Dan Bayer

Girls Like Girls announces Kiyoko as a filmmaker of great emotional maturity, one who can speak to young audiences without pandering to the hyperactive style that dominates the other media they consume. It’s a perfect film for Pride.

If Toy Story 5 doesn’t quite represent peak Pixar, it does find the studio willing to tinker with its established formula in little ways that make a big difference.

Despite the well-written screenplay, it still takes great skill to navigate the tonal shifts of June and Lela’s relationship, and both women do superb work.

It feels good to have the Wayans brothers back where they belong, even if Scary Movie isn’t quite up to the level of the first film in the franchise. While it maintains that film’s strengths, the humor doesn’t feel as fresh as it once did. For all their willingness to offend, the Wayanses don’t have anything to say with their jokes, rendering them toothless.

Backrooms sees Parsons arrive on the cinematic scene as a fully formed filmmaker, with a strong visual style and a knack for creative, engaging storytelling.

Between the animation style and the decidedly adult content, the film’s ultimate sweetness is completely disarming. It doesn’t come out of nowhere, though, as it’s rooted in the same emotional honesty that marks all of the film’s dialogue.

While Øvredal’s direction and the lead performances carry the film through any rough patches, it can get quite rough. Burgess and Donohue have plenty of great ideas, but don’t seem to have edited any of them, resulting in a story that can be frustrating.

Is God Is has an infectious, rambunctious energy that wraps you up in the drama and sweeps you along with every wave of emotion. Thanks to the fun that Harris injects throughout, whether it’s a moment of sisterly bonding or a moment of visual flair, it’s a bold, brutal blast, and one of the best debuts of the year. At the very least, it announces Aleshea Harris as a major new voice in cinema.

This isn’t just some quirky look at an obscure American event and subculture or a love letter to the filmmaker’s home state; it’s a sly indictment of 21st-century America, wrapped up in what looks like a trashy thrill ride. It is pretty thrilling, to be sure, but much like how our intrepid hunters learn that the hunt is much more driving around in the dark than stalking and killing snakes, it’s not what you expect. For both the hunters and the audience, that’s for the best.

While The Devil Wears Prada 2 isn’t too sweet, it could certainly use more sour notes. The callbacks to the first film get the balance mostly right, but outside of those nicely judged moments, the film can sometimes feel like Miranda struggling with the new HR guidelines: Trying to be biting, but turning out toothless.