F1’s Big-Screen Thrills Slicked by a Boneheaded Script

June 25, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Brad Pitt, Claudio Miranda, Damson Idris, Ehren Kruger, F1, Hans Zimmer, Javier Bardem, Jerry Bruckheimer, Joseph Kosinski, Kerry Condon, Stephen Mirrione 2 Comments

Apple’s high-speed Formula One blockbuster bid to break into large-format moviemaking – complete with Hollywood stars, slick, expensive production details, a deluge of product placement, and a who’s who of behind-the-scenes legends (Jerry Bruckheimer! Hans Zimmer!) – doesn’t crash out in flames, but it hardly mounts the podium the way this $300M movie hopes to. What we get is a largely cliché-ridden sports drama about grizzled veteran driver Sonny Hayes (Brad Pitt) and his cocky rookie partner Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), who have to overcome their differences to get their new team, APX GP, helmed by Javier Bardem’s unconventional Ruben Cervantes, out of first gear and actually winning races. Read More

‘MATERIALISTS’ Is a Hallmark Movie in Faux Prestige Trappings

June 11, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged A24, Celine Song, Chris Evans, Dakota Johnson, Materialists, Pedro Pascal 1 Comment

Celine Song’s Past Lives – a wistful love triangle between a Korean-American woman, her Korean ex who never quite aligned with her life, and the American man who did – was one of the best films of 2023. Emotionally decadent and raw, it boasted a trio of stunningly honest performances, a sharp script, and economical direction from Song. The first time I saw it, I thought it was great. The second time, I was completely bowled over. In 2025, Song returns to a similar formula: a materialistic matchmaker torn between a rich new suitor who checks every box and her ex, who is sweet but poor and otherwise ill-suited on paper. Whatever Song nailed with Past Lives, she gets absolutely wrong here. Read More

Competent Live-Action ‘HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON’ Is a Shot-for-Shot Remake Absent Its Own Merit

June 10, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Bill Pope, Brontë Carmichael, Dean DeBlois, Gabriel Howell, Gerard Butler, Harry Trevaldwyn, How to Train Your Dragon, John Powell, Julian Dennison, Mason Thames, Nick Frost, Nico Parker 1 Comment

Few modern animated films have achieved the emotional clarity, visual majesty, and thematic resonance of 2010’s How to Train Your Dragon and its two sequels. They’re bold, inventive works that understood the cinematic power of animation without pandering to children or dulling their edges for mass appeal. So yes, I went into the live-action remake with something bordering on dread. But also, curiosity. Against my better judgment, and seduced slightly by some early, suspiciously polite buzz, I gave it a shot. Read More

‘THE LIFE OF CHUCK’ Contains Multitudes

June 9, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Annalise Basso, Benjamin Pajak, Carl Lumbly, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cody Flanagan, David Dastmalchian, Harvey Guillén, Jacob Tremblay, Karen Gillan, Kate Siegel, Mark Hamill, Matthew Lillard, Mia Sara, Samantha Sloyan, Stephen King, The Life of Chuck, Tom Hiddleston 2 Comments

Mike Flanagan has always had a unique way of looking at death. From his first breakout series, The Haunting of Hill House, to his more mainstream horror features (Oculus, Doctor Sleep), he’s seen ghosts not as ghastly specters but as existential hangovers. A whispered celebration of life that doubles as an affirmation of its titanic meaning. Though the horror auteur is most closely associated with his genre work — and for good reason; few existing filmmakers come close to touching his impressive oeuvre — The Life of Chuck, an affirming story of life, love, dance, and numbers (but still featuring a probably-apocalypse and ghosts), is perfectly suited to his very particular sensibilities. Read More

‘DANGEROUS ANIMALS’: Sharks and Serial Killers, Oh My!

June 5, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Dangerous Animals, Ella Newton, Hassie Harrison, Jai Courtney, Josh Heuston, Nick Lepard, Sean Byrne 1 Comment

As posited by “The Most Dangerous Game”, no species is harder to hunt than man. Despite lacking ripping mandibles, fierce claws, venomous excretions, or even the ability to fight one measly gorilla, humans are formidable thanks to our big brains. And opposable thumbs. In Dangerous Animals, man meat is back on the menu as a psychotic Aussie serial killer—moonlighting as a shark encounter expert off the Gold Coast—lures victims onto his boat only to feed them to sharks, recording the horror for later private viewings. When Bruce Tucker (Jai Courtney) abducts tough-as-nails American expat surfer Zephyr (Hassie Harrison), he finds reeling in a prized fighter fish might be more exhilarating than his usual guppy fare. The question becomes: has he bitten off more than he can chew? Read More

