MOVIE REVIEW: READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME

 

After surviving an all-out attack from the Le Domas family, Grace discovers she's reached the next level of the nightmarish game, and this time with her estranged sister, Faith, by her side. To survive, Grace must keep Faith alive and claim the High Seat of the Council that controls the world. Four rival families are also hunting her for the throne, and whoever wins will rule it all.

Director: Tyler Gillett, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin

Cast: Samara Weaving, Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shawn Hatosy, David Cronenberg, Elijah Wood

Release Date: March 20, 2026

Genre: Horror, Comedy

Rated R for strong bloody violence, gore, pervasive language and brief drug use.

Runtime: 1h 48m

Review:

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come offers up a bigger, bloodier bit of carnage that should provide fans of the original plenty to enjoy, powered by another ferociously fun turn from Samara Weaving who’s paired with Kathryn Newton this go around which brings a fresh dynamic to the film.   Tyler Gillett and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Radio Silence, return behind the camera for this follow and do so with a self-assured sense of confidence that comes through every frame.  The script picks up immediately after the first one ended and it immediately opens up the world and concept overall to include a global cabal of Satan worshippers and another round of the murderous game with much higher stakes.  It doesn’t make a ton of sense if you think about it too much, but it does offer up the chance to introduce another group of murderous blue bloods who are on the hunt for Samara Weaving’s Grace.  Weaving picks up right where she left off in the original film, easily inhabiting the character’s skin with a less naïve turn after what she experienced on her wedding night.  Kathryn Newton joining the fray as her long, lost sister brings something fresh to the table which keeps this entry from being little more than a rerun of the original film.  As a result, this entry has its own vibe even if the general concept is the same as the pair’s natural chemistry together makes the whole thing incredibly watchable and fun.  They bring a natural sibling energy to the characters which makes it easier to overlook some of the clunkier and generic aspects of their backstory.   They’re both clearly having a great time, especially as the action gets bloodier and bloodier as the film goes along with a battle of brides to be proving to be the comedic high point of the film.  The supporting characters are led by Sarah Michelle Gellar and Shawn Hatosy’s twin siblings who are trying to keep control of the council seat that runs the world.  They serve as solid foils to Weaving and Netwon’s sisters, but their backstory and relationship feel a tad undercooked, suffering from generic motivations.  Gellar and Hatosy are both solid in the roles, but you are left wishing they’d been given something a bit meatier to work with especially as Hatosy’s Titus Danforth is revealed to be the more brutally unhinged of the two.  The rest of the supporting players are mostly cannon fodder for the sisters with each making the most of their limited screentime, personally would have loved to have seen more Néstor Carbonell’s gloriously over the top Ignacio El Caido.  Minor issues aside, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is an incredibly fun follow up to the original which is sure to leave fans grinning by the time the credits roll. 

A-

MOVIE REVIEW: PROJECT HAIL MARY

 

Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory slowly returns, he soon discovers he must solve the riddle behind a mysterious substance that's causing the sun to die out. As details of the mission unravel, he calls on his scientific training and sheer ingenuity -- but he may not have to do it alone.

Director: Phil Lord, Chris Miller

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub, Priya Kansara, Liz Kingsman

Release Date: March 20, 2026

Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for some thematic material and suggestive references.

Runtime: 2h 36m

Review:

Project Hail Mary is easy to enjoy blockbuster that melds 2001 with E.T. that’s powered by impressive visuals and stellar turn from Ryan Gosling that propels the film to impressive heights.  Phil Lord and Chris Miller deliver a solid combination of emotion and large-scale visuals that make for more than a handful of dazzling moments.  Interspacing flashbacks throughout gives the film a slow reveal of the plot that works well since Gosling’s character awakens in a state of semi amnesia.  The slow rolls out does more to flesh out the character than it does to provide any real surprises as to how he ended up on the ship in the first place.   Those flashbacks give Sandra Hüller time to flex her impressive dramatic muscle as she delivers a rather textured turn as the mysterious woman tasked with trying to save the Earth who recruits Gosling’s, school teacher, Ryland Grace.  Hüller and Gosling share strong chemistry together which leaves you wishing the film had given their relationship just a tad more time to germinate especially since they both working off each incredibly well.  Lionel Boyce’s officer Carl also could have used more screentime as well since they also work off each other with a naturalistic ease that really speaks to their fast friendship.  It’s a minor issue but considering the film’s sizable length it would have been great to have those relationships fleshed out a bit more especially since both performers are begging for more to do.  That being said, this film is carried from start to finish by Ryan Gosling’s multi-faceted turn that makes the entire thing so incredibly watchable.  Gosling is in rare form here as he seamlessly shuffles through a series of emotions over the course of the film.  It’s a particularly impressive since he’s working with a puppet for the majority of the time in the form of his alien counterpart Rocky.  The fact that their relationship comes through as genuine and believable is a testament to his talent and the vocal work from lead puppeteer, James Ortiz.  Their relationship plays out like an older version of Elliot and E.T.’s relationship from the Spielberg classic with much more collaboration at play as they try to save their respective worlds.  Their bromance is fun and heartfelt enough that you won’t mind too much that your heartstrings are being purposely pulled for maximum “aww” effect.  It’s not a terribly complicated or revelatory story but Gosling provides so much depth to his accidental, coerced hero that you can’t help but get enveloped in their journey even if Project Hail Mary has nearly as many false endings as Return of the King.  

