Alci Rengifo
‘Sorry, Baby’: Eva Victor Masterfully Confronts the Toll of Trauma in Piercing Debut
Eva Victor • Published on June 2025
There are moments in life where we meet someone and notice particular features or behavior patterns that suggest something happened to them. We are all marked by painful moments in life’s journey, but…
‘Smoke’: Taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett Bring Sparks to Moody Thriller
Apple TV Plus • Published on June 2025
No streamer beats Apple TV+ in mining for IP that provides the perfect base for another exploration of the darker side of the human condition. “Smoke” is the latest moody offering from…
‘F1: The Movie’: Brad Pitt Steers Gloriously Fun Racing Epic With Scruffy Charm
Brad Pitt • Published on June 2025
Brad Pitt is part of that small club we call the last of the true movie stars. They hail from a time when name alone could drive box office, in days before streaming…
‘The Bear’: Jeremy Allen White Drives Season 4 With Renewed Underdog Intensity
Features • Published on June 2025
The fourth season of “The Bear” opens with a stinging development that will ring sweet for critics. A scathing review becomes the true moment of crisis for the show’s hero. In a…
Dominique Thorne Is the Heroic and Melancholy Soul of Marvel’s ‘Ironheart’
Anthony Ramos • Published on June 2025
While Marvel tries to reorient itself, one of the trickier areas to find fresh material is in their television output. MCU TV series have become notorious for symbolizing the studio’s excessive cramming of…
‘The Gilded Age’ Stays Refined and Addictive in Expansive Third Season
Features • Published on June 2025
Shows like HBO’s “The Gilded Age” build a strong following not only because of their opulence, but because the characters become more meaningful than the plot. This ensemble set in the past,…
‘28 Years Later’: Danny Boyle Revives His Post-Apocalyptic World With Unchained Ferocity
28 Years Later • Published on June 2025
The world is going crazy. As liberties erode and missiles streak across skies, we don’t know who we can trust. The terrain is ripe for Danny Boyle’s “28 Years Later,” a sequel…
‘Materialists’: Dakota Johnson Is Caught Between Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans in Celine Song’s Dreamily Honest Romance
Celine Song • Published on June 2025
Relationships have always been much more complicated than just attraction or personality. Looks and money can indeed count for more, a lot more, than personality. Celine Song’s “Materialists” uses the rules of…
‘The Life of Chuck’: Mike Flanagan Adapts Stephen King’s Short Story Into a Wonderful Meditation on Life’s Chapters
Chiwetel Ejiofor • Published on June 2025
It must be quite something to near the end and look back. Does our brain truly turn our lives into a kind of montage that flashes by? In Mike Flanagan’s “The Life…
In ‘From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,’ Ana de Armas Dances Around With Plenty of Visually Wild Action but No Story
Anjelica Huston • Published on June 2025
Chad Stahelski’s “John Wick” franchise is one of the great modern action vehicles, defining aesthetic richness with the kind of craft that delivers the best of its genre. That puts quite a lot…
Owen Wilson Carries ‘Stick’ With Breezy Dad Humor
Apple TV Plus • Published on June 2025
Owen Wilson has always been such a welcoming presence onscreen that you can hardly ever imagine the guy having a dark side. One can almost feel the writers of Apple TV+’s “Stick”…
‘Karate Kid: Legends’ Reunites Old Favorites With a New Fighter for a Kinetically Silly Time
Ben Wang • Published on May 2025
Jonathan Entwistle’s “Karate Kid: Legends” is a combination of two sides to the 41-year-old franchise. One half borrows from the usual plot beats of the 1984 original “The Karate Kid,” the other…
Guy Ritchie’s ‘Fountain of Youth’ Revives Old Treasure Hunter Tropes for Some Fleeting Entertainment
Domhnall Gleeson • Published on May 2025
Guy Ritchie sure isn’t taking any breaks. The English director has been constantly putting out new material nearly every year, from large thrillers to historical action adventures, and even a Netflix series. He…
‘Sirens’: Julianne Moore Leads a Cult of Wellness With Dark Charisma in a Getaway of Privileged Dysfunction
Features • Published on May 2025
Another week, another series about the rich bottled up with their own internal problems. Netflix’s “Sirens” is the latest variation of a repeat format in the world of television shows. Call it…
‘The Final Reckoning’ Is a Spectacularly Bloated Culmination to Tom Cruise’s ‘Mission: Impossible’ Franchise
Features • Published on May 2025
The “Mission: Impossible” movies have truly tested just how long a franchise can last without replacing its main star. Tom Cruise famously embodies the last of a particular brand of Hollywood celebrity. Whatever…
‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ Season 2: Nicole Kidman Is the Only Allure in This Empty Retreat of Wounded Elites
Features • Published on May 2025
Even if the source material of a hit series runs out, you must still have a sequel. Such are the rules in streaming and so we are getting a second season of Hulu’s…
Alexander Skarsgård Is a ‘Murderbot’ in Offbeat Sci-Fi Android Parable
Alexander Skarsgård • Published on May 2025
The rapid rise of AI is making android sci-fi even more relevant. In Apple TV+’s “Murderbot,” Alexander Skarsgård gives a performance almost diabolical in its observant coldness. His character is a cyborg…
‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ Revives the Franchise With Gory Glee
Bloodlines • Published on May 2025
The revival of any and all hit franchises continues with “Final Destination: Bloodlines.” Horror fans need no introduction. Like its characters, this is a film series constantly defying death. The first movie…
‘Friendship’: Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd Come Together With Masterful Cringe
Andrew DeYoung • Published on May 2025
Craig Waterman is the kind of character you feel for and yet wouldn’t want to have around. As played by Tim Robinson in “Friendship,” he’s a keen portrait of a literal outsider…
‘Poker Face’: Natasha Lyonne’s Great Sleuth Has Grit and Wild Charm in Loaded Second Season
Features • Published on May 2025
Season two of Peacock’s “Poker Face” confirms Natasha Lyonne as one of the great modern TV sleuths. With her combination of grit and zaniness, she keeps together a series that successfully harkens back…