What were my expectations going into Transformers: One? Whatever they were, it doesn’t really matter, because the movie blew away any and all ideas of what I thought it would be. This is a return to Transformers, thousands of years before we meet Optimus Prime on Earth. This time, most of the Autobots and Decepticons don’t even know each other yet. Optimus is Orion Pax, Megatron is D-16, Bumblebee is B-127. Enemies are still friends, the world hasn’t changed from constant war. Transformers One stars different voice actors than the normal Transformers films as well, Chris Hemsworth voices Optimus, Brian Tyree Henry voices Megatron, Scarlett Johansson voices Elita, Keegan-Michael Key voices Bee, Jon Hamm voices Sentinel Prime, and Laurence Fishburne voices Alpha Trion.

This is the first animated Transformers movie to hit theaters in 38 years since the original 1986 Transformers: The Movie. It’s really a tale of two excellent halves though. The first half shows the budding friendship between Orion and D-16. They’re trying to rise up the ranks of life on Cybertron, including entering a race that’s only for bots with a spark. They hold their own, but just miss out, enraging their superior officer in the process. This sends them down to the lowest levels of Cybertron where they meet Bee. As they hatch a plan to escape, they meet up with Elita, and unravel a conspiracy from the very top of society. It’s quite the stark difference from the sort of happy-go-lucky beginnings of the film. From there, the shape of both Optimus Prime and Megatron as characters forms into who we know today.

As it goes on, Transformers One shows itself to be a much more adult, thought-provoking film than it lets on. There are issues of class disparities, who should be leaders, how people are affected by stress, and how friendships can change over time. Combine that with the fact that it’s just a great movie for kids to watch, the screening I saw, the kids in the audience were going nuts for every moment. We don’t get enough great kids content these days, but Transformers One will satisfy the youngest and the oldest of fans.

With new voice actors taking over classic roles, the question comes up of how they stack up to previous voice actors. The most important is Chris Hemsworth. He already has an immediately recognizable voice. However, as the movie goes on, he resembles Peter Cullen’s timeless performance as Optimus. There are small changes throughout, but by the end, I was in awe. Same thing with Bryan Tyree Henry and Megatron. He’s sparky, upbeat, and somewhat higher pitched at the start of the film. By the end of it, it’s gravely, deeper, and just all around more menacing.

Those two combined with Keegan-Michael Key and Scarlett Johansson are excellent. Bee is the throughline for most of the comedy in the film and it just works hearing Keegan-Michael Key as Bee. He’s hilarious and upbeat, even when the film gets to its darkest moments. Fishburne might not be in the film for very long, but his performance is absolutely must-watch.

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The third act of Transformers One is one of the most technically beautiful and thrilling animated sequences in recent memory. From when they return to Cybertron from the outskirts to the end of the film is a thrill ride. It might be presented as a bit of a kids movie, but make no mistake, Transformers One is just as entertaining for adults. The humor, the action, the animation, it all adds up to one of, if not, the best Transformers movies ever. You get interesting looks at how the characters we know and love became who they are. Seeing Optimus and Megatron as friends and then turning into enemies is heartbreaking. Watching Orion Pax turn into one of the cinema’s greatest heroes is a sight to behold.

Transformers One is a spectacular showcase for animation. It’s stunning in technical aspects, but also provides an excellent Transformers story.

Transformers One releases in theaters on September 20th.

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Conclave begins with the image of a cardinal tensely making his way along a Roman highway late at night, his crimson biretta cap clasped tightly in his hand. It’s a stark, almost funny image, the elegant robes of this high priest trudging through a bleak, contemporary urban setting. The characters of Conclave won’t spend much time in the world at large — this is one of the few times we will see one outside in Edward Berger’s film — but the dissonance will continue to resonate. These are men carrying out what they view as an ancient function: electing a new Pope, now that the old one has died. They diligently shut out the modern world, but it’s still there, outside the windows and beyond the doors, constantly felt in everything they do.

At the center of the squall is Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), the dean of the College of Cardinals, whose job it is to run the conclave, as cardinals from around the world gather inside the hallowed sanctuary of the Sistine Chapel to cast ballots for a new pontiff. It’s a perfect role for Fiennes, who can do both placidity and intensity — sometimes, somehow, all at once. Thomas exudes gentleness and tolerance. He’s a deeply conflicted man who admits, in an initial address to the conclave, that he values doubt and abhors certainty — and yet, as the picture proceeds, he becomes more obsessed with controlling the outcome.

Berger’s film is adapted, quite faithfully, from Robert Harris’s 2016 novel, and it combines the pulp velocity of a great airport read with the gravitas of high drama. It solemnly depicts the ornate rituals around the death of the Pope — the ribbons placed across his door and fastened with melted red wax, the seals clipped off his rings, the constant prayers and the secretive mutterings — with only a slight nod to the sheer pointlessness of it all. It means something to these men, and that’s enough. Same, too, with the lugubrious dance of the conclave itself, with its round after round of balloting and tallying and quiet reflecting.