A-

MOVIE REVIEW: UNDERTONE

 

A podcast host covering spooky content moves in to care for her dying mother. When sent recordings of a pregnant couple's paranormal encounters, she discovers their story parallels hers, each tape pushing her toward madness.

Director: Ian Tuason

Cast: Nina Kiri, Kris Holden-Ried, Adam DiMarco, Michèle Duquet, Keana Lyn Bastidas, Jeff Yung, Sarah Beaudin, Brian Quintero

Release Date: March 13, 2026

Genre: Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated R for language.

Runtime: 1h 25m

Review:

Undertone auditory focused horror is a novel approach to creating a sense of building dread and tension, even though the story boasts a bevy of well-worn tropes, that leads to a frightful funhouse finale which is sure to be divisive.  Writer/director, Ian Tuason, feature film debut is impressively well constructed using the single location setting to great effect by creating a claustrophobic sense of isolation for his lead character.   Tuason borrows from multiple sources to craft his story which leans heavily into religious horror ala The Exorcist while mixing it with a heathy dose of elements from the Paranormal Activity films with a sprinkle of 1981’s Possession.  His use of a static camera to slowly reveal blink or you’ll miss them imagery which makes for a handful of effective moments of dread, rarely relying on cheap jump scares.  It’s definitely more of a slow burn approach which requires a fair amount of patience as we follow Nina Kiri’s Evy descent into darkness.  Kiri is the lone performer onscreen for the better part of the film, Michelle Duquet’s Mama is comatose for the majority of the film, and she delivers a solid if even performance.  Kiri is far more comfortable in the podcast portion of the film, playing off Kris Holden-Ried’s disembodied voice on the phone with naturalistic ease that gives you a sense they’ve known each other for a good amount of time.  The story doesn’t give this relationship nearly enough time to fully establish their connection or even why they started this podcast in the first place which would have provided some better insight into both characters.  There are bits and pieces of background information dropped about Evy which leans heavily into Catholic guilt while also leaving open a sliver of an opening as to whether anything we are seeing is real or simply a result of her having a severe mental breakdown.  The moments with her bed-stricken mother are a tad clunkier than they should be but it’s hard to place all the blame on Kiri since the script has some terribly generic characterization and dialogue.  Jeff Yung and Keana Bastidas's performances as Mike and Jemma as the doomed couple on the audio files are solid throughout, painting a vivid picture of their Paranormal Activity like experience which propels the action into Undertone’s finale which is sure to provide its fair share of chills and groans.  

B+

MOVIE REVIEW: HOPPERS

 

When scientists discover a way to transform human consciousness into robotic animals, Mabel uses the new technology to uncover mysteries of the animal world that are beyond anything she could have ever imagined.

Director: Daniel Chong

Cast: Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Melissa Villaseñor

Release Date: March 6, 2026

Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi

Rated PG for action/peril, some scary images and mild language.

Runtime: 1h 45m

Review:

Hoppers is a chaotic mix of Avatar, Mission Impossible and Game of Thrones in the form of an animated kid’s film that leans heavily on its endearing charm even as the story veers wildly in all sorts of directions, especially in its final act.   Anyone familiar with Daniel Chong’s long running Cartoon Network series, We Bare Bears, will find plenty of similarities at play in this feature as his overreaching theme of environmentalism, characters finding their way in unfamiliar societies and friendship are all present.  Chong moves his film along at a steady pace after setting up the general concept and characters by introducing the audience to the lush animal kingdom.  The visuals are impressive throughout as we traverse the colorful, animal world that looks like a mix of The Wild Robot and We Bare Bears’s character designs.  Piper Curda and Bobby Moynihan voice the central characters of Mabel and King George, the beaver monarch, who make up the emotional core of the film.  Curda’s character is headstrong to a fault which leads her to make more than a few questionable decisions throughout especially if you start to really analyze the plot.  She shares some solid chemistry with veteran comedian and voice actor, Bobby Moynihan whose King George is instantly likable.  The rest of the kingdom’s kings and queen, however, are played as much more cutthroat especially once they find out what the mayor, voiced by Jon Hamm, has planned for the glade.  Once the council is introduced you get the sense that Chong has way too many ideas on his mind and has the story veer into strangely aggressive areas that are played as zany and over the top but are kind of strange choices for an animated family film when you really start to think about it.  There’s a noticeable sense that he would have been better off keeping Hopper’s story more tightly focused, which would have made the emotional aspect of the story far more impactful than it ends up being when it’s all said and done.   

