(Photo by Disney/Courtesy Everett Collection. Deadpool & Wolverine.)
Every Certified Fresh Movie & Show in July 2024
If you want just the cream of the July crop, here’s every movie and show that went Certified Fresh during the month!
In movies, four wide releases: the record-breaking Deadpool & Wolverine, long-awaited disaster sequel Twisters, and another strong month for horror with Longlegs, MaXXXine, and Oddity.
With limited movies, we saw Asian-American teenage anthem Didi, and Indian action/thriller Kill, which is already in the works to be remade by Lionsgate.
With TV, Natalie Portman premiered Lady in the Lake for AppleTV+, Cobra Kai returned for a successful sixth season, and Rashida Jones explores AI with Sunny.
And for films and TV that took the longer route to Certified Fresh status, we have The Monk and the Gun (which released in February of this year), the light French comedy/drama Alice from 2019, and Charli XCX’s lockdown doc Alone Together for full brat summer supremacy.
#1
Adjusted Score: 102825%
Critics Consensus: Leading audiences through The Archers' filmography with Martin Scorsese as their masterful guide, Made in England is an entertaining and rich education.
Synopsis: Martin Scorsese reflects on the influence of filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, whose decades-long collaboration led to a series...
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#2
Adjusted Score: 102130%
Critics Consensus: Cutting through cliché with an earnest and open closet of vulnerability, I Am is a moving portrait of resilience, proving that Celine Dion will go on.
Synopsis: Directed by Academy Award nominee Irene Taylor, I AM: CELINE DION gives us a raw and honest behind-the-scenes look at...
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#3
Adjusted Score: 99169%
Critics Consensus: The First Wave presents a starkly gripping snapshot of a crisis unfolding -- and its grim toll on those who put their lives on the line to fight it.
Synopsis: With exclusive access inside one of New York's hardest hit hospital systems during the terrifying first four months of the...
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#4
Adjusted Score: 102998%
Critics Consensus: An elegant and spooky ghost story punctuated with clever jolts, Oddity hews to the fundamentals of fright and achieves shout-inducing results.
Synopsis: When Dani is brutally murdered at the remote country house that she and her husband Ted are renovating, everyone suspects...
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#5
Adjusted Score: 103485%
Critics Consensus: A semi-autobiographical love letter to teenage angst that's also slyly self-critical, Dìdi is a deeply moving personal statement by writer-director Sean Wang.
Synopsis: In 2008, during the last month of summer before high school begins, an impressionable 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy learns what...
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#6
Adjusted Score: 100242%
Critics Consensus: A tender odyssey with Mzia Arabuli's wonderful performance as the audience's guide, Crossing marks another humanist triumph for writer-director Levan Akin.
Synopsis: From acclaimed director Levan Akin (And Then We Danced), CROSSING is a moving and tender tale of identity, acceptance and...
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#7
Adjusted Score: 97885%
Critics Consensus: A visually sumptuous gothic tale with intriguing subtext flowing through its veins, The Vourdalak is a memorably stylish debut for director Adrien Beau.
Synopsis: When the Marquis d'Urfé, a noble emissary of the King of France, is attacked and abandoned in the remote countryside,...
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#8
Adjusted Score: 96525%
Critics Consensus: Conjuring fear with its sense of encroaching unease instead of cathartic jolts, In Flames is an exemplary horror film with something profound to say about the oppression of women.
Synopsis: After the death of the family patriarch, a mother and daughter's precarious existence is ripped apart by figures from their...
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#9
Adjusted Score: 96465%
Critics Consensus: Marrying cultural specificity with lush visuals, this romance marks an impressive debut for writer-director Ramata Toulaye Sy.
Synopsis: Banel and Adama are fiercely in love. The young couple lives in a remote village in northern Senegal. For them,...
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Adjusted Score: 96549%
Critics Consensus: We Are Lady Parts returns from an extended hiatus with a triumphant sophomore album, giving every member of this lovable band their own show-stopping solos.
#11
Adjusted Score: 96004%
Critics Consensus: A playful documentary with a poetic spirit, Orlando, My Political Biography uses a seminal novel as the framework for an exploration of personal identity.
Synopsis: "Come, come! I'm sick to death of this particular self. I want another." Taking Virginia Woolf's novel Orlando: A Biography...
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Starring:
#12
Adjusted Score: 94906%
Critics Consensus: A soulful exploration of sexual fluidity with a vivid Americana backdrop, National Anthem earns a salute.
Synopsis: Dylan (Charlie Plummer), a soft-spoken 21-year-old construction worker, is the de facto father figure to his little brother and works...
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#13
Adjusted Score: 95884%
Critics Consensus:
Surrounding its poignant insights with a gentle layer of crowd-pleasing comedy, The Monk and the Gun is a timely political satire that underscores the fragility of democracy.
Synopsis: The Monk And The Gun captures the wonder and disruption as Bhutan becomes one of the world's youngest democracies. Known...
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#14
Adjusted Score: 93883%
Critics Consensus: A transfixing depiction of abject cruelty, The Contestant raises a series of thought-provoking questions about human behavior, even if it leaves most of them largely unexplored.
