Author: Derrick Murray

We’ve reached that pivotal part of the year where it seems every single film that’s been sitting on the shelf or awaiting a release after its festival run suddenly floods the theaters. December is almost always catch up time for cinephiles and critics. Rushing to the theaters (sometimes far far away) to catch limited releases, pouring through a backlog of screeners, and preparing for the Oscar predictions and nominations that follow shortly after the year completes. It’s essentially hell week for critics, and this December is no exception. 2023 has been a great year for movies, and while I would…

“Rebel Moon” is diet “Dune,” sugar-free “Star Wars,” splenda “Seven Samurai,” the “Jupiter Ascending” for Snyderbros.

“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” may be lost at sea, but if the voyage itself doesn’t make sense and we’re happy to put this all behind us and start fresh, it is at least having fun as it stares its own death in the face.

There are so many layers to peel back in Todd Haynes “May December” that it can be difficult to extrapolate everything and understand each new revelation. It is even more difficult to summarize it all into a single review. Not only are its themes, narrative, tone and cultural critiques deeply affecting and profound, but its characters are equally as complex and complicated. “May December” is such a character driven piece of work that both the characters and performances themselves require a deeper dive, particularly because many of the leads are delivering some of their best work in years. There are…

“Poor Things” is a wonderful world of weird, packed to brim with stunning production design, laugh out loud humor, an odyssey of self reclamation and a sexual awakening with lots and lots and LOTS of sex.

“Our Son” layered emotional characters get more arresting, mixed with queer overtones that give the film its unique heart at the core.

“Silent Night” feels regressive in the most disappointing ways, delivering a few action set pieces that are decent enough but don’t wow and are surrounded by dull, muted (literally) melodrama that, when you strip away the shtick of silence, becomes no more than the sum of its redundant and uninspiring parts.

“American Fiction” is a can’t miss comedy and one of the best films of the year.

“Godzilla Minus One” is a thrilling action drama, packed with plenty of action, genuine emotion, characters you actually care about, and the meanest Godzilla you’ve ever seen.

It’s that time of year again. The time were we start to reflect on the films we’ve seen this year and begin to form lists and rankings that encapsulate a year in cinema. This has been quite the year for film, and an even more daunting undertaking for myself with two festivals and a goal of seeing 300 new films in a single year. Shockingly, I’m trending to end the year at nearly one new film a day, something I didn’t think I would be able to do let alone live to tell the tale. That’s a whole lotta time…