Gladiator II Is a Lavish, Empty Spectacle
Ridley Scott heard you liked Gladiator, so he thought he'd give you some more gladiators with your gladiator.
Movie Violence
Venom: The Last Dance Is a Camp Buddy Comedy Disguised as a Comic Book Movie
The series ends with an oddly sweet romp about a mismatched couple on a zany road trip across the American West.
Joker: Folie à Deux Is a Miserable Musical Slog
The comic-book sequel is a dull, dismal, event-free recap of its predecessor.
With Deadpool & Wolverine, Marvel Has Lost the Plot
A sad, shallow, and pandering movie that shows the MCU has no real stories left to tell.
Kevin Costner's Neo-Western Horizon: An American Saga—Chapter 1 Is an Interminable Slog
Costner stars, directs, and writes in what amounts to a three-hour prologue for a better movie.
With Ride or Die, the Bad Boys Movies Become Referendums on Masculinity
The fourth Bad Boys film is an uninspired retread.
Furiosa Is a Glorious Apocalyptic Epic From Mad Max Director George Miller
More philosophical and more Shakespearean than Fury Road, it's another ambitious action extravaganza.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Is Just a Lot of Monkeying Around
The latest movie in the Apes franchise gestures at interesting ideas about politics and civilizational conflict, but it doesn't develop them.
The Fall Guy Is a Crowd-Pleasing Homage to Silver Screen Stunt Work
It's not a great movie. But it is a great time at the movies.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire Is Epically, Enjoyably Stupid
A dumb, loud movie that delivers the promised monster beatdowns.
The Beekeeper Is a Pulpy, Enjoyable Action Movie About a Rigged System
In Jason Statham's latest lowbrow actioner, the bee puns buzz all the way to the top.
Review: Scarface Shows How Prohibition Leads to Violence
Tony Montana has a bloody rags-to-riches story.
In Ridley Scott's Napoleon, Political Ambition Is Both Pathetic and Horrific
The new film is an anti-epic about the petty awfulness of history's great men.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Is a Dud
It might as well have been titled Indiana Jones and the Quest for Cash.
Fast X Is a Loud, Obnoxious, Campy Bore
The 10th entry in the muscle-car series is loud, ugly, and all too self-aware.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Is a Marvel Superhero Movie Made in Poor Taste. And It's Better for It.
In 2018, director James Gunn was fired from the film for gross tweets. But this comic book sequel shows the value of his gross-out sensibility.
Prosecutor Drops Firearm Enhancement Against Alec Baldwin
After a tragic on-set accident, a district attorney used a law passed after the incident to threaten Baldwin with years in jail.
Alec Baldwin Shouldn't Spend 5 Years in Prison for an Accident
The actor is a polarizing figure. That shouldn't matter when evaluating the criminal case against him.
Black Adam Is a Dreary Superhero Slugfest
The new DC Comics-based film wants to critique the superhero status quo. Instead, it ends up supporting it.
Review: Halloween Ends and The Banshees of Inisherin
Return of the Big Figure, and Colin Farrell at a new peak.
The Woman King Rewrites History for a Feminist Twist on the Slave Trade
Hollywood often takes liberties. But there's a distinction to be made between poetic license and historical revisionism.
The Northman Is a Bloody, Brutal, Brilliant Viking Revenge Epic
No moral judgment, just Viking honor, pagan ritual, and inevitable death.
The New Scream Is a Meta-Horror Film About Meta-Horror Films
Part sequel, part reboot, it's a slasher-film hall of mirrors.
No Time To Die Gives Us a Not-Quite-Woke James Bond
Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007 is a reckoning with everything that made Bond who he is.
James Gunn's The Suicide Squad Is a Movie About Being Canceled (by a Giant Starfish Monster)
The most subversive thing about the movie is that the director was allowed to make it at all.
Netflix's Extraction Is a Tolerable Substitute for a Real Summer Action Movie
It’s the Zoom happy hour of blockbusters.
Violent Political Satire The Hunt Has Been Uncanceled, Just in Time for the Primaries
Did the outrage that caused it to get shelved also return? (Spoiler: It has not)
Everyone Is Getting Joker Wrong
Plus: sex discrimination before SCOTUS today, Warren stands by pregnancy firing claim, and more...
A Violent Movie Satirizing America's Culture War Gets Canceled by America's Culture War
After outraged responses from Fox and Trump, Universal yanks The Hunt from its schedule.
Does Walmart Really Think a 30-Second Clip of Call of Duty Will Traumatize Us All?
Store orders ban of violent displays, but is still selling guns and video games.
Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Is a Nostalgic Defense of Movie Violence
It's a throwback to an earlier Hollywood era, and an argument for why movies still matter.
Violent Video Games Don't Make Players More Violent IRL
New study trashes crappy consensus correlating gaming violence and aggression in real life
President Trump To Meet with Video Game Makers Because…FBI Failed To Follow Up on Nikolas Cruz?
Politicians love to find scapegoats for mass shootings, especially if it lets them exonerate law enforcement and the social welfare state.
Reality Contradicts Study Linking Movie Guns to Fatal Firearm Accidents
As guns proliferated in movies, accidental gun deaths and violent crime fell dramatically.
Is This X-Men: Apocalypse Poster Really Promoting Violence Against Women?
Rose McGowan and Salon think so. I don't.
Bernie Sanders Responds to Oregon Shooting: More Gun Control, More Mental Health, Less Violence in Media
Wants less shouting, more good policy.
Are Violent Video Games Digital Poison?
The American Psychological Association thinks so.
Joshua Oppenheimer's 'The Look of Silence' Confronts the Perpetrators of Genocide
An unforgettable documentary looks at the lasting scars of the Indonesian mass killings of 1965.
Video Game Violence: A Scientific 'Consensus' Cracks
Reel violence does not lead to real violence.
