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  • ‘Sinners’ is the best movie of the year | movie review

    ‘Sinners’ is the best movie of the year | movie review

    Sinners follows a pair of infamous twins who return to their hometown to open a juke joint of their own only to find a darkness pervades.

    Sinners manages to be a folk horror, western drama, southern gothic, Blaxploitation thriller, quasi-musical and, oh yeah, a vampire movie exploring deeply rooted themes about our society while being one of the most devilishly entertaining movies of the year. With immersive world-building, a memorable cast of characters elevated by a stellar ensemble and musical numbers and action scenes that will take your breath away, writer-director Ryan Coogler may have just given us his magnum opus. 

    Sinners now streaming on HBO Max.


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    Although it takes place over a single day, Sinners is about centuries. It’s about the foundations of our culture, our country and our world. It’s about how the trauma of hate and division crosses time, boundaries and races like an illness that can destroy what we love—and how joy is the antidote. That’s a lot of thematic heft for a movie that is in equal parts a folk horror, western drama, Blaxploitation thriller, quasi-musical and, oh yeah, a vampire movie. The most impressive feat director-writer Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Creed) achieves is finding a balance between genre and meaning—and one begets the other. And in the end, creating something completely singular. Perhaps his masterpiece.

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    It’s the Southern United States in the 1930s. Jim Crow era. Infamous twins Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan doing stellar work defining the twins’ separate personalities) return to their small hometown with a dream to fulfill: open the best juke joint in the county in a barn they recently bought from a maybe-Klan member. Hell, maybe even the state. Armed with a truck full of liquor and beer from their time in Chicago crossing (and double crossing) with the Irish and Italian mobs, they trek across the county to put the finishing touches on their new joint. Quite literally getting the band together.

    They pick up their young cousin and blue guitar prodigy Sammie (Miles Caton) much to the chagrin of his pastor father who warns him of “temptations” that lurk. Smoke picks up lush but talented pianist Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) by bribing him with real Irish beer to play at their joint instead of his usual gig. Stack picks up his former lover Annie (Wunmi Mosaku)—she serves as a sort of general store for the community though her proclivities for the mystical come in handy—with whom he shares trauma with. He asks her to cater the opening. Chinese storeowners and couple Bo (Yao) and Grace (Li Jun Li) are tasked with making signage for the venue while their old pal Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller) is asked to be bouncer.

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    The first act of the movie has the breezy coolness of Coogler’s other work—like he’s allowing the rhythm of composer Ludwig Göransson’s blues-inspired score to keep us moving. The world building, while a slow burn, is immersive and detailed in a way that is so enjoyable to explore. Like you can feel the dust-filled breeze and summer heat as the twins charm and strongarm their way across town gathering what they need for the opening. The movie could have lazed with these characters for hours and I would’ve been grateful. However, for as enjoyable as it is, it starts to lay the foundation for the southern gothic horror that is rooted in the very real horrors of a Jim Crow-era South.

    By the time evening falls, it’s easy to forget that Sinners is a horror movie. Though Coogler maintains a dread-filled atmosphere, the movie is about Black joy, Asian joy and simply the joy of being sure and safe somewhere where your identity is accepted and understood. The successful launching of the juke joint in the barn itself feels momentous because in a short amount of time we’ve grown to know and love the characters. Whether it’s the easy banter between the twins, the warmth of Annie, the humorous drunken quips of Delta and Cornbread, or the seductive allure of Pearline (Jayme Lawson) and Mary (Hailee Steinfeld). It makes the turn to horror all the more entertaining (and heartbreaking)

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    When it does take the turn, it does so with a devilish grin courtesy of Jack O’Connell as the charming but menacing Remmick who has slowly recruited more people to join his group of undead townsfolk that really want to get in on the action of the party. With the same acute attention to detail and rhythm, Coogler masterfully guides the movie towards full-blown genre in a way that is irresistibly macabre.

    However, the heart of Sinners—both figuratively and literally the middle of the movie—is a musical scene that sees eras and people and races and music blending together in the barn. It is an amalgamation of all that makes the movie great. Its eclectic score paired with its warm cinematography swirling around characters we’ve grown to love and will miss when they’re no longer on our screens dancing with nothing but love and joy in their hearts. Meanwhile, the weight of their collective histories and futures join them in the frame to create in a single image a thesis of Sinners. That through all the pain and hate we experience, it is for the love and joy we fight it with that we endure it.

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  • Four Movies with Oscar Potential from Cannes 2024

    Four Movies with Oscar Potential from Cannes 2024

    The Cannes Film Festival has turned into a reliable launching pad for Oscar contenders. These are the films to keep an eye on.

    Walk out of any Cannes premiere and the same question hangs in the air: “Does it have a shot?” It’s premature to make predictions with certainty. We we still have months until awards season switches into high gear, but the Croisette has a way of separating genuine contenders from fleeting buzz. This year’s festival delivered several films that could make the journey from the Palais to the Dolby Theatre come March.

    Let’s start with the most obvious: “Anora“. Sean Baker’s screwball fairytale just won the Palme d’Or, which doesn’t guarantee Oscar love but certainly establishes momentum. It has the indie-darling pedigree the Academy often embraces, paired with the kind of wild entertainment value that can broaden its appeal beyond arthouse circles. Baker has always felt like a filmmaker that would have his break into the race after coming close with “The Florida Project“

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    Mikey Madison is ferocious as Ani, a Brooklyn stripper who marries into Russian oligarch money only to watch the fantasy implode in real time. As we noted in our review, Madison delivers a “star-is-born moment”—the kind of breakout performance that the Academy loves. Baker’s best shot for recognition is likely Original Screenplay, where these kinds of dramedies tend to thrive (think “Juno” or “Little Miss Sunshine”. As for Best Picture, it feels like our first legitimate contender. Time will tell if it remains at the top of the conversation.

    “Emilia Pérez” is the most surprising breakout of the festival. A Spanish-language musical about a cartel boss who transitions and seeks atonement? Jacques Audiard has crafted something spectacular, strange, and perhaps a bit controversial. Reactions split sharply between rapturous and bewildered, and that kind of polarization can push a film either direction. However, with Netflix’s backing and a historic four-way Best Actress prize to Karla Sofia Gascon (the first ever trans winner), Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adrianna Paz, it could be a wild but very possible swing for the Academy to take.

    A scene from Coralie Fargeat's The Substance. Playing In Competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

    Speaking of wild swings, there’s “The Substance“, which will test whether the Academy is ready to fully embrace genre filmmaking after breakthroughs with “Get Out” and “Everything Everywhere All At Once”. Coralie Fargeat’s body horror satire is anchored by Demi Moore in what may be the performance of her career. Moore plays a fading aerobics star who uses a black market drug to create a younger version of herself, resulting in what our review called “a diabolically delightful body horror” that serves as a grotesque meditation on aging, beauty, and self-destruction. It’s precisely the kind of role that should appeal to Oscar voters—a comeback narrative with technical demands and thematic weight, addressing Hollywood’s ageism head-on.

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    Finally, “Furiosa“. George Miller’s Mad Max prequel played Out of Competition, so it wasn’t vying for the Palme, but it arrived with characteristic fury. Anya Taylor-Joy is magnetic as the younger Furiosa, and Miller continues to demonstrate more visual imagination than most directors half his age. The challenge: The Academy has already honored Miller for Fury Road, and voters tend to resist returning to the same well. Technical nominations—Editing, Sound, Production Design—have the best shot, but Picture and Director feel like longer odds unless the film achieves genuine cultural phenomenon status this summer. Still, Miller has a history of making the impossible feel inevitable.

