Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)   Premise: When a peaceful settlement on the edge of a distant moon finds itself threatened by the armies of a tyrannical ruling force, a mysterious stranger living among its villagers becomes their best hope for survival.   Director: Zack Snyder Writers: Shay Hatten, Kurt Johnstad, and Zack Snyder Cast: […]

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is an intense meditation on the impact of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s work on the Manhattan Project and the immense weight he carried following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The film naturally incorporates several tried and true trademarks of Nolan’s filmmaking toolkit such as a nonlinear structure, practical effects, IMAX film, and an absorbing sound design. With Oppenheimer, these staples of Nolan’s filmography yield some of the most visceral images he has ever put to film in a movie that is jaw dropping in its profound look at the burden cast upon the man who created the atomic bomb.

In Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s The Miracle Club, four women from a small community in Ireland make a pilgrimage to Lourdes, each in search of their own miraculous spiritual and physical cure. While on their trip, they gain much needed perspective while also hashing out their differences and confronting longstanding grudges among themselves.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is not only a near perfect culmination to the MCU’s most heartfelt group of characters. It’s also the best Marvel movie since 2019’s Endgame (with Spider-Man: No Way Home being a very close second). The heart and emotion on display in this film will stick with audiences for a while and will likely leave many weeping in the theater.

Despite a couple choices that don’t particularly gel with the overall franchise, the majority of Scream VI works well to deliver the fun slasher frights for which the franchise is known. Though it’s not the franchise love letter that Scream ’22 was, Radio Silence is still breaking new ground in one of the genre’s most beloved and entertaining franchises.

As a sub-franchise within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ant-Man is a strange anomaly. Initially the many years long passion project of Edgar Wright, Ant-Man was handed off to Peyton Reed in 2014 when Wright exited due to creative differences. The trajectory of the MCUs “little guy” from his humble and heist-driven first film through one sequel, one Civil War, and one saga-concluding Endgame is substantial. But it’s the humor and extreme likability of Paul Rudd’s work in the franchise that makes it all make sense within its greater placement within the MCU. Now Reed is at the helm of his 3rd Ant-Man film and charged with bringing the Multiverse Saga’s big bad, Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conquerer, to the big screen.

It would have been naive to think James Cameron’s storytelling abilities would have changed for the better in the 13 year span between the first two Avatar films. There’s no denying that Cameron is responsible for some of film’s biggest and most innovative titles. Since Avatar is his passion project and Pandora is where he’s looking to park himself for the remainder of his career, it’s simply mind-boggling that this (and 2009’s Avatar) is the best he can muster.

When it is not held back by a disconnected subplot and an unimaginative character introduction, Wakanda Forever flourishes as an expansive entry in the Black Panther mythos. Above all, however, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a respectful and loving tribute to Chadwick Boseman’s legacy not only as King T’Challa, but to the actor himself as well.