Best New Movies - The Spool | The Spool

8.4

Predator: Killer of Killers can’t slay all its predecessors but stands tall among them

By: Tim Stevens

Dan Trachtenberg’s return to the hunter alien following Prey places him firmly in charge of the creature’s future.

8.6

An unpleasant but compelling climb to Mountainhead

By: Tim Stevens

Jesse Armstrong’s feature directorial debut returns to the uber-wealthy acting poorly genre with pointed nastiness.

8.2

Summer of 69 a teen comedy worth assuming the position

By: Tim Stevens

In Hulu’s new teen sex comedy, Jillian Bell directs a light and frothy take on the genre with two delightful leads.

8.0

Drop in on Drop for some fun thrills

By: Tim Stevens

Christopher Landon’s latest returns him to well-plotted, effective thriller territory after a brief journey into family-friendly territory.

8.7

Loss and tech overreach haunt Cronenberg’s The Shrouds

David Cronenberg’s latest is a messy glimpse into his mourning.

9.4

Grand Tour is a captivating and challenging visual odyssey through time

Director Miguel Gomes took home the Best Director award at Cannes for this strange and experimental anti-love story.

9.0

Black Bag is a mannered, merciless delight

By: Justin Harrison

Severus has slipped its leash. It was never supposed to leave the cavernous, cold corridors of British Intelligence’s chic HQ. But it did. There is a mole. Severus is in the wind. If it’s used, thousands will die. Badly. Thus, intelligence operative Philip Meacham (Gustaf Skarsgård) turns to George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender), a superb analyst ... Black Bag is a mannered, merciless delight

8.8

Black Bag is the kind of film you don’t want to keep secret

By: Tim Stevens

Steven Soderbergh’s latest is a twisty intimate spy tale that hinges on hushed words far more than loud bangs.

9.0

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl effortlessly transforms into something special

Rungano Nyoni's precise directing and scripting deliver a film unafraid to tell dark and painful truths.

8.0

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera turns dirtbags into gentlemen thieves

By: Clint Worthington

The rough and tumble cops-versus-robbers film goes European, and is all the sleeker and more assured for it.

8.4

A monkey makes a Better Man

By: Tim Stevens

The Robbie Williams’ biopic makes a tired genre feel a little fresh with the subject's attitude and strong musical set pieces.

8.6

Carry-On is an excellent airplane movie

By: Tim Stevens

Jaume Collet-Serra’s lands on a satisfying actioner following his departure from franchise-ville.

8.4

Out of My Mind captures ups and downs of disabled tween life

By: Tim Stevens

Disney+’s adaptation of Sharon M. Draper's novel honors its characters largely without treacle.

8.2

The spectacle of Gladiator II wants to whisk you away — Let it.

Ridley Scott’s followiup to his 2000 Oscar-winner is unlikely to repeat at the Awards, but is still an entertaining epic that feels plucked from another era of Hollywood.

9.3

A Real Pain a real cinematic joy

By: Tim Stevens

Writer-director Jesse Eisenberg delivers a deeply felt glimpse at family, loss, and regret with help from a perfectly collaborated Kieran Culkin.

8.6

Woman of the Hour gives true crime trivia a soul

By: Tim Stevens

Anna Kendrick’s confident directorial debut pushes the story of so-called "Dating Game Killer" into something more.

8.5

Eerie Caddo Lake an interesting place to visit

By: Tim Stevens

MAX’s sci-fi drama is being sold on its creeps, but it’s the family dynamics that linger.

9.0

No taming The Wild Robot’s spirit

By: Tim Stevens

The adaptation of Peter Brown’s novel presents a surprisingly mature consideration of the gains and losses of motherhood, community.

9.2

A Different Man dives into an absurdist exploration of identity

Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson are unforgettable as friends and rivals in a beautifully bizarre take on what it means to be human.

9.8

The Substance is a female Fight Club that doesn’t pull its punches

Writer/director Coralie Fargeat crafts a nasty, sexy, bloody feature that pits the internal against the external.

8.3

Rebel Ridge isn’t quite the top

By: Tim Stevens

Jeremy Saulnier’s newest film is a good piece of work that only suffers compared to the rest of his filmography

9.0

Kneecap tells a bigger story of Irish identity though hip-hop

Kneecap stars the Irish hip-hop trio as themselves in an exciting, stylish music biopic that refuses to play by the rules.

8.5

Mother, Couch’s surrealist family drama is full of big swings

First-time director Niclas Larsson takes huge surrealistic risks, and it’s refreshing to see someone so unafraid to miss.

8.5

June Zero is a depressingly relevant film about the past

By: Chris Ludovici

Jake Paltrow takes a novel look at the crimes and contradictions of the Holocaust.

9.5

Thelma sets a senior citizen on an Impossible Mission

By: B.L. Panther

Josh Margolin's charming action-comedy lets June Squibb have the kind of "still got it" energy as Tom Cruise.

Intimate Indigenous yarn Fancy Dance hits most of the right steps

Erica Tremblay crafts an honest, lived-in tale of Indigenous struggle and community.

Janet Planet’s dreamy summer haze makes it easy to get caught in its orbit

Pulitzer-winning playwright Annie Baker’s first feature turns a quiet coming-of-age story into an exciting debut.

9.5

Tuesday tackles the heaviness of death with a feather-light touch

By: B.L. Panther

Daina Oniunas-Pusić’s singular debut feature migrates across space and scale with poignant ease.

8.0

Hit Man hits most of the right notes

By: Gena Radcliffe

Richard Linklater directs Glen Powell in a star-making performance.

9.0

Don’t miss the mesmerizing, moving I Saw the TV Glow

By: Gena Radcliffe

Jane Schoenbrun writes & directs a haunting story of loneliness & obsession.

8.9

The Fall Guy’s jaw-dropping stunts hit their marks

By: Justin Harrison

Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt charm and thrill—carrying The Fall Guy over the gap between its thin script and its joyful execution.

9.5

The impeccable Love Lies Bleeding flexes its way through bloody lesbian noir

By: Justin Harrison

Rose Glass' neon-soaked crime thriller is a perfectly arch, deviously dark romance.

8.5

In Dune: Part Two, the spice must flow, and so must the blood of nonbelievers

By: Clint Worthington

Denis Villeneuve finishes his epic two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert's novel with sprawling scope and thorny politics.

8.9

Michael Mann fills Ferrari with all his sound and fury

By: Justin Harrison

Adam Driver does insightful, searching work as auto legend Enzo Ferrari in the filmmaker's study of a pivotal year in his life.

8.0

The Color Purple paints a picture of community

By: B.L. Panther

Blitz Bazawule's adaptation of the Alice Walker classic (and the Broadway musical) is a more joyful, celebratory film than its predecessor.

9.8

The Zone of Interest presents the Holocaust with minimum spectacle and maximum terror

By: Matt Cipolla

The writer/director’s first feature in 10 years is a near-unclassifiable work, emotionally flattening yet fundamentally opposed to mining tension through its craft.

8.0

Poor Things is a weird & wonderful Frankenstein story

By: Gena Radcliffe

Yorgos Lanthimos directs a sumptuous adult fairy tale featuring Emma Stone at her very best.

8.0

Killers of the Flower Moon confirms Martin Scorsese’s undiminished talent

By: Peter Sobczynski

The chronicling of the Osage Nation’s early 20th-century tragedy proves powerful and prescient.

9.0

Clock strikes true with surreal, character-based terror

By: Lauren Coates

Writer/director Alexis Jacknow's feature debut boasts strong craft and a stupendous, frightening turn from Diana Argon as a woman coming undone.

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