    The real variable is time. Cannes titles have momentum, certainly, but they must survive six months of festivals, word-of-mouth, and campaign spending before Oscar night. Some will fade. Some will strengthen. And some—like Anora or The Substance—might sustain their buzz long enough to prove that Cannes still matters when the envelopes open in March.

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  • Cannes 2024: Three great movies in Un Certain Regard

    Cannes 2024: Three great movies in Un Certain Regard

    While much of the attention and conversation on the French riviera is around the buzzy films competing for the prestigious Palme d’Or, often some of the beset films of the festival can be found in the Un Certain Regard section. Here are some of our favorites so far:

    “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” (dir. Rungano Nyoni)

    On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
    On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

    Driving home from a fancy dress party in the middle of the night, Shula stumbles across her uncle’s body on an empty Zambian road. As the funeral unfolds, the dark secrets of her middle-class family — and of the man they mourn — begin to surface.

    There’s a sick joke at the heart of Rungano Nyoni’s sophomore feature, and she knows exactly how to land it. A woman finds a dead man and nobody seems to care, least of all her. What unfolds is a funeral you can’t look away from — absurdist, stinging, and unexpectedly funny in the way that only the most painful truths tend to be. Nyoni doesn’t hold your hand through any of it. She just pulls you into the rituals and silences of a family that has perfected the art of looking away, until the young women in its orbit decide they’re done doing that. Molasses-dark comedy wrapped around something that burns.

    “My Sunshine” (dir. Hiroshi Okuyama)

    On the snow-covered island of Hokkaido, a shy boy with a stutter falls under the spell of a figure skating prodigy and her quietly guarded coach. A tentative trio forms on the ice as winter begins its slow retreat.

    Some films whisper. Hiroshi Okuyama’s gentle coming-of-age drama is barely above a breath — shot in hazy, overexposed light that makes the whole thing feel like a half-remembered childhood afternoon. The two young leads carry years of unspoken feeling in their faces, communicating more in a glance across an ice rink than most films manage in a whole monologue. It feels like a memory — the kind you’re not quite sure is real. Sweet and soft and quietly uplifting in a way that sneaks up on you. Not because it shook you. Because it held you.

    “Flow“ (dir. Gints Zilbalodis)

    After a catastrophic flood swallows the world, a solitary black cat finds reluctant refuge on a drifting sailboat alongside a capybara, a lemur, a dog, and a great bird. No humans. No dialogue. Just survival, and something that starts to feel like trust.

    Not a single word is spoken in Gints Zilbalodis’ extraordinary second feature, and honestly? It doesn’t need one. Built entirely in open-source software by a Latvian director still in his twenties, Flow moves like water — fluid, alive, impossible to hold still. It has the visual grammar of a dream and the emotional pull of something far older and more primal. Watching that cat inch toward its fellow survivors, sharing fish, learning to steer, you feel something loosen in your chest. Cinema doesn’t always need language. Sometimes it just needs a cat on a boat at the end of the world.

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  • “Heated Rivarly” episode 6 recap and review: “The Cottage”

    “Heated Rivarly” episode 6 recap and review: “The Cottage”

    We’re going to the cottage! Plus, the best quotes from episode six of “Heated Rivalry”

    This review contains spoilers

    “I’m glad you’re here.”
    “Me too. But also, terrified.”

    That’s really the first time Ilya Rosanov has ever fully vocalized his feelings. Well, except for his swoon-worthy but heartbreaking Russian monologue in episode five that was spoken into the void (and a non-Russian-speaking Shane Hollander’s ear). However, in episode six, “The Cottage”, Ilya is coming in loud and clear. And allowing himself to be vulnerable.

    Episode five ended with the line heard around the world when Ilya called Shane to say he’s “coming to the cottage.” The line was underlined with the sentiment that this would take the pair’s situationship to another level. And the episode starts by showing us what that other level could be as Scott Hunter wins the Most Valuable Player award at the league’s year-end ceremony and addressed the very large and very gay elephant in the room. Francois Arnaud, arguably the most recognizable actor on the cast, shows why someone of his caliber was hired for the role. His speech touches on the homophobia in sports, loneliness of being in the closet before professing his love loudly and proudly for Kip. Arnaud delivers the monologue with the emotion and charisma it deserves. In The Kingfisher, Kip (Robbie G.K.), along with his friends including ultimate bestie Elena (Nadine Bahabha), watch on.

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    As Shane and Ilya drive to the cottage, there’s a palpable anxiety. There’s the fear of being seen by the public, but also by each other. Over the nearly decade they’ve been seeing each other, they rarely achieved any level of real emotional intimacy despite the sexual fireworks (though there’s tons in the cottage). After a quick, um… house tour, the pair sit down for burgers that, despite years together, feels like a first date. They talk about Shane’s parents and their potential reaction to his coming out, which Shane admits he might have delayed because of Ilya.

    They spend time by the fire, where Ilya chides, “we just sit here and look at it?” Soon, a loon wail startles the pair which Ilya hilariously calls a “stupid Canadian wolf bird.” As Ilya lies in Shane’s lap he talks about his family in Russia and the suicide of his mother. “I do not want you to think she was weak,” Ilya says. That line perhaps gives us the most insight into Ilya than any other line all season.

    For good measure, the pair have a steamy couch blow job session where Ilya playfully services Shane while he’s on the phone with teammate Hayden before talking later than night about their future. It’s perhaps the one part of the season that doesn’t feel as meticulously planned. They float a few ideas. Ilya suggests he may transfer to a Canadian team since he’s a free agent next season. Shane agrees and suggests Ontario. Ilya talks about potentially marrying Svetlana for citizenship, which terrifies Shane since Ilya is bisexual. He reassures him saying, “I like women and everywhere i go i’m surrounded by beautiful women. But I am always thinking about this slow fucking hockey player with beautiful freckles… and a weak backhand.”

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    The next morning, Shane suggests they start a hockey school for kids and fundraise for mental health organizations in honor of Ilya’s mother. It’s what finally drives him to tell Shane he loves him. The entire sequence is beautiful and gorgeously acted by both Storrie and Williams who subtly show the impact it has on them. However, the solution to their separation feels like it comes too fast and is less satisfying than the other love story feature in the show that got a neat romantic bow.

    One wrench is thrown in the plan when Shane’s father David (Dylan Walsh) shows up unexpectedly at the cottage and spots the pair in an intimate moment. They quickly make the decision to head to Shane’s parents’ house to defuse the situation. They suggest they had a parental intuition that Shane was gay but were shocked that he and Ilya have been seeing each other since their rookie season. It’s an emotional scene, especially when Shane’s mother Yuna (Christina Chang) begs her son for forgiveness for not making him feel comfortable enough to come out.

    On the note, and with a plan for the future, the season ends with Shane and Ilya driving off into the sunset. It perhaps is more of a setup for a second season than it is a completion of their storyline. And as long as that is a promise of the more Shane and Ilya, I’m okay with that.

