Halloween Special: No Exits
For the holidays, a special pumpkin-latte feature: 10 movies from which there is no escape.
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Watch List Digest 10/25/26
Ann Hornaday 1960 – 2026
Some thoughts on the passing of a movie critic and a friend.
Austen Power: "Sense and Sensibility"
Daisy Edgar-Jones and George McKay are the best things in a plain-Jane adaptation -- but that's good enough.
Stranger Than Non-Fiction: "You Can See Everything"
Is Nathan Fielder's 3-hour documentary about Elizabeth Holmes one of the best movies of the year? It's certainly one of the weirdest.
"NAZA": The Executioners' Songs
A chilling documentary on the genocide in Gaza holds a mirror up to a nation's illusions.
What to Watch at IFFBoston's Fall Festival*
Eight to see at Boston's best film festival (autumn edition). Plus a few other events.
Apocalypse Yow: "Digger"
Alejandro Iñárritu and Tom Cruise go for baroque in a love-it-or-hate-it supersized satire.
Firesign of the Times 🔒︎
Why a 55-year-old comedy LP is one of the greatest satires this country has produced - and why it's as relevant today as when it came out.
Thoughts and Preyers: “Primetime” v “Predators”
The new Robert Pattinson drama has great performances and a queasy moral compass. Plus: New films on demand and a couple of classic recommendations.
TIFF Report IV: Batting Clean-Up
Reviews of "Babies," "Bucking Fastard," "Edward Said: Between Worlds," "Everybody Wants to F*ck Me," "The Face of Horror," "Love of Your Life," "Possible Love," "The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives," "A Talent for Murder," "Union Town"
TIFF Report III: "Elsinore," "Bitter Christmas," "Being Heumann," "Alpha Gang"
A new Almodóvar, a feel-good biopic of a disability-rights legend, a likely Best Actor bell-ringer and, from the Zellner brothers, one of the damnedest things I've ever seen,
Festival Reports
TIFF Report II: "I Play Rocky,""Ink,” "Up Against It," "The Long Winter"
An underdog story about an underdog story is an unexpected highlight at the Toronto Film Festival
Festival Reports
TIFF Report I: "All of a Sudden,""Minotaur,” "Wild Horse Nine"
A new Hamaguchi masterpiece, a brooding Russian drama and a peak performance from one of our great acting eccentrics.
Festival Reports
Eight Movies I want to See at TIFF 2026
It's fall festival time, and the Watch List is headed to Toronto to try and make sense of it all.
What to Watch
What to Watch: "Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma"
Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder go on a voyage of personal discovery in Jane Schoenbrun's new movie, and it's a hell of a ride.
What to Watch
In Review: "Coyote vs Acme," "The Dog Stars," "Peter Asher"
Plus a few words on two icons we've lost this week.
Music 🎸
Book Review: "How to Prepare for the Past"
A phantasmagoric rock memoir from a man who apparently was everywhere. Plus: Billy Collins parodies Mary Oliver (or does he?) and some Criterion Channel picks.
What to Watch
Poetic Injustice: The "Mary Oliver" documentary
A new film by Sasha Waters is a celebratory portrait of the beloved poet, but there's a tougher Mary Oliver somewhere behind the stanzas.
What to Watch
What to Watch: "Wild Inside," "Late Fame," "Tony" & "The Invite"
An owl, a poet and a chef walk into a bar.
What to Watch
(More) Tales of Brave Ulysses
Looking for a leaner, meaner, classier "Odyssey"? "The Return," with Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, awaits you on VOD. Plus, some thoughts on Emily Wilson (scorpion) and Christopher Nolan (frog).
Music 🎸
On Rock 'n' Roll Ghosts and Other Matters
David Toop's "Two-Headed Doctor" is a spellbinding genealogy of American music tied to one of the strangest, deepest records of the 1960s. Plus a few movie things.
What to Watch: "Remake," "Tuner"
A nifty little thriller on demand and, in theaters, an aching confession of complicity and regret from one of our finest documentarians.
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