After witnessing his father (Dermot Mulroney) commit an act of extreme violence, Eli (Dylan Flashner) confronts the idea he might be capable of similar brutality in writer/director Barry Jay’s film, Like Father, Like Son.
Eli’s rage is apparent early on. But initially, a lot of it seems to come in response to bad situations. A boss who denigrates his employees on a regular basis. A repossessed car. A stolen wallet. A father in prison who taunts Eli when he comes to visit. However, the outsized reactions speak to something damaged within Eli.
Shaky camera movements and quick cuts to past memories intersect with moments when Eli comes close to losing it. It’s a distracting feature that suggests Flashner is unable to convey inner turmoil on his own.
The movie’s biggest issue, however, is the lack of depth given to any of the characters. All we really know about Eli’s father is his penchant for violence. All we know about Eli is his penchant for violence. It’s impossible to sympathize with Eli as he struggles with his “inherent” cruelty. The ancillary characters that orbit Eli’s world aren’t given anything much to do either.
Dialogue would make it seem like Eli struggles with his violent nature, but the actions of the film do not communicate this. If anything, he seems to enjoy his aberrant nature. We spend most of the film watching Eli embrace what appears to be his “true” self. While examining the ways in which violence begets violence can be interesting, Like Father, Like Son doesn’t have anything new to say on the subject.
Can you believe there are some people who don’t think Will Ferrell is funny? That’s crazy to me. And what about the ones who claim they aren’t instantly charmed by Reese Witherspoon?
Okay I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like Reese Witherspoon. But the point is, putting Will and Reese together isn’t a bad strategy for getting your Prime Video rom-com a little script insurance.
Writer/director Nicholas Stoller buys in for You’re Cordially Invited, and surrounds his two leads with an equally likable ensemble that delivers some lively smiles even when the antics go a bit overboard.
Will is Jim, a widower whose sweet pumpkin Jenni (Geraldine Viswanathan – a delight as usual) just got engaged to Oliver (Stony Blydon)! Reese is Margot, who volunteers to plan her sister Neve’s (Meredith Hagner) wedding to Dixon (Jimmy Tatro). Through a ridiculous mixup that somehow feels like it could happen I suppose, Jim and Margot both end up reserving the very same private wedding venue on the very same weekend.
They reluctantly agree to make the best of it, but it isn’t long before the two wedding planners go “chaos monkey,” and start planning some mischief to each make sure it’s their celebration that gets the upper hand in marriage.
Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek) pits reality TV exec Margot and her bless-your-heart southern family (Leanne Morgan, Rory Scovel, matriarch Celia Weston) against the probably a hairdresser Jim and his daughter’s rowdy bridesmaids (Keyla Monterosso Mejia, Ramona Young, Lauren Holt). Expect drunken toasts, hurt feelings, black eyes, alligator wrestling and some enthusiastic, “Islands in the Stream” karaoke-ing.
For me, the only true LOL moment comes with the late reveal of what Jim really does for living (and Ferrell’s priceless delivery of that information). Still, there are amusements along the way, and some well- meaning lessons about judging people too quickly and feeling lonely around your own family members.
Of course you know where it’s ultimately headed. But with Will & Reese at the top of this engaging guest list, You’re Cordially Invited throws a home steaming party that’s slightly more fun than forgettable.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Maybe our favorite podcast of the year, the annual celebration of all the terrible horror movies that the new crop of Oscar nominees might just want you to forget they ever made. But will we? Never!
Happy to see so much horror appreciated this year: The Substance, Nosferatu, Alien: Romulus. But that’s for another podcast. Today, let’s pry open some closets and see what’s festering in there.
5. Sebastian Stan: The Apparition (2012)
Yawntastic! Ben (Stan) participates in a college experiment with Patrick (Tom Felton), who believes that if you believe hard enough in a spirit even if you know it doesn’t exist, it suddenly will exist.
And if that’s not dumb enough, it will also reappear suddenly many years later. And also hunt you down even if you’re far away, haven’t believed in it again, or I don’t know? And it turns into mold? Because it’s affected by energy? Or something? And it doesn’t like camping? Or it does?
Here’s what I know for sure. It’s boring as hell.
4. Guy Pearce: The Seventh Day (2021)
You know what every Guy Pearce fan should see? You should see Ravenous. It’s so good! Scary, tense, weird in the best way. You know what you probably shouldn’t see? The Seventh Day.
First of all, Justin P. Lange’s follow up to his underseen gem The Dark with an exorcism movie. Yawn. Then he goes on to waste real talent—Keith David and Stephen Lang. Pearce plays a legendary, no-frills, even controversial and brackish exorcist who’s taken on a trainee. But all is not what it seems and none of it’s very interesting. There’s a kind of intriguing premise hidden underneath all the boring whatnot, but it does seem like Pearce is trying to elevate the material.
3. Adrien Brody: Giallo (2009)
Dario Argento made some incredible films. Giallo is not one of them. It fits squarely into the uninspired, visually bland, poorly plotted output we saw from him post-Opera.
Adrien Brody, in duel roles, didn’t seem to care for the film, either. He used the pseudonym Byron Deidra, but you’ll know it’s him. Both times. There was a time when Argento’s films were so stylish, so visually arresting and gloriously weird that no one cared how silly the plot was. But rob a film of that panache and the borrowed, bland, dumb plotting is hard to miss.
Brody’s no stranger to horror, and while none of these are masterpieces, all but Giallo is decent: Wrecked, Predators, Splice, The Jacket, The Summer of Sam. We’re obligated to mention The Village, too, although we’re not fans.
2. Isabella Rossellini: Infected (2008)
What on earth was the tortured ingenue in the masterpiece Blue Velvet doing in Adam Weissman’s 2008 made-for-TV contagion/alien invasion flick? She’s great, actually, and her big-reveal scene is no doubt the reason she took the role. It’s inadvertently hilarious.
Judd Nelson co-stars. He may have been actively in a coma. But it’s worth it just to see Rossellini’s big scene. It’s on YouTube and dailymotion—wouldn’t want you to pay for it!
Friend of the show Charles Band directed this treasure of low rent cinema. Demi Moore stars ad spunky, lemon loving Pat in a post apocalyptic desert town. “Sickies” run wild, often topless. Work camp escapees are even worse. Still, somehow Pat trusts the stranger (Robert Glaudini), a doctor who used to create parasites for the government and is now infected with one. She’s just helpful like that.
Moore does not embarrass herself, and that’s tough given the terrible writing and stiff scene partner. Best part is the creature, which we believe inspired the look of the beast in Killer Condom. High praise!
Nobody makes films quite like Mike Leigh, and that may be because nobody’s films more accurately resemble humanity than his. There is nothing glamourous, nothing artificial about a Mike Leigh film. Certainly not Hard Truths.
Marianne Jean-Baptiste astonishes as Pansy, the most unpleasant woman in England. Profoundly unhappy with everything and compelled to share her vitriol, Pansy is a tough character to love. Perhaps impossible.
Leigh traps us for 97 minutes with a woman we would, in real life, do anything to get away from and Jean-Baptiste insists that we see her humanity, edgy and prickly as it might be. This performance should be studied.
A supporting cast of characters, each bringing laughter as well as drama, buoys the quick run time. David Webber, in particular, excels, bringing surprisingly touching depth to a character with barely two sentences of dialogue. That’s mainly thanks to Pansy.
Luckily, Pansy’s unpleasantness is balanced by her sister, Chantelle (Michelle Austin). Open, caring, and endlessly forgiving, Chantelle is Pansy’s opposite, and only friend. Austin’s warmth, which Leigh brings to the screen at exactly the necessary moment, offsets Jean-Baptiste’s bitterness and allows for a real story to begin to take shape.
As is so often the case with Leigh’s films (Mr. Turner, Happy-Go-Lucky, Secrets & Lies, and on and on), the story unveils itself slowly. His writing is as deceptively structured as his direction, forever suggesting fly-on-the-wall but seamlessly moving toward deeply human revelations.
