Director: Jon M. Chu
Writer: Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox, Stephen Schwartz
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jeff Goldblum

Synopsis: Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West and her relationship with Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. The second of a two-part feature film adaptation of the Broadway musical.

The hope would be that Wicked: For Good, the sequel to last year’s all-encompassing grand spectacle, would not only maintain the intoxicating blend of old-Hollywood grandeur and modern special effects but also strengthen the script rather than detract from it. In other words, could the movie stand on its own or, for that matter, separate itself from the film that was nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture? 

Wicked: For Good has a reason to exist, but it is a movie that is incredibly dependent on two things. First, whether you are a fan of the intellectual property, which almost certainly means you are a fan of The Wizard of Oz and unfazed by its revisionist reimagining. Second, you would absolutely benefit from rewatching Wicked, because without doing so, the sequel feels like an appendage sliced off from the original, relying heavily on your connection to and enjoyment of the characters’ origins.

The answer, however, falls somewhere in between because the sequel depends heavily on your familiarity. You must love the Oz universe, and a recent rewatch of Wicked – Part 1, or the movie cannot differentiate itself. Though the performances from the two leads and the easter eggs planted throughout for the built-in audience ultimately make the film a satisfying, if flawed, conclusion. 

The last time we saw Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), aka the Wicked Witch of the West, she was delivering the show-stopping number “Defying Gravity,” giving audiences the goosebumps they deserve. She escapes the city’s guards, leaving her best friend, Glinda, behind, now under the mentorship of the awful Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), who has her claws in the Wizard (the incomparable Jeff Goldblum). And of course, you also have the handsome and dashing Fiyero (Jurassic World Rebirth’s Jonathan Bailey) sprinting out of Shiz on horseback. 

From there, the movie takes on a political slant I would almost call a bent, with Glinda using her popularity to become the “Good Witch” of Oz. Now engaged to Fiyero, who has apparently returned to town, she rises in influence while Elphaba continues her quest for animal rights in Oz. Meanwhile, Elphaba is forced into hiding as the corrupt leaders attempt to stage the wedding of a lifetime, using it as political propaganda to convince the citizens they should follow the shining beacon of light that is Glinda.

From there, most of the movie focuses on keeping Glinda and Fiyero together. At the same time, the latter continues trying to locate the “evil” witch, the cinematic equivalent of an adolescent boy pulling a girl’s pigtails because he likes her. The other subplot centers on Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode), now the Governor of Munchkinland, who is determined to keep Boq (Lost on a Mountain in Maine’s Ethan Slater), her servant, firmly within her grasp. She has become so codependent on the young man that she even passes laws preventing any of the Munchkins from leaving the city’s gates.

Director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians, In the Heights) is back for the conclusion, working with another screenplay from Winnie Holzman, who wrote the smash stage original, and Dana Fox (Cruella), working from the source material from Gregory Maquire. The movie is, again, heavily dependent on your love for the original story and last year’s film. Some of the surprises, such as how certain beloved characters come to be, are a mixed bag. On one hand, the unveiling of the Tin Man is one of the movie’s best moments, as is the Scarecrow’s revelation. 

On the other hand, the script undercuts what could have been a genuinely meaningful moment, glossing over the buildup and losing an emotional beat. That is directly connected to the significant number where Erivo and Bailey belt out “As Long as You’re Mine.” The two genuinely lack heat and passion, as evidenced by his later attempt to save the day. Then there is the problem of Michelle Yeoh, who does what she can with a thin villain role but is detached from the material, as if she is not in the moment. At the same time, Jeff Goldblum needed more screen time. 

Much of the supporting comic relief from the first film is tossed aside after the opening scene, which is a shame. In addition, the animals, while central to the plot, take a back seat, even though they added so much color and flair in the previous installment. However, there are some performances that stand out, including Slater’s Boq, who represents the marginalized group in the film, underscoring the authoritarian theme. It is his rebellious turn that will stay in the viewer’s memory and what it represents.

While Erivo owns the first film and sets such a high standard, the film lacks a true showstopping number, even with “No Good Deed.” Whereas Grande continues her knack for comic delivery while also finding poignant moments, particularly in “I’m Not That Girl (Reprise)” and “Wonderful.” Grande is sensational in the role here, hilarious and very moving. The chemistry between the two is undeniable, leading to satisfying winks and callbacks that make the experience fun and balance out those meaningful beats. 

Which is why Wicked: For Good is worth watching, because despite its flaws, the film is an incredibly immersive experience, especially for fans of the genre, the first film, or the source material. While there are plenty of issues, the movie is an extension of the first, closing the narrative loop in an emotionally resonant fashion. Yet, since the film fails to build on the powerful theme of how society stigmatizes specific populations in this second chapter, it ultimately lacks the thematic weight core audiences deserve. 

You can watch Wicked: For Good only in theaters starting November 21st.

