Notes from Saturday at Telluride where the festival saw the world premiere of Hamnet and North American premieres of Bugonia and Pillion.
Wicked: For Good magnificently concludes the saga, if it must
Wicked: For Good picks up where Wicked left off. Elphaba is fleeing the wrath of the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), whom she angered by calling out his impotence, and she’s being chased by flying monkeys. She isn’t safe anywhere in Oz. Meanwhile, during her exile, the Wizard and Madame Morrible continue their malevolent schemes and promote Glinda as the “good” counterpart to the “bad” Elphaba. They literally brand her as “Glinda the Good,” plastering the slogan across banners throughout Oz.
Lonely? Need some more people at your birthday party? Have you tried renting Brendan Fraser?
Several years ago, I first learned about the Japanese phenomenon of “renting” family members. For anyone willing to pay several thousand yen, it’s possible to rent a surrogate to fill an emotional (and physical) vacancy: someone to attend birthday parties, go shopping, or even get slapped by the wife of an unfaithful husband. People are lonely, and these companies exist to fill that void.
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t lays it on thick
If you haven’t seen the first two installments of the Now You See Me franchise, it’s better if you catch up on those before seeing number three. We find ourselves a few years in the future with a new team of three young bucks up to the same antics in the name of the original quintet. Not quite as fast-paced as the first film, but with just as many misdirected tricks up their sleeves in the name of the brotherhood of magic and the greater good.
Edgar Wright’s The Running Man flops toward the finish line
Edgar Wright’s latest project marks his first time adapting a book into a film, and it’s not what we hoped for. The Running Man is adapted from Stephen King’s novel of the same name and is the second time the story has been on the big screen, the first starring Arnold Schwarzenegger (who gets a fun “cameo” in this version). Wright, working with his Scott Pilgrim vs. the World collaborator Michael Bacall, stays closer to the novel than the original adaptation, but unfortunately, the story doesn’t receive the treatment it deserves.
In Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love Jennifer Lawrence is a writer past the verge of a nervous breakdown
With Die My Love, director Lynne Ramsay transports audiences into a dreamlike state of isolation, maternal turmoil, and creative frustration through the tremendous power of Jennifer Lawrence’s standout performance.
An extraterrestrial warrior comes of age in Predator: Badlands
In a way, the Alien/Predator universe has been alive and well since Alien first debuted in 1979, but there’s no denying that the franchises have experienced a resurgence in recent years. Predator: Badlands is the perfect culmination of this revival and is sure to appeal to Predator fans, Alien enthusiasts, and newcomers alike.
Tessa Thompson glows as Hedda, the rest of the movie confuses and underwhelms
Nia DaCosta’s update of Henrik Ibsen’s classic 1891 play Hedda Gabler is such a frustrating watch I found myself making excuses to finish watching it, including watching 29 innings of two World Series games and a Seahawks drubbing of the lowly Washington Commanders. It wasn’t bad, per se, just frustrating because it could’ve been so much better.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere excavates the Nebraska Origin Myth
Who was it that said :all unhappy rock stars are alike, no happy rock star has ever truly existed in the history of this earth?” Probably the same esteemed writer who famously pondered “War, what is it good for?”
Train Dreams is among the best of the Pacific Northwest
Opening with a spectacular shot of a massive tree falling in the woods (shot from the perspective of the tree) in the late 1800s and spanning decades into the twentieth century, Train Dreams was one of the major premieres to emerge from this year’s Sundance. Ahead of its theatrical release, it plays next week as a special presentation by the Seattle Film Critics Society.