Movie reviews of Sandy Schaefer

Teen Spirit is a simple yet exuberant coming of age story that, like the catchiest pop songs, successfully infuses an old formula with new life. Review

Master Z delivers its fair share of pulpy entertainment and stylish martial arts fights without bringing anything particularly fresh to the genre. Review

As contemplative and unsettling as it is, High Life struggles to develop its bleak sci-fi vision into an engaging and cohesive piece of cinema. Review

Missing Link is quite the visual feast, but its unremarkable narrative and characters (save for the charming Mr. Link) leave something to be desired. Review

Armed with a pulpy spirit and plenty of monster gore to go around, The Head Hunter makes for enjoyably gnarly fantasy horror B-movie entertainment. Review

Pet Sematary captures the bruality of King's source material, but its attempts to add shocking twists to the original narrative yield mixed results. Review

Us manages to be funny, freaky, and thrilling all at once, and marks another step forward in Peele's evolving sense of storytelling and craftsmanship. Review

Captive State makes an admirable attempt to buck genre conventions, but the resulting film is a muddled and otherwise incoherent sci-fi allegory. Review

Made in Abyss stumbles a little during its jump to the big screen, but its mythology remains as fascinating and bizarre as ever in Journey's Dawn. Review

Five Feet Apart is a well-acted YA romance and provides some welcome representation, but eventually finds itself bogged down in shlocky melodrama. Review

The Kid is a well-intentioned attempt to make a contemplative western, but ultimately mistakes gritty violence and broodiness for substance. Review

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind is respectfully restrained to a fault, but its earnest and authentic outlook provides the biopic with a beating heart. Review

Greta is far more silly than sinister, but is partially saved by Isabelle Huppert's gloriously theatrical performance as the film's titular character. Review

Fighting with My Family succeeds as a crowd-pleasing sports movie, thanks to its sharp wit and sincere apprecation for its working-class characters. Review

The Hidden World is an exhilarating and beautifully-crafted finale that brings the How to Train Your Dragon series to a stirring conclusion. Review

Happy Death Day 2U adds a genre twist to the series' formula, delivering a sequel that's funnier, sillier, and more entertaining than the first movie. Review

The Prodigy is an often chilling and disturbing - if not particularly meaningful or impactful - horror movie weighed down its by derivative plot. Review

The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot spins a wobbly and idiosyncratic American myth held together by Elliott's quietly moving performance. Review

High Flying Bird doesn't quite manage to change the game but, under Soderbergh and McCraney's guidance, it certainly makes an entertaining go at it. Review

Dragon Ball Super: Broly's dense mythology isn't necessarily accessible to newcomers, but it delivers dazzling Saiyan action worthy of the big screen. Review

While it has a game cast and offers some fun twists on typical horror-thriller scenarios, Velvet Buzzsaw makes for a relatively hollow satire. Review

A stylish exercise in retro horror-thriller filmmaking, but its stabs (no pun intended) at something deeper are mostly ineffective. Review

Though its big ideas don't work, Serenity's narrative miscalculations result in some pretty entertaining - if completely unintentional - comedy. Review

Glass concludes Shyamalan's superhero movie trilogy in a manner that manages to be absorbing, frustrating, and bewildering at the same time. Review