ScreenRant‘s reviews team has covered a variety of movies this week and, with awards season kicking off, you’ll want to keep some of these on your radar. Whether it’s a major theatrical release, an indie, or a streaming film, our roundup includes a slew of opinions on this weekend’s biggest and smallest releases for you to make the best viewing decision.
We’ve got reviews for The Smashing Machine starring Dwayne Johnson, Kate Hudson, and Elisabeth Moss’s Shell, the documentary Are We Good?, and more, along with excerpts from each review. And be sure to check out our reviews section daily for the latest movies and our critics’ takes on them.
The Smashing Machine
By Graeme Guttmann
To get in the headspace of former UFC fighter Mark Kerr, [Dwayne] Johnson has transformed and spoken often about how tapping into this role brought him to a vulnerable state he hasn’t yet explored in his career. The big question out of the film’s Venice premiere was, does it all work? The answer is no.
Read the full The Smashing Machine review.
Anemone
By Mae Abdulbaki
The story’s too vague, and the script’s refusal to indulge in the details for the sake of character development creates a pervasive coldness that the film can’t shake.
Read the full Anemone review.
Are We Good?
By Gregory Nussen
Are We Good? is a raw documentary about an artist who traffics primarily in rawness. Maron’s process as a comic is portrayed as distinctly messy and chaotic, but also savvy and distinct.
Read the full review for Are We Good?.
Bone Lake
By Gregory Nussen
Bone Lake never lives up to its opening ten minutes, which is aces. It is neither as Sєxy nor as enjoyably violent as it advertises itself to be, and even when things do blow up in the final act, the shock is ham-fisted for shock’s sake.
Read the full Bone Lake review.
Shell
By Graeme Guttmann
Max Minghella, in his sophomore feature as director, gives Los Angeles a distinctly retro-future feel that adds another layer of silliness to the proceedings. Still, Shell takes too long to unravel its central mystery and once it gets to the body horror it teases at the start of the film, the movie begins to pull its punches.
Read the full Shell review.
Good Boy
By Graeme Guttmann
Even with its limits, Good Boy is a fine film, one that manages to feel both experimental and familiar in a way that’s comforting. It may sound strange to call a horror movie calming in that way, but even with its ghoulish twists and turns, there is real heart at the center of this film that makes it a worthwhile watch…
Read more of the Good Boy review.
Play Dirty
By Mae Abdulbaki
What the film is ultimately missing is a good dose of charisma and fluidity with its material. That, at the very least, might have allowed Play Dirty to skate by. What we get instead is a soulless heist thriller that tries way too hard to be joyfully entertaining and, despite all its potential, manages to come up short.
Read the full Play Dirty review.
