Dylan Llewallyn

Project Hail Mary shocked me with just how good it was. This is the kind of big, ambitious sci-fi filmmaking that reminds you why the theater experience still matters. Ryan Gosling is fantastic and absolutely nails the tone of the film. It’s a performance full of humor, vulnerability, and heart, and it anchors the entire story beautifully. The writing is sharp, funny, and emotional. Technically the movie is on another level. The cinematography is gorgeous, the VFX are stunning, and the IMAX space sequences are some of the most impressive visuals I’ve seen on a big screen in a long time. By the final act the film turns into a full emotional gut punch. It had the entire theater fighting tears. This is blockbuster filmmaking done at the absolute highest level. Easily my favorite movie of the year so far. I love you Rocky.

Going into Slanted, I was expecting something closer to The Substance, but that’s definitely not what this. The message in this is so obvious and repeated so often that it feels like the movie is constantly hitting you over the head with the same point. It actually starts off somewhat clever and entertaining, but that quickly fades as the film becomes repetitive and uncomfortable for the wrong reasons. The writing is mostly cringe or forgettable, the characters feel flat, and the body horror elements come across as cheap rather than effective. Didn’t really care for any of the performances in this, besides the parents. They were great.

Chris Tucker & Jackie Chan are an iconic duo. Classic movie, still very funny.

The Bride is a really bold and unusual movie, and I respect the ambition even if it didn’t totally come together for me. There are definitely some great moments throughout, but they’re balanced out by stretches where the film feels a little messy and unfocused, which ultimately leaves it feeling just *okay* overall. The biggest reason the movie works at all is Jessie Buckley. She’s fantastic and continues to prove why she’s one of the most exciting actresses working right now. Whenever the film starts to drift, she pulls you back in. Unfortunately the story never quite clicks for me. It jumps from scene to scene without much momentum, and the overall narrative never feels like it builds toward something meaningful. Some of the stranger ideas, like the author of Frankenstein essentially inhabiting the Bride’s mind, didn’t land for me at all, and the detective subplot felt unnecessary. Still, I respect Maggie Gyllenhaal for taking some big swings here.