The Garfield Movie

• Director: Mark Dindal
• Writers: Paul A. Kaplan, Mark Torgove, David Reynolds
• Starring: Chris Pratt, Samuel L. Jackson, Hannah Waddingham, Nicholas Hoult, Bowen Yang, Ving Rhames, Brett Goldstein, Cecily Strong

Grade: C-

The great thing about making The Garfield Movie is that, unlike most IP-driven adaptations, director Mark Dindal isn’t beholden to a great deal of lore. Jim Davis’s long-running comic strip has seen the flabby feline eat, sleep, and torment Odie the dog and Jon the human in innumerable ways since 1978, with little variation in formula. This frees up screenwriters Paul A. Kaplan, Mark Torgove, and David Reynolds to essentially tell whatever story they want without trying to introduce some cockamamie origin story or get to a specific point in Garfield’s timeline. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop The Garfield Movie from feeling like a lazy version of what it could be.

Thelma the Unicorn

• Director: Jared Hess, Lynn Wang
• Writers: Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess
• Starring: Brittany Howard, Will Forte, Jemaine Clement, Edi Patterson, Fred Armisen, John Heder

Grade: C-

Most of children’s entertainment is rooted in the idea of changing your circumstances when life deals you a rotten hand. From Cinderella to Dumbo, and even Angels in the Outfield, the basic formula of the fairytale is in going from nobody to somebody. Thelma the Unicorn, coming to Netflix on Friday, takes the tried and true formula and cranks the energy up to eleven thousand. Netflix has a relatively solid track record with animation, but Jared Hess and Lynn Wang’s film often feels like a rejected Illumination project that Netflix picked up off the scrap heap.

I Saw the TV Glow

• Director: Jane Schoenbrun
• Writer: Jane Schoenbrun
• Starring: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Ian Foreman, Helena Howard, Lindsey Jordan, Danielle Deadwyler, Fred Durst

Grade: A-

Everyone wants to be seen. Everyone wants to feel like they belong. Everyone just wants to feel like they’re not alone. In I Saw the TV Glow, belonging takes the form of a young adult television show, and it’s filtered through writer-director Jane Schoenbrun’s unique filmmaking style, creating a wholly original and entrancing work. It’s a purposefully bizarre film which swings for the fences, and it likely won’t work for large swaths of the moviegoing public, but it’s no less refreshing to see something original executed so confidently.

Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver

• Director: Zack Snyder
• Writers: Zack Snyder, Shay Hatten, Kurt Johnstad
• Starring: Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Michiel Huisman, Bae Doona, Ed Skrein, Staz Nair, Cleopatra Coleman, Anthony Hopkins

Grade: C-

Even at 23 minutes shorter, Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon Part Two: The Scargiver manages to be just as exhausting as Part One: A Child of Fire. Perhaps it’s from the copious amounts of slow-mo, a bona fide trademark amongst Snyder’s films. Perhaps it’s because, for the first hour, nothing really happens besides needless character exposition. At least The Scargiver feels slightly less derivative, less poorly assembled than A Child of Fire, and tells a simple story of rebellion. Yes, this very much still feels like Snyder’s misguided homage to Star Wars in all its sci-fi trappings, but this outing is more competently made and easy to follow – with a few notable exceptions.

Sasquatch Sunset

• Director: David Zellner, Nathan Zellner
• Writer: David Zellner
• Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, Christophe Zajac-Denek, Nathan Zellner

Grade: C+

Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the “Dawn of Man” sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey is almost 30 minutes long. No, this review will not argue that David and Nathan Zellner’s Sasquatch Sunset measures up to Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, but some similarities can easily be drawn. Namely, both films contain depictions of primordial beings as they cope with unexpected obstacles beyond their comprehension.

Civil War

• Director: Alex Garland
• Writer: Alex Garland
• Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jesse Plemons, Nick Offerman

Grade: B+

Alex Garland’s Civil War feels like a massive increase in scope and scale compared to the writer-director’s previous work, but contains some of the same storytelling deficiencies that have held him back. For as celebrated as his screenplays have become – from 28 Days Later to Sunshine and Ex Machina – he has run into the same problem that screenwriters like Charlie Kaufman or Diablo Cody have. That is, their best work often comes when someone else directs their screenplays. But Civil War sees Garland crafting a sneakily smart set of ideas while creating a palpable sense of dread.