Upon leaving our screening of The Wild Robot, I asked my favorite 10-year-old what she thought of the film, and she answered that it was one of the best movies she'd seen in her life. If I ever choose or am forced to retire from weekly reviewing, I hope this smart kid becomes my replacement, because as family-friendly adventures go, writer/director Chris Sanders' animated outing is one of the best I've seen in my life, too.

Lauded by The Independent as "both sweeping and intimate" and by The Upcoming as "a remarkable tale of companionship that hits in all the right spots," Chinese writer/director Guan Hu's Black Dog enjoys an October 10 screening at Davenport's Figge Art Museum, the film's world premiere at this past May's 77th Cannes Film Festival earning it the prestigious Un Certain Regard prize, as well as, for a canine named Xin, the Palm Dog Award last won by Anatomy of a Fall's unforgettable pup Messi.

Currently holding a perfect 100-percent critical-approval rating on the Rotten Tomatoes aggregate, Fritz Lang's classic 1931 thriller M serves as the fifth and final presentation in the German American Heritage Center's German Expressionist Film Series for 2024, its October 2 screening at Davenport venue The Last Picture House demonstrating why Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus calls the work "a landmark psychological thriller with arresting images, deep thoughts on modern society, and Peter Lorre in his finest performance."

Currently boasting a 96-percent "freshness" rating on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes and hailed by legendary film critic Roger Ebert as "one of the best films I have ever seen," director Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel serves as the fourth presentation in the German American Heritage Center's German Expressionist Film Series, its September 25 screening at Davenport venue The Last Picture House sure to demonstrate why The Guardian lauded the classic as "a masterpiece of erotic obsession."