Venom: The Last Dance
Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.
rated pg-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, bloody images, and strong language.
“Venom: The Last Dance shows what happens when you let a perfectly cast actor and a director with a lot of affection for the character run wild in a world of Marvel superheroes. You get a movie that’s a little weird, a lot silly, and full of fun.” – Molly Freeman, Screen Rant
“It’s a singular thrill to see how deftly Hardy blends weird comedy, genuine pathos, and even pseudo-homoerotic undertones into the kind of performance that would win Oscars if it weren’t housed within such a deeply unserious, commercial film product.” – Dominic Griffin, Looper
“If this truly is the pair’s big-screen goodbye, at least it ends on a fittingly wacko note of pure, unadulterated sentimentality.” – Nick Schager, The Daily Beast
Smile 2
About to embark on a new world tour, global pop sensation Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) begins experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events. Overwhelmed by the escalating horrors and the pressures of fame, Skye is forced to face her dark past to regain control of her life before it spirals out of control.
rated r for strong bloody violent content, grisly images, language throughout, and drug use.
“Smile 2 is bigger, scarier, funnier, smarter, darker, and undeniably better than its predecessor.” – Austen Goslin, Polygon
“Smile 2, directed by Parker Finn, is more thematically ambitious than the original, which also allows Finn to stage more satisfyingly ridiculous kills and ramp up its air of delirium.” – Beatrice Loayza, New York Times
“Smile 2 is more of the same. A lot more. But it’s just as scary, and this time it’s feistier and funnier, proving that the premise has legs and also some malleability.” – William Bibbiani, The Wrap
The Substance
Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? You. Only better in every way. You’ve got to try this new product. It changed my life.
rated r for strong bloody violent content, gore, graphic nudity, and language.
“[A] singular work unlike anything else you’ll see this year. Visually arresting, utterly insane, beautiful in its ugliness, and as close to perfect as any of this year’s other best films.” – Sean Farrell, AFPL Journal
“It’s the casting of Moore, though, and her willingness to denude herself at 61 – emotionally, as well as physically – that gives The Substance a startling connection with its themes. Not for 30 years has she owned a film with anything like this certitude. Watching her confront the Demi Moore in the mirror, and do it so mercilessly, is extraordinary.” – Tim Robey, The Telegraph
“An immensely, unstoppably, ecstatically demented fairy tale about female self-hatred, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance will stop at nothing — and I mean nothing — to explode the ruthless beauty standards that society has inflicted upon women for thousands of years.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire
Saturday Night
At 11:30pm on October 11th, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. Find out what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live.
rated r for language throughout, sexual references, some drug use, and brief graphic nudity.
“This entertaining slice of the madness that went into making [Saturday Night Live] is a fitting way to celebrate the show that feels like a special peek into what would become a milestone in our nation’s shared artistic history, seen through the eyes of a group of misfits who had no idea that that is what they were making.” – Sean Farrell, AFPLJournal
“It’s a wildly entertaining love letter to a night of television that marked a cultural watershed.” – Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly
“Instead of slowing down, you get used to its speedy pace, enough to sit back in awe of the indisputable acting talent – familiar names and fresh faces alike – Reitman’s pulled together to revisit a TV miracle.” – Brian Truitt, USA Today
Nine Perfect Strangers
Nine people attend a 10-day retreat at a health and wellness resort run by its director (Nicole Kidman) in this series based on Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name.
rated tv-ma. contains sexual content, nudity, violence, strong language, drug use, and smoking.
“An ensemble that both highlights these characters’ strengths and humanizes their weaknesses. Leading the charge is Nicole Kidman in a role practically designed for her… The result is a show that’s as addicting and delightfully soapy as HBO’s summer hit The White Lotus.” – Kayla Cobb, Decider
“A cocktail of emotions which shows off its supremely talented cast, the Hulu series successfully steps out of the shadows of Big Little Lies and The Undoing and continually hits you with its increasingly chaotic and claustrophobic storylines.” – Lauren Morris, Radio Times
“Nine Perfect Strangers excels in balancing its incredible ensemble cast. Every performance in the series is well-acted and thoroughly engaging… Nine Perfect Strangers edges out The White Lotus, particularly in the writing of its characters, providing more depth and a far more compelling group of individuals.” – Kristen Reid, Paste
Here
From the reunited director, writer, and stars of Forrest Gump, Here is an original film about multiple families and a special place they inhabit. The story travels through generations, capturing the human experience in its purest form.
rated pg-13 for thematic material, some suggestive material, brief strong language, and smoking.
“This is a thoughtful, visually inventive film showcasing Zemeckis’ continued willingness to push cinematic boundaries.” – Alan Ng, Film Threat
“Here plays not only by its own rules, but a whole other cinematic ballgame, and those who take the time to learn its language will be immaculately rewarded.” – Charlotte Simmons, We Got This Covered
“That Zemeckis and cinematographer Don Burgess manage to pack multiple lifetimes of experience into a single space, a fixed camera upon it, and mostly pull it off is quite a feat.” – Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire
Elevation
The world has changed. The only habitable place left for humanity is in the high mountains, above 8000 feet. Go below 8000 feet, and waiting for you are the very creatures that killed 95% of the human population less than three years ago. But what happens if — to save the life of his young son — a father (Anthony Mackie) is forced to do just that: to venture below “The Line” with two others, a scientist he despises (Morena Baccarin), but who just might hold the key to defeating the monsters, and a young woman (Maddie Hasson), determined to keep them both alive long enough to save the human race.
rated r for language.
“A well-made, edge-of-your-seat picture.” – Mike McGranaghan, Aisle Seat
“While Elevation may never rise above its genre trappings or escape the shadow of its influences, it never stoops so low as to be mindlessly vapid. Simply executed at ninety minutes, it’s escapism of the highest order, offering perils at a screen’s distance of safety.” – Zachary Lee, RogerEbert.com
“Director George Nolfi needs to seriously consider referring to actor Anthony Mackie as his good luck charm. Elevation is the 3rd of Nolfi’s four movies to include Mackie. Whenever the men work together, each delivers the goods.” – Michael Clark, Epoch Times
Hundreds of Beavers
A drunken applejack salesman is thrust into the frigid wilderness. Can he go from Zero to Hero, become North America’s greatest fur trapper, and defeat hundreds of beavers?
not rated. contains slapstick violence, sexual references, some language, and smoking.
“It is exciting in ways you cannot imagine and must be seen to be believed.” – Michael Talbot-Haynes, Film Threat
“Hundreds of Beavers, a boldly bizarre, nearly wordless slapstick comedy about a 19th-century trapper doing battle with nature, exceeds expectations in every way, including the promise of its title.” – Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
“It’s the single funniest movie of 2024, delivering punchline after punchline through its acute understanding of slapstick comedy and cinematic language. It’s the kind of singular cinematic experience destined to be a midnight cult hit.” – Pete Volk, Polygon
“Shot in black and white and largely devoid of dialogue, it’s supremely silly, unashamedly odd, and simultaneously one of the dumbest and smartest comedies in years… Around an hour into the movie it almost begins to feel like the whole conceit has run its course, but then it launches into a finale sequence that is so flawlessly executed and unbelievably over-the-top that it elevates this already great movie into all-time classic territory. I still can’t believe this movie exists, but I’m dam glad that it does.” – Sean Farrell, AFPLJournal
The Return
After 20 years away, Odysseus (Ralph Fiennes) washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable. The King has returned from the Trojan War, but much has changed in his kingdom. His beloved wife Penelope (Juliette Binoche) is a prisoner in her own home, hounded by suitors vying to be king. Their son Telemachus faces death at the hands of these suitors, who see him as merely an obstacle to their pursuit of the kingdom. Odysseus has also changed—scarred by his experience of the Trojan war, he is no longer the mighty warrior from years past— but he must rediscover his strength in order to win back all he has lost.
rated r for violence, some sexual content, graphic nudity, and language.
“Less an epic poem than a showcase for two of cinema’s finest actors, The Return is visually bleak and emotionally gripping.” – Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
“Pasolini has taken a classic, set thousands of years In the past, and very subtly pulled out themes about masculinity and power, about the psychological and emotional toll of war and PTSD, and its way of changing a person’s way of being. These are things that, unfortunately, still speak to the modern world.” – Karen Gordon, Original Cin
“By telling a decidedly bare-bones version of a story known for its scale and excess, The Return’s harsh landscape, stark costume choices, and violent undertones highlight the all-too-human struggles at its center in ways that make its ancient source material feel brand new.” – Lacy Baugher, Paste
Azrael
In a world in which no one speaks, a mysterious, devout community hunts down a young woman named Azrael (Samara Weaving) who has escaped their imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, she is to be sacrificed to pacify an evil which resides deep within the surrounding wilderness – but Azrael will stop at nothing to ensure her own freedom and survival.
rated r for strong bloody violence and gore.
“Weaving, who excels at this kind of character-driven action-horror, plays perfectly with our empathy, wordlessly guiding us through this damned land.” – Richard Whittaker, Austin Chronicle
“Azrael is both familiar and unique, blending genre comforts with a risky idea. Luckily, it all works, paying off a relatively massive gamble that benefits from Samara Weaving’s star power.” – Matt Donato, Collider
“Weaving confirms that she has the nerve to be a horror icon, delivering a wicked and gritty performance, and rising to the demands of a film where she must believably convey the nuances of fright and rage, without any words to do so.” – Coleman Spilde, The Daily Beast
Rumours
Ricocheting between comedy, apocalyptic horror, and swooning soap opera, Rumours follows the seven leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies at the annual G7 summit, where they attempt to draft a provisional statement regarding a global crisis.
rated r for some sexual content / partial nudity, and violent content.
“However you define it, it’s globally good fun.” – Chris Knight, Original Cin
“Sporadically ingenious, occasionally chilling and entirely bonkers, Rumours sees Maddin (writing and directing with his longtime collaborators Evan and Galen Johnson) abandoning his more familiar black-and-white, silent-film aesthetic for vibrant color.” – Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times
“The danger of movies based on conceptual wit is that they will lose steam as things proceed and the filmmakers run out of ideas. Thankfully, Maddin and the Johnsons effectively develop their story — goofy and absurd though it may be — so that these constant digs at our ineffectual leaders do coalesce into something meaningful and alarming.” – Bilge Ebiri, Vulture
Monster Summer
When a mysterious force begins to disrupt their big summer fun, Noah and his friends team up with a retired police detective to embark on a monstrous adventure to save their island.
rated pg-13 for some violence and terror.
“Monster Summer captures a wholesome sense of wonder, and it depicts that time in life between childhood and adulthood when the world is both too big and too small at the same time.” – Adam Graham, Detroit News
“Scares not scars is the goal of director David Henrie’s entertaining second directorial effort, a well-made adventure that gives preteens a fun fright that won’t terrify them (or their parents).” – Tara McNamara, Common Sense Media
“Familiarity doesn’t hurt Monster Summer, which remains mostly appealing due to its cast and effort to add a little spookiness for younger viewers not ready to see people turned inside out on the big screen just yet.” – Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com
About Dry Grasses
Samet, a young art teacher, is finishing his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia. After a turn of events he can hardly make sense of, he loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in. Will his encounter with Nuray, herself a teacher, help him overcome his angst?
not rated. contains strong language, thematic content, and sexual references.
“About Dry Grasses is part-Chekovian comedy of yearning and male ego, and part-tragedy of a country which stymies the growth of its own citizens.” – John Bleasdale, CineVue
“It’s beautiful work, and not just because it’s beautiful.” – Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
“The effortlessly orchestrated dialogue scenes are riveting, but what’s remarkable is that, no matter how talkative Samet and his cohorts are, they often don’t say what they mean. The characters argue politics, worldviews or how to handle the disturbing accusations leveled against Samet and Kenan at school, but their rhetorical jousting masks unspoken resentments and disappointments.” – Tim Grierson, Los Angeles Times
The Gutter
When frequently fired Walt lands a position tending bar and de-roaching shoes at his local bowling alley AlleyCatz, he feels like he finally found a home. When money issues threaten AlleyCatz, Walt is pressured by former pro-bowler and current champion drinker Skunk to accept his role as the greatest bowler ever put on this earth. While Walt’s love of big checks and in-your-face style of play dominates the pro tour, his detractors, including “Bowl Lives Matter” host Angelo Powers and fresh-out-of-retirement bowling-legend Linda “The Crusher” Curson, furiously attempt to snuff out Walt’s flame before it burns too bright.
not rated. contains strong language, violence, crude humor, sexual material, and drug use.
“For all its bawdy humor, it’s good clean fun.” – Stephen Saito, Variety
“The Gutter demands that you’re on its wavelength, but once you’re there, it’s like continual machine gun fire the way jokes and sight gags fly off the screen.” – Matt Donato, Collider
“The Gutter’s humor rarely misses. The Lester brothers deploy jokes with precision, taking aim at everything and everyone.” – Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter
La Chimera
Everyone has their own Chimera, something they try to achieve but never manage to find. For the band of tombaroli, thieves of ancient grave goods and archaeological wonders, the Chimera means redemption from work and the dream of easy wealth. For Arthur, the Chimera looks like the woman he lost, Beniamina. To find her, Arthur challenges the invisible, searches everywhere, goes inside the earth – in search of the door to the afterlife of which myths speak. In an adventurous journey between the living and the dead, between forests and cities, between celebrations and solitudes, the intertwined destinies of these characters unfold, all in search of the Chimera.
not rated. contains strong language, crude humor, and smoking.
“La Chimera is a film that utterly occupies its own fictional space; it expresses its eccentric romance in its own fluent movie dialect. I was utterly captivated by this sad, lovelorn adventure.” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“When we talk about ‘movie magic,’ the first thing that comes to mind is often something like the bikes achieving liftoff in E.T.. But it applies no less to Alice Rohrwacher’s wondrous La Chimera, a grubbily transcendent folk tale of a film that finds its enchantment buried in the ground.” – Jake Coyle, AP
“There’s something to this film, and to director Alice Rohrwacher’s work at large, that feels as delicate, as enigmatic, and as spiritually charged as these millennia-old artefacts. It stirs up a fierce protectiveness in the viewer. Treasure this now, hold it, turn it, and examine it from all sides, or it may slip beyond your grasp.” – Clarisse Loughrey, The Independent
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
In 1960, United Nations: the Global South ignites a political earthquake, musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crash the Security Council, Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe denouncing America’s color bar, while the U.S. dispatches jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to the Congo to deflect attention from its first African post-colonial coup.
not rated. contains strong violence, strong language including racism, disturbing content, and sexual references.
“It’s a remarkable film – exhaustive, informative and rigorously researched, but also crackling with energy, ideas and formal daring.” – Wendy Ide, Screen Daily
“In making Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, the director Johan Grimonprez used every instrument cinema affords. His documentary is rhythmic and propulsive, with reverberating sound and images juxtaposed against one another to lend more meaning. The result, in a word, is marvelous.” – Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times
“The film, with its dazzling musical energy, its complex narrative sweep and its dizzying cast of characters, finally emerges as a tragedy: a story of promises broken and trust betrayed, echoing into our own era with all the force and feeling of a ballad from Armstrong’s horn.” – Zachary Barnes, Wall Street Journal
Goebbels and the Führer
As Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels creates films and pictures used to prepare the Germans for Total War and the Holocaust. When the war is lost, he conceives his last staging, the most radical propaganda act still possible to him.
not rated. contains strong violence, disturbing content, language, and smoking.
“[An] incisive biography that remains chillingly relevant in our age of resurgent radicalism.” – Arash Nahandian, Gazettely
“Why tell this story now? In an opening statement the filmmaker declares the intent is to take us behind the scenes of this murderous regime and show it as it actually was, adding, ‘For only if we take an up-close look at the biggest villains of history can we strip the masks from their faces and thus disarm the demagogues of the present.’ Goebbels and the Führer is a disturbing film and is meant to be.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies
“Months after The Zone of Interest took an abstract, arthouse approach to Auschwitz, Führer und Verführer is, by comparison, a cinematic fire axe. It is not subtle but, judging by the shocked silence at the Berlin premiere on Thursday night, it is brutally effective, exhaustive and, at times, exhausting… Decades after postwar Germany adopted ‘never again’ as its motto, this film’s uncomfortable warning is: never say never again.” – Derek Scally, The Irish Times
Things Will Be Different
In order to escape police after a robbery, two estranged siblings lay low in a metaphysical farmhouse that hides them away in a different time. There they reckon with a mysterious force that pushes their familial bonds to unnatural breaking points.
not rated. contains bloody violence, strong language, thematic material, and brief drug use.
“It creates a world with its own rules and tells a story in its own visual language. It seems it will come to a very obvious conclusion, but then it pivots and introduces elements that create a new frame for the movie. Fifteen minutes later, it does this again, and then again.” – Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
“Things Will Be Different is deliciously claustrophobic and emotionally charged. The brother-and-sister dynamic is both uplifting and despairing.” – Lee Zumpe, Tampa Bay Newspapers
“Things Will Be Different is smart low-budget sci-fi at its finest, never overcomplicated but always conscious of emotional impact.” – Mary Beth McAndrews, Dread Central
The Sacrifice Game
The Blackvale School for Girls, 1971. It’s bad enough that students Samantha (Madison Baines) and Clara (Georgia Acken) can’t go home for the holidays, but things take a deadly turn when a gang of cult killers arrives at their doorstep—just in time for Christmas.
not rated. contains strong bloody violence and strong language.
“…Mena Massoud, Olivia Scott Welch, Derek Johns, and Laurent Pitre are more than creepy enough as the four villains. The sheer viciousness they display keeps the suspense high for much of the movie… Horror fans will still find much to enjoy here…” – Sean Farrell, AFPLJournal
“This is a unique holiday horror experience that can be enjoyed year after year.” – Michael Talbot-Haynes, Film Threat
“The Sacrifice Game is cool, calm, and collected despite bringing so many subgenres to the party, achieving tonal unity that should please crowds and leave them craving whatever comes next for Wexler and company.” – Matt Donato, /Film
Stress Positions
Terry Goon is keeping strict quarantine in his ex-husband’s Brooklyn brownstone while caring for his nephew — a 19-year-old model from Morocco named Bahlul — bedridden in a full leg cast after an electric scooter accident. Unfortunately for Terry, everyone in his life wants to meet the model.
not rated. contains strong language, sexual material, and thematic content.
“The film is an insightful look at modern discontent and the pandemonium that it breeds.” – Steven Scaife, Slant
“In its wryly amusing self-awareness at all turns, the film actively and relentlessly lampoons the very language and gesturing we all affect in trying to broach the political maelstrom of identity politics.” – Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire
“In real life, anyone would hate to spend even a few minutes in their company. Yet in Hammel’s hands, they become easy to enjoy and laugh at while completely understanding their full awful personalities.” – Murtada Elfadl, Variety
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