“Asura” Review: A Cerebral Soap Opera From the Director of “Shoplifters”

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Netflix series is about four sisters and the unfaithful father they’re stuck with.
“The Magic Hours” Review: A Brilliant Biography of Terrence Malick’s One Big Soul

It is a book about Malick, and also a Malickian book.
“The Brutalist” Review: There Will Be Architecture

There is always the possibility that the director you decry today will be the director you defend tomorrow.
“Babygirl” Review: Leaning Into Sex Positivity

At once risqué and humane, “Babygirl” rejects the false choice between wholesomeness and transgression.
“Nightbitch” Review: Motherhood Makes Her Want to Howl

“Nightbitch” is best described as a movie about a woman who turns into a dog, which is accurate and off the film’s narrative scent.
“Gladiator II” Review: There Was Once a Dream That Was Cinema (and Democracy)

“Gladiator II” walks well-trodden ground, but with enough oomph, transgression, and rage to make it more than UFC in leather skirts.
“Anora” Review: A Sexist Fantasy Masquerading as a Feminist Fairy Tale

“Anora” styles itself as an anti-“Cinderella.” Yet it can’t see past the empty, alluring image it tailors for the male gaze.
“The Apprentice” Review: Make Movies Trump-Free Again

If “The Apprentice” convinces one American not to vote for Trump, it will have been worth making. Beyond that, it’s barely worth seeing.
“Joker: Folie à Deux” Review: Not the Sequel We Want, But the One We Deserve

There’s nothing wrong with making a disappointing sequel. Just make sure you disappoint the right people.
“Megalopolis” Review: Francis Ford Coppola Builds a City of Dreams and Nightmares

Coppola creates a film mesmerizingly at war with itself: obvious and abstract, conservative and progressive, ugly and beautiful.