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+

MOVIE REVIEW: NO OTHER CHOICE

 

Abruptly laid off after 25 years at the same company, a desperate man goes to extreme lengths to eliminate the competition for the job he wants.

Director: Park Chan-wook

Cast: Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won

Release Date: December 25, 2025

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Rated R for violence, language and some sexual content.

Runtime:  2h 19m

Review:

Park Chan-wook’s latest film is a stylish dark comedy satire that provides some laugh out loud moments with its over-the-top dissection of the rat race and its dehumanizing effects on people.  Chan-wook film is visually striking, leaving a series of indelible images etched on your memory once the film wraps up.  He switches between tones fairly effortlessly as the film starts more pensive and reflective about the level of humiliation that Lee Byung-hun’s, Yoo Man-soo suffers through after being fired from his job after more than two decades of service.   There’s plenty of subtext that can be mined from his career in the paper industry which can be seen as a dying, archaic product that doesn’t require the talents of specified careermen any longer.  There’s something incredibly relatable to anyone who’s suffered through a layoff as we get a clear sense that Yoo Man-soo’s mooring has been untethered as his career was something he took pride in and made up a large part of his sense of self.  Lee Byung-hun delivers a wonderfully nuanced turn by giving his characters a real sense of desperation which takes him to extremes measures to achieve his goals.  He manages to keep his character empathic through most of it as you never get a sense that he’s actually a bad guy just in a horrible situation which he can’t seem to find his way out of.  It leads to a series of misadventures which boils to a madcap bit of insanity halfway through the film during a murder gone hilariously wrong.  His desperation seeps into his marriage with his emasculation damaging his relationship with his wife played impressive ease by Son Ye-jin.  They have wonderful chemistry together as they play off each other with a live in authenticity that makes their moments work far more realistically even as things get more outlandish.  Ye-jin initially comes off as affluent and aloof, but she slowly reveals her smarts and knowledge of her husband and his strange behavior.  It’s a fascinating dance to watch, especially as she comes to the revelation of the extent of her husband’s actions to get a new job.  There are a few moments where the film meanders a bit, leaving you with the feeling that there’s a tighter more streamlined version in there somewhere as its methodical pacing takes small amount of shine off the central conceit.  That being said, No Other Choice, still manages to leave a lasting impression over the course of its runtime thanks to its strong direction and performances.   

A-

MOVIE REVIEW: 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE

 

Dr. Kelson finds himself in a shocking new relationship with consequences that could change the world as he knows it, while Spike's encounter with Jimmy Crystal becomes a nightmare he can't escape.

Director: Nia DaCosta

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Chi Lewis-Parry

Release Date: January 16, 2026

Genre: Horror

Rated R for strong bloody violence, gore, graphic nudity, language throughout, and brief drug use

Runtime: 1h 50m

Review:

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, the second film in the planned trilogy, takes the story and style in a different direction than its predecessor to effectively find its own voice thanks to a pair of contrasting but equally stellar performances from Jack O'Connell and Ralph Fiennes.  Nia DaCosta takes over the reins from Danny Boyle behind the camera and delivers a brutal sequel that’s hauntingly beautiful at the same time.  DaCosta takes a different approach than Boyle’s kinetic style with something more straight forward but just as visually impactful.  She delivers plenty of brutal gore throughout especially from the Jimmy’s story thread but she counterbalances it with thoughtful, pensive beauty and a healthy influx of music with Dr Kelson’s side.  Kelson’s storyline does offer more humor than expected thanks to Ralph Fiennes’s all in performance that plays as an incredibly nuanced character study.  Fiennes delivered excellent work in the first film even with his limited screentime but he’s just phenomenal here with the expanded screentime.  The character’s established empathy is further expounded on, but we get more insight into his mental state as he tries cope with loss of his former life and world.  His relationship with the infected Sampson offers him a sliver of hope as he attempts to treat him with plenty of real-world subtext simmering underneath that story thread.  On the other end of the spectrum is Jack O'Connell who fully embraces his deliciously garish villain that’s built a person army through violence and indoctrination.  His character is mentally twisted but manipulative enough to have created his own Satanic cult as a response to his childhood trauma from the start of the outbreak.  O'Connell give his Jimmy Crystal a sense of self-awareness especially when it comes to his belief structure especially when he comes face to face with Fiennes’s Kelson who is purported to be his father, Satan.  When he and Fiennes share the screen there’s a delicate dance between the two performers after initial trepidation before finding common ground to speak to each other with a sense of honesty.  It’s a fascinating sequence that leads into the film’s grand finale, which is a spectacle all on its own thanks to subverting expectations of where this would all go.  There’s set up for the final entry which clearly hands off the baton but 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple proves to be the rare middle feature that stands on its own two feet with impressive confidence.

