seattle times movie review

Great movies: the best films in recent history

Here are the best-rated films from our critics (receiving 3.5 or 4 out of 4 stars) in the past five years.

12 Years a Slave

Steve mcqueen, chiwetel ejiorfor, lupita nyong'o, benedict cumberbatch.

A formerly free man is kidnapped and sold as a slave in the 1840s American South in this searing drama; winner of multiple Oscars.

Oliver Hirschbiegel

Christian friedel, katharina schuttler, burghart klaussner.

Oliver Hirschbiegel’s gripping, somber German-language drama, based on actual events, examines the moments and aftermath of an attempted assassination of Hitler.

20th Century Women

Annette bening, greta gerwig, elle fanning, billy crudup.

Annette Bening gives a master class in film acting in this warmhearted film from Mike Mills ("Beginners"), in which her character creates a makeshift family in 1979 Santa Barbara.

Andrew Haigh

Charlotte rampling, tom courtenay.

In this beautifully acted drama starring Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay, a marriage lives and dies; we watch its agonized struggle, like a butterfly impaled on a pin.

Michael Apted

The latest installment in Michael Apted's fascinating, landmark documentary series checks in on a group of Brits every 7 years; they're now settling comfortably into middle age.

Ramin Bahrani

Andrew garfield, michael shannon.

The human cost of the 2008 economic meltdown is dramatically portrayed in this fictional story of a wicked Florida real-estate broker (an excellent Michael Shannon) who manipulates a desperate family on the verge of losing their home.

A Birder's Guide to Everything

Kodi smit-mcphee, katie chang, alex wolff.

Like a less-quirky cousin of Wes Anderson's "Rushmore," this sweet coming-of-age tale is about a young man burying himself in activities in an attempt to escape the pain of loss.

A Quiet Passion

Terence davies, cynthia nixon, jennifer ehle, keith carradine, jodhi may, catherine bailey.

This powerful, quiet depiction of Emily Dickinson's life features at its heart an incandescent performance by Cynthia Nixon as the reclusive, brilliant poet.

After the Storm

Hirokazu kore-eda, hiroshi abe, yoko maki, taiyo yoshizawa.

Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda’s enchanting movies are woven from the same gentle cloth: quiet, deceptively uncomplicated stories of families. This one, like the others, is filled with soft-pedaled revelations and fleeting poetry.

Alive & Kicking

Susan glatzer.

It's impossible to watch this film — a joyrous, wide-reaching documentary about swing dance — without a tapping toe and a smile.

All Is Lost

J. c. chandor, robert redford.

J.C. Chandor's film features a solo sailor and almost no dialogue; it’s ultimately less about a nautical crisis than a man gradually realizing, in every sense of the word, that he is lost.

American Hustle

David o. russell, amy adams, jennifer lawrence, bradley cooper, jeremy renner,.

Told in a whoosh of nylon shirts, yellowy light and disco music, David O. Russell’s film is the sort-of-based-on-fact story of the 1970s Abscam scandal, in which a con man and the FBI join forces.

Michael Haneke

Jean-louis trintignant, emmanuelle riva, isabelle huppert.

A long-married French couple faces illness together in a story that's wrenchingly sad, but not without joy.

Asif Kapadia

Amy winehouse.

Asif Kapadia’s documentary about the short, tragic life of British retro soul singer Amy Winehouse is a heartbreaker, depicting a fresh, cheeky young woman full of life.

Angkor Awakens: A Portrait of Cambodia

Robert h. lieberman.

A riveting and illuminating documentary about the rise of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and how its shockingly mad and bloody legacy continues to impact Cambodia today.

Charlie Kaufman

David thewlis, jennifer jason leigh.

Charlie Kaufman (“Being John Malkovich,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”) possesses an artistic sensibility unlike any other filmmaker working today, and that sensibility informs every word and frame of “Anomalisa,” a haunting stop-motion animation tale of two lonely people.

Denis Villeneuve

Amy adams, jeremy renner, forest whittaker.

So much of the pleasure of Denis Villeneuve’s poignant science-fiction drama lies in watching Amy Adams figure things out; she plays a linguist recruited by the military to attempt communication with a mysterious spaceship, and we experience the movie through her perspective.

At Berkeley

Frederick wiseman.

Filmed at the University of California at Berkeley during the 2010 fall semester, Frederick Wiseman's documentary depicts — in small dabs — a vibrant, buzzing universe.

Baby Driver

Edgar wright, ansel elgort, jamie foxx, lily james, jon bernthal.

Exactly what you want a summer movie to be, Edgar Wright's breathless action flick isn't quite a musical, but it's drenched in music. (Even the car crashes.)

Battle of the Sexes

Valerie faris, jonathan dayton, emma stone, steve carell, andrea riseborough, sarah silverman.

An enjoyably lighthearted crowd-pleaser with a serious message at its core, "Battle of the Sexes" depicts the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs; a tale deliciously cast and swiftly told.

Beauty and the Beast

Bill condon, emma watson, dan stevens.

Gorgeous and wildly over-the-top, this live-action remake of Disney's beloved animated feature finds the warm spirit of the original.

Before Midnight

Richard linklater, ethan hawke, julie delpy.

The final film in Richard Linklater's romantic trilogy; it's is often uncomfortable to watch, it’s never less than mesmerizing — and ultimately, a joy to walk with the prickly but fascinating Jesse and Celine again.

Amma Asante

Gugu mbatha-raw, tom wilkinson, miranda richardson.

This period drama about a mixed-race young heiress in 18th-century England is an old-fashioned movie with a very modern streak, centered by a vibrant star turn by Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu

Michael keaton, emma stone, edward norton, naomi watts.

Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s multilayered film can be appreciated on many levels simultaneously: as a backstage-at-the-theater comedy; as a literate and literary character study; as a remarkable achievement in cinematography; as a comment on the nature of contemporary entertainment; as a showcase for one of the year’s finest ensemble casts; and as a surreal tale of a man seeking his soul.

Blade Runner 2049

Ryan gosling, harrison ford, ana de armas, jared leto.

In terms of the imaginative ways it expands on the themes of the first movie, Denis Villeneuve's film is the rare sequel that is at least the equal of its iconic Ridley Scott original.

Blue Jasmine

Woody allen, cate blanchett, sally hawkins, alec baldwin.

It's Woody Allen, but this is no comedy — Cate Blanchett shines in a wrenching portrait of a woman whose life has fallen apart.

Ethan Hawke, Patricia Arquette

Richard Linklater's award-winning drama, 12 years in the making, eloquently follows a young man's coming of age.

Bridge of Spies

Steven spielberg, tom hanks, mark rylance.

Tom Hanks does some of the best work of his career in this Cold War drama about a real-life Soviet spy, directed by Steven Spielberg.

John Crowley

Saoirse ronan, domhnall gleeson, emory cohen.

In John Crowley’s lovely film, about an Irish immigrant making her way in 1950s America, Saoirse Ronan (“Atonement”) provides a master class in showing, not saying, what her character is thinking; the movie unfolds on her quiet face.

John Michael McDonagh

Brendan gleeson.

This Irish drama unfolds as a murder mystery in reverse, serving as a marvelous showcase for Brendan Gleeson — a great old-lion actor with a face on which emotions play like waves on the beach.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Anthony russo, joe russo, chris evans, samuel l. jackson, scarlett johansson, robert redford.

The title superhero's struggle to survive in a universe where conventional morality no longer holds sway gives this film a significantly higher quotient of substance than is usually found in a comic-book adaptation.

Captain Fantastic

Viggo mortensen, frank langella, george mackay, samantha isler.

