\n<\/p>\n
Rent or buy it on most major platforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n In Alice Lowe\u2019s very dry, very funny satire of historical romances<\/a>, Agnes (Lowe) keeps dying \u2014 often brutally \u2014 then reincarnating in various historical eras. In each one she pursues the same scamp, Alex (Aneurin Barnard). \u201cYou\u2019re the love of my lives,\u201d she tells him. At the same time, she remains oblivious that her loyal friend Meg (Tanya Reynolds) might want a little more from her. Lowe has mastered a distinctive touch that incorporates cartoonish gore, surreal bite and precisely written dialogue. \u201cI have everything I have ever wanted,\u201d Agnes, then an aristocrat, says in 1793 while dreamily petting a pink cat. \u201cFine teeth. My books. A handsome house. A hale and hearty husband, who is oft-absent.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course what Agnes has ever wanted is the eternal bad boy. One of the best sequences takes place in 1980, when Alex turns up as an Adam Ant-type pop star and Agnes sports the best perm this side of Nancy Wheeler in \u201cStranger Things.\u201d Does it ever work out? Does Agnes learn? Our daft heroine hopscotches across centuries and goes after the object of her desire while always looking half out of it, which is at least great fun for the viewer.<\/p>\n Rent or buy it on most major platforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Just think: If Kim (Crystal Foster) and Reid (Zack Gold) knew Greek mythology, they might have noticed that the shortcut that looked so good on the map would lead them through Charon County \u2014 a possible allusion to the ferryman who transports the dead to the underworld. It\u2019s one of the many enjoyable details embedded in Cody Ashford\u2019s movie, a horror-sci-fi hybrid that delivers above what its normie premise might suggest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n On their way home after their engagement party at a country cabin, Kim and Reid get lost and end up on a remote road that happens to be a spatiotemporal loop, as if they\u2019d become stuck inside an Escher drawing. \u201cDrive Back\u201d deals with the inevitable timeline spaghetti quite well, which is rare enough in this genre to be mentioned. But what\u2019s really interesting about the movie is how it uses differing perceptions \u2014 the two main characters often disagree on what they see or hear \u2014 to symbolize a troubled relationship. This couple never seem on the same page, and the film makes good dramatic use of their discord. The main interrogation hovering above their heads is whether they need to work together to survive their ordeal or whether it will end them for good. \u201cDrive Back\u201d provides a satisfying answer.<\/p>\n Stream it on Paramount+<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n We all have some favorite cinematic subgenres and will watch anything remotely connected to them. Mine include submarine movies and their science-fiction equivalents: claustrophobic thrillers set on a small spacecraft. In Mikael Hafstrom\u2019s film, such a ship is heading to Saturn\u2019s largest moon, Titan. The members of the three-man crew, headed by Captain Franks (Laurence Fishburne), are awakened from their hypersleep at regular intervals to run tests. The polite computer voice that is de rigueur in such environments tells us, however, that the hibernation drugs can have \u201cmild side effects.\u201d Uh-oh. After the ship gets dinged in an accident, the astronauts must decide whether they should turn back or continue. Nobody agrees on anything and paranoia sets in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSlingshot\u201d is told mostly from the perspective of John (Casey Affleck, whose regular-guy lack of affect is very effective in this context), the only one to realize what\u2019s going on, unless, of course, he\u2019s going crazy. It could be both: What happens when the person who seems to get it isn\u2019t all there? The movie does not make enough of this intriguing idea, preferring a Shyamalan-esque twist. Some might see that as a cop-out, but it actually fits this nifty little psychological thriller.<\/p>\n Stream it on Tubi<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s tough to find family fare that isn\u2019t based on pre-existing intellectual properties, so Nathan Blackwell\u2019s movie must be commended for being nowhere near the franchised world. The premise is that for the past hundred years humanity has been a gigantic computer simulation created by future scientists in order to model behavior. Unfortunately we all came up short and our future overlords are pulling the plug. (So what happens to them<\/em>? Never mind.) With weeks left, the underachieving slob Marshall (Adam Rini) decides to complete a sci-fi movie he\u2019d started in high school, when he was possibly even nerdier than he is now. He gets the old gang back together and off they go to make their Ed Wood-worthy masterpiece with tinfoil, cardboard and a whole lot of enthusiasm.<\/p>\n Movies about the end of Earth as we know it are not uncommon these days, but Blackwell\u2019s lighthearted approach has a small-town vibe that makes it stand out from its doomy peers \u2014 along with the meta fact that \u201cThe Last Movie Ever Made\u201d itself looks like a low-budget, heartfelt end-times effort. The best parts are about the making of Marshall\u2019s epic, but the biggest surprise is how touching this film\u2019s ending is.<\/p>\n Rent or buy it on most major platforms<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u2018Drive Back\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Slingshot\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018The Last Movie Ever Made\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Meanwhile on Earth\u2019<\/h2>\n