Warning: Contains spoilers for Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX: Beginning.Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuXis the latest Gundam anime and a collaboration with, of all people, Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Studio Khara. The series takes place in an alternate take on the Universal Century timeline where Char Aznable stole the Gundam from the Earth Federation and won Zeon the war, albeit unconventionally, and five years later, the new status quo is wrapping itself around a mysterious fledgling Newtype named Machu. 5p2w30

There comes a point when adults stop exploring their childlike wonder due to life’s greatest challenges. The fear of risks and heartache often overshadows the possible excitement of rewards and happiness. Writer-director Megan Park returned to the Sundance Film Festival with her sophomore feature to explore this idea. Combining a coming-of-age story with a playful time-traveling element, My Old Ass sees Elliot (played by fiercely talented Maisy Stella) explore the idea of an uncertain future. Park once again demonstrates her strong ability to connect her audiences to authentic human experiences, resulting in a film that is meaningful and emotionally piercing.

Dan Da Dan is one of the most highly-anticipated new anime of 2024, introduced among an incredible string of Weekly Shonen Jump adaptations hitting Netflix and Crunchyroll. Featuring as the first among heavy-hitters like the romantic comedy Blue Box and action comedy Sakamoto Days, Dan Da Dan boasts appeals from both series, mashed into a glorious, frenetic romp by Science Saru. While Dan Da Dan doesn't unilaterally steal accolades from other animation powerhouses, it deserves praise for its exceptional characterization, backgrounds, and vivid, energetic color to signify a true summer blockbuster anime.

This Review of Sand Land The Series Episodes #1 - 6 Contains No Spoilers

Writing about La Chimera in the concise, linear format of a review is a real challenge for me. Not because it's especially opaque or impenetrable; on the contrary, it makes for quite welcoming viewing. But the new Italian movie from writer-director Alice Rohrwacher is alive in the way great art can sometimes be. Its ideas are many, and its way of exploring them encourages an open, active mind. Trying to lock it into the rigid language of description, I fear, would sacrifice the forest for the trees.

The task of adapting Frank Herbert's Dune was never going to be easy, but Denis Villeneuve chose to do it twice and managed to pull it off. Dune: Part Two is an awe-inspiring sci-fi spectacle and a devastating collision of myth and destiny on a galactic scale. In returning to the world of Arrakis, Villeneuve has crafted one of the bleakest modern blockbusters as Timothée Chalamet's Paul Atreides falls into a well of prophecy. Even in sacrificing some of what gives Dune its signature weirdness, Villeneuve brings Herbert's work to life in a way that feels definitive.

Coming-of-age movies can be the most honest and deep when it comes to exploring people in their growth and experiences. How to Have Sex, written and directed by Molly Manning Walker, is a nuanced, searing portrait of consent, and how one’s discomfort can easily be overlooked, even by friends. There’s pressure to have sex as a teenager, a rite of age before graduation and moving into young adulthood. How to Have Sex is gentle in its handling of a sensitive subject, and expertly navigates its main character’s interiority throughout.

The Monk and the Gun, Pawo Choyning Dorji's satirical comedy about democracy coming to Bhutan, does not withhold judgment towards the potential Americanization of Bhutan's future as a newly democratic nation. It is no secret that the United States attributed the concept of democracy, often being the sole representative of what a successful democracy looks like but somehow escaping blame for the more warped form of democracy that Dorji is explicitly criticizing here. For a film about Bhutan's first election and transition from monarchy to democracy, The Monk and the Gun is a decidedly anti-American film that will entertain.

One Day, adapted from David Nicholls' book by creator Nicole Taylor, is a story that follows Emma (Ambika Mod) and Dexter (Leo Woodall) on the day of their graduation from university, with each chapter revisiting that date — July 15 — for 20 years. Their lives intertwine and interact in a myriad of ways, and novel readers learn to appreciate life and its many twists and turns, just as Em and Dex do. The novel was praised for its exemplary writing of two lonely souls grappling with their youthful aspirations and the realities of where their respective lives take them.

Orion and the Dark follows a young boy with an abundance of fears, the dark being his chief one. Anxiety, insecurity, and immaturity are themes often tackled in animated films, but none have been written by Charlie Kaufman. His frankness is refreshing as he adequately writes from a child's perspective without condescension. His writing, based on the book by Emma Yarlett, also perfectly suits the concept of a precocious 11-year-old who is very smart but paralyzed by fear. There is a sincerity to the story that offers a touching connection to the bright and intelligent Orion.