Butler’s brusque, beady-eyed, scowling-hulk charisma has aged well. A quick-fire actor in a caveman’s body, he has the ability to lift a piece of pulp so that it almost seems like a real movie.

I’ve been seeing variations on the question above on comment boards and social media, and the answer is inevitably a resounding “No. Fucking. Way.” But let’s be clear about what the question really is, since it’s actually two questions at once. The fundamental thing that’s being asked is: Could “Babygirl,” an enthralling high-kink corporate drama, […]

Reality doesn’t bite. Well, okay, at times it does. A number of our choices for the best documentaries of the year capture turbulent realities, ominous politics, and, on occasion, stark tragedy. That’s one of the missions of nonfiction film: to put us in touch with dark things that are too often hidden away. But our […]

Will “Challengers” nab a best picture nomination at this year’s Academy Awards? The question might seem trivial to anyone who’s not a “Challengers” superfan — and, full disclosure, I am one, having chosen it as my number one movie of the year. But I assure you I’m not merely asking this out of some defensive […]

Though it never announces itself this way, the entire movie — nuclear light shows, plot to blow up the world, a team of heroes fast enough to run circles around physics — is a parody of the grandiosity of what superhero movies have become. It’s like a late Marvel extravaganza that never loses sight of the fact that it’s preposterous.