movies

How Waterbeds, Teen Love and an Unhinged Bradley Cooper Led To Licorice Pizza

Director Paul Thomas Anderson and star Alana Haim discuss the making of their sweet, California-drenched coming-of-age movie

By Matthew Jacobs November 23, 2021

Forget About the Accent. Lady Gaga Is Tremendous in House of Gucci

Her performance follows in the tradition of the best singers-turned-actors, from Frank Sinatra to Diana Ross

By Stephanie Zacharek November 23, 2021

In C'mon C'mon, Mike Mills and Joaquin Phoenix Navigate the Puzzling Territory of Kid Logic

Movies about childless adults learning great life lessons from children are generally a terrible idea—unless they’re made by Mike Mills, whose semi-autobiographical reflections on his own upbringing resulted in the marvelous 20th Century Women, one...

By Stephanie Zacharek November 19, 2021

Will Smith and a Dazzling Cast Tell the Story of Venus and Serena Williams in King Richard

It hardly mattered whether you cared about tennis or not: In the mid-to-late 1990s, when Venus and Serena Williams blazed onto the scene, nearly everyone loved them—and those who didn’t were people you didn’t want...

By Stephanie Zacharek November 19, 2021

Ghostbusters: Afterlife Is Excessively Eager To Please

The new installment is less about zapping ghoulies than it is about Family, Reconnection and Forgiveness. It feels fully parent-approved—and where’s the fun in that?

By Stephanie Zacharek November 19, 2021

What King Richard's Story of an Uncommon Dad Means for the Rest of Us

In King Richard, the new biopic chronicling the rise of the superstar tennis sisters each now known by one name—Venus and Serena—the protagonist Richard Williams, played with standout moxie by Will Smith, acts on a...

By Sean Gregory November 17, 2021

How Ghostbusters: Afterlife Fits Into the Long-Running Franchise

Got questions about Ghostbusters: Afterlife ahead of its premiere on Nov. 19? We’ve got you covered

By James Grebey November 17, 2021

What To Know About Passing Before Watching the Movie

From the book's reception in the late 1920s to Nella Larsen's personal history

By Cady Lang November 12, 2021

With Belfast, Kenneth Branagh Affectionately Recalls a Childhood in a City Torn by Strife

Kenneth Branagh has clearly poured a great deal of love into this semiautobiographical story of a child growing up in late-1960s Northern Ireland

By Stephanie Zacharek November 12, 2021

The Complex History Behind Belfast—and Its Echoes in Present-Day Northern Ireland

Kenneth Branagh's semi-autobiographical drama is set against the backdrop of escalating violence in late-1960s Northern Ireland

By Alison Garden November 11, 2021

Eternals Introduces Marvel’s First Deaf Superhero. But Accessibility Issues Still Plague Moviegoers

Chloé Zhao’s Eternals, released on Nov. 5, introduces one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most diverse ensembles. It also brings the franchise’s first deaf superhero. In the new film, Makkari possesses super speed and is...

By Kat Moon November 11, 2021

How Eternals’ Two Post-Credits Scenes Could Shape the Future of the MCU

A mid-credits and post-credits scene to the new Marvel movie offer up much potential for where the MCU—both the Eternals and the franchise as a whole—can go from here

By James Grebey November 5, 2021

The Real Black Cowboys That Inspired Netflix's The Harder They Fall

While the Netflix film is fictional, its characters take their names from real historical figures, like Nat Love and Stagecoach Mary. These are their stories.

By Andrew R. Chow November 3, 2021

How the Eternals Fit Into the Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand, as this month sees the release of Eternals, the 26th entry in the massive franchise, directed by Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao. As with the previous MCU movie, September’s...

By James Grebey November 2, 2021

Amanda Seyfried Is Heartbreaking in A Mouthful of Air, a Harrowing Story About Postpartum Depression

The movies that are hardest to watch for emotional or personal reasons—those that walk right up to anguish and look it straight in the eye—are also the ones that are almost impossible to get made....

By Stephanie Zacharek October 29, 2021

The Souvenir Part II Captures the Ragged Beauty of the 1980s Like No Other Film

Every event is one thing and a thousand things—one thing as you’re living it, and a thousand things as, in the years afterward, you remember it. If Joanna Hogg’s 2019 film The Souvenir is the...

