Week Ending 1/13/23
Filling in the blanks
The SAG Awards nominations were released this week with Ana de Armas and Adam Sandler somewhat surprisingly making the cut in their respective “Lead” categories. I pretty much had given up on watching either of their films (BLONDE and HUSTLE) until something like that happened, so, of course, I finally caught up to both to shore up my OFCS votes. Actors are a huge portion of the Academy’s membership, so SAG picks could definitely translate to the Oscars.
That OFCS ballot is due Sunday night with nothing really changing since my GWNYFCA ballot was submitted. Right now I’m thinking Bill Nighy, Brendan Fraser, Paul Mescal, Daniel Giménez Cacho, and Austin Butler for men and Danielle Deadwyler, Michelle Yeoh, Thandiwe Newton, Tang Wei, and Emma Thompson for women. Brian Tyree Henry and Ke Huy Quan lead my supporting actors while Hong Chau and Janelle Monáe lead supporting actress. Maybe something on my watchlist can shake things up, but I’m not so sure.
What I Watched:
BLONDE
(streaming on Netflix)
Smarter people than me have written about the moral issues behind Joyce Carol Oates’ novel and Andrew Dominik’s film BLONDE. Is three-hours of exploitation justified if the exploitation is the point? Does this story being told under the identity of Marilyn Monroe add something that a story about a fictional approximation couldn’t possess? How does saying it turns the mirror on public perception and Hollywood’s objectification of the actress square with also saying it’s about an alternate personality created by Norma Jeane Mortenson that saved her life before destroying it? Does that mean she also objectified herself? That she’s to blame for everything? The more Oates and Dominik talk, the more I believe they’re falsely intellectualizing a fan-fic they’re too pretentious to just call fan-fic.
Here’s the thing, though: I don’t really care either way. I can’t because the movie itself is as empty a vessel as it tries to paint Marilyn Monroe to be. So, there’s no reason to dig deeper into the subtext if the text isn’t worth the time to wonder. It’s a shame too because Ana de Armas is great in lead the role. She pours her heart and soul into the struggle and pain that always seems to suppress whatever brief moments of elation Norma is able to find. But this is a manifestation of assumptions and preconceptions. It’s a caricature meant to expose itself as a façade without ever truly introducing us to the real person. Lily Fisher plays Norma Jeane and she dies the moment she’s dumped into an orphanage. de Armas plays Marilyn Monroe—or, as she describes it, “just some blonde.”
This isn’t therefore some profound exercise. It doesn’t split apart an icon into the two personalities wrestling within. It can’t because it never tries to grapple with honesty or authenticity when salaciousness and abuse proves more “exciting.” Dominik isn’t interested in either of those things anyway since the film proves to be little more than a series of photographs brought to life. If BLONDE is an exercise, it’s an exercise in aesthetic. It craves the façade. It needs it. The moment truth enters the equation is the moment everything falls apart, so he avoids it like the plague. Whenever the chance to really mine Norma’s emotions arises after the numerous traumas she endures, Dominik simply cuts to the next chapter of make-believe, sex, and/or drugs.
I did enjoy the Arthur Miller (Adrien Brody) portion, though. It flirts with honesty even if it too keeps us at arm’s length for the duration. Because arm’s length is better than being miles away like so many of the other vignettes. Characters come and go so fast that you could really cut an hour out and lose nothing but the beautiful pictures created from the noise. That and the many opportunities to put a camera in Norma’s womb to speak with a trio of fetuses. I’m half surprised conservatives haven’t ignored the nudity long enough to take this film under their wing as Pro Life propaganda. Norma even calls her own mother “brave” for having her when an abortion would have been so much easier. It’s as though the one lesson from this entire tragedy is that Norma may have survived if she had been able to become a mom.
