As the United States has reached it's two hundred and fifty years as a nation today, the New York Times has assembled ten of their writers to select a film that best represents this country and why. Each of these films manages to capture a little insight into how we might view ourselves as a country and how the rest of the world possibly perceives us because of our cinema. The nation is currently in a severely political divided state of mind (shown by the the muddled events that have been put together to celebrate this milestone) but I still believe that we still remain united, bound by our shared history, a deep love of country and a strong desire for a more perfect union.
Please click below to read the selections and here are a few trailers for some of these films:
"Klara and the Sun", based on the popular novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, will be coming to movie screens this fall. Jenna Ortega plays Klara, a solar-powered, artificial friend who is in search of the perfect home. When Klara is purchased for an ailing Josie (Mia Tharia), they immediately make a deep connection with each other. But Josie has a complicated relationship with her mother (Amy Adams) but Klara’s positive energy and unwavering loyalty begins to help heal the family. Taika Waititi, the Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker behind "Jojo Rabbit", has adapted the book with Dahvi Waller and directed the film. Natasha Lyonne and Steve Buscemi also star.
"Klara and the Sun" is due in US theaters on October 23, 2026
Written by Marlon Wayans & Shawn Wayans & Keenen Ivory Wayans & Rick Alvarez
Directed by Michael Tiddes
Where & When: TCL Chinese Theatres, Hollywood, CA June 10, 2026 5:10 PM
It has been fourteen years since the last "Scary Movie", a spoof on horror films and other moments in popular culture, last appeared on the big screen. This series of comedies, originally conceived by Marlon and Shawn Wayans along with writing partners, Buddy Johnson and Phil Beauman, is filled with raunchy humor and comedic spins of popular slasher flicks. The first "Scary Move" back in 2000 was directed by their brother, Keenen Ivory Wayans, who was the creator and host of the sketch comedy series, "In Living Color", and went on to become a box-office hit with a sequel quickly released the following year. But by the time for a third film, the Wayans brothers were forced off the film when they could not come to a salary agreement with the studio at time, Miramax. David Zucker, who was a co-creator and director of "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun" films, went on to helm the next two "Scary Movie" sequels with Malcolm D. Lee directing a fifth as the box-office results diminished with each subsequent film.
"Scary Movie" is now back to offer parodies on current horror movies to modern viewers and the Wayans brothers along with stars, Anna Faris and Regina Hall have also returned for this sixth installment of the series. Filled with plenty of sight gags and wacky recreations of characters from popular scary movies, "Scary Movie" also attempts to create humor from the frightening culture wars of today. But this film never feels like it has made any real effort to evolve, remaining stuck retreading stale comedy that was barely funny in the previous era.
Our story opens with goth teenager, Tuesday Campbell (Savannah Lee Nassif) being attacked by the return of the deranged killer, Ghostface. At the hospital, her sister, Sara (Olivia Rose Keegan) along with her boyfriend, Jack (Cameron Scott Roberts) realize that this seems similar to what happened with the girls' estranged mother, Cindy (Faris) twenty-six years ago and decide to go to her for help. Living as a recluse, Cindy is too frightened to get directly involved. Sara and Jack team up with Brad (Gregg Wayans) and Dei (Sydney Park) who happen to be the children of Brenda Meeks (Hall) to try solve who is the killer behind the mask.
As we move through this thin narrative, we are given comic send-ups of the genre movies, "Ma", "Get Out", "M3GAN", "Smile", "Longlegs", "Sinners" and there's even a brief animated sequence inspired by "KPop Demon Hunters". And much like many "Saturday Night Live" skits, these comedy bits loosely strung together throughout the film are hit-or-miss routines, filling the screen with either laugh-out-loud occasions or (more often) plodding, groan inducing moments.
Faris and Hall remain the only noteworthy performers here but these comic vets wind up having to take a backseat to the younger characters who lack presence and serious comedy chops.
Others who make a reappearance from the past are Brenda's stoner brother, Shorty (Marlon Wayans), reporter, Gail Hailstorm (Cheri Oteri) and the mentally challenged, Doofy Gilmore (Dave Sheridan) who had turned out to be the original Ghostface. And Teyana Taylor make a brief cameo in the opener playing herself in a spoof of this movie series called "Horror Movie".