    The best quotes from “Heated Rivalry” episode six, “The Cottage”

    “When I was a teenage I… I realized I may be that thing that hockey players like to throw around as an insult. The kind of language I heard in the locker room and on the ice was a constant reminder that I was different.” — Scott Hunter

    “When you have a secret that you work as hard as I did to protect… it’s exhausting. It’s a non-stop effort. It’s also really really lonely. Thankfully, I found the person who changes everything. And he gave me the confidence and strength and the need to be honest about who I am. Fear is a powerful thing. But then I found the one thing that is more powerful. So I share this honor with my teammates and my coaches. But I also share it with you, Kip. You have made me better in every conceivable way. I love you.” — Scott Hunter

    “It’s not a Jeep. It’s British. Practical.” — Shane Hollander

    “What the fuck is McGill? Is it a town?” — Ilya Rosanov

    “Stupid Canadian wolf bird.” — Ilya Rosanov

    “Good morning. I like you.” — Ilya Rosanov

    “But I am always thinking about this slow fucking hockey player with beautiful freckles… and a weak backhand.” — Ilya Rosanov

    “And maybe one day, when we both retire, we can be together… for real.” — Shane Hollander

    “She would have loved you, like I love you.” — Ilya Rosanov
    “Say it again in Russian, please.” — Shane Hollander

    “I’m sorry that I made you feel like you couldn’t tell me. I’m so so proud of you. Please forgive me.” — Yuna Hollander

  • “Heated Rivalry” episode 3 review: “Hunter”

    “Heated Rivalry” episode 3 review: “Hunter”

    “Heated Rivalry” takes a break from Ilya and Shane to follow another player who also has a simmering undercover romance.

    After two solid episodes to start the series, “Heated Rivalry” keeps the momentum going by breaking it. Rather than continuing Ilya and Shane’s simmering years-long affair, Scott Hunter (Francois Arnaud) and Kip (Robbie G.K.), a smoothie shop employee (do we have a name for those? Berr-istas?), take the roles of our dashing superhero-built romantic leads for episode three: “Hunter”. 

    It’s a bold move for a show to completely ignore its main storyline just three episodes in, but showrunner Jacob Tierney clearly has a mind for pacing a season. The episode breaks up the complex emotional push and pull between Ilya and Shane (it allows us to actually experience the timeline of their affair) and elicits different feelings of yearning that both recontextualizes all that’s come before it.

    “Heated Rivalry” is streaming on HBO Max.

    In many ways, “Hunter” plays like a typical rom-com. Scott, the captain of the New York Admirals (in many ways a literal Captain America), is in a slump. He’s in the latter stages of his career and has city and reputation weighing on his shoulders. Perhaps a change of routine is in order? Enter Straw+Berry. Actually, Scott enters Straw+Berry to find Kip adorably napping behind the counter holding a book on art history (we love a man that takes his passions seriously!). There’s some swoon-worthy back and forth banter before Kip hands him his smoothie (with extra super secret ingredient… banana!) and Scott’s off, which is when Kip’s coworker Maria (Bianca Nugara), watching the interaction slack-jawed from the back, screams a gay battle cry, “girl!?”

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    Those side characters are a huge part of the success of this episode of “Heated Rivalry” which up to this point felt staid whenever Ilya and Shane weren’t together on screen. “Hunter” often feels like an episode of “Friends”. We meet more people in Kip’s orbit like his friend and sometimes boss Shawn (Brandon Ash-Mohammed), his highly supportive dad (Matt Gordon), and the bartender at a gay bar he frequents Kyle (Matthew Finlan who was terrific in “Orphan: First Kill” a few years ago). This more fully-inhabited outside world feels so dynamic and colorful.

    After some kiki-ing with his friends teasing him about the encounter and a few more adorable encounters with Scott at the Smoothie shop, Kip is invited to a game with his no-nonsense, girl’s girl, face card never declined friend Elena (a sensational Nadine Bhabha). Bhabha is one of the actors in the first three episodes that goes toe to toe with any of the now four leads of the show. She has more agency and, despite not knowing much of her backstory, feels lived and three-dimensional. It is largely her encouragement that convinces Kip that Scott is interested in some way. Another meet-cute between the pair at a fundraising event Kip is working (how he has time to maintain that body we may never know), and a series of happy mishaps, land the pair in Scott’s apartment where he hilariously takes off his clothes unbeknownst to Kip and mutters, “Do you want the full tour now or…?” Kip picks the latter. Based on the first two episodes, we know exactly what that means.

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    It’s a lighter episode than the first two. It is a different but refreshing energy that is perhaps closer to what I expected when starting the show. It doesn’t take itself quite as seriously with witty banter replacing the sexually-charged back and forth between Ilya and Shane. For this short respite in the season, you feel warmth as the pair live in domestic bliss in Scott’s penthouse apartment. Yes, the basically Uhaul after the first date. That is until Kip and Scott remember that he’s a famous hockey player in a league without an openly gay player. 

    Arnaud and G.K.’s playful chemistry keeps you hooked, even if the writing sometimes veers into rom-com tropes. Arnaud in particular, physically imposing and brooding, finds lightness in Scott, similar to Connor Storrie’s performance as Ilya. When the romantic mirage of their courtship starts to break, it makes fallout all the more devastating. The weight of the secret dawns on Kip and, thanks to Elena’s intervention at a fundraiser in a standout scene for Bhabha, Scott. It leads to a quiet but heartbreaking confrontation where Kip invites Scott to his birthday party but refuses afraid he’ll be outed. He offers that in a few years after he retires they can be like “normal people.” Devastating for anyone, but particularly queer people.

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    The episode ends on a stunning directorial note from Tierney as the camera pulls out of the bar where all his friends and dad surround Kip with a single cupcake a candle to reveal Scott watching from outside. While episodes one and two give you all the sexually-charged energy you want from a show with this premise, “Hunter” expands the more sustainable possibilities for the world and confirms Tierney understands the story he’s telling. Had we been introduced to Scott and Kip as a proper B-plot in previous epsiodes, the isolation Ilya and Shane feel as, so far as they think, the only two gay players would be undercut. This allows the show’s slow burn and emotional core to remain intact. Now, how will the pair return? I guess we’ll have to wait and find out.

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  • ‘Marty Supreme’ is messy, mad, and mesmerizing

    ‘Marty Supreme’ is messy, mad, and mesmerizing

    Timothée Chalamet stars as a would-be table tennis star tears through New York City in the pursuit of greatness—and some cash—in “Marty Supreme”

    “Marty Supreme” is basically a comedy of errors, and series of unfortunate events, that pits would-be table tennis star Marty against his greatest enemy—failure. And for 149 glorious meteoric minutes, we want nothing more than for Marty to keep going. With a career-best performance by Timothée Chalamet, “Marty Supreme” is messy and maddening, but impossible to turn away from.

    “Marty Supreme” is in theaters on Christmas Day.

    After a series of setbacks that leaves a trail of black eyes, smashed cars, and orange ping pong balls, Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet) is told by a potential way out, “there are no second chances in life.” To which he responds with an emphatic, “why not?” That’s the attitude in which Marty walks (or perhaps “trounces” is more suitable) through life. He talks a mile a minute, lies like his life depends on it (because sometimes it does) and makes decisions like consequences don’t exist. And for 149 glorious meteoric minutes, we want nothing more than for Marty to keep going. Even if we can’t decide if we want to cheer, cry or hit him upside the head, there’s something intoxicating about the New York playground writer-director Josh Safdie allows Marty to play in.

