This looks glorious. A dash of “Punch Drunk Love” mixed in with the character mosaic of “Boogie Nights” and a dash of, dare I say it, Linklater’s “Everybody Wants Some”!

Warner Bros took a risk by releasing Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” a whole month before its U.S. theatrical date (10.22.21). That gamble has, thus far, paid off, at least in Europe where “Dune” has so far grossed an impressive $76 million. Pre-release forecasting had been pretty dour for the film, with many even predicting record-breaking second-week drops, but that never materialized.

Here’s a nasty little midnight noir. “Coming Home in the Dark,” directed by New Zealand filmmaker James Ashcroft, is the kind of tightly conceived, no-holds-barred debut that veers towards torture horror, only to unveil surprising substance just when you least expect it.

Here were my thoughts on Julia Ducournau’s “Titane,” posted on 07.14.21 at the Cannes Film Festival. It ended up winning the Palme d’Or and is set to be released this coming Friday.

With “The Tragedy of Macbeth” having finally screened last night at NYFF, Denzel Washington officially entered the 2022 Oscar race.

Paul Schrader tends to be pretty blunt when it comes to his Facebook posts, which is why his page is one of the most essential for cinephiles at the moment. A mix of political rhetoric, personal stories and movie reviewing, Schrader’s Facebook has caused controversy many times over these last few years. The writer-director even admitted, a few months back, that, after defending Kevin Spacey, he was put in Facebook jail by “First Reformed” studio A24.

The Lucille Ball biopic “Being the Ricardos” test screened on Monday for the third time in a little over a month. The film, which was written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, follows Lucy (Nicole Kidman) and Desi (Javier Bardem) as they “face a crisis that could end their careers and another that could end their marriage”.

It’s no secret that pandemic-era film critics have veered towards hyperbole and over-praising certain films. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case with Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth”, but I’m very excited to see it. Visually, it looks stunning and as a self-avowed “Coenhead,” this is easily one of my most anticipated films of the year.

Notice the link that says “Best Movies of 2021” on the right side of your screen. That’ll likely stay there for the duration of the year and be updated accordingly, hopefully regularly, for the next few months. It’s a little experiment I’m doing, based on reader suggestions, to have a virtually followed list this year.

Auteur extraordinaire Antoine Fuqua’s “The Guilty” is being released in theatres today, and on Netflix on October 14th. It’s pretty much a beat-by-beat remake of Gustav Möller’s Danish thriller, which had its World Premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival to glowing reviews.

The New York Times’ A.O. Scott and Manhola Dargis listed “The Tragedy of MacBeth” among their favorite films of the upcoming New York Film Festival lineup:

I’ve been getting a lot of emails about this topic, so I’ll elaborate further.

Quentin Tarantino was left somewhat confused by Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,” admitting that he may need to watch it again to get a better grasp. “I think I need to see it again,” he told ReelBlend. [via NME]

I walked out of the “Dear Evan Hansen” world premiere almost two weeks ago at TIFF. I tweeted it was an “absolutely insufferable experience. It’s a CATS-level catastrophe, but instead of felines you have a bunch of overtly joyous white kids singing and dancing about mental health issues.”

The three best movies I saw at this year’s TIFF were Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog,” Celine Sciamma’s “Petite Maman,” and Michel Franco’s “Sundown.” I haven’t written about the latter until now. I’m not sure why, but it’s time.

Will Smith was peculiarly missing at the fully-vaxxed-only Telluride Film Festival a few weeks ago. H

Almost a week removed from the conclusion of the Toronto International Film Festival and many still can’t seem to shake off how unusual this 46th edition was.