"I think if you want to make anything scarier just go with something familiar," said Garner in a recent interview with ScreenRant.

This author is old enough to remember a very particular period of cinema history that Jonathan Eusebio's new crime-comedy/not-quite-a-romance "Love Hurts" appears to be aping. In the wake of Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction," way back in 1994, numerous movies began to appear to feature flippant, violent characters, their mouths full of pop culture references, usually becoming embroiled with byzantine organized crime plots, brutal assassinations, or other acts of bone-crunching mayhem. These films ratcheted up the bloodshed, but kept characters whimsical. The genre's stars were too cool to be terrified by gun battles, and would murder with impunity, only to return to a conversation about movies, fast food, or some sort of personal quirk. Quirkiness was the guiding ethos of the era.

Many animated features and “live-action” CG remakes of hand-drawn films strive for realism, but “Flow” director Gints Zilbalodis had a different goal while creating the animal antics of his double Oscar nominee. Instead, it’s naturalism — which represents the world mostly as we see it but leaves room for emotional flourishes to transform a landscape or character design — that Zilbalodis and his animation team worked toward.

The really good news: By the end of February, 2025 could be 25 percent ahead of last year.

January was a pretty quiet month at the box office, even by January standards, which are not particularly high. (That is, unless you live in China where films like "Ne Zha 2" exploded and shattered records, but I digress.) But as is customary in the 2010s and beyond, Marvel is here to save the day ... hopefully. "Captain America: Brave New World" is hitting theaters next weekend, and it's a lock to deliver 2025's first blockbuster opening, which theaters could sorely use. The question is, can it be a big success like a pre-pandemic superhero film? Or is Marvel Studios rolling the dice with this one?

This post contains major spoilers for "Heart Eyes." One part rom-com, one part slasher movie, all bloody good fun, "Heart Eyes" is in many ways the perfect Valentine's Day entertainment. It's got a masked killer themed around the holiday, a genuinely fun "will they, won't they" romance at the center of it between Olivia Holt's Ally and Mason Gooding's Jay, and it plays expertly with two well-trodden genres. Credit to director Josh Ruben, who previously helmed the acclaimed video game movie "Werewolves Within," and screenwriters Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon ("Happy Death Day"), and Michael Kennedy ("Freaky").

Guild award season is upon us! The 2025 Costume Designer Guild Awards kicked off the honors for 2025. There were few surprises as “Nosferatu,” “Conclave,” and “Wicked” took the film categories as expected. “Hacks,” “The Masked Singer,” and “Dune: Prophecy” earned key television honors while “Shōgun” went home with two awards.