28 years after the release of the cult classic original, Practical Magic 2 returns to give the audience the magical hijinks they’ve been waiting for – without any meaningful substance.

Na Hong-Jin’s first film in a decade is a three hour long sci-fi epic that is anything but. 

After three years in legal limbo after being written off for tax purposes by Warner Brothers, Coyote Vs Acme is finally being released to the masses, and it’s worth the wait.

Mārama is an instant modern horror classic, a masterpiece of indigenous storytelling, and deserves as much praise and recognition as other recent horror movies from this part of the world such as Talk to Me, Bring Her Back and Leviticus.

Joko Anwar continues to be a prolific filmmaker across all genres, and while he doesn’t always stick the landing, with Ghost in the Cell he has made a huge hit. It is a great ensemble piece filled with action, genuine comedy, incredible gore effects, and a meaningful commentary on corruption and empathy.

For what is meant to be a ‘sex-positive love letter to Gen Z’, Araki spends a lot of time making his younger characters suffer in I Want Your Sex, his first feature in over a decade.

For a film so dense with figurative language and imagery, what’s most startling about Blue Heron is its emotional directness. As intellectually rigorous as filmmaker Sophy Romvari’s examination of time and nostalgia becomes, it’s all in service of capturing the truly indescribable sensation of decades-long grief.

Species aims for the top of its class, but falls into the trap of trying too much, offering frustratingly little flesh to back up its lofty ambitions.

While Josephine may have big names like Tatum in its cast, a star is born with Reeves playing the titular role. It is not an overstatement to say that this is one of the best child performances of all time—Reeves is acting beyond her years and with such maturity, which feels like a parallel journey with the loss of innocence her character is forced to confront.

Like all of Wilson’s works, it’s a film that begins with one thing (concrete) and very quickly becomes about everything, recognising the socio-industrial ecosystem that governs the modern world.

But of course Minotaur was still a slog to sit through for a portion of its time. There’s an enjoyable thriller in it, but that comes from the really great stretch in its second half.

Is there still a way to make this somewhat tired trope fresh and original again? Yesterday Island, a little Australian indie dark comedy, proves that there certainly is.

The vampire film has long been a profoundly expressive, free-flowing canvas of cinematic decadence, and Nadja glides like an echo through a shroud of distinctly 90s sensibilities.

Intended meaning may get lost between original dialogue and translated subtitles, but camp humour, thankfully, does not. The Blood Countess is a grandiose and hyperbolic rendition of the terrifying myth behind its titular character, Erzsébet Báthory (Isabelle Huppert), that does not shy away from the tale’s queer undertones.

The Rivals of Amziah King goes above and beyond the standard for mass produced Hollywood dramas, but isn’t immune to some of its most common pitfalls.

Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man is a terrible movie that is a dark omen for the AI slop that could be present in Hollywood films to come. Don’t watch this movie. I have no mouth and Ice must Cream.

Ahead of the already polarising Marvel blockbuster Avengers: Doomsday, Destin Daniel Cretton’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day is a Marvel movie that feels like a Marvel film.

But it’s difficult to regard this as anything but a triumph for independent filmmaking: a maverick trans director getting the stars and budget to realise their genuinely bold and original vision, built off the ashes of failed franchises.