Michael
Michael tells the story of Michael Jacksonโs life beyond the music, tracing his journey from the discovery of his extraordinary talent as the lead of the Jackson Five, to the visionary artist whose creative ambition fueled a relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world. Highlighting both his life off-stage and some of the most iconic performances from his early solo career, the film gives audiences a front-row seat to Michael Jackson as never before. This is where his story begins.
Rated PG-13 for some thematic material, language, and smoking.
“If youโve ever been a fan of Michael Jackson, you are guaranteed to have a good time with this.” – Sean Farrell, AFPL Journal
“Like the King of Pop himself, Michael is unashamedly a crowd-pleaser.” – G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
“From the casting to the costumes to the full-fledged concert performances, Michael lives up to the legendary status of its namesake.” – Liz Declan, Screen Rant
Obsession
After breaking the mysterious โOne Wish Willowโ to win his crushโs heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.
Rated R for strong bloody violence, grisly images, sexual content, pervasive language, and brief graphic nudity.
“Obsession is a wild ride that isnโt afraid to go to dark places as it psychoanalyzes a certain type of modern man. Genuinely tense and unsettling, this is a movie you wonโt soon forget.” – Sean Farrell, AFPL Journal
“Through clever cinematography, editing tricks, and a cast thatโs fully committed to the directorโs unnerving vision, Barker reimagines a classic horror idea for a new generation.” – Monica Castillo, AV Club
“Curry Barkerโs astute horror takes the simple, familiar premise of a love-sick man attempting to win the object of his affections and shapes it into an incisive, entertainingly schlocky study of romantic co-dependency, patriarchal entitlement and the all-too-easy subversion of good intentions.” – Nikki Baughan, Screen Daily
The Drama
A happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.
Rated R for sexual content, some violent / bloody images, language throughout, and brief drug use.
“By mixing raw honesty with formal artifice, Borgli has crafted one of the most unique movies of the year. It will have you wide eyed with shock, chuckling to yourself, angry, riveted, nervous, and cringing internally at various points, before finding its way to a surprisingly tender, wellโearned note of romance. Itโs a must-see.” – Sean Farrell, AFPL Journal
Lee Cronin’s The Mummy
The young daughter of a journalist disappears into the desert without a traceโeight years later, the broken family is shocked when she is returned to them, as what should be a joyful reunion turns into a living nightmare.
Rated R for strong disturbing violent content, gore, language, and brief drug use.
“Lee Croninโs The Mummy may not fully cohere, but it certainly doesnโt play it safe. The extent to which you enjoy the film will depend on your tolerance for excess.” – Tom Atkinson, Film Threat
“Cronin has an uncanny knack for human mutilation, which would probably be a bad thing in any other context, but if youโre making gross-out horror movies, itโs practically a requirement.” – William Bibbiani, The Wrap
“Writer-director Lee Cronin holds onto the essential mythology while bringing in elements from a host of other influences, including the Evil Dead series, The Exorcist, and Hereditary, to try and shake up what mummies can be on screen. Discovering the true nature of this film’s mummy, and what it’s capable of, is part of the fun. The result isn’t quite a 28 Days Later moment โ one way to understand the film’s full title is that this feels like one filmmaker’s interpretation of a classic monster, rather than a new template for others to follow โ but it’s definitely the scariest a mummy movie has been in years.” – Alex Harrison, Screen Rant
Mortal Kombat II
In Mortal Kombat II, the fan favorite championsโnow joined by Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) himselfโare pitted against one another in the ultimate, no-holds barred, gory battle to defeat the dark rule of Shao Kahn that threatens the very existence of the Earthrealm and its defenders.
Rated R for strong bloody violence and gore, and language.
