Category: 2024

REVIEW: ‘Nightbitch’ is a funny feminist film with a sharp bite

Talk about unleashing the beast. That’s certainly what Amy Adams does in this flick.

Based on the book of the same name, “Nightbitch” follows a stay-at-home mom (Adams) who put her career as an artist on hold to raise her son. Her husband (Scoot McNairy) is often not present, either, as he is usually traveling for work and is only around during brief times off.

Feeling stressed out, under-appreciated and just overall fed up with the state of things, the woman’s more feral side begins to show itself. More or less, she sort of goes werewolf, and it gives her renewed confidence as a woman and a mother.

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REVIEW: Pamela Anderson is powerful in ‘The Last Showgirl’

Another generation of the Coppola family is making waves in the film industry with a strong drama.

This time around, it’s the granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola garnering attention with her new film “The Last Showgirl.” Starring in the feature is Pamela Anderson as Shelly, a Las Vegas resident who has worked successfully for the last 30 years as a showgirl in a major casino. The film picks up with her life and work ongoing as normal.

Her daily routine is upended, though, when she learns her show has been cancelled, and will only have a few performances left. Now with an uncertain future, Shelly is forced to reflect on her past and reckon with what’s next.

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REVIEW: ‘Moana 2’ massively pales in comparison to first adventure

“Moana” kept a years-long winning streak rolling for Disney Animation. Its sequel, meanwhile, is unfortunately the latest in a string of misfires for the studio.

Set three years after the events of the first film, “Moana 2” picks up with the titular character (Auli’I Cravalho) continuing to sail the ocean as an explorer. Her goal this time is to find other communities on various islands to connect with. Her effort so far, though, is unsuccessful.

In need of some guidance, the hero is given a vision showing how a storm god, Nalo, caused a calamity that separated the people of the ocean. To reverse the situation, Moana sets out on a new adventure to break Nalo’s curse, and ends up getting help from new friends and an old one.

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REVIEW: ‘September 5’ fires on nearly every cylinder

Two decades after playing the editor of a print outlet in 2003’s “Shattered Glass,” Peter Sarsgaard has returned to journalism cinema, now leading a broadcast team.

Like the aforementioned film, Sarsgaard plays a real-life figure here, this time Roone Arledge. News isn’t Arledge’s first focus, though, as his main priority is helming ABC Sports’ coverage of the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany.

Arledge and control room producer Geoffrey Mason (John Magaro) are forced to take up the news mantle, though, as the 1972 terrorist attack begins to unfold. Over the course of the next several hours, the ABC team has to adjust and adapt on the fly to cover the increasingly dangerous situation.

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REVIEW: ‘Juror No. 2’ offers sufficient courthouse tension

Clint Eastwood’s films often have the protagonist in precarious situations and his new movie is no different.

Eastwood’s latest has Nicholas Hoult starring as Justin Kemp, a man in quite the conundrum. At first glance, things seem fine for Justin, as he’s in a happy marriage with a pregnant wife and a good job who’s simply called up for jury duty. The problem is the case he ends up assigned to.

Justin has to be a juror on a murder case involving domestic violence which resulted in the death of a woman, with the defendant in the case being her boyfriend (Gabriel Basso). However, around the time of the woman’s death, Justin was driving home on a rainy night and hit something with his car.

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REVIEW: Much of ‘Wicked’ soars thanks to musical sequences

The stage is out and the screen is in with another adaptation of a Broadway musical hitting the screen. This time around, it’s the Wicked Witch’s turn.

As the title implies, this film is about the Wicked Witch of the West, though the audience gets to see her before she earned that title. In the movie, she is known by her name Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), a young woman shunned by much of society because of her green skin, which has only made her closed off.

Because of her apparent magical abilities, though, she’s invited to the same mystical university her sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) is attending. There she meets the popular but ditzy Galinda (Arian Grande-Butera). After a poor first meeting, the two aren’t fans of each other, but end up becoming roommates.

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REVIEW: ‘Gladiator II’ retreads familiar ground, but has great action

Once again, I am entertained by a “Gladiator,” Maybe not as moved, though.

“Gladiator II” is set 16 years after the original film from 2000 concluded. Rome is now ruled by a corrupt pair of twins who have let the city state fall into a mess as they enjoy luxuries made possible by ongoing expansion of their empire.

Meanwhile, a warrior, Hanno (Paul Mescal) is captured while fighting for his city in North Africa from a successful Roman invasion. After losing his wife in the battle, he sets his sights on revenge against a Roman general, and gets an opportunity to do so by fighting his way through the Gladiator system.

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REVIEW: ‘A Real Pain’ is a real disappointment

If you ever wanted to see Roman Roy from “Succession” hang out with Mark Zuckerberg, but without the money, this is sort of the movie for you.

No, that’s not quite accurate, although the film does star Kieran Culkin from the hit HBO series and “The Social Network’s” Jesse Eisenberg. In this film they play two cousins, David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin), who are visiting Poland to learn about their grandmother’s home town, and experience surviving the Holocaust.

To do so, they join a historical tour through various towns in the country with several other interested people and a knowledgeable guide. During their time on the tour, they not only have their eyes opened about family history, but what’s been happening in their own lives, too.

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REVIEW: ‘Heretic’ has moderate suspense, though Grant shines

Hugh Grant has entered a villain phase with this and “Dungeons and Dragons,” and I’m all here for it.

In this film, Grant portrays Mr. Reed, a man who appears like a fine fellow at the movie’s outset. Early on, he’s visited by Mormon missionaries Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), and welcomes them into his home to discuss their religion.

To make them feel at ease, he expresses interest in their religion and claims his wife is in the back baking a pie for them to enjoy. However, it soon becomes clear that everything is a ruse, as Mr. Reed traps the two women in his home and is prepared to test their faith in dark ways.

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REVIEW: Funny. Provocative. Intense. ‘Anora.’

So, this film is sort of like “Pretty Woman,” if things went really off the rails, and Richard Gere was Russian.

Well, there are actually quite a few more differences all things considered. In “Anora,” Mikey Madison stars as the titular character who makes a living as a stripper and escort. Her day-to-day routine of working at a Manhattan club is interrupted when she’s hired by Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch.

Initially hired for her escort services, Ivan later continues to pay Anora, or Ani as she likes to be called, to be his live-in girlfriend. After spending more time together, he ends up marrying the young woman. However, Anora’s new life in luxury is threatened when Ivan’s family finds out, and are furious at the news.

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