Grade: C+

Director: Byung Sung-hyun
Writers: Byung Sung-hyun, Lee Jin-seong
Stars: Sul Kyung-gu, Hong Kyung, Sho Kasamatsu

Synopsis: In 1970, a communist group in Japan hijacks a passenger plane and diverts it to Pyongyang, North Korea. A mysterious fixer called “Nobody” – whose name and background remain unknown – devises a covert operation under the order of Park Sang-hyeon, Director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, to bring the plane to a safe landing at all costs. Seo Go-myung, an elite Air Force lieutenant, is unwittingly pulled into the mission and faces the unthinkable task: outsmart the hijackers onboard and double hijack the plane from the ground. With everything at stake, can this daring mission succeed?

Byung Sung-hyun’s Good News is a difficult film to describe, as it expands upon the relatively simple premise of the hijacking of a plane and turns into an insane genre blender over the course of its 136 minutes. It doesn’t always work, but Sung-hyun’s cogency in his messaging is much braver than the bevy of Hollywood films that masquerade as political thrillers with little to no backbone nowadays. It starts out as a historical drama tracking the events that led up to the hijacking, but becomes a completely different object by the time Sung-hyun begins developing his central characters at the heart of the picture – a mysterious figure known as “Nobody” (Sul Kyung-gu) and Air Force lieutenant Seo Go-myung (Hong Kyung) – who are trying to find a solution to get the hostages out of the airplane safely. 

The film is a mordantly funny excavation of gubernatorial incompetence as they attempt, by any means necessary, to bring the plane down with no casualties, and everyone gets put through the wringer. Sung-hyun spares no prisoners, from the figures who scramble a plan in fooling the terrorists hijacking the plane that they’ve landed in Pyongyang, North Korea, to the terrorists themselves who haven’t even learned the basics of “Hijacking 101” before doing so. Everyone is ridiculed, even you, the viewer, for your attempts in wanting to sympathize with these self-centered idiots who will only perform actions if it benefits them – and them only. If saving as many hostages as possible will improve their own gains, then that’s what it will be. If letting them die is more convenient, they won’t hesitate.

At times, it’s darkly funny and never lets up on its visual juxtapositions of incompetent people paralleled by even more incompetent people. In other sections, the movie sags and seems to exhaust rather than enthrall. Sung-hyun divides his story into five chapters, each of varying quality. The first three are probably the strongest, though the sections in between prime the audience that the film will run out of steam and go around in circles. For instance, there’s a tribute to Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly near its midsection, which, while well-intentioned, is terribly misplaced. 

Characters also suffer at the brunt of a relentless desire to make audiences laugh as much as possible, especially in its back half, where a revolving door of people are introduced and quickly disappear, making the narrative feel more convoluted than meaningful. Still, Sung-hyun’s eye can’t be overstated. With the aid of cinematographer Jo Hyoung-rae, he crafts images of real kinetic power, especially during sequences of high-spirited tension. The camera spins in a thousand different directions, and always responds to the energy the performers bring to the movie, especially Kyung-gu, whose latest collaboration with Sung-hyun may be his best yet. 

The mystery shrouding “Nobody” may be the film’s central plot point, which unfolds in unexpected ways by the time it reaches a sobering conclusion, with a better use of the song “Blue Moon” than Richard Linklater’s film of the same name. Revealing how it’s employed would rob you of the realization Sung-hyun illustrates at the end of his picture. Yet, his ability to convey his message so intelligently and clearly, even with such a scattershot narrative, is honestly the most commendable aspect of Good News. 

It may not reinvent the wheel of Korean cinema, but it’s certainly an amusing affair that, if you’re willing to surrender yourself to Sung-hyun’s madness for almost two and a half hours, you may find something of note in it. Cinema should be playful and inventive, which Sung-hyun reminds us of for a sizable chunk of Good News’ runtime. If only more filmmakers with a backbone in our neck of the woods could take notes…

Grade: B+

Director: Angus Wall
Stars: Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappelle, Jerry Seinfeld

Synopsis: Follows a comprehensive look at Eddie Murphy’s life and career.

I watched so many things in my youth. I was a latchkey kid so when I would come home from school I would do my homework, get some food, and sit in front of the TV. I took in just about everything that I was watching whether it was a movie, a TV show, etc. Comedy movies brought me so much happiness because laughter was the best medicine for any illness that you could have. Eddie Murphy was a staple in my household. My mom would tell me about his time on SNL and his first movie roles (48 Hours, Trading Places). As I grew up, I would watch his movies on cable tv and soak everything in like a sponge. The jokes were funny, the actors and actresses were sights to see, and the music compositions would always have my ears perked up with excitement. In Being Eddie we go down memory lane of Eddie’s time as a stand up comedian, his time on SNL, his movies, and even his personal life. These are pretty standard things that celebrities touch on in their documentaries but not all of them have had a more interesting and complex life as the one and only Eddie Murphy. 