A

MOVIE REVIEW: IS THIS THING ON?

 

Facing middle age and an impending divorce, Alex finds new purpose in the New York comedy scene, while his wife, Tess, confronts the sacrifices she made for their family.

Director: Bradley Cooper

Cast: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Cooper, Andra Day, Amy Sedaris, Sean Hayes, Christine Ebersole, Ciarán Hinds

Release Date: January 2, 2026

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Rated R for language throughout, sexual references and some drug use.

Runtime: 2h 4m

Review:

Bradley Cooper’s third time behind the camera, Is This Thing On?, continues to show his impressive prowess at finding authentic emotion in relationship dramas and continues to get the most out of his performers, with Will Arnett delivering his best dramatic performance paired with a strong turn form Laura Dern.  This story isn’t as grandiose as his previous film, which dealt with large personalities and their relationships with this one focusing more on something much more grounded by exploring the fractures of a marriage.  It’s not groundbreaking by any stretch of the imagination but there’s a fascinating flow to the story that slowly reveals the meat of the story and what is driving these characters apart.  There’s an air of authenticity to it all with Arnett and Dern’s interactions filled with lived in subtext of resentment that simmers underneath even as they do their best to be adults about their separation.  Arnett’s character finding some form of catharsis by doing open mics at comedy clubs plays more like therapy than actual stand up.  If you are looking for something that’s focused more on the stand-up world you won’t find any deep exploration of that world with it only touching on the surface of it.  Those moments serve a purpose dramatically, such as an onstage meltdown in the final act, but they don’t play as realistically as the relationship side especially since it’s set in the super competitive Manhattan comedy scene.  In the same vein, Cooper’s onscreen character feels strangely out of place since he’s so cartoonish and over the top that he’s jarring every time he pops up onscreen.   These aren’t huge missteps, but they are noticeable enough to be distracting when those moments pop up.  Thankfully, Will Arnett and Laura Dern’s nuanced performances are both strong enough to make it easier to overlook those issues.  Arnett gives you a real sense of the internal turmoil and sadness that his character is going through while he maintains a brave face around his family.  Laura Dern’s turn is just as textured with those things left unsaid between the two lingers in the air before they both finally have it out in the final act and bear their souls with unchained honesty.  It’s messy and uncomfortable but it feels real before the film decides to end on cleaner, safer ending than expected.  

B+

MOVIE REVIEW: PRIMATE

 

Lucy's tropical island homecoming turns deadly when her family's clever chimpanzee, Ben, becomes rabid. With her father away and no help coming, paradise becomes a prison as Lucy and her friends fight for survival against a pet they once trusted.

Director: Johannes Roberts

Cast: Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, Troy Kotsur

Release Date: January 2, 2026

Genre: Horror

Rated R for strong bloody violent content, gore, language, and some drug use.

Runtime: 1h 29m

Review:

Primate boasts a simple premise that pits a rabid monkey against a group of kids with increasingly gory results that feels reminiscent of 1983's Cujo.  Johannes Roberts film is better constructed than that film as he sets up a series of tense scenarios throughout the film's rather efficient runtime.  He delivers a series of gory shocks that'll make your blood pump more often than not.  The decision to use a practical suit as opposed to CGI is a master stroke as it gives the creature a more tangible presence onscreen.  Ben is played by Miguel Torres Umba, a Colombian movement specialist, who delivers impressive work throughout by giving the creature a sense of personality which starts off sweet before turning far more sinister.  Roberts is smartly selective about how he deploys the creature, often times giving more of a sense of his presence as he corrals the kids into contained spaces before unleashing it during moments of carnage.  Tonally it’s straightforward terror especially early on but there’s a noticeable switch to more overt dark humor as Ben goes from a rampaging monkey to slasher style villain as he appears and disappears before attacking.  The cast of fresh-faced young adults are all solid even if they aren’t asked to do much since the characters are all thinly drawn since they’re mostly just meat for the grinder.  Johnny Sequoyah leads the film with a capable, focused turn that gives off more final girl energy as the film moves along.  Oscar Winner, Troy Kotsur, delivers solid work in his limited screentime but you are left with the feeling that the film could have used him more especially when the film switches to his soundless point of view.  Ultimately, Primate proves to be a lean, mean gore machine that delivers enough thrills to make the experience worthwhile.  

