Movie reviews of Hope Madden

Invader delivers a spare, nasty, memorable piece of horror in just over an hour. It will stick with you a while longer. Review

Fiona Donovan’s production design stands out, emphasizing the film’s distinctly Joe Dante vibe. Although instead of perverting some idyllic burb, Sting ravages a storybook version of the Bronx. Review

Back in 2022, Daniel Stamm’s Prey for the Devil tried to breathe a little feminism into convent horror. It wasn’t a great movie, but it was a nice try. Just two years later, a little feminism feels like a pulled punch. Review

Remembering Gene Wilder certainly does not unearth any ugliness, bares no startling truths. It’s clearly the product of a filmmaker who truly loves his subject. He doesn’t seem wrong, though. Review

Irvine and Allan nearly save the film, though. The result is a modestly entertaining mixed bag. Review

For a greenscreenapalooza of dumb monster action, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is adequate. Review

Unruly and fresh as the music it dances to, They Shot the Piano Player sometimes loses its train of thought. Review

Immaculate digs into the way organized religion constrains, punishes, silences, bullies, vilifies and oppresses women and then unleashes glorious fury. Fearless, cathartic, bloody, beautifully sacrilegious fury. Review

A slow boil like this requires committed, compelling performances and both Cowan and Rock deliver. Eventually the gender politics on display unnerve, and what’s what the film is more than truly scary. It’s unnerving. Review

Glass is not out to break new ground, plot wise. The story is rock solid but delivers essentially a smartly crafted hillbilly noir thriller—a la Red Rock West, Blood Simple, Killer Joe— but with few truly surprising plot turns. The execution, however, is something you’ve never witnessed. Review

The absurdity of the tone keeps this story‑— vulnerable young people succumbing to the attention of a personality that makes them feel special—from feeling tragic. Review

Kung Fu Panda 4 breaks no new ground, transcends no limitations, but it entertains throughout and delivers a pleasant bit of family-friendly fun. Plus reimagined Ozzy and Britney are a delight. Review

Mainly there’s a lot of sloppy, needless plot devices that do not entertain but do disjoint the overall film. Review

Kim never fully lands on a tone. What begins as a lightweight horror show develops a kind of Saturday morning TV vibe before turning into an action adventure. Think Korean Dr. Jones meets Scooby Doo, or something along those lines. There’s a weird charm to it that might particularly delight those who like their scary movies not too scary. Review

You could fit Hirayama’s dialog on less than a single page, and there are times when his silence feels forced and almost comedic. But Yakusho’s brilliantly nuanced, heartbreakingly felt performance makes up for any flaws in the film. Review

The dual storylines—live action and animation—are both well told, but the real pleasure is in the gruesomely tactile movie Ella is making. Her characters—wax and feather, bone and blood and ash—come to life in a lumbering, grotesque way that hints at any number of possible horrors. Review

The result is a perfectly lovely tribute to a figure who is not known as well as he should be. But it also does not really let us get to know him, which is too bad. Review

Out of Darkness asks more questions than it answers. That’s not to say there are plot holes–the script is airtight. But what Cumming is out to communicate about our humble beginnings or what that has to say about humanity is a little tougher to decipher. Review

Working from a script by Stefanie Abel Horowitz, Kevin Armento, and Katy Wright-Mead, Lambert shies away from the morbid or fantastical that exists in the tale. It exists, but it’s accepted lightly in a film that is quiet. It sneaks up on you, like death or like love. And it shows an impressive, introspective side of Ridley. Review

I’m not bothered by a superficial doc that just points out why a filmmaker managed to leave such a remarkable legacy in a single genre. But if you’re going to tease us with actual information, choosing not to address any of that information makes for a very frustrating viewing experience. Review

She Is Conann drags a bit, feeling every second of its 105-minute running time. Some eras grow more tedious than others, but a fresh and entirely bizarre surprise is around every bend. Review

There’s nothing insignificant about Glazer or his remarkable spate of compelling, surprising, thought-provoking films, capped off with his latest, The Zone of Interest. Review

The true story of one nation’s history of genocide, The Settlers is unsettling universal. What Gálvez Haberle does so effectively is take it to the next step, where a nation’s brutally criminal past becomes its sanctified, sanitized history. Review

The film is too impatient. Clay reexamines an existential nightmare addressed many times and turns to a mixed bag of horror tropes to limit its impact. Review