The documentary features some things about Eddie and his family that I didn’t know that much about. I didn’t know that his stepfather Vernon Lynch was a boxer. As this part of the documentary was playing I had one of those lightbulb moments. I said out loud, “Well that’s why he looked so natural playing a boxer in the movie, I Spy.” It’s satisfying when you get those unknown nuggets of information while watching a documentary. Eddie said that whenever he would get in trouble his punishment wouldn’t be a whooping. His punishment would be his TV getting taken away. I felt that so much because, unfortunately, TV was like a third parent to me. It wasn’t an uncommon thing to a child of the ‘90s/early ‘00s and having a parent that worked nights. Eddie’s rise to stardom was steady and mesmerizing to the normal person just living life. He only had a Plan A. I’ve always admired people that only have one plan in life and nothing else to fall back on. They are usually the ones that work SUPER hard so that things will work out. I’m more of a Plan B, maybe a Plan C type of guy.

Admittedly, I was coasting on a happy high while watching the documentary. Seeing Eddie spend time with his family, tell random jokes, and being honest about his early days in Hollywood was so rewarding. A lot of people don’t know how much he’s really done for the Black community, especially in the early days. He reached heights in his career that many of us could only dream of. He wasn’t afraid to put his family and friends in positions to better themselves and their own families. One of those main people was his big brother, Charlie Murphy. Their relationship was one of one. All that Charlie wanted to do was make sure that his brother was taken care of and happy. He started out doing security for Eddie. Years after, he began to collaborate with Eddie on screenplays. If you go through their IMDb pages you will see how much they accomplished together. Steel sharpens steel and the Murphy brothers crafted their own Hatori Hanso swords. Charlie passed away from leukemia in 2017. His death hit the world very hard but I cannot imagine how his family felt, especially Eddie. Charlie recorded a lot of interviews with the Chappelle’s Show crew and they implemented them in this documentary. It really felt like Charlie was still here and I hope that they know that that was truly a job well done on their part. There were a few things in the documentary that I think should’ve been discussed but these were sore subjects for him. Maybe he didn’t want to cast any negativity on what is supposed to be a positive thing for us to watch.

Seeing Eddie’s peers in the industry be so open about him and the impact he’s had on their lives and careers was so endearing. Everyone wants to be some sort of inspiration or a leader in a person’s life. Eddie has done both things and more for his family, his peers and his supporters. What other actor has played multiple characters in a lot of their movies and sat long hours in the makeup chair? Eddie Murphy. What other SNL alum hosted their own episode and left the whole world wanting more from them? Eddie Murphy is number one on that list. His upcoming projects include a George Clinton biopic and a Pink Panther reboot. Both of these projects sound like crowd pleasers and possibly award-winning. We’ll have to wait and see if these projects stick like hot grits or if they fall to the wayside like a bowl of spilled cereal.

Grade: B

Director: Michael Winterbottom
Writer: Michael Winterbottom, Laurence Coriat, Paul Viragh
Stars: Irina Starshenbaum, Harry Melling, Douglas Booth

Synopsis: In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, a British police officer and a Jewish woman fall in love amidst the political turmoil of 1930s Tel Aviv.

In this horrible period in the Israeli-Palestine conflict comes a growing output of films about the conflict of the last two years and of the years before 1948 when Israel was founded. No Other Land, Palestine ‘36, and The Voice of Hind Rajab all bring to light the absolute horrorshow of the Middle East and what seems to be an infinite war with no end in sight. It remains an impossible subject to navigate without showing a tint of partiality, especially when Shosana, the latest from director Michael Winterbottom (The Trip series), made the movie prior to the events of October 2023. Only this summer was the film released in the United States in the most relevant of times.

It is based on the true story of the titular character, Shoshana Borochov (Irina Starshenbaum), who is a member of the Hagunah, the Jewish defense force in British Palestine (1917-1948) formed to protect Jewish settlers from Arab attacks. Shoshana is the daughter of a leading figure in the Zionist Labour movement and is well known, and while the Hagunah is illegal, the British tend to look the other way as the group tolerates them for controlling Arab violence. She starts a relationship with a British Palestine police officer, Tom Wilkin (Douglas Booth), who knows of her affiliation but keeps it a secret for his superiors. This becomes a challenge when a more radical group, the Irgun, emerges with a more blunt violent attempt to banish Arabs and the British from the country.

Avraham Stern (Aury Alby) is the noted leader of the Irgun who makes it clear through bombings and shootings that British occupation is not acceptable. His presence complicates things and forms a fissure between Wilkin, doing his job, and Shoshana, who is trying to keep the peace and wants to be part of Stern’s gang of terrorists. However, Wilkin’s partner (Harry Melling) is an officer willing to get rough with any suspect to go after Irgun and Hagunah members as they threaten British imperial plans. Their informants get killed one-by-one by Stern as these aggressive tactics get leaked out with who has been talking and Wilkin can’t protect them. It builds to a violent climax that, considering what happens after, shatters the whole peace of the land.

