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Friday, May 3

05

‘Unfrosted’ Review: Melissa McCarthy in Jerry Seinfeld’s Lightweight but Satisfying Pop-Tarts Origin Story

Directing a feature for the first time, the sitcom legend also stars in the Netflix movie as a cereal company executive involved in the race to create a toaster pastry.

Tuesday, Apr 30

16

Critic’s Notebook: Nancy Savoca’s ‘Dogfight,’ a ’90s Gem With Timely Resonance, Enters Criterion Collection

The 1991 feature stars River Phoenix and Lili Taylor in the story of a cruel joke that turns into a momentous encounter between a Marine and a waitress.

Wednesday, Apr 17

21

Critic’s Notebook: On Its 50th Anniversary, Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Conversation’ Offers a Searing Vision of Then, and Now

The Palme d'Or winner is still hauntingly relevant as a portrait of surveillance, privacy, power and the dangers of action without reflection.

Saturday, Mar 16

06

‘Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus’ Review: An Exquisite and Stirring Farewell From a Renowned Composer

Director Neo Sora’s documentary captures a valedictory solo performance by the celebrated musician and film composer, his father, six months before his death from cancer.

Sunday, Mar 10

19

‘Desert Road’ Review: Kristine Froseth Stars in a Spellbinding and Rewardingly Disorienting Head Trip

Writer-director Shannon Triplett’s feature debut revolves around a lone traveler caught in a seemingly endless spiral after an accident in the Mojave.

Saturday, Feb 24

03

‘Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger’ Review: Martin Scorsese Lends a Personal Perspective to an Engaging Testament of Movie Love

Narrated by the 'Killers of the Flower Moon' director, David Hinton’s doc delves into the filmmaking duo’s body of work and their creative ups and downs.

Thursday, Feb 22

22

‘Brief History of a Family’ Review: Subtle Psychological Thriller Puts a Contemporary Chinese Family Under the Microscope

Taking its European bow at Berlin after a premiere at Sundance, Lin Jianjie’s first feature focuses on a teenage boy, his parents and the classmate who becomes their surrogate second son.

Friday, Feb 9

03

‘Vera’ Review: A Seductive and Sobering Spin on Showbiz Fame Through the Eyes of a Beloved Actor’s Daughter

Vera Gemma, whose father was a star of Italian cinema, plays a version of herself in a drama that incorporates documentary elements and a cast of mostly non-pros.

Monday, Feb 5

02

‘Natatorium’ Review: Icelandic Drama Peers Into Family Dysfunction Through an Artful, Horror-Tinged Prism

Munchausen syndrome by proxy is at the center of Helena Stefánsdóttir’s debut feature, which premiered in Rotterdam.

Wednesday, Jan 31

20

‘Bushman’ Review: Restored Indie Gem Captures an Unsettling Collision of Real Life and Fiction

David Schickele’s rarely seen feature stars Paul Eyam Nzie Okpokam as a version of himself, a Nigerian graduate student navigating the countercultural flowering and political fervor of 1968 San Francisco.

Friday, Jan 26

19

‘Every Little Thing’ Review: A Stunning Up-Close Portrait of a Hummingbird Rescuer and Her Tiny Patients

Inspired by Terry Masear’s book about her work with the world's smallest birds, Sally Aitken’s documentary follows her during a busy caretaking season in Los Angeles.

16

The Hollywood Reporter Critics Pick the 15 Best Films of Sundance 2024

Steven Soderbergh’s haunted-house movie, new films starring Kieran Culkin and Aubrey Plaza, and docs about Christopher Reeve, unionizing Amazon workers, and Argentinian cowboys are among THR critics’ favorites from the festival.

Friday, Jan 19

02

‘Frida’ Review: A Portrait of Frida Kahlo That’s a Triumph of Deep-Dive Research and Dynamic Artistry

The debut doc by editor Carla Gutiérrez explores the great Mexican artist’s life and work through her own words.

Wednesday, Dec 20

03

‘The Crime Is Mine’ Review: Money Talks and Felony Pays in François Ozon’s Exuberant Farce

Isabelle Huppert leads a stellar supporting cast in a ’30s-set comedy toplined by Nadia Tereszkiewicz and Rebecca Marder, as roommates who find a daring way to launch their careers.

Friday, Dec 15

18

‘The Boys in the Boat’ Review: Joel Edgerton in George Clooney’s Tribute to Old-Fashioned Can-Do Spirit

Callum Turner also stars in the true story of a junior varsity rowing crew’s ascent to the 1936 Olympic Games.

