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We Grown Now

Peyton robinson.

Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver

Simon abrams.

Blood for Dust

Matt zoller seitz.

Dusk for a Hitman

Robert daniels.

Stress Positions

Peter sobczynski.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Glenn kenny.

Under the Bridge

Cristina escobar.

Irena's Vow

Christy lemire.

Sweet Dreams

Challengers

Disappear Completely

Brian tallerico.

LaRoy, Texas

The Long Game

Sasquatch Sunset

Monica castillo.

Veselka: The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World

Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead

Food, Inc. 2

Clint Worthington

The Sympathizer

Nandini balial.

It's Only Life After All

Sheila o'malley.

Find your next captivating movie moment

New Releases

Stress Positions

Spy x Family Code: White

We Grown Now

The Three Musketeers - Part 2: Milady

Blood for Dust

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Rebel Moon Part 2: The Scargiver

Irena's Vow

A Forgotten Man

LaRoy, Texas

The Absence of Eden

The Long Game

Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead

Sasquatch Sunset

Upcoming releases.

Challengers

Boy Kills World

The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed

Terrestrial Verses

Nowhere Special

Bloodline Killer

Unsung Hero

In Theaters

All You Need Is Death

Indigo Girls: It's Only Life After All

North of Normal

Best movies on.

• Prime Video

2. The Irishman

3. Marriage Story

6. Monty Python and the Holy Grail

7. Procession

8. Phantom Thread

9. The Power of the Dog

10. Dick Johnson Is Dead

11. Time Out

12. Shirkers

13. The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open

14. Ma Rainey's Black Bottom

15. Descendant

16. Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese

17. Happy as Lazzaro

18. My Happy Family

19. Chasing Coral

20. May December

21. The Lost Daughter

22. Strong Island

23. American Factory

24. Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution

The Gold Standard in Critical Analysis

The metascore breakdown.

• We collect reviews from the world's top critics.
• Each review is scored based on its overall quality.
• The summarized weighted average captures the essence of critical opinion.

Directed by Guy Ritchie

Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre

Wrath of Man

The Gentlemen

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Latest videos.

Directed by Zack Snyder

Rebel Moon Part 1: A Child of Fire

Army of the Dead

Zack Snyder's Justice League

Justice League

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Man of Steel

Sucker Punch

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

Dawn of the Dead

Latest news in movies.

Every Zack Snyder Movie, Ranked

With the arrival of Zack Snyder's latest Rebel Moon chapter on Netflix, we rank every one of the director's films—from bad to, well, less bad—by Metascore.

Every Guy Ritchie Movie, Ranked Worst to Best

We rank every one of the British director's movies by Metascore, from his debut Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels to his brand new film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

April Movie Preview (2024)

Keith kimbell.

The month ahead will bring new films from Alex Garland, Luca Guadagnino, Dev Patel, and more. To help you plan your moviegoing options, our editors have selected the most notable films releasing in April 2024, listed in alphabetical order.

2024 Movie Release Calendar

Jason dietz.

Find release dates for every movie coming to theaters, VOD, and streaming throughout 2024 and beyond, updated weekly.

Every Billion-Dollar Movie, Ranked Worst to Best

(Updated for 2024) Hollywood has seen 54 films go on to gross more than $1 billion at the box office. We rank every one of those box office hits from worst to best by Metascore.

Best and Worst of SXSW 2024 Film & TV Festival

Which films impressed reviewers during the 2024 edition of the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival? We recap the reactions of critics to all of this year's major SXSW premieres and tell you which titles won the festival's major awards.

• Tickets & Showtimes
• Trending on RT

• TV & Streaming Shows
• Godzilla & Kong
• 100 Years, 100 Movies
• Best & Popular

Best Movies of 2024: Best New Movies to Watch Now

Welcome to our guide of the Best Movies of 2024, featuring every Certified Fresh movie as they come in week by week!

In April : Challengers , Abigail ,   Arcadian , Scoop , Wicked Little Letters , Civil War , Monkey Man , The Beast , and The First Omen .

In March : Love Lies Bleeding and Problemista , both from A24 . One Life , starring Anthony Hopkins. Ordinary Angels , starring Hilary Swank. In horror, we got You’ll Never Find Me and  Late Night with the Devil , the latter which also tops our best horror of 2024 list . Dialogue-free animation Robot Dreams and Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World jockeying for the top spot here.

And what about February ? Dune pretty good, thanks for asking. Part Two went Certified Fresh within an hour after the reviews embargo lifted on February 21st. With it outclassing the first Dune , we took a look at 20 sequels that got better Tomatometer scores than their originals . Otherwise, things got freaky with horror film Stopmotion and the comic zaniness of Hundreds of Beavers taking the crown for the best-reviewed of the year.

We didn’t have a blockbuster January like we did in 2023 ‘s, when genre surprises M3GAN and Plane went Certified Fresh. But Daisy Ridley got her post-Skywalker win with Sometimes I Think About Dying . Mads Mikkelsen re-teamed with his A Royal Affair director Nikolaj Arcel to find The Promised Land. With The Crime Is Mine , Francois Ozon is getting career-best reviews, and his 10th Certified Fresh film over the past decade-and-change. And Netflix scored with The Kitchen , Orion and the Dark , and Good Grief .

Robot Dreams (2023) 98%

Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (2023) 98%

The Crime Is Mine (2023) 98%

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (2023) 98%

Molli and Max in the Future (2023) 98%

Late Night with the Devil (2023) 97%

Io Capitano (2023) 97%

Tótem (2023) 97%

The Promised Land (2023) 96%

Challengers (2024) 95%

Hundreds of Beavers (2022) 95%

Fitting In (2023) 95%

Love Lies Bleeding (2024) 94%

Limbo (2023) 94%

Driving Madeleine (2022) 94%

Dune: Part Two (2024) 93%

Femme (2023) 94%

The Settlers (2023) 93%

About Dry Grasses (2023) 93%

La Chimera (2023) 92%

Cabrini (2024) 91%

Orion and the Dark (2024) 91%

One Life (2023) 90%

Stopmotion (2023) 90%

The Kitchen (2023) 89%

Monkey Man (2024) 88%

Problemista (2023) 88%

Disco Boy (2023) 88%

Abigail (2024) 85%

Arcadian (2024) 85%

The Beast (2023) 85%

Monolith (2023) 83%

Ordinary Angels (2024) 84%

Civil War (2024) 81%

Riddle Of Fire (2023) 82%

The First Omen (2024) 81%

Sometimes I Think About Dying (2023) 80%

Wicked Little Letters (2023) 80%

You'll Never Find Me (2023) 79%

Scoop (2024) 78%

Suncoast (2024) 76%

Good Grief (2023) 76%

Self Reliance (2023) 72%

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in theaters

Spy x Family Code: White

Villains Inc.

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Irena’s Vow

Dune: Part Two

Sasquatch Sunset

On dvd & streaming.

Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver

The Greatest Hits

Kung Fu Panda 4

Weekly Reviews Straight to your Inbox!

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8 New Movies Our Critics Are Talking About This Week

Whether you’re a casual moviegoer or an avid buff, our reviewers think these films are worth knowing about even if you’re not planning to see them.

• Share full article

By The New York Times

A vampire flick with a familiar bite.

A group of bumbling criminals kidnap a young girl and hold her for ransom, but the titular 12-year-old ballerina turns out to have more than just tulle up her sleeve.

From our review:

A cheerfully obvious splatterthon, the new horror movie “Abigail” follows a simple, time-tested recipe that calls for a minimal amount of ingredients. Total time: 109 minutes. Take a mysterious child, one suave fixer and six logic-challenged criminals. Place them in an extra-large pot with a few rats, creaking floorboards and ominous shadows. Stir. Simmer and continue stirring, letting the stew come to a near-boil. After an hour, crank the heat until some of the meat falls off the bone and the whole mix turns deep red. Enjoy!

In theaters. Read the full review .

Less-than-glorious “basterds.”

‘the ministry of ungentlemanly warfare’.

Based on a true story of an (until recently) unknown World War II operation, this film features some ungentlemanly types who are tasked with cutting off Germany’s resources by sinking their supply ships.

“The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,” the latest offering from the director Guy Ritchie, is a perfect airplane movie. That is not a compliment, but it’s not exactly a dis. Some movies shouldn’t be watched on planes — slow artful dramas, or movies that demand concentration and good sound (please do not watch “ The Zone of Interest ” on your next flight). But you’ve got to watch something, and for that, we have movies like this one.

Like if Dorothy Gale was your Uber driver.

‘the stranger’.

In this thriller, originally released as 13 short-form episodes on the streaming service Quibi, the indie-film scream queen Maika Monroe plays a Los Angeles transplant fresh from Kansas who works as a ride-hail driver who must face off against a murderous passenger.

The recut version (on Hulu) bears little trace of its earlier form, although its life span across algorithm-driven streaming companies does cast the villain’s tech preoccupations — “whoever figures out the mathematical formula determining the losers and the winners in life will rule” the world, he declares — in a new, meta light.

Watch on Hulu . Read the full review .

A queer period piece — but the period is summer 2020.

‘stress positions’.

After New York goes on lockdown, Terry (John Early) clashes with the other tenants of the brownstone he shares with his soon-to-be-ex-husband.

If some of the points seem muddy, the filmmaking is expressive and deliberate. With shimmer, shadow and verve, “Stress Positions” — which recently closed the New Directors/New Films festival — captures the often hallucinatory pandemonium wrought by that “long-ago” moment.

The prince and the pauper fall in love.

Ryuta (Hio Miyazawa) is a personal trainer with an ailing mother, a big secret and no cash. Can a romance with a wealthy magazine editor fix his problems, or do their differences doom their relationship from the start?

Class is the central theme in “Egoist”: Kosuke and Ryuta’s star-crossed romance shows us how money, and the struggle to make ends meet, can complicate even the most genuine love. But as the film leans into melodrama, it loses both its friction and frisson, and a steaming-hot premise turns into something cold to the touch.

There’s always one more “one last job.”

‘blood for dust’.

Seventeen months after a theft scheme goes horribly wrong, two former colleagues-in-crime reunite for a drug-running operation.

Directed by Rod Blackhurst, “Blood for Dust” is a throwback, in the sense of being exceedingly familiar. An early shot of a snow-covered parking lot inevitably evokes “Fargo,” but “Blood for Dust” doesn’t have a witty line or a glimmer of humor. The climactic shootout is so dimly lit that it’s difficult to discern who is firing at whom. It’s easy enough to guess.

In theaters and available to rent or buy on most major platforms . Read the full review .

A private world of childhood friendship, ruptured.

‘we grown now’.

Two young boys, residents of the Cabrini-Green public housing development in Chicago, confront harsh realities while also chasing whimsy (including an excursion to the Art Institute of Chicago).

You’re immediately invested in Malik and Eric, who together have formed a private world that, like the museum, exists apart from real life, its pressures and its dangers. The sound design is particularly effective at conveying the little bubble that the children have created for themselves. The babble of outside voices and music in Cabrini never seems to stop flowing, but you never really hear what anyone says.

Zack Snyder serves up a chaotic stew of references.

‘rebel moon — part two: the scargiver’.

The second half of Zack Snyder’s space opera follows a group of interplanetary warriors as they attempt to defeat an imperial army.

The script by Snyder, Kurt Johnstad and Shay Hatten trips over its aspirations whenever any character talks. There’s not a single authentic conversation, just exposition dumps and soliloquies. Finally, after an hour of speeches, we’re treated to an hour of rousing warfare. Primal, pitiless, agonizing carnage is where Snyder excels. He’ll kill anyone, even nice people, even grandmothers-turned-guerrilla warriors who just want to get back to folk dancing.

Watch on Netflix . Read the full review.

Explore More in TV and Movies

Not sure what to watch next we can help..

As “Sex and the City” became more widely available on Netflix, younger viewers have watched it with a critical eye . But its longtime millennial and Gen X fans can’t quit.

Hoa Xuande had only one Hollywood credit when he was chosen to lead “The Sympathizer,” the starry HBO adaptation of a prize-winning novel. He needed all the encouragement he could get .

Even before his new film “Civil War” was released, the writer-director Alex Garland faced controversy over his vision of a divided America  with Texas and California as allies.

Theda Hammel’s directorial debut, “Stress Positions,” a comedy about millennials weathering the early days of the pandemic , will ask audiences to return to a time that many people would rather forget.

If you are overwhelmed by the endless options, don’t despair — we put together the best offerings   on Netflix , Max , Disney+ , Amazon Prime  and Hulu  to make choosing your next binge a little easier.

Sign up for our Watching newsletter  to get recommendations on the best films and TV shows to stream and watch, delivered to your inbox.

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Kill Bill: Vol. 2 — Quentin Tarantino

Amar Singh Chamkila — Imtiaz Ali

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The Three Musketeers: Part II – Milady — Martin Bourboulon

Egoist — Daishi Matsunaga

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Yannick — Quentin Dupieux

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The Permanent Picture — Laura Ferrés [NF/ND ’24 Review]

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On the Line Reviews

A vengeful caller sending a frazzled shock-jock on an overnight odyssey isn’t a bad idea. But On the Line is the kind of movie that thinks it can win the game with a Hail Mary pass in the last ten minutes.

Full Review | Mar 26, 2024

The initial excitement dissipates...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 27, 2023

The acting is across-the-board woeful, with Gibson all-but sleepwalking through his role, and the preposterous denouement serves only to compound viewers' suspicions that the whole affair has been a waste of their time.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Mar 23, 2023

A few snappy one-liners courtesy of a confident lead sadly don’t make up for, well, everything else.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Feb 23, 2023

Not a perfect movie by any means but the more I thought about it the more I liked it.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Dec 1, 2022

This is a really good Mel Gibson film.

Full Review | Nov 30, 2022

Gibson tries to capture that same manic energy here as the dark and edgy man-pushed-to-the-edge [Lethal Weapon's Martin Riggs] and does a good job of it - perhaps that was the attraction for him to this role.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 23, 2022

Any tension is undermined by the progressively incoherent plot twists. As for the dialogue, a dial tone would be better.

Full Review | Nov 18, 2022

As a thriller it’s remarkably unthrilling and the big payoff might just have you throwing your popcorn at the screen. Terrible. Just terrible.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Nov 18, 2022

[Mel Gibson's] curmudgeonly persona has hardened to a point that leaves limited room to modulate, which is a problem when we’re meant to believe Elvis is living through the worst night of his life, rather than just another Tuesday.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Nov 17, 2022

As much as I dislike Gibson, he's not the reason the film smells like a bomb.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Nov 15, 2022

Using the idea of a radio show to get across much of its action, this low-budget thriller might have worked had it not made several missteps that will leave viewers feeling frustrated and annoyed.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 15, 2022

There are a few interesting twists that are reminiscent of early Fincher. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 15, 2022

… feels like a protracted exercise in trolling the audience.

Full Review | Original Score: 10/20 | Nov 14, 2022

A poorly executed “thriller” that takes what could have been a slickly designed premise (not unlike such locational thrillers as Panic Room or Buried) and undoes any of its potential with laughable dialogue and unconvincing performances

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Nov 10, 2022

Most viewers might be willing to shrug off “On the Line” as a mere mediocrity until the final twenty minutes. After them, though, they might feel like throwing things at the screen.

Full Review | Original Score: D+ | Nov 8, 2022

Mel Gibson commits to the Phone Booth-like intensity the film believes it's delivering, but when it shifts into find-the-killer-in-the-big-building and a whole WTF climax that should have any viewer asking why they bothered with this full-length exercise.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/4 | Nov 8, 2022

On the Line could have been an entertaining thriller. It had the basic elements and premise to weave a heart-pounding narrative. Instead, we get an avalanche of stupidity. A barrage of bewildering last-minute reveals crashes with a thud.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5 | Nov 8, 2022

Is “On the Line” going to resuscitate Gibson’s waning career? Probably not. Will it change the minds of his many detractors? No. It will, however, offer further proof that Gibson loves to work and, on occasion, recapture the spirit of his glory days

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 4, 2022

“On the Line” can’t quite shake the nagging problem of its utterly preposterous scenario.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Nov 4, 2022

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Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver review – Zack Snyder’s bombastically fun sequel

The divisive director’s sci-fi follow-up is both original and derivative and will be unlikely to convert anyone, but there’s something charming about its sincerity

I s there a contemporary Hollywood film-maker who better epitomizes the modern commerce-v-art quagmire than Zack Snyder ? Snyder has an instantly recognizable style and a deathless dedication to his singular vision; he also, at the behest of various studios, volunteers to think almost entirely in terms of franchises, comic books and self-conscious myth-making – whether he’s trying to interrogate those myths or just build them up so he can smash them down with maximum mayhem.

Rebel Moon, his sci-fi/fantasy franchise for Netflix, pulls both sides of his career to further extremes. It’s a multimillion-dollar two-parter (for now) that’s technically original and highly derivative, with Snyder’s fanboy obsessions taken so far around the bend that they become niche again. Even his hordes of online fans don’t seem to care that much about it. Rebel Moon – Part 2: The Scargiver, following last year’s A Child of Fire kickoff, is supposed to be an explosive finale. But with expanded R-rated cuts of both movies definitely on the way, and ideas rattling around in Snyder’s brain for even more sequels, the whole project feels like one long, never-ending middle.

And yet: maybe this accidental middle ground is exactly what Snyder needs. Structurally, The Scargiver is no one’s idea of a proper stand-alone movie, or even a normal sequel. The first film followed the recruitment efforts of Kora (Sofia Boutella), an ex-soldier whose idyllic life on the humble farming moon Veldt is interrupted by Imperial – er, Imperium forces demanding all of their crops. Kora and Gunnar (Michiel Huisman) set out to find warriors willing to help defend Veldt; by making his failed Star Wars pitch without Lucasfilm, Snyder cut out the middleman on his Seven Samurai ripoff.

Though A Child of Fire ended by kinda-sorta killing off main Imperium bad guy Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) in a pre-emptive skirmish, he was quickly revived, so that The Scargiver can basically function as Climactic Battle: The Movie. Kora and Gunnar, along with their recruits Nemesis (Doona Bae), Titus (Djimon Hounsou) and Tarak (Staz Nair), return to Veldt and rally the citizens to defend themselves against Noble and the Imperium forces. That’s pretty much the whole movie.

This means almost all of The Scargiver is set on and above Veldt, a disappointing change from the gleeful planet-hopping of the first film. Here, instead of various sequences of nabbing warriors from various Star Wars-y worlds, there’s a single extended scene where the warriors trade backstory secrets, featuring some flashbacks that go off-world, plus a longer one revealing more about Kora’s checkered past. That’s all part of the protracted calm before the laser-blasting storm; during this early section, Snyder also includes a farming montage as only the director of 300 could. When these rebels reap their harvest of grain, they reap hard.

The comparably quieter moments all lead into an extended battle sequence that fuses last-stand westerns with a cartoon version of first world war trench warfare, and brings to mind overloaded early-2000s digital-cinema spectacles like Attack of the Clones or The Matrix Revolutions. (If that makes you shudder, subtract one star from this review’s rating. If you couldn’t stand A Child of Fire, might as well subtract two or three.) Snyder favors barrages over set pieces, and character design (which is often delightful) over character development (which is typically minimal); the nuances of human relationships elude him. He even has trouble with human-robot relationships; Jimmy, the mechanical man voiced by Anthony Hopkins , is still lurking around grappling with his sense of self. This leaves Boutella, a muscular and graceful presence, to sell Kora’s regrets, determination and self-lacerating fury with the kind of physical expressiveness that would be equally at home in silent movies and fantastical motion-capture.

Lucky as Snyder is to have her, the whole movie doesn’t rest on Boutella. There’s also a deranged zeal to Snyder’s muchness. If he’s going to bust out the kind of floating/falling giant airship over-favored by Kevin Feige in half a dozen Marvel movies, at least he stages a terrific sliding-objects fight during the fall. If he’s going to knock off his own versions of lightsabers, they’re going to look sharper and deadlier. If he’s going to utilize his newest favorite directorial party trick – focus so shallow that only a minority of any given image looks sharp at a time – he’s going to do it with the utmost commitment, even when it’s nonsensical (as in establishing shots).

Rebel Moon almost certainly didn’t need to be two multiple-cut movies. It probably could have gotten by as zero. But as a playground for Snyder’s favorite bits of speed-ramping, shallow-focusing and pulp thievery, it’s harmless, sometimes pleasingly weird fun. (That said, the first part is better and weirder.) The large-scale pointlessness feels more soothing than his past insistence on attempting to translate Watchmen into a big-screen epic, or make Superman into a tortured soul. Even Rebel Moon’s shameless attempts at serialization – The Scargiver essentially ends with another extended sequel tease, this time for a movie that stands a decent chance of never happening – feel freeing, because they excuse Snyder from the uncomfortable business of staging an apocalyptic showdown, or, worse, imparting a mournful philosophy. The whole bludgeoning enterprise is so daftly sincere, you could almost call it sweet.

Rebel Moon Part 2: The Scargiver is out now on Netflix

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Is on the line worth watching breaking down the mel gibson movie's reviews & rotten tomatoes scores.

The 2022 thriller, On The Line, is trending on Netflix. Based on reviews, here's a breakdown of whether the Mel Gibson-led thriller is worth watching.

• On The Line found new life on Netflix, but its predictable plot and poor acting make it a skip for many viewers.
• Mel Gibson shines in this thriller, but the movie's unrealistic twists and lack of tension disappoint audiences and critics alike.
• Despite its absurdity, On The Line caters to fans of twisty thrillers and Mel Gibson's nostalgic performances.

Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers for On The Line.

Although not as popular as some of Mel Gibson 's more notable work, 2022's On The Line has found new life on Netflix, which brings into question whether the movie is truly worth a watch . On the Line sees Gibson as Elvis, a popular radio host who, after receiving a threatening call from an unknown caller, has to race against the clock to save his wife and daughter. Although some of Gibson's action movies have found renewed success on Netflix , it's to be expected given his status as one of the industry's most beloved action stars.

Despite Gibson's age, he's still starring in action thrillers, as demonstrated by movies like, On The Line and the upcoming Lethal Weapon 5 . Although On The Line is decidedly different from the actor's usual work, it features Gibson in what is easily one of the more fun, albeit inconsistent, performances of his career. Additionally, On The Line sees Gibson starring alongside many fresh faces, which effectively speaks volumes to his star power in the modern filmmaking climate. Nevertheless, from plot twists to Rotten Tomatoes scores, On The Line 's recent popularity has been brought into question .

The 10 Best Mel Gibson Movies Of All Time, According To IMDb

Discussions of self harm are included in this article.

On The Line Has A 21% Score From Critics On Rotten Tomatoes

The movie's rotten tomatoes audience score is 32%..

On The Line 's reception among audiences and critics boils down to a predictable thriller marred by an unrealistic plot and poor acting performances from the majority of its cast. Save for Gibson, the consensus regarding On The Line is that the movie doesn't really offer anything worthy of viewers' time . While Gibson delivers a performance that is entertaining, it's overshadowed by a plot that feels dated in addition to lacking any genuine thrills beyond its initial moments. On The Line 's first act is arguably its best, as the tension is palpable and engaging at that point.

The confusing plot twists and underwhelming ending are also among some of On The Line 's most contentious elements.

However, once the supporting characters have more screen time, the movie quickly devolves into a not-so-subtle commentary on social media and its negative impact on the personal lives of respected celebrities and otherwise influential personalities. From puns and one-liners to Gibson's over-the-top delivery of some of Elvis's jokes, On The Line shifts from an enthralling thriller to a B-movie horror movie without any of the self-awareness necessary to make it work . The confusing plot twists and underwhelming ending are also among some of On The Line 's most contentious elements.

On The Line's Reviews Criticize Its Lack Of Tension, Plot Twists & Ending

The final plot twist didn't stick the landing with critics & audiences..

Elvis falls deeper into a cat and mouse game of death with a deranged caller named Gary, but it loses its tension by juxtaposing the thrills with one too many plot twists and bad jokes that, despite their prevalence, never really land. As seen earlier on, Elvis enjoys pranking his employees, and after a particularly harsh prank was played on Lauren, his former switchboard operator, she commits suicide. Unbeknownst to Elvis, Lauren was friends with Gary, and despite never being properly established beforehand, her death causes him to break into Elvis's house, where he threatens to kill his family.

After Gary forces Elvis to jump off a building to ensure his family's safety, Elvis fakes his death, but Gary reveals he knows Elvis faked it as he secretly had a drone circling the building. After then being forced to put an explosive vest on one of his interns, Dylan, for his trickery, Elvis and viewers witness Gary drop the detonator, but Dylan doesn't explode. As it turns out, the entire tense situation was one big prank that Elvis's crew orchestrated to get revenge for the years he pranked them. Despite its absurdity, On The Line still has an audience .

On The Line Is Worth Watching For Fans Of Mel Gibson Movies & Twisty Thrillers

The mel gibson thriller has plenty of plot twists in store..

Audiences familiar with Gibson's body of work will likely appreciate On The Line more than anyone else since , despite the movie's ridiculous plot, On The Line still features an inspired performance from Gibson that hearkens back to his '80s and '90s careers, respectively. Additionally, the movie's various plots could work well for people who enjoy them in other movies despite their lack of credibility or plausibility. Unfortunately, the majority of people who've seen it aren't too crazy about its twists, as demonstrated by its overwhelmingly negative feedback.

While Elvis's firing of Dylan is a prank that makes sense, Dylan's true identity as a stuntman named Max who orchestrated what is essentially an act of domestic terrorism and not facing any severe repercussions doesn't. Additionally, the police allowing such a prank to be broadcast live makes even less sense. While there is a moral about not taking people for granted, On The Line features too many twists for it to really work. Mel Gibson's movies are usually realistic , and while On The Line isn't, Gibson's performance and even the more absurd twists might be worth it for some .

‘Common Ground’ Review: Well-Intentioned Doc About Regenerative Farming Offers Limited Insights Into an American Environmental Crisis

Joshua and Rebecca Harrell Tickell challenge the country’s unethical farming practices through experts and celebrity advocates in a naive film that nonetheless inspires change.

By Tomris Laffly

Tomris Laffly

• ‘We Grown Now’ Review: Minhal Baig Lovingly Tells a Lyrical Friendship Tale Set in 1990s Chicago 5 days ago
• ‘Common Ground’ Review: Well-Intentioned Doc About Regenerative Farming Offers Limited Insights Into an American Environmental Crisis 7 days ago
• ‘American Dreamer’ Review: Uneven Inheritance Comedy Squanders Shirley MacLaine-Peter Dinklage Pairing 2 months ago

Popular on Variety

This won’t be news to anyone who’s watched some food-centric documentaries before. From “Food, Inc.” to “Fed Up,” and even the recent “Food, Inc. 2” (delivering a much tougher and more thorough point-of-view than “Common Ground”), various nonfiction offerings have shouted this message loud and clear. Still, it’s one that bears repeating when destructive conglomerates show no signs of retiring methods that willingly destroy the land and the health of those who rely on it.

Still, there are some flashy infographics to take in; popular needle drops, like Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” to swing to; some pretty nature shots; and an impressive group of experts that ask the right questions about the reliability of the food we eat. Some of them are the very specialists that once dared to question Monsanto, a biotechnology corporation that invented a harmful glyphosate-based herbicide in the ’70s and went defunct in 2018 after dissenters drew attention to its harmful products.

Most impressively, “Common Ground” (like the previously mentioned “Food, Inc. 2”) questions whether the new “plant-based” movement in creating over-processed meat-like products is really good for the environment and human health. (Hint: the fake term “plant-based” shouldn’t automatically signal “good” or “healthy.”) As “Common Ground” clearly displays, there is enough evidence to prove that our goal shouldn’t be eliminating meat altogether, but safeguarding a sustainable production model that doesn’t abuse the animals or lands.

As the title of the documentary suggests, the Tickells assume — perhaps a bit naively — that this is a bipartisan value supported both by Democrats and Republicans. To that end, an upright, activism-minded Indiana farmer who says he’s a registered Republican makes an admirably unassailable case for regenerative agriculture, a method he proudly sticks with and advances. But the politics of who and what enables capitalistic corporations today is of course a far more complex issue than “Common Ground” suggests.

Elsewhere, the film holds the everyday consumer frustratingly (and perhaps unintentionally) accountable through a series of deficient calls to action, such as making more educated decisions while buying our groceries. It feels like a big part of the food ecosystem is missing from the Tickells’ parting message when the prohibitive costs of organic, ethically farmed and raised products in supermarkets (and who exactly can afford them) go unaddressed. Still, there is something moving about the earth’s regenerative power that we witness in the film, as well as the Tickells’ naiveté, in the old-timey suggestion that if we could set our differences aside, we could achieve things that can benefit us all. Dare to dream.

Reviewed online, April 11, 2024. In Tribeca, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara film festivals. Running time: 101 MIN.

• Production: (Documentary) An Area 23a release of a Big Picture Ranch, Benenson Productions production. Producers: Rebecca Tickell, Josh Tickell, Eric Dillon. Executive producers: Bill and Laurie Benenson, Jan Ellison Baszucki, John Paul DeJoria, Pamela Green, George and Gloriana Gund, Julian Lennon, Melony and Adam Lewis, Christopher Lindstrom, Annie Roney, Regina K. Scully, Ian Somerhalder.
• Crew: Directors: Joshua Tickell, Rebecca Harrell Tickell. Writers: Joshua Tickell, Rebecca Harrell Tickell, Johnny O’Hara. Camera: Simon Balderas, Joaquim Pujol. Editors: Anthony Ellison, Ryan A. Nichols. Music: Jim Fairchild, Jacob Snider.
• With: Laura Dern, Jason Momoa, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, Ian Somerhalder, Donald Glover.

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Geek Culture | Movies, TV, Comic Books & Video Games

Movie Review – On the Line (2022)

February 4, 2023 by Robert Kojder

On the Line , 2022.

Written and Directed by Romuald Boulanger. Starring Mel Gibson, Kevin Dillon, William Moseley, John Robinson, Nadia Farès, Alia Seror-O’Neill, Yoli Fuller, Yann Bean, Enrique Arce, Carole Weyers, Avant Strangel, John Robinson, and Paul Spera.

A host takes a call, where an unknown person threatens to kill the showman’s entire family on air. To save loved ones, the radio host will have to play a survival game and the only way to win is to find out the identity of the criminal.

Midnight-slot shock radio host Elvis Cooney (Mel Gibson) arrives at the Los Angeles-based broadcast building 15 minutes before showtime – the transition to the next day will also mark his birthday – where the night seems to be going off the rails in On the Line . An escaped mental patient shows up claiming to be the Messiah and begging to get on the airwaves to preach and spread awareness of his return, a rivalry is escalating between him and Kevin Dillon’s Justin, in possession of the coveted 8 PM starting time block, and someone has been stealing the computers. 

Elvis has a habit of rubbing co-workers the wrong way but with the usual smarmy charm from Mel Gibson. Once the radio show begins – sitting opposite his co-host Mary (Alia Seror-O’Neill) and new hiree Dylan (William Moseley), Elvis also quickly emerges as a relatively entertaining guy to listen to as he walks callers through advice on several life problems. There’s also some mean-spirited hazing directed at the new guy for good measure.

Mel Gibson weaves together those characteristics (and some other flaws in his behavior that come to light) to portray a compelling character in a movie that doesn’t deserve his talent. I’m also aware some readers might disagree with that assessment based on their level of forgiveness for Mel Gibson as a human being, but trust when I say that On the Line is so tastelessly misguided that it doesn’t deserve any star power; the only thing the film deserves is to be buried somewhere where no one can find it.

After some normal calls (albeit interesting enough to keep us wondering if they come back into play later in the larger scope of the narrative), Elvis is connected to an unhinged man (Paul Spera) airing out controversial dirty secrets regarding his personal life that have come back to affect a loved one, who then goes on to threaten the lives of his wife and daughter assuring that he is outside their wealthy home and that he has already taken care of the guard dogs. Having served in Afghanistan, the diabolical psychopath also happens to be a demolitions expert that has hardwired the broadcast building to explode in 40 minutes.

The concept of a hostage situation done through a radio show starts off moderately suspenseful, but roughly 40 minutes in, On the Line begins stretching itself way beyond the scope of its immediate story and its bigger picture. Written and directed by Romuald Boulanger, the screenplay starts insulting itself, with the maniacal voice asking who came up with such B-grade movie plot devices.

Granted, there are reasons for this (oh yes, there are reasons, and it’s taking every bit of restraint in my willpower to avoid spoiling the trainwreck this film becomes), but they don’t offset how generic and bland the proceedings become. Some batshit nutty final 10 minutes also don’t do enough to recontextualize any of it since one is left aghast at what On the Line is attempting with games of consequence and cancel culture.

On the Line is never once good or grounded in logic, but usually tolerable in a dumb fun way that is elevated by Mel Gibson’s presence. Meanwhile, whoever thought the reveals would come anywhere close to working should be put on the line to answer for their cinematic crimes. They drain the goodwill from what there is to commend here. And while it is fitting for a film about shock radio to devolve into shock cinema, this is abysmal not because it wants to go to those places but more so that there is no sense behind whatever point the narrative is getting at. It’s shock value for the sake of shock, resulting in a shockingly stupid movie.

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★  / Movie: ★ ★

Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check  here  for new reviews, follow my  Twitter  or  Letterboxd , or email me at [email protected]

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After a group of criminals kidnap the ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, they retreat to an isolated mansion, unaware that they're locked inside with no normal little girl. After a group of criminals kidnap the ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, they retreat to an isolated mansion, unaware that they're locked inside with no normal little girl. After a group of criminals kidnap the ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, they retreat to an isolated mansion, unaware that they're locked inside with no normal little girl.

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The Cast of 'Abigail' Test Their Vampire IQ

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• Trivia Angus Cloud 's final role before his passing in July 2023. Although production wasn't completed until months after his death due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, Cloud still managed to film all of his scenes before production was shut down.
• Goofs Unless Abigail had recently gone on a murder binge of truly epic proportions, it would be impossible for all the dozens of bodies at the pool that Sammy falls into, to be all so fresh, and for all of them to be seemingly in the same state of decomposition specifically if they have been sitting in a pool of water.

Abigail : [from trailer] What can I say? I like playing with my food.

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• April 19, 2024 (United States)
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• Runtime 1 hour 49 minutes

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Stream It or Skip It: ‘On the Line’ on Netflix, With Mel Gibson Racing to Save His Family (Again)

Where to stream:.

• On The Line (2022)

Mel Gibson Was Up For ‘Schindler’s List’, But “It Wasn’t Going To Happen” Because Of Director Steven Spielberg, One Of The Film’s Creators Says

Here’s why mel gibson is not in ‘chicken run: dawn of the nugget’, stream it or skip it: ‘the continental: from the world of john wick’ on peacock, a prequel to the film franchise starring mel gibson, is ‘hacksaw ridge’ based on a true story.

On the Line , now streaming on Netflix, plays on Mel Gibson ’s dodgy real-life reputation by casting him as a cantankerous shock-jock whose nightly after-hours radio show is interrupted by a caller with a deadly grievance. 

ON THE LINE : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Elvis Cooney (Mel Gibson) has a name for radio – and a retrograde attitude to match. Though he’s first seen tenderly playing with his daughter, potentially setting up a contrast between the satisfied off-mic family man and the cranky, old-school role he plays up for his show, Elvis seems to embrace on his on-air persona in real life, making sour comments to coworkers, complaining about being asked to use social media, and generally telling it like it is (also known as being an intemperate jerk). But his sensibility comes back to haunt him when an apparent ex-coworker named Gary phones into his radio show with serious threats against Elvis’s wife and child. Elvis, alongside his inexperienced staffer Dylan (William Moseley) and his loyal right-hand woman Mary (Alia Seror O’Neill), must race to save them as Gary keeps the whole cat-and-mouse game on the air. 

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Gibson using media to bark threats at someone who has kidnapped his child brings to remind Ransom , one of his signature ’90s hits, though the movie unfolding largely in real time in a single building may bring to mind Hitchcock thrillers like Rope or Rear Window (or, more appropriately, clunky decades-later imitators like Nick of Time ). Putting the bad guy on the other end of a taunting phone call might also bring to mind most Hollywood thrillers made between 1992 and 2007. Naming the movie it most resembles, however, would constitute a massive spoiler.

Performance Worth Watching: The movie doesn’t give you much choice about who to watch at any given moment: This is the Mel Show. Gibson brings his trademark weathered intensity; unfortunately, his alternating propensities for self-torture and self-aggrandizement are present and accounted for as well.  

Memorable Dialogue: At one point, the bad guy compares himself to Joaquin Phoenix in Joker , and even quotes his helpless laughing as he gasps “I have a condition.” So, yes, the most memorable line in this movie is from another movie. 

Sex and Skin: Part of the movie’s plot hinges on a sexual affair, but that all stays off screen.

Our Take: There’s something immediately tense and mysterious about an anonymous voice at the other end of a phone call. That’s something cleverly exploited by countless Hollywood thrillers, as well as plenty of smaller-scale productions (like The Listener , an upcoming Steve Buscemi-directed drama with Tessa Thompson). So it’s remarkable how writer-director Romuald Boulanger is able to over-amp that tension before dissipating it entirely over the course of On the Line , a thriller set in the exciting, cutting-edge world of terrestrial radio. Though Elvis Cooney (Mel Gibson) seems like the type of shock-jock who’d leave mainstream radio in favor of a sweetheart deal on satellite or Spotify, he still runs his show on a Los Angeles-area radio station, seemingly unconcerned about plateauing ratings. It’s actually difficult to get a bead on his popularity, because the movie wants to have it both ways: Early in the film, Elvis is called out for his unwillingness to engage with modern audiences via social media, while he also seems to be treated like radio royalty by a loyal cohort of listeners. (The conversation is made all the more nonsensical by the edict that he should “stop pushing the envelope,” when that’s obviously the reason he attracts whatever listeners he has; the movie is so muddled about his motivations that it’s genuinely difficult to puzzle out whether his midnight timeslot is supposed to be the dregs, or a badge of honor.)