It is this masterful craftsmanship that steers his films away from parody, from caricature, from melodrama and toward poetry. Leigh accepts even the most flawed and unlikeable character, holds them with compassion if not forgiveness. He doesn’t solve their problems, often doesn’t even offer them an opportunity at redemption. But he refuses to ignore even those people you would not want to have to spend 97 minutes of your own life with. And miraculously, in giving Pansy just a little slice of your day, your own humanity deepens.
As a fan of early 2000s horror thrillers, I found myself feeling nostalgic as I watched Freelance.
The opening credits won me over immediately giving Seven vibes with a touch of 8mm, and Feardotcom.
Katie (Nicole Pastor), a freelance video editor, is in desperate need of a job. Her life seems to be falling apart, until she receives an anonymous offer to edit a bizarre video clip. This snuff film style horror movie clip comes with a lot of cash, and Katie is facing eviction. She spends most of her time between various men who think they are saving her, as she struggles to make ends meet editing pornography. When she has to decide how far she will go to keep her lights on things start to take a turn for the worst, and that’s when the viewer gets to start playing detective.
Freelance, from Melbourne-based filmmaker John Balazs, looks gorgeous. The rich color grading, and thoughtful shot choices make this one more than worth giving a chance.
Pastor is great as the out of work, and obviously talented, Katie. Her love for her cat and hatred for her nasty landlord are extremely relatable, and help make her even more likable. Her ability to attract successful men and use them for free meals and advice helps amp up the tension when we can’t seem to pinpoint who is hiring Katie for these seedy editing jobs.
For folks who work in freelance type jobs, this one will feel very relatable, especially if you’ve taken on gigs you weren’t proud of, and your parents are always asking if you got a new job. I definitely enjoyed the tension, and cat and mouse game that keeps you guessing throughout the film.
Freelance feels like it belongs in the early 2000s, but the creative editing, and writing keep us grounded in today’s filmmaking. My only issue is with the almost 2 hour run time, but I think that’s because I just wanted to verify if my theories were correct about who, or what, is behind all the mystery videos.
This is an exciting independent release from Australia, and will definitely keep people guessing. Give Freelance a chance, especially if you’re into Dark Web focused films.
Hollywood, hoping to find and spread a bit of cheer today, announced its nominations for the 2025 Oscars. We celebrate with them, because we’re thrilled for most of these nominees. Check out those Animated Features (once again, the best category in the lineup)! But, as usual, we have a handful of gripes.
Actress in a Supporting Role
Where is Danielle Deadwyler for The Piano Lesson? In fact, where is that movie? While we think it’s a contender for adapted screenplay (Virgil and Malcolm Washington), as well as perhaps lead actor (John David Washington), there’s no question Deadwyler (also snubbed for 2022’s Till—die she kick somebody’s cat or something?) should not only have been nominated but she probably should have won.
Monica Barbaro, A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande, Wicked
Felicity Jones, The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez
Actor in a Supporting Role
This is a strong lineup, but Clarence Maclin’s performance in Sing Sing is a painful oversight. As much as we loved Norton, Pearce and Strong, Maclin was better than any of them.
Yura Borisov, Anora
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Edward Norton, A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong, The Apprentice
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
The Piano Lesson over A Complete Unknown, but at least Sing Sing and Nickel Boys made the list.
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)
No real complaints, but grateful to see September 5 get some love. This is a stacked category and some real masterpieces are going to go home empty handed.
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
Music (Original Score)
No Challengers?! Being the best score of the year, we’d have bumped any one of these guys to fit it in. (Nice to see The Wild Robot, though.)
The Brutalist: Daniel Blumberg
Conclave: Volker Bertlemann
Emilia Pérez: Clément Ducol and Camille
Wicked: John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
The Wild Robot: Kris Bowers
Music (Original Song)
Disappointed again not to see Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross get any love here. “Compress/Repress” would have been our pick. We’d probably have given it the Diane Warren slot.
