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.

"Fly Me to the Moon" and the Persistence of Lunar Lunacy

Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum meet cute en route to the Moon.

Fly Me to the Moon is an ahistorical comedy about the selling (and near selling-out) of the Apollo program. I spoke to my National Air and Space Museum curator friend Margaret A. Weitekamp about it, and to NASA Chief Historian Brian Odom, for this Smithsonian piece about why some people just won’t accept that America went to the Moon.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "A Quiet Place: Day One"

Lupita Nyong'o is trying to die on her own terms in Michael Sarnoski’s A Quiet Place prequel.

Shhhh! I’m on PCHH today dissecting PIG auteur Michael Sarnoski’s A Quiet Place: Day One with Aisha Harris and Kirsten Meinzer. Aisha mentioned Thomasina, with no prompting from me, so you can also go find our A Degree Absolute! episode on that 60s Disney curiosity 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.

Folie a trois: "Challengers," reviewed.

Zendaya, producer/star of Challengers, surveys her domain. (MGM/Amazon)

I saw Challengers a few weeks before I filed my mixed-positive Washington City Paper review, which is less than ideal but occasionally unavoidable. Candidly, I expect my estimation of the movie will rise when I see it again. It’s possible I was too triggered by the mid-movie knee trauma to give its second half my full concentration.

"Civl War" Is an Irresponsible Tour-de-Force

Kirstin Dunst as photojournalist Lee Smith. (Murray Close/A24)

Wherein Ex Machina auteur Alex Garland’s immaculate craft bumps up against his dodgy judgment. This is a yelling-fire-in-a-crowded theater movie. Leave the destruction of the White House to clowns like Roland Emmerich, FFS. My Washington City Paper review is here.

Monsters Ball: "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire," reviewed.

Kong is the more expressive of the two stars of Godzilla x Kong, despite being second-billed.

“So Godzilla x Kong does the reluctant-allies thing for the second time in two movies, and it can’t quite hide that, despite their palpable love-hate chemistry on-screen, G and K probably don’t get along any better in real life than Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd.

Reviewed for the Washington City Paper.