This review is based on a screening at the Palm Springs Film Festival. Four Daughtersis quite possibly one of the riskiestdocumentariesyou’ll ever see. DirectorKauother Ben Haniaattempts something that so many other documentaries consistently struggle with: recreating nonfictional events through dramatized sequences. Nine times out of ten, these sequences are the bane of even the most well-constructed films. Instead of trusting their audience to listen to first-hand accounts of their subjects, these dramatized recreations typically come across as cheap, pandering, and wholly unnecessary in the documentaries they appear in....

The first season of Netflix’sShadow and Boneflawlessly encapsulates Alina Starkov’s (Jessie Mei Li) wholesome “best friend to lover” arc with Mal (Archie Renaux), and even the delicate romance between Genya (Daisy Head) and David (Luke Pasqualino). With the first season being largely based onLeigh Bardugo’strilogy’s first installment of the same name, these couples had a decent advantage. However, Season 2 is crammed with storylines from the trilogy’s final two novels and random aspects ofSix of Crows....

Even though it has been available to watch on digital streaming platforms for weeks, Paramount’sSonic the Hedgehog 3is still drawing crowds to theaters. The hit threequel has had a fantastic run, having debuted alongsideMufasa: The Lion Kingin December.Sonic the Hedgehog 3braved competition in the form ofMoana 2,Wicked, and more recently,Dog Man. Despite the cluttered marketplace, however, the movie made room for itself, becoming the highest-grossing installment of the video game adaptation trilogy, and now, the 11th-biggest hit of 2024....

There is a moment halfway throughKristen Stewart’s directorial debut,The Chronology of Water,wherein the protagonist, Lidia (Imogen Poots), is joking around with her writing mentor,Ken Kesey(an inspired bit of casting to haveJim Belushiplay theOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’sNestauthor). He bestows a precious rock to her, which she drops, and when he tells her to throw it and land in his cup, she misses and says, “There was a lot riding on that rock landing in the cup....

It’s an abstinence-only ending forThe Sex Lives of College Girls, after efforts to resurrect the canceled Max series have proved futile.Back in March, the network told the comedy drama to get off (not in a good way), axing it after a three-season run. Since then, Warner Bros. Television, the folks behind the project, started working hard to secure another set of episodes that would carry on the story of the young group of friends....

During a press event in New York today, HBO and Max content CEOCasey Bloysrevealed that our next vacation might have gotten delayed. When asked about how the WGA strike and thestill-ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikehave impacted the Warner Bros. Discovery schedule, Bloys stated that highly anticipatedThe White LotusSeason 3 has been pushed back from 2024 to 2025. Even though it seems like a pretty drastic move,The WhiteLotus was still in early production when the writers’ strikebegan back in May, which probably means that series creator and writerMike Whitedidn’t get the chance to write episodes before crossing his armsto demand fair wages from studios....

Young Sheldonhas managed to do what others only dream of: be a spin-off of an insanely popular show, do it on broadcast television,andbe a major success with seven wonderful seasons. The sitcom, which has aired on CBS since 2017, was born from the network’s hitThe Big Bang Theory, home to the annoyingly lovable Sheldon Cooper, played byJim Parsons(Hidden Figures). WhileThe Big Bang Theoryhad an ever-growing ensemble cast that includedJohnny Galecki(Blossom), andKaley Cuoco(The Flight Attendant),Young Sheldonfocuses solely on a younger version of Sheldon, portrayed byIain Armitage(Big Little Lies), and what it was like for him growing up as a boy genius living in Texas in the 1980s....

The 1990s was a significant period for movies. The decade saw massive advancements in computer technology, allowing for the generation of otherworldly images and special effects. Lower budget, independent filmmaking rose to prominence and generated hits regarded today as classics. The ’90s also birthed some of cinema’s longest-running and most successful franchises and saw the rise of many of Hollywood’s latest movie stars. As is the case with any movie, success is never guaranteed....

Great Westerns are good and all, with the best of the West delivering spectacle, excitement, emotion, and visual splendor like no other genre out there. When looking at both older moviesand more recent releases, the genre is no stranger to excellence, but just because some shine doesn’t mean that all are great. Just as is the case for any type of movie, some Westerns are honestly quite bad. But being bad isn’t all bad, because sometimes, the right kind of bad movie can be fun when viewed either ironically or with a frame of mind that can celebrate – and maybe be alarmed by – certain imperfections....

Trilogies are often the gold standard of franchise filmmaking, as there is nothing quite like having a great story with a beginning, middle, and end. The trilogies that are heralded as some of the best of all time, such as the originalStar Warsseries orThe Lord of the Rings, are noteworthy because every single installment is fantastic; other trilogies, such asSam Raimi’sSpider-ManandThe Godfather, werelet down by a disappointing third entry. Then there are those trilogies that were simply never completed, as there was not enough enthusiasm to rescue the next entries out of development hell....

There are some spoilers ahead!Science fictionhas, for a long time, been one of the most popular and influentialtelevisiongenres. Some of the longest-running and most entertainingTV showsin history aresci-fi— and, quite fittingly, these shows have some of the most engaging characters that the medium has ever seen. An abundance of great characters, however, typically comes with a few not-so-great ones. It’s one thing to have a character that’s simply underwritten, but it’ssomething entirely different — and much more disappointing — to have a wasted character....

Genre film is having a bit of a moment. On the heels of one of the most profitable years for horror in 2017, this year has served up an exceptional wave of genre films, from crowd-pleasing fare likeA Quiet PlaceandHalloweento hardcore head trips likeAnnihilation,HereditaryandSuspiria, and streaming gems likeThe Ritualand pretty much every Shudder exclusive fromRevengetoThe Witch in the Window. It’s been areallygood year for creative genre cinema across the board, but there are a whole lot of festival films that made the rounds this year and haven’t even made it to screens yet....

From writer/directorMarja-Lewis Ryan, the drama6 Balloons(available to stream at Netflix, starting on April 6th) takes place over the course of one night, as Katie (Abbi Jacobson) drives across Los Angeles with her heroin-addicted brother, Seth (Dave Franco), in search of a detox center. With his young daughter along for the ride, Katie begins to question how much longer she can enable her brother’s habit without insisting that he make the decision to get clean on his own....