If you’re a recovering Catholic like I am you may find it very cathartic to see the church get what’s coming to it in Immaculate. Sydney Sweeney turns it up to 11 in this movie and I am here for it!

Robert Morgan's Stopmotion may be too slow burn for some and it doesn't all work but once things start, uh, moving, you're in for a wild ride. The fact that Morgan also did the visual effects is pretty damn impressive!

The great Maika Monroe gets her Clarice Starling on to great effect in Osgood Perkins' Longlegs. It doesn't all work yet with Nicolas Cage giving a truly Nicolas Cageian performance in the title role it's hard to quibble.

LOVED Molli and Max in the Future, a funny, warm, and insightful sci-fi/rom-com mashup. Looking like it was shot in a basement (which the closing credits confirm) yet who cares when you've got a smart script and game cast. Somebody give Michael Lukk Litwak a budget stat!

Really enjoyed Adam Rehmeier's Snack Shack- a summer/coming of age movie set in 1991 that took me back to some favorites like Meatballs and Caddyshack, with a little My Bodyguard in their as well. Fun movie!

Loved Mystery Street- this week's Classic Thursday pick from 1950. Cool story, beautifully shot on location in Boston and Cape Cod with a great leading performance from Ricardo Montalban. Will thrill you indeed!

After The Bikeriders I realized I've loved every Jeff Nichols film I've seen but I'd missed his debut. Seeing Shotgun Stories tonight I can say he is 6 for 6! Great story about people and places we don't often see with another searing Michael Shannon lead performance- cool movie!

A prequel nobody but the rightsholders wanted, Arkasha Stevenson's The First Omen is better than it needed to be thanks to spooky music and direction supporting an all-in lead performance from Nell Tiger Free. Now the challenge is how to resurrect Gregory Peck and Lee Remick...

Exceptional Classic Thursday pick this week- Act of Violence from 1949 was one of the first films to address the struggles of returning WWII veterans. Beautifully shot, a smart script, top notch performances and that ending! Five damn stars!

Fast Charlie is a cool revenge movie set in the South with an excellent lead performance from Pierce Brosnan and a solid supporting cast including James Caan's final film appearance. I really dug this movie- and that PPK callback was choice!

While I didn't enjoy tonight's Classic Thursday pick, Preston Sturges' 1940 debut The Great McGinty, as much as his later films, there's no doubting it's cynical view of politics is spot on. Plus, it's always fun spotting his company of actors as they show up throughout the film.

First with Parker, Leonard & Ellroy- I'm a lifelong Crime Fiction fan, recently going back for Chandler & Hammett. Of them all, my #1 is Jim Thompson. Rationing his books over the years, I just read The Criminal and it is epic! Like Bonfire of The Vanities in a 1950's small town.

Kneecap is a blast- pure rebellion with an infectious IDGAF attitude! The fact that the band members play themselves, holding their own with professionals like Michael Fassbender, is mind-blowing. Scannán spraíúil!

Anyone who's ever been on the outside looking in will appreciate Carolina Cavalli's Amanda. She wisely allows her lead actress to be cruel and callous as well as anxious and vulnerable- Benedetta Porcaroli is just perfect in the role.

We stuck with Preston Sturges this Classic Thursday and it was a home run- Christmas In July from 1940 is pure screwball genius with Sturges' company led by Powell and Drew in perfect form. Hilarious and good-hearted, it's just what we needed!

I can't imagine how strange pregnancy must feel but Michelle Garza Cervera can and she cranks the strangeness up to 11 in Huesera: The Bone Woman. Talk about body horror! With a brilliant work from lead Natalia Solián it is the antithesis of What To Expect When You're Expecting

Uberto Pasolini’s Nowhere Special is a stunning film about love vs. death (spoiler alert: love wins). Leads James Norton and Daniel Lamont are perfectly cast in this uplifting story of a father and son. LOVED this movie!

JT Mollner's Strange Darling is a wild ride and I am all-in. Electric lead performances from Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner, a smart script beautifully shot by first time DP Giovanni Ribisi, Craig DeLeon's score- what a movie!

Classic Thursday returns with 1946 noir thriller Somewhere In The Night. The script puts them thorough their paces yet the game cast is clearly up for the challenge, especially John Hodiak in the lead role.

The beautiful photography in Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano belies the harrowing subject matter yet thanks to Seydou Sarr's breathtaking lead performance we never give up hope. This is the kind of storytelling that changes hearts and minds...