Are you familiar with genetic editing? It’s movie-science that makes gorillas go ape-shit, and Dwayne The Rock Johnson is—of course—the only guy to fix things. See him and his big friend, Furious George, in Rampage, out this month. (We loved this tweet, too.)

Lynda Carter and the gang are back in a yuk-filled Canada vs USA border-patrol fight in Super Troopers 2, which enough people wanted to see that US$4.6m was raised on Indiegogo. Aboot time, eh. We enjoyed this recent NY Times piece on Carter, formerly known as television’s Wonder Woman—and possibly set to make a cameo in Patty Jenkins’ feature film follow-up.

Kate Mara should know by now to stay away from the Beltway. But no, here she is in Chappaquiddick as campaign strategist Mary Jo Kopechne, who took a fateful drive with White House wannabe Ted Kennedy (Jason Clarke) in July 1969.

Martin Freeman stars in Ghost Stories from Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson, a film version of their hit play. “An effective and quite puzzling horror experience,” writes Elle, whereas Jakub had issues, many issues: “I don’t mind dumb films. What I can’t stand is a dumb film with an aspiration to be cerebral.”

“There’s no sympathizing for these characters to survive because they are constantly making idiotic decisions—all stemming from the fact that they brought a child into a world of silence. Everything is trying to survive and outrun their own stupidity.

“John Krasinski’s character can’t even function as the ‘man to save his family’ archetype. He’s useless. Matter of fact, everyone in this movie is useless. Emily Blunt’s character exists to teach math, do laundry, wait for her husband to save her and have a child… Every aspect of this film failed for me.” —Kevin Tudor

“This is a writer’s workshop wet dream. This is a well-studied, well-executed narrative paradigm of what good writing does.

“The exposition is kept to a minimum. The reality of this world is established quickly, but Krasinski does so efficiently and effectively. The physical and life-threatening stakes are marked from the get-go, as are the emotional stakes, which ultimately end up being even more terrifying and tension-inducing than the former.

“Krasinski even nails the principle of Chekov’s gun. Nothing that is shown goes to waste. The set is lush and lonely, and he makes proper use of the surrounding woods, the wooden barn, the lived-in-but-nearly-abandoned family home. All of this is to say that Krasinski has crafted a film that is more rich than its apocalyptic premise.” —Tay

“Beyond the simplicity of its plot, Simon continually finds ways to undermine itself. Somehow, it is simultaneously indulgent and hypocritical. Even as the film explores the (admittedly important) idea that being gay shouldn’t be any different from being straight, it stereotypes the homosexual community time and again.

“If there’s anything I hate more than messy and pointless movies, it’s [a] film that disrespects an audience’s intellect and values simultaneously. Simon seems like it was designed from the ground up to prove that being gay is ‘okay’. Haven’t we progressed to a more thoughtful and nuanced dialogue about minorities in society?” —Andreas Mattwandel

“Simon’s life is ‘normal’, but honestly, he’s living the upper-middle-class suburbia dream. This lets the audience focus on the difficulties Simon has when accepting/sharing his sexuality. Coming out often has intersectional issues, but it still can be difficult and stressful without the other issues affecting it.

“In comparison to Moonlight or even some episodes of Glee, this movie may seem like a wimpy coming-out plot, but it’s a plot that many young queer teens and their families need. Showing this story through the classic teen romcom lens opens up avenues that may have been closed before.

“Shoutout to the vice principal character who was awkward and goofy.” —Jenessa

“Seeing Dreyer’s style evolve from The Passion of Joan of Arc all the way on through to Ordet is something to behold. The camerawork here is some of the most organic I’ve ever seen. While watching, it was almost as if the camera moved naturally with where my eyes wanted it to go. It wasn’t surprising at all to learn of how meticulously Dreyer and his cinematographer worked to craft the shots in this film.

“Ordet is comprised of many extensive long takes. Where the average amount of shots in a feature film is around 1,300, Ordet only consists of a whopping 114 shots total… It’s not a traditional way of working, but Dreyer obviously made remarkable use of these techniques. Perhaps that’s why it all felt so raw… All of these elements put together made for a truly powerful experience that challenged my ideals and by the end moved me in a way that only cinema can.” —Jesse Stringer

“Made for pennies and hurriedly written by reverse engineering [its] title, this film is a miracle. A heavy atmosphere, great performances and a visual marvel of lighting. As with a lot of films the main character is some boring drip that all the other interesting characters revolve around. But there is a powerful energy bubbling away in this film filled with 40s obsessions with the subconscious, European folklore and modern-day sexual desire.” —Beck

“A classic of ‘what the f*ck did I just watch’ cinema. Bright, absurd costuming and unpredictable narrative (for a loose definition of the idea of ‘narrative’) mix with Daisies-esque chaotic abandon and really terrible editing to make an ugly film with a flashy spirit that somehow overcomes the awkward composition and constant camera movement… It’s a long, unwieldy f*ck you kind of movie, difficult to endure but satisfyingly aggressive at the same time.” —Sally Jane Black

“I thought this was deeply female and captured well the isolation and intimacy of a single-parent, single-kid household. Even something as innocuous as watching TV on a bed or doing goofy imitations of animals felt spot on and rich. Same goes for the weird power dynamics with the best friend. “I sought it out to see what Yorgos was like acting-wise in a more natural film. He was great and kind of cute for a balding Greek man with one of the most warped minds fathomable.” —Megan

Adjust your tracking. Letterboxd member Erik McClanahan and his mate Joe host this show, which is part of the Playlist Podcast Network. In a recent episode they looked at Steven Soderbergh’s Unsane and Aaron Katz’s Gemini, before revisiting Curtis Hanson’s 1990 Rob Lowe/James Spader thriller Bad Influence.

John Hughes muse and 80s teen icon Molly Ringwald revisited those days in this recent, excellent New Yorker story. She interrogates her memories, and discovers Hughes’ earlier, questionable writing for National Lampoon. “No one in Hollywood was writing about the minutiae of high school, and certainly not from a female point of view. According to one study, since the late 1940s, in the top-grossing family movies, girl characters have been outnumbered by boys three to one—and that ratio has not improved,” Ringwald writes.

NeverTooEarly’s extensive list of "queer characters, representations, and sensibilities on film” comes with a spoiler warning: “Due to society’s continued ‘surprise’ that queer people even exist, and many filmmakers’ use of that surprise for dramatic or comedic effect, in some cases the mere inclusion on this list may be considered a spoiler. (Can you imagine a world where I’d have to add a spoiler warning to tell you that a film has at least one straight character in it?)”

Here’s a list for when you get a particular type of nostalgia. A pang for bolo ties and cowboy hats, for saloon pianos and cacti. No, it’s not a wild west celebration of vintage cowboy films. It’s Hollie Horror’s millennium-ending collection of 90s Desert Twang.

Of all the sub-genres, this is a particularly flighty one: terrifying bird people on film. Patrick’s list of movies about “mixed-up avian peopleoids” celebrates “human faces buried in feathers, beaks melded to flesh, talons bursting from wrists. These abominations of nature will raise goose pimples!”