Chief Film Critic at The Hollywood Reporter, plus theater when time permits. Member of @NYFCC.bsky.social and @NSFC.bsky.social
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/author/david-rooney/
David Rooney
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HBO's warmly celebratory doc BANG MY BOX: THE ROBIN BYRD STORY, premiering at #Tribeca2026, salutes the sex-positive freedom-of-expression champion and queer community activist who became a singular fixture of NYC public access cable for 21 years.
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David Rooney
All hail Regina Hall as Brenda Meeks, one of the great comedy creations of the aughts. But even she can’t save the strained new SCARY MOVIE, a patchy meta parody that comes 13 years after the last installment, bringing too few new ideas.
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Hafsia Herzi, Benoît Magimel and Monica Bellucci lead Léa Mysius’ THE BIRTHDAY PARTY, a crackling home-invasion thriller drenched in dread, until it stumbles in the third act. Still, slick and highly watchable #Cannes2026
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Had a lot of fun at STOP! THAT! TRAIN!, Adam Shankman’s delirious throwback to AIRPLANE!-type disaster movie parodies. We need RuPaul as U.S. President, but the MVPs are Ginger Minj and Jujubee, two of many fabulous ‘Drag Race’ recruits.
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Jeffrey Schwarz’s unwieldy but fascinating MINESHAFT: THE CRUISING MURDERS is everything you ever wanted to know about William Friedkin’s polarizing 1980 gay S&M thriller, the murder that inspired it and the controversy it sparked. #Tribeca2026
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Fun to see Maika Monroe flip from scream queen to nutjob 19th century Patrick Bateman. But Zachary Wigon's VICTORIAN PSYCHO is too unsure whether it's horror or comedy to fully work as either. More atmospheric than scary, more silly than fun. #Cannes2026
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Anyone who's been a trade critic in #Cannes knows that sipping champagne on a yacht is the dream but grinding out reviews on minimal sleep is the reality. The THR team, led by our tireless editor @jon-frosch.bsky.social, survived another year. Our favorites:
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Blown away by Steven Spielberg's deeply felt return to contemplative sci-fi, DISCLOSURE DAY. Supremely assured storytelling, pulse-racing action and a knockout performance from Emily Blunt, alongside Josh O'Connor and Colin Firth, both in strong form.
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After reflecting on gender identity and sexuality in GIRL and CLOSE, Lukas Dhont's third feature, COWARD, about WWI soldiers finding romantic rescue at the Belgian front, is a less convincing queer love story. Lukas, don't. #Cannes2026
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Admiring but never hagiographic, MAVERICK: THE EPIC ADVENTURES OF DAVID LEAN is an essential account of a celebrated film career and a messy personal life. Made me nostalgic for pre-digital movies that physically transported us. #Cannes2026
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A family living in a remote farmhouse and their Italian artist neighbor get a nasty surprise when three brothers bully their way in, the eldest of them with a personal agenda.
Thomasin McKenzie also stars in Zachary Wigon’s tale of a governess serving carnage to the entire household of a Gothic manor, adapted from Virginia Feito’s novel.
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A gripping melodrama from James Gray, flashy vehicles for Rami Malek and Sandra Hüller, a stunning French coming-of-age saga, a bonkers Korean monster flick and the portrait of a reformed gay party bo...
Also featuring Colman Domingo, Eve Hewson and Wyatt Russell, the David Koepp-scripted sci-fi thriller asks, “What if we discover we’re not alone in the universe as our own world teeters toward destruc...
Newcomers Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne play a farm boy and a tailor’s son who find romantic reprieve at the Belgian front during World War I.
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David Rooney
David Rooney
David Rooney
David Rooney
HBO's Sarah Jessica Parker-produced doc pays tribute to the freedom-of-expression champion and queer community activist who took on a corporate monolith and won a national censorship battle.
Adam Shankman directs this campy descendant of ‘Airplane!’ and its movie-parody stepchildren, about a runaway high-speed passenger train headed into the path of a “stormaganza.”
Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back, mixing legacy characters with fresh faces in peril in this sixth installment, dubbed a “rebootiquel.”
Queer culture doc specialist Jeffrey Schwarz looks at the killing that inspired the 1980 film 'Cruising' and the protests triggered by perceptions of internalized homophobia, exploitation and stigmati...
Barnaby Thompson’s doc traces the life and career of the ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ director, whose influence is acknowledged by luminaries like Francis Ford Coppola, Alfonso Cuarón, Steven Spielberg and De...
