Latest Movie Reviews

Elevating the material tremendously, Amy Adams is back on her A game here.

This spry and polished sequel has clearly been given time to develop instead of being rushed out.

Only those with an irrational hatred of musical theatre will be immune to this jaunty production’s considerable charms.

Someone, somewhere justified spending a quarter of a billion dollars on the most convoluted and hard-sell holiday lore since DreamWorks Animation’s “Rise of the Guardians.”

It’s remarkable how much emotional weight Jesse Eisenberg packs into his sophomore directorial effort, a film that runs just 90 minutes and feels even shorter.

A dastardly Hugh Grant carries a really good A24 horror movie on his able back in “Heretic.”

As overtly Christian as any mainstream Christmas film, this “Pageant” prioritizes spreading a message over elevating the craft.

“Conclave” is powerful cinema and drama of the highest order.

A questionable achronological approach does nothing to derail this tender, heartwarming, and well-acted romance.

“Monster Summer” evokes the vibe of ’90s “Goosebumps” but with better production values and less silliness than the R.L. Stine TV series.

For a movie that opens with fantastical hallucinogens, “My Old Ass” has a firm grip on reality and a deep understanding of what it’s like to look back at one’s formative years with perspective.

While the film itself does not rank among his more dramatically fulfilling efforts, “Megalopolis” displays copious and admirable passion from the legendary Francis Ford Coppola.

Until its disappointing final act, this outrageous and stylish body horror film holds you captive and impressed.

The makers of “Super/Man” avoid hagiography, which is no easy feat in this cleverly-titled, well-made documentary reflecting on the highs and lows of the actor’s career and personal life.

This long-in-the-works sequel lets Tim Burton play in his old wheelhouse in a way that feels right and well-earned.

Taking its cues largely from the two most esteemed entries in the franchise, “Romulus” keeps us invested with rich suspense, gripping spectacle, and the incomparable production design that comes with the territory.

First-time director Zoë Kravitz does a pretty good job of justifying her privilege and hiding her inexperience in this stylish and trippy thriller.

Alternately funny and heartbreaking, nostalgia-inducing for the tail end of Millennials, and generally life-affirming for all of us, Dìdi is a sharp and satisfying debut.

Messy and a tad overlong, but also a lot of fun and decidedly unlike any other tentpole entertainment that Hollywood is putting out these days.

Despite the impressive talent at the helm, “Twisters” is big, dumb, and not much fun.

It’s not intellectual or cutting-edge, but there is some mild charm to be found in the retro setting and gee-willikers tone.

A mix of feel-bad and feel-good moments complement one another and add up to something stirring, life-affirming, and not soon forgotten.

A clear increase in budget does nothing to dilute the passion that writer-director Ti West and leading lady-producer Mia Goth hold for this A24 horror universe.

Yorgos Lanthimos’ new anthology is a master of cinema at the top of his game sharing some of his weirdest work yet.

A serviceable prequel that never comes close to approaching the lofty heights of the two films from which it is spun.

Award-winning playwright Annie Baker makes a slow but absorbing film debut.

A wildly uneven tragicomic fantasy whose hold on your appreciation is weak and fleeting.

Inside Out 2 eases our fears that Pixar, as we know it, is doomed.

Familiar and corny, Disney’s “Young Woman and the Sea” plays like a sober, feature-length version of a “Drunk History” segment.

Jane Schoenbrun’s second narrative feature is an unnerving mystery, a psychological character study, and an art film with both style and substance.

Though questionable on paper and short on well-known talent, this new Apes sequel is a smart, rich and technically stunning adventure.

Tennis has never before been as cinematic as it is in the capable hands of director Luca Guadagnino.

“Abigail” is high-concept, low-intelligence horror where your mind has nowhere to turn but predicting the order and manner in which characters are killed off.

Distributed by A24 and in IMAX, “Civil War” is a union of arthouse and popcorn, one that won’t fully satisfy the distinct needs of either audience but comes pretty darn close most of the time.

Seasoned young actor Dev Patel undergoes a baptism by fire here, making his writing, producing, and directing debuts with a well-stretched $10 million budget and seemingly infinite amounts of ambition.

In quality, tone, and composition, Frozen Empire is extremely similar to its immediate predecessor, Afterlife. Without the emotion and nostalgia of a direct legacy sequel, though, it doesn’t hit as hard.

Mark Wahlberg stars in what both is and is not a dog movie.

This is legit, rewarding, high-octane mainstream cinema, the kind that Steven Spielberg used to make and that only Christopher Nolan now seems capable of delivering on a regular basis.

