A paranoid thriller set in the cutthroat world of Vatican politics, Edward Berger's Conclave follows an intrepid cardinal named Father Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) whose solemn duty to help select the next pope finds him ensnared in a web of lies, intrigue, and corruption as ambitious cardinals jockey to become the new head of the Catholic Church.

The Terrifier franchise is a fascinating cultural phenomenon. It originated in a 2011 short film by director Damien Leone, about a series of murders committed by a psychotic mime named Art. Leone later used Art the Clown as the connective tissue for a 2013 anthology film called All Hallows Eve before adapting Terrifier into a low-budget feature in 2016.

If Todd Phillips' Joker (2019) was the origin story of the Joker, then his latest film, Joker: Folie à Deux is the story of his deconstruction. It's an admittedly bold move for a comic book movie to spend its entire running time dismantling the character it just spent a whole movie setting up, and there's certainly some interesting thematic ground to cover here; unfortunately, Folie à Deux suffers from some of the same issues of self-importance that plagued its predecessor.

Pre-production for Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis began in 2001. Based on a screenplay Coppola began in the 80s that got put on the back burner, this is a film that has been decades in the making, delayed by 9/11 along with mounting debts leading Coppola to eventually bankroll the production himself to the tune of $150 million. It has all the trappings of an epic disaster, and while it has divided critics and failed to make an impression at the box office, Megalopolis is arguably one of the most ambitious and fascinating films of the 21st century.

There is no doubt that Coralie Fargeat's The Substance is a stylish film. It is one of the boldest and most outrageous films to receive a wide release in recent memory, and to that end, it is something worth celebrating. Fargeat is taking huge swings here, and regardless of how one responds to those swings, it feels like something of a minor miracle to see a film that takes such risks playing at the local multiplex.