B

MOVIE REVIEW: WE BURY THE DEAD

 

After a catastrophic military disaster, the dead don't just rise, they hunt. Ava searches for her missing husband, but what she finds is far more terrifying.

Director: Zak Hilditch

Cast: Daisy Ridley, Mark Coles Smith, Brenton Thwaites, Kym Jackson, Matt Whelan

Release Date: January 2, 2026

Genre: Horror, Thriller

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

Runtime: 1h 34m

Review:

We Bury the Dead is a mediative zombie film that’s far more interested in the emotional toll of loss than endless gore embodied by a nuanced turn from its star Daisy Ridley.   Aussie director, Zak Hilditch, delivers a road movie set in a postapocalyptic environment in the same vein as his 2013 hidden gem These Final Hours.  They bear his distinctive style uses the set up as a means to explore deeper issues of loss and acceptance that the central character struggles with during their trek.  The post catastrophe set up feels grounded in reality with shades of Romero scattered throughout with the accidental explosion of an experimental weapon setting off the action.  The gung ho attitude of the local military to the dead that “wake up” should feel fairly familiar to anyone familiar with classic Romero film with a few flourishes added for good measure, you’ll hear grinding teeth long after you leave the theater.   Those looking for a healthy bit of zombie action will likely be left wanting more as there are scant few moments offered up with most subverting expectations in terms of how they play out.  This film is more concerned with Daisy Ridley’s character search for her husband and closure with bits and pieces about their relationship reveals over the course of the story.  Ridley is a study in subtly as she creates a multilayered character who thrust herself into this harrowing journey for a variety of reasons.  She maintains a strong façade but there’s a sense that it could quickly shatter any moment thanks to the immeasurable loss she carries and lingering questions.  It’s a propulsive performance that carries the film over some of the rougher, more familiar moments that would feel clichéd in lesser hands.  Brenton Thwaites, in full surfer dude mode, and Mark Coles Smith make the most of their screentime in supporting roles.  Thwaites is clearly having a ball in the role with the film, feeling his loss when he disappears for a good portion of it.  Mark Coles Smith also delivers strong work as solider who offers to assist the pair on their trek although there’s an immediate sense that something is not quite right with his character.  Ridley has strong chemistry with both even though both bring different energy to the film and her character in general.  Ultimately, We Bury the Dead is more of a character study than an outright zombie flick which may turn off a portion of the audience expecting something more visceral.   

B

MOVIE REVIEW: ANACONDA

 

Best friends Griff and Doug have always dreamed of remaking their all-time favorite movie "Anaconda." When a midlife crisis pushes them to finally go for it, they assemble a crew and head deep into the jungles of the Amazon to start filming. However, life soon imitates art when a gigantic anaconda with a thirst for blood starts hunting them down.

Director: Tom Gormican

Cast: Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Steve Zahn, Thandiwe Newton, Daniela Melchior, Selton Mello

Release Date: December 25, 202

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy

Rated PG-13 for violence/action, strong language, some drug use and suggestive references.

Runtime: 1h 40m

Review:

The meta of reboot Anaconda offers up a goofy conceit and solid collection of comedic stars should equal something far funnier than this utterly forgettable comedy that delivers a few solid laughs its overly complicated story keeps it from hitting Tropic Thunder level of satire.  Tom Gormican is a perfectly capable comedic director exemplified by his equally meta comedy, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, from 2022 which took full advantage of its central conceit by focusing on the absurdity of it.  This film has a handful of well set up jokes but there are far too many that just fall flat as it tries to juggle way too many story threads that don’t really come together the way they should.  Instead of leaning into the sillier territory it offers up an utterly pointless gold mining storyline that wastes Daniela Melchior character and could have been easily excised with little overall impact.  Likewise, the main storyline of these childhood friends making their dreams a reality doesn’t land the way it should in spite of Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Steve Zahn and Thandiwe Newton solid chemistry together.  It attempts to set up a sweet story arch between them falls flat and keeps it from really nailing the zany meta comedy that should have been the focus.  When it does lean into that side of the story it does deliver some fun moments although they are more likely to leave you grinning than busting out in uncontrollable laughter.  Black delivers his usual manic energy which serves as a counter balance to Paul Rudd’s more nuanced approach.  Thandiwe Newton shows off some impressive comedic timing and Steve Zahn’s work leaves you wishing they’d given him a bit more to do.  Selton Mello who plays the snake handler, seems to be the only person in the cast that fully embraces the absurdity of his character but unfortunately, he's taken off the screen fairly early on.  Anaconda isn’t the total dumpster fire that it could have been, but it is rather forgettable which leaves you wondering why they bothered at all.

C