8
Though Blue My Mind gets intense and graphic in spots with Mia’s metamorphosis, it always feels grounded in the feelings and emotions of her situation, the horror elements left as effective allegory.
8
The most revealing element in Penny Lane’s latest documentary, Hail Satan?, may be that, by the end credits, I was asking myself, “Am I a Satanist?”
7.5
Bolstered by a great supporting cast, including Brian Tyree Henry as Sensei Pete, Matt Walsh, Kate McKinnon and Allison Tolman, Family is a joyous film about celebrating our eccentricities and acknowledging that it’s the people in our lives who help to make us whole.
8.5
Missing Link brings the expected technical proficiency and heartwarming storytelling that Laika built its reputation on but with an added sense of classical adventure for good measure.
7
Jessica Oreck constructs an aggregation of time in which she positions the sufferers of the Siege of Leningrad as people instead of statistics.
7.5
A frantic and dreamy romantic dramedy filled with imaginative fun.
7.5
Wild Nights with Emily poses fascinating questions on how popular understandings in history are formed and often manipulated.
8
Alex Ross Perry’s latest and most caustic film yet, Her Smell, is an exhausting journey into the shattered mind of a riot-grrrl rocker on a downward spiral of substance abuse that too often tags along with fame.
6
Instead of an irrelevant title like The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire, this probably should have been called The Red Herring, as that’s what the film is primarily comprised of.
6
Based on a popular manga by Yu Sasuga, the concept of Terra Formars seems perfectly suited for a director like the legendary Takashi Miike, someone who is no stranger to both manga adaptations and bizarre storylines.
Originally released in 2016, this live-action
8
The Matthew McConaughey Mystique is on full display in Harmony Korine’s side-splitting epic of sentimental decadence and sun-soaked genius.
7
Drawing inspiration from his life, director William Dickerson heads to the grunge era in his latest film, No Alternative, an angst-ridden, coming-of-age film about growing up amid the post-grunge and underground hip-hop movements in the mid-nineties.
7
Perfectly suited for Netflix, Cocaine Island is a light, fun documentary that contains plenty of “holy shit” moments and will no doubt spark a multitude of water-cooler conversations come Monday morning.
3
Jeff Tremaine’s Mötley Crüe biopic demonstrates that certain films deserve to stay in development hell until they burn out and fade away for good.
6.5
As the adolescent-teen-girl-coming-of-age trend sallies forth, the next entry in this ever-growing sub-genre is Sophie Lorain’s delightful black-and-white comedy Slut in a Good Way.
7
At its core, Shazam! is supposed to be fun, light and goofy, and Sandberg embodies this in the film, with DC’s most humorous movie to date.