Winterbottom, who has directed comedy, drama, and war films – his previous film, Eleven Days In May, is a documentary he co-directed about an Israel bombing campaign in Gaza – had the difficult task of tackling all of these real-life details, but does a decent job. It’s not flashy, and the script he co-wrote focuses on the conflicting politics of the time. It isn’t about Jews versus Arabs, but the civil war between Jewish militants, moderates, and the British occupants from one side. Add to the fact that all of this happened amidst the backdrop of World War II, where while they know Jews have been rounded up by the Nazis, they had no idea of the “final solution,” which would only accelerate the urgency of a Jewish state after the war. 

With the romantic section of the film, the movie has it take a backseat to the entire story. It lacks passion between the characters, not giving enough stakes to the danger of their relationship. Wilkin isn’t just with someone who’s a member of a criminal gang, but learns of a dangerous tie between Shoshana and the Irgun that puts his life and those of his countrymen in danger. Yet, what is something named important to the whole movie at the beginning becomes second-hand as the danger over the political situation boils up. The performances, as restrained, maintain their respective character’s emotional tone whether it be Melling giving Morton his cold, old-fashioned tone towards his subjects (the Jews and Arabs) or Starshenbaum’s balance between devotion to her cause and feelings for Wilkin.

Shoshana is a look at the past through the lens of a historical figure who saw everything from the beginning up to today. With archive footage to push the story along in the beginning and at the end, Winterbottom smoothly gives us a timeline through the British era where the volcano of religious nationalism was ready to erupt to what we see today. Even amongst the Jewish groups, how far they were willing to take it was split up, and the British had zero control of what was coming and couldn’t contain it. No love, even if there was passion for it in the film, was going to sustain the radical elements that were dooming it, and what we see today was always going to happen from the very beginning.

Follow me on X: @brian_cine (Cine-A-Man)

Grade: B

Director: Claire Denis
Writers: Claire Denis, Suzanne Lindon, Andrew Litvack
Stars: Matt Dillon, Isaach De Bankolé, Tom Blyth, Mia McKenna-Bruce

Synopsis: A vast public works project in West Africa. Horn, the construction site manager, and Cal, a young engineer, share lodging behind the double gates of their compound. Leone, Horn’s recent bride, comes to join them the same night that a man appears at the fence. His name is Alboury. Like a specter in the darkness, he demands the body of his brother who died earlier that day on the site. He will hound the two men all night long until they return it, as Leone watches the disaster play out before her.

Isaach de Bankolé has been a working actor for the better part of 40 years, yet despite his many collaborations with filmmakers like Claire Denis and Jim Jarmusch, among others, most “modern” audiences would probably recognize him from The Brutalist. Brady Corbet’s epic tale of artistry and corruption housed its fair share of scene-stealing performances – most notably Guy Pearce’s work as Harrison Van Buren, a role that would have won the Aussie an Academy Award in a just world – but de Bankolé’s turn as Gordon, the blue-collared pal to Adrien Brody’s László Toth, is the film’s most understated and grounded. While the Ivorian actor’s lines were limited and on-screen sequences relatively sparse, he served Corbet by remaining soft-pedaled in a movie chock full of theatrics and showy efforts from stars on their grandest levels. de Bankolé’s Gordon is a stoic realist, not one to shout nor berate, and certainly not one to take over a room with bellowing provocations about greatness and wealth. But given that he’s played by the man who rose to prominence in Denis’ Chocolat and has since made meals out of appetizer-sized portions in many a great film since, his position in the background never causes him to go invisible. 

So it’s extremely fitting that de Bankolé spends much of Denis’ new film, The Fence, lingering both in the background of many scenes and above the entire picture given its inciting incident, the death of his character’s brother on a construction site. Alboury has come to collect his brother Nouofia’s body; the site’s foreman, Horn (Matt Dillon), is hesitant to deliver it to him, so much so that it’s immediately evident that something awry and worth concealing has occurred. For the entirety of the film, Alboury stands on the other side of a fence – fitting – separate and unequal to Horn, who mans his workplace like a dictator with skeletons in his closet. By its conclusion, it matters less whether or not the literal fence is still standing, but if the barriers between Denis’ four main characters have been broken down, burst through, or have held firm. In some ways, all three occur at once. 

As The Fence is a mystery, questions abound from the top. Why, apart from their significant age difference and lack of chemistry, do things feel so off between Horn and his new wife Leone (Mia McKenna-Bruce), who arrives at the worksite thanks to Cal (Tom Blyth), Horn’s trusty human steed? Speaking of Cal, what’s up with him and Horn, namely their somewhat psychosexual dialogue that reeks of a power struggle and homoerotic fantasy? More than anything, though, uninformed audiences are sure to wonder why everyone is talking like that? The answer to the latter is far simpler than the rest: The Fence is adapted by Denis and her Both Sides of the Blade co-writers Suzanne Lindon and Andrew Litvack from Black Battles With Dogs, a French play by Bernard-Marie Koltès, and her choice to do so in such a faithful fashion causes her script to maintain its theatrical quality to a tee, but to a fault as well. There’s nothing wrong with a filmmaker exercising loyalty when it comes to a beloved source text – especially one she has lived with since seeing the play in 1979 – but one wonders whether or not this particular piece of stagecraft possesses enough of a cinematic quality for even a master such as Denis to get the translation right.