- 5/10
HUSTLE
(streaming on Netflix)
A SAG nomination for Best Actor isn’t something you ignore. Not when there’s only five slots. Does it translate to an Oscar nomination despite Adam Sandler not being able to earn one with UNCUT GEMS, arguably his best performance? Normally, I’d say no. But the category is so weak this year that a guild boost like this could be enough to push him over the line. That Jeremiah Zagar’s (watch WE THE ANIMALS if you haven’t yet) HUSTLE is also a legitimately good film only helps matters too. Keep a smile on those Academy voters’ faces to remember the “Sandman’s” name come ballot time.
Taylor Materne and Will Fetters have pretty much transcribed the ROCKY playbook into basketball, but they set it in Philadelphia, include a meta joke (and montage), and lean into the rags-to-riches storyline for feel-good emotion. They also split focus so that it isn’t just one plotline to victory, but two. Because Sandler’s Stanley Sugarman (an ex-college star turned long-time scout who’s years past his chance at coaching) has as much to gain (and lose) as the unknown Spaniard (Juancho Hernangómez’s Bo Cruz) he’s staked everything on. This twenty-two-year-old “kid” is his ticket to the bench as long as he can convince the league to open their eyes.
It’s obviously not a slam dunk considering his boss, new Philadelphia 76ers owner Vince Merrick (Ben Foster), has never liked him, but Stanley hopes his former teammate and power agent Leon (Kenny Smith) can at least ensure another team jumps at the opportunity if personal grudges get in the way. In order for that to happen, however, some white lies must be told. And they can be disastrous for a relationship built on trust that has Bo going all-in on the promises Stanley makes. Adversity arises in the form of trash talk (Bo is sensitive and Anthony Edwards’ phenom Kermit Wilts knows how to push his buttons) and failure, so it’s all about whether both men can buckle down and see their dreams through.
Foster plays an effective “villain” as always. Queen Latifah and Jordan Hull provide wonderful emotional support for Stanley as his wife and daughter respectively while María Botto shines as Bo’s mother. And while this is Sandler’s show (he’s more than up to the task and deserving of the accolades), I don’t think it works without Hernangómez. Because it’s not just about his basketball skills. So much of this role lies in the off-the-court attitude—humor and humility—that makes the rapport between player and coach so authentic. These men are having fun on-screen. We’re watching a friendship form more than anything else. Realizing I would be satisfied with a potential ending that ultimately sees them fail but remain close is the highest compliment I can give since winning isn’t everything. (But Hollywood will Hollywood anyway.)
- 8/10
NAVALNY
(streaming on HBO Max)
Alexei Navalny isn’t wrong when he says that director Daniel Roher’s interview feels like he’s anticipating the film’s release will coincide with his death rather than his victory. How could anyone involved in documenting Navalny’s publicized return to Moscow after a lengthy recovery in Germany from a poison-based assassination attempt not think that’s the more likely outcome? Not only had Vladimir Putin tried and failed once, but Navalny and his team possessed the evidence proving it. What then did the Russian President have to lose by succeeding the second time in full view of the international media? Nothing. It’s why Navalny answers Roher’s questions. If he is going to die, there must be a record of him telling his nation to never give up.
No matter how inspiring that message is as a reason for NAVALNY to exist, however, the real appeal comes from its behind-the-scenes account of how that aforementioned proof was exposed. Roher’s film utilizes Alexei’s planned homecoming as bookends to show us that he would survive the poisoning and make good on his mission to keep fighting no matter the cost. Between watching him board the plane at the start and exit it at the finish lies a year-long journey with the help of Russian investigative journalist Maria Pevchikh and Bulgarian “math nerd” Christo Grozev that’s nothing short of genius. Because they don’t only end up finding Navalny’s assailants through mined data collecting. They trick one into incriminating himself.
So, while the scenes with his family endear (it’s always fun watching a forty-something, social media-trained politician father teach his nineteen-year-old daughter new tricks on TikTok) and the climactic plane ride excites (regardless of whether you know the result), nothing on-screen beats Navalny cold calling his attackers to see if any are dumb enough to give up the game. Except, of course, that “dumb” isn’t the right word in an autocracy like Putin’s. “Comfortable” is. Which of those men will feel safe enough to speak freely via telephone to someone who knows mission details nobody but his team and their superiors should know? That Navalny keeps his composure with every bombshell reveal is insane.
