The magic of Monkey Man, doesn’t come from its incredible fight scenes, or it’s brilliant choreography or it’s smart and intelligent cinematography. Instead, it comes from an obvious struggle. You can see, throughout this movie, that Dev Patel’s blood is everywhere. There’s no part of this film that doesn’t scream like something trying to rip its way up through an artist's chest, and out of their mouth.

At the end of the day, Indiana Jones is Harrison Ford. You know what I mean? It's one of those characters that dies with the actor. It's not like James Bond. I don't think we'll get another Indiana Jones. We'll get similar movies. Nathan Drake is Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider is Indiana Jones, but with different lead characters. They're not walking around with fedoras and whips. Indiana Jones is a very specific, very alive personality that is tied to this miserly, curmudgeonly Harrison Ford. There are points where you can really tell the man's almost 80. But who cares? Let old guys do action movies. It rules.

I’m not sure if you told me ten years ago the best piece of Spider-Man fiction would be an animated series of films I would have believed you. But here I am, two films in, and I can not stop thinking about how mind-bogglingly perfect these damn movies are. The folks behind Miles Morales and his journey as Spider-Man, not only have the courage to attempt to make lightning strike the same place twice, they’ve figured out how to make lightning…better.

The Guardians of the Galaxy were a middling comic hero team devised in the late 60s. One that never really reached any amount of wide acclaim. To this day, the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie is one of the closest things to a perfect execution in establishing a relationship with unknown characters. After the first movie the names Starlord, Gamora, Rocket, Groot, Drax, and Nebula became household names.  Now, nearly ten years later, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 seeks to remind us why we cared, show us we were right to care, and make us root for our beloved misfits one last time. Ya’ll…it fucking rules.

Honestly, this movie is a blast. The action is incredible, the choreography and cinematography are on point. The characters remain believable and motivated. I just wish, when it was all done, we were in a different place. There is resolution here, and I don’t mean to take away from that, but the resolution feels like it lacks impact. Largely because despite all John does, at the end of the film, the world is more or less unchanged.

It’s understandable to look at that laundry list of MCU goings-on and raise your shoulders, cock your head, and ask…what the hell is going on? The answer to that specific question is, well, nonspecific: a lot. A lot is going on. How do you take this roiling molecular spaghetti of a universe and push it forward in almost every direction at once? I will answer that question…with a question of my own. Did you know ants can carry 10-50 times their body weight?

Truly Avatar: The Way of Water is going to change the way a lot of things are done going forward, just as the first film did. Sometimes you have to see a movie in the theater to get the fullest experience. If there was any film this year that fit this designation perfectly, it’s this one. Do yourself a favor: go see this on the biggest screen you can find. 3D or not, it will blow your socks right off your feet. What an experience. 

The Clade family is a family built on legacy. Jaeger Clade, the explorer, Searcher Clade, the farmer. But what will Ethan Clade become? When his father is recruited to root out the plague impacting the nation of Avalonia’s pando crops, his attempt to keep his son from becoming like his absent grandfather will be put to the test. Strange world is a Disney gem that confronts us with questions about who we want our kids to become as parents and who they really are. 

Ryan Coogler, director of the first Black Panther and director and writer of the planned sequel later told press that after Boseman passed he contemplated quitting film all together, such was the impact and influence of Chadwick’s death. When Coogler decided to proceed, he said it was because he knew what he needed to do. In the months that followed we learned what he meant. That the upcoming Wakanda Forever was going to be a tribute to all things Wakanda. A memorial for Chadwick, a continuation of his legacy, and the next step for the characters we all met, as they grieved the loss of their King. Of their Black Panther.

Sometimes you watch a movie and it’s immediately apparent what that film is about. Sometimes you take the experience home and chew on it a bit, finding different flavors and expressions along the way. I delayed this review being published on purpose. So many times a review exists to give you that last push to leave your house to head to the theater. I delayed this review because I think you need to watch this film first, then sit with someone, perhaps this review, and think about it.

