Leave No Trace

Captain Fantastic gets winter boned in this endearingly desperate familial survival tale. Story structure that’s as off the grid as its characters generates a refreshingly breathy stray from the civilized cinematic path. Foster parent provides a rivetingly tortured performance that serves as perfectly cracked foundation for Thom’s Thom’s independent dependence.

Eighth Grade

Burnham matures magnificently, skirting hammy wordplay schtick, instead igniting the screen with this brilliantly raw and incredibly empathetic slice of life for a deeply unique every-girl. Fisher catches eyes and hearts with her perfectly uncomfortable heroin. Serves as a perfect time capsule into the future for children of previous generations.

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

Though Lord Miller supplied the building blocks, in the hands of less expert craftsman, the result feels piecemeal at best. Painfully disjointed opening vignettes could’ve used a bit of cohesive glue, and a few clever self-referential gags and reversals of cinematic expectation in third act don’t compensate for schizophrenic storytelling.

They Shall Not Grow Old

Colorful three-dimensional updates to archive footage stand in stark contrast to otherwise mundane treatment of World War One. Jackson simultaneously personalizes and distances soldiers by focusing solely on them without ever emphasizing any particular one in voice or image. Feels more like a tour through a museum than a movie.

The Strangers: Prey at Night

Strangers gets stranger title and fascinating musical and editorial decisions to match. Expansion of scope results in plot holes large enough to drive a truck through, but otherwise the franchise maintains its intense and devastating tone. Nuanced character development and clever horror innovations fall prey to cliché on final drive.

Incredibles 2

Naturally super sequel puts fam-tastic five in credible danger both from the gender role reversal of Holly job-Hunter and kid’s Coach Nelson and from timely manipulative machinations of the media. Heavy reliance on infantible insanity only mildly undermines maturity, while keenly cliched villain does cast doubts on sustainability of super-genre.

Searching...

A mundane murder mystery made unique by adherence to a gimmick, and wonderful through the impressive performances of its cast. Masterful integration of writing and effects lend a bizarrely personal element to the most impersonal of premises in a movie that’s stylistically new but will leave novel narrative seekers searching.

A Simple Favor

Gone Bridesmaids pairs an odd couple of genres into a magnificently sexy if periodically problematic relationship. Blake goes deadly as she chews through scenery as a bitch perfect, bent on demonizing a delightfully mousy Kendrick. Pays diabolically clever homage to inspirations but diverges to drown in a messy third act.

Hold the Dark

Saulnier holds onto chromatic themes as he slides into an even more existential premise. Highlights include brilliant, subdued performances and unpredictable plot, but both do little to add warmth to bizarrely distant and off-putting film. Splashes of violence deliver an impressive brutality that gives tension and drive to slower segments. 

The Bad Batch

Bad Bax populates a stereotypical post-apocalypse with unpredictable action and mold-shattering roles for incredible array of actor characters. From the disarming opening to the mind-altering middle, this trek is perpetually intriguing, but struggles to supports its story as the freshness ultimately can’t carrey the weight of a weakly built world.

Unsane

Soderbergh phones it in, but the results are unsettlingly compelling. Foy’s strong performance carries an otherwise fairly institutional story, while a bizarrely low budget Hitchcock aesthetic imbues One Got Trapped in the Cuckoo’s Nest with a freaky fun feeling as it carefully balances doses of serious caution with tongue-un-cheek excess.

I Don't Feel at Home in this World Anymore

Lynskey’s beautiful rendering of a frustrated creature somehow manages to evenly chug scenery while co-star stars wood. Quirky and dark, yet filled with heart, though it feels a bit like McDonagh or Coen, Blairing oddity combined with character complexity keep it from feeling too at home in anyone else’s oeuvre. 

The Girl with All the Gifts

Bizarrely brainy Gem of a zombie flick explores fascinating evolutionary aspects typically dismissed by other undead outings. Excellent acting and clever moral conundrums make up for stuttering pace and am impressively bold conclusion marks an adept advancement of the genre, perhaps a trend that will replace its less thoughtful predecessors.

Hell Fest

Hacked slasher misses its mark as it populates a clever world concept with an absolute lack of compelling characters or plausible plot. A creepy killer, like the film, turns out to be just an amusing mask with nothing of substance underneath. Amusing final button further fails as formula’s final girl.

Christopher Robin

Titular character struggles to escape from his adult tedium in a film that somehow manages to render childhood nostalgia almost as bland as a dull desk job. Creepy animation only further detaches audience from story that should tug at heart strings. Overall, an adorable idea full of nothing but stuffing.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

The team reunites to do battle with predictably unpredictable superman, engaging in nuclear stunts, cleverly woven together into a cohesive and compelling story. Alarmingly plausible finale intercuts beautifully with emotional references to prior chapters, though action set piece antics cruise far above anything that this impossible franchise has done yet.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

‘Fantastic Franchise and How to Make it Tedious: The Exposition of Everything’ is about as exciting as it’s endless title, an ill concocted potion that pits a caricaturish Depp against Law, who’s admittedly brilliant, and perhaps the only shining spark in a not so magical, muggled mess of a movie.

Captain Marvel

Law and Larson search for Lawson while Jackson and Coulson add more maleness to the mix in Marv-elle’s embarrassingly late, first female-centric film. Unfortunately, in this Star-Warsy epic, Brie fails to bring it despite ample room and support from Annette, bening over backwards to add depth to a shallow premise.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Spoiler: what this movie is for the franchise. ‘HTTYD: Don’t!’ offers beautiful Wall-E-esque sequences which weave in and out of logical plot holes to ultimately unveil the message that integration is unnatural. Strange mix of comedic quirk and serious sentiments fails to soar to previous heights in Train’s shaky caboose.

Us

Jordan peels back veneer of privilege and Gets Into the complex chaos of classist control. Symbolically packed past the rabbit hole’s full point, the allegorical concepts ultimately rise up to overthrow narrative logic. Aside from the exactly wrong amount of explanation, Us astonishes with its moral complexity and occasional comedy.