With that centerpiece on top of the “will they or won’t they” intrigue surrounding the uncertainty of his return reception, the film can do no wrong. Roher’s ability to make it entertaining and informative via an impeccable edit mixing his exclusive interview with news footage and Navalny team recordings shouldn’t therefore be dismissed. He could have coasted on those built-in set-pieces rather than ensure he got reaction shots of every step from all those involved. He could have made it purely about the suspense rather than humanizing his subject to allow us to understand his quest and champion his resolve right alongside a fully supportive family. It’s the sort of explosive overview that can change minds in a perfect world and the perfect litmus test for exposing sycophants who readily agree with Putin that it’s all just an embarrassing cry for attention.
- 8/10
NO BEARS [Khers nist]
(now in limited release)
“Our fear empowers others.” These are words spoken by a local villager where writer/director Jafar Panahi’s fictionalized self is staying near the Turkish border to be as close to the cast and crew he’s directing remotely from his laptop. He says them minutes after warning that bears roam the streets—admitting it was all a lie in accordance with the stories told to children to try and keep them safe. Whether just a fairy tale in this case, however, there are real “bears” in Panahi’s world. The government would like nothing more than to put him in jail or worse for not complying with orders to stay within Iran’s border. His own fear prevents him from crossing that imaginary line despite it seeming so easy to do so. But if it were really that simple, why are so many being killed for trying?
NO BEARS puts tradition and superstition on trial opposite reality as we watch two different couples facing the choice between a “safe” future outside of their control that they do not want and one that threatens their lives in pursuit of a future they do. Couple #1 is Bakhtiar (Bakhtiyar Panjeei) and Zara (Mina Kavani)—subjects and actors in Panahi’s latest film. Trying to flee for ten years, they have allowed him to both document and reenact the process so that he can turn their story into an authentic cinematic depiction. Couple #2 is Solduz (Amir Davari) and Gozal (Darya Alei)—young lovers hoping to marry despite her hand being promised to another at birth. Panahi sees both as potential happy endings, believing in (and even actively facilitating) the simplicity of their love while the volatility of their surroundings seeks to destroy it.
That result is an intriguingly meta journey wherein Panahi manufactures real life through a documentary aesthetic to expose just how paranoid and self-serving the conservative climate of Iran proves. He becomes a sort of bystander along with us, gleaning partial truths, choosing sides, and carefully hoping to preserve his own tenuous safety in the process considering the danger he puts himself in by filming let alone doing so this close to a border he’s legally unable to cross. The drama has stakes both in the city (Zara can leave safely, but refuses without her husband) and the village (love backing Solduz and Gozal into a corner) with Panahi’s continued involvement placing him in the spotlight too. It’s a scathing commentary on political and familial oppression packaged as a dual romance on an unavoidable fast-track towards tragedy.
- 7/10
THE PRICE WE PAY
(now in limited release and on VOD)
As Grandpa (Vernon Wells) always says: we must pay life’s cost with flesh. I wouldn’t be surprised if director Ryûhei Kitamura and screenwriter Christopher Jolley (who share story credit) thought up that line first and went backwards to make it work since THE PRICE WE PAY proves rather forgettable beyond the climactic exposition dump. Before then it’s just Stephen Dorff’s ex-Ranger Cody trying to stop Emile Hirsch’s certifiably insane Alex from killing everyone who crosses their path during a pawn shop robbery. That set-up is such an afterthought that the film doesn’t even bother to provide context outside of “You know who we robbed!” and “You know who we’re working for!” since any off-screen identities will inevitably prove moot.