By Stephanie Zacharek October 29, 2021

I Panned Romeo + Juliet in 1996. Now I Think It's One of the Best Shakespeare Adaptations

Upon its release in 1996, may critics scoffed at the film starring a young Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes. Now, TIME's film critic sees it in a new light

By Stephanie Zacharek October 28, 2021

All the Harry Potter Movies, Ranked

Blame ABC Family for playing Sorcerer's Stone on repeat throughout the 2000s, but for many Millennials (and now, their children) a chill in the air demands curling up on the couch for a Harry Potter...

By Eliana Dockterman October 28, 2021

The 19 Most Underrated Movies on Netflix

From an early work by Taika Waititi to an underappreciated George Clooney thriller

By Stephanie Zacharek October 26, 2021

Why Princess Diana Is So Hard to Get Right Onscreen

Princess Diana is ubiquitous in pop culture right now. She's also more enigmatic than ever, as filmmakers struggle to capture her essence

By Stephanie Zacharek October 26, 2021

Alec Baldwin Shooting May Change Gun Usage in Hollywood

Guns have dominated American movies for decades, with millions of fake rounds of ammunition fired off by John Wayne, Sly Stallone, Keanu Reeves, Linda Hamilton and many other action stars. But this penchant for onscreen...

By Andrew R. Chow October 22, 2021

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins Killed by a Prop Gun on a Film Set

The cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed on Thursday when the actor Alec Baldwin discharged a prop firearm during a film shoot in New Mexico. The pair had been filming the Western Rust on a ranch...

By Andrew R. Chow October 22, 2021

Wes Anderson Overindulges on Whimsy in The French Dispatch

Few filmmakers are as in love with olden times as Wes Anderson is. That’s both a thing to admire about him and a source of deep exasperation. As we barrel so cluelessly and ruthlessly through...

By Stephanie Zacharek October 22, 2021

In "Found," Adopted Cousins Search for Their Birth Parents

An interview with Liu Hao, who works to unite adopted children with their birth parents in China

By Andrew R. Chow October 21, 2021

Why Filmmakers From David Lynch to Denis Villeneuve Have Struggled to Adapt Dune

Frank Herbert's 1965 novel is not so much unfilmable as it is merely uncontainable

By Sarah Kurchak October 20, 2021

‘We Need To Be in the Room.’ West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose on Latino Representation in Film

West Side Story became an instant classic upon its release in 1961. The adaptation of the 1957 Romeo and Juliet-inspired stage musical, which starred Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer as star-crossed lovers Maria and Tony,...

By Lola Ogunnaike October 15, 2021

Bergman Island Is the Rare Movie About Writers Trying To Write That Really Works

The always perceptive Mia Hansen-Løve finds a way to make this drama starring Vicky Krieps and Tim Roth more stimulating than it might first appear

By Stephanie Zacharek October 15, 2021

The True Story Behind The Last Duel—and History’s Attempt to Erase It

The new historical drama starring Jodie Comer, Matt Damon and Adam Driver tells the story of Marguerite de Carrouges. What happened after the events of the film is just as fascinating

By John-Paul Heil October 15, 2021

Halloween Kills Sags Under the Weight of Its Own Mythology

There’s nothing creepily suggestive about Halloween Kills. Everything it amounts to is right there on its shallow, pitted surface

By Stephanie Zacharek October 14, 2021

Where Does James Bond Go From Here?

Now that Craig has put his Bond to bed, the franchise has an opportunity to signal to the world that it is rethinking this character, dragging him into the modern era if it must

By Eliana Dockterman October 8, 2021

The Harder They Fall Fails to Make Enough Room for Each Star Among Its Stellar Cast

The rare all-Black Western looks stylish and boasts an incredible cast, but in working so hard to entertain, it can’t quite keep the story going

By Stephanie Zacharek October 6, 2021

Hollywood Film Workers Have Voted To Go on Strike

“A few times a week, you’re facing the issue of if you’re going to fall asleep and die driving home or not,” says film worker Paul Rodriguez

By Andrew R. Chow October 4, 2021

Titane Strives to Shock, But It's Running on Empty

There’s a fine line between movies that are genuinely original and those that feel deliberately orchestrated to shock and repel us in a winking, self-congratulatory way. French filmmaker Julia Ducournau’s alleged film scandale, Titane, in...

