“Every time the story starts building a head of steam, we skip back to learn more about how we got here, like we’re flipping channels between the movie and its more expensive prequel. Project Hail Mary constantly interrupts itself to answer questions we didn’t ask, spending too much time on scenes of Gosling refusing to go on a mission we already know he’s on.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 03/19/2026
“There’s an ugly disconnect between Weaving walloping her romantic rival over the head with a keyboard and Newton spitting blood while Hatosy kicks her in the kidneys. Yet the filmmakers don’t seem to have the slightest idea how pummeling a pretty, defenseless girl’s face into hamburger might sour their cheesy ‘80s music cue humor.” – Spliced Personality Substack, 03/18/2026
“Manhood is not a film for the faint of heart. It’s also not the sniggering yuk-fest one might expect, given the topic. Director Lombroso takes his subjects seriously, giving full weight to their fears and the crippling sense of inadequacy that could compel someone to spend tens of thousands of dollars on such a painful, humiliating procedure.” – Spliced Personality Substack, 03/15/2026
“A typically Hoover-ian tapestry of tragic coincidences, female fortitude and character names that make you wonder if you heard that right. The movie is more grounded than the comically luxurious It Ends With Us, and boasts performances more understated than the deranged kabuki theater of Regretting You. Such restraint might not be to the picture’s benefit.” – Spliced Personality Substack, 03/14/2026
“This is a gentle and humane film, keeping a respectful distance from the characters’ suffering. The most powerful dialogue exchanges in Tender Mercies are when people pause for a moment and really think before answering a question. We’re enormously moved by straightforward affirmations like ‘Yes, I do’ or ‘Yes, he is.’ Is that a lot harder than it looks? Yes, it is.” – Crooked Marquee, 03/13/2026
“It’s a terrible structural idea telling us up front that we’re going to have to listen to ten recordings. We can’t help thinking, ‘We’re still only on number six?’ I was hoping to hear something truly terrifying, like: ‘Here are a bunch of sports guys spending two-and-a-half hours ranking their favorite crime movies from the 1990s.’ The ultimate in podcast horror.” – Spliced Personality Substack, 03/13/2026
“I don’t believe for a second that there are this many upset ballet and opera fans. I think people are just tired of Timothée Chalamet. There are six months of promotional events, precursor ceremonies, sit-down interviews and gala rubber chicken dinners before the Oscar envelopes are finally opened in March. We spend half the year on year-end awards.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 03/12/2026
“That’s the responsibility of filmmakers to make images that penetrate your body and hopefully heal. It’s probably not the best moment to talk about the film, right after the operation, the surgery. Did you die watching the film? That was our intention, Santiago and me. We wanted to invite you to a catharsis. We wanted to invite you to die.” – Spliced Personality Substack, 03/09/2026
“With the synth-pulse soundtrack and vast desert spaces, Laxe is working in the mystic tradition of filmmakers like Herzog and Tarkovsky, but with the white-knuckle ruthlessness of an action craftsman. A friend left the film saying he wanted to drown the director in a puddle of radiator fluid. I don’t share his reaction, but I understand it. The movie works you over.” – Spliced Personality Substack, 03/08/2026
“A hellzapoppin’ cacophony of silly ideas and mad movie love, overhauling James Whale’s 1935 classic into a funhouse feminist manifesto. The exclamation point in the title is emblematic of Gyllenhaal’s try-hard approach, which doesn’t always land on the right side of cringe and could easily be exhausting if you’re in the wrong mood. I was in the right mood.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 03/05/2026
SPLICED PERSONALITY 