| | | The Falling Sky (2024) | One of the most necessary and scorching pieces of nonfiction storytelling in recent memory. - Variety |
| | | The Garfield Movie (2024) | A terrible Monday of a film for the orange tabby whose storied laziness over nearly 50 years has certainly earned him better. - Variety |
| | | Thelma the Unicorn (2024) | Netflix’s Thelma the Unicorn avoids being rendered completely unoriginal by its overly familiar premise thanks to consistent splashes of acid humor and a plethora of wacky supporting characters. - Variety |
| | | Mars Express (2023) | A gripping, heady and refreshing 2D animated take on the perils of man and machine coexisting... - Variety |
| | | A Photographic Memory (2024) | Beyond the wealth of resources at her disposal, it’s the consistently meta and thematically relevant formal ingenuity Seed shrewdly deploys that make her debut a sumptuous piece of nonfiction. - Variety |
| | | Oddity (2024) | McCarthy and editor Brian Philip Davis deploy high-voltage moments with expert timing, using the dark to their favor in refreshing fashion. - Variety |
| | | Abigail (2024) | While the overall concept of Abigail comes across as if cobbled together from disparate sources, the actors (for the most part) occupy a consistent, darkly humorous wavelength that helps the elements congeal. - IGN Movies |
| | | Chicken for Linda! (2023) | Unforgettable flavor is what the uproarious, sublimely gorgeous hand-drawn musical “Chicken for Linda!” serves. - Los Angeles Times |
| | | The Absence of Eden (2023) | A strong calling card for Perego. - Variety |
| | | Música (2024) | Now that Mancuso has gotten his origin story out onto the screen, it’s exciting to wonder what a sophom*ore effort could entail for him. For now, “Música” has earned him his filmmaking stripes. - Variety |
| | | Kim's Video (2023) | This caper-slash-personal essay is an admirable endeavor that honors, above all, a filmmaker’s fixation on a medium that makes him whole. - Los Angeles Times |
| | | La Chimera (2023) | Mournful yet exuberant, “La Chimera” is a towering work of art presented with the unassuming invitation of a warming summer morning. - Los Angeles Times |
| | | (2023) | Consistently laugh-out-loud and unexpectedly poignant. - RogerEbert.com |
| | | The American Society of Magical Negroes (2024) | Like a comedy sketch that overstays its welcome, “Society” undermines both its caustic intent and its romantic-comedy subplot. - Los Angeles Times |
| | | Cabrini (2024) | For all that can be questioned about the makers’ intentions, the movie’s greatest sin is how lifelessly solemn and aesthetically dull it is. - Variety |
| | | Io Capitano (2023) | Io Capitano is as unflinching as it is robust with empathy. - Los Angeles Times |
| | | About Dry Grasses (2023) | Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan spends his latest engrossingly verbose, three-hour opus, “About Dry Grasses,” warning us that every truth is partial as it’s tinged with the teller’s perspective. - RogerEbert.com |
| | | Frida (2024) | Even those already familiar with the trajectory of Kahlo’s existence may find the delivery here raw, vulnerable, and refreshing. - Variety |
| | | Tendaberry (2024) | A ravishingly lyrical portrait of both a single young life and a centuries-old locale converging in the present. - Variety |
| | | Reinas (2024) | The director leverages the perceived smallness of “Reinas,”centered on a former couple eventually united via a common preoccupation, to surreptitiously tackle the more expansive issues that in turn pushed its protagonists into their personal dilemma. - Variety |
| | | Malu (2024) | Lived in to the point that it becomes difficult to perceive it as a calculated representation and not raw truth, what the superb De Novaes does with this acting feat is at once electric and monstrous. - Variety |
| | | Under the Fig Trees (2021) | The consistency of the performances by the cast of first timers, all operating with unshowy nuance even in dialogue-heavy roles, is utterly astounding. - RogerEbert.com |
| | | Kneecap (2024) | Bursting with unruly energy that practically escapes the confines of the screen, “Kneecap” is a riotous, drug-laced triumph in the name of freedom that bridges political substance and crowd-pleasing entertainment. - Variety |
| | | Kidnapping Inc. (2024) | On paper, the idea to address social inequality and the corrosion of institutions by way of a potentially crowd-pleasing work of entertainment is sound, even daring, and that’s why the fact that the film’s many elements don’t amalgamate is a shame. - Variety |
| | | In the Summers (2024) | “In the Summers” is the type of personal, confidently executed first outing that should hopefully put the filmmaker on an auspicious track to produce other keenly humanist work. - Variety |
| | | Brief History of a Family (2024) | Elevated by its consistent visual inventiveness... the closer we observe, the more it reveals itself as a tale of wish fulfillment for everyone involved. - Variety |
| | | Ponyboi (2024) | Through some of the screenplay’s slight formulaic stumbles, it’s Gallo’s charmingly fierce performance that anchors all the loose pieces. - indieWire |
| | | Sujo (2024) | A work of tremendous lyrical potency, even more intricate in meaning and scope than the pair’s earlier stunner, Sujo thunderously demonstrates why Valdez and Rondero stand among those soon to be regarded as the new masters of Mexican cinema. - indieWire |
| | | I Saw the TV Glow (2024) | Where others could have made a less sophisticated pastiche, Jane Schoenbrun has filtered the familiar through their nonconforming lens to beget a bona fide original. - The Playlist |
| | | The Teachers' Lounge (2023) | A taut and tight examination of the concept of justice folded into an absorbing character study. - Los Angeles Times |
| | | Concrete Utopia (2023) | Though the humor and acting in “Concrete Utopia” can occasionally feel broad, Lee’s viscerally monstrous performance grounds a high-stakes drama. - Los Angeles Times |
| | | Who We Become (2023) | More of a brainstorming draft with plenty of compelling threads than a fully formed statement, “Who We Become” at least succeeds at introducing three fascinating families worth learning more about. - RogerEbert.com |
| | | Behind the Mountains (2023) | Unorthodox, yet fascinating, "Behind the Mountains" is mostly concerned with passing on the inspiring idea that it only takes one person to believe things can be different for change to begin. - Variety |
| | | Fallen Leaves (2023) | That wordless gesture of solidarity is among the many muted wonders of Fallen Leaves, an affirmation of the hope we can find in the company of others, laced with a flesh-and-blood romanticism. - Los Angeles Times |
| | | Wish (2023) | Wish’s visually appealing celebration of Disney’s 100th anniversary mostly lacks inventiveness and gravitas but features some memorable music. - IGN Movies |
| | | Lee (2023) | It’s partly because of how by-the-numbers the project is that [Winslet's] fantastic interpretation of a woman unconcerned with upholding the status quo stands out so intensely. - Variety |
| | | Fingernails (2023) | There’s an endearing bizarreness to Fingernails... that allows him [Nikou] to grasp at some of the intricacies of the human condition, steeped in silences as much as heartfelt analysis. - Los Angeles Times |
| | | Divinity (2023) | A movie destined for a cult following and subsequent midnight showings, “Divinity” does commit the sin of placing style over substance, but there’s enough of the latter to keep one’s mind spinning along with it - Los Angeles Times |
| | | Strange Way of Life (2023) | Leave it to Almodóvar to take our breath away right before galloping into the sunset. - Los Angeles Times |
| | | El Conde (2023) | [A] wickedly funny, blood-soaked portrait of a decaying tyrant. - RogerEbert.com |
| | | The Boy and the Heron (2023) | How fortunate it is to be around now that animation’s greatest alchemist has gifted us his most personal spell yet. - The Playlist |
| | | The Convert (2023) | There’s just enough of an interesting theme and strong production value (it’s impossible not to succumb to the breathtakingly imposing landscapes) to earn “The Convert” some grace. - Variety |
| | | Rotting in the Sun (2023) | Although “Rotting in the Sun” isn’t revelatory about how little those in the higher echelons of society think about the tribulations of average people, the movie’s forceful way of expressing it achieves its presumed goal: to punch up and mock the fools. - RogerEbert.com |
| | | Origin (2023) | “Origin” upholds the knowledge as the hopeful first step towards a fresh start. - The Playlist |
| | | Upon Open Sky (2023) | As is common in Arriaga’s scripts, the tale finds its potency in the intricate moral grays of the human condition, here portrayed through a collection of strikingly incisive performances by the young cast. - Variety |
| | | The Beasts (2022) | For its second half, in the aftermath of a twist that shouldn’t be spoiled, the film takes on an unexpected depth and even a semblance of closure, though it shouldn’t be a surprise that no one fully gets what they want. - Los Angeles Times |
| | | Amanda (2022) | It’s in the pointed care the director puts in every bizarre interaction that the film finds its footing. - Los Angeles Times |
| | | Flamin' Hot (2023) | Longoria and her actors lean into the cheesiness, pun intended, but not without winking at us in flights of imagination that communicate a layer of calculated mischief. - Los Angeles Times |
| | | Will-o'-the-Wisp (2022) | Few cineastes out there are making deliciously defiant art like Rodrigues, and this entry in his catalog is a concentrated shot of his sardonic mastery. - Los Angeles Times |
| | | The Hole in the Fence (2021) | Del Paso formulates an intellectually rich critique on a thorny subject for a country still reluctant to face its entrenched moral vices. - Los Angeles Times |