Despite an intermittently witty original screenplay, Ethan Coen’s latest solo comedy lacks the narrative cohesion, aesthetic allure, and cinematic formalism of the offbeat triumphs he’s made with his brother.

In this messy but entertaining horror romance comedy, first-time director Zelda Williams and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody take great pains to make something that looks and feels like it truly hails from 1989.

What begins like a better version of Sandra Bullock’s hit 2022 adventure comedy “The Lost City” continues to get worse at every turn.

Though it may be superfluous, 2024’s “Mean Girls” remains plenty entertaining as a new take for a new generation, specifically musical theatre nerds.

Not all January horror movies are bad, but this one certainly is.

Redirected straight to streaming, “Foe” is a strange hybrid of artsy character study and high-concept sci-fi.

This old-fashioned dramatization of an Olympic rowing team is not just George Clooney’s least edgy directorial effort; The Boys in the Boat might just be the least edgy live-action movie of 2023.

“Wonka” may not quite reach the lofty heights of the director’s “Paddington” movies, but it nonetheless delivers an winning abundance of wit and whimsy.

“Merry Little Batman” never finds the right approach to distinguish itself or entertain you in the process.

Chock-full of familiar family film tropes, “Candy Cane Lane” runs at least a half-hour longer than you’ll want it to.

“Wish” leans heavily on Disney’s time-tested traditions with ample artistry and a moderate amount of success. Keep reading DVDizzy’s Disney Wish movie review.

A mix of history and human interest material, Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” holds your attention more with the latter.

Meticulously well-crafted and creatively challenging, “Saltburn” is a thought-provoking, genre-defying character study strictly for adults who are not easily offended.

The look may be similar and many of the key personnel are back, but this “Hunger Games” prequel does not feel like it’s part of some big cultural movement.

DreamWorks’ threequel subjects us to an endless string of boy band puns and no shortage of medleys comprised of new covers of familiar pop songs.

This mediocre standard team sports comedy marks a big step back for its Oscar-winning writer-director Taika Waititi.

“The Holdovers” is the kind of movie that sweeps you up in its world, holds you captive, and remains in your thoughts for weeks to come.

There isn’t much issue to take with this okay kid-friendly thriller, whose reactions will be shaped as much by the video games as what’s onscreen.

Martin Scorsese’s latest requires patience, a formidable bladder, a substantial attention span, an eye for detail, and the ability to think critically. If you can supply those, you will greatly appreciate the best film to have been released this nearly half-done decade.

“The Burial” is a crowd-pleaser in which you’re proud to be part of the crowd.

Time travel is one of fiction’s great devices and has inspired so many creative and entertaining movies. This isn’t one of them.

With a handful of jump scares and an assortment of body horror, The Exorcist: Believer doesn’t unearth anything wholly new or revolutionary, but it should still manage to satisfy if not impress all but the most jaded of horror junkies.

The latest music-filled tale from Ireland’s John Carney (“Once”, “Sing Street”) might very well be his best film yet.

Dumb Money has enough substance and style to make it impossible to ignore, but also difficult to love.

Despite clunky expositions and a cast shaking off rust, this threequel maintains a refreshing and unexpected amount of charm in lieu of palpable demand.

It’s only formulaic and familiar if you’ve seen a lot of inspirational sports dramas.

“Landscape” is full of timely ideas and social commentary, but the dystopian science fiction makes for a fairly miserable experience.

It remains to be seen how much the audiences for gross-out comedy and talking dogs overlap, but “Strays” provides a decent amount of laughs with the right expectations.

“Mutant Mayhem” wants “Super Mario‘s” returns and “Spider-Verse‘s” respect, but it deserves neither.

Instead of aiming for mass appeal, “Theater Camp” digs deep into its subject matter, ending up with a film that its target audience will absolutely love but is unlikely to impress anyone without some kind of stage or backstage experience.

The laughs outnumber the thrills, but that’s in line with the Disney ride and in 2023 it’s simply nice to encounter characters and a story you don’t already know from a better animated movie made decades ago.

With this ambitious, gripping epic, Christopher Nolan finds plenty of ways to breathe vitality into what could easily be a stage play.

Tom Cruise is sixty years old and both he and this saga should be long in the tooth and well past their prime. But they’re not.

The “Attack of the Clones” to “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”‘s “Phantom Menace”, Indiana Jones’ underwhelming send-off’s greatest effect may be in making the public reassess the hero’s widely-loathed prior outing.