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    We get to see this version of 1950s post-World War II New York the way Marty sees it, full of opportunity, danger and people that simply don’t understand if you want something you just have to try harder. Chalamet, sporting wire-framed glasses, greasy hair and even greasier mustache, is devilishly charming as we watch him float through the city trying to shake down his uncle for cash to get to the table tennis championships in London (armed robbery is the solution, of course). When he gets there, we get to understand what drives him: greatness. He doesn’t even say he’s competing in a tournament, which assembles the best table tennis players in the world, he says he’s winning it. Like this is a reality in his mind. The same reality that drives him to rack up a bill in the thousands at the Ritz Carlton, even after he’s told that treatment is reserved for the star players (he is one, in his mind).

    After watching him compete through several thrilling rounds of table tennis, which Safdie captures with sweat-dripping intensity, he makes it to the final against Japanese phenom Endo (Koto Kawaguchi. Despite his hard-hitting and running and diving, Marty is no match for Endo’s innovative technique. Marty is enraged, calling the win a sham and accusing him of cheating. There’s no way he lost (again, at least in his mind). It sets him on a course for revenge, if only he can gather the money to get to the next championship in Japan.

    “Marty Supreme” is basically a comedy of errors, and series of unfortunate events, that pits Marty against his greatest enemy—failure. As he tears through the city weaponizing his signature charm to try to gather the money for his flight, we see the limits of his own self-deluded confidence. From the Lower East Side to Chelsea to Jersey, Marty leaves a messy path as he storms through. We meet a cast of characters along the way including acclaimed Marty’s old gambling buddy Wally (a hilarious Tyler Okonma aka Tyler, The Creator), his mischievous mistress Rachel (a fabulous Odessa A’zion), and silent movie actress Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow) whose husband Milton (Kevin O’Leary of “Shark Tank”  giving a surprisingly delightful performance) could hold the key to Marty’s success.

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    Like his previous movies “Good Time” and “Uncut Gems“, Safdie balances the dark comedy and devastating reality of male hubris to a dizzying effect that is not just hypnotic, but damn entertaining. Marty’s inability to get any part of his plan right is satisfying for an audience that knows exactly who this man is. A man who believes that he is owed success and will do anything to obtain it. Chalamet is so convincing as Marty that it feels like he truly believes his own lies as he switches effortlessly between a charm offensive, machismo, or straight-up violence to get what he wants. It’s masterful and sinfully entertaining. 

    However, it is to an end. While “Marty Supreme” could have easily been just another entry in the dirtbag scammer movie, Safdie casts it against a world in flux where there’s nothing but opportunity whether for a Jewish girl from the Lower East Side or a Japanese table tennis player with his country on his shoulder. It is about dreams and who is allowed to chase them. It’s where those opposing forces of hoping Marty will stop ruining his own life and urging him to go on come from. While it is all fun and games (I mean, it’s literally ping pong), it’s also the stuff humanity is made of.

    The movie may not be perfect. “Marty Supreme” is messy and maddening, but isn’t life?

  • ‘Wicked: For Good’ stays true to its story, for better and worse | movie review

    ‘Wicked: For Good’ stays true to its story, for better and worse | movie review

    “Wicked: For Good” brings the story of Elphaba and Glinda to a satisfying conclusion, even as its source material’s flaws glimmer through.

    “Wicked: For Good“ is, much like Act 2 of the stage show, a mixed bag. It highlights the strongest aspects with raw and visceral musical numbers that underline the emotional struggles of the characters. At the same time, however, it emphasizes its weaknesses as it clunkily weaves “The Wizard of Oz” into the story. Still, and most importantly, the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda hits all the emotional notes that made Wicked such an enduring story. Cynthia Erivo continues to captivate on the screen, but it is Ariana Grande’s magnificent performance as an emotionally-torn Glinda that gives the movie the complexity and depth to become greater than the sum of its parts.

    “Wicked: For Good” is in theaters Friday.

    For better (good?) or worse, “Wicked: For Good” is exactly the movie you’re expecting. For fans of the stage show, it highlights its strongest aspects. The musical numbers have the same raw, visceral emotionality just blown up in scale while the characters’ complex journeys are even more deeply felt. With that, however, it emphasizes its notorious weaknesses. In particular, the way the plot twists to tie to “The Wizard of Oz” still feels clunky. Despite its failings, and most importantly, the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda hits all the emotional notes that’s made “Wicked” such an enduring classic. Perhaps even more so in the movie version.

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    Part one of the Wicked duology has the easier job. Not only is its tie to “The Wizard of Oz” tenuous, the archetypes of the characters are simple and familiar. Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) is the brainy outsider that rails against injustice and Glinda (Ariana Grande) is the self-absorded popular girl with an unexpected heart. “For Good” takes those archetypes, and throws them into a complex situation that mirrors the very real structures of oppression in our society. Structures that director Jon M. Chu emphasizes even more with propaganda against Elphaba flying through the streets of Oz and added scenes of prejudice that could be taken straight out of a Holocaust movie. Yeah, things get a little convoluted.

    The story’s clear ties to the darkest instincts of society sometimes rub against the silliness of a world where munchkins co-exist with talking animals. It’s maybe even more stark with the additions to the plot by screenwriters Winnie Holzman (who penned the stage version) and Dana Fox. Among those additions is a new song sung by Elphaba called “There’s No Place Like Home” where she encourages the animals, who are forced into hiding, to fight for their homeland. Like many of the changes to the story, it feels gratuitous and out-of-place in an attempt to emphasize a theme that is already underlined in the source material. Unlike the changes to the first movie that felt in service to the characters’ journeys. Holzman should have trusted her original writing because what works most often in the movie is what is taken directly from the stage. 

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    The second act of Wicked has always felt like Glinda’s story as she struggles between two truths: that she enjoys the adoration brought to her by working with The Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), and the fact that she knows that her friend is a good person. Ariana Grande’s magnificent performance underlines that paradox as she tries to hold on to her newfound power in Oz while protecting her friend. Part of that involves ignoring what is happening around her with the glimmer of hope that it’s not as bad as Elphaba says and that it is not too late to change course. But Grande never lets that hope come off as delusion. For a character as high off the ground as Glinda, she always feels grounded in something real.

    As the story progresses and alliances shift or are revealed, the main trio of Elphaba, Glinda and Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) circle each other with fiery passion fueled by their histories. Like in “As Long As Your Mine,” which feels even more like a showstopper in the movie. Bailey exchanges his character’s bravado for real bravery as he bares his genuine feelings for the first time. As the camera swirls around the couple, it feels like classic romantic movie magic. That is juxtaposed against “No Good Deed,” which burns with anger and pain as Elphaba, delivered with unrestrained ferocity by Erivo, faces her past and present failings in a desperate attempt to save what she loves. Chu finds the emotional core of each of these numbers and amplifies them to the cinematic proportions they deserve, even as his direction fails in other aspects.

    The final act, torn directly from the stage version, finally reaches the levels of greatness set by the first movie. And that is because at its core “Wicked” is a story about two women that in finding compassion in their differences drive each other to be better people. Erivo and Grande seem to understand that as they sing the title number to each other. Somehow they fill the space between the characters with all the hopes, regrets and words unsaid between them. It is movie musical magic. Despite its flaws, the booming crescendo of the piece, which has the characters facing uncertain futures, is deeply felt. It leaves you missing them as the screen fades to black. It is the raw and plain power musical theater captured on film. 

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  • ‘Black Phone 2’ brings nightmares to life

    ‘Black Phone 2’ brings nightmares to life

    “Black Phone 2” channels “A Nightmare on Elm Street” as Ethan Hawke’s serial killer The Grabber comes back from the dead

    Fans of the first movie will find the expansion of the boundaries of its world and the exploration of its characters’ wounds in “Black Phone 2” engaging. Is that enough nightmare fuel to hypnotize anyone else? Perhaps not. 

    “Black Phone 2“ is in theaters now.

    There is a cacophony of influences you can see in Scott Derrickson’s “Black Phone 2“, the follow-up to his surprise 2021 horror-thriller hit. The icy, snowstorm-plagued setting on the film harkens directly to Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” while the dream-world horror briefly explored in the first film is expanded to reference Freddy Krueger’s sleep-killing demonics in “A Nightmare on Elm Street“. There are shades of various camp slashers like “Friday the 13th“ and “Curtains” filtered through the lens of Stephen King’s visceral hauntings. And while all these references come together to create a film that is meaner, scarier and more effective than its predecessor, it also emphasizes the fact that it’s not as good as any of these stories.

    Trading the quiet of suburbia for the eerie isolation of a winter sleepaway camp, “Black Phone 2” continues the story of siblings Finney (Mason Thames), the only survivor of serial killer The Grabber, and his clairvoyant sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw). This time, however, the nightmare becomes an actual nightmare as the now dead Grabber (Ethan Hawke) turns his murderous sights to Gwen’s dreams that take place in a sort of spirit plane where he now resides. If it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to you, take solace in the fact that the logic never fully adds up.

    What is clear is how viscerally terrifying Gwen’s dreams are. Filmed in Super 16 film to create a moody dreamlike quality, the sequences feel like they give “Black Phone 2” a purpose. Haunted by both the souls of boys killed at the sleepaway camp and The Grabber himself, Gwen finds herself at war with the demon. However, those sequences lose their impact with time and the real world scares, mostly surrounding Finney and the eponymous black phone that saved him in the first movie, don’t give the same skin-crawling creeps.

    “Black Phone 2“ doesn’t ever lose you during its robust 114-minute runtime. But it never blows you away either, except perhaps a dream battle that blurs the line between nightmare and reality. It comes close when Derrickson fully commits to his 80s-tinged homage to horror movies past, but it never truly adds up to something that feels like it has reason to exist. 

    If you liked the first movie, the expansion of the boundaries of its world and the exploration of its characters’ wounds will be engaging. Is that enough nightmare fuel to hypnotize anyone else? Perhaps not. 

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  • ‘Him’ strives for greatness—and falls short

    ‘Him’ strives for greatness—and falls short

    An NFL prospect who falls under the tutelage of an enigmatic star of the game who may have sinister intentions in Jordan Peele-produced “Him”

    “Him” has a lot of potential, but mostly disappointment. Though it is teeming with ideas about sport, sacrifice, and legacy, they never become more than just that, ideas. Tyriq Withers, a genuine star-in-the-making, lights up the screen with every moment, but is ultimately let down by a weak screenplay and directorial vision.

    “Him” is in theaters September 19th. Watch the trailer.

    Few things are more terrifying to me than American Football. Pushing the limits of the human body, the toxic levels of testosterone, and the thirst for literal blood, sweat, and tears draw a visceral reaction. It is a culture and industry ripe for a horror movie. Frequently, director Justin Tipping’s “Him” draws comparisons between the sport and the gladiators of ancient times. So much of the way the sport (and business of the sport) is played today is akin to the forced violence of the Colosseum, where men are coerced into a spectacle. When the movie is actively drawing those comparisons, it finds its footing both thematically and narratively. The horrors feel close to reality. However, the movie too frequently strays from those ideas in favor of shock.

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    Something that Jordan Peele, whose company Monkeypaw produced the movie, has perfected is using terror as a means to an end. Nothing feels gratuitous, and everything has a line back to his ideas. It’s something that “Him” lacks, specifically in its main characters. Cameron Cade (star-on-the-rise Tyriq Withers) has been tapped as the next best thing in football as he ends his college career and begins to weigh his prospects in the NFL. That is, until a devastating attack leaves him with a potential traumatic brain injury that threatens his campaign for greatness.

    Not all is lost, however, when his agent (Jim Jeffries) reveals that football legend Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans) has invited Cam to train at his sprawling, isolated private compound. Over five days, in the dark, bruatlist passageways, Cam is treated to the highest quality care and training with the hope of reaching the heights of White’s career. And for White, he hopes he leaves a lasting legacy. However, as with all things that seem too good to be true, they often are. 

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    At first, Isaiah’s tutelage seems simply strict—no phones, no outside distractions, and no masturbation. However, very quickly, his instruction becomes increasingly devious as he strips Cam down—at times, literally—to his most animalistic tendencies. In one scene, perhaps the best of the film, Isaiah turns a passing drill into a game of survival. For each hesitation or dropped pass, Isaiah has a football shot into the face of a hapless free agent player desperate to get on his good side. It’s horrifying and forces Cam to be better, faster, and more than human.

    However, moments like these feel few and far between as the horror begins to feel formulaic—terrifying training drill, calm tension-building recovery, jump scare to the next day. Wayans is menacing enough as a tormenter, but the screenplay doesn’t allow him to explore all the intricacies of Isaiah as a character. There’s an idea about success and sacrifice percolating in some scenes, but the movie never fully explores them. It is simply terror without meaning.

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    By the time “Him” reaches its endgame, which is admittedly thrilling and shows flashes of the premise’s potential, there’s a sense of coldness. Unlike the rousing ending of Peele’s “Get Out” that feels like the natural conclusion, the finale of “Him” doesn’t feel earned. Instead, it simply ends because it must. Isaiah’s wife Elsie (a devilishly entertaining Julia Fox) and trainer (Tim Heidecker) add some amount of satisfaction to the conclusion, but you find yourself with more questions rather than answers.

    “Him” feels like the outline of a great film. It has the ideas to form into a compelling story about greatness and sacrifice and the aesthetics to derive real terror as you push the human body to its limit, but it never fully combines those things into something that feels complete. Each scene simply feels like it attaches to that last with the thinnest of threads, and the characters all the same. Tyriq Withers is a movie-star-in-the-making and very often when the movie works, it’s because of his performance. But it’s all wasted potential. It’s all greatness gone to waste.

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  • Crime romance ‘Carolina Caroline’ will steal your heart

    Crime romance ‘Carolina Caroline’ will steal your heart

    TIFF 2025 | ‘Carolina Caroline’ twists the Bonnie and Clyde story for the turn of the century as a couple stages a crime spree across the American south.

    “Carolina Caroline” is a fiery blend of romance and crime that crackles with energy, driven by Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner’s irresistible chemistry. Set against a ‘70s West Texas backdrop, the film turns small-time cons into a stylish, music-fueled crime spree that builds toward an inevitable crash. Director Adam Carter Rehmeier keeps the thrills high while asking whether the love is real or just another beautiful lie. Sexy, daring, and slyly subversive, it’s a crime romance worth taking for a ride.