One can feel the stiltedness not only coming through in the dialogue, but in the way the characters move, too. While they have more room to walk about on Denis’ set – which has convincingly been turned from a real-life jail guarded by towers stocked with gunmen, gates, and barbed wire into a collection of shipping containers used as offices and bedrooms for those working on the site – than they would on stage, her actors seem committed to the notion that they only have so much flexibility to their motion, as if they’ll disappear behind a curtain should they travel too far. And though Dillon and Blyth are both excellent performers delivering stellar work here, only de Bankolé and McKenna-Bruce seem to be aware that they will be appearing in front of a crowd via projector, not a director’s off-stage call for action. 

Still, The Fence represents a fascinating entry in Denis’ legendary oeuvre, one that has never quite gone mainstream but has, at the very least, become more recognizable considering her inspired casting choices and her continued commitment to thrillingly romantic storytelling, even in its most harrowing sense. 2019’s High Life, one of the best films of that year, starred Robert Pattinson, Mia Goth, and another Denis mainstay in Juliette Binoche, and portrayed a spaceship full of criminals and a mad, horny doctor as they careened toward a black hole and screwed or murdered one another in the process. (It was her first film scripted entirely in English.) She took on double duty in 2022 with Both Sides of the Blade and Stars at Noon, and though neither film should be considered amongst her best efforts, they represent the two sides to her ever-evolving coin: A devotion to thoughtful, sensuous cinema in both French (Blade) and English (Stars), and a curiosity with actors old to her (Binoche and Vincent Lindon in the former) and new (Margaret Qualley and Joe Alwyn in the latter). 

The Fence somehow manages to be less successful than each of these previous three projects while being significantly more interesting at the same time. It’s certainly a play in film’s clothing and not the other way around, but even at its least digestible, it rises above what most other similarly brilliant auteurs would manage to mine from its material. Come for the fact that it’s another movie from Claire Denis – who knows how many more we’ll get – and stay for the dramatics within. Just don’t expect an intermission nor a moment to collect your thoughts on why it plays out in such stark, stagy manner.

The Fence screened in the Main Slate at the 63rd New York Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

Grade: B-

Director: Julia Jackman
Writer: Julia Jackman
Stars: Emma Corrin, Nicholas Galitzine, Maika Monroe

Synopsis: A young bride named Cherry lives in a remote castle with her neglectful husband, Jerome, and their faithful maid, Hero. When the charming Manfred arrives, he throws their dynamic into chaos, leading Jerome to leave Cherry alone for a hundred days to test her fidelity.

It’s taken me a few days to actually sit down and write this review of Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights of Hero. I wanted to be totally sure of my feelings on the film before typing things out because there’s so much I liked about it, but other parts which I found put a stop to what could’ve been something great. 

Based on the graphic novel “The One Hundred Nights of Hero” by Isabel Greenberg, which itself was based on the Middle Eastern folktale “One Thousand and One Nights, 100 Nights of Hero” is a trippy, beautiful romantic fantasy centered on Cherry (Maika Monroe). She lives in this sort of medieval world whose sky has three moons and where humans worship the deity known as Birdman (Richard E. Grant). As weird as that may sound, it turns out this world isn’t all that different from our own. 

Cherry faces growing pressure from the rich relatives of her husband Jerome (Amir El-Masry) to produce a male heir, as women are seen as lesser in this society and aren’t even allowed to read or write. She leans on her maid and confidant Hero (Emma Corrin) for support against a husband who is indifferent to her. Hero, secretly a storyteller, gives Cherry an escape from reality and provides hope that maybe things don’t have to be this way. It’s maddening, because if Jerome truly loved Cherry, he’d be providing that, but this is part of where the relatability of writer/director Julia Jackman’s script comes from. Women in real life have had to keep going in a seemingly never ending fight of being held down and forced to conform to societal norms by the patriarchy all while longing to do more.

Instead of supporting his wife, Jerome leaves her with a mysterious stranger, Manfred (Nicholas Galitzine) and places Cherry at the center of a bizarre contest over her fidelity. Too often, I’ve found that men will do just about anything rather than listen to their partners while still holding all the power and that’s the case with Jerome. What he exhibits isn’t love, but rather a classic case of men treating their partners like toys just because they can. Jerome knows the kind of pressure Cherry is under to have a son and doesn’t care because if she doesn’t, as he can simply find another wife. 

Meanwhile, Cherry just wants to be a good wife and mother while also being loved by someone. That’s all she’s been taught to do and it takes Hero to make her realize that perhaps there is more to life than what she knows. You see Cherry come out of her shell throughout 100 Nights of Hero and it’s really awesome to witness because Maika Monroe can really showcase her character’s emotional evolution through facial expressions, tonal shifts, or even a quick look. You can feel Cherry’s desire, her kindness, and, ultimately, the love she develops as the film goes on through Monroe’s performance.

