Quo Vadis (1951)

In Tall Girl, Jodi learns to stand tall and find confidence within.

Gritty and bleak are the best words to describe this film. There’s nothing happy about it.

The Night Doctor achieves telling an original story in which the pace accelerates progressively while supported by dark aesthetics.

This fantasy musical movie is an origin story about the title character.

Him is visually stunning—all concrete cathedrals and bone-rattling impact shots that look like a nightmare highlight reel. Marlon Wayans is magnetic as this legendary quarterback who's basically selling salvation with a smile that never quite reaches his eyes. But the story keeps running in circles: more tests, more cryptic pep talks, more ritualistic drills. The sports-as-religion metaphor beats you over the head when subtlety would've been more effective. The middle drags, and that finale chooses spectacle over substance. It's undeniably stylish, but left me cold. Also worth noting: despite the Monkeypaw connection, this isn't actually a Jordan Peele film—he didn't write or direct.

"Hustlers" returns power to groups that are traditionally deprived of it: women, the working class, and sex workers.