The Alchemist’s Dream 

If a movie about a strange and crazy day is commercially successful, why not recycle it and double the kookiness quotient? That seems to be the logic behind this followup to Freaky Friday.

In an all-black community in Louisiana, a young girl learns her father has committed infidelity and turns to hoodoo to seek justice.

The “gay best friend”, an age-old trope, has been done in countless films and television series. Ranging from one-note (Sex and the City's Stanford and Mario) to nuanced (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's Tituss), the gay best friend exists to support and advise the main protagonist, with their conflicts swept to the side.

Carolina Caroline follows Caroline (Samara Weaving), a bored young woman dreaming of escaping a small Texas town where nothing ever happens. When she meets Oliver (Kyle Gallner) at her workplace while he is conning the owner, she sees her perfect opportunity to get out. Their whirlwind romance strongly echoes Bonnie and Clyde, as the two quickly embark on a bank-robbing spree.

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.

Michael Shanks’ Together is a queasy, hilarious, and surprisingly heartfelt body-horror trip that fuses love and terror in the most literal sense. Starring real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie, this midnight gem twists Plato’s soulmate myth into a gory, darkly funny tale of codependency, cults, and chainsaws — equal parts romance and nightmare.