Cherry can’t very well be a good wife with a hilarious oaf like Manfred breathing down her neck in an effort to get her to sleep with him, which is why she turns to Hero to distract Manfred with the tale of Rosa (Charli XCX) and her sisters. That story does more than take Manfred’s mind elsewhere though, it also opens Cherry up to new possibilities.  

In a bit of a surprise, Charli XCX impressed me with her brief but pivotal turn as Rosa. She commands the screen and honestly this makes me want to see her in a more substantial role. Though Corrin, Monroe, and Galitzine are tremendous, this film’s most heartbreaking moment comes from the pop star turned actress. I give her all the credit in the world for making me see Rosa as opposed to Charli.  

There’s a real passion beyond Jackson’s storytelling as she tells two stories which have similar themes. We see parallels between Rosa and Cherry throughout the film and get to see just how powerful stories can be when it comes to inspiring people to do more, but how they can change the world around them. This historical fairy tale is filled with harsh realities and ultimately a sense of hope and I give Jackson a lot of credit for finding the right tonal balance throughout the film. 

Jackson’s script also combines with some truly divine cinematography from Xenia Patricia to create a fantastical, dreamy atmosphere. You get the sense that this is a grounded world but at any moment, the color palette can shift to something more magical and trippy, signaling the changeover to Hero’s story. These visuals will captivate you, calling to mind the styles of Wes Anderson and Emerald Fennell while having their own unique flair. 

Where 100 Nights of Hero runs into a bit of trouble comes back to the screenplay. For as much good as Julia Jackman does, she still seems to hold the viewer at arms length. There isn’t as much depth given to this world or even our main players if we’re being honest. We are given just enough so that what we see throughout the film makes sense, from how this world works to why these characters ultimately end up at their end points, but Jackman never allows us to fully connect with them. There’s not enough meat on this screenplay’s bones which makes it seem like it was made for teenagers or young adults at most. Its marketing and actual content skewers towards an audience in their twenties ala Saltburn, and yet Jackson doesn’t give any real depth to her religious metaphors, character decisions, or how this world with fantastical elements really works. There’s a voiceover to kind of explain things, but nothing more. From that point on, the story just happens and whether or not it works for you depends on how much you enjoy everything else. 

100 Nights of Hero is a fascinating fairy tale with powerful themes. Even though it could use more depth in several areas, the bare bones of this story should be enough for audiences to enjoy as they ponder how much societal norms have shifted when it comes to women and the work that still needs to be done.

Grade: C+

Director: Osgood Perkins
Writer: Nick Lepard
Stars: Tatiana Maslany, Rossif Sutherland, Birkett Turton

Synopsis: Liz and Malcolm escape for a romantic anniversary weekend at a secluded cabin. When Malcolm suddenly returns to the city, Liz finds herself isolated and in the presence of an unspeakable evil that reveals the cabin’s horrifying secrets.

Osgood Perkins has been on a bit of a hot streak with Neon as of late, with a sleeper hit in the gritty noir that is Longlegs, to his cartoonish dark comedy lean in The Monkey. It seems that he’s found his stride with the distribution company despite the hit-or-miss nature of his films. Perkins’ latest feature, Keeper, is arguably his most stripped-back, slow stab at the horror genre since The Blackcoat’s Daughter, a fairly simple setup of a premise unveiling the layers of its horror as it goes on. Unfortunately, Keeper lands on the weaker side of Perkins’ filmography as it struggles to capitalize on any of the intrigue it has going for it. Perkins is no stranger to abstract artistry within his visuals, and that remains true in Keeper, but they’ve never been this substanceless, adding nothing of value to the film’s atmosphere, and by its end, it rushes to the finish line to explain away all its mystery. Despite any interest it may have garnered, Keeper is all intrigue and no substance. This slow burn only burns more wheels to spin through the film’s runtime, cementing itself as one of Perkins’ worst directorial efforts. 

After a montage of women being shown to us in quick succession, being tortured and preyed upon in quick POV shots, the movie begins from the perspective of Liz (Tatiana Maslany) and Malcolm (Rossif Sutherland). The two have been dating for a bit and decide to go on a trip to a cabin Malcom owns in the middle of the woods. Aside from the occasional visit of annoyance from his cousin Darren (Birkett Turton), Malcolm mostly tries to keep Liz company. However, as the days pass and Malcolm starts to leave her in the cabin alone, Liz comes to learn of the dark secrets that reside within the cabin and how she and the previous victims within it are all connected. 

Even with its extremely typical setup within the genre, Perkins does give Keeper a few merits of sorts. One element Perkins has always been able to accomplish behind the camera is providing an eerie atmosphere and image of locations within his more dread-filled horror, and the film is most effective at this when it starts. From his use of dissolves, multiple angles of the cabin to make it truly feel alive, even the horrific designs of the film’s creatures, Perkins has a knack for scary imagery, and it helps when Maslany sells every moment of terror and mystery in an incredibly captivating performance. 

