High Maintenance 

A brief look at two Barry Jenkins films that have established him as one of the greatest filmmakers of our time.

Naked Gun: The New Police Squad Team delivers exactly what fans want: relentless, expertly crafted chaos that honors the original while cranking everything up to eleven. The gags fire at machine-gun pace—sight jokes layered with wordplay and physical comedy so outrageous it borders on art. It's gleefully self-aware without being cynical, silly without being stupid, and maintains that perfect ZAZ-style balance of treating absolute absurdity with complete seriousness. The film knows exactly what it is: a comedy missile designed for maximum laughs, and it hits its target with surgical precision. Pure, unhinged entertainment that proves spoof comedy still has plenty of life left in it.

Adrian Chiarella’s Leviticus is a beautiful, poignant, enraging, gut-wrenching, and heartbreaking film about the trauma and harm conversion therapy inflicts on young queer people. Even though its classification as horror holds, the emotional bond between the two main characters, Naim and Ryan, elevates the story into a realistic romantic drama on par with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

As Andrew’s life begins to change, his passion for drumming soon becomes a spiraling obsession in the pursuit of perfection. Through the use of disturbing and abusive training methods, Fletcher puts Andrew through emotional and physical agony.

If Top Gun needed to say it, Top Gun: Maverick makes you feel the need... the need for speed.