“El Mal” from Emilia Pérez: music by Clément Ducol and Camille; lyric by Clément Ducol, Camille and Jacques Audiard
“The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight: music and lyric by Diane Warren
“Like a Bird” from Sing Sing: music and lyric by Abraham Alexander and Adrian Quesada
“Mi Camino” from Emilia Pérez: music and lyric by Camille and Clément Ducol
“Never Too Late” from Elton John: Never Too Late: music and lyric by Elton John, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Watt and Bernie Taupin
Documentary Feature Film
Great list of films here. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat and Sugarcane are our favorites.
Black Box Diaries
No Other Land
Porcelain War
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Sugarcane
International Feature Film
So happy to see Flow and The Girl with the Needle included here. Emilia Pérez is no doubt the front runner, but you should see all five of these.
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
Brilliant films, top to bottom. Hard to even choose. The best thing you can do is to watch every one of them immediately.
Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
Film Editing
Challengers really needed to be on this list. We’d give it any of these slots except Anora.
Anora: Sean Baker
The Brutalist: Dávid Jancsó
Conclave: Nick Emerson
Emilia Pérez: Juliette Welfing
Wicked: Myron Kerstein
Cinematography
Finally, some love for Nosferatu. We’d liked to have seen Nickel Boys and The Bikeriders on here, probably instead of Maria and Emilia Pérez, although once again it was a remarkable year for cinematographers and all five of these films are gorgeous.
The Brutalist: Lol Crawley
Dune: Part Two: Greig Fraser
Emilia Pérez: Paul Guilhaume
Maria: Ed Lachman
Nosferatu: Jarin Blaschke
Actor in a Leading Role
Not a ton of surprises here. All solid choices.
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
Thrilled for the Demi Moore nomination. There were so many exceptional lead performances this year by women, and the one woefully overlooked all season was Jodi Comer in The Bikeriders. We’d have loved to see her make this list against the odds, but it’s tough to say whose slot she should have taken.
Cynthia Erivo, Wicked
Karla Sofia Gascon, Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison, Anora
Demi Moore, The Substance
Fernanda Torres, I’m Still Here
Best Director
Robert Eggers (Nosferatu) should have had James Mangold’s spot.
Anora: Sean Baker
The Brutalist: Brady Corbet
A Complete Unknown: James Mangold
Emilia Pérez: Jacques Audiard
The Substance: Coralie Fargeat
Best Picture
Nosferatu and Sing Sing instead of A Complete Unknown and Dune: Part Two. Thrilled to see The Substance and Nickel Boys recognized.
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
I’m Still Here
Nickel Boys
The Substance
The 97th Academy Awards, hosted by Conan O’Brien, will air on ABC Sunday, March 2, live from the Dolby Theatre.
In just four years, Angel Studios has become a leader in the faith-based entertainment market. TV’s The Chosen and the feature films Cabrini and Sound of Freedom were target audience favorites, and garnered at least some critical acclaim.
Angel’s latest production, Brave the Dark, lightens the hands and the editorializing for a generically successful crowd-pleaser about the power of belief for a troubled soul.
Co-written and directed by Damien Harris, the film is based on the life of Nathan Williams, who overcame a traumatic childhood thanks to the mentorship of his teacher, Stan Deen.
In and out of Pennsylvania foster homes after the death of his parents, Williams (Nicholas Hamilton, It, It Chapter Two) robs a store with some friends and is convicted of burglary. He’s saved from jail under the guardianship of Mr. Deen (Jared Harris, Damian’s brother), who is seemingly a favorite of everyone in the community.
But Nate continues to act out at nearly every turn, and the message that he doesn’t believe in his own worth is delivered as clearly as Deen’s need to soothe his loneliness after the painful death of his wife. Hamilton echos the film’s struggles with nuance, while the veteran Harris brings enough endearing authenticity to help smooth the rough edges in their many scenes together.
The film is another blunt, save-the-children instrument for Angel Studios. And it’s needlessly overlong as it slogs through multiple flashbacks on its way to a fairly obvious reveal and an “it’s not your fault” breakthrough that should have tried harder to distance itself from Good Will Hunting.
But there is heart here, and the real Nathan’s closing credits plea to “pay it forward” is sweetly schmalzy. Even better, the sincere attempts at storytelling are just competent enough to reach beyond the choir.
