Writer/director Minhal Baig’s third feature film “We Grown Now” (Sony Pictures Classics) officially announces her arrival as an important filmmaker. While it’s a much smaller film than say “Moonlight” or “American Fiction,” it nevertheless is sensitive, insightful, and even if you’re grown, you will probably cry at the end.

Horror comedy has come a long way since “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.” In the 21st century, movies such as “What We Do In the Shadows,” “Get Out,” “Zombieland,” “Ready or Not,” “The Blackening,” and “Freaky” have elevated the genre to new heights.

The year 2023 was an exceptional one for gay filmmakers.

Originally scheduled to be released in autumn 2023, “Kiss Me Kosher” (Menemsha) was pulled from theaters in consideration of the horrific events that unfolded in early October 2023. Initially, the plan was to release “Kiss Me Kosher,” during “quieter times,” but perhaps in the spirit of possible (and wishful) reconciliation, it’s being given a second chance in the spring of 2024.

Since the summer of 2023, when Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-winning box office blockbuster “Barbie” opened in theaters, prominently featuring the Indigo Girls’ “Closer To Fine,” the queer musical duo has been having a boffo year.

In “Silver Haze” (Darkstar), writer/director Sacha Polak has struck gold with queer actors Vicky Knight and Esmé Creed-Miles, both of whom she has worked on previous projects (“Dirty God” and “Hanna,” respectively). Loosely based on Knight’s life, “Silver Haze” is a difficult film to watch, but well worth sticking with until the very last scene.