MOVIE REVIEW: MOTHER MARY

 

Long-buried wounds rise to the surface when iconic pop star Mother Mary reunites with her estranged best friend and former costume designer on the eve of her comeback performance.

Director: David Lowery

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer, Atheena Frizzell, Kaia Gerber, Jessica Brown Findlay, Isaura Barbé-Brown, Alba Baptista, Sian Clifford,  FKA Twigs

Release Date: April 17, 2026

Genre: Drama, Music, Thriller

Rated R for some violent content and language.

Runtime: 1h 50m

Review:

David Lowery’s Mother Mary is a densely packed, mesmerizing film that is unconventional at nearly every turn which is sure to turn off plenty of viewers but those who engage with it will find a haunting tale powered by excellent turns from Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel.  Lowery’s film feels like stage play for large portions of its runtime, keeping the focus on the central pair and their damaged relationship with the script offering up a series of impressive monologues for each.  The dialogue drives the film, giving Michaela Coel plenty of time to shine as she delivers a nuanced fiery turn.  She captures the screen with impressive confidence as you get a sense of her character’s pain and resolute determination to move forward in spite of the past.  Her delivery captures the lion’s share of the theme’s Lowery packed into its script with such ease that she almost drowns out Hathaway at various points throughout the film.  That’s not to say Anne Hathaway doesn’t deliver a strong turn because she’s rather fascinating as the broken pop star searching for absolution.  It’s all very dialogue heavy before things shift into something more metaphysical and abstract which is all open to interpretation.  This isn’t the type of film that’s provides a straight-line narrative which can make it a challenging especially since Lowery packs the script with so many metaphors and analogies that it overwhelms the narrative at various points during the film.  His visuals also vacillate between genres going from a single location melodrama to horror with moments of a concert film interspersed in between.  Some of it works incredibly well, such as a rather virtuoso moment that has Hathaway’s Mother Mary come off and going on stage in rapid succession, while others don’t land as intended which leaves you with a sense that the film would have benefited from a more focused approach.  Mother Mary is bound to elicit a wide range of reactions since it’s open to multiple interpretations by design which is sure to please some but utterly frustrate others. 

B+

MOVIE REVIEW: MICHAEL

 

The story of pop superstar Michael Jackson -- from his extraordinary early days in the Jackson 5 to the visionary artist whose creative ambition fuels a relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world.

Director: Antoine Fuqua

Cast: Jaafar Jackson, Nia Long, Laura Harrier, Miles Teller, Colman Domingo

Release Date: April 24, 2026

Genre: Biography, Drama, History, Music

Rated PG-13 for some thematic material, language, and smoking.

Runtime: 2h 7m

Review:

Michael is a glossy biopic that recreates major moments in his career with impressive care and attention to detail but the rest is a sanitized, superficial look at his life and complicated legacy.  Antonie Fuqua delivers a well acclimated film that moves at steady pace as he jumps through time periods fairly quickly relying a bit too much on montages.  The early Jackson 5 days are all appropriately nostalgic while also setting up the film’s central relationship between Michael and his task master father Joe.  Unfortunately, Fuqua seems impatient with the non-musical moments as he rushes through most of the character moments in order to get to the next set piece.  There are hints dropped here and there about Michael’s insulated, controlled life leading to his eccentricities as he gets older, but it’s never explored in any meaningful way.  There are times when you feel like the film starts to swerve into more uncomfortable territory and it quickly pulls back into safer, family approved aspects of his life.  It’s a real shame because you get the sense throughout the film that there’s a better, more insightful film in there which has been stripped down to basics to avoid dealing with any of the issues of his complicated upbringing, career and life.  It’s a wasted opportunity especially since the two actors portraying Michael turn in impressive turns that really capture his aura especially as a performer.  Juliano Krue Valdi plays young Michael in the early moments, and he isn’t asked to do much dramatically, but he really captures the look and feel of Jackson from those early performances.  Jaafar Jackson, as the older version of Michael, is really impressive as he captures his mannerism on and off stage to an eerie degree especially with the help of prosthetics and makeup in the back half of the film.  It’s just a shame the script doesn’t offer him much to work on the dramatic end since he proves to be a capable actor.  We are given glimpses into him creating his signature album, Thriller, but doesn’t offer much in the way of his inspiration or motivation outside of wanting to break free from his father’s grip.  It would have helped if any of the supporting characters were fleshed out with only Coleman Domingo’s Joe Jackson leaving an impression.  Domingo, under heavy prosthetics as well, steals every scene he’s in with his fiery turn that also could have also benefited from meatier script to work with.  KeiLyn Durrel Jones plays Michael's bodyguard, and he’s presented as a pseudo father figure/protector, but the film never bothers to explore their relationship outside of a few quick moments between the two.  It all reinforces how superficial Michael is as biopic since its more concerned with recreating well known moments than digging into what makes the man tick something that the second film, hopefully, digs into.  

