April Wolfe

In typical Coen fashion, most people in the movie meet ironic or wry deaths, but this time the Coens seem to be actively eschewing any deeper emotional connection between the audience and the characters....

This thoughtful, textured story — though brutal at times — stands as one of the clearest depictions of turmoil, racism and nepotism in local politics that’s ever been drawn onscreen....

There are some evergreen horror concepts, where the bare bones of the story are strong enough that they can be adapted and made over in multiple generations to express whatever fears and frustrations of the times in which they’re made....

We meet Laurie in her super-sealed woodsy compound, almost 40 years to the day after the murders that took place in 1978 — this film negates all the previous Halloween sequels....

To fall in love with A Star Is Born is to embrace these paradoxes and, to quote a song Gaga sings in the film, go “off the deep end” and submerge oneself “far from the shallow.”...

Too bad, then, that even Laguna’s input doesn’t get to the heart of Jett’s essence, as Bad Reputation comes off more as a fanboy’s declaration of reverence to the queen rather than an interrogation of one of the most iconic women in music....

At times, Green’s film feels too familiar, exploring what we already know — cops can be dirty and may retaliate if they’re crossed....

Ultimately a story about brotherhood, friendship and the insecurity of life in a violent place, the film injects a sweetness and innocence into the genre, mostly through one stellar performance by John C. Reilly....

There’s a sense that writer-director Dan Fogelman has been inspired in part by the broken narratives of Charlie Kaufman, as the first 10 minutes of this film feature a story-within-a-story meta fake-out with Samuel L. Jackson as himself, narrating the action of a screenplay written by forlorn drunk Will (Oscar Isaac)....

The story follows a gang of misfit criminals escaping to a hideout carved into the rocky Italian cliffside, where an eccentric, society-hating artist, Luce (Elina Löwensohn), and her guests sunbathe and make bullet-ridden art....