The Bikeriders is a great nostalgia trip to an age of motorcycle riding that many have never experienced. But by its end, you’ll consider spending your EOFY money on a new bike—or at least a leather jacket.

The Convert wasn’t perfect but its visuals and depiction of the way of life for people in Aotearoa at the time will continue to leave its mark on me.

The Promised Land sheds light on a dark but important part of Denmark’s history. It is a superbly made film that is boasted by powerful performances and the strength of Mikkelsen’s screen presence. 

Inside Out 2 is another easy home run for Pixar, especially when it has a strong message that everyone can relate to.

Foreign Language seems to be the ultimate story of the girlhood experience.

While the 87-minute-long film at times moves at a glacial pace, the stunning cinematography by Claire Mathon (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) and the eerie strings of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 fuel the rising tension and keep the audience engaged.

The Deep Dark just doesn’t quite dig deep enough, uncovering a hole that's barely big enough to bury itself in.

This is ultimately a film about power and rebellion, and it is within the interplay of the two subjects that it shines.

There is a glimmer of hope with the upcoming Australian release of its sequel in June, The Three Musketeers: Milady, which may shed some light on the lacklustre narrative decisions in Part One, but as it stands D’Artagnan’s best is too fleeting, and settles itself far into the saturated market of generic blockbusters.

If you’re into German language biographical films set in Berlin, offbeat heroines, and sobbing until your eyes are red then From Hilde, with Love is the film for you.

Monster confronts viewers with an ambiguous ending, leaving us to decipher the truth of who really is the eponymous monster, but perhaps the objective truth is there are monsters in each and every one of us.

The Taste of Things serves up a complicated feast for the eyes, intrinsically tying its romanticisation of cooking as a love language to the identities and passions of its two leads.

Being able to see such a beautiful restoration on the big screen is worth the price of admission alone, and I could not recommend The Conformist more.

While Metal Skin may be uncomfortable or even unenjoyable viewing, it is a compelling, edge of your seat story of Australia’s male-dominated, rev-head culture, where burnt rubber and women who love fast cars are drivers of the male fantasy.

Fremont isn’t a thrilling film, and perhaps one that requires an eager mood, but you could scarcely imagine leaving the cinema without a sense of distinct peace. 

Mami Wata truly has the ability to spellbind, yet keeps its feet rooted in a deeply nuanced point of interest: an ever-changing reckoning with modernity.

Guadagnino has served up a smash hit, and it’s up to audiences to decide what to do now that the ball is in their court.

It’s a light summer breeze of a film clearly aimed to bring joy to both parents and kids whilst still telling a compelling story, so some kind of deep underlying metaphor is unnecessary. Just go have fun watching a cartoon dog and a robot roller-skate to Earth, Wind & Fire! Your brain deserves a break.

A patchwork quilt of genres, Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera is a grimy and charismatic fairytale, and Josh O’Connor is its beating heart. 

Io Capitano offers audiences an empathetic and raw portrayal of the harrowing challenges asylum seekers face, simply in order to have a better life that so many of us take for granted.