Variety

Offers a particularly dumb kind of gung-ho Ugly Americanism...

Posted Dec 21, 2018

All Is True (2018)

The result is a revisionist fiasco, too dense with Shakespeare allusions for casual moviegoers, and too fast and loose with the facts for those who know a thing or two about the man.

Posted Dec 21, 2018

Communion (Komunia) (2017)

The burden of premature adult responsibilities forced on children by childish adults has rarely been captured quite so vividly as in "Communion."

Posted Dec 21, 2018

Shoplifters (Manbiki kazoku) (2018)

Maggie Lee

At once charming and heart-wrenching, this exquisitely performed film will steal the hearts of both art-house and mainstream audiences.

Posted Dec 20, 2018

Second Act (2018)

It's got flow, a certain knowing ticky-tackiness about its own contrivances. You know you're watching a connect-the-dots comedy, but the dots sparkle.

Posted Dec 20, 2018

Welcome to Marwen (2018)

The film is far from incompetent, and it brims with ambition, but too much of the time what's happening just sits there.

Posted Dec 19, 2018

The Wedding (2018)

Jay Weissberg

The film's lack of originality goes beyond its title as it tediously imitates fixed-camera observational indie dramas while privileging dialogue that plays like uninspired improvisation.

Posted Dec 18, 2018

Malila: The Farewell Flower (2017)

Guy Lodge

A film dedicated to the simultaneous beauty and cruelty of impermanence...

Posted Dec 17, 2018

Vice (2018)

"Vice..." though it pretends to reveal how power works, is ultimately content to remain on the outside, sticking its finger in the eye of power.

Posted Dec 17, 2018

Nona (2018)

This is one of Polish's best films, an uneven but texturally interesting ramble though foreign cultural and geographic terrain, all examined with a fresh eye.

Posted Dec 16, 2018

Winter's Night (2018)

Jessica Kiang

The performances, especially from the Seo Young-hwa as the discontented erstwhile poet Eun-ju are so sure-footed that the joinery between real and unreal, literal and metaphorical is seamless.

Posted Dec 15, 2018

Never-Ending Man: Hayao Miyazaki (2018)

An affectionate look at the master's inextinguishable impulse to create that's all the more enchanting for its casual familiarity.

Posted Dec 14, 2018

Backtrace (2018)

Joe Leydon

Matthew Modine is outstanding as an amnesia-stricken bank robber in Brian A. Miller's VOD-centric thriller.

Posted Dec 14, 2018

Dead Women Walking (2018)

Jessica Kiang

Ben-Asher, in her fourth feature, strips down the story with serious-minded determination, rigorously defining the film's narrow scope and ruthlessly excising anything outside it...

Posted Dec 13, 2018

Dumplin' (2018)

Guy Lodge

"Dumplin'" has been so carefully calculated, it's a wonder it plays as warmly and sincerely as it does.

Posted Dec 13, 2018

The Quake (Skjelvet) (2018)

It's just intelligent and serious enough to give you your escapist cake - deluxe popcorn perils in all their big-screen glory - without making you eat the familiar guilt of empty-calorie overload.

Posted Dec 12, 2018

The Mule (2018)

This isn't the role that will earn Eastwood a legion of new fans, but it's almost sure to delight those who appreciate him already.

Posted Dec 12, 2018

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

Emily Blunt is practically perfect in every way in a 'Mary Poppins' sequel that uncannily recreates the original's wholesome studio-system vibe.

Posted Dec 12, 2018

Springsteen on Broadway (2018)

Chris Willman

Springsteen has mastered the dynamics needed to keep a mostly talking, partly singing show riveting for a running time that's epic by monologists' standards, if not his own.

Posted Dec 12, 2018

Aquaman (2018)

It doesn't suck, but only if you're willing to sit through two hours of waterlogged world-building before the movie finally takes off.

Posted Dec 11, 2018

Jirga (2018)

Eddie Cockrell

Unfortunately cryptic but nonetheless fascinating...

Posted Dec 10, 2018

Bumblebee (2018)

"Bumblebee" is basically the movie that fans of the 1980s animated series wanted all along.

Posted Dec 9, 2018

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018)

The film is not without spectacle, but it is strangely without soul.

Posted Dec 7, 2018

All the Devil's Men (2018)

There's a lot of double- and triple-crossing, culminating in a fadeout that seems to go one plot twist over the line of narrative coherency.

Posted Dec 7, 2018

Back Roads (2018)

The effect, in this case, is more audacious than convincing.

