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MAGICK MTN. is the kind of movie where you see something else every few minutes that could have turned into something amazing. A face appears out of the darkness, an occult image appears, a song gives a sequence more energy than anything around it, or Hana Mae Lee and Hal Satin suddenly lock into a visual style that makes the movie feel uniquely its own. Then that moment passes, another idea arrives, and the film starts chasing something else before the previous idea had a chance to take hold. That cycle becomes the experience of watching it. There’s potential around almost every corner, but MAGICK MTN. rarely stays anywhere long enough to turn that potential into something complete.

I miss Taylor Sheridan making movies. That thought followed me through almost all of THE MADISON, which probably isn't fair to a television series that largely succeeds at what it sets out to do. Sheridan has become one of television's most prolific creators, but before THE MADISON, I somehow hadn't watched any of his many series. My connection to him comes from the movies, particularly the three films he has called his thematic American Frontier trilogy: SICARIO, HELL OR HIGH WATER, and WIND RIVER. Taken together, they're phenomenal.

I love films that tell familiar stories in unique ways. It’s probably why I love the Czechoslovakian film ALICE (NĚCO Z ALENKY) so much. There's something so wonderfully unusual about watching fairy tales that are recognizable yet don't quite resemble the versions most of us grew up with. BENEATH THE TREES: FOLKTALES AT DEFA II collects five productions from East Germany's DEFA studio, spanning nearly three decades of filmmaking and an even wider range of approaches to fantasy. Some are colorful and playful, others feel eerie in their own way, and one carries considerably more political weight than you might expect from a collection built around stories involving princesses, witches, and magical animals.

Full transparency here, there’s a different kind of anticipation that comes with finally getting to watch a movie you helped back on Kickstarter (to be clear, I only did the Blu-ray level backing, so I wasn’t a producer or anything, but I still like to be transparent). You’ve watched the updates roll in, seen the project hit milestones, and spent months hoping the finished movie resembles what convinced you to back it in the first place. SLAY made that wait so much easier because everything about Kyra Elise Gardner’s feature screamed that the people making it genuinely loved what they were doing, not just how popular they are. That love is obvious almost immediately. And let me be clear! This production has a lot of notable names involved! Obviously, Kyra carries expectations with her family connections and previous projects. But then you walk into the writers' room and see names like Jimmi Simpson, Catherine Clark, and arguably the film's star, Zoey Luna. Beyond that, the cast is stacked with recognizable faces and plenty of new names.

HALLOWARRIOR has such an appealing idea that I spent much of its 80 minutes wishing it would stop adding things to it. A girl who believes she may be the last person alive still celebrates Halloween every year, surrounding herself with decorations and holiday traditions while living alone in the remains of civilization. That alone gives writer-director Ben Sottak enough material for a strange, sad, violent little horror movie. Instead, his feature debut keeps reaching for another genre, another character, another piece of mythology, and another shift until some of its best ideas start getting crowded out.