Natalie Erika James’ “Apartment 7A” is at once a prequel to “Rosemary’s Baby” — the book by Ira Levin and the film by Roman Polanski — and the latest entry in Hollywood’s new wave of pregnancy horror, born in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s 2022 repealing. Other examples from this year include “Immaculate” and […]

It’s been 16 years since Christine Jeffs’ last feature, the seriocomic Amerindie sleeper “Sunshine Cleaning,” with Amy Adams and Emily Blunt. Her new feature “A Mistake” hews back to her 2001 debut, “Rain,” in that it is set in her native New Zealand and adapts its script from a Kiwi author (in this case Carl […]

The challenge in talking about Jamie XX’s brilliant new album “In Waves” is trying to describe what “kind” of music it is. As the main songwriter and producer in the British trio the XX, he was the driving force behind one of the great hopes of alternative music in the late ‘00s. But as that […]

As a setting for a TV show, fashion is a little like the restaurant industry: a rich, untapped source of detail and conflict, hindered by the logistical complexity of bringing its insular world to the screen. And just as “The Bear” was preceded by a legion of competitive reality shows, plus a misbegotten adaptation of […]

Following a breathless medley of hits at the MTV Video Music Awards last week, Katy Perry clutched her gold-plated Moon Person to accept the Video Vanguard trophy. “There are so many things that have to align to have a long and successful career as an artist. There are no decade-long accidents,” she defiantly stated. “One […]

“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” is an ominous retelling of the infamous crime. Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the second in their “Monster” anthology for Netflix follows brothers Lyle (an incredible Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik (an outstanding Cooper Koch). Having endured emotional, physical and sexual abuse — the series argues — […]

For decades, the British Royal Family managed to maintain a certain mystique and allure. Tabloid fodder and salacious stories leaked occasionally, but in the 1990s, the scandals surrounding Princess Diana and King Charles’ marriage almost caused the entire enterprise to collapse. However, the royals seemed to hit new heights in popularity in 2018 when Prince […]

The Marvel Cinematic Universe built an empire on minor characters, proving that strong execution and an overarching brand could elevate once-fringe figures like Black Widow or the Guardians of the Galaxy into franchise mainstays. (With A-list IP like Spider-Man and the X-Men leased out to other studios at the time, this was partly out of […]

A big city and its inhabitants are the focus of filmmaker Afolabi Olalekan’s engaging feature debut. Shot on location in the Nigerian capital of Lagos, the film has a palpable understanding of this big metropolis. Its pace is fast like the city, and it follows many characters whose stories continue to converge, as if Lagos were […]

Police procedurals are still a dime a dozen on television, but these days, networks champion characters that bring a unique spin to the genre. Series like CBS’ “Elsbeth,” NBC’s “The Irrational,” and ABC’s “Will Trent” are crime dramas focusing on consultants or detectives who can examine crime scenes using perspectives that distinguish them from the […]

The limited series “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez” is the first of six series from executive producer Ryan Murphy to air this month, and the third Murphy project to center on elite athletes mired in tabloid scandal. “American Sports Story” — don’t you dare make it an acronym! — joins “American Horror Stories” as well as […]

“Never Let Go” isn’t interested in reinventing familiar formulas when it comes to its unsettling spin on sinister spirits visiting a secluded cabin in the woods. With its inclusion of a protective mother and her two young kids attempting to escape an evil entity plaguing their world, it’s also unafraid to invite minor comparisons to […]

“I, the Executioner,” Ryoo Seung-wan’s sequel to his 2015 action-comedy “Veteran,” scales back on its predecessor’s laughs in order to focus more closely on — as well as to examine — the violence of its police protagonists. Although undoubtedly entertaining, Ryoo’s follow-up is also highly introspective, weaving a serial killer mystery that makes for a […]

Since the death of her mother, 10-year-old Amber Wyatt (Bianca Belle) has been bothered by all sorts of dark thoughts. Rather than act on those impulses, Amber commits her most monstrous ideas to a secret journal, purging anxieties from her subconscious though art. The process would be therapeutic, if not for a gnarly twist that […]

Following Nicole Kidman’s “Babygirl,” another psychologically complex erotic thriller arrives at one of the fall festivals. Unspooling in the Discovery Section at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Argentine thriller “Linda” puts a sexy and mysterious maid inside a household where she wrecks emotional havoc with the family she’s serving. Immediately the tables are turned […]

A political exploration gift-wrapped in a coming-of-age drama, Lakshmipriya Devi’s debut feature “Boong” follows its lively titular schoolboy on an adventure along India’s militarized eastern border. In search of his missing father, Boong (a firecracker Gugun Kipgen) helps paint a portrait of modern Manipur, the isolated Indian state neighboring Myanmar, at a time when violent […]

Theirs is a love without name in “Bound in Heaven,” when the connection between Xia You (Ni Ni) and Xu Zitai (Zhou You) is so primal that neither bother to introduce themselves to one another until after spending a night together. Details like these can seem besides the point in Huo Xin’s torrid adaptation of Li […]

A visually striking period drama from Woo Min-ho, “Harbin” follows Korean independence activist Ahn Jung-geun (Hyun Bin) as he plans the assassination of Japan’s Prime Minister in 1909, shortly after Korea’s annexation. The ploy involves numerous trains and several moving parts, resulting in a gripping last act that makes for a wonderful historical imagining. En […]

In the culture-clash comedy “Meet the Barbarians,” actor-director Julie Delpy lays bare a number of Western hypocrisies. The film follows several townspeople in the struggling French commune of Paimpont, who vote to welcome a handful of Ukrainian refugees, but are caught by surprise when a Syrian family shows up instead. The ensuing response runs the […]