Tuesday night, me and a bunch of cooler, hipper people, packed into the Northwest Film Forum for the launch party of a fundraising campaign for Reckless Spirits, a very funny short film from 2022 that the filmmakers hope to turn into a feature film in the future. Directed by former NWFF executive director Vee Hua 華婷婷, the film is billed as “A gender-fluid Latine performance artist and a neurotic Asian American therapist are led by a series of uncanny circumstances into a world of chakras, spirits, and a fanatic cult leader.”
Wicked is determined to be the crowd-pleasingest musical in the Emerald City, and beyond
It’s taken a long time, maybe twenty years, to get an adaptation of the popular novel by Gregory Maguire and more popular musical Wicked into theaters, and after seeing the film over the past weekend, it appears to be well worth the wait.
Are you not entertained by Gladiator II? It depends
Gladiator II (2024 | USA/United Kingdom | 148 minutes | Ridley Scott) Director Ridley Scott’s Gladiator became a stealth box-office smash back in …
With a quartet of flashy performances and musical numbers Emilia Pérez makes its splash on Netflix
To its enormous credit and occasional detriment, Jacques Audiard’s improbable musical is as mercurial as its title drug kingpin-to-society queen would-be heroine. With something new every few minutes the boldly ambitious film succeeds in never being boring while it has an enormous amount to say (sing).
Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin shine in Sundance standout A Real Pain
Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin are terrifically paired as an anxiety bundle and his charismatic chaos monster cousin.
Hugh Grant serves up heebies and jeebies, along with a blueberry pie, in Heretic
It’s like Psycho with Mormons. That should be the tagline.
Clint Eastwood spins a thrilling legal yarn with Juror #2
The premise for Clint Eastwood’s latest is admittedly delicious: what if a juror in a murder trial might be the real killer?
Mikey Madison soars as Anora
Sean Baker launches a rocketship of delirious romance that can’t possibly last when a private dancer lands the ultimate girlfriend experience with a fun young Russian oligrarch’s heir.
Papal potboiler Conclave lets Ralph Fiennes Cook
The Holy Throne of Saint Peter is vacant. Edward Berger churns a satisfying political potboiler in the Vatican as the titular conclave of Cardinals sequester themselves to select its next occupant. No one wants to admit they want the job, everyone has an agenda, and secrets hide in the dark corners of each man’s heart.
Smile 2 serves up a Popstar Horror Picture Show
Smile 2 (2024 | USA | 127 minutes | Parker Finn) On a superficial level, Smile 2, writer/director Parker Finn’s sequel to …