C+

MOVIE REVIEW: NORMAL

 

The new sheriff of a small town in Minnesota uncovers a dark secret while investigating a botched bank robbery.

Director: Ben Wheatley

Cast:  Bob Odenkirk, Henry Winkler, Lena Headey, Reena Jolly, Ryan Allen, Billy MacLellan, Brendan Fletcher

Release Date: April 17, 2026

Genre: Action, Crime, Thriller

Rated R for strong bloody violence, and language.

Runtime:1h 30m

Review:

Ben Wheatley’s Normal is what happens when you throw Fargo, 30 Days of Night (sans the vampires) and Hot Fuzz into a blender, the result is a bloody but choppy, tonally inconsistent film that’s highly entertaining in spots thanks to Bob Odenkirk keeping the whole thing from flying off the rails.  Wheatley’s film has an easy air about it, especially in its opening act as we are introduced to the assorted collection of characters in the quirky small town.  He gives you just enough of a hint that something’s off about the whole thing before the full reveal of the town’s secrets.  Bob Odenkirk’s world weary interim Sheriff, Ulysses, is more than content to just go through the motions and humor of the small town and its quirky residents.  His own checkered past has him adrift, moving from one town to the next, hoping to reconnect with his estranged wife.  A pair of hapless bank robbers reveal the town’s ugly underbelly that begins with the rather graphic violence that takes up the film’s back half.  There are wild swings in tone from there which occasionally shift from serious to devilishly brutal, sometimes in the same scene.  It makes for a herky-jerky feel as the film struggles to maintain a steady rhythm even as the action gets more insanely kinetic and ultra-violent.  The biggest issue is that, besides Odenkirk’s Ulysses, everybody else onscreen is little more than thinly written caricatures who are given scant time to leave any sort of noticeable impression.  Billy MacLellan’s Deputy Mike Nelson and Henry Winkler’s Mayor Kibner both turn in fun performances but the script wastes their efforts by taking them offscreen far too early.  Those sorts of missed opportunities keep Normal from being something far more memorable than it ends up being.   

C+

MOVIE REVIEW: LEE CRONIN'S THE MUMMY

 

The young daughter of a journalist disappears into the desert without a trace. Eight years later, the broken family is shocked when she's returned to them. However, what should be a joyful reunion soon turns into a living nightmare as she starts to transform into something truly horrifying.

Director: Lee Cronin

Cast:  Jack Reynor, Laia Costa, May Calamawy, Natalie Grace, Verónica Falcón

Release Date: April 17, 2026

Genre: Horror

Rated R for strong disturbing violent content, gore, language and brief drug use

Runtime: 2h 14m

Review:

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is an intense and gory horror film that feels more like a mash up of The Exorcist and other assorted classics more than its namesake.  Writer/Director Lee Cronin sets up an intriguing mystery initially after the family’s daughter is introduced and then quickly kidnapped before jumping eight years into the future.  He takes the time to let the characters breathe so we get a good idea of the family dynamics at play in the aftermath of the disappearance.  Once the missing daughter reappears, after a mysterious plane crash, Cronin starts to slowly unfurl a series of gory moments of body horror that are definitely not for the squeamish.  There are plenty of well set up scares throughout especially once Natalie Grace’s comatose Katie goes full spider monkey mode.  There’s a grab bag of possession tropes thrown at the screen with The Exorcist being the most obvious along with bits of The Omen and even some elements from Bring Her Back in the back half of the film.  Cronin decide to take the film in another direction entirely in its final act, changing the tone entirely which feels closer to his last film, a strange choice to say the least especially considering slow burn set up.  This is the type of horror film that suffers from a lack of individual identity as it’s clearly borrowing from other well-known horror classics, but it doesn’t bring anything new to the table.  It’s frustrating because the film isn’t terrible since it’s fairly engaging and entertaining for large swaths of time and the cast delivers solid performances across the board.  Jack Reynor and Laia Costa are strong as the parents with my sole complaint being they seem way too young considering the kids ages.  They are appropriately distressed and loving even as the situation begins to spiral out of control with small tidbits of resentment between the pair offered up but never explored.  The younger cast members each turn in believable performances with the youngest, Billie Roy, getting to unleash a particularly memorable line in the third act.  Natalie Grace is appropriately disturbing throughout boasting heavy make up throughout that does its job of looking disturbing and gross from the moment she shows up onscreen.  Verónica Falcón has fun with her limited screentime but I do wish Cronin had made better use of her talents.  Lee Cronin’s The Mummy offers up a handful of head scratching decisions which leaves the whole thing feeling a missed opportunity since there are signs of a better movie scattered throughout.    