A compelling and original take on the well-worn territory of family ties, with Viggo Mortensen’s tough yet vulnerable performance (as a widower raising his off-the-grid brood) among his career best.

Captain Phillips

Paul greengrass, tom hanks, barkhad abdi.

Tom Hanks, in one of his finest performances yet, plays the captain of a container ship hijacked by Somali pirates; the film feels utterly real and almost unbearably intense.

Captain Underpants

David soren, kevin hart, thomas middleditch, ed helms, nick kroll.

Arising from the pages of Dav Pilkey’s incredibly popular series of children’s books, this animated movie captures the spirit and the unsophisticated visual style of the books with remarkable fidelity.

Todd Haynes

Cate blanchett, rooney mara.

Two women meet and fall in love in 1950s New York; together, director Todd Haynes, screenwriter Phyllis Nagy, actors Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, cinematographer Edward Lachman and composer Carter Burwell immerse us — nearly drowning us, happily — in beauty and longing.

Owen Wilson, Cristela Alonzo, Armie Hammer

Solid storytelling, a longtime strength of the best Pixar pictures, elevates “Cars 3” into the pantheon with the studio’s finest.

Certain Women

Kelly reichart, laura dern, kristen stewart, michelle williams.

Kelly Reichart’s engaging, quiet film isn't so much a single narrative feature as three gently overlapping short subjects set in or near Livingston, Montana, each with an introspective woman at its center.

Teyonah Parris, Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett,

The plot of "Lysistrata" gets played out in contemporary, gun-ridden Chicago, and director Spike Lee makes it burst with vitality and purpose; it has the feel of a movie made by a young man, new to the craft and consumed by a mad joy in the sheer act of filmmaking.

Antonio Campos

Rebecca hall, michael c. hall, maria dizzia.

As Christine Chubbuck, a troubled young reporter at a local news station in 1974 Florida, Rebecca Hall's electric performance jolts Antonio Campos's thoughtful film; you see, watching her, the terrible weight of depression.

City of Ghosts

Mathew heineman.

In this timely, pressing and important documentary, Oscar-nominated director Matthew Heineman (“Cartel Land”) tells the story of Syrian citizen journalists taking on ISIS in their hometown.

Lee Unkrich

Anthony gonzalez, gael garcia bernal, benjamin bratt, alanna ubach, renee victor.

Dazzling visuals along with intricately structured and deeply moving storytelling are the hallmarks of the best of Pixar's movies. “Coco” has those in spades, which puts it right up there with “Up” and the “Toy Story” trilogy in the topmost ranks.

John Cho, Haley Lu Richardson, Parker Posey

This quietly stirring, exquisitely photographed film is an arthouse gem that beautifully illuminates not only the architecture of a small Indiana town, but also the characters that inhabit it. (And it reminds us that John Cho should be a leading man more often.)

Cutie and the Boxer

Zachary heinzerling, noriko shinohara, ushio shinohara.

This documentary tale of two long-married Brooklyn artists (whose cluttered loft seems encrusted with possessions) is told with style and wit.

Louise Osmond

A group of working-class Brits breed and manage a champion racehorse in Louise Osmond's charming documentary, which could have been scripted by Hollywood — but wasn't.

Dear White People

Justin simien, tessa thompson, tyler james williams, teyonah parris.

A smart, sexy satire about race, in which young writer/director Justin Simien announces himself as his generation's Preston Sturges.

Deceptive Practices: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay

Molly bernstein.

In this irresistible documentary, the viewer is introduced to Ricky Jay, one of the world's foremost sleight-of-hand artists.

Richard Rowley

In this powerful, scary documentary, two filmmakers get to know an Afghan family profoundly affected by a secret American government operation carried out with drones.

Don't Think Twice

Mike birbiglia, keegan-michael key, gillian jacobs, kate micucci, mike birbiglia.

Mike Birbiglia's warmhearted comedy, about a close-knit improv-comedy troupe facing an uncertain future, ultimately becomes a gentle meditation on late-blooming coming-of-age.

Christopher Nolan

Fionn whitehead, tom glynn-carney, jack lowden.

Based on a remarkable story from World War II, “Dunkirk” unfolds on land, on the sea and in the air. Christopher Nolan’s magificent film seems to be over in a flash — you disappear inside of it and it changes you, as all great movies do.

Eight Days a Week

Ron Howard's Beatles documentary is a thoroughly delightful, crisply edited film that takes viewers to Europe, Australia, the Far East and the U.S. where, between June 1962 and August 1966, the Fab Four played in 90 cities in 15 countries.

Enough Said

Nicole holofcener, julia louis-dreyfus, james gandolfini,.

A smart, funny, snappy romantic comedy for grown-ups, Nicole Holofcener’s film is a joy, marred only by the poignancy of seeing the late James Gandolfini (opposite a wonderful Julia Louis-Dreyfus) in one of his final screen appearances.

Everybody Wants Some !!

Blake jenner, glen powell, zoey deutch.

Termed by writer/director Richard Linklater ("Boyhood") as the “spiritual sequel” to “Dazed,” this story of a group of 1980s college students is sunnier and funnier by far than its predecessor.

Frederick Wiseman's film about the New York Public Library is a lovely, inspiring (and lengthy!) picture of a crucial institution.

Alex Garland

Oscar isaac, alicia vikander, domhnall gleeson.

An exquisite, baffling puzzle box of a picture, with Alicia Vikander as a robot created by a wealthy genius scientist/entrepreneur (Oscar Isaac).

Far From the Madding Crowd

Thomas vinterberg, carey mulligan, michael sheen, mathias schoenaerts, tom sturridge.

Wisely adapted by novelist David Nicholls, this Thomas Hardy drama set in 19th-century Dorset has the elegance of a Merchant-Ivory film, and yet feels utterly real.

Denzel Washington

Denzel washington, viola davis, jovan adepo.

This wise, electric adaptation of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, set in 1950s Pittsburgh, wraps you and whirls you in a heady cyclone of words; Denzel Washington and Viola Davis (who won an Oscar for this role) give performances for the ages.

Finding Dory

Andrew stanton, ellen degeneres, albert brooks.

For all its witty voices and great escapes (maybe one too many of the latter), this charming Pixar tale is ultimately a character story, and Ellen DeGeneres’ lovable, brave Dory swims right into our hearts.

Finding Vivian Maier

John maloof, charlie siskel, john maloof, phil donahue, mary ellen mark.

An engaging unravelling of a real-life mystery: the photographs left behind by a Chicago street photographer.

First They Killed My Father

Angelina jolie, sareum srey moch, phoeung kompheak, sveng socheata.

Shot on location in Cambodia in the Khmer language, Angelina Jolie's drama is a family story, with the travails of a young woman and her parents and siblings serving as a microcosm of their nation’s anguish.

Francois Ozon

Paula beer, pierre niney, ernst strotzner, johann von bulow.

Francois Ozon's eloquent black-and-white drama, set in a small German town in 1919, is a simple, moving story about love, loss and storytelling itself.

Fruitvale Station

Ryan coogler, michael b. jordan, octavia spencer, melonie diaz.

Director Ryan Coogler's depiction of a real-life police shooting in 2009 is an eloquent memorial for a young man (Michael B. Jordan) who barely experienced life.

Tate Taylor

Chadwick boseman, viola davis, octavia spencer.

Tate Taylor’s new film biography of James Brown, aka the Godfather of Soul, is unexpectedly buoyant; it skims over a life as if tunefully improvising, touching just the right note here and there.

