Unlike most Hollywood horror film “Backrooms” preys simply on our inherent fears of the unknown – until it doesn’t, Dan Webster says.

Paul Rudd plays a struggling musician whose work is stolen by a pop star in Power Ballad, the latest from Once director John Carney. Nathan Weinbender says the movie’s tune is a familiar one, but it’s extremely likeable nonetheless.

Nathan Weinbender reviews two new movies from important international directors: Radu Jude’s Kontinental ’25, from Romania, and Christian Petzold’s Miroirs No. 3, from Germany.

Blue Heron is director Sophy Romvari’s hushed, intimate memory of being an immigrant family in Canada and of her own brother’s fracturing mental health. Nathan Weinbender says it’s a potent study of time and loss, and it’s now playing at the Magic Lantern.

As the 52nd Seattle International Film Festival draws to a close, Nathan Weinbender returns with some of his highlights from a week in the dark.

“I Swear” is a look at the life and struggles of a man with Tourette’s Syndrome and the ignorance surrounding it, Dan Webster says.

A hangout comedy set in 2011 Montreal, Chandler Levack’s Mile End Kicks follows a burgeoning music writer in a community of wannabe rock stars and artists. Nathan Weinbender says it uncannily captures its time and place, like a millennial version of Almost Famous.

“All That’s Left of You” is a powerful tale of three generations of a Palestinian family, Dan Webster says.

“Fantasy Life” is a flawed study of emotionally stunted characters in search of their respective life purposes, Dan Webster says.

The Christophers is the latest from prolific director Steven Soderbergh, a dialogue-heavy comedy about an art fraud and her unlikely mentor. Nathan Weinbender says it’s an entertaining two-hander between Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel.