It’s Guys Like You
Mickey 17
by Hope Madden
People mainly familiar with filmmaker Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-sweeping masterpiece Parasite may not know of his remarkable skill with a SciFi creature feature. Mickey 17, then, will be an excellent primer.
Robert Pattinson is the titular Mickey. Well, he’s a bunch of Mickeys, all 17 of them. Hoping to get away from some pretty bad fellas on Earth, Mickey signs up for a flight of space pioneers, but there’s a lot of competition to make the voyage and he has no skills so he signs on as an expendable: a clone who, for the betterment of science, subjects himself daily to every conceivable new threat so science can better prepare the non-expendables.
Chief among the unexpendable on this colonizing mission are the commander, vainglorious attention whore Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), and Lady to his Macbeth, Ylfa (Toni Collette).
Joining Mickey onboard are his best friend, con-man extraordinaire Timo (Steven Yeun, playing delightfully against type) and the love of his many, many lives, Nasha (Naomi Ackie, Blink Twice).
Pattinson’s a hilarious, self-deprecating charmer, a man who believes he somehow deserves his fate. Fates. Through him the filmmaker employs absurd, sometimes even slapstick humor to satirize our own current fate. Beautifully (and characteristically), all of this is in favor of the reminder that our humanity requires us to be humane.
There’s great tenderness in this film, though it competes with sharp satire and fun action. But what fuels every scene, however lunatic or sweet or absurd, is the heat of Bong’s rage. His more than capable ensemble—from the sycophant scientist (Cameron Britton) to the ego-stroking puppet master (Daniel Henshall) to the guy forever dressed as a mascot (Tim Key) and on and on—brings every enraged idea to vivid, remarkable, too-close-to-home life.
Weaving sensibilities and ideas present in Snowpiercer, Okja, The Host as well as any number of clone movies, Mickey 17 could feel borrowed. It doesn’t. Like the best science fiction, it feels close enough to reality to be a bit nightmarish.
Art Imitating Life Imitating Opera
Seven Veils
by George Wolf
Real-life creative roadblocks pushed filmmaker Atom Egoyan to channel his frustrations into a new project. Seven Veils is the result, an impressively crafted and consistently compelling psychological drama of life imitating art imitating opera.
A few years back, Egoyan was set to re-mount his vision of Richard Strauss’s Salome with the Canadian Opera Company. Producers blocked some of Egoyan’s proposed changes, which led him to create the character of Jeanine.
Jeanine (Amanda Seyfried) is a young theatre director given the reins to a re-mount of Salome, which was the crown jewel in the resume of her mentor, Charles. Producers would no doubt prefer someone more seasoned at the helm, but it was Charles’s dying wish for Jeanine to direct, and she dives into the project with earnest ambition and a complicated past.
Repressed trauma begins to influence Jeanine’s edits to the production, and her ideas are met with a resistance that leads to mockery.
Egoyan (Chloe, The Sweet Hereafter) was able to incorporate the set of his own staging of Salome into the Seven Veils production, giving the film’s fictional opera a sumptuous, authentic visual pull that helps to seamlessly blur the narrative lines.
Because whether these characters are on stage or off, Egoyan funnels every thread through the act of spectating. Jeanine watches rehearsals. Cast and crew watch Jeanine. Jeanine has face-time conversations with her mother and her estranged husband, while production artist Clea’s (Rebecca Liddiard, an ensemble standout) BTS vlogs fuel some desperate backstage deal-making.
And as Jeanine complains about the effect of an intimacy coordinator on her plans for more overt sexuality onstage, persistent flashbacks foreshadow the film’s third act turn toward melodrama. It’s Seyfried’s committed performance that keeps the series of reveals from collapsing under pulpy self-indulgence.
Jeanine is clearly working through some things, and Seyfried makes it worthwhile to labor along with her. Instead of overwrought hysterics, Seyfried brings a slowly unraveling intensity to Jeanine, allowing the unease that inspired Egoyan’s Seven Veils to play out as a fascinating peek behind the creative curtain.
Grow Old Along With Me
The Rule of Jenny Pen
by Hope Madden
In 2021, Kiwi filmmaker James Ashcroft made his feature debut with the lean and unforgiving thriller Coming Home in the Dark. While his follow up discards the taut terror of a road picture in favor of lunacy and a hand puppet, The Rule of Jenny Pen mines similar tensions. Vulnerability, institutional ignorance, helplessness, bullying—Jenny Pen comes at it from a different angle, but the damage done bears a tragic resemblance.
