Toy Story 4: Retconning Childhood
Revisiting childhood after it’s over can make it more complicated than it should be. Pixar fumbled another one.
M.C. Myers
Dark Phoenix: Ending on a Whimper
A series sendoff turns into an anthem to whining. This was not the way it should have ended.
X-Men: First Class: A Change of Color
A younger cast puts a spring in this series’ step. One of X-Men’s best.
mother!
Gorgeous movies aren’t usually this divisive. Aronofsky seems to delight in making us squirm over his art, and over ourselves.
Moonrise Kingdom
Wes Anderson turns our lives into a documentary. He’s found more love in two children than most have found in the rest of us combined.
The Final Word: It’s Time to Retire the Term “Mary Sue”
The talk of what it means to be a Mary Sue has gotten so emotional that I think it’s time for the term to disappear. But not before my final word.
Insomnia
A simple cop thriller elevated by a feeling. Pacino torments himself for us and it’s mostly wonderful.
Avengers: Infinity War and the Power of Change
An ensemble cluster of action and color anchored by one of the best villains in the genre. The series’ most essential film.
The Passion of the Christ
A gutsy portrayal of a well-known story. But the passion has to come from you: the movie has little of its own.
Shaun of the Dead
With pure style, Wright re-arms the entire genre against us. Through comedy, we become the living dead.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
A cartoon in the spirit of the old epics. The best musical Disney ever made.
Alien: For the Love of Sex Monsters
The horror here is disquietingly personal. A masterclass in turning style into story.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
My favorite of the Disney Star Wars films. A rugged take on the universe that almost lives up to its ambitions.
Shazam!
Not only does the movie walk on air, it never loses sight of the people on the ground. Few movies have been less ashamed to be themselves.
Terminator Genisys: When a Series Abuses Itself
About as bad as a movie of its kind could be. The franchise equivalent of suicide ideation.
Lost in Translation
Coppola’s wry, magical opus. Maybe falling in love has never been like this, but you’ll believe that it should be.
We Need to Talk About Kevin
A movie where story and performance collide. As unsettling as we always knew Tilda Swinton could be.
The Shadow
A superhero film justly thought of as sloppy, and wrongly ignored for being so spunky and beautiful.
Swiss Army Man
Not a movie for the faint of anything. If you can get through the gross stuff, you might discover a romance.
Dumbo (1941): The First Disney Film to Fall Short
Beautiful animation complements a pretty bare story about proving yourself even when you have nothing to prove. Not the studio’s best.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The rare horror film that makes you afraid of your own life, rather than for it. A paranoia masterclass.
The Matrix Reloaded
A ton of effort goes into figuring out what to do with a Kung fu movie. It can be beautiful, and it can also fall apart in your hands.
Sleepy Hollow: High Homage
An underappreciated throwback movie. Horrific, cheesy, and sometimes completely beautiful.
Dark City: Solving the Us Illusion
An extravagant mystery, deeply brilliant. Where mainstream meets noir and makes them both seem like a good idea.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture and the Flaw in Us
A movie disregarded even in its own series. Flawed and beautiful as the human race it’s about.