Why? Because nobody is leaving the farm Cody, Alex, Shane (Tanner Zagarino), and their unwitting hostage Grace (Gigi Zumbado) have stumbled onto during their getaway anytime soon. We (and Cody) know it as soon as we meet young Danny (Tyler Sanders) in the stables. Where someone not paying attention would presume his obvious fear is a result of strangers who might do him harm being on the property, it’s not difficult to realize he’s actually scared of what will happen to them once Grandpa and Jodi (Erika Ervin) return. Anyone who’s seen a Kitamura film (MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN, DOWN RANGE, etc.) should be prepared for the copious amounts of gore to come.
It would actually be enough to call this one a winner too if not for the first act’s dreadful dialogue. Hirsch is having fun delivering his lines, but I can’t say I was enjoying hearing them. Maybe I would have if the filmmakers leaned into that unearned stylistic choice to push things towards a comedic tone. By playing everything straight, however, it comes off as cringy instead. And not in the good way since his Alex is supposed to be the loose cannon. We should fear him, not think of him as a joke. If he wasn’t first-billed, I would have expected Dorff to put a bullet in his head within five minutes. Alas, everyone gets to the lion’s den alive.
On a purely visceral level, the ensuing violence and bloody kills are effective. Add the loquacious pomp of a hubristic antagonist (Wells) and his formidable muscle (Ervin) and the aforementioned exposition dump entertains even as it confirms that nothing until then mattered. Dorff and Zumbado do their best to try and make us care for their plight despite him being a criminal and she a barely two-dimensional lamb led to slaughter. We care enough to see where things go, but them ending up dead or alive is inconsequential since the gore is the star. I would have liked a story.
- 5/10
PROJECT WOLF HUNTING [Neugdaesanyang]
(hits Blu-ray & DVD on 2/14)
I had a lot of fun with Hongsun Kim’s PROJECT WOLF HUNTING—so much that I can easily look past the last-second revelation that’s thrown-in to make sure potential financiers know it has sequel potential. I’d honestly watch that follow-up if it ever comes to fruition to reward this one for knowing to keep exposition in the background. Get us with the hook and assault us with the mythology later. We learn just enough to traverse the narrative twists and turns once good guys and bad guys swap places (or prove exactly who we knew they were). Anything beyond using the vague “experiment” tag for creating super-soldiers would only bog down the reason we’ve bought a ticket: blood.
There’s a lot of blood. More than just what a monster movie would provide too since this is also a brutally violent escape thriller on behalf of twenty or so extreme criminals being extradited back to their homeland of South Korea from the Philippines. Think CON AIR first and a high-humbered exploitative FRIDAY THE 13TH chapter second. Because the existence of a sedated corpse with eyes sewn shut down in the bowels of the cargo ship being used to transport these inmates isn’t an issue until it is. We’ve still got an hour of hubristic cops letting their guard down while “Red Notice” prisoner Park Jong-Du’s (Seo In-Guk) revenge plan is set in motion. With machine guns, blades, and bad-ass police captain Lee Seok Woo’s (Park Ho-San) baton in play, more bodies might actually fall before Alpha (Gwi-hwa Choi) wakes up.
The whole works on a level of pure entertainment alone, but the gradual introduction of backstory and motivations definitely does add another gear. We want to know what Oh Dae Woong (Dong-il Sung) is supervising once he takes over ground control for the mission—the transport of the prisoners or Alpha? We’re curious as to why Lee Do Il (Dong-Yoon Jang) also has a “Red Notice” when he seems so much more docile than his sadistic counterpart. Some inmates are with Jong-Du. Some simply follow him because of the protection he provides after mowing down the police contingent to a handful including Lee Seok Woo and Detective Lee Da Yeon (Jung So-Min). Once Alpha’s Frankenstein footsteps start clanking at super speed, however, they’re all just trying to stay alive.