“Mortal Kombat II is a sterling example of an action movie that starts out dumb but gradually becomes kind of awesome โ and a little bit smarter.” – Bob Strauss, San Francisco Chronicle
“Mortal Kombat II ends with a pretty clear set-up for a third movie, which is already in development, and fingers crossed it’ll do what this movie did: Improve on what came before, take the piss out of itself whenever possible, and never forget, at the end of the day, the reason people want to watch movies like this in the first place.” – Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence
“The spectacle โ its eardrum-shattering, eye-popping pyrotechnics, with the violence framed against all manner of phantasmagoric computer-generated backdrops โ is its own reward.” – Glenn Kenny, New York Times
Pressure
In the tense 72 hours before D-Day, and with the fate of the free world hanging in the balance, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg face an impossible choiceโlaunch the largest and most dangerous seaborne invasion in history or risk losing the war altogether.
Rated PG-13 for war violence, bloody images, some strong language, and smoking.
“This is a serious film in the best sense of the term, a thoughtful film about people facing the direst problems with honor, intelligence, and courage that goes beyond the physical to include fearlessness about pursuing the truth.” – Nell Minow, RogerEbert.com
“That the film is gripping even though audiences already know the outcome of the main event speaks to Marasโ tight direction and the strength of his screenplay with Haig.” – Kim Hughes, Original Cin
“Boring? Never. Thrilling and history-making? Indeed. Maras and Haig easily rise to the challenge to make the weather worth watching.” – Katie Walsh, Chicago Tribune
In the Grey
A covert team of elite operatives live in the global shadows, as comfortable wielding power and influence as they are automatic weapons and high explosives. When a ruthless despot steals a billion-dollar fortune, the team is sent to steal it back on what would be for anyone else a suicide mission. What begins as an impossible heist gets much worse, spiraling into an all-out war of strategy, deception and survival.
Rated R for violence, language, and a sexual reference.
“Ritchie is more deeply invested in the thought-through craft of making a B-movie than many of his peers and thereโs a smooth sensuousness to how he moves, each of them looking, feeling and sounding like films he genuinely cares about.” – Benjamin Lee, The Guardian
“With particular attention paid to character dynamics, Guy Ritchie returns to what he does best. His most successful projects, such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, thrive on that quick and snappy dialogue. As his career has progressed, heโs expanded his horizons and proven that he can craft a compelling story apart from his origins as a filmmaker โ but whenever Ritchie leans back into those core elements, it feels like a welcome return. Thatโs exactly the case here, and the three leads are the clear beneficiaries.” – Josh Bate, Screen Rant
“Guy Ritchieโs In the Grey offers what fans expect from the director: relentless but nimble editing; breathtaking locations (Spain, Saudi Arabia, the Canary Islands); clothes, shoes, and hair to die for; the self-mocking machismo and playful insults of male bonding; and a characterโs verbal summary of a plan intercut with shots of the actions being performed.” – Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.com
I Swear
Based on the life story of Tourette’s Syndrome campaigner John Davidson, MBE. Set within 1980s Britain, the story follows him throughout his troubled teens and early adulthood, and explores this little known and entirely misunderstood condition, along with his attempts to live a โnormalโ life against the odds.
Rated R for language throughout, and some violence.
“I Swear is the real deal, that rare biopic that doesnโt just tell a real human beingโs story โ or worse, give you the superficial, reassuring gist โ but invites you into it.” – William Bibbiani, The Wrap
“I Swear is not looking for pity. Itโs looking for empathy and understanding, as if to say there is no such thing as good or bad disabilities.” – Alan Ng, Film Threat
“It will make you cry, it will make you uncomfortable, but at the end of the film’s runtime, it will leave you with a feeling of profound satisfaction that even the most heartfelt movies struggle to replicate.” – Aidan Kelley, Collider
Animal Farm
A group of animals rebel against their owners and take power over the farm.
Rated PG for thematic elements, some action / violence, rude humor, and language.
