A campy survival comedy undone by its own third act While bursting onto the scene with the inventive comedy-horror  The Evil Dead  (1981), Sam Raimi also helped pioneer the superhero craze of the 2010s by directing the Tobey Maguire  Spider-Man  trilogy. Yet after such big-budget success, he has only returned to directing for the big screen once in the past thirteen years, with another Marvel film,  Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness  (2022). Those studio projects pr

A breathless con-man epic dismantling the myth of the American Dream The unmasking of “the American Dream” as one in which people have to con their way to the top is a thesis American cinema has explored before, going as far back as  The Sting  (1973) or  Paper Moon  (1973). These films emerged in the 1970s, during a moment of backlash and activism against American idealism shaped by Vietnam and a revived anti-capitalist fervor. American filmmaking was broken into by young, u

A Transcendental Take on Shakespeare Shakespeare has been a well of material for artists and filmmakers, not just through adapting his works, but his life as well.  Shakespeare in Love  (1998) was fun theatre-kid fanfiction, while  All Is True  (2018) was a deep cut for Shakespearean nerds. With her novel  Hamnet , Maggie O’Farrell chose to explore the most “un-Shakespearean” aspects of the bard’s life, choosing instead his wife Anne Hathaway (not the modern actress) as the p

A Bleak but Compelling Portrait of Motherhood Motherhood has been the surprising common theme for many 2025 releases, from  Die My Love  (2025) to  Hamnet  (2025),  Bring Her Back  (2025),  The Perfect Neighbor  (2025), and  Young Mothers  (2025). The latest to join this exploration of often unnamed, dark thoughts of motherhood is the searing  If I Had Legs I’d Kick You  (2025).   If I Had Legs I’d Kick You  follows Linda (Rose Byrne), a therapist and mother of a young daught

Jim Jarmusch turns the remake into a quiet family ritual Jim Jarmusch is as unhurried an artist as can be, both in his method of filmmaking as in his style. This has made him stand out as the rest of the world accelerates and shortening attention spans demand crammed and manic narrative rhythms. Jarmusch’s films of the last decade have been playing with cinematic trends, with Jarmusch taking a pop sensation and changing it into his own counterprogrammed and contemplative take

Paul Feig’s thriller goes wildly, watchably off the rails Despite having cut his teeth making some of the best comedy of the last few decades with The Office (2005-2013), Parks and Recreation (2009-2015), Bridesmaids (2011), and Spy (2015), director Paul Feig is insisting on a career change. Since 2018 he’s been trying to break into the thriller genre with A Simple Favor (2018) and its sequel Another Simple Favor (2025). He now has delivered his biggest hit in the genre with