Many film critics who participate in year-end awards voting will find themselves nodding with recognition during Conclave at how allegiances shift between ballots in response to who’s ahead, who’s likely to win, and whose support seems to be crumbling. I have no idea how accurate this is to the way cardinals actually vote, but both the book and the movie have the confident ring of truth, or at least truthiness. And it’s interesting to learn that the Very Serious Men who elect popes scheme as effectively as the New York Film Critics Circle did when it voted (well-deserving) underdog Rachel Weisz best actress in 2012 to prevent front-runners Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence from getting the prize instead; or when the warring camps of Days of Heaven and Deer Hunter supporters at the National Society of Film Critics in 1978 famously fought each other to a standstill and allowed Bertrand Blier’s Get Out Your Handkerchiefs to sneak in and win Best Picture that year.

Where was I? Oh, right, Conclave. Amid such stately ceremony, Berger finds ways to insert gradually escalating tumult and cattiness. Though he tries to be fair and balanced, Thomas is allied with Aldo Bellini (Stanley Tucci), a progressive candidate who wants to continue the Church’s liberalization and engagement with the world. Opposing them is Goffredo Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), a reactionary Italian who thinks the Church has been on the wrong track ever since it got rid of the Latin Mass in the 1960s. But there are other candidates as well — chiefly, Joseph Tremblay (John Lithgow), a supreme politician who, for all his outward soft-spoken humility, clearly has great ambitions. And then there’s Joshua Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), a charismatic cardinal from Nigeria who could become the first Black pope.

None of these people actively campaign for the papacy. Save maybe for the flamboyant Tedesco (a not very big role that Castellitto turns into a full, rollicking meal), they’re all lowered eyebrows and hushed whispers and collegial exchanges, soberly prostrating themselves before God and seeking His guidance…all the while quietly and viciously stabbing each other in the back. Such muted machinations present a wonderful showcase for these actors, as well as Isabella Rossellini, as a head nun who becomes more central to the plot, and the relatively unknown Mexican actor Carlos Diehz, as a heretofore unknown cardinal named Vincent Benitez. Secretly named the Archbishop of Kabul, Benitez shows up unannounced on the day of the conclave and sends what promised to be a predictable gathering into the first of its many entertaining tailspins.

Despite the fact that they’ve all been cocooned deep inside the Vatican, with the doors barred, the priests of Conclave are all quite aware of how everything they do will have real-world repercussions, particularly in the way the Church is perceived. That fragile isolation isn’t just a psychological element. We sense throughout that the outside world is undergoing turmoil of which these men are mostly unaware — though we suspect they soon will be, both metaphorically and physically. Berger expertly milks that anticipation, then nails several artfully heated and lively climaxes. My audience at the Telluride Film Festival began roaring with delight and surprise, and I’ve heard similar reports out of Toronto screenings as well. So, well, don’t be surprised if this sinfully entertaining movie wins a few awards.

Disclaimer: “Speak No Evil” has not yet been released in theaters, with its wide-scale distribution officially set to begin Friday. The Lantern recently participated in an early film screening as well as a virtual roundtable interview with lead actress Mackenzie Davis.

Snakes. Heights. The dark. These common fears are widely acknowledged as daunting. 

“Speak No Evil” — director James Watkins’ English-language remake of Danish director Christian Tafdrup’s 2022 film by the same name — draws attention to another primordial fear that may just be more frightening than any other: dinner parties. 

Whether it’s dinner with in-laws, drinks with co-workers or high school reunions, everyone has had to begrudgingly put on a good face to maintain the fragile balance of politeness and decorum that keeps an awkward situation from getting ugly. 

In “Speak No Evil,” an American family befriends an overly exuberant British couple while on vacation, eventually agreeing to spend a few days at their house so their shy children can bond with one another. 

What starts as a seemingly successful playdate quickly turns into a fascinating battle of wills between the two sets of parents, as the British couple’s eccentric personalities begin to make the Americans question if their hosts are hiding a dark secret.

“Speak No Evil” isn’t a horror movie in the traditional sense of the term. It lacks the jumpscares and consistent frights necessary to consistently conform to the genre, but what it does offer is arguably more terrifying. 

The film explores how much people will excuse in the name of courtesy, even if it comes at the expense of their own well-being — or their immediate safety. 

Though it may not be the most textbook horror flick, “Speak No Evil” is overpoweringly uneasy. 

The sometimes-cringe, sometimes-disturbing feeling permeating through the screen isn’t caused by gore or monsters; rather, this discomfort emerges from filmmakers pointing a mirror at viewers, suggesting that if they were in a similar situation, they’d express similar behaviors to avoid an uncomfortable conversation or two.

The main controversy surrounding “Speak No Evil” is its remake status, seeing as the original film was released just two years ago. Some have criticized the apparent need to pander to English-speaking audiences that are too lazy to read subtitles. 

It’s true the newest “Speak No Evil” doesn’t do much to justify its existence, apart from featuring a terrifying performance from James McAvoy — arguably his best showing since his role as a young Professor X in the “X-Men” franchise. 

The film is essentially a beat-for-beat remake of its Danish predecessor, with the only notable difference being its slightly more comedic tone.

Debates around remakes aside, “Speak No Evil” is here, and it’s undoubtedly an entertaining, well-paced horror-comedy that features great performances from its leads, including McAvoy and Mackenzie Davis (“Black Mirror,” “The Martian”). 

Ultimately, “Speak No Evil” is an uncomfortably relatable film that adds to 2024’s growing slate of underappreciated horror flicks.

Rating: 3.5/5