“The ancient Greeks went to the theater for catharsis, to purge their fears in an act of communal cleansing. Such is the goal of Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair, an early summer festival of bad vibes that started five years ago at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles. Since then, the series has expanded to include nearly 100 theaters in 73 cities.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 05/28/2026
“The 20-year-old director’s eerie debut feature is set in a strip-mall purgatory of cheap office furniture and geographically impossible floorplans, like the Overlook Hotel by way of Bob’s Discount Warehouse. Brilliantly designed and dramatically underwhelming, Backrooms is more of an environment than a story. But it’s a really creepy environment.” – Spliced Personality Substack, 05/27/2026
“A promising story sunk by foolproof formulas, the movie has fresh characters, a novel premise and an interesting, underseen milieu. Then it runs them all through a forehead-smacking chain of events in such rigorous adherence to a standardized beat sheet you’ll be mentally announcing every plot development two scenes before it occurs.” – Spliced Personality Substack, 05/26/2026
“This kind of thing can be delightful if you’re on the picture’s wavelength, and extremely alienating if you’re not. Count me as one of the alienated this time around, as the cutesy too-muchness tipped into insufferable early on for this critic. I Love Boosters helped me finally understand why some people have such violent reactions to Wes Anderson movies.” – Spliced Personality Substack, 05/22/2026
“Tony Leung Chiu-wai plays a Hong Kong professor stranded at a German university during the COVID-19 lockdown. Lonely, stir crazy and 5,000 miles from home, our sad-eyed scientist becomes quite taken with a majestic gingko tree that towers over the school’s botanical garden. What follows is sort of like a buddy movie, told from the tree’s point of view.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 05/21/2026
“Maybe it wasn’t a great idea to make a Star Wars movie with the cinematographer of Clerks. The ugliest expensive movie I have ever seen, The Mandalorian And Grogu is a visual insult. When it was over, a colleague leaving the restroom told me she had just squirted hand sanitizer in her eyes to try and wipe away the residue of the movie. It’s ghastly.” – Spliced Personality Substack, 05/19/2026
“Most playwrights-turned-filmmakers try to replicate the onstage experience. Harris blows up the proscenium. The movie is intoxicatingly in thrall to the possibilities of cinema, playing around with split-screens, sound design stutters and crazy camera angles to discombobulating and often thrilling effect. It’s fun to watch something this impassioned and alive.” – Spliced Personality Substack, 05/17/2026
“Their first tryst became legendary in a decade renowned for erotic thrillers. It was rare even then for an American film to make sex look like this much fun. Unlike the usual strenuous aerobics, this one’s playful and funny. The lovers are hot, bothered and clumsily half-clothed. What Barkin does for men’s button-down shirts in this movie cannot be overstated.” – Crooked Marquee, 05/15/2026
“Obsession has a polished confidence that puts major studio efforts to shame, plus a star-making performance from Inde Navarrette as the dreamgirl of your nightmares. It also boasts a couple of shocking moments horror fans will be talking about for the rest of the summer. I apologize to everyone sitting near me for how hard I laughed at the cat thing.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 05/14/2026
“Bobby Farrelly’s genial little time-killer coasts through the low-stakes shenanigans on the charms of a young cast bound for bigger and better things. If I had dragged my ass out to a movie theater to see Driver’s Ed, I’d probably be annoyed by the film’s lack of ambition. But it’s extremely agreeable company for a rainy afternoon on the couch.” – Spliced Personality Substack, 05/13/2026
SPLICED PERSONALITY 