The great Geoffrey Rush is Judge Stefan Mortensen, a self-righteous ass who finds himself institutionalized after a stroke. But as soon as he’s better, he’ll be out of there. In the meantime, he will berate and belittle staff and patients alike—even his kind roommate, Sonny (Nathaniel Lees).
But Dave Creely (John Lithgow, never creepier) doesn’t think the judge is going anywhere. He doesn’t think he’s such a much, if you want to know the truth, and he looks forward to pressing every vulnerability the judge has, terrorizing him until he breaks him. Just as Dave has broken every other patient at the home—with the help of his bald little hand puppet, Jenny Pen.
Back in the Sixties, hagsploitation (or psycho-biddie films) featured middle aged women with likely mental health concerns that led to various kinds of horror: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?; Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte; Strait-Jacket. The women’s age was what made them suspect, the films reveling in the grotesquerie of their images.
Lately, though, filmmakers are realizing that the more powerful horror mines our own fears by empathizing with the aged characters, forcing us to see through their eyes. Relic, Bingo Hell, The Taking of Deborah Logan, The Demon Disorder and Bubba Ho-Tep all focus on the inevitable and terrifying vulnerabilities of aging.
The Rule of Jenny Pen fits neatly into this real estate. Ashcroft’s direction situates the sadistic within the well-meaning. Hospital staff, visiting musicians, family members—all genuinely hope to make the world better for these patients. But this is a world Dave knows well, and he exploits every opportunity to wield his and Jenny’s sadistic power.
Lithgow’s a maniac, making the most of his substantial physical presence among the fragile patients and delivering the most unseemly moments with relish. And Rush is his absolute equal. The veteran broadcasts pomposity with rigid authenticity that only lends power to the judge’s most helpless moments.
We Infected a Zoo
Night of the Zoopocalypse
by Rachel Willis
Young wolf Gracie (Gabbi Kosmidis) is put to the test in directors Ricardo Curtis and Rodrigo Perez-Castro’s Night of the Zoopocalypse.
Gracie’s elder pack leader is insistent that something bad is coming, making the pack run drills and practice maneuvers in preparation. But Gracie is skeptical that anything will ever happen at their zoo. Of course, she quickly learns better once an asteroid crashes nearby.
Thrown together with a mountain lion (David Harbour), an ostrich, and a wily lemur with knowledge of late-night horror movie tropes, Gracie must figure out how to defeat the sudden threat.
The animation is not especially creative, but some creepy creatures help liven things up. Some of the monsters may be a bit scary for young viewers, but older kids might be delighted to see fluffy bunnies turn into sharp-toothed, voracious beasts.
The action kicks off quickly, making it tough to catch the names of all the animals who help Gracie, but also helping to move the film forward.
The ancillary characters tend to be the most interesting and the funniest parts of the film. Because the rapport between Gracie and Dan takes a while to manifest, when the focus shifts to them, the film is less fun.
Night of the Zoopocalypse references classic and contemporary horror, from The Thing to Stranger Things, and while kids might not catch every Easter egg, adults enjoy trying to identify the various influences.
But it’s not quite enough to make the film worth the 90 minute investment. With so many excellent animated films these days, Night of the Zoopocalypse is easy to overlook.
Screening Room: Last Breath, My Dead Friend Zoe, Riff Raff, Invader & More
Eerie Desert Vibes
The Buildout
by Daniel Baldwin
When The Buildout opens, a religious group known as “The Clergy” is set on establishing a home in a remote part of a desert. Vague references are made to the fact that they’ve moved around a few times in search of a place where they can find a deep spiritual connection. Is this dusty and arid middle-of-nowhere locale what they’ve long sought? Given that this is a horror movie, the answer is undoubtedly yes, while also falling into the “Be Careful What You Wish For” category.
Our leads – Hannah Alline (Mayfair Witches) and Jenna Kanell (Terrifier) – are two friends on a road trip who make the unfortunate decision to stop in that same area for a pee break. What follows is what one might call a “vibes movie”, where mood is tantamount to plot-based events. If you can roll with that, The Buildout may just be for you.
