Kyle Smith

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal 5 days ago Viscerally engaging as its combat scenes are, then, “The Mosquito Bowl” seems unable to find something new to say about history’s greatest conflict. I couldn’t even find a metaphorical point to the title exhibition match. Go to Full Review The Mosquito Bowl (2026) 37% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal 5 days ago A potent, vital document, and what is at stake is considerable. Go to Full Review Paging Hezbollah (2026) - - - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Oct 24, 2026 That cheap, trashy aspect works to its advantage; it doesn’t have overblown action set pieces and doesn’t ask to be taken seriously. It’s a grotesque gross-out movie, made to get a scream out of you. And maybe a chuckle. Go to Full Review Clayface (2026) 77% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Oct 24, 2026 I love everything about this movie, from its precision plotting to its autumnal poise -- a gentle appreciation for what’s gone, along with acceptance that colder days are coming. Go to Full Review The Only Living Pickpocket in New York (2026) 97% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Oct 22, 2026 Far from being a daring allegory, the only risk “Wicker” faces is that of suffering wrist and elbow strain from patting itself on the back. Go to Full Review Wicker (2026) 94% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Oct 15, 2026 The script, by Australian novelist Diana Reid, like the direction, fails to capture what’s best about Austen. It isn’t the familiar plotlines, it’s the decorative filigree. Go to Full Review Sense and Sensibility (2026) 78% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Oct 10, 2026 A bizarre situation that never really yields much of a story. Go to Full Review Bucking Fastard (2026) 69% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Oct 10, 2026 Saturated with convincing detail about the world of classical music and film scoring, the movie is a compelling character study marred only by a certain episodic quality. Go to Full Review Behemoth! (2026) 86% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Oct 10, 2026 Few films provide as much to think about, to argue about, to be impassioned about. Fjord is breathtaking cinema in more ways than one, both urgent filmmaking and a profound comment on our times. Go to Full Review Fjord (2026) 92% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Oct 10, 2026 Mr. Gibney provides a useful overview of an eventful life but frequently veers off-track into bristling hyperbole. Go to Full Review Musk (2026) 96% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Oct 8, 2026 Given that our tech worries have moved on to AI, much of this seems beside the point anyway. The Social Reckoning lands like a signal from a distant corner of the solar system that reaches us long after the star in question has burned out. Go to Full Review The Social Reckoning (2026) 54% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Oct 1, 2026 Bold, original and necessary are three adjectives that don't come to mind regarding Digger. Go to Full Review Digger (2026) 53% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Oct 1, 2026 At the movies, the PTSD-suffering veteran is a familiar figure, bordering on cliché. But this admirably restrained and unassuming drama, a first-time feature from writer-director Reed Van Dyk, is one of the best Iraq War movies yet made. Go to Full Review Atonement (2026) 93% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Sep 24, 2026 Its overall effect is sweetly understanding and brimming with respect for human miscues under strain. Go to Full Review Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! (2026) 91% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Sep 24, 2026 A hectic combination of silly imagery and corny dialogue that, despite being written and directed by two men, Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado, loudly insists on its own girl power. It’s pitifully short of the comedic and narrative kinds, however. Go to Full Review Forgotten Island (2026) 95% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Sep 24, 2026 Is our love for this noble animal enough to make a solid movie? Probably. It could have been a better one, though. Go to Full Review Heart of the Beast (2026) 84% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Sep 21, 2026 Mr. Greengrass has worked with some top screenwriters, yet unwisely assigned himself sole screenplay duties here. He isn’t really a word man and the deficiency is evident in the prosaic dialogue and barely imagined characters. Go to Full Review The Uprising (2026) 57% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Sep 19, 2026 Writer-director Zach Cregger has made perhaps the greatest tentacle-based horror show of all time. It’s the ideal midnight movie, an adroit balance of the funny and the macabre, the frightening and the ridiculous. Go to Full Review Resident Evil (2026) 96% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Sep 19, 2026 The documentary could easily have been trimmed by 10 minutes or so. Still, Mr. Rushdie’s formidable character shines. Go to Full Review Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie (2026) 97% - -

Kyle Smith Wall Street Journal Sep 10, 2026 The movie, directed by Simon Stone, covers much-trodden territory and would have been more effective without the superabundant use of a “You must cry now” score in the final act. Go to Full Review Elsinore (2026) 88% - -