So, throw in survival feature too because Hongsun Kim isn’t afraid of any genre. There’s even a bit of romance courtesy of prisoners Choi Myung Joo (Jang Young-Nam) and Go Kun-bae (Ko Chang-seok). And if twenty some inmates, twenty some cops, a cargo ship’s crew, and the military grade operation under Oh Dae Woong’s control sounds like too many characters to keep track of—you’re correct. It’s okay, though, since you can bet most (if not all) will wind up dead. I was confused at one point that there could still be another hour left despite how many people were already reduced to pulverized flesh because I forgot just how many other poor souls were waiting in the wings. Don’t worry, though. They’ll all get to choke on their own blood eventually.
- 7/10
THE SEVEN FACES OF JANE
(now in limited release and on VOD)
While he doesn’t get a director’s credit, THE SEVEN FACES OF JANE is Roman Coppola’s baby. It’s an “exquisite corpse” exercise wherein he recruited eight different creatives to come together and tell the story of a woman (Gillian Jacobs’ Jane) embarking on a genre-hopping, introspective journey through mind and soul during the brief time in which she finds herself alone after dropping off her eight-year-old daughter at camp. Coppola passed out cards with settings and ideas; set a chronology insofar as which director’s short would go first, etc.; and told everyone to go and make something to their own specific styles and voices to be merged later without any knowledge of the others’ work.
The result is a fun experiment with varying degrees of success depending on your tastes and interests. There’s comedy, drama, action, dance, and a very front-and-center Mustang driving us through each vignette as though Ford was the main financial backer of the project (I couldn’t stop thinking of THE HIRE, BMW’s series of shorts from Ridley and Tony Scott—amongst others—starring Clive Owen). We learn about Jane’s regrets. Her aspirations. Guilt. Desires. Fears. She runs into ghosts from the past to reconcile who she was and who she is now while wondering whether there’s another evolution on the horizon.
Jacobs, being the star and thus cognizant of everything, was tasked with directing the prologue and epilogue alongside her character’s daughter (Joni Reiss). Gia Coppola (Roman’s niece) delivers the first chapter as an off-the-wall, surreal gangster lark. Boma Iluma and Ryan Heffington come next with my two favorite shorts of the bunch—gorgeously shot, heartfelt, and devastating. Iluma’s “Tayo” is a snapshot of Jane’s former boyfriend (Chido Nwokocha) being reborn while Heffington’s “Guardian” memorializes a friendship (with Sybil Azur) more powerful than distance or death. Xan Cassavetes and Julian J. Acosta supply numbers four and five with a comedic air while Ken Jeong helms a dramatic, potential turning point for Jane via a wonderfully emotive long-take opposite Joel McHale before Alex Takacs rounds things out with the unsettlingly dark “The Audition”.
Mileage will obviously vary. I personally thought there was something to like about each and the disparate aspect ratios, film grain, and genre trappings keep everything fresh so that Jacobs’ performance can be the connective tissue. The pieces probably work better than the whole, but I’m not sure that’s necessarily a bad thing considering how purposefully segregated their productions were. The “feature film” nature of the finished project is but the vessel with which to share the individual works with the world. It’s also perhaps an incorrect label. Coppola’s exercise of combining disparate visions ensures its status as an anthology.
- 7/10
SKINAMARINK
(now in limited release; streams on Shudder 2/2)
If Sharon, Lois, and Bram taught me anything as a kid, it was that you never “skinamarink” without a good “dinky dink” chaser. Otherwise you get caught in the spiderweb and no elephant wants that.
So, I guess I don’t remember much about that show at all beside the cartoon opening credits—something that is apparently not yet in the public domain since writer/director Kyle Edward Ball surely would have used it alongside the toons that serve as light source and score for the proceedings of his film SKINAMARINK. I use “proceedings” lightly, however, since I’m honestly not entirely sure anything is going on. Yes, Kaylee (Dali Rose Tetreault) and Kevin (Lucas Paul) are scared when they wake up to find Dad and all the windows/doors leading out of their house gone. But that’s a premise, not a plot.
