Sara Michelle Fetters

Seattle, United States

Editor-in-Chief and Senior Film Critic at MovieFreak

@seattlecritics, @DorianAwards | https://t.co/ZKYgYzVig0 & https://t.co/0LpZnRLfTQ | Tomatometer-Approved Top Critic | [email protected] | She/Her

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Articles

2 longtime Seattle film festivals have merged. Here's what that means

2 days ago | seattletimes.com | Sara Michelle Fetters

When Three Dollar Bill Cinema announced in April that, on the 30th anniversary of the Seattle Queer Film Festival and the 20th anniversary of TRANSlations: Seattle Trans Film Festival, both would be celebrated in a combined event July 10-12, it sent shock waves throughout the local independent film community. Redubbed the Seattle Queer & Trans Film Festival, the choice to meld the two programs into one for their pearl and china celebrations was not made lightly.
Clown in a Cornfield (2025)

6 days ago | moviefreak.com | Sara Michelle Fetters

Inventive Clown in a Cornfield is a Gorily Silly Farmland FrightIf nothing else, Clown in a Cornfield delivers on everything hinted at in its title. There is a clown, Frendo, the living incarnation of a beloved small-town corporate mascot. This clown spends tons of time in cornfields, and not because the business he’s the face of happens to make corn syrup, but also because that’s where many of the community’s most troublesome teenagers tend to frolic.
Thunderbolts* (2025)

2 weeks ago | moviefreak.com | Sara Michelle Fetters

Marvel’s Traumatic Thunderbolts* is a Super-Powered Group Therapy SessionThe best thing about the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Thunderbolts* is how unconcerned it is about being a story about comic book superheroes (or, in this case, antiheroes).
The Accountant 2 (2025)

3 weeks ago | moviefreak.com | Sara Michelle Fetters

Silly Accountant 2 Offers Up an Enjoyably Amusing Return on Audience InvestmentI’m not surprised that director Gavin O’Connor, writer Bill Dubuque, and producer-star Ben Affleck have reunited for a sequel to their 2016 actioner The Accountant. It was a minor box office success that audiences positively responded to. It also introduced several interesting characters who would have been worth seeing more of had they popped up in another adventure.
The Wedding Banquet (2025)

3 weeks ago | moviefreak.com | Sara Michelle Fetters

New Wedding Banquet Walks Down the Aisle with Confident GraceI can’t say I was initially excited about a new take on 1993’s The Wedding Banquet. Directed by Ang Lee and co-written by frequent, fellow Oscar-winning collaborator James Schamus (along with Taiwanese actor and writer Neil Peng), the film was a delicately moving revelation.
Sinners (2025) | MovieFreak.com

4 weeks ago | moviefreak.com | Sara Michelle Fetters

Past, Present, and Future Collide in Coogler’s Otherworldly Supernatural Spellbinder SinnersThere is a scene smack dab in the middle of Sinners where I felt my soul elevate to a new plane of existence. I was filled with a sensation of mesmerized euphoria as I watched it play out, the whole sequence a tornado of music, performance, cinematic bravado, historical lucidity, cultural evolution, and communal bliss unlike anything I could have anticipated.
Drop (2025) | MovieFreak.com

1 month ago | moviefreak.com | Sara Michelle Fetters

Thrilling Drop is an Energetic Jolt of Giddily Cartoonish FunAfter months of chatting online, widowed mother Violet (Meghann Fahy) finally feels ready to go on a date with charming photographer Henry (Brandon Sklenar). It’s her first time out since the mysterious death of her abusive ex-husband, and she is understandably nervous. Mostly about leaving her young son Toby (Jacob Robinson) at home, even if he is with her wisecracking, if still dependable, kid sister Jen (Violett Beane).
The Amateur (2025)

1 month ago | moviefreak.com | Sara Michelle Fetters

Emotionally Empty Amateur Nothing More than Spy-vs-Spy NonsenseThe most annoying thing about The Amateur is how competent it is. If this sounds like I’m damning the film with faint praise, you’re right. Director James Hawes (One Life) knows what he’s doing and it shows. Even at 123 minutes, he keeps the events moving forward with efficient urgency. Hawes also stages action and suspense sequences with workmanlike clarity, and there’s never any question about what’s going on and why at any time.
The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025)

1 month ago | moviefreak.com | Sara Michelle Fetters

The Ballad of Wallis Island Sings a Triumphant Song of Cathartic GraceMusical superstar Herb McGwyer (Tom Basden) is being handsomely paid to give an exclusive concert on the isolated shores of Wallis Island. What he does not know is that this small, intimate gig is for an audience of one, eccentric millionaire Charles (Tim Key).
Millers in Marriage (2024)

1 month ago | moviefreak.com | Sara Michelle Fetters

Millers in Marriage is a Depressive Midlife Crisis Triptych of Marital DisintegrationThere’s something about the films of writer-director Edward Burns that’s always kept me at arm’s length. I admired more than loved his hit, ultra-low-budget 1995 debut The Brothers McMullen, and I cannot say my appreciation for his storytelling abilities has substantially grown over the succeeding 30 years. The one exception was his sophomore outing, 1996’s She’s the One, which I did enjoy. But other than that?