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C+
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The Stranger
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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In the end, it’s Voison’s alluring charisma that makes the elusive journey of The Stranger worth taking.
Posted Mar 02, 2026
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B-
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The Little Sister
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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Hafsia Herzi’s sensitive, careful, queer coming-of-age film, chronicles her journey towards self-discovery...Herzi and Melliti show us young woman who on the cusp of figuring out who she is, despite the cultural and religious stigma attached to it.
Posted Mar 02, 2026
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B
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Love Me Tender
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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Vicky Krieps delivers another extraordinary performance in Anna Cazenave Cambet’s shattering drama, Love Me Tender, about a mother’s fight to see her 8-year-old son.
Posted Mar 02, 2026
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B
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Nino
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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And it’s the nuanced performance by the beguiling Théodore Pellerin as the titular character that keeps the audience invested and engaged... Here gets to go deep into realizations about his character’s mortality that is wholly relatable.
Posted Mar 02, 2026
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B
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Two Pianos
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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Desplechin is able to weave his melodramatic plot in a way that skirts too much soap opera in large part thanks to his wonderful cast...Civil has matinee idol looks but also happens to be an incredibly incisive and nuanced actor.
Posted Mar 02, 2026
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B+
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The Great Arch
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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Demoustier paints a very intricate and honest cinematic portrait of what most artists are already painfully aware of, how forced compromises, endless struggles and agonizing betrayals often follow once an admired and approved project is initiated.
Posted Mar 02, 2026
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B+
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Enzo
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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Enzo is an engrossing and unique coming-of-age film and a nice addition to the queer canon.
Posted Mar 02, 2026
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A
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Case 137
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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Case 137 isn’t a showy, studio film where there’s a clear hero, bad guys and a happy ending. It’s a gritty docu-realistic work that engrosses, angers and stings. It deserves to be seen.
Posted Mar 02, 2026
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B+
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3:10 to Yuma
(1957)
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Frank J. Avella
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Director Delmer Daves helmed the Bogart-Bacall noir Dark Passage and here he creates a western noir that is a lot more psychologically dense than it initially appears to be.
Posted Feb 25, 2026
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B+
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A Woman Under the Influence
(1974)
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Frank J. Avella
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Rowland’s brave performance has such emotional depth it sometimes threatens to go off the rails, but the actress always knows just when to dial it back a bit. It’s a true beguiling turn.
Posted Feb 25, 2026
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A+
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Network
(1976)
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Frank J. Avella
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If there’s one role that epitomizes all that Chayefsky found simultaneously seductive and horrific about the medium of television it was that of Diana, magnificently brought to scathing life by Dunaway. It’s her best screen work...
Posted Feb 25, 2026
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C-
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Revenge of the Pink Panther
(1978)
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Frank J. Avella
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The final Clouseau film to star Peter Sellers, Revenge of the Pink Panther, is disappointing with repeated gags that fall flat, a too-convoluted plot and some truly troubling Asian and Italian stereotypes (even contextualizing).
Posted Feb 09, 2026
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B+
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The Pink Panther Strikes Again
(1976)
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Frank J. Avella
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...the, arguable, best of the franchise,...It’s a lot of truly silly fun as we watch Clouseau evade death and destroy a lot of property, all leading to an insane denouement.
Posted Feb 09, 2026
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B
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A Shot in the Dark
(1964)
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Frank J. Avella
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The second film in the Pink Panther series was far superior to the first, riddled with hilarious moments with now uber-bumbling Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) and the height of his hijinks.
Posted Feb 09, 2026
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B-
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The Pink Panther
(1963)
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Frank J. Avella
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The enchanting Cardinale delivers the films richest performance. She is both hilarious and poignant in a scene where she gets intoxicated for the first time
Posted Feb 09, 2026
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B+
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Lady
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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Nwosu is an exciting filmmaker, imbuing her story with past trauma but also showing the female characters, especially Lady, as survivors who refuse to be defined by the intergenerational misogyny and damage inherent in the culture.
Posted Feb 03, 2026
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B+
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Run Amok
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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Mager is rather daring in her exploration of the desire for catharsis, and just how different that search is for each individual.
Posted Feb 03, 2026
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B+
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One in a Million
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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But the true heart and soul of this film is Nisreen, Isra’a’s mother...My only complaint about One in a Million is that it wasn’t titled Two in a Million and the focus wasn’t shared between Isra’a and film’s true heroine, her mother, Nisreen.
Posted Feb 03, 2026
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B
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Union County
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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(Director) Meeks also has the added boon of the incredibly underrated actor Will Poulter anchoring the film with a thoughtful, moving, understated turn that ripples with complexities.
Posted Feb 03, 2026
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A-
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The Friend's House Is Here
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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it’s especially bracing to see a film that honors the importance of artistic freedom by blurring the lines between life and art. Ataei and Keshavarz have created a cinematic performance art mosaic with their debut feature...
Posted Feb 03, 2026
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B
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The Huntress
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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The Huntress could have easily been just another revenge tale, but in the hands of...Correa, it becomes a compelling portrait of fearless women who come together to force change in the dangerous and misogynistic border town of Juárez.
Posted Feb 02, 2026
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B+
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Hot Water
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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Azabal gives us one tough but conflicted mother, who fiercely loves her child but also misses her family back in Beirut. The charismatic Zolghadri...proves he’s ready for lead parts.
Posted Feb 02, 2026
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A-
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Hanging by a Wire
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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All doc filmmaking is manipulated. Here, at least, it’s done by using the actual people involved and subverting Hollywood tropes. It’s a thrill ride, but also a hopeful story of the good that can come when people do whatever it takes to save lives.
Posted Feb 02, 2026
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A-
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How to Divorce During the War
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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...that’s what makes (the film) such a glorious, chilling and penetrating work. That satiric tone is there throughout, so the film is always one step removed from realism, allowing for a true analysis of the character of the characters.
Posted Feb 02, 2026
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A
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Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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Kikuchi radiates charm, sadness, joy, sensitivity, whimsy, audacity and a joie de vivre, often all together within the span of a few seconds, its sheer enchantment to experience. Her performance is destined to be one of the most outstanding of 2026.
Posted Feb 02, 2026
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B+
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Broken English
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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For Faithful fans and those curious about her life and career, it is must-see. And for cinephiles it’s an entrancing cinematic experiment that pays off.
Posted Jan 31, 2026
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B+
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Carousel
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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Pine and Slate do extraordinary work, portraying two messed up souls so afraid of heartbreak, they fight a bond that’s pretty palpable. Sam Waterston is quite moving as Noah’s mentor.
Posted Jan 31, 2026
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A-
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The Incomer
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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I can see how Scottish writer-director Louis Paxton’s wacky and bizarre first feature would be divisive. Comedy this off-the-wall vicious and brutal, well, it’s not for the squeamish. But I found it to be a hilarious good time!
Posted Jan 31, 2026
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A-
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Bedford Park
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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Choi and Sukku, who radiate kinetic energy, are both excellent playing the steely couple who show just enough vulnerability, so we know so much is going on underneath the surface.
Posted Jan 31, 2026
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A-
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Josephine
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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Josephine is deeply engrossing throughout, never dipping into the melodramatic, maudlin or predictable. Instead, there’s a level of empathy and forgiveness in the film that courts the sublime.
Posted Jan 31, 2026
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B-
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Night Nurse
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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This is one looney, unsettling, yet enveloping indie — bold, perverse, fucking bizarre — that I didn’t necessarily enjoy, but I could not stop watching…or thinking about afterwards.
Posted Jan 30, 2026
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B
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Frank & Louis
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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Kingsley Ben-Adir delivers a mesmerizing, multifaceted performance in Petra Biondina Volpe’s somber prison drama, Frank & Louis. And that is reason enough to recommend the film.
Posted Jan 30, 2026
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B
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Shame and Money
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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I appreciated Marina’s humanistic and sometimes enigmatic approach, and the two central performances are excellent, but the film doesn’t quite live up to its ambitions. Still, it’s top-notch filmmaking and I applaud the filmmaker’s passion.
Posted Jan 30, 2026
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B+
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Tell Me Everything
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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Tako, so impressive in his brief role in Israel’s 2024 International Feature Oscar submission, Come Closer, plays the nuances and ambiguities of his part masterfully—we can both relate to him and wonder about who he will become.