B

MOVIE REVIEW: THE BRIDE

 

In 1930s Chicago, groundbreaking scientist Dr. Euphronious brings a murdered young woman back to life to be a companion for Frankenstein's monster. What happens next is beyond what either of them could ever have imagined.

Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal

Cast: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal, Penélope Cruz

Release Date: March 6, 2026

Genre: Drama, Horror, Romance, Sci-Fi

Rated R for strong/bloody violent content, sexual content/nudity and language.

Runtime: 2h 7m

Review:

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! burst on the screen with an anarchic energy, powered by a pair of gloriously unhinged performances from Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale which carries the film first half before losing a hefty amount of its propulsive fervor in the back half of the film.   There is a noticeable spark of energy from the start as the 30’s stylized Chicago setting is used to great effect with Buckley taking center stage with an intriguing dual role.  Buckley’s a real treat as we watch her effortlessly flip back and forth between Ida’s and Mary Shelly’s personas showing an impressive commitment to the role.  She’s generally the most captivating performer onscreen with Christian Bale delivering a more subdued turn for the better part of the film.  They make for a rather fascinating pair as they bounce off each other with such natural ease that it makes the whole thing work even as the film takes some chaotically strange turns.  In lesser performers’ hands, this film would have flown off the rails immediately, but they manage to make the first half immensely watchable and engaging.  The back half of the film starts to lose its luster once the film moves into a pseudo-Bonnie and Clyde mode which feels rather undercooked much like all the well-worn themes it throws onscreen.   There’s a noticeable sense that the script is trying to say something impactful about gender roles, but the concept is so unfocused and superficial that it never really lands the way it should.  The supporting roles are populated with name stars such as Annette Bening, Peter Sarsgaard, Penélope Cruz and Jake Gyllenhaal, which the film never fully takes advantage of by handing them the most generic, one note roles.  Peter Sarsgaard and Penélope Cruz’s detective subplot in particular brings the film to a grinding halt, sapping much of film’s initial energy and the less that’s said about Cruz’s rather unfortunate “Lord Farquaad” haircut the better.  It proves to be a bit frustrating by the time The Bride! comes to an end because you’re left with the feeling that there’s a much better film in there somewhere had it kept a sharper focus.  

B-

MOVIE REVIEW: THE TASTERS

 

Seven women are forced to taste Hitler's food to check for poison. As they spend time together, their relationships evolve between loyalty and betrayal.

Director: Silvio Soldini

Cast: Elisa Schlott, Max Riemelt, Alma Hasun, Emma Falck, Olga von Luckwald, Thea Rasche, Berit Vander

Release Date: UK & Irish Cinemas March 13, 2026

Genre: Drama, History

Rated15 United Kingdom /15A Ireland for moderate to explicit sex/nudity, moderate violence/gore, and mild profanity/substance use

Runtime: 2h 3m

Review:

The Tasters is a slow burn of a WWII drama that takes a methodical approach to the story with Elisa Schlott’s Rosa Sauer carrying the lion’s share of the dramatic load with impressive ease.  Inspired by the 2018 novel of the same name the story recounts an unverified tale of a group of women forced to serve as Hitler's food tasters.  The story, regardless of its veracity, makes for a fascinating set up in the latter days of the war as paranoia and trepidation take hold as the German war effort slowly starts to fall apart.  The film is grounded throughout, taking a similar approach to 2023’s The Zone of Interest by exploring the mundane, forced normalcy the women try to maintain even as the situation gets increasingly dire.  The pacing is decidedly measured which won’t be for everyone as very little happens for large stretches of time, focusing instead and on the mentality of these women who have been separated from their husbands by separation or death in some cases.  Some of the younger members of the group yearn for love that they’ve never experienced even as they play a daily ritual of Russian Roulette.  Elisa Schlott’s character, Rosa Sauer, serves as the audience’s entry point into the story as we follow the events through her point of view for the majority of the time.  Schlottt brings a sense of naturalism to her performance, rarely feeling forced which makes the character easy to relate to.  Her affair with Max Riemelt’s Nazi officer, played by Albert Ziegler, feels a bit contrived and undercooked with the plotline given little more than shared glances before ramping up into a full-blown physical relationship is handled in a rather clumsy manner.  The relationship with Alma Hasun’s Elfriede is given more time to germinate organically with pay dividends in the film’s final act.   The rest of the ensemble get small moments to shine with Emma Falck’s Leni making the most of her limited screentime as the wistfully naïve member of the group who dreams of starting a relationship and family someday.  You are left wishing the film had given the supporting characters a bit more time to flesh out their characters a bit more to make them more three dimensional as there’s plenty of thematic ground left untilled when it’s all said and done.  That being said, The Tasters functions well as a rather fascinating side story that would play wonderfully with 2004’s Downfall from Oliver Hirschbiegel. 

