Another do-over of Stephen King’s It approaches, with Argentinian director Andy Muschietti at the helm. Feedback so far is good; prepare for Pennywise to spark a new wave of coulrophobia ’round your place.

Emma Stone stars as tennis great Billie Jean King in Battle of the Sexes, the true story of the 1973 tennis match between King and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs (played by Steve Carell); aptly directed by wife and husband duo Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton.

Hand us the paddles, there’s a Flatliners sequel headed our way, with Ellen Page in the leading role, and Keifer Sutherland reprising his from the first film. By the way, here’s the actual science on how to treat a flatline if you’re writing for fiction.

Steve Carell pops up again in Last Flag Flying, Richard Linklater’s newest. It’s a buddy road comedy also starring Brian Cranston and Laurence Fishburne, and it is also a sequel to Hal Ashby’s 1973 film The Last Detail, which earned Jack Nicholson an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Both films are adapted from Darryl Ponnicsan’s novels of the same names.

“This was complete garbage. The effects do not make up for the writing, or acting, or characters or sexist, racist, colonial tropes. Furthermore, there are no fat people in this film, bar one, a prostitute, who is in it for literally two seconds. Everyone else looks extremely malnourished. I suppose pros include the camera not objectifying the women, particularly, save from the characters’ brief dalliance with a red-light district. This does not mean the women are written well, or even at all, really.

“The male gaze has been substituted for a white, imperial one, which they’re trying to disguise by having the baddy be a literal white supremacist who’s committed genocide. The film glosses over the two main characters casually mass murdering a different species, all because one of them almost ate Laureline. We don’t care about them though, because they aren’t thin, shiny, white or in possession of some deep knowledge about nature and harmony.” —Laura Roe

“Look, I understand the divided reaction this movie has. It’s definitely a bizarre and often convoluted movie and the plotting is nonsensical throughout. But I think that was all part of the energy Luc Besson was going for… Like The Fifth Element, this is a gorgeous looking movie visually. CGI and practical effects are seamlessly blended for an exhilarating experience, and it’s a shame this movie bombed. It’s not for everybody, and I can see the divide this movie has, but Valerian entertained the crap out of me. I loved the idea of a space station of thousands of cultures living together in harmony, the visuals are phenomenal, I had a ball with all the wild and entertaining space adventures, Valerian and Laureline are an adorable couple, it’s got good themes of true love and going beyond the call of duty, and what’s even more surprising? Rhianna is actually really good here.” —The Movie King

“If there was ever a horror film that I would argue endlessly [for] it deserving a five, it would probably be this one. Everything in this film just works so well… This film absolutely has some of the most effective sound design I’ve ever heard. It’s probably one of, if not the most commonly brought up sequences but the very first appearance of Leatherface followed by the slam of the door is the best example of this for me. This single scene has more impact … than most films have in their full runtimes… It’s just amazing to see it have such an effect even after countless viewings, knowing full well it’s coming and still being wowed.” —Casey

“The truth is, this movie has no idea what it’s trying to be, and it isn’t for anyone; it’s a detestable waste of time and energy that, according to post-release interviews, is a source of shame for pretty much everyone involved. The Stepford Wives is a horrifying premise with far-reaching social implications about our obsession with beauty, control and the politics of the domestic space, while this remake throws all of that away for crude visual gags (that don’t have any internal logic given the last-minute plot twist) and an overly comedic tone that feels comparable to the live-action Scooby-Doo films more than anything else. I thought we were friends, Frank Oz. I thought we were friends.” —DoctorDoom

“Zany sci-fi screwball comedy features great work from John Malkovich, who plays two roles: a scientist who creates an android in his own image, and the android himself. Ann Magnuson, as the advertising consultant hired to give the android social skills, is also terrific. The film drags in places, but more than makes up for it with sharp dialogue, a vibrant 80s vibe and one comedic situation after another.” —Sara Foss

“This is a profoundly, overwhelmingly disturbing hate-f**k first of one’s tactile and then one’s visual and auditory faculties as well as a submersion of one’s moral compass into boiling erotic ferrofluid… Tetsuo is a hurtful and abrasive work of art that provides frames and flashes of soft comfort (or even neutral imagery) only in whatever measure is totally necessary for the sake of an almost nostalgic contrast to the film’s primary mode, which is doing as much cartoonish, mechanical, gore-driven damage to everything it can get its rusted claws on as possible… I’d only recommend this movie to three kinds of people, the kind I’d hate to meet in a dark alley, fans of saladfingers, and the kind I’d love to meet in a dark alley.” —Kitttn Elam

The BBC gathered 253 film critics from 52 countries to nominate the 100 funniest films ever made. See how their list compares with the Letterboxd community’s 100 greatest comedies as voted on exactly a year ago.

Looking to expand past your English-speaking thriller/action habits? Lise came up with the goods in the form of this list of the best non-English thrillers, “the kind you look forward to watching on a Friday night when you are tired and just want popcorn”.

As specialized lists about particular types of animal behavior go, this is our current fave: movies in which a dog carries a severed human hand in its mouth. Note: preference is given to hands the dog did not tear off the human itself.

We just want to put this here because it’s a really lovely review of Beth David and Esteban Bravo’s super sweet and gentle short film In a Heartbeat.

For every film that breaks through, the carcases of a thousand other movies are left in the gutter, often with the director’s reputation in tatters. This is not a happy list: it documents movies that either crippled or killed a director’s trajectory.

Pertinent to modern times: a round-up of films featuring Nazis dabbling in the occult. Turns out there is, in fact, a disturbing number of movies in which Nazis get involved in satanical powers beyond their control or understanding.

Just a truly uplifting list celebrating a specific wardrobe item.

R.I.P. Tobe Hooper. A sad farewell this week to one of horror’s best. We were reminded of this amazing 1975 documentary in which four New Zealanders traveled to the Cannes Film Festival to pick up tips on filmmaking. It was back when you could kind of wander in and get access to anyone, and it just happened to be an amazing year: Scorsese, Spielberg, Herzog, Hoffman and Death Race 2000’s Paul Bartel were there… as was Tobe Hooper with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (jump to the 11-minute mark in the first clip for Hooper).

Ending with something fun and frivolous: you can substitute our boxd.it domain with 📼.to for linking to films, reviews or lists. Who knows why. 😛