‘BALLERINA’ Floats like a Butterfly, Stings like a Flamethrower

June 4, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Ana de Armas, Anjelica Huston, Ballerina, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves, Lance Reddick, Len Wiseman, Norman Reedus, Sharon Duncan-Brewster 1 Comment

Ana de Armas explodes into the JWEU (John Wick Expanded Universe) with the franchise-expanding spinoff Ballerina. Or, if we’re using the full, painfully cringe title, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina. (The first and last time that full phrase will be used, I promise.) And insofar as any John Wick movie is good, this one is right on par with what the franchise struggles with, what it does well, and what keeps people coming back for more. Armas stars as Eve, a would-be-assassin chica brought up in the same Ruska Roma assassin school as John Wick, bound by their rigid code of contract killer ethics, blood oaths, and golden tokens. It turns out that seeing her father brutally murdered in front of her as a child left a deep impression on her so Eve dedicates herself to this universe’s assassin’s creed of kill, kill, kill. That is until an assignment reveals the very cult responsible for tearing her family apart and setting her on her blood-lusty murder-for-hire path so many years ago. So begins a quest for vengeance that’s very on-brand for this particular revenge-fueled franchise. I am happy to report that no dogs were hurt in the making of this movie. Read More

‘THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME’ Another Charming, Frothy Anderson Diorama

June 4, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Alexandre Desplat, Benedict Cumberbatch, Benicio Del Toro, Bill Murray, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Richard Ayoade, Scarlett Johansson, The Phoenician Scheme, Tom Hanks, Wes Anderson, Willem Dafoe 2 Comments

Wes Anderson’s career is bifurcated between his earlier and later works, with his stop-motion adaptation of The Fantastic Mr. Fox marking the point where things veered into the cartoonishly artificial. His early films had their share of stylistic flourishes: absurdly intricate miniature sets, obsessive symmetry, props so fussed-over they became punchlines. But they grounded these affectations in emotional sincerity. From Bottle Rocket to The Darjeeling Limited, Anderson made films that, despite their quirks, earnestly wrestled with themes of familial estrangement, existential loneliness, and just not fitting in. Since Fox though, emotion has become Anderson’s kryptonite. Something to be avoided at all costs. Read More

Eva Victor on Turning Trauma into Auteur Filmmaking with Festival Darling ‘SORRY, BABY’

May 24, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Interviews, Most Popular Tagged Eva Victor, Interview, Sorry Baby, Sundance 2025 2 Comments

Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby doesn’t announce itself. And yet, it arrives fully formed, like someone who’s spent enough time in therapy to know that the best medicine is to laugh at their own ridiculous idiosyncrasies. Premiering at Sundance, closing out Director’s Fortnight at Cannes, and now screening at SIFF, the film has quietly (and then not-quite-so-quietly) become one of the most talked-about directorial debuts of 2025. And yet, talking to Victor, there’s no sign they’re taking the acclaim too seriously. Read More

SIFF ‘25 Capsule Review: ‘COLOR BOOK’ Opens a Window into the Specificity of a Widower’s Grief

May 24, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Color Book, David Fortune, Jeremiah Alexander Daniels, SIFF, SIFF 2025, William Catlett 3 Comments

Rich in both place and emotion, shot in evocative black and white, and scored with delicate precision, Color Book is a heartbreaking tale of grief and perseverance. William Catlett gives a tremendous, pathos-drenched performance as Lucky, a father navigating sudden tragedy, alongside his son Mason (Jeremiah Alexander Daniels), who has Down syndrome, after the loss of their wife and mother in a car accident. Their woe-begotten journey to attend their first baseball game together in Atlanta becomes a soulful odyssey, riddled with the everyday detours of the financially-unstable and the challenges beset by a father and son suddenly jettisoned into a completely new orbit. Read More

SIFF ’25 Capsule Review: Irish ‘FOUR MOTHERS’ Juggles Pride, Parents, and Predictability

May 23, 2025 by Matt Oakes Posted in Festival Reviews Tagged Darren Thornton, Fionnula Flanagan, Four Mothers, James McArdle, SIFF, SIFF 2025 3 Comments

A perfectly pleasant — if ultimately forgettable — Irish dramedy about gay author Edvard (James McArdle), who juggles the stress of an impending U.S. book tour while caring for his stroke-recovering mother (Fionnula Flanagan) and looking after the elderly mothers his friends abandoned to attend an overseas Pride Fest. Writer-director Darren Thornton delivers a quietly charming, poignant meditation on dignity: both in balancing personal, professional, and romantic aspirations, and in aging with some semblance of grace. Its somewhat formulaic optimism may not linger and the jokes about getting older all seem overly familiar, but the film’s heart is in the right place and makes for a geriatric crowd-pleaser. (B-)
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