Contributor: Paul Asay

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Can You Ever Forgive Me? feels erudite, entertaining and, in the end, utterly empty.

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First Man

First Man puts flesh on a marbled hero, complexities, flaws and all.

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Beautiful Boy

Underneath the scars and flaws, underneath the mistakes we make and the falls we take, a tiny glow of our God-given beauty lingers.

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A Star is Born

As palpable as these talented actors’ chemistry may be, moviegoers should approach this film with deep caution.

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The Sisters Brothers

As this movie suggests, gold ain’t the only thing that can do bad things to our souls.

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Assassination Nation

This film is literally about showing the worst in all of us, and as explicitly as seems possible.

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White Boy Rick

This movie feels messy in every which way.

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The Nun

Along with its spirituality, The Nun invites a whole host of supernatural grotesquerie to the party.

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The Little Stranger

This film blends its eerie atmospherics with brief moments of terrible, frighteningly realistic bloodshed.

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The Happytime Murders

I’ve seen worse movies this year. But I don’t know if I’ve seen anything that made me more sad.

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Mile 22

Mile 22 is dumb, frenetic and oh-so bloody—a feature-length romp through a hurricane of fists and feet and death.

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Alpha

You might want to think twice before you and your family wolf this one down.

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Slender Man

Slender Man is just a bad movie, and bad in every possible way.

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Christopher Robin

This film wasn’t made just for kids. It was made for us—the adults who fret about our own Very Important Things.

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The Equalizer 2

The movie’s well-meaning messages are undercut, sometimes literally, at every turn.

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