Amsterdam isn’t perfect but it has a lot of heart where it counts. The cast is astronomically loaded, the performances are all genuine and convincing, and its message will land a lot closer to home than it should. Largely because Americans are confronted with issues no one from this era (the 30s) would have expected us to still be dealing with. It’s fascinating, confounding, and moving. Things I imagine anyone forging a mystery would hope people took away from their work.

Three Thousand Years of Longing is a tale of a woman who finds a genie in a bottle and is granted three wishes. It’s not an unfamiliar story, and often times it these stories walk the line of cautionary tale more than anything. It’s hard to imagine getting their heart’s desire granted three times and not see the possibility of deeply problematic requests. The way this movie approaches djinn and their wish granting ability is fully self-aware of these potential pitfalls. So, instead, we get a daringly intimate tale of a woman and her Djinn.

I still find it immeasurably silly that adults write reviews for children’s movies. Why aren’t more people taking their kids, asking them what they thought, and publishing that? They are the target demographic, after all. Do I understand that there are instances where parents want to see if something is “ok” before they let their kids watch it? Sure. Does that take away any ridiculousness from the fact that I am sitting here to write a review about an unlucky orphan who receives and subsequently loses a lucky coin given to her by a black cat with a Scottish accent? Ah dinnae ken.

Bullet Train is what happens when you blend Ocean’s Eleven and Murder on the Orient Express. If you were to then look to me for another sentence or two more I would follow that by simply saying, If you let the guy who directed John Wick and Deadpool 2 direct it. Boom. Sold. That is this movie. Its wild, irreverent, harebrained, and a great time.

Knowing how something is going to end is generally a source of comfort going into a movie based on events that took place in the real world. If Ron Howard has made anything clear in his approach to these types of films, nothing could be further from the truth. The veteran of Apollo 13, Frost/Nixon, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, Everest, and Rush knows full-well how to make a movie gripping, regardless of the audience’s understanding of how events would play out.

I’m not sure Jordan Peele knows how to miss. At the very least, he hasn’t missed yet. NOPE is a fantastic flick, with an absolutely stellar atmosphere and execution. Go see it in the largest and loudest format you can because the sound engineering elevates it to still another level of greatness. And don’t blame yourself if, for the next several days, you catch yourself watching the sky thinking, “…nope.”

It’s nearly equal parts a coming of age tale, a romance, a murder mystery, and a courtroom drama, and while I enjoy all of those things, balancing them all at once is a precarious task. Knowing that this movie is based on a novel contextualizes some of the rapid transitioning. Where the Crawdads Sing is an admirable attempt at an adaptation. Even if it occasionally catches you off guard by accelerating the plot.

WandaVision introduced us to altered reality, Loki introduced us to the Time Variance Authority and alternate timelines, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness introduced us to alternate universes. For a saga of films that has existed for nearly 15 years, in the last year and a half alone our perception of what the MCU could entail has been expanded tenfold. With this comes risk. How could you scale something so quickly without risk? But more than just risk, as a viewer, you are being asked to keep track of more. It should come as no small comfort then, to know that Thor: Love and Thunder is one of the most digestible, fun, and easy to approach since Black Panther.

As an adult, more importantly as a parent, what I find silly is that while writing this review I found myself debating the principles of film. I find it pretty significantly comical that I almost wrote about this movies adherence to the three act structure, or the fact that I wanted to measure its necessity in the larger universe of Minions films. The reality is that this movie was made for children, and as someone who got to watch it in a room full of children, they loved it.

For a movie that ostensibly didn’t need to exist, Lightyear does a tremendous job campaigning for that existence, thrilling viewers with a space spectacle that feels right at home in its universe, and furthermore, lives up brilliantly to its initial pitch. If I had seen this as a five year old, I would have absolutely begged my mom for a Buzz toy. After this movie who wouldn’t?