I won’t lie. I wanted to stick a knife in my eye around twenty minutes in. That’s an hour before a disembodied voice orders one of the children to do the same. I also thought PARANORMAL ACTIVITY was excruciatingly boring and that spawned an insane number of sequels—so what do I know? People seem to really be connecting with the creepy-factor Ball creates via low-light grain and obscenely skewed compositions that make it so we never see a human face until he decides to use one as a jumpscare (accompanied by the deafeningly shrill sound he punctuates every jumpscare with as though he realized they don’t work without the extra sensory assault). I didn’t. I was annoyed.
So, speculate about what is happening all you want. I don’t think any hypothesis from it being the fever dream of a boy who bumped his head falling down the stairs (Then why is the first non-static sequence from Kaylee’s POV?) to it being purgatory on the way to Hell after their mother murder-suicided them to it being a metaphor for childhood trauma centering on a messy divorce will sway me to care enough to reevaluate by initial reaction. Because despite some admittedly effective frames, the quick cuts and heavy-handed sound design devoid of any narrative context supplies nothing but evidence that Ball is a confident filmmaker who stuck to his guns to ensure his debut gains cult status.
The sheer fact that 80% of the ungodly 100-minute runtime refuses to actually engage with the action as more than “corner-of-the-eye” periphery prevented me from investing in any of the so-called stakes. I just hoped for a payoff that never arrived. Because if the kids don’t seemed scared, why should I?
- 4/10
SPEAK NO EVIL [Gæsterne]
(streaming on Shudder and available on VOD/Digital HD)
It’s impossible not to get enraptured by Patrick (Fedja van Huêt) and Karin (Karina Smulders) once they start talking to the group of strangers sharing dinner at a large table in Italy. They’re all tourists making new friends and annoying each other with anecdotes as boring as the lives they themselves left behind, but this Dutch couple is different. They’re confident and funny. They listen and applaud. Finally, Bjørn (Morten Burian) and Louise (Sidsel Siem Koch) have found people they truly enjoy spending time with—especially since Patrick and Karin’s shy son Abel (Marius Damslev) is the same age as their Agnes (Liva Forsberg). So, when a postcard making good on a promised invitation for a weekend holiday at their country home arrives weeks after everyone returned home, how could Bjørn and Louise say no?
There are, of course, numerous reasons why—in-film and out. Because while hardly knowing their new Dutch hosts is enough to give these Danes pause, we’re also aware they all exist within a horror story. Director Christian Tafdrup and his co-writer brother Mads ensure we never forget it as SPEAK NO EVIL steadily progresses through one awkward scenario after another that toes the line between misunderstanding and red flag. Which parts of what occurs are cultural discrepancies and which are earmarks of the sort of psychopathy you should simply run from? It’s impossible to know once alcohol and excitement are thrown into the mix. Do Patrick and Karin honestly live their lives without shame and assume others do too? Or are they provoking their guests to see what sort of fight awaits once the game ultimately exposes its underlying darkness?
Everyone has talked about an insane twist, but I’d suggest you not get your hopes up too far. It honestly isn’t surprising at all—which by no means suggests it isn’t still effective. Sometimes hype gets the mind racing about some out-of-left-field reveal that unfortunately renders the one perfectly befitting of the experience into a letdown. And that’s not fair to what’s a legitimately suspense-filled nightmare no parent would ever wish upon their worst enemies. Because the slow-burn pacing and multiple false starts are carefully measured to trick us into believing everything has been an overreaction. The filmmakers have us wondering if our protagonists are actually making matters worse themselves. That’s the point, after all. We’re so quick to forgive and forget that a monster blaming us for their actions isn’t wholly wrong.