Synopsis: The incredible true story of a man who lived for 15 months trapped inside a small room, naked, starving and...
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#15
Adjusted Score: 95381%
Critics Consensus: Tracing through the passage of time with a light touch, director Baltasar Kormákur's moving drama is a wistful reverie on life itself.
Synopsis: A romantic and thrilling story that spans several decades and continents; TOUCH follows one widower's emotional journey to find his...
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#16
Adjusted Score: 94127%
Critics Consensus: A relentless thrill ride grounded in raw emotional stakes, Kill serves up a knuckle sandwich that action fans will gleefully eat up.
Synopsis: When army commando Amrit (Lakshya) finds out his true love Tulika (Tanya Maniktala) is engaged against her will, he boards...
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#17
Adjusted Score: 81966%
Critics Consensus: Centering around Haley Bennett's sparkling performance, Widow Clicquot is a visually impressive tale of resilience that leaves a pleasing aftertaste on the palette.
Synopsis: After her husband's untimely death, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot flouts convention by assuming the reins of the fledgling wine business they...
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#18
Adjusted Score: 91183%
Critics Consensus: If its message is somewhat undercut by an unrealistic perspective, Alice has interesting things to say about societal mores and gender roles.
Synopsis: Alice is the perfect wife and mother, living happily with her husband, Francois, and their son. When her credit cards...
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Adjusted Score: 91534%
Critics Consensus: Breezy and sunny as a trip to Spain, Land of Women is a likable and light showcase for Eva Longoria's screwball charm.
Adjusted Score: 96729%
Critics Consensus: Brightened up by Rashida Jones' sly comedic timing, Sunny is a melancholy sci-fi series that positively glows.
#21
Adjusted Score: 106421%
Critics Consensus: Saturated in disquieting mood while leveraging a nightmarishly gonzo performance by Nicolas Cage, Longlegs is a satanic horror that effectively instills panic.
Synopsis: In pursuit of a serial killer, an FBI agent uncovers a series of occult clues that she must solve to...
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#22
Adjusted Score: 88343%
Critics Consensus: Remembering Gene Wilder presents an affectionate portrait of a brilliant artist that entertains even as it hews to standard documentary conventions.
Synopsis: This loving tribute to Gene Wilder celebrates his life and legacy as the comic genius behind an extraordinary string of...
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#23
Adjusted Score: 86169%
Critics Consensus: More than a making-of documentary, Charli XCX: Alone Together ties the story of a new album's creation to the bond between the artist and her fans.
Synopsis: Seeking solace in music during the COVID-19 pandemic, global pop star Charli XCX asks her fans to help her make...
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#24
Adjusted Score: 84305%
Critics Consensus: Unpacking the consequences -- or lack thereof -- of Louis C.K.'s misconduct as well as scrutinizing the broader comedy circuit, Sorry/Not Sorry is a sobering assessment of how an industry lets bad actors off the hook.
Synopsis: An inside look at Louis CK's public downfall and surprising return to the spotlight. Featuring interviews with women who spoke...
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Synopsis: Eleven-year-old Kevin's passion for history is put to the test when he joins a ragtag group of time-traveling thieves on...
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Directed By:
#26
Adjusted Score: 80343%
Critics Consensus: A low-key comedy with an ample dose of pathos, Cora Bora can be as aimless as its heroine but gets considerable lift from Megan Stalter's stellar star turn.
Synopsis: Cora (Meg Stalter) goes home to win back her girlfriend, and soon realizes it's much more than her love life...
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#27
Adjusted Score: 105723%
Critics Consensus: Ryan Reynolds makes himself at home in the MCU with acerbic wit while Hugh Jackman provides an Adamantium backbone to proceedings in Deadpool & Wolverine, an irreverent romp with a surprising soft spot for a bygone era of superhero movies.
Synopsis: Deadpool's peaceful existence comes crashing down when the Time Variance Authority recruits him to help safeguard the multiverse. He soon...
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Adjusted Score: 88179%
Critics Consensus: Having achieved mastery over its formula, Cobra Kai's sixth and final season doesn't hit as hard but still maintains excellent form.
#29
Adjusted Score: 101124%
Critics Consensus: Summoning a storm of spectacle and carried along by the gale force winds of Glen Powell's charisma, Twisters' forecast is splendid with a high chance of thrills.
Synopsis: Daisy Edgar-Jones stars as Kate Cooper, a former storm chaser haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado during her...
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Adjusted Score: 82209%
Critics Consensus: Dense with intriguing drama if too muddled by digressions and stylistic flourishes, Lady in the Lake is a well-acted mystery with a lot on its mind.
#31
Adjusted Score: 77997%
Critics Consensus: The Outwaters may strike some viewers as frustratingly withholding, but it remains an ambitious -- and overall effective -- slice of found-footage horror.
Synopsis: Four travelers experience a mind-bending trip through terror while camping in a remote stretch of the Mojave desert....
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#32
Adjusted Score: 90404%
Critics Consensus: Intoxicating with its maxxximal style, MaXXXine is an uneven but vibrant pastiche that drives a stiletto through Hollywood's heart.
Synopsis: In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx finally gets her big break. But as a mysterious...
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