Steve Gleason

There are moments, in this remarkable documentary about a former football player facing an ALS diagnosis, where it’s very hard to look at the screen; moments so devastating you wonder how this couple, and those who love them, can bear it — but there’s also evidence of astonishing courage and miraculous love.

David Fincher

Ben affleck, rosamund pike, gillian flynn.

David Fincher's movie deliciously fulfills the expectations set by Gillian Flynn's ice-in-its-veins novel of a troubled marriage; both book and movie are dark, creepy, and very good indeed.

Good Ol' Freda

Freda kelly.

The longtime secretary to the Beatles, now a grandmother, tells her story in this delightful documentary.

Goodnight Mommy

Veronika franz, lukas and elias schwarz, susanne wuest.

The bond between identical twins is the center around which the plot orbits in this moody, vastly disturbing horror picture by Austrian filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala.

Lily Tomlin, Sam Elliott

Short, tart, yet unexpectedly sweet, Paul Weitz’s dark comedy is a small-scale character study — and, because that character is played by the great Lily Tomlin, it’s mesmerizing, right up until its final frame.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Chris pratt, vin diesel, zoe saldana.

Whiz-bang, damn-the-torpedoes, high-octane good times roll in this superhero romp, in which five "guardians" (including a talking raccoon) band together to save the galaxy.

Hands of Stone

Jonathan jakubowicz, robert de niro, edgar ramirez.

In this boxing movie, Robert De Niro seems to come full circle: “Raging Bull” was and remains his career pinnacle, while his work here, as a trainer, ascends to near that rarefied height.

He Named Me Malala

Davis guggenheim, malala yousafzai.

Davis Guggenheim’s well-crafted and deeply affecting documentary digs below the iconography and the honors given to its title heroine, offering an illuminating portrait of the human being behind the image.

Hell or High Water

David mackenzie, jeff bridges, chris pine, ben foster.

Jeff Bridges’ voice, in David Mackenzie’s excellent contemporary Western, sounds choked with dust; his character, an aging Texas Ranger named Marcus, seems to have spent a lifetime in the kind of town where tumbleweeds just might roll down Main Street.

Spike Jonze

Joaquin phoenix, scarlett johansson.

A man (Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with the voice of an operating system in Spike Jonze's unique rom-com.

Hidden Figures

Theodore melfi, taraji p. henson, octavia spencer, janelle monae, kevin costner.

A crowd-pleaser of the very best kind, “Hidden Figures” introduces us to some heroes whose names we should already know: three mathematically gifted black women whose work became instrumental to NASA's early space program.

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Dean deblois, jay baruchel, cate blanchett, gerard butler, craig ferguson.

The plot for this family-friendly sequel doesn’t matter in the slightest; young and old fans of the first movie will be lining up for the wit, for the inventiveness of the characters, for the breathtaking visuals — and just the sheer fun of it all.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

Taika waititi.

Laugh-out-loud funny one minute, achingly sad the next, Taika Waititi's film takes the audience on a rollicking yet poignant journey through the New Zealand backcountry in the company of a pair of engagingly eccentric characters.

I Am Not Your Negro

James baldwin.

Raoul Peck’s searing, poetic documentary based on James Baldwin’s writings, “I Am Not Your Negro” is itself a journey of discovery; a path of words and images, taking us into the heart of the civil-rights movement.

In the House

Emmanuelle seigner, kristin scott thomas, fabrice luchini.

French filmmaker Francois Ozon crafts an intriguing story about storytelling: about what happens when an English teacher gets lost inside a life that isn't his.

Inside Llewyn Davis

Joel coen, ethan coen, oscar isaacs, carey mulligan, john goodman.

From the Coen brothers — a splendid, touching, darkly comic film about a 1960s Greenwich Village folk singer (Oscar Isaac) at a crossroads.

Pete Docter

Amy poehler, phyllis smith, richard kind, mindy kaling.

Children will love this zippy, colorful Pixar adventure into an 11-year-old girl's brain; adults will find themselves unexpectedly moved, changed and dazzled.

Pablo Larrain

Natalie portman, greta gerwig, peter sarsgaard.

Pablo Lorrain's sort-of-biopic is a strange movie — it feels, like Natalie Portman’s haunting Jackie, like it might shatter if dropped — and yet it's mesmerizing; a familiar story told from an entirely different angle.

Brett Morgen

This documentary about anthropologist Jane Goodall — using never-before-seen footage of Goodall with her beloved chimps — is a memorable portrait of a woman, both in youth and late life, who always knew what she wanted — and who, in doing so, helped make the world a better place.

Pedro Almodovar

Emma suárez, adriana ugarte, daniel grao, imma cuesta, dario grandinetti.

Delicately placed somewhere between melodrama, drama and loving homage, Pedro Almodovar's film is the gripping story of a mother and daughter, whom we first meet in a photograph torn into tiny pieces.

Kubo and the Two Strings

Travis knight, charlize theron, art parkinson, george takei, ralph fiennes.

Following strong work with “Coraline,” “ParaNorman” and “The Boxtrolls,” “Kubo” takes the Oregon-based studio LAIKA’s trademark stop-motion animation to a new level, using Japanese origami techniques to create a breathtaking fantasy world.

Kung Fu Panda 3

Jennifer yuh nelson, alessandro carloni, jack black, bryan cranston.

Though “Kung Fu Panda 2” suffered from a mild case of sequelitis — overloud and overdone — the third installment is a total delight: gloriously colorful, very funny and, better yet, unexpectedly substantive and genuinely moving.

Piero Messina

Juliette binoche.

This French-language drama, from Italian filmmaker Piero Messina, is a spare, elegant tale of heartbreak — of how a story untold lets a character clutch desperately to another story, one that isn’t true.

Damien Chazelle

Ryan gosling, emma stone.

Damien Chazelle's dreamy musical, in which an aspiring actress (Oscar winner Emma Stone) and a jazz pianist (Ryan Gosling) fall in love in a Technicolor Los Angeles, is a valentine to cinema, splashed with primary colors and velvety L.A. sunsets and wistful close-ups of beautiful faces.

Greta Gerwig

Saoirse ronan, laurie metcalf, tracy letts, lucas hedges, beanie feldstein, lois smith.

Greta Gerwig's delightful, poignant coming-of-age tale stars Saoirse Ronan as a Sacramento high-school senior and Laurie Metcalf as her loving, frustrated mother.

Lady Macbeth

William oldroyd, florence pugh, cosmo jarvis, paul hilton.

William Oldroyd’s brooding, mesmerizing drama, set in 19th-century rural England, isn’t Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” (it’s based on an 1865 Russian novella, “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk”), but it explores a similar kind of ruthlessness.

Land of Mine

Martin zandvliet, roland moller, louis hofmann, joel basman.

Set on the west coast of Denmark in May 1945, this Danish film (an Oscar nominee) is a mesmerizing tale of postwar rage and waste and indecisiveness.

Learning to Drive

Isabel coixet, patricia clarkson, ben kingsley.

This beautifully acted tale of friendship showcases two actors finding an enchanting connection: Patricia Clarkson as a new divorcée learning how to drive for the first time; Ben Kingsley as the cabbie she hires to teach her.

Life Itself

Steve james, roger ebert.

You don’t have to be a movie critic, or even particularly interested in movies, to be touched and enthralled by this documentary about Roger Ebert; it's a beautifully paced tribute to a life well-lived.

Life, Animation

Roger ross williams, owen suskind.

Roger Ross Williams’ gentle, uplifting documentary is about storytelling: Specifically, Disney-movie storytelling, and how it helped an autistic young man make sense of the world.

