Teriek Williams

The class warfare parable of Parasite is a rare original, creative and dynamic story bound to shock, surprise and overwhelm audiences. Small but intricate, Parasite carefully follows an impoverished family who scheme themselves into becoming the working staff of an upper class Korean family. As their elaborate charade unravels, they drastically shift out of light comedic deception into the dark, violent and eventually tragic underbelly of their own desperation. This South Korean masterpiece joins Oldboy, The Handmaiden, Mother, I Saw the Devil, Train to Busan and Burning as yet another example of why South Korea is the place to go for mind-blowing storytelling.

Dark Fate follows a long-line of "meh" sequels to James Cameron's original two films. Like its three subpar predecessors, the film is predictable and lacks the strong story/character dynamics that made the franchise what it was. Rather than a corrective reboot, Dark Fate collects the same overwrought CGI action, witless humor and bad dialogue of Rise of the Machines or Genisys with some of the dryness of Salvation. Despite bad casting/acting (Davis, Reyes, Luna) and a predictable plot, the film manages to be entertaining at the very least.

Based on memoirs of Nic and David Sheff, Beautiful Boy tells the story of a father's attempts to save his son from the depths of his drug addiction. Delving into the cyclic abyss of addiction, the film simultaneously focuses on the perspective of families who struggle with a family member's self-destructive drug abuse. Meditatively pensive in its pacing approach, the story unfolds with a muted, somber tone lacking the punctuated heft that its co-writer Luke Davies brought to Lion (Davies' 2016 adaptation of Saroo Brierley's memoir). As a character-centered film, the performances of Timothee Chamalet and Steve Carell prove more than strong enough to rescue the film from its lulling moments and make clear the devastating impact of addiction on many families and communities.