Dustin Chase

Director Kane Parsons has adapted his unusual television show into a feature film. Horror films fans should beware this isn't your typical genre film. Those beckoned to the beige light because of Oscar-nominated actors Chiwetel Ejiofer (“12 Years a Slave”) and Renate Reinsve (“Sentimental Value”) should also adjust their expectations for this intellectual horror film. “Backrooms” is 80 percent design and 20 percent story, which in this specific case is quite an impressive breakdown. For those of us coming of age in the '80s and '90s, the attention to detail from the production design is as mind-bending as the science fiction concepts in the script.

You can always hear a John Carney movie coming before you see it. His films are always about music, but never musicals. Diane Warren might be more associated with the

You can always hear a John Carney movie coming before you see it. His films are always about music, but never musicals. Diane Warren might be more associated with the best song category in the film awards arena, but Carney's filmmaking style centers around the creation of song and the power of music. His films deliver memorable tunes easily identified with their films. “Once,” his breakout film from 2006, won the Academy Award for best song, while his more popular hit film “Begin Again” (2013) received a nomination (and should have won that year). The Irish filmmaker's latest “Power Ballad” is a stripped-down, comedic drama, nearly a two-hander between Rudd and Jonas. It's got a thin script, a great song, solid performances and an ending that's pitch perfect.

“Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion,” Truvy Jones (Dolly Parton) said in “Steel Magnolias.” First-time feature film director Lilian T. Mehrel applies that notion to her film “Honeyjoon.” What

This summer's most action-packed event isn't from Spielberg, Spider-Man or Christopher Nolan; it's on HBO for the next two Sundays at least. If you are not a “House of the Dragon” watcher already, I would highly suggest going back and catching up on seasons 1 and 2, thrilling in their own historical fantastical right. Based on books by George R. R. Martin. Season 3 picks up exactly where it left off back in the summer of 2024 and forges full steam into bloody battle. Four years and two seasons have led to what's shaping up to be the largest-scale battle and cinematic devastation ever shown on television. If “Game of Thrones” changed the perimeters and expectations of TV series, “House of the Dragon” understands it must go further, be bigger and better.

The flashy, vivacious success of the electric “Devil Wears Prada 2” doesn’t do any comparative favors for the grey, dull and near lifeless “Couture.” While Oscar winning actress Angelina Jolie

“Lockbox” wastes no time getting creepy. This genre-shape-shifting flick seesaws between thriller and horror, using periodic jump scares to bring you back from glancing at the time on your phone.

Up front, this is a stupid movie, but you knew that from the poster or trailer. It's also one of those rare times where stupidity and acute creativity coalesce into one bonkers project. Director David Wain (“Wet Hot American Summer”) and writer/co-star Ken Marino have devised a story around making fun of the very industry they work in. No celebrity is safe in “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass.” How many stars appear in the film is only one of its many surprises. While the raunchy comedy is filled to the brim with Hollywood jokes, some might play too inside the industry. Comparables for this film would be “Nurse Betty” or the comedic bits of “Scream 3”.

At the end of most Christopher Nolan films, the leading man (he has yet to do a film with a female in the lead) has a moment of “what have

From the director of “Barb and Star” and “Strays” comes another movie with more snickers and sneers than laughs. Josh Greenbaum’s “The Dink” is both making fun of pickleball as