B-

MOVIE REVIEW: SCREAM 7

 

When a new Ghostface killer emerges in the quiet town where Sidney has built a new life, her darkest fears are realized as her daughter becomes the next target. Determined to protect her family, she must face the horrors of her past to put an end to the bloodshed once and for all.

Director: Kevin Williamson

Cast: Neve Campbell, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, David Arquette, Matthew Lillard, Courteney Cox, Isabel May, Anna Camp, Michelle Randolph, Jimmy Tatro, Mckenna Grace, Asa Germann, Celeste O'Connor, Sam Rechner, Mark Consuelos, Tim Simons, Joel McHale

Release Date: February 27, 2026

Genre: Horror, Mystery

Rated R for strong bloody violence, gore, and language.

Runtime: 1h 54m

Review:

Scream 7 boast the return of franchise star Neve Campbell and the original writer, Kevin Williamson, behind the camera but this entry lacks any scares or tension while providing plenty of unintentional laughs.  There’s plenty of nostalgia and Easter Eggs thrown onscreen right off the bat which leads you to believe that Williamson intimate knowledge of the franchise and character would lead to something interesting and engaging.  Instead, we get a fairly straightforward take of Sidney as an overprotective mother who has a daughter that’s starting to resent her.  It is interesting enough, initially, thanks to a committed turn from Neve Campbell who jumps back in with relative ease but Williamson doesn’t take full advantage of it by breezing through their relationship before the entrails start gushing.  It’s a shame because Isabel May and Neve Campbell work well together onscreen but the hackneyed, non sensical script fumbles it all away.  Clocking in at nearly two hours, you expect a bit more time would be spent developing a least one or two of the new characters thrown onscreen instead of the paper-thin characterizations we get.  As a result, they barely register onscreen and having Isabel May play an insecure type who ends up in a dog costume in the school play while she looks like a super model is more than a little bit of a stretch.  Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding, returning from the previous entry, fare far better by bringing some life to the screen when they pop up with Courteney Cox about halfway through the film.  Their natural charisma and energy shines through so much that you wish Williamson would have taken better advantage of them.  Cox can play this role in her sleep by this point but she’s seemingly begging for something more interesting and impactful to do which is hinted at but never explored.  All of this would be easier to shallow is the film was actually scary which it isn’t as all the kills are and set pieces come off as goofier than tense, eliciting more laughs than anything else especially when the final revel occurs.  Scream 7 probably isn’t the last entry in the franchise but it’ll need some serious course corrections if it doesn’t want to slip further into a parody of itself.

C-

MOVIE REVIEW: MIDWINTER BREAK

 

Longtime retired couple Stella and Gerry realize that their relationship has reached a crossroads while on holiday in Amsterdam. After so much time and so many memories, long-held promises and deeply concealed wounds threaten to come to light and force them to confront their future.

Director: Polly Findlay

Cast: Lesley Manville, Ciarán Hinds, Julie Lamberton, Ed Sayer

Release Date: February 20, 2026

Genre: 

Drama

Rated PG-13 for thematic material involving alcoholism, some strong language, bloody images and suggestive material.

