For 49 years and 50 seasons, the Not Ready for Primetime Players have entertained audiences with positively insane sketches, zeitgeist-hijacking music videos, and musical moments that have shifted entire industries in the live sketch program Saturday Night Live. It’s a… Read More ›
drama
Johannes Grezfurthner’s latest body horror “Solvent” dissolves its cast and audience on several levels.
When it comes to horror, most modern audiences jump to places like Blumhouse with Paranormal Activity (2009) and Happy Death Day (2017), A24 with It Comes at Night (2017) and Talk to Me (2023), or even Lionsgate with Frailty (2001)… Read More ›
Parental thriller “Endless Summer Syndrome” seeks deep philosophical examination yet undercuts itself with a telegraphed conclusion.
Wherever we are in our lives, all of it — our successes, our failures — begins at home. Someone born into a home with extensive resources can achieve absolutely nothing of their own while someone with scant resources can achieve… Read More ›
Q-Bits: Open Dialogue with “The Order” actors Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult.
On this episode of Meet Me at the Movies, Thomas Manning gets to pitch a question to actors Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult to discuss their new film, The Order, based on a gripping true story. Manning explores how the… Read More ›
“Scrap” takes a look at failings that are systemic and those that are personally inflicted.
“It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness, that is life.” – Jean Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 2, Episode 21 “Peak Performance.” Everyone is one bad day away from… Read More ›
“The Beast” appears … on shelves thanks to Janus Contemporaries.
Janus Contemporaries’s newest unnumbered entry into the Criterion Collection is priced just right at $20.99. The Beast, the latest film from Bertrand Bonello (House of Tolerance; Saint Laurent), is a surreal tale starring two of the best actors working today,… Read More ›
“Joker: Folie à Deux” steps out with a vibrant 4K home release.
2024 has been a banner year for movies (despite what social media and some people may have you think) and a strange one for Warner Brothers. Before diving into the home release of Joker: Folie à Deux, I want to… Read More ›
Criterion puts out a lucky 4K with “No Country for Old Men.”
People always say “if at first you do not like something, you should give it another chance,” and that general principal is typically a good one, the exception being that if you have deep vitriol for something, your mind is… Read More ›
Edward Berger’s captivating and politically relevant thriller, “Conclave,” arrives on digital.
Directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) and based on a 2016 novel of the same name, Conclave is a tense drama that pits progress, ethics, coexistence, and empathy against corruption and abuses of power, a battle… Read More ›
“A Complete Unknown” fails to define the undefinable.
Director James Mangold does not make bad movies. He makes good movies (The Wolverine; Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) and great movies (Ford V. Ferrari; Copland; Logan). He’s a class-act craftsman but he’s no revolutionary, and neither is… Read More ›
Yasuhiro Yoshiura’s techo-drama “Time of EVE: The Movie” receives a proper home release via AnimEigo.
Some things feel like inevitability due to hindsight. The human fascination with the unknown tends to spark real-world exploration, which is why the science-fiction adventure tale Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas by Jules Verne (published 1870), were it written… Read More ›
“Pulp Fiction” gets a sleek 30th anniversary 4K release fit for a briefcase.
There is nothing and I mean *nothing* more annoying that a hotly anticipated 4K release being gatekept behind the identity of a collectors/anniversary/limited edition multipack for it to be singularly released a few months later. Now I am not saying… Read More ›
Q-Bits: Open Dialogue with “The Order” actor Nicholas Hoult.
On this episode of Meet Me at the Movies (Open Dialogue), host Thomas Manning pitches a question to Nicholas Hoult to discuss his role as Bob Mathews in the film The Order. Based on a true story, this powerful film,… Read More ›
Open Dialogue with “Saturday Night” director Jason Reitman and casting director John Papsidera.
Join Thomas Manning in this special Meet Me at the Movies: Open Dialogue segment as he interviews director Jason Reitman and casting director John Papsidera on the red carpet for based on a true story film, Saturday Night. Manning dives… Read More ›
Halina Reijn’s erotic thriller “Babygirl” reinvigorates the genre. [TIFF]
Going from directing a whodunnit millennial comedy in Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) to creating a power dynamic that blends Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999) (maybe that’s just because of the lead actress, but there are… Read More ›
Hoult, Law, and Sheridan enthrall in Justin Kurzel’s latest project, true crime thriller “The Order.” [TIFF]
From Zach Baylin, the writer of Creed III (2023), King Richard (2021), Gran Turismo (2023), Bob Marley: One Love (2024), and The Crow (2024), and Justin Kurzel, the director of Macbeth (2015) and Assassin’s Creed (2016), comes one of the… Read More ›
Adapted for the silver screen, “The Piano Lesson” is a haunt of a good time.
As fireworks turn the ground red, white, and blue during the Fourth of July, 1911, it becomes immediately obvious that Malcolm Washington (Benny Got Shot; The Dispute), the younger son of Denzel Washington (Malcolm X; Training Day), was the right… Read More ›
A strong cast cannot lift “The Last Showgirl” above its mundane tropes. [TIFF]
Movies are like baseball, three strikes and you’re out. Every artist has a bad outing or something that gets lost along the way, not communicated as intended to their audience, so benefit of the doubt has to be instilled. However,… Read More ›
Patrick Tam’s wuxia tale, “The Sword (名劍),” reaches new audiences with its 2K restoration from Eureka Entertainment.
In 2024, it’s quite easy for cinema-going audiences to identify the Chinese genre of fantastical martial arts tales known as wuxia thanks to films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Hero (2002), and, more recently, Śakra (2023). Though a popular… Read More ›
Meet Me at the Movies: Swords, Sandals & Sequels – Noel & Thomas Manning Review “Gladiator II.”
Noel and Thomas Manning sharpen their swords and dust off their sandals to tackle Gladiator II, Ridley Scott’s long-awaited return to the coliseum! This legacy sequel from Paramount Pictures features an all-star cast, including Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal,… Read More ›