A COMPLETE UNKNOWN (2024) review
written by: James Mangold and Jay Cocks
produced by: Fred Berger, James Mangold, Alex Heineman, Bob Bookman, Peter Jaysen, Alan Gasmer, Jeff Rosen & Timothée Chalamet
directed by: James Mangold
rated: R (for language)
runtime: 141 min.
U.S. release date: December 25, 2024
There will never be a straightforward biopic about Bob Dylan. That’s because there’s never been anything straightforward about the enigmatic Nobel Prize-winning singer/songwriter. His persona has constantly been evolving and changing as either a reflection of the times or a contradiction. Todd Haynes knew this when he made “I’m Not There,” which is why the 2007 film looked at the many stages of Dylan’s life through a prism in which six actors embodied different versions of the poet troubadour. For “A Complete Unknown,” director James Mangold also knows this as he presents a protagonist who lives up to the film’s title. Read more…
BABYGIRL (2024) review
written by: Halina Reijn
produced by: David Hinojosa, Halina Reijn, and Julia Oh
directed by: Halin a Reijn
rated: R (R for strong sexual content, nudity and language)
runtime: 114 min.
U.S. release date: December 25, 2024
The tagline to the latest film from Dutch writer/director Halina Reijn’s “Babygirl” promises, “This Christmas get exactly what you want,” which could mean various things. If you’re a fiftysomething female with unfulfilled sexual desires who secretly yearns to be dominated by a bold twentysomething male, this one’s for you. Or maybe you’re a twentysomething corporate bro who knows precisely what kind of carnal antics your company’s attractive fiftysomething CEO is lacking. If so, this psychological erotic thriller is calling you. Perhaps you lament the absence of the erotic thrillers of the 80s and 90s from the likes of Paul Verhoeven and Adrian Lyne that used to be released in theaters. Well, “Babygirl” will likely satiate that void. Reijn (“Bodies Bodies Bodies”) has all of this in mind while taking a surprisingly smart and unexpected approach to this provocative dramedy that’s a horror flick for prudes. Read more…
KRAVEN THE HUNTER (2024) review
written by: Richard Wenk, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway
produced by: Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach and David Householter
directed by: J.C. Chandor
rated: R for strong bloody violence and language.
runtime: 127 min.
U.S. release date: December 13, 2024
Is it possible that 2024 is the year that Sony’s Spider-Man Universe will end? Let’s hope so. From a critical perspective, their “Madam Web” movie released in February was laughably bad, and its second sequel, “Venom: The Last Dance,” was a murky CGI mess that dropped in October. Financially, the two movies bombed and underperformed, respectively, and it looks like the much-delayed “Kraven the Hunter” will receive a similar fate. That’s what happens when you build a Spider-Man Universe without a Spider-Man. Read more…
WICKED (2024) review
written by: Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox
produced by: Marc Platt and David Stone
directed by: John M. Chu
rated: PG (for some scary action, thematic material and brief suggestive material)
runtime: 160 min.
U.S. release date: November 22, 2024
Universal Pictures doesn’t want you to know that “Wicked” is actually “Wicked: Part 1” until you’re seated in the theater. Such labeling was nowhere to be found in the extensive marketing, and it didn’t become known until screenings of the movie occurred leading up to its release. Typically, breaking up a storyline into two parts usually happens when a franchise hopes to extend its closure, like the “Harry Potter” and “The Hunger Games” series. Still, Warner Bros. Pictures recently did the same thing when the first “Dune” movie came out in 2021. There was a blink-and-you-missed-it “Part One” text in that movie, and now in “Wicked,” it appears in small letters in the lower right of the screen. It’s as if the studios are afraid the audience knows beforehand that what they’re starting will be split in two. But, if the stories already have a massive fanbase and the movies are good, as is the case with “Dune” and “Wicked,” what are they afraid of? Read more…
GLADIATOR II (2024) review
written by: David Scarpa
produced by: Ridley Scott, Michael Pruss, Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher & David Franzoni
directed by: Ridley Scott
rated: R (for strong bloody violence)
runtime: 148 min.
release date: November 22, 2024
24 years ago, we lived in a world where “Gladiator” beat out “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” for Best Picture at the Oscars. It had been quite a while since any Hollywood studio brought a Roman Empire epic to the big screen, and director Ridley Scott aimed to revitalize the genre. It became a huge hit and earned five Oscars, including a Best Actor award for star Russell Crowe. Indeed, audiences were entertained! A month after its release, there were talks of either a prequel or sequel, and rumors continued over the years until Paramount took over the rights from Dreamworks around 2018, and now we have “Gladiator II”. Read more…
ANORA (2024) review
written by: Sean Baker
produced by: Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker
directed by: Sean Baker
rated: R (for strong sexual content throughout, graphic nudity, pervasive language, and drug use)
runtime: 139 min.
U.S. release date: October 18, 2024
Each film in Sean Baker’s potent and absorbing filmography defies a fair summarization. Sure, many of his films follow sex workers, but their goal is to destigmatize and illuminate them in a way in which we see their humanity. Maybe, just maybe, someone who works as a stripper or as an escort, or acts in porn, isn’t all that different from you and me. Indeed, Baker has developed an unexpectedly astute penchant for portraying the complexities of people we would normally, and sometimes easily dismiss, summing them up upon our first introduction. For his eighth narrative feature, the American writer/director offers the rom-com dramedy “Anora,” which could be described as “Pretty Woman” and “Uncut Gems” if you ground them down and snorted them up and let the next 2 hours and 19 minutes play while working off a bender. However, like all his films, there’s always much more going on. Read more…
A REAL PAIN (2024) review
written by: Jesse Eisenberg
produced by: Ewa Puszczyńska, Jennifer Semler, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone
Ali Herting & Dave McCary
directed by: Jesse Eisenberg
rated: R (for language throughout and some drug use)
runtime: 90 min.
U.S. release date: November 1, 2024
“A Real Pain” is the second film written and directed by actor Jesse Eisenberg after his directorial debut at Sundance in 2022 with “When You Finish Saving the World” backed by A24. That film revolved around a contentious relationship between a mother and her teen son, and for his latest, Eisenberg focuses once again on family. This time, Eisenberg (working with Searchlight Pictures) casts himself as one of a pair of cousins who reconnect on a tour of modern-day Poland in honor of their recently deceased grandmother, who lived there before the Holocaust. With the pair being opposites, there are funny and awkward moments in an overall reflective journey that comes across as quite authentic, vulnerable, and personal. Read more…
HERETIC (2024) review
written by: Scott Beck & Bryan Woods
produced by: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, Julia Glausi, Stacey Sher, Jeanette Volturno
directed by: Scott Beck & Bryan Woods
rated: R (for some bloody violence)
runtime: 111 min.
U.S. release date: November 8, 2024
“So, you have to go doon… in order to go oot!”
One of my favorite things about one of my favorite films of the new millennium, 2012’s “Cloud Atlas,” was the casting of Hugh Grant in several villainous roles. Sure, Grant had played his fair share of cads over the years, but he’d never exuded pure evil in this way, and it looked like a new dawn was breaking in his career. Grant’s villain era has been a thing of pure delight, from those “Cloud Atlas” baddies to “Paddington 2″s deliciously vain antagonist and several prestige television villains, Grant seems to be having a great deal of fun on screen for the first time in a long time. Read more…
JOKER: FOLIE À DEUX (2024) review
written by: Scott Silver and Todd Phillips
produced by: Todd Phillips, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, and Joseph Garner
directed by: Todd Phillips
rated: R (for some strong violence, language throughout, some sexuality, and brief full nudity)
runtime: 138 min.
U.S. release date: October 4, 2024 & October 29, 2024 (Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Google Play & Fandango At Home)
I watched “Joker: Folie à Deux” on a Tuesday afternoon after the movie’s opening weekend and had the theater all to myself. Granted, that’s not the first time I’ve experienced a solo viewing in a multiplex, but considering this is the sequel to 2019’s “Joker” (also released in October), which became the first R-rated movie to make over a billion dollars and would go on to win two Oscars of its eleven nominations, it was sort of ironic. Read more…
SMILE 2 (2024)
written by: Parker Finn
produced by: Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, Isaac Klausner, Parker Finn & Robert Salerno
directed by: Parker Finn
rated: R (for strong bloody violent content, grisly images, language throughout and drug use)
runtime: 127 min.
U.S. release date: October 18, 2024
“Smile 2” is one of those sequels in which the viewer would benefit from seeing the first movie. That is if you’re into intense frights. One could still find entertainment from this first follow-up to 2022’s “Smile,” a horror flick from writer/director Parker Finn which went on to become the third highest-grossing film that year (impressive, considering it was originally going to be relegated to streaming land), but this is an instance in which having familiarity will offer up some satisfying dividends. Finn returns with the same crew to continue this terrifying tale, once again revolving around a young woman trying to make sense of her increasing madness while gradually expanding his world-building. Read more…