Unfortunately, the longer Keeper goes on, the more its problems start to increase. No matter how many surreal shots or scenes of tension Perkins crafts, the film, despite its 99-minute runtime, starts to drag early on. Slow burns within the genre tend to vary from each film in terms of effectiveness, and Keeper’s repetitive usage of quick creepy shots and quick succession, and what was effective at first is tiring less than halfway through the film. To top it all off, as the film enters its last third, there comes a staple of some Osgood Perkins movies, which is explaining everything that’s going on in the mystery within rapid-fire succession. Sometimes it’s more effective, like in Longlegs’ storytime, telling of its final reveals, but it’s where this film completely deflates. It’s unfortunate, considering this final section of the film is where the shot composition and creep factor are truly striking, but it’s never enough to dispel how disappointing the initial reveal is. 

There’s also something to be said about how little the film decides to delve into the darker subject matter it initially presents of generational trauma inflicted upon women. In addition to Nick Lepard’s lackluster reveals within his script, as the film slowly unveils itself, there’s never anything interesting conveyed about this theming at all. In the final scene, Perkins’ imagery remains somewhat effective, but the script’s monotonous nature lets down any lasting impact that could’ve been left on the viewer.

Keeper’s faults never make it a complete waste, but it certainly makes it a complete disappointment as a genre picture. Suffering from a tedious structure and sugar reveals within its final act, despite its occasional burst of creativity, Keeper might be the most alarming mode of picture an Osgood Perkins feature has ever been in, boredom.

Grade: C–

Director: Steve Carr
Writer: Holly Hester
Stars: Alicia Silverstone, Oliver Hudson, Jameela Jamil

Synopsis: A separated couple tries celebrating one last Christmas together with their kids before their divorce. However, the husband’s new girlfriend joins the festivities, causing tension and chaos during the holidays.

The Christmas centered rom-com is a staple for a reason. It heightens this time of love, good will, and family. It exposes the cracks in something thought unbreakable and its traditions a reminder of the good times. For new romance, Christmas is the tension point, but for a second chance romance it’s a point at which the lovers find their footing as to who they once were to each other.

It could seem like a type of spoiler to announce that A Merry Little Ex-Mas is a second chance romance, but it’s obvious as soon as you get the rhythm of the film. It would be hard to spoil a romance as the destination is a foregone conclusion. It’s a staple of the genre for there to be a happy ending. It’s a genre that embodies the, “it’s the journey, not the destination,” ethos.

The journey that is A Merry Little Ex-Mas is a pretty delightful one. That’s mainly thanks to Alicia Silverstone as Kate. She’s an actress who can give something more substantial to the silliness around her with just a look. She’s never lost that bright and hopeful optimism of her best roles, but her characters now, and especially Kate, keep the optimism with a healthy dose of reality mixed in. Silverstone has a good sense of timing with an emotive face that makes her a heroine to cheer for.

We want to cheer for Kate, even if her trajectory rings a bit false at the end. Writer Holly Hester does an excellent job within the tropes of the genre. She’s come up with ridiculous and funny scenarios as well as a host of great characters. Most of the ridiculous scenarios involve either terrific himbo Chet (Pierson Fodé) or adorkable Harry Potter tour guide and along for the ride boyfriend Nigel (Timothy Innes).

The producers made the right call in hiring journeyman comedy director Steve Carr as well. He’s got the depth of knowledge to pull off some excellent bits because he understands how he can enhance a well written scene. There’s a scene toward the end that is a perfect piece of chaos. As the Christmas tree comes aflame, man of many hats, Chet leaps into action. The much more competent Gabriel (Wilder Hudson), goes to actually help, while Chet tears off his clothes because he tells us later, they are flame retardant, which is necessary for his exotic dancing act. Carr and cinematographer Adam Santelli show us wide angles of the sexy floor show and the reactions of the audience, including the lecherous April (Melissa Joan Hart), sipping her martini. It’s a weird and funny scene that was enhanced by Carr’s direction. Though, like most of the film, it feels like far too easy of a solution.

Too easy is sometimes the trouble with a genre that deals with falling in love. It may be that this film’s story feels this way because the characters were in love before. They have the basis and they have no true animosity until it comes out in the course of the story. So, to see the obvious end coming as it barrels on toward us feels like a bit too much compromise was made for the sake of the genre. There are concessions in the finale toward where the story could have gone, but the need for the correct type of happy ending failed the storytelling of the film.

A Merry Little Ex-Mas isn’t supposed to redefine the rom-com genre. It isn’t supposed to upend the tropes or give us a twist to really ponder. What it is meant to do is give us another story that can make us feel a little less alone and a little like we might want to escape to a very small town where everyone knows your business because they care. It’s meant to make us laugh, cry, and feel warm inside. A Merry Little Ex-Mas  does all of that. It’s a film that feels like fuzzy slippers and a mug of hot cocoa and that’s not a bad thing at all.

