By ELISABETH VINCENTELLI ‘Project Hail Mary’ Working on this column involves watching a lot of despair-inducing stories about intractable challenges, from environmental wreckage to technology run amok. But problems always have solutions in the two movies based on Andy Weir novels — “The Martian” (2015) and now “Project Hail Mary.” Like its predecessor, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s film may be set in outer space, but it relies on quaint values like tinkering, perseveranc

“Obsession” By ERIK PIEPENBURG This month brings a catastrophic crush, underhanded ushers and a sinister St. Nick. ‘Obsession’ “It was fine,” my 14-year-old niece, Brianna, recently texted me after seeing “Obsession.” “It was really scary when she ran at Bear and screamed and stuff.” I couldn’t have said it better. This blockbuster supernatural thriller — which to date has grossed $370 million worldwide on a budget of $750,000 — is a solid scary movie. Written, directed and

“Corina” By DEVIKA GIRISH In these films from around the world, characters get the chance to let go of what no longer serves them. ‘Corina’ Stream it on Hulu. This delightful comedy set in Guadalajara, Mexico, follows a mousy 20-year-old woman with crippling agoraphobia. Raised solo by her progressively paranoid mother after the death of her father in a car accident, Corina (Naian González Norvind) limits her perambulations to the five blocks surrounding their apartment and

Ariana Grande in New York on Oct. 27, 2025. A representative for Grande said she would soon be taking a break from public life, citing “endless, ongoing public scrutiny.” (Geordie Wood/The New York Times) By JULIA JACOBS Three years ago, Ariana Grande posted a video to social media with a clear message to fans: Whatever thoughts they had about her weight loss were best kept to themselves. “The body that you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version,” s

By ERIK PIEPENBURG A mousetrap to the foot, a skillet to the face, a drill to the ear, a plush rabbit down the throat. That’s the order in which one character gets slaughtered in Eli Roth’s latest gross-out horror comedy, “Ice Cream Man.” While not a remake of Paul Norman’s deliciously nutty “Ice Cream Man” (1995), Roth’s sicko romp does share DNA with that and other films — “Mr. Ice Cream Man” (1996) and “The Ice Cream Truck” (2017) — that constitute one of horror’s dippier

The four main characters of “The Last House” are aided by a conspicuous lack of friction. By BEN KENIGSBERG In a roundabout, meta sort of way, “The Last House” puts a genuinely terrifying question to its viewers. How long would you last? How long would you hold out if you tried to leave your home one day but found that all the doors wouldn’t open? That the cracks in any window you tried to break would immediately repair themselves? That there was no Wi-Fi or phone service, so

By EMMANUEL MORGAN In an early meeting to discuss the future of Spider-Man, director Destin Daniel Cretton and Tom Rothman, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s film division, debated the meaning of the word “grounded.” It seems straightforward, but Cretton needed to know before accepting the job. “If the intention was to go bigger, I definitely would not have done this movie,” Cretton said. The most recent live-action Spider-Man movie at that time had sent Peter Parker throu

By ERIK PIEPENBURG Obsession’ “It was fine,” my 14-year-old niece, Brianna, recently texted me after seeing “Obsession.” “It was really scary when she ran at Bear and screamed and stuff.” I couldn’t have said it better. This blockbuster supernatural thriller — which to date has grossed $370 million worldwide on a budget of $750,000 — is a solid scary movie. Written, directed and edited by Curry Barker, it’s a cautionary tale about what happens when a young man named Bear (Mic

By ALEXANDRA E. PETRI Ariana Grande will curtail public appearances after her current world tour wraps up in September, citing “endless, ongoing public scrutiny” as a reason for her “much-needed break,” according to a statement issued on her behalf. Grande, 33, who is in Chicago for her Eternal Sunshine Tour, “will be taking a step back from visibility” after the tour concludes in London, a representative for the singer said Sunday. “She looks forward to finishing the tour an

Zendaya as the goddess Athena, who is Odysseus’ spiritual guide on his yearslong journey home from the Trojan War, in “The Odyssey” (2026). (Universal Pictures) By MALIA MENDEZ “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and “The Odyssey” assembled Avengers-style to power the biggest movie weekend ever for the domestic box office. But beyond the dollar signs, do these films about an angsty superhero and a brooding Greek king have anything in common? Well, “Tomdaya,” of course. The portmantea