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Sinners
As grand as Ryan Coogler’s scope has been on some of his past projects—such as his Black Panther saga—Sinners is his biggest masterpiece. As threats both realistic and supernatural descend on a newly created juke joint in the Mississippi Delta, Coogler explores the ongoing harm of racism with so many layers as to stoke monthslong fires of viewer debate. He also reminds the world that art—particularly music—is often the greatest weapon against evil. ERIC ASH.
One Battle After Another
Sometimes we can have nice things. Like an all-time great director (Paul Thomas Anderson) making a sweeping, politically trenchant comedy-thriller that rakes it in at the box office, looks poised to dominate awards season, lets Leonardo DiCaprio go for broke honing his manic loser archetype, mints two new stars in Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti, unleashes Sean Penn as a Dr. Strangelove character, and delivers a delirious car chase the likes of which Hollywood has never seen. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER.
Megadoc
As revealing as its source text is obscure, Megadoc delves behind the scenes of Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, a 50-year passion project that became a critical and financial disaster upon release. What Megadoc director Mike Figgis uncovers is not only fascinating on-set tensions between the director and his collaborators, but also a window into the sausage-making that 99% of movie productions would be too embarrassed to share. Not Francis. No one told him no for the entire making of Megalopolis; he’s not about to start saying it now. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER.
The Mastermind
Josh O’Connor, the shifty prince of midbudget indie cinema, finds one of his definitive roles as an early-’70s family man with a sideline in stealing from museums—but Portland director Kelly Reichardt upends heist movie conventions, offering a slow burn rather than a highwire act. Cinematographer Chris Blauvelt’s grainy tones make the exteriors look chilly and the interiors look so cozy you can practically feel the warmth from the fireplace. DANIEL BROMFIELD.
Weapons
Zach Cregger’s Weapons strikes a fresh balance between art-house sensibilities and blockbuster fun factor. Its central villain, who shall not be named, will surely be placed among the ranks of Pennywise and Mike Meyers. Cregger has graduated from indie darling to a next-in-line case for hottie horror auteur. If you’re looking for shriek-inducing fun that remains thought provoking and complex, put on Weapons. NASH BENNETT.
Sorry, Baby
Eva Victor’s exploration of a ride-or-die friendship attempting to age—when one half (Victor) stays in their college town, and the other (Naomi Ackie) moves away—is the kind of sweet, wise, heartbroken dramedy that once gave Sundance its good name. It also announces Victor as a truly multitalented creator, equally skillful at writing, directing, and acting, who scrambles the film’s narrative in ways that could feel gimmicky, but come across as genuinely smart instead. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER.
Eephus
“I’ve been watching for hours, and I still don’t understand baseball,” says a spectator in Carson Lund’s Eephus. If you do understand baseball, it’s nice enough to focus on the rhythms of the final game between Adler’s Paint and the Riverdogs. But what makes Eephus spooky and special is the sense that the four edges of the field enfold a pocket of spacetime where things stop making sense—where a pitch might slow down time itself, where that mysterious hot dog stand might have beamed in from another planet. DANIEL BROMFIELD.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Rian Johnson’s third entry in the Benoit Blanc series dives as deeply into locked-room tropes as it does into thorny questions of faith. As in Knives Out and Glass Onion, Blanc (Daniel Craig) takes on a star-studded cast of suspects, and while he usually finds a good partner to help, here he’s much more at odds with junior priest Father Jud (Josh O’Connor). While there are no concrete plans for a fourth film yet, Dead Man’s darker dynamics still help the cinematic choir end on a high note. ERIC ASH.
The Shrouds
In The Shrouds, David Cassel’s grieving widower Karsh invents icky technology to keep his wife company from beyond the grave. It feels like a particularly personal project for David Cronenberg, who recently lost his own wife to cancer. And while the details of his inventions tilt the film toward Cronenberg’s patented “body horror,” what this movie most made me realize is how precious the human body really is. DANIEL BROMFIELD.
Frankenstein
Faithful to the Mary Shelley novel to a point, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is truly his own interpretation in every painterly frame. The true MVP, however, is Jacob Elordi as the Creature. Elordi, after years of typecasting as toxic jocks and vapid rich boys, comes into his own with a role expressed in every muscle, but especially the heart. ERIC ASH.
