Bigger, Longer, and Uncut: "Gladiator II," reviewed.

Pedro Pascal and Paul Mescal get down to it. (Paramount)

“Gladiator was the one where Ridley Scott revived the sword-and-sandals genre that had been dormant for decades while also managing to suggest that our addiction to spectacle—one he himself had then been nurturing for 20 years—might not be altogether healthy, for individuals or democracies. 

“Gladiator II is the one where he throws in a CGI shark. “

My Washington City Paper of the unlikely 24.5-years-later sequel is here.

Mid by Midwest: "Babbitt," reviewed.

Matthew Broderick in Babbitt. (Teresa Castracane)

My Washington City Paper review of Babbitt, a Matthew Broderick-anchored adaptation of a Sinclair Lewis novel that premiered at San Diego’s La Jolla Playhouse last year ahead of its current STC engagement, is here.

"Megalopolis," reviewed.

Adam Driver and Nathalie Emmanuel in Mr. Coppola’s opus. (Lionsgate)

My Washington City Paper review of Megalopolis, the opus Francis Ford Coppola has been contemplating for more than half his 85-year life, is here. Not the last version of this film we’ll see, I expect.

Ripley's Eleven: "Alien: Romulus," reviewed.

When you're smiling, the whole world smiles at you. (20th Century Studios)

My Washington CIty Paper review of Alien: Romulus, the 45-year-old franchise’s first legasequel, is here. Lest anyone fear I have not had enough to say about these slimy, sweaty movies that I so love, even when they’re bad. Which this new one is not!

A Cosmic Odyssey in a Honda Odyssey: "Deadpool & Wolverine," reviewed.

Ryan Reynolds, probably, and Hugh Jackman, almost certainly, as/in Deadpool & Wolverine. (Disney)

“You might not care about the canary-colored onesie. You might not be swayed by the fact the film’s multiversal milieu empowers Reynolds, director and cowriter Shawn Levy, and their collaborators not only to resurrect long-dormant Marvel heroes like [REDACTED], but to corral stars whose long-rumored superhero turns never happened such as [REDACTED], and even coax a walk-on from [REDACTED] who in a surprise twist, plays [REDACTED] instead of [REDACTED]. If you care about precisely none of that, you might still find this thing a worthy diversion, just for the light-speed potty-mouthed quips. Surely no film from within the Disney megalith has ever given us so many euphemisms for masturbation—or so many jokes about Honda Odyssey minivans.

“Me? I’m just here for Jackman.”

My incredibly consequential Washington City Paper review of Deadpool & Wolverine is here.

Kate Versus the Tornadoes: "Twisters," reviewed.

Daisy Edgar-Jones snd Glen Powell are just a couple of crazy, stormchasin’ kids in Twisters. (Universal)

Twisters feels like the accretion of several alarming trends: the acceleration of the climate emergency; the rapidity with which indie auteurs get sucked up into franchise world (Minari writer-director Lee Isaac Chung, in this instance); and the coronation of Glen Powell.

Okay, that last one isn’t so bad.

My Washington City Paper Twisters review is here. And my 2017 NPR remembrance of Twister star Bill Paxton, may he rest in peace, is here.

Two-Lane Blacktop: "The Bikeriders," reviewed.

Tom Hardy and Austin Butler as a couple of Vandals. (Kyle Kaplan/Focus Features)

“Comer’s Chicagoland accent is dead-solid perfect. Hardy, as is his wont, has affected a vocal timbre native to no place on this planet; Butler is still playing Elvis.”

My Washington City Paper review of Jeff Nichols’ great-looking-if-somewhat-underfed latest, The Bikeriders, is here.

Burning Chrome: "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," reviewed.

Drive-By Truckers: Tom Burke and Anya Taylor-Joy in Furiosa. (Warner Bros. / Jasin Boland)

Picaresque in form and Biblical in its savagery, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is the first entry in the five-film Max-iad that unfolds over years instead of days. A revenge flick about the futility of revenge, it sticks the landing, and then binds itself too tightly to that movie we all loved 9 (!) years ago in its closing moments. But it’s still a marvel.

My full Washington City Paper review is here.