Aarcflick

 *Thrash* is, basically, a cross between *Crawl* and *Jaws* that is suffering from an identity crisis. Look: if you’re going to make a shark movie, I am contractually (well, not literally) obligated to mention Steven Spielberg’s classic, because it is simply excellent. It’s dramatic, it has political undertones, it showcases some of the finest filmmaking techniques your eyes have ever beheld, the performances are fantastic, and it features a shark that malfunctioned so often that it forced the film crew to shift their approach to building suspense—thereby turning it into one of the most harrowing films of all time. Many films—including its own sequels—that came afterward tried to emulate its success and failed. Hence, they had to resort to mutated, CGI-generated animals to achieve their objective. Although I occasionally enjoy films like *Under Paris* or *The Meg*, I yearn for those creature features that go back to basics, maintaining a small scale and high tension. That’s why I e...

 *Trust Me: The False Prophet* is a Netflix true-crime documentary series, released in 2026, that delves into the inner workings of religious exploitation and the mindset that leads women to surrender all autonomy and submit to their leader within polygamous cults. This four-part documentary miniseries chronicles the prolonged efforts of Christine Marie and her husband, Tolga Katas, to uncover incriminating evidence against an FLDS leader—Sam Bateman—all while pretending to be filming a documentary about him. Taken as a whole, the miniseries proves to be a viewing experience as intriguing as it is harrowing, due to the details of the horrific crimes to which Bateman’s victims were subjected. *The False Prophet* opens by introducing the heroes of this story: Christine Marie and her husband, Tolga Katas, who had a very specific mission in mind when they moved to Short Creek—a small town situated on the Utah-Arizona border—back in 2016. Short Creek is a well-known haven for the Fundam...

The first two episodes of *The Testaments* confirmed that Daisy was not merely a "Pearl Girl"; she was on a mission. But the question remained: how had she come into contact with Mayday, and what drove her to take such a risk? And, most importantly: what was her connection to June? Well, the third episode answers most of these questions. We finally learn Daisy’s backstory and discover why, for her, living in Gilead was the only option. She had to feign piety to blend in with the crowd, yet, by all appearances, she loathed the State and everything it stood for. Daisy led a vibrant life: she went to school, had a boyfriend, and loved skateboarding. The great dilemma of her life at that time revolved around whether or not she should come clean to her mother about her boyfriend. But everything changed drastically one fateful night. Daisy’s parents, Neil and Melanie, were kind and loving people. They owned a second-hand clothing store and lived happily in their modest life in Toro...

 Morgan and Karadec have seemed like an inevitable couple right from the very start of the series. However, one is left a bit surprised when the show begins to lean in that direction in Episode 16 of *High Potential*’s second season, titled "Turn Up the Heat." We witness a glimmer of jealousy when Karadec informs Morgan of his plan to move in with Lucia. We know Morgan will interpret it simply as a fear of change, but we know the truth. Later on, the series depicts Lucia feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the close relationship between Morgan and Karadec. Nevertheless, this is not portrayed as jealousy or insecurity. The episode "Turn Up the Heat" later shows these two women conversing about Karadec. Both care for him and wish him the very best. We won't see any petty rivalry over a man; instead, they demonstrate mutual respect and understanding. However, *High Potential* is clearly laying the groundwork for future tension between them because of Karadec. Despi...

If you don’t know much about rabbits—aside from their adorable appearance—an anecdote you’ll learn in *Bunnylovr* (the debut feature film from writer-director Katarina Zhu) might just break your heart. It turns out that when rabbits experience significant stress or a sudden surge of fear, they can go into shock: their soft bodies go limp, their floppy ears turn cold, and—without care—they can even die. Rest assured: there is no need to fear any macabre rabbit deaths in this intimate yet lighthearted portrait that Zhu paints of Rebecca—a Chinese-American cam-girl living in New York, portrayed with delicate nuance by the director herself. Nevertheless, existential angst and visceral pangs of panic quietly (and symbolically) permeate the entire film as Rebecca navigates between her dead-end day job—a position as a personal assistant—and her nocturnal alter ego: that of an online sex worker. These anxieties do not manifest explicitly, but rather through a sense of confinement and solitude ...

 Telluride: Aneil Karia does an effective job of transplanting this classic text to a South Asian milieu in London; however, Ahmed’s performance—appropriately outsized—stands as the true star of the piece. Film adaptations of Shakespeare are a tricky proposition in 2025—doubly so when it comes to his most celebrated works, such as *Hamlet*. On one hand, there is already an overwhelming number of filmed versions of this material to choose from, many of which have withstood the test of time with remarkable resilience. If you are looking for a faithful adaptation of the original drama, you would be hard-pressed to find a better option than Kenneth Branagh’s definitive 1996 version, which reproduces the entirety of the Shakespearean text.  Director: Aneil Karia Writers: Michael Lesslie, William Shakespeare Stars: Riz Ahmed, Morfydd Clark, Avijit Dutt At the opposite end of the spectrum, works ranging from *The Lion King* to *Sons of Anarchy* have incorporated elements of the origi...