In any event, Elvis has enough sway to ruin someone’s life – or so claims a caller named Gary, who calls the show in order to report that he’s holding Elvis’s wife and child hostage as revenge for a misdeed in the host’s past. What Gary actually wants from Elvis remains elusive, and not because the movie is withholding various puzzle pieces until just the right moment for them to snap together. Mostly, Gary just sends Elvis and his de facto assistant Dylan running around the radio station building; he keeps hinting he may use his hostages to actually get Elvis to do something trickier or more painful, but for a substantial stretch of the movie, Elvis plays a literal game of hide-and-seek, often involving absurd threats about perfectly wired explosives and perfectly timed murders. A shocking amount of the movie feels like an exercise in killing time, and Boulanger’s listless staging ensures it won’t pass in a flash.

“What kind of B-grade movie bullshit is this?” Elvis says at one point, attempting to lampshade the litany of contrivances at hand. The movie does eventually provide an answer, for this question and some of its most seemingly out-there plot turns, but the denouement still features a tell: It’s so insufferably drawn-out that even as the movie wraps up, it underlines (among other things) the punishing lumpiness of its pacing. The actual answer to Elvis’s question is that On the Line has a long way to go before it reaches B-grade level. 

Our Call: A vengeful caller sending a frazzled shock-jock on an overnight odyssey isn’t a bad idea. But On the Line is the kind of movie that thinks it can win the game with a Hail Mary pass in the last ten minutes. Avoid the runaround and SKIP IT.

Jesse Hassenger ( @rockmarooned ) is a writer living in Brooklyn. He’s a regular contributor to The A.V. Club, Polygon, and The Week, among others. He podcasts at www.sportsalcohol.com , too.

Stream On the Line on Netflix

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Arsenal vs Chelsea live stream: Can you watch for free?

Locked in an impossibly tight three-team battle for the Premier League title, Arsenal face Chelsea in an important mid-week fixture today at Emirates Stadium. Though the Blues are in the midst of a disappointing season, they still certainly have the talent to play spoiler as the Gunners chase their first league title in 20 years.

The Best Way to Watch Arsenal vs Chelsea Live Stream

Is there a free arsenal vs chelsea live stream, other ways to watch the arsenal vs chelsea live stream, how to watch the arsenal vs chelsea live stream from abroad.

If you live in the United States, this one starts at 3:00 p.m. ET and will be televised on USA Network. But if you don’t have cable or don’t have that channel, we’ve put together all the different ways you can watch a live stream of Arsenal vs Chelsea for free or cheap.

While about half of all Premier League matches this season stream on Peacock , the others are televised on USA Network. And if you want the cheapest way to watch all of those games for the rest of the season, then Sling TV is exactly what you want.

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The “Sling Blue” channel package comes with 38 live-TV channels, including USA Network. It’s just $40 per month, which is well cheaper than any other live-TV streaming service that offers USA.

In short, if you simply want to watch Arsenal vs Chelsea at no cost and you aren’t concerned about watching any other games for the rest of the season, then one of the free-trial options below would be best. But if you want to watch every USA Network-televised Premier League contest for as cheap as possible, then Sling is the way to go.

As we just mentioned, there are some ways you can watch a live stream of Arsenal vs Chelsea without having to pay anything at all.

Fubo ‘s “Pro” channel plan, YouTube TV ‘s “Base Plan” and DirecTV Stream ‘s “Entertainment” package all include USA Network, and they all come with a free trial.

We would start with Fubo. Not only does it have the most channels, allowing you to get the most out of your free-trial period, but it also includes Arsenal vs Chelsea in 4K so long as you have an applicable streaming device and TV. That said, any of these three options will work perfectly fine for watching Arsenal vs Chelsea.

Hulu + Live TV is the final live-TV streaming service that includes USA Network. It’s important to note that it doesn’t offer a free trial, and it costs $77 per month, but if you’re in the market for a long-term option, this is certainly one to consider. It includes 95-plus channels, and it includes Disney+ and ESPN+ at no extra cost.

A virtual private network (VPN) is essential if you’re trying to watch the match on one of the aforementioned streaming services from outside of the United States. All of those streaming services will block you if they recognize your location being outside the US, but with a VPN, you can hide your location and connect to a digital server in the US. This lets you to access content as if you were physically in the country.

NordVPN would be our recommendation, as it’s fast, reliable and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to try it out risk-free.

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Inter's quest for history continues today at San Siro when they take on 13th-place Cagliari. With the Serie A title all but locked up, the only question that remains is just how many points the Nerazzurri can rack up. Winning out would get them to 103, which would top Juventus' record-setting 2013-14 campaign by a single point. With no room for error, these matches for Inter continue to get more and more compelling.

This match is about to start, at 2:45 p.m. ET today, and will be broadcast exclusively on Paramount+ in the United States, but we've found a couple of different ways you can watch a free live stream. Is There a Free Inter vs Cagliari Live Stream?

After their elimination from the CONCACAF Champions Cup midweek, Inter Miami return to MLS action for a matchup against Sporting KC at Arrowhead Stadium tonight. It's been an average start to the season for both teams, as they each sit sixth in terms of points per game in their respective conferences.

This one is about to kick off very soon, at 8:30 p.m. ET today, and will stream exclusively on MLS Season Pass via Apple TV in the United States and Canada. We've put together everything you need to know about the streaming service, including how to sign up and watch Sporting KC vs Inter Miami. Watch Sporting KC vs Inter Miami on MLS Season Pass

Italian foes Milan and Roma meet in a European competition for the first-time ever today, as the Rossoneri welcome Roma to San Siro for the first leg of their Europa League quarterfinal.

The match is starting very soon, at 3:00 p.m. ET, and in the U.S. it will be televised on CBS Sports Network, UniMas and TUDN. There are also several different ways you can watch a free live stream. Is There a Free Milan vs Roma Live Stream?