8
What Have They Done to Your Daughters? is the perfect amalgamation of Dallamano's styles, presenting a dark, violent giallo tale within a gripping procedural.
6.5
Though occasionally procedural in a protracted final act, What Keeps You Alive is a solid thriller, constructed with style, that makes its manipulations matter.
6.5
First Reformed is unexpectedly incredible, and while the Blu-ray release is so-so, it’s still a must-see film of 2018… just maybe in rental form.
5.5
A Whale of a Tale is the intermediate approach writ large, and though it has its moments in dispelling The Cove's hypocrisy and misinformation and shattering the Taiji fishermen's inaccurate cultural justification for their brutal practice, it is still the meager sucker fish clinging to another film for dear life while being inconsequential in its own terms.
7
Crazy Rich Asians is a work of pure intent and wide potential, utilizing Hollywood’s most popular, time-tested devices and razzmatazz with a wise and lovely embrace.
6.5
As we finally expunge the traumatic memories of The Kissing Booth from our minds, Netflix has delivered To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, a teen comedy just as formulaic, but significantly less appalling.
6
It’s sleazy and sloppy, but leaning in to the comedic aspects of the series and doubling down on the variety of murder puppets definitely makes for a more entertaining viewing experience.
6.5
The Ranger has a ton of fun with ’80s slasher traditions but never turns them into a joke, marrying a punk-rock exuberance with some nasty bloodshed.
6
There is just something missing here that would make Christopher Robin worth the Disney-prescribed injection of medicinal nostalgia for trying times.
5.5
Neither inventive enough to wow us, nor lovably dumb enough to cheekily win us over, The Meg winds up in a bland middle, at the intersection where the simplicity of giant sharks and the complexity of tentpole-budgeted film financing and risk assessment meet.
3
There’s no fun in this dour exercise and scares are non-existent as the film haphazardly assembles various tropes and repetitive nightmare imagery into 90 minutes of weariness.
8
You’re a visitor in Madeline’s world, and though it may be scary at times, it’s an experience you won’t soon forget.
9
BlacKkKlansman is Spike Lee’s best film since 2002’s 25th Hour and his most vital and challenging since well before that.
4
My eyes glazed over as Elizabeth Harvest stumbled to retroactively unspoil itself while attempting to gaslight you into believing its twist was actually brilliant and original with the right context.
8.5
BuyBust is a non-stop, adrenaline-soaked bloodbath that hits the ground running and doesn’t let up until the exhausting conclusion.
7
In their second feature after the wonderful Turbo Kid, filmmaking collective RKSS (Anouk Whissell, François Simard and Yoann-Karl Whissell) take us back to the ‘80s and hits our nostalgia bone hard with Summer of ’84, an homage to genre films from the best decade.
