After Hours - Criterion Collection (Comedy)
"Desperate to escape his mind-numbing routine, uptown Manhattan office worker Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) ventures downtown for a hookup with a mystery woman (Rosanna Arquette). So begins the wildest night of his life, as bizarre occurrences—involving underground-art punks, a distressed waitress, a crazed Mister Softee truck driver, and a bagel-and-cream-cheese paperweight—pile up with anxiety-inducing relentlessness and thwart his attempts to get home. With this Kafkaesque cult classic, Martin Scorsese—abetted by Michael Ballhaus’s kinetic cinematography and scene-stealing supporting turns by Linda Fiorentino, Teri Garr, Catherine O’Hara, and John Heard—directed a darkly comic tale of mistaken identity, turning the desolate night world of 1980s SoHo into a bohemian wonderland of surreal menace."
- Image and description from Criterion Collection
Beau is Afraid (Comedy)
"A paranoid man embarks on an epic odyssey to get home to his mother in this bold and ingeniously depraved new film from writer/director Ari Aster."
- Image and description from A24 Films
"Ari Aster’s gorgeous, amorphous epic is a mind-mutilating odyssey that can only be seen to be believed."
- Prabhjot Bains, Tilt
"A fever dream of uncomfortable proportions for anyone with a tinge of anxiety. Ari Aster's ability to tap into an array of horrors that stem from our ill-programmed imbalance of how to live with ourselves is more unsettling than any ghoul, slasher or boo."
- Erik Childress, Movie Madness
Fool's Paradise (Comedy)
"A satirical comedy about a down-on-his-luck publicist who discovers a recently released mental health patient who looks just like a misbehaving movie star. The publicist subs him into a film, creating a new star. But fame and fortune are not all they are cracked up to be."
- Image and description from official site
"Is it serious? No? Is it meaningful? No. But it's just so funny."
- Wade Major, Filmweek
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (Comedy)
"A beloved and best-selling classic comes to the big screen with Lionsgate’s adaptation of Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. Starring Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, and Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret, this timeless, coming-of-age story has transcended decades and spoken to generations. At 11, Margaret is moving to a new town and beginning to contemplate everything about life, friendship, and adolescence. She relies on her mother (McAdams), who offers loving support but is herself finding her own footing in a new place, and her grandmother Sylvia (Bates), who is coming to terms with finding happiness in the next phase of her life. For all three, questions of identity, one’s place in the world, and what brings meaning to a life will draw them closer together than ever before. From writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig (The Edge of Seventeen) and Gracie Films’ Academy Award®-winning producer James L. Brooks. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. is the theatrical event for everyone who has ever wondered where they fit in."
- Image and description from official site
"Kelly Fremon Craig fulfills the promise of her endearingly tough debut, The Edge of Seventeen, with a perfectly realized adaptation of Judy Blume's kid-lit classic."
- Adam Nayman, The Ringer
Renfield (Comedy)
"In this modern monster tale of Dracula’s loyal servant, Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road, X-Men franchise) stars as Renfield, the tortured aide to history’s most narcissistic boss, Dracula (Oscar® winner Nicolas Cage). Renfield is forced to procure his master’s prey and do his every bidding, no matter how debased. But now, after centuries of servitude, Renfield is ready to see if there’s a life outside the shadow of The Prince of Darkness. If only he can figure out how to end his codependency. Renfield is directed by Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War, The LEGO Batman Movie) from a screenplay by Ryan Ridley (Ghosted series, Rick & Morty series), based on an original idea by The Walking Dead and Invincible creator Robert Kirkman. The film co-stars Awkwafina (The Farewell, Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings), Ben Schwartz (Sonic, The Afterparty) and Adrian Martinez (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Focus)."
- Image and description from official site
"Cage was born to play a vampire. Renfield, then, feels like the long-withheld fulfilment of a promise -- the actor finally gets to play the biggest vampire of them all, Dracula. His performance is faultless... If only Renfield had featured him more."
- Clarisse Loughrey, Independent
"The main attraction is Nicolas Cage’s barnstorming performance as Dracula, played mainly for laughs yet indicating careful study of his many predecessors in the role."
- Jake Wilson, The Age
Barbie
"To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken."
- Image and synopsis from official site
"One of the best films of the year in cinematographic terms, probably the best comedy that we have seen in a long time, and an extraordinarily entertaining product that promotes the value of searching for a more cohesive society."
- Sergio Burstein, LA Times
"Greta Gerwig serves up a frothy confection of fashion and fun coupled with searing social critique of the iconic doll in the movie Barbie."
- Sheri Flanders, Chicago Reader