MOVIE OF THE WEEK May 15, 2026: MAGIC HOUR

It’s tricky to discuss Katie Aselton’s poignant relationship drama Magic Hour without revealing the story twists that give it such a powerful emotional punch. The writer-director-star crafts the first act of her film very carefully, setting viewers’ expectations and then challenging them. The result is both romantic and touching, with memorable performances by Aselton and co-star Daveed Diggs and a gorgeous, haunting setting amid the singular landscape of Joshua Tree.

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MAGIC HOUR – Review by Monique Jones

Magic Hour can be a powerful release for viewers who feel that film can help process the wildness of grief. The film shows how hard it can be to let go, and I think that can give some viewers a feeling of comfort. Too often, film and TV portray grief as something easy to get over, but it’s refreshing to see Magic Hour show the struggle in finding a “new normal” after death.

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MOVIE OF THE WEEK May 1, 2026: AMERICAN DREAM

It’s been slightly over 40 years since Hormel factory workers in Austin, Minnesota, went on a nearly year-long strike to protest slashed wages and benefits — and 35 years since Barbara Kopple’s revealing film about the strike, American Dream, won the Best Documentary Oscar in 1991. And what lingers most after watching the movie’s new 4K restoration is the feeling of how relevant so much of it still is decades later. Sure, fashions may have changed since the mid-’80s, and filmmaking equipment is more sophisticated these days but we still live in a world (or at least a country) in which the rich continue to get richer while the working class struggles to make ends meet. And when the latter dares to stand up for themselves, they’re met with disdain, condescension, and an unyielding devotion to capitalism. Let’s just say that the parade of White men in suits defending Hormel’s anti-worker policies and choices in 1985 doesn’t feel very far removed from the politicians and business leaders who are still prioritizing profit over people in 2026.

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MOVIE OF THE WEEK April 17, 2026: STEAL THIS STORY, PLEASE

Name any major U.S. news story that’s dominated the headlines since the late 1980s/early 1990s, and chances are Amy Goodman was on the front lines with a microphone and a camera, reporting the hell out of it. The founder of progressive journalism institution Democracy Now!, Goodman is tireless and fearless in her pursuit of the unvarnished truth, as documented in Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s timely documentary Steal This Story, Please!. The documentary makes it abundantly clear that, while a reporter like Goodman is rare enough to warrant a film about her, the world would be a far better place if she were just one of many.

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MOVIE OF THE WEEK March 20, 2026: 1000 WOMEN IN HORROR

Whether you’re someone who can’t get enough of movies overflowing with blood and guts or have to hide your face behind your hands whenever anything scary is about to happen on screen, chances are you’ll get a kick out of director Donna Davies’ brisk documentary 1000 Women in Horror. Based on the book by horror expert (and AWFJ member!) Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, it’s a smart, thought-provoking look at the way the genre both impacts and is impacted by women.

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MOVIE OF THE WEEK March 13, 2026: SPACEWOMAN

Looking at Eileen Collins — and hearing her talk in such an unassuming, approachable way, with a cadence that really sounds more Midwestern than southern New York, where she grew up — you’d be forgiven for not immediately recognizing her as the barrier-busting astronaut who, in 1999, became the first woman to command a Space Shuttle mission for NASA. But Hannah Berryman’s compelling documentary Spacewoman aims to make sure everyone knows exactly who Collins is.

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MOVIE OF THE WEEK March 6, 2026: SILVER STAR

Like a younger version of Thelma and Louise — had Thelma been a troubled, formerly incarcerated Civil War re-enactor and Louise an impulsive, very pregnant teen with a motor mouth and a penchant for dramatics — the main characters in Lola Bessis and Ruben Amar’s Silver Star find themselves on the road while running from the law. But, also like Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon’s iconic duo, they develop a powerful bond in the process.

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MOVIE OF THE WEEK February 27, 2026: THE INQUISITOR

Trailblazers don’t come much more blazing than Barbara Jordan, the groundbreaking Texas politician/lawyer/all-around bad-ass who’s the subject of director Angela Lynn Tucker’s illuminating documentary The Inquisitor. As the first Black woman to be elected to her home state’s Senate since the Civil War — not to mention the first southern Black woman ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives — Jordan made an indelible mark on U.S. politics in her all-too-brief time in Washington, D.C.

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MOVIE OF THE WEEK February 13, 2026: AN AMERICAN PASTORAL

Raw and revealing while remaining fastidiously observational, French documentarian Auberi Edler’s An American Pastoral is about the tense 2023 school board race in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, following as moderate candidates go up against a slate of far-right conservatives. In telling the story of that election, it lays bare the deep, painful divides that plague virtually every aspect of life in the United States. Edler’s camera is in the room as candidates and others express opinions on which books are and aren’t (mostly aren’t) appropriate to have in school libraries. She follows candidates as they canvas their neighbors, hoping to earn votes, and as they attend church services and other community events. She captures their (very) honest thoughts on Covid, January 6th, transgender people, the Constitution, handguns, and more. What emerges is the portrait of a town that, like the country it belongs to, is sharply split along ideological lines.

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MOVIE OF THE WEEK January 31, 2026: NATCHEZ

“Complicated” doesn’t begin to describe the history of Natchez, Mississippi, one of the oldest European-settled cities in the American South. Race, class, and power have been tangled together in its fabric ever since it was founded in the early 1700s (two years before New Orleans, the residents will be very proud to tell you). The resulting constrictor knot is at the heart of filmmaker Suzannah Herbert’s engrossing observational documentary Natchez.

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