    “Carolina Caroline“ premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

    “Let’s rob the whole world.” When titular Caroline mutters those words in the passenger seat of a hot-wired muscle car your heart skips a beat. It flutters from the romance of it. After all, she and her bank robbing beau Oliver fell in love over the fiery energy and adrenaline of committing a crime. But in the pit of your stomach you know that it can’t last because you’ve seen this story told countless times. You know that this kind of love and passion needs to have its tragic end. Its those expectations that writer-director Adam Carter Rehmeier relies on. Robbery and romance are just a part great American tale at the end of the day.

    Despite the familiar, “Carolina Caroline” constantly feels exciting. It’s like being behind the wheel of a vintage sports car. The rumble and purr of the engine gets your adrenaline going because you know the second you hit the gas there’s no slowing down. There’s a charming rhythm to the way Caroline and Oliver banter from the moment they meet cute over a small-time con he pulls off in the gas station she works at. It’s love at first fraud. Samara Weaving (“Ready or Not“) and Kyle Gallner (“Strange Darling“) ooze with charisma on screen. The 70s West Texas world of the film is built entirely on their backs. Their thick southern drawls, easy charm and instant chemistry immediately transport you.

    Their steamy tryst culminates in a proposition. Oliver asks Caroline for 500 dates. An offer Caroline can’t quickly refuse seeing as she’s never been outside of West Texas. Oliver’s easy cool, like a scruffy 70s James Dean, also isn’t easily refused. Just like his marks for a swindle, he seems to know what Caroline wants before she does. Thus begins a country music-driven romp through a slice of Americana as Oliver teaches Caroline the art of the grift—pickpocketing, hot-wiring and smooth talking—with the same breezy confidence that made Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s Eleven” a modern classic.

    However, petty theft has its limitations and Caroline and Oliver have a hunger for more just as their desire for each other grows. After all, justifying their actions by saying they’re stealing back from the corporations stealing from them doesn’t exactly work when they’re robbing small town gas stations. So, donning a severe black bob, dark sunglasses and a set of killer outfits, they set their sights on something bigger—the banks. Caroline hatches a series of bank robberies across the South with Oliver as getaway driver. Their debaucherous and sexy crime spree is impossible to resist.

    But the real brilliance of “Carolina Caroline” becomes obvious when it comes careening towards its inevitable conclusion. When you realize that you were the mark. Because if there’s anything more American than robbery, it’s lies. Just as Caroline and Oliver lie to themselves, and each other, they also convince us that this wasn’t a romanticized dream and that one day they’d drive off into the sunset having done justice. There aren’t any easy answers as to what is real and what is just a convincing lie they are telling themselves—or we are telling ourselves.

    Rehmeimer isn’t interested in guiding us to any sort of conclusions about the characters either. Their motivations are mostly kept close to their chests other than a scintillating one scene barn-burner performance from Kyra Sedgwick that pushes Caroline even further into her debauched decisions. Instead he convinces us of their love story and then asks the same questions Caroline asks herself, “are we good people doing bad things?” Instead of answering that question, “Carolina Caroline” asks us if the love was real or just another way to avoid reality. And what is more American than that?

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  • ‘Hamnet’ transforms grief into art | analysis and review

    ‘Hamnet’ transforms grief into art | analysis and review

    TIFF 2025 | “Hamnet” follows a couple as they grow into a family only to suffer a devastating loss that forces them to confront the question of how to move on

    “Hamnet” is devastating, but what makes it so powerful is that it is about the living—and what keeps us living. It’s our memories. It’s our art. It’s our stories. It’s our culture. They are why as we leave some behind we persist through grief. Through a vivid dreamlike vision, Chloe Zhao tackles the mysticism and lyricism of a family confronting loss with power and empthy. A cinematic masterpiece.

    Hamnet is playing at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

    “Hamnet” may be about a death, but what makes it so powerful is that it is about the living—and what keeps us living. In the face of a devastating loss, two parents have to find a way to go on. Writer-director Chloe Zhao, adapting Maggie O’Farrell’s novel of the same name, has an answer for them. It’s our memories. It’s our art. It’s our stories. It’s our culture. It is these pieces of our history and humanity that push us to persist through the pain of grief as we leave some behind. Not in spite of the loss, but in honor of it. To mourn is to remember. And to remember is to love. And “Hamnet” will be remembered as one of the best movies of the decade.

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    Adapting the novel was no easy task. While the story is simple, there’s a quiet mysticism and lyricism that ebbs and flows to create a tapestry of the family at its center. Not to mention, the Shakespeare of it all. It’s an atmosphere not easily captured on film. Zhao and cinematographer Łukasz Żal allow each frame to speak for the characters. They allow each image to carry all the interiority and emotionality of the characters. When William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal, “Aftersun“) and Agnes (Jessie Buckley, “I’m Thinking of Ending Things“) meet, it is like a force is driving them together. With few words and gentle touches, the magnitude of their connection is understood and will eventually drive them to marry.

    There is a dreamlike quality to the early scenes of “Hamnet.” As we watch William and Agnes grow up out of their families—they both never quite fit in with them anyway—and into their own just the two of them, it’s like we’re watching a prophecy fulfilled in front of us. And in a way, Agnes, who we learn is rumored to be the daughter of a forest witch, has a certainty to her life through an ability to see a person’s true nature (and future) by holding a person’s hand between the thumb and index finger.

    Zhao allows the story to unfold without urgency. Vivid visuals and crisp sound carry us through William and Agnes’s lives as they move into their own house, get married, and have children—Susanna and twins Judith and Hamnet (Jacobi Jupe). Warmth and joy are emanating from the screen, especially thanks to Buckley’s performance, which makes Agnes feel like a character with a past and future and Mescal who allows William’s interior genius to show on the surface. All is well until it isn’t.

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    Like its namesake play, “Hamnet” is a tragedy. However, because the movie takes its time building this family before our eyes, the death doesn’t simply feel like a piece of a story. It feels like a tragedy happening to us, like we are being robbed of our time with these people. Their loss is our loss. And like all grief, the rest plays in fits and starts as William disappears and Agnes performs the machinations of everyday life, filled with sadness, anger, and questioning. But that isn’t the story’s main focus.

    Instead, it strives to give the family and us, the audience, catharsis. In its stunning final act, we watch the story of “Hamnet” transform into the tale we’ve known for centuries. Except now, we have its intention. We can see the grief, anger, and questioning that we watched this family suffer. But we can also see the joy and time that they lost being reclaimed and enshrined in a story that we’re still telling today. That is the magnificent part of “Hamnet” and what makes it a masterpiece. It is cinema as therapy. It holds up a mirror to the audience and asks, “to be or not to be.” And the answer is clear.

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  • ‘Obsession’ is an instant horror classic

    ‘Obsession’ is an instant horror classic

    TIFF 2025 | Bear gets more than he bargained for when his wish that his long-time crush falls in love with him goes awry in “Obsession”

    With every eerie creep and dread-soaked beat, Obsession feels like a classic we’ve been watching for years—less derivative than timeless. It’s unquestionably a horror classic in the making.

    “Him” is in theaters September 19th.

    “Be careful what you wish for” has been a cornerstone of storytelling for ages. From genies to witches to mysterious neon-green serums that birth younger versions of ourselves, we’ve seen countless victims of desire fall prey to wanting more without sacrifice. Often, that premise has paired neatly with body horror—think “The Picture of Dorian Gray” or, more recently, “The Substance“. Both turn desire into a weapon against us. Writer-director Curry Barker taps into that tradition for his debut feature Obsession, delivering a film steeped in familiar tropes yet stamped with a singular vision. Remarkably, with every eerie creep and dread-soaked beat, Obsession feels like a classic we’ve been watching for years—less derivative than timeless. It’s unquestionably a horror classic in the making.

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    The setup is simple: Bear (Michael Johnston), a quintessential nice guy with little game, pines for his childhood friend and co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarrette). Despite warnings from his best friend Ian (Cooper Tomlinson), he plans to confess his feelings with a gift. At a crystal shop, he finds a red box straight out of a 1960s infomercial. The “One Wish Willow” promises its owner a single granted wish if they break the branch inside. When Bear chickens out after driving Nikki home, frustration gets the better of him. He wishes for Nikki to love him more than anything in the world—and breaks the branch. Instantly, Nikki appears on her porch, staring. She looks like Nikki, but instead of playful sarcasm, her voice drips with desperate affection. Bear is hooked.

    Their whirlwind “romance” escalates fast. Nikki practically moves in overnight, smothering him with affection, buying gifts, and clinging to his every move. Friends, especially Sarah (Megan Lawless), are baffled—after all, she recalls Nikki told her she saw Bear as a little brother. Bear ignores the comments. He finally got what he wanted. But of course, you know how the story goes: be careful what you wish for.

    The only red flag, if you will, is Nikki sometimes snaps into another persona—confused, screaming, as if her soul were in torment. She stares at Bear from the dark corners of his bedroom, hyperventilates at the slightest criticism, and, oh, may have cooked his cat into a sandwich. At least she leaves him a cute love note.

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    The brand of horror that Barker presents isn’t necessarily new, but he employs it brilliantly. Through shadow and light, Nikki becomes a specter (or demon) haunting Bear’s apartment, creating an atmosphere of constant dread. It’s like a haunted house and the ghost is your girlfriend. Her unnatural, unpredictable movements recall Japanese horror like “The Grudge” and “Pulse“, or possession films like “The Exorcist“, where the terror lies in losing control of your body. Subtle hints suggest what happened to the real Nikki, but “Obsession” wisely never explains everything, making the story all the more horrifying.

    Johnston’s endearing performance has an easy charm that would’ve played perfectly in the romantic comedy. Alas, “Obsession” isn’t one. You feel for Bear. And you’re rooting for him. It makes the horror to come all the more tragic. As Bear finally admits that something may be wrong with Nikki, he starts to distance himself from her. She doesn’t take it well. As she turns from his dream girl to his worst nightmare, a path of blood and destruction follows that will have you glued to your seat and gripping the arm rest.

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    Obsession feels like part of a new wave of horror. Alongside filmmakers like Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Weapons) and the Philippou brothers (Talk to Me), Barker leaves “prestige horror” behind in favor of something meaner, darker, and more cynical—where the consequences are deserved, brutal, and terrifying in their simplicity: you wanted too much. It’s horror for the post-pandemic age, where nothing is scarier than our own choices. At the same time, it’s devilishly entertaining, laced with dark comedy and kinetic filmmaking that make it endlessly rewatchable. Obsession feels like the kind of classic horror you revisit every October—that you fall in love with every moment of. Guess you could say we’re…

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  • Shakespeare’s sad boy ‘Hamlet’ gets a thrilling modern reinvention

    Shakespeare’s sad boy ‘Hamlet’ gets a thrilling modern reinvention

    TIFF 2025 | ‘Hamlet’ gets a modern retelling that trades Denmark for London’s high society, infused with Hindu culture and led by Oscar winner Riz Ahmed.

    Aneil Karia’s “Hamlet” fuses Shakespeare’s lyrical verse with Hindu culture and a majority South Asian cast, yielding a fresh, electric retelling. Riz Ahmed commands the screen, from a ferocious BMW-set soliloquy to a reimagined wedding sequence that spirals into chaos. Though shifting the story to corporate intrigue limits its scope and sidelines subplots, Karia’s visceral, emotive filmmaking and Ahmed’s powerhouse performance anchor the film. Not every reinvention lands, but its clarity of vision makes it undeniably compelling.

    Hamlet is playing at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

    Shakespeare’s rich, lyrical language delivered by a majority South Asian cast already breathes fresh energy into this modern retelling of “Hamlet”, giving it a mesmerizing, electric charge. Yet it isn’t simply the infusion of Hindu culture that makes Aneil Karia’s adaptation so compelling. Its strength lies in his bold reimagining of the play’s most iconic moments, rendered with filmmaking that is visceral, muscular, and deeply emotive. These choices elevate both the performances, particularly Oscar winner Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal“) in the title role, and, at times, the story itself, pushing them beyond their already formidable power.

    A gripping reinvented wedding

    It is best displayed when the movie reaches its peak in a stunning sequence where “The Murder of Gonzago” scene from the play is reimagined as a choreographed performance at Claudius (Art Malik) and Gertrude’s (Sheeba Chaddha giving a gripping performance) wedding. Hamlet transforms the festivities into an accusation, using the stage to expose what he believes is his uncle’s crime. The dancers begin with a joyous traditional Indian routine, vibrant and full of life. Then, at Hamlet’s direction, the celebration curdles. Movements grow jagged and violent as the performers tear and claw at the main dancer representing the king. The murder is pantomimed in escalating frenzy, while the lighting and editing spiral into chaos, building toward a breathless climax that leaves the wedding suffocated in silence.

    Ahmed’s turn in the title role carries the same breathtaking force. Karia stages the “to be or not to be” soliloquy inside a speeding BMW, as Hamlet barrels through London’s midnight streets in a fit of road rage. Ahmed’s face grips the screen, taut with intensity, as he unfurls Shakespeare’s verse in a rhythm that lands with the precision of a freestyle rap. When Hamlet releases the wheel and lets the car drift into oncoming traffic, the monologue explodes into pure cinema: headlights slash across the frame, horns blare, and vehicles swerve in a symphony of chaos. Ahmed and Karia channel fury rather than melancholy, as the character is iconically known for, reframing Hamlet as a man consumed by rage.

    A scaled down “Hamlet”

    Not every reinvention strikes the same chord. Shifting the action from Denmark to the interal politics of a family-run conglomerate narrows the scope, trading Shakespeare’s sense of epic tragedy for corporate intrigue. The film hints at social commentary in its depiction of the company’s gentrification schemes, but these threads never fully develop, in part because so much dialogue is lifted wholesale from the play. The focus instead tightens on Hamlet’s grief, amplifying Ahmed’s towering performance but diminishing other arcs—his fractured bond with Ophelia (a luminous Morfydd Clark), or the political maneuverings of Polonius (an always terrific Timothy Spall) and his fiery son Laertes (a delightful Joe Alwyn). The result is a portrait of Hamlet that burns brilliantly at the center, even as the world around him flickers at the edges.

