The Film Gang from KSQD

Just when you think a movie has already topped itself, think again. While many believed Toy Story 4 was the final farewell to Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the gang, Toy Story 5 proves there was one more story worth telling. Written and directed by Andrew Stanton and McKenna Harris, Toy Story 5 explores the growing impact of […]

With surrealist, colorful visuals and powerful, uplifting messaging, I Love Boosters is a breath of fresh air in a cinematic landscape relying on reboots and nostalgia. Written and directed by Boots Riley, which you might also know from his 2018 film Sorry to Bother You, this film centers on a ragtag group of boosters attempting […]

Backrooms, directed and co‑scored by YouTube phenom Kane Parsons, marks his feature debut—a science‑fiction psychological horror film arriving just in time for summer audiences. The film opens with a framing device: scientists recover footage shot by their missing colleague, Naren Warne, who became separated from his team inside the Backrooms. The Async Research Institute had […]

“Be careful what you wish for” is the beating heart of Curry Barker’s Obsession, a film that takes a well‑worn premise — think Big, Bedazzled, The Monkey’s Paw, The Butterfly Effect, even The Twilight Zone — and tries to reimagine it as modern horror. The result is entertaining enough, with solid performances, but the story […]

By Molly Sullivan. The Devil Wears Prada 2, the much anticipated sequel to The Devil Wears Prada is a far more serious and less whimsical sequel than its beloved predecessor. Directed by David Frankel and written by Aline Brosh McKenna and Lauren Weisberger, the film reunites us with Andy Sachs, played by Anne Hathaway, 20 […]

Midwinter Break, adapted from Bernard MacLaverty’s 2017 novel, arrived in theaters earlier this spring. It’s a quiet, deliberate drama anchored by the lived‑in performances of Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds, who play Stella and Gerry, a long‑married couple navigating the emotional terrain of their later years. The film is less interested in plot than in […]

The Drama, directed by Kristoffer Borgli, is a razor-sharp black comedy that puts forward startling dilemmas about relationships in the modern era. The film follows Emma Harwood, played by the incomparable Zendaya, and Charlie Thompson, played by Robert Pattinson, as they navigate the week leading up to their wedding. Upon their introduction, Emma and Charlie […]

The Christophers, Steven Soderbergh’s latest foray into the intimacies of chamber comedy, stars Ian McKellan as Julian Sklar, a once influential and famous pop-era artist whose glory faded long ago. Now near the end of his life, he is mostly famous for being famous and makes his living recording cameos for those still besotted with […]

Michael, the bio pic directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by John Logan, offers a revealing look at the life of the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson. What makes the film especially intriguing is the involvement of his family members—several of his siblings and one of his sons- serving as producers. That raises the […]

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy — which has nothing to do with the franchise — opens with a parent’s worst nightmare. While living in Cairo, Charlie and Larissa’s (Jack Reynor and Laia Costa), eight-year-old daughter, Katie (Natalie Grace), is abducted from their backyard. Devastated, they eventually return to Albuquerque and try to rebuild their lives with […]

Film Review—Project Hail Mary By Molly Sullivan I’ll admit, I’m not usually drawn to films where Earth is on the brink of destruction and humanity and there is a mission to venture into deep space to save it.. That was my initial reaction when I first heard about Project Hail Mary. But this film offers […]

What makes a good adaptation? Is it sticking to the source material as faithfully as possible or breathing in new life by going in an entirely different direction? Emerald Fennell’s 2026 film Wuthering Heights provides the following answer to my original question: “Must an adaptation be good?” Based on the Emily Bronte novel of the […]

Crime 101 was the perfect remedy for a rainy day in Santa Cruz County. The 2026 crime thriller, written and directed by Bart Layton and based on Don Winslow’s 2020 novella, delivers a suspenseful and thoroughly entertaining ride. It was also the most crowded I’ve seen the Capitola CineLux in quite some time. The standout […]

To summarize the immense complexity of Sinners, from screenwriter and director Ryan Coogler, feels like a near impossible task. It can be described as a horror film, a period piece, or even a musical. All three of these components were expertly woven to create the film that has broken the record for most Oscar nominations […]

Everybody Wants to Rule the World rolls over the closing credits of Marty Supreme—a haunting, hopeful choice for Josh Safdie’s new sports comedy‑drama, co‑written with Ronald Bronstein. Timothée Chalamet—who’s recently played Willy Wonka, Bob Dylan, and now Marty Mauser—may finally get his long‑overdue recognition at this year’s Academy Awards. As Mauser, he’s a scrappy 23‑year‑old […]

Song Sung Blue, written and directed by Craig Brewer is based on the 2008 documentary of the same name by Greg Kohs, follows the lives of Lightning and Thunder—Mike and Claire Sardina—a couple from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as they pursue their dream of bringing happiness and joy to others through music in the mid-1990s. It has […]

Bugonia is a dark comedy with splashes of horror and science fiction, and it leans fully into its own strangeness. It is based on a South Korean film, Save the Green Planet! The blend of genres can feel chaotic, but that unpredictability is part of its charm. Emma Stone reunites with Yorgos Lanthimos to explore […]

Housemaid Film Review by Molly Sullivan Housemaid, the thriller based on the bestselling novel by Freda McFadden and directed by Paul Feig, is entertaining, slightly cheesy fun—with more plot twists than a pretzel. McFadden is known for mysteries that make you think you’ve figured everything out, only to reveal that nothing is quite as it […]

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, written and directed by Rian Johnson, raises the bar  on mystery thrillers that Johnson himself has previously set. Proving yet again his brilliance in  crafting a whodunit mystery, his latest film dares to elevate the power of storytelling to heavenly  heights.   Set in the fictional small town […]

Nuremberg is a post–World War II psychological thriller by James Vanderbilt, adapted from Jack El-Hai’s The Nazi and The Psychiatrist. Russell Crowe is nearly unrecognizable as Hermann Göring, while Rami Malek is well cast as U.S. Army psychiatrist Dr. Douglas Kelley, who is sent to study Nazi war criminals and determine their fitness for trial. […]

  Poor Things, the second collaboration between Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and Oscar-winner Emma Stone, is an ecstatically subversive fantasy that imagines how an adult woman might relate to the world if she had somehow sidestepped years of social indoctrination. Beginning in a Gilliamesque version of Victorian era London dappled with whimsy and wonder, Poor […]

Dream Scenario is a smart and insightful film about human nature, and marks another late-career high point for Nicolas Cage.

Stop Making Sense remains one of the most supremely satisfying concert movies ever made.

Barbie is a gleefully subversive look at the dehumanizing effects of inequality

Oppenheimer is a riveting cinematic experience