Grappling with The Iron Claw, Zach Snyder's return, and more from the week in movies

What the heck is going on in Alex Garland’s Civil War trailer?

They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but the point of a trailer is to help us judge movies and whether they’re worth seeing, right? That being the case, it feels fair to say that Alex Garland’s Civil War, premiering April 26, 2024, looks absolutely ridiculous. The new trailer takes on that classic premise—“What if near-future America was a dystopia?”—and adds in the uneasy language of, well, civil war. Nineteen states have seceded, guys, and the rebel “Western Forces” are going to reach the White House by the Fourth of July!!! – Mary Kate Carr Read More

The Iron Claw review: Zac Efron grapples with the curse of the Von Erichs

In pro wrestling, there are babyfaces (the good guys) and heels (the bad). The best matches tell the story of a babyface overcoming a dastardly heel’s dirty taunts and crooked tricks to win. The famed and supposedly cursed real-life Von Erich wrestling family of Texas was a brotherhood of babyfaces with a heel for a patriarch, and their tragic story is defined by adversity without comeback. Read More

Zack Snyder is the ultimate fanboy director, and Rebel Moon is his ultimate fanboy test

When Zack Snyder first announced his Netflix sci-fi epic Rebel Moon, he admitted that the concept was originally made for a “mature” Star Wars movie that he pitched to Lucasfilm—which Lucasfilm was not interested in. So he sanded off the serial numbers, replaced the lightsabers with different kinds of laser swords, and swapped out the Empire for The Imperium. Rebel Moon is no longer a Star Wars, then, but it is the story of a guy who really wanted to make a Star Wars, couldn’t, and is now creating his own new thing, making it the ultimate extension of Snyder’s fan-forward filmography. Read More

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F teaser trailer is a triumphant return for Eddie Murphy

“They love me in Beverly Hills,” Axel Foley declares confidently in the new trailer for the fourth installment of Beverly Hills Cop, and it’s true. People still love Eddie Murphy, and they love Beverly Hills Cop. So it only makes sense for the comedian to return to his old stomping ground, though this time at a new home: Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F is coming in summer 2024 on Netflix. Read More

Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget review: A sequel that’s worth the wait

On paper, the original Chicken Run sounded more like the sort of film a character in a comedy movie might pitch: “It’s The Great Escape ... starring chickens!” For better or worse, Chicken Run committed to the bit, and as a result felt more hamstrung at times than more original Aardman Studios animated films. Where a Wallace And Gromit adventure would usually feel imaginative and made up on the fly, in the best way possible, Chicken Run had a template to stick to. The company’s love of elaborate contraptions, sight gags, and rural English accents kept things reasonably entertaining, but a prison break movie as a kiddie adventure felt at odds tonally with the whimsical performances. Read More

21 terrific free movies you can watch right now on YouTube

YouTube offers a veritable treasure trove of free movies ready to watch at your convenience. Comedies, dramas, hidden gems, black-and-white classics. They’re all there to stream, gratis, with the occasional interruption from ads; hey, nothing is truly free in life, right?. We skimmed the impressive list and are here with 21 recommendations from across the board. Here goes, with the films listed by year of release… Read More

American Fiction review: Jeffrey Wright’s best film role since Basquiat

Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is a serious writer. He’s an academic, disdains “airport books” and best-selling colleagues, confronts his students, and is advised by his agent not to “insult anyone important.” In just a few scenes at the beginning of American Fiction, writer-director Cord Jefferson and actor Jeffrey Wright give the audience a complete understanding of their film’s protagonist. Cord with economical, pointed writing, and Wright with a deadpan face that is both hilarious and solemn. Read More

Rowing is everything in an exclusive The Boys In The Boat clip

A refrain often heard at regattas and amongst collegiate rowers is how powerful and all-consuming the sport can be. That can, of course, be a negative thing in many ways. Rowers wake up at the crack of dawn, wear down their bodies and crack the skin on their hands every day for a shot at a few minutes of glory in a career that, for most people who’ve ever stepped foot in a boat, will end at age 21 or 22. It’s an obsession and occasionally a dangerous one, an angle that Lauren Hadaway took in her 2021 rowing thriller, The Novice. Read More

Dune: Part Two trailer teases Timothée Chalamet, now with more Zendaya

The niche population that felt a little ripped off that Zendaya wasn’t even in the first Dune movie that much is in luck: the Emmy winner is all over the new trailer for Dune: Part Two. No longer just a mysterious girl in a vision, Chani has graduated to being Paul’s (Timothée Chalamet) love interest and a fully-fledged Fremen fighter in her own right. Read More

With The Iron Claw, Zac Efron is finally the main event

In his new movie The Iron Claw, Zac Efron, the sinewy golden boy of High School Musical and Baywatch, looks like a boulder. His bulky physique, the result of a “shocking” bodily transformation that hopefully won’t trigger insomnia and depression, like last time, is imposing. But his beefy frame is as much a part of his performance as his dropkick, reflecting the immovable object that must absorb an ungodly amount of pain without showing it. How much punishment one can withstand is essential to becoming a pro wrestler. In Iron Claw, Efron absorbs it all. Read More