    Some may argue that Karia never fully justifies why this version of Hamlet needs to exist. And to a degree, the film doesn’t wring every nuance from Shakespeare’s text. Yet the sheer force of weaving Hindu culture and South Asian performers into the fabric of those iconic lines feels like reason enough—even if this isn’t the brooding “sad boy” Hamlet audiences have come to expect. The vision remains clear and intentional, even when the storytelling falters. “To be or not to be”—Karia responds with a defiant answer: “I choose to be myself.“

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  • The situationship tragicomedy of ‘Oh, Hi’ | movie review

    The situationship tragicomedy of ‘Oh, Hi’ | movie review

    Oh, Hi stars Molly Gordon and Logan Lerman as a would-be couple whose romantic rural getaway is turned upside down by a misunderstanding that careens into comedy of errors.

    What starts as charming rom-com quickly careens into a tragicomedy about a situationship from hell when would-be couple Iris (Molly Gordon) and Isaac (Logan Lerman) realize they’re not on the same page about their relationship. Despite story flaws, Oh, Hi‘s comedic highs and surprise profundidty make it worth the committment.

    Oh, Hi is in theaters now.

    Iris (Molly Gordon) is having an idyllic weekend Isaac (Logan Lerman) in the comfy countryside of High Falls, which she mistakenly reads as “O High” on a dilapited sign. The couple’s playful chiding after her mistake and a hilarious run-in with a strawberry stand (no but literally, Isaac accidentally drives into the stand leaving the woman behind it in disbelief) is swoon-inducing. It just seems like they get each other and their weird quirks. As they make out in their rustic vacation rental, their adorable banter about suffering from a rare disorder that forces them to have sex immediately whenever they visit somewhere new (“I haven’t seen you at the meetings,” Isaac quips), you can’t help but think they’re a match made in heaven even though they’ve only been seeing each other a few months.

    Freeze frame. They weren’t.

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    The first act of Oh, Hi is a charming rom-com conceit. A new couple from the city take a romantic trip to the countryside to be met with a series of ridiculous situations that just further strengthen their bond. Like while swimming in the pond just off the property they’re chastised by local Steve (David Cross) for having sex in the water (they weren’t). They laugh it off like they seem to do in any situation. They abide by relationship rule number one: commit to the bit. It’s a delight to watch and often laugh out loud funny. It helps that Gordon and Lerman have so much charisma and chemistry. That’s why when they decide to have some fun with a pair of handcuffs they find in the bedroom closet, it’s all fun and games. Until it isn’t.

    In the afterglow of their sexual experimentation while Isaac is still handcuffed to the bed, Iris reveals she’s falling in love with him. Immediately, the warm spell of the movie is broken when Isaac quickly corrects her that he’s not looking for anything serious… Yeah, Iris doesn’t take that well. The revelation leads to a comedy of errors as Iris, fueled by her mother’s encouragement to fight for their relationship and, the real evil, relationship influencers, attempts to get Isaac to fall in love with her.

    At times, Oh, Hi flirts with pulling a Misery. Gordon’s high-strung mania makes you feel like she can take a sledgehammer to Isaac’s ankles at any moment. Instead, the movie stays firmly in comedy territory as Iris’s increasingly desperate attempts to get Isaac to see the error of his ways gets more ridiculous. Eventually, she calls in reinforcements in the form of her best friend Max (Geraldine Viswanathan), and Max’s boyfriend, Kenny (John Reynolds), who may cause more harm than good.

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    The ridiculousness of the situation often threatens to derail the legitimately biting probe into modern-day relationship dynamics and the dreaded situationship hell that is plauging every 20-somethings dating life. It’s a tragicomedy in that way. However, writer-director Sophie Brooks and Gordon, who co-penned the screenplay, struggle with the movie’s identity. At times Oh, Hi is a slapstick comedy of errors and others a profound dating dramedy and it can’t seem to find the right formula.

    Despite its drawbacks, Oh, Hi‘s highs are… well, high. Lerman’s performance is a deeply complex speciman of the male psyche and their inability to get out of their own way (men would rather by handcuffed to a bed for days than go to therapy). Gordon, along with Viswanathan and Reynolds, hits every comedic beat with her drive delivery and manic mood swings. And the movie finds a touching middle ground in its debate of who’s right and who’s wrong in this situationship. Perhaps there was a great version of this movie to be found, but what’s there is worth the commitment.

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  • 2019 Oscar Predictions: Best Actress

    2019 Oscar Predictions: Best Actress

    Best Actress is one of the most competitive categories at the 2019 Oscars as Glenn Close hopes to finally seal the deal.

    Best Actress, unlike its Best Actor counterpart, is a little bit more clear in terms of who the top contenders are. And many of them follow Oscar history — young ingenues, overlooked veterans. However, it’s a long list of contenders. Here are our predictions for Best Actress at the 2019 Oscars.

    Current Rankings

    Glenn Close
    The Wife

    Olivia Coleman
    The Favourite

    Lady Gaga
    A Star is Born

    Melissa McCarthy
    Can You Ever Forgive Me?

    Yalitza Aparicio
    Roma

    Check out all our 2019 Oscar Predictions: Best Picture | Best Actor | Best Actress | Best Supporting Actor | Best Supporting Actress

    The Frontrunners

    Glenn Close, The Wife

    On her 7th career nomination, Glenn Close should FINALLY win her much deserved Oscar for The Wife. The overdue veteran narrative is always a strong one and Close is the epitome of one. The one knock against her is that her film The Wife is not widely seen. Still, her narrative should be strong enough for a win.

    Olivia Coleman, The Favourite

    Playing a queen often wins you an Oscar — Helen Mirren won for The Queen and Judi Dench won for Shakespeare in Love. However, Olivia Coleman’s performance as Queen Anne in Yorgos Lanthimos’ wonderfully weird The Favourite is not your typical performance.

    However, after winning the Globe and giving an endearing speech her stock has certainly risen. If it wasn’t for Close, she’d be the clear… favorite.

    A Star is Born Best Actress
    Lady Gaga could receive her first Oscar nomination in Best Actress for A Star is Born.

    Lady Gaga, A Star is Born

    Although Cher and Barbara Streisand both won Oscars after successful careers as musicians — this video explains how Cher pulled off her win for Moonstruck — Lady Gaga has an uphill climb for her performance in A Star is Born.

    After shockingly losing the Golden Globe to Glenn Close (see above), it’s clear that she’s not going to be as much of a force as we thought. Maybe her public persona as a pop star is hurting her. Either way, she’s definitely winning an Oscar this year for co-writing “Shallow”.

    Dark Horse

    Yalitza Aparicio, Roma

    Alfonso Cuarón’s magnum opus Roma — in a career full of them including my personal favorite Children of Men — is going to be one of the rare foreign language films to break through in major categories. Despite that, the film’s lead Yalitza Aparicio is going to have a harder time making it into the category.

    Foreign language performances rarely make it into the acting categories. And to make it even harder, she doesn’t speak English, which will make connecting with voters difficult — even though it really shouldn’t. That being said, she’s the heart of the film and could be swept along if the movie does well in nominations.

    Long Shot

    Melissa McCarthy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?

    Can You Ever Forgive Me? might have fallen out of the conversation for Best Picture, but one consistent throughout the season has been Melissa McCarthy in the lead role as Lee Israel.

    It’s certainly a change up from her typical comedic performance, which might be to her advantage. However, because of the film’s waning buzz and the fact that her co-star Richard E. Grant has been singled out for praise, she’s on the bubble.