Wednesday, Dec 13

16

Hollywood Reporter Critics Pick the Best Films of 2023

A romantic collision of past and present, a subversive feminist fairy tale, a metaphysical ghost story, an epic retelling of a horrific footnote in American history and a sublime anti-rom-com are among this year’s highlights.

Tuesday, Dec 12

19

‘Immediate Family’ Review: A Warm Portrait of the ‘Character Actors’ of ’70s Rock

‘The Wrecking Crew’ director Denny Tedesco profiles the four prolific session musicians who became synonymous with the singer-songwriter ’70s and are still going strong.

Wednesday, Dec 6

16

Critics’ Conversation: The Great Film Performances of 2023

THR film reviewers delight in an assortment of deliciously unlikable lead turns, single out stars delivering career bests (a wild Emma Stone, a wily Natalie Portman) and celebrate new and rising talents from various corners of the globe.

Monday, Nov 27

22

‘Smoke Sauna Sisterhood’ Review: Women Come Clean in Estonian Oscar Entry’s Up-Close Look at a Purifying Ritual

Estonia’s Oscar submission is the debut feature by Anna Hints, who won the directing award in Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary Competition.

Saturday, Nov 11

02

‘The Walk’ Review: ‘Honeyland’ Director’s Effective Fusion of Political Urgency and Poetic Creativity

Tamara Kotevska’s second feature documentary interweaves refugee children’s stories with scenes from a project that uses the art of puppetry to raise awareness about young lives upended by war and persecution.

Monday, Nov 6

00

‘The Stones and Brian Jones’ Review: Nick Broomfield Captures the Chaos and the Brilliance of a Gifted Musician’s Brief Life

The documentarian weaves together a vast range of archival material and new commentary from bandmate Bill Wyman in this portrait of Jones and the early years of The Rolling Stones.

Thursday, Oct 12

02

‘My Love Affair With Marriage’ Review: An Animator’s Tough and Zingy Musical Exploration of Womanhood

With a voice cast led by Dagmara Domińczyk, New York-based Latvian filmmaker Signe Baumane delves into traditional gender roles, the biochemistry of romance, and recent Eastern European history.

Monday, Oct 9

21

‘Here’ Review: Belgian Drama’s Poetic Gaze Is Low-Key and Profoundly Affecting

A migrant worker meets a botanist who opens his eyes to a world of microscopic beauty in Bas Devos’ Brussels-set mood piece.

Wednesday, Oct 4

00

‘The Teachers’ Lounge’ Review: Mistrust on Campus Spirals Out of Control in a Taut, Unconventional German Thriller

In Germany’s official Oscar entry, a young middle school teacher finds herself at the center of an expanding web of anger and suspicion.

Tuesday, Sep 19

20

‘They Shot the Piano Player’ Review: A Deeply Felt Portrait of a Virtuoso Who Wandered Into the Crosshairs of a Police State

‘Chico & Rita’ helmers Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal reteam for another animated film, this time combining documentary material and invented sequences to tell the story of a beloved Brazilian musician.

16

The Hollywood Reporter Critics Pick the 15 Best Films of the Fall Fests

Career highs for Emma Stone and Nicolas Cage, a delicious Frederick Wiseman doc, a poignant gay ghost story and two knockout dramas about the refugee crisis in Europe are among THR critics’ 15 faves from Venice, Telluride and Toronto.

Thursday, Sep 14

02

‘Mother, Couch’ Review: Ewan McGregor and Ellen Burstyn Topline a Frustrating Absurdist Portrait of a Fractured Family

Rhys Ifans, Taylor Russell and Lara Flynn Boyle also star in the story of three adult siblings converging on the furniture store from which their mother refuses to budge.

Tuesday, Sep 12

‘The King Tide’ Review: Frances Fisher in an Unsettling Tale of Supernatural Powers and Poisonous Groupthink

Clayne Crawford and Aden Young also star in director Christian Sparkes’ Newfoundland-set psychological thriller.

Sunday, Sep 10

03

‘The Teacher’ Review: A Debut Feature’s Eye-Opening Dramatization of Life in Occupied Palestine

Saleh Bakri and Imogen Poots portray colleagues at a West Bank school who try to help a student recover from a crushing loss.

Thursday, Sep 7

18

‘Tuesday’ Review: Julia Louis-Dreyfus Takes a Rewarding Art House Plunge in a Gutsy Debut Feature

In writer-director Daina O. Pusić's allegory, the comedy star plays the mother of a dying girl and Death appears in the form of a compassionate parrot.