By Stephanie Zacharek October 1, 2021

Is Venom in Spider-Man: No Way Home? The Venom 2 End-Credits Scene Offers a Hint

Warning: Spoilers ahead for Venom: Let There Be Carnage The end-credits scene for Venom: Let There Be Carnage is a bit more complicated than your average superhero movie stinger. It hints that the anti-hero Venom...

By Eliana Dockterman October 1, 2021

Just Try to Look Away From Jake Gyllenhaal’s Gripping Performance in The Guilty

There are some actors so intense, their nerve endings sizzling so close to the surface, that they can make you want to look away. That’s Jake Gyllenhaal, as a disgraced Los Angeles police detective demoted...

By Stephanie Zacharek September 30, 2021

No Time to Die Is an Imperfect Movie. But It’s a Perfect Finale for the Best James Bond Ever

Craig's fifth and final movie as James Bond has its flaws, but it's still a fitting send-off for the greatest Bond

By Stephanie Zacharek September 28, 2021

Don't Fall for Dear Evan Hansen

Dear Evan Hansen, the film adaptation of Steven Levenson’s multiple-award-winning stage musical, is ostensibly a nice little movie about a teen trying to overcome Social Anxiety disorder, about learning that it’s OK to be anxious...

By Stephanie Zacharek September 24, 2021

What If a Robot Was Your Perfect Match? I'm Your Man Explores an AI Love Affair

The pulse of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, about a man so in love with an illusion he can’t see the reality before him, thrums inside every person who’s obsessed with movies, but the Pygmalion dreams it’s...

By Stephanie Zacharek September 24, 2021

Why So Many Movie Musical Adaptations Just Don't Work

'Dear Evan Hansen' has divided fans and critics. Are they right to be so critical, and what makes a musical work onscreen to begin with?

By Andrew R. Chow September 23, 2021

Watch the Trailer for Artist JR's New Documentary Paper & Glue

In his follow-up to "Faces, Places," the photographer and street artist films in Rio, in a California prison and on the U.S.-Mexico border

By Andrew R. Chow September 23, 2021

The Eyes of Tammy Faye Wavers Between Parody and Pathos

In the grand scheme of Christian forgiveness, maybe it’s a nice idea to try to reclaim the honor, or at least the humanity, of the late evangelist TV personality Tammy Faye Bakker, one-half of the...

By Stephanie Zacharek September 17, 2021

Cry Macho Is Pure Clint Eastwood—and That's Mostly a Good Thing

The director's 39th or 40th picture, depending on how you count, is a simple, handsome story that exemplifies some of the unexpected riches of the director's later films

By Stephanie Zacharek September 17, 2021

How This Fall Could Shape the Future of Moviegoing

Everyone has the tea leaves; no one has the actual tea. Will the movies come back this autumn? Will they ever come back at all? The answer is…that no one has the answer. There’s little...

By Stephanie Zacharek September 14, 2021

How The Matrix Resurrections Trailer Evokes the Franchise's First Movie in Mysterious Ways

Here’s everything we know about the film

By Eliana Dockterman September 9, 2021

Tony Leung Captivates in Shang-Chi. But His Favorite Film Is the One He Hasn’t Done Yet

The Hong Kong star talks to TIME about playing Wenwu in ‘Shang-Chi,’ the martial arts-inspired fight choreography and how he thinks about success

By Kat Moon September 9, 2021

Olivia Colman Is Extraordinary in The Lost Daughter, Maggie Gyllenhaal's Bold Directorial Debut

For her directorial debut, Maggie Gyllenhaal takes on a complex and daring narrative about motherhood and all that it can drain from a woman

By Stephanie Zacharek September 5, 2021

Alana Haim Makes a Memorable Debut in the Overly Self-Satisfied Licorice Pizza

The Outrageous True Story Behind House of Gucci

Japan's Oscar Entry Drive My Car Is a Gorgeous Tale of Loss and Forgiveness

All of Paul Thomas Anderson's Movies, Ranked