“…its message is what Iโm recommending the film for. Look, it will make great dinner conversation with your toddlers.” – Alan Ng, Film Threat
“While it may struggle to satisfy diehard Orwell purists, the film still takes a political stance and delivers an emphatic message celebrating equality and the power of the collective โ albeit one which permits us a little more hope than was present in Orwellโs 1945 novella.” – Wendy Ide, Screen Daily
“It doesnโt all work, and some key elements are lost any time you mess with a classic plot. But if thereโs an agenda in this Farm, itโs that good but misguided people (animals here) have to admit theyโve been had before their deeply-flawed, criminally cruel idols can be brought down. And calling out their stupidity is no way to lead, either.” – Roger Moore, Movie Nation
Normal
For Sheriff Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk), his provisional posting to the quaint Midwestern American town of Normal was meant to be a welcome respite from both his marital woes and recent moral injuries in the line of duty. But when a botched bank robbery interrupts the municipalityโs tranquil pace, a dark secret is inadvertently exposed, and Ulysses soon discovers that the town is anything but its namesake.
Rated R for strong bloody violence, and language.
“Bob Odenkirk continues his late-career action streak with a satirical and stylishly violent take on the small-town-under-siege movie. Ben Wheatley meets John Wick? Oh, go on then.” – Dan Jolin, Empire
“Because itโs Wheatley directing, the already funny script gets an extra dose of dark humor from its over-the-top kills.” – Peter Debruge, Variety
“Sure, there is a subplot or two that feels a bit uncooked, but itโs easy to forgive because the movie is brisk and wickedly fun. Like its affable hero, Normal is impossible to ignore and proof that when Odenkirk takes on an action role, things are anything but normal.” – Tania Hussain, Collider
Whistle
A misfit group of unwitting high school students stumble upon a cursed object, an ancient Aztec Death Whistle. They discover that blowing the whistle and the terrifying sound it emits will summon their future deaths to hunt them down. As the body count rises, the friends investigate the origins of the deadly artifact in a desperate effort to stop the horrifying chain of events that they have set in motion.
Rated R for strong violent content, gore, drug content, and language.
“Itโs a clever hook, and the film milks it for some genuinely inventive, well-executed set pieces. As a delivery system for imaginative deaths, Whistle does its job with a certain professional pride.” – Thom Ernst, Original Cin
“Itโs the same thrill as the Final Destination movies, which Egerton and Hardy have both noted as an influence: watching likable protagonists try and sometimes fail to evade death.” – Richard Whittaker, Austin Chronicle
“It may come dressed in borrowed robes, but this is a no-holds-barred horror with real bite โ and surely the start of a new franchise.” – Matt Glasby, Empire
Deep Water
A flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai goes down in the middle of the Pacific. After surviving the crash, the survivors soon discover theyโre not alone and they must survive the shark infested waters.
Rated R for violent content / bloody images, and some language.
“Itโs easy to forgive cheap aesthetics and a rushed finale when the middle of the flick, the sharktastic bloodletting where no character is safe, is such a hoot.” – William Bibbiani, The Wrap
“Harlin has had a long and uneven career leading up to this. Though he isnโt quite old enough to have tackled Deep Water back in 1979, he did make Cliffhanger and Die Hard 2 in the 1990s, and this feels like a kind of spiritual successor to those star-driven action movies.” – Chris Knight, Original Cin
“In this case, Eckhart exudes the sort of unselfconscious paternal energy thatโs needed to keep things moving in between the familiar, but well-executed disaster movie story beats. He almost single-handedly makes Deep Water a better-than-average genre exercise, though the bloody shark attacks and corny banter donโt hurt either.” – Simon Abrams, AV Club
Fuze
In contemporary London, an unexploded World War II bomb is unearthed at a busy construction site, forcing a massive citywide evacuation. Amid the escalating tension and chaos, a daring criminal operation is set in motionโone that uses the evacuation as cover for a meticulously planned heist. As authorities race against time to contain the crisis, alliances blur and moral boundaries are crossed.
Rated R for language throughout and violence.
“Fuzeโs denouement is terrific, completely unpredictable and surprisingly funny. Itโs as if summer blockbuster season came early. Fuze isโฆ wait for itโฆ a must-see blast.” – Kim Hughes, Original Cin
“In addition to serving up heaping helpings of suspense and action, Fuze abounds in twists.” – Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com
“No one can be trusted. No one is assured of their survival. We donโt even know who we should be rooting forโโbeyond the filmmakers themselves, in hopes they stick the landing.” – Jared Mobarak, The Film Stage
Fiume o morte!