Runtime: 1h 30m

Review:

Midwinter Break is a quiet, deconstruction of a marriage that’s tender but devesting at the same time carried by a pair of stalwart performances from Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds.  Polly Findlay’s directorial debut leans heavily on her background in the theater by staging scenes in very deliberate and intimate manner which gives her two central performers plenty of room to display their immense talent.  It’s a meditative approach that works well for the delicate character study at play as she makes great use of the gloomy, European setting.  This is definitely not the kind of film that’s in a rush to get anywhere fast as it puts the spotlight squarely on the performances.  Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds are more than up to the task as they provide so much depth and texture without saying a word.  They are both able to convey such a massive amount of emotional information with simple looks that you just have to appreciate their talent.  They bring a level of lived in authenticity to the character’s love but deep seeded resentment that’s built over decades after a tragic moment that led them on divergent emotional journeys.   Hinds gives his character a pragmatism that he uses to cope along with a fair amount of alcohol while Manville exudes a quiet desperation as she searches for something meaningful in her life.  Their diametrically opposed world views are firmly entrenched and while she struggles to find a new path there’s nary doubt that when it’s all said and done, they would never leave each other making Midwinter Break a tragic tale of a compromised love. 

A-

MOVIE REVIEW: GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON'T DIE

 

Claiming to be from the future, a man takes hostages at a Los Angeles diner to recruit unlikely heroes to help him save the world.

Director: Gore Verbinski

Cast: Sam Rockwell, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, Asim Chaudhry, Tom Taylor, Juno Temple

Release Date: February 13, 2026

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

Rated R for pervasive language, violence, some grisly images and brief sexual content.

Runtime: 2h 14m

Review:

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die plays like an off the wall hybrid of Terminator and Shaun of the Dead that embraces the insanity of the general concept which boasts a fully committed turns from its cast led by Sam Rockwell.  Gore Verbinski ends his nine-year hiatus with a lively return to the big screen which has him untethered for any restraints which makes for an aggressively busy and random film that works more often than not.  At its core, there’s a cautionary satire that serves as the beating heart of the story that’s surprisingly thoughtful even as the onscreen events get increasingly outlandish.  It does make for a chaotic experience which is sure to keep the majority of the audience off balance even though there are plenty of familiar elements at play.  Verbinski’s film rarely takes a breath as it seemingly throws everything at the wall which makes it easier to overlook the concepts that don’t work as well as others.  He’s blessed with a game cast who displays an impressive level of trust in the director’s vision, embracing it at every turn.  Sam Rockwell is perfectly cast as the soldier from the future tasked with saving humanity from their impending doom.  His manic energy works well for the character since he’s gone through a seemingly endless cycle of trial and error trying to find the correct combination of people to allow him to complete his mission.  He is still able to bring an understated nuance to his performance which gives the character more depth than it originally lets on.  The supporting cast is made up of a series of recognizable faces who all get their moments to shine.  Haley Lu Richardson and Juno Temple get the larger portion of the supporting screen time with both delivering solid work even though their character’s feel strangely under developed.  Each character is given intriguing backstories but there’s not much else offered up outside of the most basic character traits.  Faring even worse are Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz and Asim Chaudhry who are all fun but given equally one-dimensional characters that feel like they should be more impactful than they are.  The film has some dead spots which would have been better utilized to flesh out the characters to make the most of the two hours plus runtime.  It keeps Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die from being truly special but there’s still plenty to appreciate about this gonzo tale on well-worn tropes that makes it all feel timely and fresh.  

B+

MOVIE REVIEW: WUTHERING HEIGHTS

 

Tragedy strikes when Heathcliff falls in love with Catherine Earnshaw, a woman from a wealthy family in 18th-century England.

Director: Emerald Fennell

Cast: Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes, Ewan Mitchell

Release Date: February 13, 2026

Genre: Drama, Romance

Rated R for sexual content, some violent content and language.

Runtime: 2h 16m

Review:

Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights offers up an abbreviated, Cliff’s Notes version of the novel which echoes Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet with its garish visuals powered by strong turns from its leads.  Fennell’s film plays like a fever dream for the majority of its runtime which works in its favor, particularly early on, before it ultimately runs out of steam.  The stark visuals and simplified story telling makes it easy for anyone to jump into the story of obsession and emotional warfare at the center of the novel.  Any sort of subtly or nuance is thrown by the wayside in favor of a far hornier take on the story that features enough heaving bosoms, chiseled sweaty bodies and flushed cheeks to make romance novels seem quaint.  It borders on Skinamax territory at points before refocusing on the core “love” story at heart.  Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi both use their natural screen magnetism to make you forget the fact that both characters are fairly terrible human beings.  Robbie and Elordi share the sort of onscreen chemistry that makes it easy to overlook or at least forget some of the character’s moral failings.  Robbie fluctuates between entitled to lovelorn fairly effortlessly throughout matched by Elordi’s imposing frame and simmering intensity helped by a dulling of Heathcliff’s cruelty.  The focus is centered more on their unrequited love which is presented in a heavily romanticized, stylized form that visually enthralling but shallow at the same time.  Fennell moves her film at such a rapid pace that she never lets any moment truly settle in before rushing to the next scene.  As a result, despite their best efforts of Robbie and Elordi, Catherine and Heathcliff’s deep connection never match the level of the visuals splashed onscreen.  Wuthering Heights finds Emerald Fennell on a path where her focus on visual seem to come at the cost of the story and character development both of which made her debut, Promising Young Woman, so potent.  

