Blue Moon. Directed by Richard Linklater
If you want to watch Ethan Hawke completely disappear into a role for just over ninety minutes, grab a seat and a drink with Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon. Hawke owns every moment on screen with his quietly magnetic energy as he steps into the shoes of Lorenz Hart, right after the premiere of Oklahoma!. It’s funny, a little melancholy, and completely disarming in its charm. Even though it somehow feels longer than its brief runtime, Blue Moon is Linklater’s simple, talky storytelling at its best with just a handful of people in a room, saying everything and nothing all at once.
My Rating: B
Cover-Up. Directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus
Cover-Up is an insightful documentary into Seymour Hersh, one of the most predominant investigative journalists of the late 20th and early 21st century. While the documentary is a bit scattered and is a compilation of the greatest hits of Hersh’s career, it is still fascinating none the less as Hersh is just an interesting character. And when the film is filled with beautifully restored footage, it is hard not to be enthralled by it.
My Rating: B
Shelby Oaks. Directed by Chris Stuckmann
After a million-dollar reshoot and a full re-edit, YouTube critic turned filmmaker Chris Stuckmann’s Shelby Oaks has finally made its way to the big screen, landing with a pretty mixed reception. On one hand, Stuckmann shows real promise behind the camera, building a thick, creeping sense of dread that fuels the film from start to finish. A few moments are genuinely chilling, thanks to that eerie atmosphere and a standout performance from Camille Sullivan. But on the other hand, it’s clear Stuckmann still has a long way to go as a writer. The film leans hard into the same horror clichés he’s spent years calling out such as characters making baffling decisions, like the protagonist heading out alone in the middle of the night to find her missing sister, plot armor so thick it’s practically bulletproof, and a documentary crew that exists solely to dump exposition for twenty straight minutes. The story constantly relies on contrivances to move things along, and the script is so clunky it nearly drags the whole film down with it. Shelby Oaks didn’t just need one rewrite but several. In the end, it’s a mixed bag: full of potential, but undone by its own writing. Maybe this will be the wake-up call Stuckmann needs, a reminder that real criticism isn’t meant to tear filmmakers down but to help them see where they went wrong and push them to do better. Empty praise never does that.
My Rating: C
Good Boy. Directed by Ben Leonberg
I don’t have all that much to say so I am going to keep this short and sweet. Good Boy is an effective haunted house horror movie told from the point of view of a dog. While the horror is pretty standard for this genre, it is nevertheless still effective. Utilizing simple tracking shots, cluttered claustrophobic rooms, and effective sound design, Good Boy is a well-crafted horror movie. The jump scares may not get you, but your heart rate will be elevated nevertheless. Your heart will already be elevated from the amazing performance from Indy, the dog. Dog performances are hard to get right, but Indy delivers one of the best dog performances I have ever seen. For how close we are to our pets, it amazes me that it has taken this long for a horror movie to be told from the point of view of a dog, especially given all of the superstition that dogs can see ghosts. Overall, Good Boy is a fun time at the movies and if you love horror, this will be a nice treat for you.
My Rating: B
Roofman. Directed by Derek Cianfrance
Roofman is charming, funny, thrilling, and unexpectedly romantic as it tells the true story of a thief living inside a Toys-R-Us. Channing Tatum leads the film with what might be the best performance of his career, bringing both warmth and melancholy to a man caught between wanting to do good and needing to please others through stolen generosity. It slows down a bit in the second act and starts to repeat itself, but even then, the film’s charm never fades. Roofman strikes this delicate balance between optimism and quiet despair, capturing the strange, restless spirit of early 2000s Americana with real heart.
My Rating: B
Black Phone 2. Directed by Scott Derrickson
On one hand, I respect The Black Phone 2 for trying to take a different route. The new frozen setting is a nice touch, and Scott Derrickson shows more confidence behind the camera by experimenting with some striking 8mm visuals. But despite that, I couldn’t help feeling bored. The story falls into a repetitive rhythm, and a few surprisingly weak performances don’t help keep things engaging. In the end, it’s hard to feel impressed by a sequel that never really needed to exist in the first place.
My Rating: C+
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