Gerald Morris

There is a version of The Housemaid that probably works. You can see the outline of it. The bones are there. This story clearly wants to dig into some loaded material involving a woman’s place in modern life, the power imbalance inside marriage, the pressures of parenthood, and the lingering damage of past trauma. That is not small stuff. And to the film’s credit, it at least gestures toward all of it. The problem is that The Housemaid never really says anything with those ideas. It just...

There is a certain kind of studio sci-fi film that feels increasingly endangered. The kind built on scale, curiosity, star power, and emotional payoff. The kind that trusts audiences to engage with ideas while still delivering momentum and spectacle. Project Hail Mary  belongs to that tradition, and it does so with confidence. It is, at least for me, the strongest film I’ve seen so far this year. That may sound like the usual post-screening high talking, the sort of reaction that can fade...

What happens when a horror film knows exactly how to get under your skin… but maybe doesn’t fully know what to do once it’s there? That was kind of my experience with Undertone , the new A24 horror-thriller directed by Ian Tuason and starring Nina Kiri and Adam DiMarco. This is a movie with atmosphere for days. Genuine dread. Real unease. The kind of film that can make you stare into the darkest corner of your room a little longer than usual after the credits roll. And for a good chunk of its...