B-

MOVIE REVIEW: DRACULA

 

When a 15th-century prince denounces God after the devastating loss of his wife, he inherits an eternal curse and becomes Dracula. Condemned to wander the centuries, he defies fate and death, guided by the hope to be reunited with his lost love.

Director: Luc Besson

Cast: Caleb Landry Jones, Christoph Waltz,  Zoë Bleu, Matilda De Angelis, Ewens Abid

Release Date: February 6, 2026

Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Romance

Rated R for violence, some gore and sexuality

Runtime: 2h 9m

Review:

Luc Besson’s Dracula is a visually impressive production that leans heavier into the gothic romance aspect of the story, ala Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker's Dracula, powered by a solid turn from Caleb Landry Jones in the titular role and Christoph Waltz as a Van Helsing inspired priest.   Besson’s direction displays a sense of confidence behind the camera which gives his film a palatable sense of energy that instantly pops off the screen even if it all feels terribly familiar.  His visuals pop as usual which keeps the film from lagging more than you’d expect from a well-worn tale like this.  The basics of the story should be familiar to everyone by this point with minor superficial changes having little bearing in the overall story such as changing the locale from London to Paris and characters names adjustments.  Purists are sure to be annoyed by some of the more glaring omissions such as the Demeter being excised entirely or Dracula’s personal servant being an army of living gargoyles who also serve as his personal guardians.  There’s also a rather odd choice to remove his telepathy and replace it with a perfume elixir to control women’s minds which does have a rather fascinating musical montage that covers the centuries of Dracula’s search for his reincarnated love and a wonderfully choregraphed sequence in a nunnery.  It’s a perfect example of the film’s particular tone which makes it one of the funnier adaptations of Dracula in recent memory which may be disorienting for those looking for more vampiric horror.  It’s all incredibly garish but rarely boring thanks to everyone being fully onboard with Besson’s vision.  Caleb Landry Jones isn’t the most obvious choice as Dracula but he does bring a different sort of energy to the role which makes his turn incredibly watchable.  Jones has always had a very specific sort of energy, and it works in his favor here as there’s a sense of ferocity and longing in his performance but missing the ominous, malevolence that the character is usually ingrained in the role.  It makes the character less menacing by a few degrees although he’s given a few scenes to display his prowess as a ferocious warrior when push comes to shove.  Christoph Waltz gets the other meaty role as a priest investigating the vampire phenomenon who plays more like a 19th century Columbo than the standard iteration of Van Helsing.  Waltz is clearly having fun with the character whose quick wit is just as sharp as his metal stakes.  Waltz and Jones only share one scene together, but they make the most of their time together with both working well off each other.  Matilda de Angelis and Zoë Bleu are both solid in supporting roles with the latter leaning into a manic energy for Mina’s best friend and vampire, Maria.  Blue makes for a strong Mina however she’s given precious little time to establish the character before falling hopeless for her long-lost love.  This version of Dracula is an interesting curiosity of an adaptation since it’s familiar for large stretches of time while taking some interesting chances at the same time.   

B-

MOVIE REVIEW: THE MOMENT

 

A rising pop star navigates the complexities of fame and industry pressure while preparing for her arena tour debut.

Director: Aidan Zamiri

Cast: Charli XCX, Rosanna Arquette, Kate Berlant, Jamie Demetriou, Hailey Benton Gates, Isaac Powell, Alexander Skarsgård

Release Date: January 30, 2026 

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Thriller

Rated R for language throughout and some drug material

Runtime: 1h 43m

Review:

The Moment is a fun mockumentary that plays like a pop starlet’s Spinal Tap and functions as a sort of anxiety driven confessional about the instant massive fame hits.  Aidan Zamiri does a solid job behind the camera in his debut film and there’s clear sense that Charli XCX trust him implicitly which shouldn’t be a surprise since he’s directed a handful of her recent videos.  The film opens with an aggressive barrage of strobe and images that might induce A Clockwork Orange style seizure in more than a few people before settling into its more vérité documentary approach.  Once the film moves into the meat of its story Charli XCX takes center stage and brings her magnetic personality to the screen with impressive ease.  The real treat is that she’s more than willing to make fun of herself and is more than willing to make herself look incredibly unglamourous and uncool.  The corporate label head, played by Rosanna Arquette, and cheese ball director, played with inspired gusto by Alexander Skarsgard, serves as her primary antagonist as they continually try to monetize and bottle her zeitgeist capturing moment.  It makes for a series of hilarious situations that are outlandish on the surface but not terribly detached from reality either, especially if you’ve ever watched the evolution of a pop star.  Charli XCX has been a well-established niche artist for the last decade before her explosion onto the mainstream last summer.  It’s an impressive bit of foresight to take hold of the moment and create a faux version of her experience that’s peppered with threads of truth and vulnerability that shines through in two singular moments where you feel she’s speaking from the heart.  It’s something she’s broached in the past during her real documentary, Charli XCX: Alone Together from 2021, which only hardcore fans saw but carries similar themes.  The Moment may become a nice time capsule for those same hardcore fans later down the road but for the general public there is still plenty to appreciate here thanks to Charli XCX’s honest self-reflection on display.  

B+

MOVIE REVIEW: SEND HELP

 

A woman and her overbearing boss become stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash. They must overcome past grievances and work together to survive, but ultimately, it's a battle of wills and wits to make it out alive.

Director: Sam Raimi

Cast:  Rachel McAdams, Dylan O'Brien, Edyll Ismail, Dennis Haysbert, Xavier Samuel 

Release Date: January 30, 2026 

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Rated R for strong/bloody violence and language

Runtime: 1h 54m

Review:

Send Help boast a deceptively simple set up that finds Sam Raimi embracing his old school love of horror comedy paired with fun, over the top turns from its central duo of Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien.  Raimi uses a slick script from Mark Swift and Damian Shannon to deliver a fun office/gender role reversal by setting up the toxic environment O’Brien’s nepo baby takes over.  Everything is overblown but strangely familiar to anyone who’s worked in those environments.  Rachel McAdams is the “ugly” socially inept workhorse who was promised a promotion before having the rug swiftly taken out from under her.  McAdams fully embraces the role adding in layers to the character that slowly reveal themselves over the course of the film.  Sporting overly baggy clothes and greasy hair still isn’t quite enough to hide the fact that she’s an attractive woman, but she makes it work thanks to her excellent comedic timing and fully committed turn.  She fully embraces the character’s blossoming transformation once the action moves onto the island coming to a bloody zenith when she hunts a wild boar.  Dylan O’Brien plays up the faux alpha office male as the new crowned prince of his company topped off with an off-putting laugh.  Their back and forth on the island is fun and the script keeps things interesting by moving in unexpected direction and switching up tones along the way.  The battle of wits is slowly revealed along the way although some elements are easier to figure out than others.  Send Help’s story is simple but there’s a fun undercurrent of the Stanford prison experiment as we watch the power dynamic shift which leaves plenty of food for thought long after the film ends.  

B+

MOVIE REVIEW: GRIZZLY NIGHT

On 12 August 1967, in Montana's Glacier National Park, the unthinkable happened: On the same night, nine miles apart, there were not one, but two fatal grizzly bear attacks.

Director: Burke Doeren

Cast: Brec Bassinger, Lauren Call, Jack Griffo, Charles Esten, Ali Skovbye, Oded Fehr

Release Date: January 30, 2026 US/February 2, 2026UK

Genre: Drama

Rated R for grisly images and brief language.

Runtime: 1h 27m

Review:

Grizzly Night, Burke Doeren directorial debut, is a solid but uneven fact-based creature feature that steadily finds its footing as it goes along.  Doeren takes full advantage of shooting on location to establish a sense of the landscape where the ensemble cast of characters find themselves on this fateful night.  Inspired by a true event known as the "Night of the Grizzlies,” there’s an unsteady sense of what kind of tone they are shooting for especially early on as its verges on schlocky creature feature thanks to thinly written characters and performances that vary wildly in terms of quality.  It gives the false impression that the film is going to be an all-out carnage machine which it never actually becomes as we are witness only to early moments of the attacks with some of the gorier elements taking place offscreen.  The focus here is much more on the rescue efforts that happen after the fact with a handful of familiar character actors balancing out some of the younger, less experienced performers.  Oded Fehr, Charles Esten and Brec Bassinger bring some dramatic weight to the production with each delivering solid work in limited screentime.  Lauren Call, who plays botanist Ranger Joan Devereaux, starts off a bit shaky but settles into the role over the course of the film which gives us a sense of the character’s emotional journey through the traumatic events.   Oded Fehr brings the right amount of calm and empathy as Dr. John Lindberg, who is trust into a lifesaving situation with a moment between him and Bassinger serving as an emotional highlight in the film.  There’s a steep drop off from there as the final act feels rushed, giving very little time to the unfortunate effects that nearly wiped out the grizzly bear.  Grizzly Night ends up being a passable docudrama that could have done a bit more with the subject matter if it had taken a more thoughtful approach to its scripting and overall themes at play.  