Posted Jan 30, 2026
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A
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Hold Onto Me
(2026)
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Frank J. Avella
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Gorgeously shot by Lasse Ulvedal Tolbøll, Hold Onto Me is a poignant, uncompromising look at a deeply flawed man...It strikes all the right notes...Passalis’s fearless, fascinating performance grounds the film.
Posted Jan 30, 2026
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Send Help
(2026)
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Megan McLachlan
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For as over-the-top and high-concept as Send Help is, bubbling under the surface is a whip-smart two-hander from screenwriters Mark Swift and Damian Shannon that feels fresh and compelling without ever teetering into "girl boss" territory.
Posted Jan 26, 2026
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B-
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Hanna K.
(1983)
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Frank J. Avella
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Watching the film again all these decades later, I was surprised by the many things that work, including Clayburgh’s fully invested performance and themes that would definitely play better today than back in the early ‘80s.
Posted Jan 19, 2026
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B+
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Dogtooth
(2009)
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Frank J. Avella
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Yet, as absurdist, enigmatic and dark as Dogtooth gets, it’s mild in comparison to his recent work. But it still provides quite the palpably biting sting.
Posted Jan 19, 2026
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B
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Kiss of the Spider Woman
(1985)
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Frank J. Avella
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...groundbreaking in a number of ways and...still provides great drama and some fabulous camp, even if William Hurt’s flamboyant, Oscar-winning turn hasn’t necessarily aged well. I was, however, entranced by Raul Julia--completely overlooked by AMPAS.
Posted Jan 19, 2026
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B+
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Birth
(2004)
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Frank J. Avella
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With Birth, Kidman, Glazer, and his co-writers, Jean-Claude Carrière and Milo Addica take big risks that mostly pay off, although the sheer nervy nature of the film may have scared both audiences and critics in 2004 as it received mixed reviews.
Posted Jan 19, 2026
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A
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Sinners
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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Ryan Coogler’s truly terrifying yet exhilaratingly entertaining thriller, Sinners, is one of the most original and fascinating films of 2025.
Posted Dec 29, 2025
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A
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Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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The ensemble is fabulous beginning with Josh O’Connor, who does some of his best work... Also standing out in a cast of stand-outs, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Andrew Scott, Thomas Haden Church and, yes, Glenn Close (her hammy style works well here).
Posted Dec 29, 2025
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A
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Hamnet
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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A second viewing of Chloé Zhao’s devastating yet sublime film, Hamnet, dug deeper into my gut. The first time around I was appreciating the film and then, blown away by the finale. On watch number two, I savored the mysticism...
Posted Dec 29, 2025
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A
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Marty Supreme
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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When I first saw Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme I tweeted that it was "an instant cinematic classic."...I stand by that assessment because it’s truly inspiring filmmaking...
Posted Dec 29, 2025
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B
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A Sad and Beautiful World
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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The film soars because of the wonderful performances of its two leads, specifically Akl, who imbues Yasmina with great nuance. The direction is assured and the script, by Aris and Bane Fakih, is smart, funny and properly bittersweet.
Posted Dec 23, 2025
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B+
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Father
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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This searing emotionally-compelling drama, inspired by real events, shows how one tragic mistake can instantly shatter the lives of those involved, but Nvotová delves deeper into notions of blame and judgment as well as responsibility.
Posted Dec 23, 2025
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B-
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Heart of the Man
(2025)
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Frank J. Avella
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The gorgeous and gifted Australian actor Parker Little is the reason to see David Cook’s Heart of the Man, a queer-positive movie that can’t decide what it wants to be and is riddled with cliché dialogue.
Posted Dec 23, 2025
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B-
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Fine Young Men
(2024)
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Frank J. Avella
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And just when you think you’re watching a film about two teens navigating the inherent homophobia in a repressed Catholic surrounding, the narrative completely shifts focus—it’s a twist you don’t necessarily see coming.
Posted Dec 23, 2025
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A
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No Dogs Allowed
(undefined)
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Frank J. Avella
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German director Steve Bache’s feature debut, No Dogs Allowed, is a bold, ambitious and disturbing film that takes on difficult subject matter and proceeds to explore taboo themes in the most impressive, non-exploitative manner.
Posted Dec 23, 2025
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B
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For Whom the Bell Tolls
(1943)
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Frank J. Avella
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Bergman and Cooper have great chemistry and Paxinou seizes the screen, stealing all her moments...
Posted Dec 23, 2025
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