It’s now the end of what has been quite a long week and you know what that means: lots of new movies to watch. We’ve not only covered them all, but we’ve assembled our reviews of each for you to read. Whether you want to learn about the new big release in theaters starring Russell Crowe or dive into the new sci-fi movie starring Léa Seydoux on VOD, we’ve got you covered.
In Theaters
‘Fancy Dance’ (2024)
Directed by Erica Tremblay
Kicking things off is Erica Tremblay’s fantastic Fancy Dance, the latest film to star the great Lily Gladstone after she blew us all away with her incredible work in Killers of the Flower Moon from last year. Her latest is a modern classic in the making, seeing her play the hustler with a heart of gold Jax as she tries to find her missing sister and look after her young niece. In my rave review back from when it played at Sundance in 2023, I called it “one of the best of the year” and that absolutely remains true for 2024. Specifically, it’s a film that deserves just as much attention as her past work as Gladstone again proves she is a performer like no other.
REVIEW
Fancy Dance
Fancy Dance boasts not only another magnificent performance from Lily Gladstone, but every other aspect of it becomes a beautiful work of art.
- The film takes a familiar story and makes it into something that is bursting with life.
- Gladstone is able to do more without saying much at all than most actors could with pages and pages of dialogue.
- The conclusion is shattering yet sublime, proving to be one of those moments that can linger forever in our memories.
READ OUR REVIEW
‘Janet Planet’ (2024)
Directed by: Annie Baker
Keeping up with films that made a buzz in festivals though are now rolling out into theaters, the joyous Janet Planet is also finally able to be seen by the world. Starring Julianne Nicholson in one of her very best performances to date in a career never lacking for them, my review I wrote earlier this year called it “a film of small moments and how they can accumulate into something that feels like it may last a lifetime.” It will change you just as it does its characters.
REVIEW
Janet Planet (2024)
Janet Planet is spectacular feature debut from writer-director Annie Baker with great performances by Zoe Ziegler and Julianne Nicholson that’s one of the best films of 2024 so far.
- The film finds an understated beauty in its small corner of the world, delicately exploring the relationship between a mother and daughter.
- Janet Planet explores life’s most pressing questions about how we can become set down certain paths and whether we can find a way free of them.
- Julianne Nicholson inhabits this world so naturally, it feels like you’re just peeking in on Janet’s life.
- The film ends with a fitting coda, cementing it as an evocative and essential work.
READ OUR REVIEW
‘Kinds of Kindness’ (2024)
Directed by: Yorgos Lanthimos
Good news for fans of Yorgos Lanthimos as his new movie, Kinds of Kindness, is a return to him being his unrestrained weird self. Starring Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone as well as many others, it’s a film of three different yet interconnected stories where everyone is anything but kind. In my review from when it premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, I said that it was a “return to form” for the director and “while he was far from dead like the corpses in this film, Kinds of Kindness feels like Lanthimos is himself coming back to life once more.”
REViEW
Kinds of Kindness (2024)
Kinds of Kindness is a return to form for Yorgos Lanthimos, bring his distinctly dark humor and boasting a standout performance by Jesse Plemons.
- After some more straightforward successes, Kinds of Kindness proves that Lanthimos still has plenty of weird films left in the tank.
- All of the cast get their moment to excel, but it’s Jesse Plemons who proves to be the best of the bunch.
- With a strong opener and closer, Lanthimos again dissects our toxic relationships with plenty of flair to spare.
- The middle section is a little more confined and the overall film doesn’t have the room to build tension like Lanthimos has in the past.
READ OUR REVIEW
‘Thelma’ (2024)
Directed by: Josh Margolin
Move over Tom Cruise, there is a new action star in town and her name is June Squibb. In writer-director Josh Margolin’s Thelma, she’s on a mission to get her money back after it is stolen by some no-good scammers. In his review from back at this year’s Sundance, Senior Film Editor Ross Bonaime said that this is “the definition of a light comedy, but Squibb and Margolin’s handling of this pseudo-spy parody makes it a delight.”
REVIEW
Thelma (2024)
Thelma, from writer-director Josh Margolin, gives June Squibb her first lead role in an action-comedy that showcases her strengths.
- June Squibb is delightful as the title character, trying to get revenge on elderly scammers.
- Josh Margolin’s script is a smart parody that never insults its older characters.
- The supporting cast never quite manages to feel as fleshed out as the characters played by Squibb and Richard Roundtree.
