Variety

Murtada Elfadl Variety Oct 22, 2026 “Edward Said : Between Worlds” is exactly what you might expect of a documentary taking on such a renowned and respected intellectual. But that not make it less powerful. It’s a necessary document, arriving at the right time. Go to Full Review Edward Said: Between Worlds (2026) 94% - -

Owen Gleiberman Variety Oct 22, 2026 The film has a few scattered giggles, but it’s dawdling and cumbersome, and far less “relevant” than it thinks. Go to Full Review Ali G: Who Iz I? (2026) 48% - -

Guy Lodge Variety Oct 21, 2026 Perhaps the characters and conflicts introduced here would pall if given the franchise treatment, but in the context of a single, genre-melding romp, they’re fresh and ickily enjoyable. Go to Full Review Clayface (2026) 75% - -

Owen Gleiberman Variety Oct 21, 2026 It’s a documentary that answers all the questions and solves all the mysteries. Unlike your typical film about UFOs, it doesn’t leave you with that vague feeling of “The truth is still out there, and I’m still not sure what it is.” Go to Full Review Capturing Bigfoot (2026) - - - -

Owen Gleiberman Variety Oct 21, 2026 As you watch Judd Apatow’s juicy and haunting documentary “Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald,” you realize that there was a special thing about him. He was a comic’s comic…who everyone else loved too. Go to Full Review Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald (2026) 86% - -

Todd Gilchrist Variety Oct 17, 2026 Writer-director Thane Economou takes an aggressively cheeky approach to the saga of Kapoor’s involvement, in the process undercutting what he clearly intends to be an empathetic portrait of both the doctor and his patient. Go to Full Review Trust Me, I'm a Doctor (2026) 26% - -

Siddhant Adlakha Variety Oct 15, 2026 After a strong start, Kitao Sakurai’s Capcom adaptation nosedives into nonsense. Go to Full Review Street Fighter (2026) 41% - -

Variety Staff Variety Oct 14, 2026 There is solid dramatic substance, purposeful and intriguingly contrasted character portrayals and, let's come right out with it, sheer pictorial poetry that is sweeping and savage, intimate and lusty, tender and bitter-sweet. Go to Full Review Spartacus (1960) 90% 87%

Todd Gilchrist Variety Oct 14, 2026 Allyn is entirely too interested in Simmers’ police work, meaning high-pitched chases and strong-arm interrogations, to strike the right balance between his day job and his earnest efforts to help his daughter. Go to Full Review Clean Hands (2026) 40% - -

Owen Gleiberman Variety Oct 14, 2026 The movie comes closer to doing for whales what “Howard the Duck” did for barnyard superheroes -- it makes you never want to see one of them again. Go to Full Review Whalefall (2026) 73% - -

Siddhant Adlakha Variety Oct 14, 2026 Both an archival portrait of Baltimore in the 1980s and a retroactive true-crime investigation... Its conclusions are entirely unexpected, and entirely devastating. Go to Full Review When a Witness Recants (2026) 100% - -

David Rooney Variety Oct 13, 2026 A seasoned television director with some minor feature credits behind him, Fairfax’s approach to shaping the material into more than a small-screen vehicle begins and ends with shooting it in widescreen. Go to Full Review True Blue (1996) - - 40%

Variety Staff Variety Oct 13, 2026 Fear and Desire is a literate, unhackneyed war drama, outstanding for its fresh camera treatment and poetic dialog. Go to Full Review Fear and Desire (1953) 70% 35%

Owen Gleiberman Variety Oct 12, 2026 Tenzing earns its inspirational fervor, but the reason it fits into the new wave of mountain-climbing movies is that the director, Jennifer Peedom... has staged it with a you-are-there authenticity that’s breathtaking but never showy. Go to Full Review Tenzing (2026) 98% - -

Owen Gleiberman Variety Oct 12, 2026 “14th,” I’m pleased to report, exerts the same kind of historical/topical force that “13th” did. DuVernay, while she works in an extremely accessible and mainstream way, has a singular gift for making the nuances of history come alive. Go to Full Review 14th (2026) 81% - -

Murtada Elfadl Variety Oct 12, 2026 Whispers in May benefits from a strong point of view and a clear focus on its protagonist, embracing a simple narrative that reveals relatively little in conventional plot terms, yet this restraint ultimately becomes a strength. Go to Full Review Whispers in May (2026) - - - -

Guy Lodge Variety Oct 11, 2026 Some longtime Laika fans may harbor warmer feelings for the studio’s smaller, quirkier outings, but as both a formal achievement and a generation-crossing crowdpleaser, Wildwood is a spectacular success. Go to Full Review Wildwood (2026) 100% - -

Guy Lodge Variety Oct 10, 2026 It’s never quite as funny as it should be, while its characters want for texture and soul... These aren’t fatal shortfalls: There are more than enough visual and sonic delights here to compensate. But they are surprising ones from Bird. Go to Full Review Ray Gunn (2026) 94% - -

Michael Phillips Variety Oct 10, 2026 The frustration arrives all too soon. There’s very little piety in the 1947 film, and there’s serious chemistry between Wayne and Russell. The new “Angel and the Badman” trades those virtues for plenty of sanctimony and not much of a spark. Go to Full Review Angel and the Badman (2026) 23% - -

Siddhant Adlakha Variety Oct 9, 2026 Among the most limp and ineffectual works to grace the screen this year, misfiring in every direction, including and especially its tone. Go to Full Review Other Mommy (2026) 19% - -