It’s hard to believe that Jennifer Lawrence, a leading lady upgrade from Cameron Diaz in every way imaginable, could somehow end up in a far less entertaining version of “Bad Teacher“, but that’s what happens here.

Although it looks like Wes Anderson at his most Wes Andersoniest, “Asteroid City” is an improvement over the director’s last two efforts, which by default makes it his best live-action film in over a decade.

Fun, imaginative, and only somewhat derivative, “The Flash” is the most enjoyable movie from DC since Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy wrapped up.

Pixar’s history of excellence urges us to judge them harshly, but “Elemental” gives us much of the weakest writing to ever bear the animation studio’s name.

To the pile of Stephen King adaptations that have fallen flat in translation, we can add “The Boogeyman“, a limp curiosity that no one will be talking about within a couple of weeks.

Not unlike Cheetos, this is one cheesy and artificial product.

No amount of nostalgia for the 20th century’s fondly recalled final decade can fully pull attention from the glaring creative shortcomings of “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.”

“Across the Spider-Verse” has its sights set on the kind of acclaim reserved for the rarest of sequels. You know the type. “The Godfather Part II.” “Toy Story 2” and “3“. Sequels that expand and enrich the mythology established in the original film, without simply repeating beats.

Perhaps it is unfair to expect this inevitable remake to improve upon Disney’s animated masterpiece in any way, but it absolutely does not.

The father-son dynamic provides enough humor and heart to make the movie go down smoothly with an appealing old school vibe somewhere in between the “Fockers” trilogy and Steve Martin’s two ’90s “Father of the Bride” movies.

While this tenth entry in the Fast saga has no shortage of busy set pieces, international filming locations, and, for some reason, Academy Award-winning actresses, the thrills are minimal this time out.

Venice and Tuscany are as photogenic as ever and that helps to cushion the blows of this sequel’s broad, sitcom-esque inanity.

This third and supposedly final entry is the kind of flashy fun we’ve long come to expect from Marvel at the beginning of the summer movie season.

Guy Ritchie’s “The Covenant” is a solid drama that the director can be proud to have his name literally attached to.

Movies are rarely this great at any time of year. Ben Affleck’s clever, diverting “Air” is a crowd-pleaser that will stand the test of time.

While there will no doubt be far worse mainstream studio movies put out this year, Renfield disappoints more than most because of the promise it holds.

Super Mario Bros. is certain to extend Illumination’s streak of lucrative returns on minimal pleasures. It’s just too bad that there is virtually nothing in this movie to justify those financial delights.

There’s no doubt that Adam Sandler can dazzle at will when teaming with higher caliber auteurs, as the still very vocal fanbase of Uncut Gems will attest to. But sometimes the Sandman just wants to goof around in Paris and get paid.

The admirable instincts of writing-directing duo John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein turn an aspiring spring tentpole that from all appearances looks like another misguided IP franchise nonstarter into a genuinely enjoyable crowd-pleaser.

By centering on a quiet, underprivileged black youth at three stages of his upbringing, A Thousand and One invites inevitable comparisons to Moonlight, 2016’s Academy Award winner for Best Picture, that it cannot favorably withstand. Still, there is enough substance to qualify this as a compelling debut for a promising new voice.

If you do not already see the entertainment value in this saga of a retired hitman drawn back into the deadly criminal world, “John Wick: Chapter 4” is not going to change your mind.

If you can accept “Inside” as a movie that is about the journey, not the destination, you should enjoy the ride and another engaging Willem Dafoe descent into madness. 

With Michael B. Jordan excelling on both sides of the camera, “Creed III” gives you much more to chew on and think about than your typical third installment.

Calculated, competent, and the weakest film to date in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” invites you to find meaning anywhere but up on the screen.

Is it a home invasion thriller? Is it a parable about tolerance? M. Night Shyamalan’s “Knock at the Cabin” keeps you on its toes as it raises questions.

It’s been a long time since DreamWorks felt like the edgy alternative to Disney fare, but “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” comes close to rekindling those sentiments with its bleeped profanity and light blue comedy.

If there’s anything that Will Smith regrets as much as slapping Chris Rock at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony shortly before winning Best Actor, it’s turning down the chance to star in “Django Unchained.”

Although “Avatar: The Way of Water” is clumsy when it tries to be profound, it pushes the medium on a technical level and is sure to add another Visual Effects Oscar to the distinguished mantle of New Zealand’s Weta Workshop. Continue reading Avatar: The Way of Water movie review and rating by DVDizzy.

Can a smile be scary? Absolutely, in the right context. Read our review of Smile, a new horror film from first-time writer-director Parker Finn lacks the right context.