READ OUR REVIEW
‘The Exorcism’ (2024)
Directed by: Joshua John Miller
Continuing on we have Crowe taking on yet another movie of demons with The Exorcism, a movie about a movie where he plays a man tasked with playing a priest in a production where he begins to become actually possessed. Does this meta-horror take have the potential to be a new Scream? Not according to our reviewer and Horror Editor Emma Kiely. She called the film “a dense, dark, and heavy horror drama” that starts out well enough to abandon “everything it’s been setting up to give way to formulaic and stale scare sequences.”
REVIEW
The Exorcism (2024)
The Exorcism has an interesting idea at its core but ultimately falls victim to its self-seriousness and empty scares.
- The meta quality of its concept makes for some fun jabs at the horror genre.
- The Exorcism abandons all the interesting ideas it sets up in the first act to give way to drab scare sequences.
- Russell Crowe gives a much less enlightened performance than his last horror venture.
READ OUR REVIEW
‘The Bikeriders’ (2024)
Directed by: Jeff Nichols
Okay, so if the big theatrical horror release of the week left us cold, maybe the historical biker drama The Bikeriders will get our motor running? Unfortunately, while this film has a stacked cast in Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Mike Faist, Tom Hardy, and more, this again left our Kiely less than compelled. In her review from back at the London Film Festival, she wrote that the film “seems shiny on the surface” though doesn’t deliver on any of its promising elements, falling flat “in its excessive filler, undeveloped characters, and symphony of bonkers accents.”
REVIEW
The Bikeriders
The Bikeriders leans too heavily on its talented ensemble and asks its audience to invest in a half-baked story.
- Jodie Comer gives a committed and passionate performance, making her a stand-out in the cast.
- The marriage between Kathy and Benny is at the center of the story but their relationship isn’t developed enough to feel authentic.
- The main characters of The Bikeriders aren’t fully formed, making it hard to connect to them.
READ OUR REVIEW
ON VOD
‘Animalia’ (2024)
Directed by: Sofia Alaoui
If you consider yourself a fan of recent sci-fi series like Constellation and Invasion or just an appreciator of well-told stories in the genre writ large, you’re going to want to see Animalia. A film that takes a unique take on what seems to be a visit by some forces that are not of this Earth, it centers on a woman who has been disconnected from her family and must make her way back to them as the world is coming apart. In my review from back at Sundance, I praised the film’s “willingness to peer directly through the looking glass that most other science fiction works would blink in the face” as this is where it “taps into something that remains as spectacular as it is elusive.”
REVIEW
Animalia
Animalia is a surreal, striking sci-fi vision that proves writer-director Sofia Alaoui is one to watch.
- Oumaïma Barid gives a dynamic performance, grounding the sweeping sci-fi story in the personal.
- There are plenty of standout visual sequences that grab hold of you even as they offer no explicit explanation.
- As the film peers through the looking glass, it taps into something that remains as spectacular as it is elusive.
READ OUR REVIEW
‘I Saw the TV Glow’ (2024)
Directed by: Jane Schoenbrun
Trust us when we say that I Saw the TV Glow is an A24 horror film that you’ll be talking about all year. The second feature from director Jane Schoenbrun, it’s about a television show called The Pink Opaque that soon becomes a subject of obsession for two young teens. When it’s canceled, they’ll have to figure out what to do with their lives and who each of them are. In his review from Sundance, Bonaime said that it is “a daring step forward for Schoenbrun as a filmmaker and a film that will certainly divide audiences not sure what the hell to make of it.”
REVIEW
I Saw the TV Glow
I Saw the TV Glow is a fascinating sophomore feature by Jane Schoenbrun. It’s a weird and beautiful experience that has to be seen to be believed.
- Jane Schoenbrun tells an effective story that blends horror, nostalgia, and larger themes of transition.
- I Saw the TV Glow has a truly strange cast that somehow works well when put together.
- Schoenbrun creates a film that deserves discussion, as it will certainly mean something different to everyone who sees it.
READ OUR REVIEW
‘The Beast’ (2024)
Directed by: Bertrand Bonello
Last but definitely not least is The Beast, a film whose title could not be more fitting. A monumental and menacing work of sci-fi, it follows two lovers whose lives are connected across multiple timelines that are all seem to be coming apart before them. In my review from back at the Toronto International Film Festival, I called it one of “the most formidable films you’ll be lucky enough to see in a lifetime” whose “final echoes you hear may just continue to ring out.”
REVIEW
The Beast (2024)
The Beast is a monumental and menacing sci-fi film with an astounding performance by Léa Seydoux that you won’t soon forget.
- Writer-director Bertrand Bonello has made what is his best film yet, making everything come viscerally alive.
- Léa Seydoux is brilliant once more, ensuring we feel every moment even as the film itself is quite unwieldy.
- The ending providing a spectacular and striking conclusion that is certain to be among the most formidable you see for some time.
READ OUR REVIEW
