“Del Toro has always had more affinity for his monsters than men, and Elordi’s tender creature is so much more interesting than Isaac’s off-putting, one-note doctor that the movie doesn’t come alive until he does, which is unfortunately over an hour into the 149-minute feature. Frankenstein is as visually extravagant as it is dramatically undercooked.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 10/21/2025

“Luca Guadagnino’s entertainingly trashy provocation pushes the audience’s buttons with fat, clumsy thumbs, tackling issues of race, elitism, power dynamics and consent without having anything substantive or even coherent to say about any of them. Still, there’s a naughty, irresponsible swagger to the picture that’s undeniably fun to watch.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 10/15/2025

“Every scene in director Mary Bronstein’s sophomore effort is a mini-anxiety attack, rattling in extreme closeups on star Rose Byrne while a cacophonous world roars at and around her, shrieking reminders of her shortcomings as a mother and a human being. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You would probably be unwatchable if it weren’t so horrifically funny.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 10/15/2025

“Though it’s a major studio release with big stars, Roofman has the low-key vibe of an indie from the early aughts. The 35mm cinematography and easy authenticity make it feel like something you’d have seen at Sundance around the time when the film is set. Cianfrance has a real eye for everyday life. The places in his movies look like people actually live there.” – North Shore Movies, 10/10/2025

“Such a scenario could easily have tipped into melodrama, but Bigelow has too brusque and businesslike an approach for that. There are no histrionics here, just stray glimpses of humanity as these officials grasp the gravity of the situation. The movie is breathless, understated. A House Of Dynamite leaves you rattled and wrung out.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 10/09/2024

“Sora’s film is set at a Japanese private school in a very near future where society is waiting on tenterhooks for an earthquake that’s predicted to cause unprecedented devastation. In the meantime, boys will be boys, and the film follows two class clowns approaching graduation and growing apart. It’s like if Superbad took place on the eve of the apocalypse.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 10/02/2025

“Director Paul Greengrass turns the white-knuckle, true-life tale of a school bus lost amid the 2018 California wildfires into a laughable pile of Hollywood hokum. Co-scripted by Mare Of Easttown’s Brad Ingelsby, The Lost Bus is full of the kind of horseshit screenwriters add to wax the egos of movie stars, and it does not reflect well on anyone involved.” – North Shore Movies, 09/28/2025

“You can be a literal bomb-throwing radical and still wake up one morning to discover you’ve become a crabby old conservative. DiCaprio’s consternation is a howl, and sometimes this feels like a whole movie made out of that scene near the end of Hollywood when Leo’s Rick Dalton is screaming at the Manson family and slurping margaritas out of the blender.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 09/25/2025

“A fascinating peek behind the curtain, a look at filmmaking as it actually happens, and all the boredom and frustration that entails. The film was made with Coppola’s permission and is being released by his nephew Robert Schwartzman’s company Utopia, so I doubt the portrait is truly warts and all, but there are plenty of blemishes. I could have watched it all day.” – North Shore Movies, 09/22/2025

“First-time screenwriter Ben Shattuck adapted his short story himself, and the rookie mistake with The History Of Sound is that it’s entirely internalized. There’s nothing for Lionel to do. Such a passive protagonist is okay when we’re reading and are privy to the character’s inner thoughts, but onscreen we’re just watching a handsome man look sullen.” – North Shore Movies, 09/19/2025