Like Father, Like Son

Masaharu fukuyama.

A gentle, nuanced drama from Japan in which two families cope with the news that their six-year-old sons were switched at birth.

Garth Davis

Dev patel, nicole kidman.

Garth Davis' heart-tugging movie has one of those plot lines that feels like a Hollywood screenplay — tiny child, separated from his family, searches for them decades later — except it actually happened. It's mesmerizingly told, particularly its vivid and nearly wordless first half.

Greg Kinnear, Paulina Garcia, Jennifer Ehle, Theo Taplitz

In its brief, intimate 85 minutes, Ira Sachs' film has much to say: about how a neighborhood, and an apartment, changes; how emotions in a family don’t always extend across generations; how money can enter a conversation and poison it, like a bad smell; and how a 13-year-old boy begins to step toward the person he might one day be.

Steven Knight

Steven Knight’s tight little drama is, without question, a stunt — it takes place almost entirely in the front seat of a BMW, during a late-night drive from Birmingham to London —and, for the most part, it works like gangbusters.

Love & Friendship

Whit stillman, kate beckinsale.

This costume drama, based on Jane Austen's "Lady Susan" and featuring Kate Beckinsale as a scheming flirt, is both self-consciously mannered and merrily playful — a mixture that Austen herself might find just right.

Love & Mercy

Bill pohlad, john cusack, paul dano, elizabeth banks.

Starring John Cusack and Paul Dano, this story of the bizarre life of Beach Boy Brian Wilson is one of the most touching — and gripping — biopics you will ever see.

Love Is Strange

John lithgow, alfred molina, marisa tomei.

Ira Sachs' gentle love story features John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as a longtime couple who must separate due to real-estate troubles; the actors movingly depict the kind of partnership in which neither is complete without the other.

Jeff Nichols

Ruth negga, joel edgerton.

Jeff Nichols' film, about a real-life interracial couple in the 1950/60s South, is a story of heroism and the right to love, told without stirring speeches; instead, it unfolds movingly in the tiny moments between Richard (Joel Edgerton) and Mildred (Ruth Negga), two people who have, quite simply, found a home in each other.

Loving Vincent

Dorota kobiela, hugh welchman, douglas booth, eleanor tomlinson, jerome flynn, saoirse ronan.

This unique film — shot in standard format, then every frame hand-painted over in the style of Vincent van Gogh — is a curious and often exquisite blend of two art forms.

John Carroll Lynch

Harry dean stanton, david lynch, ron livingston, ed begley jr..

It's hard to imagine a better send-off for the the late actor Harry Dean Stanton than this final role, in which he portrays a cantankerous, Stantonesque codger, living in a tiny desert town, who must come to terms with his mortality.

Justin Kurzel

Michael fassbender, marion cotillard.

Justin Kurzel’s film is all blood and ice, a stirring, unflinching retelling of Shakespeare’s tale of a Scottish thane (Michael Fassbender), his ambitious wife (Marion Cotillard) and a terrible deed that haunts them, leaving their hands forever stained.

Mad Max: Fury Road

George miller, tom hardy, charlize theron, nicholas hoult.

The pace is delirious, the stunts are incredible, the acting impressive — put it all together, and you’ve got a rousing crowd-pleaser that hits on all fast-revving cylinders.

Maggie's Plan

Rebecca miller, greta gerwig, ethan hawke, julianne moore.

Writer/director Rebecca Miller's contemporary rom-com, starring Greta Gerwig and an unexpectedly hilarious Julianne Moore, is a sweet, faintly screwball, faintly Shakespearean look at love, families and what happens when a well-made plan goes just a bit awry.

Manchester by the Sea

Kenneth lonergan, casey affleck, kyle chandler, michelle williams.

Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, and starring Casey Affleck in an Oscar-winning performance, this New England drama is a movie of astonishing honesty, an exploration of the kind of grief that causes a man to disappear even as he’s standing in front of us.

Reginald Hudlin

Chadwick boseman, josh gad, dan stevens, sterling k. brown, kate hudson.

The courtroom drama is a genre that’s sadly gone out of fashion, but when it works — as it does with Reginald Hudlin’s film, which stars Chadwick Boseman as then-NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall — it can be enormously satisfying.

Aisling Walsh

Sally hawkins, ethan hawke, kari matchett, gabrielle rose.

Filmed in a rural Newfoundland region where time seems to have stood still, “Maudie” features Sally Hawkins in a remarkable performance as a disabled folk artist.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Alfonso gomez-rejon, thomas mann, olivia cooke, rj cyler, molly shannon.

A sweet and funny film -- and the big winner at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival — about a couple of movie-mad teenagers who can’t stop making low-budget imitations of classic movies.

Midnight Special

Michael shannon, joel edgerton, kirsten dunst.

This sci-fi thriller, reminiscent of "The X-Files," is a long tease, artfully constructed and designed to keep the audience off balance and on edge until the very end.

Midsummer in Newtown

Lloyd kramer.

A quiet, gentle demonstration of how art can help souls heal, "Midsummer in Newtown" shows us a group of children from Newtown, Connecticut — just a year after gun violence devastated their town — putting on a Shakespeare play.

Mission Control: The Unsung Heroes of Apollo

David fairhead.

A compelling and often genuinely exciting chronicle of the race to the moon, featuring a reunion of many of the men behind the 1969 Apollo landing.

Ron Clements, John Musker, Chris Williams, Don Hall

Auli'i cravalho, dwayne johnson.

The greatest strength of this Disney musical adventure, about a Polynesian princess on an epic quest, is the verve in which the filmmakers move the action along and the sheer joyousness evident in every aspect of their storytelling.

Mood Indigo

Michael gondry, romain duris, audrey tautou.

Watching this whimsical French love story, you marvel at how no one makes movies quite like Michel Gondry (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Human Nature”) — and at how a dash of curlicued surrealism somehow makes the real world, in all its staidness, a happier place.

Barry Jenkins

Naomie harris, mahershala ali, janelle monae.

Barry Jenkins' lyrical, poetic Oscar winner is a three-act drama unfolding over two decades, in which a gay black man (played by three different actors) comes of age in a tough Miami neighborhood.

Timothy Spall, Marion Bailey, Dorothy Atkinson

Mike Leigh's portrait of the artist J.M.W. Turner is made up of artful dabs and splotches, and it’s often — in the manner of a great painting — mesmerizing.

Much Ado About Nothing

Joss whedon, amy acker, alexis denisof, reed diamond.

Filmed in elegant black-and-white, with the cast in contemporary dress, Joss Whedon's updated take on Shakespeare is a merry, occasionally dark romp.

Muscle Shoals

Greg 'freddy' camalier, bono, clarence carter, jimmy cliff, aretha franklin, rick hall.

One of the best music documentaries ever made, this utterly compelling film tells the story of a tiny, legendary recording studio in Alabama.

Alexander Payne

Bruce dern, will forte, bob nelson.

Alexander Payne's wonderful not-quite-comedy/not-quite-drama is the story of a father and a son, and of how they come to understand each other, just a bit, on a Midwest road trip.

Only the Brave

Joseph kosinski, josh brolin, miles teller, jeff bridges, james badge dale.

A respectful — though hardly reverent — celebration of and homage to the camaraderie and courage of the men who shared a catastrophic fate on the fire lines in the summer of 2013.

Our Little Sister

Haruka ayase, masami nagasawa, suzu hirose.

The Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda makes beautiful, quiet movies about families (“Nobody Knows,” “I Wish,” “Like Father Like Son”); this one focuses on a trio of 20-something siblings, living together in their family home in the seaside town of Kamakura.