This is the feature-length debut of writer/director Zeshaan Younus and it’s an impressive one. Shot with a small cast and crew for pennies on the dollar, it still manages to pack both an aural and a visual punch. The footage is a mix of more classic anamorphic cinematography and camcorder vlogs, giving it a distinctive feel. The sound mix is full and immersive. From a technical standpoint, it’s exactly what one hopes to be gifted when they sit down with an indie genre film: something that looks like it cost way more to make than it actually did.
While the script falters a bit, Alline and Kanell are great together, which smooths over the film’s narrative deficiencies. The otherworldliness of what occurs to their characters brings to mind the early films of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. The Buildout might not be quite as impactful as their feature debut, Resolution, but it’s playing in similar terrain. Enough so that it makes one excited to see what Younus might conjure up next.
Fearless Oscar Predictions 2025
It is time! And whether you think Wicked was wonderful, Emilia Pérez was overrated or Nosferatu needed more love, one thing is certain. It will be tough for this year’s Oscar broadcast to reach the wild heights of last year. (Please bring back Nicolas Cage, Kate McKinnon and Ryan Gosling!)
In the meantime, here are our predictions for this year’s big winners:
Actress in a Supporting Role
For a while, it looked like Netflix’s big bet this year was going to make a big splash at Oscar. But as the race draws to a close, we think Emilia Pérez will content itself with just one win.
Should win: Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Will win: Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
- Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
- Ariana Grande, Wicked
- Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
- Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
- Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Actor in a Supporting Role
What a great field this year. Each actor cut an unforgettable character.
Should win: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Will win: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
- Yura Borisov, Anora
- Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
- Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown
- Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
- Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
There were two real standouts in this field in 2024. We believe one of those two will go home empty handed, but the other will take home the Oscar.
Should win: Greg Kwedar, Clint Bentley, Clarence Maclin, John “Divine G” Whitfield, Sing Sing
Will win: RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes, Nickel Boys
- A Complete Unknown: James Mangold and Jay Cocks
- Conclave: Peter Straughan
- Emilia Pérez: Jacques Audiard; in collaboration with Thomas Bidegain, Lea Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi
- Nickel Boys: RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes
- Sing Sing: Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley; story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John “Divine G” Whitfield
Writing (Original Screenplay)
What’s the old cliché —the film that should win best picture usually wins best screenplay instead? This year, we predict both awards go the same direction, but we’d love to see one messy piece of female rage get it instead.
Should win: Coralie Fargeat, The Substance
Will win: Sean Baker, Anora
- Anora: Sean Baker
- The Brutalist: Brady Corbet and Mona Fastvold
- A Real Pain: Jesse Eisenberg
- September 5: Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; co-written by Alex David
- The Substance: Coralie Fargeat
Documentary Feature Film
As is often the case, the Academy draws attention to five brilliant nonfiction films, each shining a light on a piece of reality that we would otherwise never see. Vital, brilliant, necessary art, each one of these. Any win is justified.
Should win: No Other Land
Will win: No Other Land
- Black Box Diaries
- No Other Land
- Porcelain War
- Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
- Sugarcane
International Feature Film
Here’s another great and wildly varied category.
Should win: I’m Still Here
Will win: I’m Still Here
- I’m Still Here: Brazil
- The Girl with the Needle: Denmark
- Emilia Pérez: France
- The Seed of the Sacred Fig: Germany
- Flow: Latvia
Animated Feature Film
This category is such a joy this year, with five of the year’s best features.
Should win: The Wild Robot
Will win: The Wild Robot
- Flow
- Inside Out 2
- Memoir of a Snail
- Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
- The Wild Robot
Actor in a Leading Role
Tough call here, but we’re thinking Chalamet’s SAG win gives him the edge over Brody.
Should win: Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Will win: Timothee Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
- Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
- Timothee Chalamet, A Complete Unknown
- Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
- Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
- Sebastian Stan, The Apprentice
Actress in a Leading Role
Should win: Demi Moore, The Substance
Will win: Demi Moore, The Substance
- Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
- Karla Sofia Gascon, Emilia Pérez
- Mikey Madison, Anora
- Demi Moore, The Substance
- Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here
Best Director
Would we cry if Fargeat won this? Tears of joy, maybe. But the likelihood is low and, to be honest, the tightrope Baker walked to give his film an almost slapstick comedic tone (given that it’s a film about a group of mobsters who kidnap a sex worker) is a real testament to his mastery of the craft of direction.
Should win: Sean Baker, Anora
Will win: Sean Baker, Anora
- Anora: Sean Baker
- The Brutalist: Brady Corbet
- A Complete Unknown: James Mangold
- Emilia Pérez: Jacques Audiard
- The Substance: Coralie Fargeat
Best Picture
The Substance has a real shot, with Conclave as the upset possibility.
