The Latest Movie Reviews (Page 5) | The Spool

The Latest Movie Reviews (Page 5)

Coverage of everything hitting the big screen, from big-budget blockbusters to independent arthouse fare.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes proves itself in the arena

By: Shannon Campe

Despite a challenging premise and an overlong runtime, the Hunger Games prequel makes the most of the hand it’s been dealt.

Trolls Band Together is another off-key entry in the franchise

The Trolls movies continue to indulge in their best and worst impulses in a third installment.

Nebraska at 10: Alexander Payne’s love letter to the Midwest

Long overshadowed by Sideways, we’re giving this understated dramedy its due for depicting Midwest with the specificity Hollywood rarely gives it.

Unraveling pop-culture one thread at a time

The Spool is an irreverent, informative source for film and television coverage, focused on diverse, thoughtful opinions that seek out a greater understanding of the media we love.

The Killer is dead by design, and largely for the better

By: Matt Cipolla

David Fincher’s tale of a globetrotting assassin combines slick setpieces with economic construction.

The Marvels is a confounding crossover

By: Shannon Campe

The MCU’s latest entry throws the unfamiliar into a murderer’s row of crossovers and Easter eggs, with only a charming Iman Vellani coming out on top. NOW STREAMING: Powered by JustWatch Most films don’t come with homework. The same cannot be said of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s new movie, The Marvels. Unless you’re a devoted ... The Marvels is a confounding crossover

You Were My First Boyfriend is a unique, bittersweet documentary about the hell of adolescence

By: Gena Radcliffe

Filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo poignantly recreates her teenage years as a form of immersive therapy.

Priscilla is one of Sofia Coppola’s most patient and accessible offerings yet

By: Matt Cipolla

The writer/director’s take on Priscilla Presley’s relationship with Elvis is a wise and unsensational tale of growth despite its larger-than-life origins.

Austin Film Festival 2023

Horses, Leftism & Cannibals: Dispatches from the Austin Film Festival

An overview of the diverse features selected to screen at this year's Austin Film Festival.

Scattered charm can’t make Inspector Sun shine

By: Justin Harrison

A kid-friendly detective movie in the spirit of the classics would be great. Inspector Sun tries but sadly never manages to spin the right web. NOW STREAMING: Powered by JustWatch I love detective stories. Tales of how, as Sara Gran would say, “truth lives in the ether.” Explorations of people and places and how they ... Scattered charm can’t make Inspector Sun shine

CIFF Shorts Roundup: A Real One, The Miracle & more

By: B.L. Panther

Local filmmakers, horror & desire are all given the spotlight at the Chicago International Film Festival's shorts program.

CIFF 2023: May December is another snaky Todd Haynes classic

By: Peter Sobczynski

Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman glisten, but Charles Melton shines in a twisted tale of the ways we shape our realities, and the lengths we go to understand scandal. NOW STREAMING: Powered by JustWatch In such films as Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Velvet Goldmine and I’m Not There, filmmaker Todd Haynes has taken the ... CIFF 2023: May December is another snaky Todd Haynes classic

CIFF 2023: Saltburn leaves a bitter taste in the mouth

By: Peter Sobczynski

Emerald Fennell’s followup to Promising Young Woman is a hollow dramedy that wastes solid performances from Carey Mulligan, Rosamund Pike, and others. NOW STREAMING: Powered by JustWatch With her first film, Promising Young Woman, writer-director Emerald Fennell took a storyline that was essentially a cloddish-but-glossy retread of such female-driven revenge sagas as Ms .45 and ... CIFF 2023: Saltburn leaves a bitter taste in the mouth

Five Nights at Freddy’s as reviewed by someone who’s never played Five Nights at Freddy’s

By: Gena Radcliffe

Do you need to? Does it matter?

Once Within a Time looks to a new generation

By: Soham Gadre

Godfrey Reggio’s latest uses a mix of visuals, past and futuristic, to argue for resting our hopes on the children.

CIFF Dispatch: Memory

By: Peter Sobczynski

The Peter Saarsgard-Jessica Chastain bittersweet romance wrestles the pains and pleasures of our pasts.

Dicks: The Musical is all too flaccid

By: Shannon Campe

"A24's first musical" fails to justify its transition from UCB sketch to full-length film.

CIFF Dispatch: Evil Does Not Exist & Limbo

By: Peter Sobczynski

Two films focusing on life in small communities beset by institutions larger than them and disinterested in their pain.

Long live the Suitable Flesh

By: Peter Sobczynski

Joe Lynch takes a crack at Lovecraft with enjoyably icky results

CIFF Dispatch: Dream Scenario

By: Peter Sobczynski

Nicolas Cage delivers a performance worthy of fantasies, meeting the film's wild tone with a grounded turn.

CIFF Dispatch #1: Departing Seniors, Nyad, & Silver Dollar Road

By: Peter Sobczynski

Raoul Peck’s gripping documentary is the sole standout in this handful of festival offerings. This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the work being covered here wouldn’t exist. Following in the wake of Halloween Kills (2021) and Sick, Departing Seniors, the debut feature from ... CIFF Dispatch #1: Departing Seniors, Nyad, & Silver Dollar Road

Jamie Foxx leads a crowd-pleasing The Burial

By: Michael Frank

A dynamic acting duo excel in the courtroom.

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