Dune: Part One (2021)

Dune: Part One (2021)

[8] Director Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049, Arrival) takes a stab at delivering Frank Herbert's dense, complicated science-fiction novel to the big screen. Dune centers around a teenaged royal named Paul Atreides (Call Me By Your Name's Timothée Chalamet) whose…
Red Rocket (2021)

Red Rocket (2021)

[3] As much as I like Tangerine and The Florida Project, director Sean Baker leaves me cold with Red Rocket. Former adult film actor Simon Rex stars as Mikey, a middle-aged douchebag porn star who flees Hollywood to lick his…
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021)

[7] In this age of superhero fatigue, I was surprised to enjoy the first Venom movie so much. Color me equally surprised that they could pull off an entertaining sequel with Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Tom Hardy returns as…
The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)

[4] Despite the great casting of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, the third Conjuring movie continues the franchise's penchant for mediocrity. The Devil Made Me Do It opens with Wilson and Farmiga, as real life paranormal investigators Ed and Lorrain…
Murina (2021)

Murina (2021)

[5] In Croatia, a teenage girl (Gracija Filipovic) suffers her rigid, controlling father (Leon Lucev) until one of his old friends (Once Were Warriors' Cliff Curtis) visits and inspires her to seek a better life. At first, she tries to…
The Power of the Dog (2021)

The Power of the Dog (2021)

[8] Just as she did with The Piano nearly thirty years ago, director Jane Campion exposes the tragic consequences of rigid gender conformity in The Power of the Dog. Benedict Cumberbatch stars as a deeply closeted gay cattle rancher in…
Eternals (2021)

Eternals (2021)

[5] Spoilers ahead. A group of immortal beings called Eternals were sent to Earth centuries ago to fight a bunch of monsters called Deviants so the human race could survive and thrive. After all the monsters were vanquished, the Eternals…
Licorice Pizza (2021)

Licorice Pizza (2021)

[8] Hollywood often waters down characters and storylines to make them universally appealing. Filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson with Licorice Pizza, or David O. Russell with Joy and The Fighter, are challenging that notion with stories of tremendous specificity --…
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)

[7] Tom Holland, my personal favorite Spider-Man, returns in his third official film -- although his character has also appeared in many other Marvel movies that don't have his name in the title. This time, the young webslinger is dealing…
Don’t Look Up (2021)

Don’t Look Up (2021)

[7] In this satiric dark comedy from director Adam McKay (Vice, The Big Short), Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence star as astronomers trying to warn the planet of an extinction-level comet headed straight for Earth. Meryl Streep plays a Trump-like…