C

MOVIE REVIEW: FACES OF DEATH

 

A content moderator stumbles upon a series of violent videos that appear to re-enact death scenes from the infamous 1978 film "Faces of Death." In an online world where nothing can be trusted, she must determine whether the violence is fake or unfolding in real time.

Director: Daniel Goldhaber

Cast: Barbie Ferreira, Dacre Montgomery, Josie Totah, Aaron Holliday, Jermaine Fowler, Charli XCX

Release Date: April 10, 2026

Genre: Horror

Rated R for strong bloody violence and gore, sexual content, nudity, language and drug use.

Runtime: 1h 46m

Review:

Reviving the infamous pseudo-documentary, Faces of Death, into a feature is a tall order but this meta-approach about the current algorithm driven culture creating a serial killer is more insightful than expected.  Writer/Director Daniel Goldhaber shows a healthy amount of confidence behind the camera as he sets up the general premise and concepts which offer up plenty of intriguing about the original documentary and how the world has changed since it caused such a stir.  There are plenty of tantalizing ideas thrown about in the first half of the film especially reflecting on how horrors in our “post truth” world is little more than content with the film reflecting its gaze back at the audience for watching it all.  It’s a fascinating approach which sadly starts to lose a bit of its shine in the second half of the film as Goldhaber continually beats you over the head with the message.  That latter half does start to feel more like a traditional serial killer film which is topped off with an appropriately gory finale.  There’s plenty of inspiration pulled from films like Silence of the Lambs and Michael Mann’s Manhunter for Dacre Montgomery’s serial killer who is using the original film as inspiration for his kills.  Montgomery goes full bore into the role with impressive gusto as he proves to be the most interesting performer on screen throughout.  Barbie Ferreira is solid as the content moderator that falls down a dangerous rabbit hole as she searches for the deranged killer.  Unfortunately, both characters are thinly written, which is a missed opportunity since both performers are begging for something meatier to bite into for their characters.  It’s not a fatal flaw but you are left feeling there was something more substantial that could have been explored.  Issues aside, Faces of Death proves to a pleasant surprise considering the random source material.  

B-

MOVIE REVIEW: THE DRAMA

 

A happily engaged couple get put to the test when an unexpected revelation sends their wedding week off the rails.

Director: Kristoffer Borgli

Cast: Zendaya, Robert Pattinson. Mamoudou Athie, Alana Haim

Release Date: April 3, 2026

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance

R by the MPA for sexual content, language, and some violence, featuring disturbing thematic material, intense bullying flashbacks, suicide threats, and implicit sexual scenes.

Runtime: 1h 46m

Review:

Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama is a messy, slow motion car crash of a relationship dramady that’s just as funny as it is cringe inducing thanks to fully committed performances from its cast, led by stellar turns from Robert Pattinson and Zendaya.   Borgli’s film has a similar vibe to his last film, Dream Scenario, where it feels grounded for large portion of the proceedings feels grounded and relatable before taking more and more flights of fancy that give us insights into the character’s rather complicated mental gymnastics once the central premise is revealed.  There’s plenty of thematic meat on the bone to dissect as a series of ideas are thrown at the wall that range from political level to more personal relationship level.  It’s definitely the type of film that’s going to illicit different reactions from different people for a multitude of reasons by design.  There’s a fascinating balancing act on display as we follow the central couple’s journey to the altar as the audience follows along on their journey of discovery.  Giving away too much about the story’s plot and its effect on the characters feels like a disservice since I’d say it’s better to go in fresh and take the journey along with the characters.  Robert Pattinson and Zendaya deliver excellent turns as the central couple with the pair going through an endless series of emotions as they grapple with the fact that the people they thought they were was more of a façade than unfiltered truth.  Pattinson’s character is a goofy and nebbish, but you get the sense that he and Zendaya’s character have a real connection together.  They both have natural chemistry together with both losing themselves fully into the roles especially as things spiral increasingly out of control.  They’re both in fine form throughout with no easy answers provided by the time it’s all said and done which might be frustrating, but it does feel truer to life.  Pattinson and Zendaya carry the lion’s share of the load here but Mamoudou Athie and Alana Haim, who’s bitchiness level is set to 11 throughout, make the most of their screen time.  The Drama is the kind of film that will definitely spark conversations once the final credits roll and although all the concepts don’t gel as well as they should it’s still one of the more fascinating films of the year.

A-