In the Figge Art Museum's current Film at the Figge series, the Davenport venue is screening international, award-winning works that deal with death, loss, and grief in unexpected ways, and the affecting and arresting lineup continues on October 27 with Foxtrot, the internationally co-produced 2017 drama that received the Grand Jury Prize Silver Lion at the74th Venice International Film Festival.

Directed and co-written, as the series' previous two installments were, by David Gordon Green, Halloween Ends is something I never expected this slasher flick to be: not bad. Also something else I didn't predict: a helluva lot of fun.

Presented by Progressive Action for the Common Good – the Davenport-based organization dedicated to the promotion of social justice, empowerment, diversity, sustainability and community – I Am the Future: Standing on the Shoulders of the Past will be screened at the Rock Island Public Library's downtown branch on October 25. the documentary a locally produced Black-history video courtesy of Mickle Communications.

It isn't a great film; during its protracted midsection, it's closer to a lousy one. Yet there's more going on in Amsterdam than there has been in about 95 percent of the year's other releases, and the contributions of its impressively overstuffed cast make David O. Russell's latest worth a look. Maybe more than one if you take a nap in the middle.

Nicholas Stoller's and Billy Eichner's achievement gave me everything I want and so rarely get from Hollywood rom-coms: interest, involvement, investment, sexual heat, huge laughs, legitimately threatening obstacles.

Some movies are love-them-or-hate-them. The polished, mediocre Don't Worry Darling doesn't do much to inspire either reaction.

With the latest collection of titles in the Figge Art Museum's Film at the Figge series, the Davenport venue will be screening international, award-winning works that deal with death, loss, and grief in unexpected ways, beginning with its September 29 showing of Departures, the acclaimed Japanese drama from 2008 that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Before proceeding, allow me to share my amazement in a weekend happenstance I hadn't previously experienced over nearly three decades of reviewing: I saw five new movies and enjoyed them all – a lot. Even the horror prequel whose predecessor debuted fewer than six months ago. Even the reboot of a planned Chevy Chase franchise that died in 1989.

A couple weeks ago, in my review of The Invitation, I opened by saying that the fright flick felt like a bunch of different fright flicks – none of them good – rolled into one. Writer/director Zach Cregger's Barbarian feels a bit like that, too, except in this instance, the quality is significantly higher, and not all of the complimentary/competing movies are horror movies.

As hilarious as Regina Hall, Sterling K. Brown, and their Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. co-stars frequently are, you're left as likely to well up from pity as from laughter. This is a truly rare bird: a mockumentary drama. With loads of cringey giggles.

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