C

MOVIE REVIEW: THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE

 

Revered by her followers, Ann Lee preaches gender and social equality as the founder of the devotional sect the Shakers.

Director: Mona Fastvold

Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Thomasin McKenzie, Lewis Pullman, Stacy Martin, Tim Blake Nelson, Christopher Abbott

Release Date: December 25, 2025

Genre: Biography, Drama, History, Musical

Rated R for sexual content, graphic nudity, violence and bloody images

Runtime: 2h 10m

Review:

Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee is a fascinating curiosity of a film that’s powered by a fully committed turn from Amanda Seyfried and painstakingly constructed to elicit a sense of the religious fervor that drove Ann Lee but outside of the arresting musical numbers the film keeps the audience at a frustrating arm’s length from her psyche.  Fastvold’s directs her film with a steady hand as we follow the course of Ann Lee’s life, narrated by Thomasin McKenzie’s Sister Mary, and her journey to self-discovery after the loss of four infants to her transformation into religious leader.  The movie moves at a methodical pace with the musical numbers sprinkled throughout giving it a distinctive look and feel with those moments bringing a palpable sense of energy that the film struggles to maintain once those sequences end.  Seyfried is fantastic across the board with the film giving her ample time for her talents to shine but the film takes the focus off her at regular intervals which dulls the impact of her performance.  Lewis Pullman gets a hefty amount of screentime as her missionary brother tasked with growing their following which is fine, but his character is never as interesting or engaging as Seyfried’s Ann Lee.  Their journey together into the new world feels like it should be far more riveting and engaging than it ultimately is onscreen.  Seyfried’s character is further removed from the spotlight in the film’s final act which doesn’t give the audience a lot of insight into what made her so attractive to her followers or her general mindset as a self-proclaimed vessel of God.  Her position as the rare female preacher also seems like fertile ground to explore but the film never delves too much into it until a violent encounter near the end of the film that is rather jarring thanks to the viciousness of the violence.  After that point, the film fast tracks towards its finale in a rather rushed manner which just closes the story out as quickly as possible.  It makes The Testament of Ann Lee feel like a missed opportunity since you get the sense that Seyfried could have brought so much more emotional texture and nuance that would have made her character connect on a more personal level that extended beyond her emotional damage.

C

MOVIE REVIEW: MERCY

 

In the near future, an advanced AI judge tells a captive detective that he's on trial for the murder of his wife. If he fails to prove his innocence within 90 minutes, he'll be executed on the spot.

Director: Timur Bekmambetov

Cast: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Kali Reis, Annabelle Wallis, Chris Sullivan, Kylie Rogers

Release Date: December 25, 2025

Genre: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for violence, bloody images, some strong language, drug content and teen smoking.

Runtime:  1h 41m

Review:

Mercy is one of those speculative science fiction films that thinks is a lot smarter than it is but behind the glossy screen life production there’s a preposterous idea that can’t decide what it’s actually trying to say pair with enough plot holes to run a dump truck through.  Timur Bekmambetov knows how to direct a sleek-looking film so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this is one of the better-looking screen life films out there.  Even though the film technically occurs in a single room with Rebecca Ferguson’s AI Judge and Chris Pratt’s defendant there’s plenty of action thrown at the screen by way of some serious Big Brother style surveillance which the film leads you to believe that nearly everyone signed up for.  There’s a set up where sections of city have been sectioned off, ala Escape from New York, but almost by design this ultra police state is just presented as being readily accepted by the general populace.  It’s an odd bit of world building since it begs more questions than anything outside of the general conceit of the 90-minute timed AI murder court.  Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson do the best they can with what they have to work with since neither role is all that well written with each character suffering from wild changes throughout the film, particularly the supposably infallible, emotionless AI Judge Maddox.  Ferguson looks the part with her Star Trek villain black robe and slicked back hair, but the character goes from preeningly omnificent to strangely helpful and confused by the time it’s all said and done since they apparently created this program and never beta tested it before allowing it start doling out executions.  It doesn’t mean that the central mystery isn’t all that interesting since it plays like a low rent redux of The Fugitive which isn’t all that hard to figure out since the film gives you plenty of clues beforehand.  It all makes Mercy a forgettable bit of sci-fi shlock that could have been more interesting if the script had given the kind of care the visuals were.   

D+