Posted Dec 7, 2018

Mortal Engines (2018)

Andrew Barker

The movie devolves from promising to unwieldy, then baffling, then exhausting, then finally unintentionally hysterical.

Posted Dec 5, 2018

Bathtubs Over Broadway (2018)

Anyone who loves musical theater owes it to themselves to see "Bathtubs Over Broadway," a delightful deep-dive documentary into one man's obsession with the obscure world of industrial musicals...

Posted Nov 30, 2018

Ghostbox Cowboy (2018)

This original if sometimes befuddling vision blurs the line between fiction and documentary elements, conventional storytelling and improvisational collage, all to oft-bracing effect.

Posted Nov 30, 2018

Elliot The Littlest Reindeer (2018)

There are worse Yuletide kidpics, but "Elliot" has that particular by-committee quality which can suck the goodwill right out of the room.

Posted Nov 29, 2018

The Possession of Hannah Grace (2018)

She's possessed, although she's lifeless. Sort of like the movie.

Posted Nov 29, 2018

Las Sandinistas! (2018)

"Las Sandinistas!" emerges as a documentary of ripe impact and value, even if it's sometimes a ramshackle piece of filmmaking.

Posted Nov 29, 2018

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Just when you thought you couldn't take another Spider-Man reboot, along comes the movie to put them all in perspective.

Posted Nov 28, 2018

Astral (2018)

You'll wish you could project yourself into a different entertainment dimension while slogging through "Astral."

Posted Nov 23, 2018

Celebration

"Celebration" doesn't feel entirely fair, but it's a priceless addition to our understanding of how Yves Saint Laurent - the man, the myth, la marque - operated: a flawed film whose mere existence makes it essential viewing.

Posted Nov 23, 2018

The World Before Your Feet (2018)

While some more skeptical strangers seem to think Green is wasting his time, "World" makes it easy to admire the logic of his explanation that "It's just about the value of paying attention to something."

Posted Nov 22, 2018

The Border Fence (Die bauliche Maßnahme) (2018)

Geyrhalter isn't looking for absurdity; he seems genuinely curious as to what his subjects think, rolling for entire conversations and splicing the most interesting bits together with black frames.

Posted Nov 21, 2018

Robin Hood (2018)

"Robin Hood" is no classic, but if it sometimes seems like it's trying to be "Baz Luhrmann's Robin Hood," more power to it.

Posted Nov 20, 2018

Judith (1966)

Variety Staff

[A] frequently-tenseful adventure tale realistically produced in its actual locale.

Posted Nov 19, 2018

Los Reyes (2018)

A charmingly roundabout documentary born of curiosity, patience, and no small amount of inventiveness on the part of its authors...

Posted Nov 19, 2018

Bellingcat - Truth in a Post-Truth World (2018)

The beauty of Bellingcat, both the organization and the documentary, is the way the organization aims to share its methods with others, inspiring old-school outlets such as The New York Times to innovate accordingly.

Posted Nov 19, 2018

Coldplay: A Head Full of Dreams (2018)

Even if you're a fan of the band (which I am), the movie may leave you wanting.

Posted Nov 19, 2018

Speed Kills (2018)

What's not to like? Well, everything -- unless you're the star, who seems convinced that this embarrassingly cloddish biopic-slash-thriller actually flatters both him and its subject.

Posted Nov 18, 2018

Creed II (2018)

"Creed II" has been made with heart and skill, and Jordan invests each moment with such fierce conviction that he makes it all seem like it matters.

Posted Nov 16, 2018

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

Rourke's film feels well suited to the #MeToo moment, contrasting Mary and Elizabeth's far different strategies for maintaining what each believed to be her God-given legacy.

Posted Nov 16, 2018

A German Youth (Une Jeunesse Allemande) (2015)

Jay Weissberg

How refreshing to have a director refuse black-and-white conclusions, knowing that formulating questions is the best way to probe the past and its ramifications.

Posted Nov 15, 2018

The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

Courtney Howard

With its saccharine score, saturated cinematography, and trite platitudes, the film is formulaic and forgettable except for Kurt Russell's performance as the lovable legend.

Posted Nov 14, 2018

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)

It's a poignant buddy movie that's sincere in all the right places, but knows better than to take itself too seriously.

Posted Nov 14, 2018

Instant Family (2018)

You could call it sentimental and glib and say that it was put through a processor, and you'd be right, but in its on-the-nose cookie-cutter way this slice-of-life pablum has a lite humanity.

Posted Nov 14, 2018

Bird Box (2018)