Movie Reviews

Who doesn’t like the Toy Story movies? The fifth installment of Pixar’s first franchise is now in theaters, and Nathan Weinbender says it’s an entertaining family adventure that mostly sticks to the same formula as its predecessors.

The Netflix documentary "Queen of Chess" tells the story of the first woman chess grandmaster, Hungary’s Judit Polgár, Dan Webster says.

The Marked Woman brings a Spanish sense of suspense to a subject taken straight from the headlines, Dan Webster says.

Unlike most Hollywood horror film “Backrooms” preys simply on our inherent fears of the unknown – until it doesn’t, Dan Webster says.

Paul Rudd plays a struggling musician whose work is stolen by a pop star in Power Ballad, the latest from Once director John Carney. Nathan Weinbender says the movie’s tune is a familiar one, but it’s extremely likeable nonetheless.

Nathan Weinbender reviews two new movies from important international directors: Radu Jude’s Kontinental ’25, from Romania, and Christian Petzold’s Miroirs No. 3, from Germany.

Blue Heron is director Sophy Romvari’s hushed, intimate memory of being an immigrant family in Canada and of her own brother’s fracturing mental health. Nathan Weinbender says it’s a potent study of time and loss, and it’s now playing at the Magic Lantern.

As the 52nd Seattle International Film Festival draws to a close, Nathan Weinbender returns with some of his highlights from a week in the dark.

“I Swear” is a look at the life and struggles of a man with Tourette’s Syndrome and the ignorance surrounding it, Dan Webster says.

A hangout comedy set in 2011 Montreal, Chandler Levack’s Mile End Kicks follows a burgeoning music writer in a community of wannabe rock stars and artists. Nathan Weinbender says it uncannily captures its time and place, like a millennial version of Almost Famous.

“All That’s Left of You” is a powerful tale of three generations of a Palestinian family, Dan Webster says.

“Fantasy Life” is a flawed study of emotionally stunted characters in search of their respective life purposes, Dan Webster says.

The Christophers is the latest from prolific director Steven Soderbergh, a dialogue-heavy comedy about an art fraud and her unlikely mentor. Nathan Weinbender says it’s an entertaining two-hander between Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel.

Aptly titled “The Drama” is a study of two troubled souls coming apart just when they should be bonding in marriage, Dan Webster says.

The Oscar-nominated “Sirāt” takes viewers on a heartbreakingly surreal road trip through Morocco’s desert, Dan Webster says.

The Oscar-nominated French-Spanish thriller Sirāt is now available on digital rental platforms. Nathan Weinbender says it’s unflinching and brutal, but also a bit empty beyond its blunt-force style.

If you have fond memories of the video store, the documentary "Videoheaven" is for you. Director Alex Ross Perry uses hundreds of clips to show us the video store's rise and fall, and Nathan Weinbender says it's an engrossing academic visual essay.

“Project Hail Mary” takes a serious subject and lightens it up with a buoyant Ryan Gosling performance, Dan Webster says.

“The Bride!” is Maggie Gyllenhaal’s genre-defying reimagining of “Frankenstein” starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale. Nathan Weinbender says it’s a gutsy attempt, but it doesn’t know what to do with its many weighty themes.

It’s been two and a half decades, but the documentary “WTO/99” recalls when Seattle’s streets were wracked with protests, Dan Webster says.