Should win: Anora
Will win: Anora
- Anora
- The Brutalist
- A Complete Unknown
- Conclave
- Dune: Part Two
- Emilia Pérez
- I’m Still Here
- Nickel Boys
- The Substance
The Academy Awards are Sunday, March 2nd, live on ABC and Hulu with Conan O’Brien hosting.
Rolling Along
My Dead Friend Zoe
by Hope Madden
Filmmaker Kyle Hausmann-Stokes impresses with his feature debut, My Dead Friend Zoe. Based on his 2022 short Merit x Zoe, the film follows Army veteran Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green, Star Trek: Discovery) as she tries to overcome some post-Afghanistan trauma.
Merit’s best friend Zoe (Natalie Morales)—who is, as you might surmise from the title, dead—isn’t making recovery easy. A constant companion (at therapy, on dates, etc.), Zoe— as well as Merit’s noticeable interactions with the invisible friend—is a big part of Merit’s problem.
But therapy will have to hang on because Merit’s hero, Vietnam Veteran grandpa (Ed Harris), has early onset Alzheimer’s and Merit (with Zoe in tow) needs to get to the family lake house and figure things out.
While the title and premise may sound a tad flippant, My Dead Friend Zoe turns out to be a rewarding and earnest drama. Morales delivers a boldly funny and equally vulnerable turn, and love interest Alex (Utkarsh Ambudkar) injects the film with charming, self-deprecating humor. But the levity tends to enrich the film’s truly human quality rather than distract from its underlying tensions.
Hausman-Stokes’s patient direction and unsentimental script, co-written with Cherish Chen and A.J. Bermudez, slowly uncover Merit’s trauma, which gives the unfolding family drama the attention and respect it needs.
Martin-Green’s stoic performance is offset by well-timed flashbacks to the friendship during active duty. So often in other films, this structure feels cliché and formulaic, as the look back teases a dark episode that the frivolity is meant to contrast with. Instead, Hausman-Stokes and his remarkable cast clarify the joyous bond the two women shared, deepening the sense of loss that is now drowning Merit.
We’ve seen plenty of solid dramas depicting struggles facing veterans, Megan Leavey, Thank You for Your Service, American Sniper, and the masterpiece Leave No Trace among them. The commonality My Best Friend Zoe shares with these films is the profound need for the veteran services currently on the DOGE chopping block. While My Dead Friend Zoe’s delightful and moving buddy picture vibe carves a different direction than the others took, the message is even more urgent.
Success Is No Accident
Trigger Happy
by Rachel Willis
Unhappy George (Tyler Poelle) has a plan. Miserable at work, miserable at home, George needs a change. His chosen method for changing his life becomes a madcap adventure of sorts in director Tiffany Kim Stevens’s film, Trigger Happy.
Since misery loves company, George isn’t alone in his dissatisfaction. George’s wife, aspiring actor Annie (Elsha Kim), is as annoyed with George as he is with her. Several others express their frustrations and despairs in various ways as well.
Thankfully, Stevens isn’t interested in making us miserable. Rather than wallow with unhappy characters, we watch as George, Annie, and their friends find ways to improve their circumstances through torrid affairs, spouse murder fantasies, and hilarious professional accomplishments.
Of course, because none of the characters are honest with each other, or even themselves, misunderstandings abound. What could almost be described as comedic hijinks occur, except they’re a little too bloody to be truly called hijinks.
Stevens, co-writing with Daniel Moya, pens dialog with a strange, melodic poetry that gives it a musical quality, adding a level of surrealism to the film. George’s increasing frustrations play well with this quality.
Adding to Trigger Happy‘s uncanniness is the slyly revealed reality of George’s world, which isn’t quite the same as ours. It’s not obvious at first, but as the film progresses, more hints are dropped. And as the title of the movie suggests, guns abound (not so different from our world in that way).
Each person in George’s world is compelling in their own unique way. Though some play a bigger part in George’s misery than others, none of the ancillary characters feel unnecessary. From his coworkers to his boss, to the friendly shop owner, each person has a place in George’s orbit.
Still, it’s Annie, as both his antagonist and his wife, who has the most commanding presence in George’s life. It’s easy to love and loathe both characters.
Trigger Happy is, overall, a winning parody about the miseries of everyday living.