In September 1919, Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio led a force of irregulars in an invasion of the town of Fiume, in what is today Croatia. Was he an egotist with dreams of heading his own state? A utopian with a strong nationalist bent? Or a fascist who cared little for the locals and helped pave the way for Mussoliniโs rule?
Not Rated. Contains violence, bloody images, language including slurs, sexual references, nude images, thematic content, and a brief drug reference.
“Bezinoviฤ presents the story of DโAnnunzioโs autocratic rise, reign, and fall in a way thatโs as unusual as it is revelatory.” – Richard Brody, The New Yorker
“Dazzled and conflicted are some of the best things a documentary like this can be, and that clear passion for the subject, as well as Bezinoviฤโs cinematic flair, makes for infectious, often-hilarious viewing.” – Rory O’Connor, The Film Stage
“Itโs a gloriously punk spin on the historical documentary genre, channeling the humour and rebellious spirit of a people who have been part of ‘eight or nine different countries’ during the 20th century, who have spoken multiple languages, but who have managed to maintain their own distinct identity nonetheless.” – Wendy Ide, Screen Daily
Tow
Based on a true story, Tow follows Amanda Ogle (Rose Byrne), a woman living in her aging Toyota Camry on the streets of Seattle. When her car โ her only lifeline โ is stolen and impounded, Amanda is thrust into a relentless legal battle against an indifferent system. What begins as a fight to reclaim her car evolves into a deeply human story of resilience, dignity, and the power of one womanโs voice in the face of systemic failure.
Rated R for language and some sexual references.
“The movie steers into a ‘beat the system’ narrative that packs some stirring Erin Brockovich energy.” – Glenn Kenny, New York Times
“In less deft hands, the film could have been a clichรฉd affair, featuring Amanda delivering an impassioned courtroom speech that brings the judge to tears and the onlookers to a burst of applause. Towโs distinct tone avoids these clichรฉsโthe film is often quite funnyโturning the expected into the unexpected.” – Sheila O’Malley, RogerEbert.com
“Even when her film dips into melodrama, Rose Byrne grounds her portrayal of an unhoused woman living her car in a humanity that feels detailed and true.” – Peter Travers, The Travers Take
Micro Budget
When Terry discovers he’s about to be a father, he does what any other sane person would do. He moves himself and his nine-months-pregnant wife from Iowa to Los Angeles to shoot a low-budget indie movie and sell it to a streamer. Documented by his cousin Devinโs behind-the-scenes camera crew, Terry suddenly finds that his beliefs about diversity, the #MeToo movement, and what technically qualifies as a properly financed film production put him at odds with, well, every single person who meets him. Featuring a cast of comedy MVPs, Micro Budget follows Terryโs disastrous attempts to make a disaster movie, and his inability to serve a decent lunch.
Not Rated. Contains strong language throughout, sexual references, and thematic material.
“It’s a deliriously perfect, laugh-a-second satire.” – Gregory Nussen, Screen Rant
“One of the funniest movies I’ve seen in a long time.” – Michael J. Casey, Metro Arts
“Micro Budget is a hilarious look at the struggles of filmmaking and an interesting character study of those just crazy enough to try.” – Jules Caldeira, Film Inquiry
Mr. K
After spending the night in a remote hotel, Mr. K is stuck in a claustrophobic nightmare when he discovers that he can’t leave the building.
Not rated. Contains language and thematic content.
“Writer/director Schwab has crafted a piece that is beautiful, austere, and terrifying.” – Kent Hill, Film Threat
“The end result is a film that truly feels like it has something to say and goes about saying it in the strangest way possible.” – Robert Brian Taylor, Collider
“Mr. K succeeds as both an homage to Kafkaโs fascination with the absurdity of life, and especially with the socio-bureaucratic systems we humans have wrought upon ourselves, and as a sumptuous and surreal feast for the eyes. It poses many questions, leaving them for the audience to ponder for themselves after the screen fades to black.” – Marya E. Gates, IndieWire
Neither the Library or its staff receive compensation for inclusion on this list or links to external websites.
-
-
-
-
-