Pawn Sacrifice

Edward zwick, tobey maguire, peter sarsgaard.

Edward Zwick’s tense, smart drama stars Tobey Maguire in a career-changing performance as the world’s most famous — and troubled — chess champion.

Stephen Frears

Judi dench, steve coogan.

An utterly charming combination of road-trip movie, odd-couple comedy and heart-touching true story that will leave few dry-eyed, this film stars the great Judi Dench as an elderly woman searching for her son.

Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis

Hugh Jackman plays a desperate father searching for his kidnapped daughter in this dark examination of how loss can unhinge us.

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women

Angela robinson, luke evans, rebecca hall, bella heathcote.

Angela Robinson’s fascinating and surprisingly sweet-natured film about the man who created Wonder Woman is a different sort of superhero origin story, and an appropriate bookend to the “Wonder Woman” film.

Queen of Katwe

Lupita nyong'o, david oyelowo, madina nalwanga.

Just try to resist the charms of Mira Nair’s delightful film; a triumph-of-the-human-spirit movie about a chess prodigy in the Ugandan slums that’s ultimately, well, triumphant.

Restless Creature

Linda saffire, adam schlesinger, wendy whelan.

“Restless Creature” isn’t just a celebration of a great artist (Wendy Whelan, who danced with New York City Ballet for 30 years); it’s a moving portrait of what happens when that artist confronts the possibility of not being able to make that art any more.

Lenny Abrahamson

Brie larson, jacob tremblay.

Lenny Abrahamson’s wondrous, devastating film, based on the novel by Emma Donoghue, is about a mother (Oscar-winner Brie Larson) and son imprisoned in a small room, who ultimately must save each other.

Rust and Bone

Jacques audiard, marion cotillard, matthias schoenaerts.

This French-language drama reminds us that not everything broken can be fully mended — and that Marion Cotillard, as a character both steely and fragile, is one of the most mesmerizing actresses currently on screen.

Ava DuVernay

David oyelowo, tom wilkinson.

Both mesmerizing drama and timely history lesson, Ava DuVernay's depiction of a key moment in the civil-rights movement stays with you long after the theater lights have been raised. With David Oyelowo in a remarkable performance as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Shaun the Sheep Movie

Mark burton, justin fletcher, john sparkes, omid djalili.

Nobody speaks in this adorable British stop-motion-animation comedy from Aardman Animation; instead, they bleat, bark, grunt, squeal, quack, coo — or, if they’re human, mutter something unintelligible. And yet, the storytelling’s captivating.

Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, Josh Brolin, Victor Garber

So much of Denis Villeneuve’s disturbing drama, set in the world of law enforcement and Mexican drug cartels, takes place on Emily Blunt’s face; as hardworking FBI agent Kate Macer, she’s constantly pausing, thinking, figuring things out.

Southside With You

Richard tanne, tika sumpter, parker sawyers.

Being the third wheel on someone else’s first date is rarely as delightful as it is in Richard Tanne’s charming film about two 20-something lawyers — whose names happen to be Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson — spending some time together outside of the office in 1989 Chicago.

Spider-Man: Homecoming

Tom holland, robert downey jr., jacob batalon, marisa tomei.

This third time’s the charm in Marvel’s pantheon of Spider-Man portrayers. Tobey Maguire was pretty good, Andrew Garfield was so-so, but Tom Holland … Well, when you’ve got it, you’ve got it.

Tom McCarthy

Michael keaton, rachel mcadams, mark ruffalo, john slattery, tom mccarthy.

Tom McCarthy’s mesmerizing, Oscar-winning film is, quite simply, a story about storytelling; taking place over about a year at The Boston Globe, where a team of investigative reporters is piecing together the details of an explosive story about the Catholic Church’s cover-up of numerous predatory priests.

Amanda Lipitz

Amanda Lipitz's compelling, inspiring and emotional film (just try not to cry in its final scenes) follows three young women at a Baltimore high school as they prepare for a step-dance competition — and, more importantly, for college.

Aaron Sorkin

Michael fassbender, kate winslet,.

A hurricane of words pours from the screen in Danny Boyle's biopic about the software innovator, delivered with breathtaking intensity by Michael Fassbender in the title role.

Michael McGowan

James cromwell, genevieve bujold.

Bring a handkerchief, or possibly a bedsheet, to “Still Mine”; this fact-based drama about an elderly Canadian couple could wring tears from a brick.

Stories We Tell

Sarah polley, rebecca jenkins.

Past and present merge, in a continual and still-emerging story, as filmmaker Sarah Polley examines a long-held family secret.

Clint Eastwood

Tom hanks, aaron eckhart, laura linney.

If Tom Hanks hadn’t existed to play the title role of heroic pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, director Clint Eastwood would have had to invent him: This is one of those cases where movie-star persona and real-life legend blend perfectly.

Sunset Song

Agyness deyn, peter mullan, kevin guthrie.

Terence Davies' drama, set in World War I-era rural Scotland and based on a novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon, doesn't sentimentalize the difficult life of its heroine (lovely Agyness Deyn); but it’s breathtakingly shot, and it blooms with moments of astonishing beauty.

Swiss Army Man

Daniel kwan, daniel scheinert, daniel radcliffe, paul dano.

Daniel Radcliffe gives the performance of a lifetime playing a flatulent corpse in this often hilarious, ultimately poignant and always bizarrely offbeat one-of-a-kind picture.

T2 Trainspotting

Danny boyle, ewan mcgregor, jonny lee, robert carlyle.

Danny Boyle's sequel — 20 years later — to his first "Trainspotting" both continues and amplifies the themes of the original; with its characters older, wiser and scarred by life.

Testament of Youth

Alicia vikander, kit harington, taron egerton.

Based on British writer Vera Brittain's memoir about her years as a World War I nurse, this beautifully composed film vividly depicts the horrors and losses of war.

Thank You for Your Service

Miles teller, haley bennett, joe cole, amy schumer, beulah koale, scott haze, keisha castle-hughes.

An eloquent war movie that takes place far from the battlefields, “Thank You for Your Service” follows a group of young soldiers returning from Iraq to lives forever changed.

The Act of Killing

Joshua oppenheimer.

A horrifying yet mesmerizing work, Joshua Oppenheimer's documentary examines the history of Indonesian genocide.

The Big Short

Christian bale, brad pitt, steve carell, ryan gosling, margot robbie,.

Set in the the world of high finance as Wall Street faces a massive financial crisis, this film is all talk — which quickly becomes weirdly fascinating, made so by the caliber of the actors talking that talk (Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt) and the supercharged intensity they bring.

The Big Sick

Michael showalter, kumail nanjiani, zoe kazan, holly hunter, ray romano.

Throw a coma into a rom-com, and suddenly you have something else. If you’re unlucky, it’s a soap opera; if you’re lucky, it’s “The Big Sick,” a charming genre-defying film with an unexpectedly big heart.

The Broken Circle Breakdown

Felix van groeningen, veerle baetens, johan heldenbergh.

This gentle tale of a bluegrass-loving Belgian couple unapologetically explores melodrama; these characters experience big, dramatic emotions, and the movie rides on those waves.

The Conjuring

Vera farmiga, patrick wilson, ron livingston.

James Wan’s haunted-house saga is well-crafted, convincingly acted, surprisingly restrained and scary as hell.

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Marielle heller, kristen wiig.

In this captivating debut, writer/director Marielle Heller hits exactly the right tone for a complicated balancing act: a story of a teen in 1976 San Francisco who happily enters into a sexual relationship with her mother’s boyfriend. (Alexander Skarsgard).

Zal Batmanglij

Brit marling, alexander skarsgard, ellen page.

Brit Marling gives a remarkable, thoughtful performance as a corporate spy sent to infiltrate a group of ecoterrorists.

The End of the Tour

James ponsoldt, jason segel, jesse eisenberg.

Essentially a Midwestern "My Dinner with Andre" set on a book tour, this film showcases a remarkable performance by Jason Segel, who seems to tie on David Foster Wallace’s trademark bandanna and disappear into the character.

Anna Rose Holmer

Royalty hightower, alexis neblettm da'sean minor.

Watching Anna Rose Holmer's debut, inspired by stories of mass hysteria, is a disorienting experience, and it’s meant to be; its eerie soundtrack suits the strange time the film depicts: that brief, vivid moment when childhood and womanhood converge.

The Florida Project

William dafore, bria vinaite, brooklynn kimberly prince, valeria votto, christopher rivera.

A tale of childhood that's both enchanting and devastating, Sean Baker's film introdues us to 6-year-old Moonee (the irresistible Brooklynn Prince), who lives with her mother in a run-down motel just outside Disney World.

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes anderson, ralph fiennes, tilda swinton, tom wilkinson, saoirse ronan, jude law.

The title character of Wes Anderson's enchanting film is an art-deco dream gone to seed. It’s the quiet hero of a story that takes place in three different time periods; a trio of tales like a set of tables, each fitting under the other.

The Handmaiden

Park chan-wook, kim min-hee, kim tae-ri, ha jung-woo.

You've probably never seen a movie quite like Park Chan-wook’s period drama gone mad; a lavishly colorful, beautifully-filmed-erotic-revenge-crime thriller set in 1930s Korea and based on Sarah Waters' novel about a Victorian-era pickpocket.

Mads Mikkelson, Alexandra Rapaport

This gripping Danish drama, starring Mads Mikkelson, is the story of a lie, and how that lie changed a man and a town.

The Imitation Game

Morten tyldum, benedict cumberbatch, keira knightley.

As Alan Turing, the brilliant World War II codebreaker whose life blended astonishing triumph and cruel tragedy, Benedict Cumberbatch is both self-conscious (watch the careful way Turing holds his mouth), cutting and icy-cool, with a sadness behind his characteristic smirk.

The Innocents

Anne fontaine, lou de laage, agata buzek, vincent macaigne.

Set at a convent in wintry 1945 Warsaw and based on true incidents, Anne Fontaine’s drama is a moving study of what happens to the faithful when God’s plan suddenly seems impossible to follow.

The Invisible Woman

Ralph fiennes, ralph fiennes, felicity jones.

An elegantly told tale of a secret love affair, between author Charles Dickens (Ralph Fiennes) and his much-younger mistress, Nelly Ternan (Felicity Jones).

The Meddler

Lorene scafaria, susan sarandon, rose byrne, j.k. simmons.

Lorene Scafaria's charming film, about a mother (Susan Sarandon) who interferes in her grown daughter's life, is that rarity: The characters don’t seem like types chosen from a screenwriting manual, but like people we might know, with quirks and feelings and flaws and hearts.

The Red Turtle

Michael dudok.

Not a single intelligible word is spoken in Michael Dudok de Wit’s poignant animated drama “The Red Turtle,” and after a while that silence becomes companionable; you find, in this film, a restful space.

The Revenant

Alejandro g. inarritu, leonardo dicaprio, tom hardy.

Based on a novel about an actual 19th-century incident in the days of the Western fur trade and directed with formidable skill by Oscar winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu (“Birdman”), “The Revenant” is a tale of man in a state of nature — a nature, in the words of Tennyson, “red in tooth and claw.”

The Salesman

Asghar farhadi, shahab hosseini, taraneh alidoosti.

Winner of the 2017 Academy Award for best foreign film, Asghar Farhadi's drama centers on a troupe of actors presenting Arthur Miller’s tragic “Death of a Salesman” in Tehran.

The Spectacular Now

Miles teller, shailene woodley.

James Ponsoldt’s “The Spectacular Now,” based on the Tim Thorp novel, hits on something few movies do: an honest, believable depiction of teenagers, in love and out.

The Waiting Room

Peter nicks.

This documentary, taking place over 24 hours in the emergency room of Oakland’s public Highland Hospital, emerges as a moving portrait of people doing their jobs — and doing them well — under very difficult circumstances.

The Way, Way Back

Toni collette, steve carell, allison janney, jim rash, sam rockwell.

Much of Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s summer-breeze comedy feels familiar, but in a good way, like a comfortably rumpled beach house you’re happy to return to year after year.

Robert Eggers

Anya taylor-joy, ralph ineson, kate dickie.

“The Witch,” set in Puritan New England of 1630, feels like something new in horror — which is to say it feels like something old … authentically old.

Their Finest

Lone scherfig, gemma arterton, sam claflin.

An utterly charming film, set in the film industry of World War II-era London, in which Gemma Arterton and Sam Claflin demonstrate a pitch-perfect example of screen chemistry.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Martin mcdonagh, frances mcdormand, woody harrelson, sam rockwell, abbie cornish, lucas hedges.

In between the sometimes over-the-top action in Martin McDonagh's ultra-dark comedy, a quiet little actors’ movie unfolds, if you listen for it. Frances McDormand is searing as a mother bent on justice for her dead daughter; Woody Harrelson is the police chief on whom she targets her rage.

Tim's Vermeer

Teller, penn jillette, tim jenison.

This whimsical documentary is about many things — art history, technology, painting technique, beauty — but ultimately it’s a beguiling study of fascination, as an inventor attempts to re-create a famous Vermeer painting.

Toni Erdmann

Sandra hüller, peter simonischek.

Writer-director Maren Ade has created a father-daughter story, a profoundly complicated relationship and a uniquely bracing dark comedy of unusual depth of feeling.

Keith Maitland

Using newsreel footage, rotoscoped animation and talking-head interviews, this documentary re-creates the events surrounding the 1966 Texas Tower massacre with a remarkable you-are-there immediacy.

Two Days, One Night

Jean-pierre and luc dardenne, marion cotillard, fabrizio rongione.

Marion Cotillard gives a devastatingly intimate performance as a Belgian factory worker struggling to save her job.

Under the Skin

Jonathan glazer, scarlett johansson.

You won’t easily shake off this strange, night-blooming science-fiction tale about a beautiful woman (Scarlett Johansson) who isn’t a woman at all.

Martin Provost

Emmanuelle devos.

This impressionist biopic about French novelist Violette Leduc (Emmanuelle Devos) unfolds like a novel: divided into numbered and titled chapters and adding up to a satisfying whole.

Wagner & Me

Patrick mcgrady, stephen fry.

Stephen Fry examines his complex feelings toward Wagner and his music — and part of the pleasure of this film is seeing how the composer's art transforms him.

We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks

Alex gibney, julian assange.

Alex Gibney’s thoughtful, well-researched documentary about the Julian Assange/WikiLeaks saga explores a complex moral problem: When does a whistle-blower become a traitor?

Elyse Steinber, Josh Kriegman

Anthony weiner.

This documentary about disgraced former congressman/serial tweeter Anthony Weiner is a fascinating portrait of a politician — a man who, it seems, doesn’t feel that he exists unless someone’s looking at him.

What Maisie Knew

Scott mcgehee, david siegel, julianne moore, steve coogan.

Based on a Henry James story, this beautifully acted contemporary tale of a divorcing couple has a child at its center — whom both parents use as a weapon.

Taylor Sheridan

Jeremy renner, elizabeth olsen, gil birmingham.

Taylor Sheridan’s “Wind River” is a murder mystery set on a snowy Native American reservation in Wyoming, but it's less interested in examining the crime than in uncovering the icicle of grief at its core.

Wonder Woman

Patty jenkins, gal gadot, chris pine, robin wright.

The DC Comics heroine finally gets her own movie, and it’s everything fans and moviegoers would want it to be: smart, swift, sometimes funny, occasionally dazzling and surprisingly soulful.

Zero Dark Thirty

Kathryn bidelow, jessica chastain, jason clarke, joel edgerton.

This harrowing military drama from director Kathryn Bigelow, about the capture and death of Osama bin Laden, isn’t easy viewing — but just try to look away.

Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba

This charming animated film from Disney follows a spunky bunny cop and a cunning con-artist fox trying to crack a case of mysterious disappearances in a colorfully vibrant animals-only world.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Twisters’ on VOD, in Which Glen Powell Charms His Way Through An Entertaining Throwback Extravaganza

Where to stream:, new movies on streaming: ‘twisters,’ ‘mothers’ instinct’ + more, stream ‘twisters’ on prime video—plus get ‘not my first tornadeo’ shirt on amazon, ‘twisters’ comes to digital, but when will ‘twisters’ be streaming on peacock.

I’m happy to report that Twisters ( now streaming on VOD services like Amazon Prime Video ) doesn’t – and I apologize in advance – suck or blow. Credit director Lee Isaac Chung (who proves his summer-tentpole acumen after helming 2020’s tremendous indie drama Minari , and an episode of The Mandalorian ) and headliner Glen Powell (who’s a superstar now thanks to Anyone But You and Hit Man ) for making sure the movie is a thoroughly viable bit of escapism. The movie’s a sort-of follow-up to 1996 hit Twister in the sense that both movies are about terrifying Oklahoma tornadoes, but aside from a handful of Easter-egg references, there’s no connection to Helen Hunt or Bill Paxton’s characters. Is that disappointing? Maybe to a few of you, but frankly, the fact that a “franchise” film stands on its own in modern-day Hollywood feels like a miracle on par with, I dunno, surviving an incredibly close encounter with an F5 tornado.

TWISTERS : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: And that’s exactly what happens to Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones): She survives an incredibly close encounter with an F5 tornado. Ain’t that just like the lead character in a tornado movie? Always finding a way to not die. We meet her and her crew of college researchers as they try to choke out an Oklahoma twister by making it suck up several barrels full of gloop (it’s like the stuff in diapers, one character helpfully explains). It goes, shall we say, poorly. The gloop doesn’t work and only she and Javi (Anthony Ramos of In the Heights fame) make it beneath the overpass in time – her BF goes whoosh, never to be seen again – and then five years pass and Kate has shifted from gutsy ’nado chaser to boring person in suit pants at the National Weather Service offices in New York. It’s understandable considering the trauma and survivor’s guilt she carries, but her homegrown sixth-sense “gift” for sniffing out tornadoes is being wasted. The pantsuit life just ain’t for her.

But Javi comes knocking. He’s put together a crack unit of storm chasers who triangulate radar stations – there’s few things more cinematic than science people TRIANGULATING things – on tornadoes so they can study them. Of course, Kate’s reluctant to go back to Oklahoma, where her mom (Maura Tierney) lives, her mom who Wishes She’d Call More Often. But sitting in an office staring at radar doesn’t save lives like some hard, pipe-hittin’ in-the-field TRIANGULATION might, so she’s eventually persuaded. Next thing you know, she’s back home during a wild Oklahoma tornado week – think Shark Week, but with less teeth and more climate change implications – very tentatively sitting in a truck and telling Javi and his crew which direction to go in order to get close enough to a tornado and not get killed by it. She’s very good at this. It’s worth noting that one of Javi’s crew is played by David Corenswet, who’s going to be Superman next year, but unlike Superman, his character in this movie gives off some serious fartknocker vibes. And that’s all I’ll say about that. No spoilers, y’know.

At this point, you’re like, WHERE THE HELL IS GLEN POWELL? Patience. Good things come to those, etc. etc. He makes a grand entrance, too, playing Tyler Owens, a yee-haw YouTuber whose misfit crew films his tornado-chasing escapades in an armored pickemup truck that blasts obnoxious country songs and pulls over so he can hock T-shirts emblazoned with his face and the phrase NOT MY FIRST TORNADEO to his adoring fans. As if that isn’t Douche City enough, Tyler nearly runs Kate and Javi off the road as they pursue a rumbling storm, just because, and then he drives right into the tornado so he can literally anchor the truck to the ground with a pair of mega-drills and launch fireworks into the swirling winds – and watch the views and likes pour in like beers down a cowboy’s throat, yee-haw.

Consider the competition established, and the romantic tension between a noisy shitkicker and the bookish girl. But Tyler’s no dummy. He knows that chasing tornadoes is “part science, part religion,” and he doesn’t bite when Kate tries to bait-and-switch him on whether one should chase the storm to the east or the storm to the west. (She uses a criteria I dub the Dandelion Method, in which she stares wistfully at the horizon and picks up a dandelion and watches which way the fluff blows. Science or religion? Your guess is as good as mine.) It’s fate, I tell you, fate, that they may eventually wring a little rom-com out of this script. But Tornado Week is so intense – it’s just one after the other after the other around here! – they can’t even go on a date to a rodeo without nearly getting murdered by nature. There’s also a shot of Powell standing in some smoldering remnants of a tornado-smashed town, and you’d swear the smoke was coming off him . Can Kate resist? We all hope she can’t!

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: This joint is lousy with Wizard of Oz references. Thankfully, Twisters is far better than The Day After Tomorrow or Into the Storm . And I haven’t seen such intense ’nado action since Pa Kent got pointlessly devoured by one in Man of Steel .

Performance Worth Watching: With a single sparkling grin, Powell could put the fun in any funeral. He has a wispy-thin character to play here, but his ubercharisma makes the movie a scintilla or two more enjoyable than many other FX spectaculars.

Memorable Dialogue: A couple of memorable bits from a reasonably witty script:

The Corenswet fartknocker ain’t so sure about Kate’s methods: “I guess we’re listening to dandelions now.”

Tyler’s M.O.: “You don’t face your fears – you ride ’em.”

Sex and Skin: None: TBGSABBTTDASABOYO: Too Busy Getting Sucked And Blown By Tornadoes To Do Any Sucking And Blowing Of Your Own.

Our Take: Twisters is good old-fashioned highly entertaining popcorn-flick bullshit. It puts spectacle at the forefront, sidesteps real-world plausibility (science is good, but schmience is more fun!) and avoids saying anything of substance – e.g., modern extrapolations on the effects of psychological trauma or climate change – in lieu of adhering to the tenets of Summer Movies 101: big, loud, ridiculous, amusing and led by a bona-fide movie star whose swagger compensates for a heaping pile of shortcomings. (And yes, I’m implying that the film’s other lead, Edgar-Jones, doesn’t match Powell in terms of sheer wattage. She’s Just Fine here, nothing more.)

Those considering watching Twisters at home should know that it’s a Biggest Screen Possible-slash-The Louder The Better movie. It’s not going to be as transporting or all-sense consuming on your phone or laptop, or even your 65-incher – and I’m not just talking about Powell in sunglasses and a cowboy hat, one thumb in his jeans pocket, beaming like he owns the place (which he does). Chung knows action sequences are the most valuable currency in this context, and he makes sure they’re exceptional, more than just cheap CG and shaky-cam nonsense, and doled out at the proper intervals – as often as possible, of course. 

