The Out-of-Frame Horror: "The Zone of Interest," reviewed.

Sandra Hüller has a dream house next to hell in The Zone of Interest. (A24)

Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin was my favorite film of 2014 (though it was released outside of the U.S. a year earlier). My review of his even-more-challenging follow-up, The Zone of Interest, is here. I wrote, erroneously, that the movie was in black-and-white. It’s not, but monochrome was how I remembered it. That’s definitely the strangest mistake I’ve ever made in (digital) print.

"Reacher," recapped!

Reacher locked his keys in the car again. Just kidding; Reacher doesn’t have a car. Or any keys. (Brooke Palmer / Prime Video)

I’m recapping the second season of Reacher, the first-nameless Amazon adaptation of Lee Child’s hilarious series of novels about a hyper-competent, mountain-sized ex-military vigilante hobo, for Vulture. Truly, this is a labor of love. I yield to no man in my admiration for Christopher McQuarrie’s 2012 feature Jack Reacher, but this is a different beast. A larger, less expensive one.

"Poor Things," rich text

Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things.

My Washington City Paper review of Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things, one of 2023’s most rewarding films, is here.

"Napoleon:" Not Dynamite!

Once more into the breach. (Apple)

Sir Ridley Scott, the tireless 85-year-old director of two sci-fi landmarks, a classic feminist road movie, one Best Picture-winning epic and a lot of other stuff, has notched another middling megaproduction with Napoleon. My Washington City Paper review is here.

Stuck Like a Pig: "Fat Ham," reviewed.

Greg Alverez Reid and Marquis D. Gibson as a kingslayer and his nephew in Fat Ham. (Margot Schulman)

My City Paper review of Studio’s production of Fat Ham, James Ijames’ Pulitzer-winning Hamlet rewrite, is here. You can also read my profile of the playwright from last May.

A Union of Contradictions: "Confederates," reviewed.

Caro Dubberly and Nikkole Salter in Confederates. (Chris Banks)

My Washington City Paper review of Mosaic Theater Company’s strong production of Dominique Morisseau’s play Confederates is here.

Friedkin Deserved Better: "The Exorcist: Believer," reviewed.

Ellen Burstun with Exorcist: Believer cowriter/director David Gordon Green.

My Washington City Paper review of The Exorcist: Believer, yet another unworthy sequel to one of the great horror films, is here.

A Rogue One: "The Creator," reviewed.

John David Washington and Madeleine Yuna Voyles in an Gareth Edwards film. (Disney)

My Washington City Paper review of The Creator — Monsters, Godzilla, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards’ new sci-fi epic — is here.