Reconnecting with an absentee parent later in life brings plenty of challenges and emotional work. This would only be magnified if your missing father happens to be a spy on the run from Interpol and the CIA.
Co-writer and director Neil Burger (The Illusionist, Limitless) wastes no time with the setup in Inheritance. Maya (Phoebe Dynevor from Bridgerton) has been taking care of her sick mother and hasn’t had any contact with her father, Sam (genre treasure Rhys Ifans, The Amazing Spider-Man, Notting Hill) in years. Unexpectedly, Sam shows up at her mother’s funeral and offers to take Maya on a business trip while she figures out life after caring for her mom. He’s sorry for abandoning the family and wants to start making it up to her.
Things go sideways almost immediately. Sam gets a call while they are at lunch and bolts out of the restaurant just before Interpol and local authorities show up looking for him. Maya ducks out of the restaurant only to get a call from her dad that he got away from the authorities, but he’s been kidnapped by someone much worse. He needs Maya to finish the job he was on – pick up a package from a safety deposit box and deliver it to his contact.
Maybe Maya takes after her dad more than she thinks. Now, she must learn on the job as she outwits and outruns all the parties hunting her and the package. Every stranger that approaches seems to have an ulterior motive and she doesn’t know who to trust, including her own dad.
Inheritance is a fast-paced globetrotter that rarely pauses to catch its breath. Shot on an iPhone and without permission in a lot of locations, the film has a grounded and realistic vibe to it. Because of these limitations, there are no big action set pieces. However, there is an impressive motorcycle chase.
Despite the brief 100-minute runtime and frantic pace, Inheritance does not shortchange the relationship drama between Maya and her dad. Their interactions are limited to brief phone calls but she is also doing her own research along the way to try and understand who he is. Both performances are quite good throughout and especially in a moment when they expose some raw nerves when their time is up.
Inheritance excels as a low budget spy thriller that works in some unique family drama. It does not try to reach beyond its limits to put the world at stake or to showcase a bunch of thrilling stunts. Instead, it delivers a smart and enjoyable chase around the globe with small, personal stakes that feel refreshing in a well-worn genre.
In the category of shark movie stunt casting, Into the Deep may have bagged the great white whale. Because for the first time since Jaws set the standard fifty years ago, Richard Dreyfuss is sharkin’ again (note: piranha movies don’t count).
Well, he’s not actively sharkin’, as Dreyfuss plays Seamus, whom we mainly see schooling his granddaughter Cassidy on how important it is to respect the ocean and everything in it.
“It’s their kingdom. You’re a guest.”
Young Cassidy (Quinn P. Hensley) learns that the hard way when a shark attack kills her father. Years later, adult Cassidy (Scout Taylor-Compton) is an oceanographer still haunted by the nightmares of her father’s death, but willing to put fears aside for a pleasure trip with her new husband, Gregg (Callum McGowan).
Old friend “Benz” (Stuart Townsend) runs a weathered charter boat on the coastline, so Cass and Gregg agree to join another couple for some wreck diving. But before you can bid adieu to some fair Spanish ladies, both sharks and pirates come cruising.
The evil – I mean c’mon, look at the scar on his face! – Jordan Devane (Jon Seda) and his gang of former Navy SEALs hijack Benz’s boat, forcing the tourists to dive the shark-infested waters and retrieve their stash of drugs waiting below.
The movie’s tagline is the shameless “under water no one can hear you scream,” which immediately sets a low bar of expectations that director Christian Sesma manages to hit. Flashbacks are juggled awkwardly enough to kneecap any sort of tension, and while the CGI sharks work well enough in dream sequences, the actual attack set pieces are embarrassingly weak. Screenwriters Chad Law and Josh Ridgeway provide plenty of Scooby-Doo style exposition that anyone not named Richard can’t come close to elevating.
It is, of course, a nostalgic treat to see Dreyfuss at least near troubled waters again, even though you can’t help but wonder why he agreed. The answer comes with the extended message on shark conservation he delivers over the closing credits.
Fair enough. At least no real ones died for this bloody mess.