Since the very beginning of this franchise, "Scary Movie" has focused far more about being clever than actually funny. The latest version wants to appeal to a new generation yet fails to take into account that the world and comedy has changed considerably since the first movie hit theaters. This "Scary Movie" feels dated, extremely lazy and way too formulaic in it's approach and delivery to succeed in its attempt to find laughs spoofing horror movies.
William Greaves, who was first an actor before moving behind the camera to become a pioneering documentarian, had invited every surviving creator during the Harlem Renaissance he could locate back in 1972 to Duke Ellington’s home in Harlem for a party. Over the next four hours, Greaves filmed as this group of artists reminisced and debated about their experiences and how they had shaped the culture.
The director behind the "Symbiopsychotaxiplasm" films struggled for years trying to figure out how to best utilize his footage. But Greaves died in 2014 at the age of eighty-seven with the film incomplete. Louise Greaves, his widow, would go on working on the project until she died in 2023. Then their son, David and daughter, Liani would continue on with this work until they were able to finally complete the film.
"Once Upon a Time in Harlem" made its world premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival where it was well received and highly praised. The documentary will be released theatrically this fall by Neon who won the bidding war following the screening during the fest.
"Once Upon A Time In Harlem" is due in US theaters on October 16, 2026
Where & When: TCL Chinese Theatres, Hollywood, CA May 26, 2026 4:10 PM
Boots Riley has finally returned with a follow-up to his cleverly absurdist comedy, "Sorry To Bother You" with "I Love Boosters", a lively comedy that pushes even more aggressively to be hilariously deranged, visually eye-popping and slyly thought provoking. Propelled by an impressive and game cast, Riley certainly wants to entertain while discretely delivering a weighty message with his latest. But "I Love Boosters" is unable to seamlessly merge these sentiments into an effective and meaningful manner.
Corvette (Keke Palmer) is the ringleader behind the Velvet Gang who are sort of like a modern-day Robin Hood and his merry men, regularly shoplifting from high-end designer shops and turning around to sell the expensive clothes to help out the common fashionistas for a far more affordable price point. Along with Mariah (Taylour Paige) and Sade (Naomi Ackie), Corvette's main focus is on a chain of stores called Metro that is run by designer, Christie Smith (Demi Moore). As an aspiring fashion designer, Corvette greatly admires Christie who views what she does as important, transformative art.
The trio get jobs at one of the Metro stores which will make it far easier to get their hands on the clothing. But before they are able to steal the store's inventory, someone else has beat them to it and emptied out the store. Using the surveillance footage, which shows the robber vacuuming up all the merchandise into a large bag, the gang are able to track down the retail thief. It turns out to be Jianhu (Poppy Liu), an employee at the Metro manufacturing plant in China. She explains that the company uses a teleporter to ship their merchandise, saving them a lot of money. But the working conditions at the factory remains miserable and dangerous, so she's using a stolen teleporter to ship the clothes back to China so the workers will have some leverage against the company.
Enhanced by the colorfully vivid production design by Christopher Glass, the delightfully gaudy costumes from Shirley Kurata and the quirky musical score by indie pop artist, Tune-Yards, "I Love Boosters" chugs along with a manic energy, continuously throwing us off balance with chaotic visuals. Riley thrillingly lets his imagination run wild by throwing in absurdist humor (with a black character able to appear as a white woman when she hold her breath), stop-motion animation and a madcap, car chase that utilizes a miniature set. But by the time we reach the third act, our story shifts even deeper into a surreal atmosphere, still with some amusing moments, that becomes more narratively convoluted and exhausting.
As a filmmaker, Riley displays a persuasive confidence, boldly and fearlessly expressing his social and political views which at this period in time could be considered very risky. The film may be filled with intellectual vigor, savvy street style and highbrow sci-fi but the characters in "Boosters" end up being not much more than sketches lacking in the fine details that would bring them properly to life.
But this doesn't mean that the actors on board are not able to shine with some dazzling performances. Palmer plays to her strengths, delivering plenty of smarts, sass and style while Moore gets to chew up the fabric as the ego-driven mastermind behind the fashion company. We also get Will Poulter as a prissy manager of a Metro store where the ladies are employed, an unrecognizable Don Cheadle playing a pyramid schemer and LaKeith Stanfield appears as the Pinky Ring Guy, a smooth taking dude who has an peculiar interest in Corvette.
Without a doubt, Riley is a true cinematic innovator, an audacious and compelling visionary eager to challenge audiences to consider stories and perspectives outside of what is continuously being spoon fed to them through all types of media. I really wanted to love "I Love Boosters". Really. But this whimsical yet fiery call for resistance ends up being a wild jumble of mind-bending thoughts and twisted ideas that unfortunately disappoints because the relentlessly outrageous style winds up overwhelming the political agenda.
From May 31st through June 7th, Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair will be returning to theaters for the fifth year. This festival, which has expanded globally this year to seventy-three cities, began in Los Angeles by the American Cinematheque to present a weeklong event that spotlights some of the greatest films from around the world that explore the darkest sides of humanity, as well as some of the bleakest points in human history. This year's series continues with some of the world’s greatest filmmakers who completely embrace a cinema of despair in pursuit of unpleasant truths and raw empathy.
Some of the films presented will include appearances by filmmakers and actors for discussions with highlights include French acting icon, Isabelle Huppert with six of her films that will feature "The Piano Teacher", "Elle" and the infamous, "Heaven's Gate"; filmmaker, Ari Aster will have a retrospective that will include his bleak classics, "Hereditary", "Beau is Afraid" and a director's cut of "Midsommar"; Steven Spielberg's timely, "A.I Artificial Intelligence" will celebrate it's 25th Anniversary with actor, Haley Joel Osment;
The Coen Brothers' underappreciated 2001 film, "The Man Who Wasn't There" with the theatrical world premiere of a new restoration and Q&A with cinematographer Roger Deakins; Theresa Russell will be present for a screening of "Bad Timing", a now cult classic that co-starred Art Garfunkel and directed by her then-husband, Nicolas Roeg; the U.S. premiere of a new 4K restoration of Jane Campion's Oscar-winning drama, "The Piano" from 1993; and Al Pacino will be in-person for a Q&A following a screening of "The Godfather Part II" on June 2nd.
The screenings will take place at the Los Feliz 3 Theatres, The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. For the complete list of films, please click below:
Cristian Mungiu’s drama, "Fjord" won the Palme d’Or at the conclusion of the 79th annual Cannes Film Festival. The Romanian director, who previously received the festival’s prize for his film, "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" in 2007, becomes the tenth director to win the coveted award twice. Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve star as a conservative couple who decide to move to the remote village in Norway where the wife was born with their children. But their new life does not go as planned when they come up against a couple who become concerned about how they're raising their family. And theatrical distributor, Neon (which will release "Fjord") continued to make history at Cannes with its seventh straight Palme d’Or winner with Bong Joon Ho’s 2019 film, "Parasite" and Sean Baker's 2024 feature, "Anora" both going on to win the Best Picture Oscar.
Russian director Andreï Zviaguintsev’s "Minotaur" went on to receive the Grand Prize which is the runner-up. Based on the 1969 French film "The Unfaithful Wife" by Claude Chabrol, "Minotaur" is set in a Russian small town and follows business executive on the verge of laying off his employees when he discovers his wife is having an affair.
This year's jury, lead by Park Chan-Wook, seemed to have great difficulty narrowing down just one winner as there our multiple films sharing prizes. The directorial duo, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi for "La Bola Negra" and PaweÅ‚ Pawlikowski of "Fatherland" both won the Best Director award. Virginie Efira and Tao Okamot jointly received the Best Actress award for their performances in "All Of A Sudden" while Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagneshare, the stars of Lukas Dhont’s World War I drama, "Coward", shared the Best Actor Award.
Here is the list of winners of the 2026 Cannes Film Festival:
Palme d’Or: "Fjord"
Grand Prize: "Минотавр (Minotaur)"
Jury Prize: "Das Geträumte Abenteuer (The Dreamed Adventure)"
Best Director: Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, "La Bola Negra (The Black Ball)" and Paweł Pawlikowski, "Fatherland" (Tie)
Best Screenplay: Emmanuel Marre, "Notre Salut (A Man of His Time)"
Best Actress: Virginie Efira and Tao Okamo, "Soudain (All Of A Sudden)"
Best Actor: Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagneshare for "Coward"
Camera d’Or: "Ben’Imana"
Short Film Palme d’Or: "Para los contrincantes (For The Opponents)"
Honorary Palme d’Or: John Travolta and Barbra Streisand