Grade: C

Director: Alex Woo
Writers: Alex Woo, Erik Benson
Stars: Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Elias Jenssen, Craig Robinson

Synopsis: In Your Dreams is a comedy adventure about Stevie and her brother Elliot, who journey into the absurd landscape of their own dreams. If the siblings can withstand a snarky stuffed giraffe, zombie breakfast foods, and the queen of nightmares, the Sandman will grant them their ultimate dream come true…the perfect family.

The opening scene of Alex Woo’s In Your Dreams immediately grabbed my attention only by a smart employment of Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” as a family prepares breakfast in a relatively fast-paced fashion. If you want to ensure your audience is locked in from the minute it begins, the song is perfect, especially as it punctuates a rather chaotic family dynamic between Stevie (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport), her brother Elliot (Elias Janssen), and her parents (voiced by Simu Liu and Cristin Milioti). The familial relationship seems joyful and loving, until, we realize, this occurred many years ago, and their current bond has been fractured for some time. 

Before we even get a sense of the gist of the story, it becomes clear that, by the end of the film, every “uncertainty” plaguing Stevie’s life, whether in her mother potentially accepting a new job at a city far away from their home or their parents likely eyeing a separation as the opportunity of a new professional endeavor tears the family from the inside, would be resolved satisfactorily. Woo and co-writer Erik Benson tread on incredibly familiar territories, and don’t do much to reinvent what’s already been treated in way better movies than this one. That said, this isn’t inherently a problem, because most family films tend to repeat the same storylines, through different thematic and visual variations, for kids to grasp complex subjects they will understand more deeply later in life. Yet, the execution from Woo in his story feels incredibly lazy, and that’s the biggest issue plaguing the core of In Your Dreams.

Take, for instance, a sequence where Stevie and Elliot go to a pizzeria that has absolutely no correlation whatsoever to Freddy Fazbear’s. No, sir, where are you getting this idea from? Instead of creating an animated world that feels distinct and is far removed from known IPs and other familiar designs, Woo’s movie consistently reappropriates stuff we know from popular culture and tries to pass it off as its own. At some point, Stevie and Elliot are in a dream where their bed rides an attraction with a visual palette similar to Disney’s “It’s a Small World,” while Not Freddy Fazbear haunts them by singing a “creepy” version of The Pussycat Dolls’ “Don’t Cha,” a song that was already dated when it released to the world. 

Even sequences of great creativity, such as a chase scene in the protagonists’ own dreams with their bed acting as a horse of sorts, have obvious callbacks to classic films that don’t feel earned, such as the most famous image from Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extraterrestrial. Credit where credit is due, though, the setpiece builds to that moment, and Woo does slightly get away with it, since E.T. is also about larger-than-life dreams for a child who discovered a world he didn’t even know existed before meeting the alien that will change his life. Still, it indicates a larger problem that the movie can’t effectively transcend – everything looks and feels like reheated nachos. 

Even Elliot’s favorite plush toy, Tony Baloney (Craig Robinson), who comes to life in their dreams, is totally not Donkey, and Robinson is absolutely not in any way imitating the same vocal patterns as Eddie Murphy’s portrayal of his most iconic animated character. Again, there isn’t a single original idea in Woo’s film, whether in its micro details in tracking a divided family who will eventually bond through their subconscious, or in its macro world as the siblings must plow through Nightmara (Gia Carides), the figure representing all of their deepest, darkest, nightmares before reaching the Sandman (Omid Djalili), who promises to make all of their biggest dreams come true. 

I don’t even need to describe anything else, because you probably know that the Sandman is not what he seems, and the same can also be said for Nightmara. There is a deeper moral to appreciate when both mythical figures are stripped down to their most human characteristics. However, Woo doesn’t delve as deeply as he can in making these characters feel as textured and three-dimensional as the telegraphed relationship between Stevie and Elliot. Yes, both are familiar, but their dynamic is at least entertaining enough to make us want to see their journey through, regardless of whether it’s (too) easy to figure out where it’s heading. 

With all that being said, In Your Dreams is neatly animated in its attempt to replicate the same “quest for realism” as Pixar does, until it surprises through a staggering maximalist shift when the characters dream of “dynamite fists.” What that entails won’t be spoiled in this review, but this is where Woo frees itself from its conventional shackles and, on some occasions, gets surprisingly invigorating and creative. One wishes the entire movie were like this, because In Your Dreams rarely attempts to surpass its conventional narrative and character beats, instead preferring to stay within the limited imagination and references it wants to bathe in. 
Kids will undoubtedly enjoy it as a mild distraction. As a result, the movie will likely achieve massive success on Netflix. But will it have the same unexpected cultural longevity as KPop Demon Hunters, which became a worldwide phenomenon in the weeks after its initial release on the streamer and is now positioned to be a major awards contender? That is the question of the hour, and there’s only one way to find out…

Grade: D+