- 7/10
THIRTEEN LIVES
(streaming on Amazon Prime)
Some people just can’t watch documentaries. I get it. They need a more familiar narrative structure with obvious characters working towards a common goal rather than the often disparate threads taken by documentarians trying to do justice to the numerous moving parts. So, while Ron Howard’s THIRTEEN LIVES will always be completely unnecessary since Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s THE RESCUE already supplied a definitive account of what occurred during the harrowing rescue of a young Thai soccer team and their coach from a Northern Thailand cave during an early monsoon season, I can’t deny its success. The fictionalization does the story justice, honors the heroes who risked their lives, and provides the sort of tense drama audiences can invest in.
I don’t say it’s unnecessary solely because the doc came first either. I say it because THE RESCUE utilizes its own re-enactments to approximate what occurred. And because most of the divers in those sequences were the ones who saved those boys’ lives, we’re able to see everything unfold as close to reality as possible. Watching Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen pop out of the water every now and then after a couple close-ups of potential danger simply cannot compare. Would I say the same if THIRTEEN LIVES was my introduction to the event? Probably not. I wouldn’t know any better. That’s where the appeal ultimately lies. Howard and screenwriter William Nicholson weren’t tasked with creating a film for a world that knows what happened. They were hired to entertain and educate one that doesn’t.
Give them credit too because they don’t go overboard on the melodrama to achieve that goal. It helps when one of your two leads (Farrell and Mortensen fill that role despite much of the film being in Thai with a majority Thai cast) is an unabashed curmudgeon with zero bedside manner. This is a fact-based account that holds true to everything I remember from the documentary, so it’s not playing with the details as much as manipulating the emotions to adhere to more conventional narrative beats. The craft is excellent and acting top-notch. We move from the caves to the “war room” to a mountain of volunteers diverting rain to help keep the cave as dry as possible, witnessing humanity at its most empathetic and selfless. It would be almost impossible not to do story justice.
- 7/10
Cinematic F-Bomb -
With Steven Spielberg winning another this week Golden Globe, I figured I’d include one if his best PG-13 f-bombs courtesy of CATCH ME IF YOU CAN. (Substack apparently can’t handle an embedded gif, so you’ll have to click over for a smoother experience. Or see everything at cinematicfbombs.com.)
New Releases This Week:
(Review links where applicable)
Opening Buffalo-area theaters 1/13/23 -
THE DEVIL CONSPIRACY at Regal Transit & Quaker Crossing
HOUSE PARTY at AMC Maple Ridge; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker Crossing
PLANE at Dipson Flix; AMC Maple Ridge & Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria & Quaker Crossing
THUNIVU at Regal Transit
VARISU at Regal Elmwood
VEERA SIMHA REDDY at Regal Elmwood
WALTAIR VEERAYYA at Regal Elmwood & Transit
Streaming from 1/13/23 -
DOG GONE - Netflix on 1/13
THE DROP - Hulu on 1/13
SICK - Peacock on 1/13
THE DEVIL TO PAY - Netflix on 1/17
ACTUAL PEOPLE - MUBI on 1/18
THE PEZ OUTLAW - Netflix on 1/19
SORRY ABOUT THE DEMON - Shudder on 1/19
Now on VOD/Digital HD -
DEVOTION (1/8)
“The drama can get pretty heavy-handed and expose just how sanitized and corny Hollywood productions are compared to grittier indies, but the emotional impact at its back is undeniable.” - Full review at HHYS.
2ND CHANCE (1/10)
THE EXILES (1/10)
HUMAN RESOURCES (1/10)
PEACEFUL (1/10)
THE PRICE WE PAY (1/10)
Thoughts are above.
THE SUBTLE ART OF NOT GIVING A F*CK! (1/10)
THOSE WHO CALL (1/10)
GODLESS: THE EASTFIELD EXORCISM (1/12)
DOOR MOUSE (1/13)
KITCHEN BRIGADE (1/13)
LOUDMOUTH (1/13)
MY FATHER MUHAMMAD ALI (1/13)
THE OFFERING (1/13)
THE OLD WAY (1/13)
THE SEVEN FACES OF JANE (1/13)
Thoughts are above.
From the press kit archive:
