were fun. They weren’t great, but I had a substantial amount of fun watching Tom Hardy lose control of his own body and fight big blobs of CGI goo. This self-styled “last dance” is seemingly the end of Eddie Brock and Venom’s story, and it’s horribly unfocused to the point of boredom. It’s a hundred good ideas about a Venom sequel, stuffed into one painfully unfunny and unstoppable romp that seems intent on wasting every possible payoff to the aforementioned ideas. As someone who actually liked both Venom outings, I was horribly disappointed by The Last Dance, and now more averse to any continuation of Sony’s Spider-Man villain stories in a way I have never been before. Oh, I forgot, we have no choice in the matter. Bring on Kraven the Hunter! (Rowan)

Your Monster

Dear Hollywood,

This is amazing. It’s everything IF wishes it was, and so much more. Whimsical, romantic, creative, musical, hilarious, and a powerful feminine rage anthem to boot. We need more movies like this. Please continue to put Melissa Barrera in everything. We love her. Don’t pull a Spyglass. (Heath)

Memoir of a Snail

Adam Elliot has returned from the depths of the stop-motion animation cave to deliver unto us another masterwork of the craft — a sweet and poignant dramedy about the tragedies in our life that might affect us, but don’t have to define us. Memoir of a Snail has a stellar Sarah Snook voice performance at its core, managing to be both incredibly entertaining and meaningful while maintaining a constant thesis about the inherent absurdity of life and how the recognition of that ridiculousness makes it more bearable. (Rowan)

Time Cut

Great. It’s Totally Killer (even down to a nearly identical slasher mask) but without the ingenuity, humor, fun, production value, performances, or heart. My millennial soul was nostalgically tickled at times, but Time Cut is largely bland, boring, and underwhelming. (Heath)

Available to stream on Netflix.

Here

There’s an earnest sentimentality to Here, with the instantly memorable Alan Silvestri instrumentation to underscore it all. One place sees the highs of an invention paying big and the lows of untimely tragedy; the significance of a historical icon having local connections and the modesty of Indigenous people falling in love; the horror of death destruction and the beauty of organic life and rebirth; the meaningful banality of a full life lived, one made up of heartache, happiness, deep connection and tragic loneliness, not always in equal measure.

Yes, this movie is very sentimental, but it’s also quite mournful. It often highlights the missed opportunities, the wrong turns, the poor choices, the faded dreams. We can try to make it so our generation is where the hardships end, but each new era, each new time, each new life has its own struggles. Seeing those who come after us fail to rise, or to be the stagnant generation silently disappointing those who came before, can be devastating.

A Place can offer so much reassurance and comfort, but it’s the undue security that can keep us from really living, from taking risks, from seeing what life has to offer. So it’s ultimately up to us to break the cycle and embrace what life is, at whatever point it comes for each individual. For some it’s never, but for others it can be upon coming of age or even in their twilight years. Whenever it is, it’s worth it, because following your passions is good. It’s right. It’s healthy for the soul and can mend relationships that were once broken, even if it’s just a little bit. Even that little bit is worth it. Weird de-aging, potentially forced staginess, and all, Here is commendable for its earnestness and real sense of pain amidst the joy. (Robert)

Blitz

Blitz is a standard World War II story about a mother and son’s journey to reconnect with one another after nine-year-old George (Elliott Heffernan) has been sent to the countryside by his mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) for his own safety. Unfortunately, “standard” is the last adjective you would hope to see used for a film directed by Steve McQueen, one of the great film directors of the last twenty years. Ronan delivers an incredible performance, as per usual, and the filmmaking is certainly polished, but the experience ultimately feels basic given the talent involved. Blitz never escapes the feeling of being crafted, pre-planned, and scripted in a way that makes it hard to get completely lost in the world of the film. (Foster)

Available to stream on Apple TV+.

Music by John Williams

I love John Williams, and I love his musical scores. They have cheered me up in my darkest moments, and they have made my heart race with anticipation when I listen to them, both independently and within the films. This documentary is both sweet and informative while being fairly surface-level, and there’s nothing wrong with that! I love listening to Hollywood’s best gush about Williams and his impact on the art of music, and I love his scores too much to not enjoy this. (Rowan)

Available to stream on Disney+.

The Remarkable Life of Ibelin

Ingeniously original and imaginative, while remaining emotionally gut-wrenching at its core, this tale of how a seemingly small light can shine so hot and so brightly is a tale that showcases the beauty of the human spirit. Worthy of all the praise it receives, and the tissues you’ll go through along the way. (Heath)

Available to stream on Netflix.

Heretic

Heretic allows itself to indulge in solid genre trappings as well as throw out and interact with ideas. Are they the exact ideas many formerly religious people pondered as they began to deconstruct their own religious upbringing? Sure, but there’s something cool about seeing a wide release grapple with the idea of religion as a means of actively giving yourself into the control of something so large that wrangling the concept of it is untenable. It’s comforting to not have to think much for yourself, and in a way it’s brave to continue giving yourself over to it once you acknowledge its complete foundational unreliability because of the genuine connection it makes you feel to other people and to the world around you, which combine to essentially be god. Now, the big elephant in the basement that the movie doesn’t want to touch on too much is the implications of being a part of a religion which has caused innumerable evils. We get a quick reference to it as Hugh Grant (incredible, by the way!) talks about Joseph Smith’s polygamy, but beyond that it’s subtext, such as how Grant is an old man controlling young women the same way their church does. It does end up devolving into an ever-escalating spooky house horror by the end, but there’s enough going on around the conversations to buttress the theme that it works nonetheless. (Robert)

Emilia Pérez

It’s embarrassing that this is remotely close to the Best Picture conversation. Props to Zoë Saldaña, the true, lone bright spot in this mess. A solid ‘no thank you’ to the poor direction and editing. To the writing and story that’s allergic to character development. Opting to be an insufferable series of actions and reactions with zero insight into its character’s thoughts and feelings. To the musical numbers that not only fail to add any value to the film, but feel completely out of place and actively detract from the movie. It’s not Folie à Deux levels of terrible, but it’s close. To the awful final turn in the narrative that actually made me laugh at the movie’s attempt at emotional catharsis. And, lastly, a most hearty fuck off to the ugly thematic exploration of identity and the trans experience. Seriously, there were so many great trans films this year, and this is going to be the one that gets awards consideration? In the end, I felt nothing watching this. Absolutely nothing. Well, that’s a lie. I felt anger. This film is going to age poorly in 5, 4, 3… (Heath)

Available to stream on Netflix.

Hot Frosty

All things considered, this is the best of the D-grade “Mean Girls cast member in an unbelievable and yet somehow romantic situation” Netflix holiday movie sub-gene. (Rowan)

Available to stream on Netflix.

The Piano Lesson

The latest entry in Netflix’s series of August Wilson adaptations is unquestionably cinematic and unflinchingly confident. I cannot believe this is Malcolm Washington’s feature debut. What I can believe is that every single member of this cast knocks it out of the park. Each has their moment to shine, but nobody is more spectacular than Danielle Deadwyler and Ray Fisher. This ghost story, stealthily a deep exploration of a family directly confronting its past through their demons, is something really special. It’s one of the rare instances where I’d say the adaptation outpaces the stage production at nearly every turn. (Rowan)

Available to stream on Netflix.

Flow

Flow, the Latvian entry for the Academy’s Best International Feature category, absolutely floored me from the first frame to the very last. It’s meticulously rendered in the computer program Blender, and the dedication shows; the animation is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Set in a vague, unspecified future where humanity seems to have died out, Flow is an absolutely gorgeous exploration of our relationship with the world around us, told through a spellbinding tale of found family that can appeal to all ages. And with our current societal trajectory being the way it is, this movie has another raison d’être: a plea to take care of the natural world. It’s all we have. (Rowan)

Our Little Secret

Out of all the Lindsey Lohan Netflix Original Holiday Romcoms (the other two being Falling for Christmas and Irish Wish), Our Little Secret, despite having the most boring name, is easily the best of the three. It helps that this one feels like an actual movie, with fleshed-out characters, subplots, stakes, and creative, wacky Christmas hijinks. Not everything is executed to perfection (in fact, aside from everything Kristen Chenowith is doing, nothing is) but it’s got the bones of a good Christmas movie. Lindsey Lohan gives the closest thing to a good performance I’ve seen from her recently, and hopefully that means she will continue to get better as Netflix keeps making these movies.

I should probably make it clear that I do not think this is a good movie. It’s probably not worth your time, unless cheesy holiday romcoms are your thing, in which case you’ll have a good time. But even though I think Our Little Secret should be a “skip” for most people, it still managed to get me excited to see what the Lindsey Lohan Holiday Romcom department at Netflix will churn out next. (Davis)

Available to stream on Netflix.

Queer

Even if I couldn’t quite find the path that Queer was guiding me towards, I will always be interested in Luca Guadagnino’s worldview. Here, it’s unsparing, unfiltered, even dreamlike, and leaves you to draw your own conclusions. Craig and Starkey are good, but it’s the supporting performances that really blew me away. Jason Schwartzman quietly reminds us how much range he actually has, and Lesley Manville is unrecognizable, delivering an absolutely wild take on a well-used trope. Queer is even more avant-garde and abstract than we’re used to from mainstream Guadagnino. I find it fascinating we’re seeing this in the same year as Yorgos Lanthrimos’ Kinds of Kindness; both function as rejections of mainstream success, and a firm commitment to their stylistic roots. (Rowan)

Reviews for other summer movies can be found on our site, including Wicked, Anora, Gladiator II, Conclave, Moana 2, Piece by Piece, Megalopolis, Saturday Night, Red One, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Juror #2, A Real Pain, We Live in Time, Speak No Evil, Apartment 7A. For a full list of films covered on the site, see our Index.