The Summer of Ben Tyler (1996)

If “Good Time” was a lean exercise in suspense, “Uncut Gems” is an ongoing panic attack. It handcuffs us to an immoral man, made up of selfishness and unreliability. At every point, Adam Sandler connects himself to this idiotic soul, unearthing the misguided opportunism that comes with gambling addiction

Meander, released in 2021, is a French gory horror film featuring a woman trapped in small spaces as she fights for her life, paralleling real pandemic life.

I write for a diversity-focused film review blog, so I’ll be honest: I really wanted to like Pretty Lethal. Starring Maddie Ziegler, Lana Condor, Iris Apatow, Avantika, and Millicent Simmonds, Amazon Prime’s new thriller seemed like it would be a girl power movie about dancers with a horror action twist. Sort of a Suspiria for teens. But with shallow and unlikeable characters, a confusing plot, an overreliance on violence, and cringey dialogue, any fun the movie started out with was quickly lost. What was left was a faint echo of greater horror movies about dancers made before. 

Dead Poets Society brilliantly combines defeat and optimism, rejection and love, craziness and daring, fear and freedom.

If you’re also a major fan of the familiar strangers story between two people of different generations, here are 5 underrated films you probably haven’t heard of, but might thoroughly enjoy.

A bond between a girl and her dog takes an unexpected twist as the dog is not what it seems.