Most of the fear-inducing elements come from what these characters see and don't see when they look into the eyes of the other characters. If it can even be properly classified as horror, Schultz makes clear, the real horror is us.
All in Reviews
Review: Wonder Woman
Representation certainly matters and knowing that little girls and young women will see themselves in Gal Gadot's brilliant portrayal warms my heart to the nth degree. But above all else, the film has to stand on its own merit to earn praise, and girl, does it ever!
Review: Risk
Post-Risk, it would seem like not much has changed.
Review: The Circle
Imagine a world where the smartest people are also the dumbest.
Review: Colossal
Every so often, a film will attempt to straddle certain lines, but rarely does a film completely disregard notions of the boxes it is supposed to check and just tell an entertaining story that defies description.
Review: Wilson
This film is a haphazard meditation on the difficulty of life for people whose lives really aren't all that difficult. So self-absorbed, mostly joyless and ultimately not very poignant, I walked away feeling like my time was wasted. There are unending annoyances ingrained throughout, but more than anything, it is just a bore.
Review: Beauty and the Beast
Put simply, Beauty and the Beast has just enough Disney magic working in its favor that it would be hard not to make a winner.
Review: Kong: Skull Island
This is just a good time.
Review: Logan
Everything in it is hyper-real, making for a kind of action that lends to the story instead of detracting from it. But it's in the well-worn patches of humanity that the movie finds its bearings.
Review: Get Out
"Yooooooooooooo!" is basically the only acceptable response to most of this movie.
Review: Life, Animated
While there were moments, the film actually suffers to fill its 90-minute run time with the kind of drama that seemed possible. In the end, it felt like material better suited for a documentary short than for a feature length film.
Review: Elle
Perhaps this is some sort of meta-commentary, but if it is, something in the delivery feels off.
Review: Captain Fantastic
In the end, the film tackles a few very challenging themes with good-natured humor and a certain timeless irreverence.
Review: I Am Not Your Negro
James Baldwin was brilliant. Aligning his writing with images, past and present, should result in a film that speaks powerfully to our time. And while Raoul Peck's film reaches those heights at times, certain missteps keep it from being what it could have been.
Review: OJ: Made In America
At bottom, it shows us why the story of O.J. Simpson is the story of O.J., and us.
Review: Hidden Figures
It is at once remarkable and relatable; understandable and unimaginable. That it melds all of this into a story that goes beyond the usual “feel-good” is a testament to the talents of all involved.
Review: Lion
This is the best version of this movie. That doesn’t mean this is the best movie. Just that given what they started with, there were a lot of places this could have gone wrong.
Review: Fences
Viola, Denzel, August Wilson. Sometimes a film's pedigree is so strong there is no way to fail.
Review: Jackie
While its ambitions seem grand, when you break the film into pieces, it's really just Jackie--by herself--which may be art imitating life.
Review: La La Land
They don't make movies like this anymore, but they certainly should.