The director concocts a memorably destructive opening set piece, a twin-tornado pageant on an Okie plain and a doozy of a nighttime cyclone raid, easing in and out of increasingly intense situations that are, for lack of a better word, fun, without sacrificing the sense of high-stakes peril. (Are we truly concerned with the well-being of these characters? Eh, kind of.) Audio and visual effects are terrifyingly effective as our protags barrel headlong into danger, their vehicles jolted by triple-digit winds and battered with debris; the overall effect is immediate and enveloping enough to drown out the plot’s plausibility issues in the howling gale. 

And I couldn’t help but love the final sequence set in a movie theater. Isn’t that what a film critic is supposed to say? I mean, the ’nado rips the wall bearing the screen right off the building, so the helpless Oklahomans inside can look at a massive grandaddy of a granddaddy of a tornado through a big rectangle-shaped hole: Hey, that’s exactly what we’re doing! The self-awareness Chang deploys isn’t winking, but it’s knowing, and he strikes the perfect tone for a thriller-comedy that skillfully uses modern techniques to harken back to the better ’90s extravaganzas. 

Our Call: Full stop: Twisters is dumb fun. STREAM IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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Review/Film; When Sam Met Annie, Or When Two Meet Cute

By Vincent Canby

• June 25, 1993

Nora Ephron's "Sleepless in Seattle" is a feather-light romantic comedy about two lovers who meet for the first time in the last reel. It's a stunt, but it's a stunt that works far more effectively than anybody in his right mind has reason to expect. Not since "Love Story" has there been a movie that so shrewdly and predictably manipulated the emotions for such entertaining effect. Be warned, though: "Sleepless in Seattle" is a movie you may hate yourself in the morning for having loved the night before.

The situation is this: the recently widowed Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks), a successful architect, has moved to Seattle from Chicago to try to assuage his sorrow. One night, his 8-year-old son, Jonah (Ross Malinger), calls a late-night radio talk-show psychiatrist. It is Christmas, and the boy is worried about his dad. The furious, embarrassed Sam then gets on the phone. Before he realizes it, he's talking about his perfect marriage before a large portion of the United States population.

Three thousand miles away, Annie Reed (Meg Ryan), a successful feature writer for The Baltimore Sun, is driving to Washington to spend the holidays with her wimpish fiance's family. Annie hears Sam's confession and is so moved that she nearly drives off the road. She's bewitched by something about his voice, the ill-concealed lump in his throat, his choice of cliches. She doesn't immediately know it, but she's in love and will one day wind up with Sam to live in the 1990's version of the kind of bliss that old-fashioned movies used to celebrate.

Evoked by "Sleepless in Seattle," through clips and numerous references in dialogue and soundtrack music, is Leo McCarey's sentimental 1957 classic "An Affair to Remember," a movie that instantly reduces every woman in the new film to tears. "An Affair to Remember" serves as an interesting yardstick for "Sleepless in Seattle." It a reminder of just how much smaller and more self-conscious romantic movies are today than they were when they were played by such icons as Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, when love could be a matter of life and death, and when fate, not an interfering television-bred child, shaped the outcome.

It's clear that Ms. Ephron understands this. "Sleepless in Seattle" is so cannily concocted that it somehow manages to stand above the sitcom world in which it is set. You won't for a minute misidentify that world. It's there in the unquestioned material perks enjoyed both by Sam and Annie, in the picturesque houseboat on which Sam and Jonah live in Seattle, in the tone of the wisecracks delivered by Annie's pal Becky (Rosie O'Donnell) and even in the nature of Sam's grief.

Sam's beautiful first wife, Maggie (Carey Lowell), materializes from time to time in fantasy sequences, but the movie makes sure that his grief is not contagious. The audience knows, from Ms. Lowell's billing if nothing else, that Maggie is history, that Sam has a woman with co-star status waiting for him around the corner. The movie uses grief, but makes it safely meaningless. This is, after all, the world of sitcoms.

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Restored `Greed' Comes To Turner Classic Movies

------------------------------- Movie review

XXXX "Greed," with Jean Hersholt, Zasu Pitts, Gibson Gowland, Chester Conklin. Written and directed by Erich von Stroheim, from Frank Norris' novel, "McTeague." Reconstructed by Rick Schmidlin. 250 minutes. Turner Classic Movies, 5 p.m. tonight (Sunday). -------------------------------

Battles between studios and filmmakers often end with the studio taking control and putting together the final cut. Perhaps the most famous case of such "creative differences" is Erich Von Stroheim's "Greed" (1924), which gets a 75th-anniversary four-hour restoration at 5 p.m. tonight on Turner Classic Movies.

Just lately, with the release of such indulgent, overlong-by-half movies as "Meet Joe Black" or "End of Days," you may wonder why the studios didn't do more to protect the audience. But there have been times when the studios were clearly in the wrong, and the uncut versions of certain classics have become celluloid Holy Grails.

The full-length three-hour roadshow edition of 1954's "A Star Is Born" is still rumored to exist in a private collector's vault, though only pieces of the missing scenes made it into the 1983 restoration that recently turned up on laserdisc. Hope fades that the original two-and-a-half-hour version of Orson Welles' "The Magnificent Ambersons" will surface; still, other pieces of Welles movies have turned up.

In the case of "Greed," however, it's pretty clear what happened to the nine-hour-plus original. Von Stroheim pleaded to release a two-part, four-hour version of his adaptation of Frank Norris' novel, "McTeague." But MGM trimmed it to 135 minutes and threw the rest away, reportedly melting the extra footage to extract the silver from it. It is still considered an influential breakthrough in cinematic realism.

Rick Schmidlin, who restored Welles' "Touch of Evil" last year, hasn't been able to put "Greed" back together the way Von Stroheim wanted it. Instead, he's done the next best thing: filling in the holes with still photos (more than 650 of them) and digital animation techniques.

Making use of the final 1923 shooting script, Schmidlin has restored two plotlines and several subplots. The main storyline remains the same: a lottery winner (Zasu Pitts) becomes obsessed with hoarding her money, thereby shortening her own life and wrecking the lives of her husband (Gibson Gowland) and ex-fiance (Jean Hersholt).

The new version of "Greed" adds more than an hour and a half of material, including glimpses of several characters who were left on the cutting-room floor in 1924. Robert Israel composed the new score, a few awkward subtitles were replaced, and some sequences have been color-tinted, in accordance with Von Stroheim's wishes. (The director wanted to tint all the gold items in the film, including coins, brass beds, a gold tooth and a canary.)

The result, which cost $100,000 to piece together on videotape, may test the patience of the casual moviegoer. Schmidlin shies away from the term, "director's cut," and calls this "a reconstruction of Von Stroheim's lost narrative."

But similar methods were used to put "A Star Is Born" and "Lost Horizon" back together, and they found a responsive audience when they were reissued theatrically.

While Schmidlin's "Greed" restoration was screened at festivals in Telluride, Pordenone, Venice and Los Angeles this fall, it will probably play to its largest audience tonight. (Warner Home Video plans a cassette release late next year.)

Like the cut-down "Ambersons," the truncated "Greed" continues to turn up on international critics' lists of the top 10 films of all time. Somehow, both pictures have managed to survive in this abbreviated form; they still inspire audiences and filmmakers.

They may be ruins, but they're more interesting in mutilated form than 99 percent of what passes for cinema these days. Their essence remains.