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  • Criterion Review: The Bewitching Charms of ANORA [4K-Review]

    Criterion Review: The Bewitching Charms of ANORA [4K-Review]

    Sean Baker’s acclaimed feature showcases the star-power of Mikey Madison

    As someone who basked in the charms of Anora at a festival screening months before it’s release, I ended 2024 with a rather enamored view of the film. Awards season is a window of time where films get built up and often torn down, by some quarters at least. Anora seemingly wasn’t for everyone, but it had enough support to help it bring home six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Sean Baker), and Best Actress (Mikey Madison). Criterion’s release offers a chance to revisit the film away from the hustle and bustle of awards campaigning, and away from the competition and the vociferous factions championing other films. A repeat viewing that confirms that yep, the Best Picture won.

    For the uninitiated, Anora follows Ani (her preferred name), a tough, foul-mouthed, whip-smart stripper and sex worker. Working one night at a club in Brooklyn, she’s paired with a client on account of her ability to speak Russian. Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn bringing boyish charms along with a blend of insolence and immaturity) is the young son of a Russian oligarch and quickly becomes infatuated with Ani. One night leads to an offer of a 5-figure sum to spend the weekend with him. For Ani, this whirlwind experience is equally intoxicating, and with the pair riding on a high, they end up getting married while on an escapade in Vegas. The next day, reality comes crashing in as word reaches Vanya’s parents of his actions. His father sends some of his goons to bring the pair to heel and ensure the marriage is annulled. Faced with the consequences of his actions, Vanya bolts into the city as Ani is left behind, defiant that their love is real, and nothing will get in the way of their future together. Battered and bruised from their encounter with this young woman, these men drag her across the city in search of Vanya, looking to force the dissolution of his union with Ani before his parents arrive.

    What begins like a modern-day Pretty Woman mutates into something darker, messier, and infinitely more interesting. Baker, as with Tangerine, The Florida Project, and Red Rocket, keeps attention locked on the fringes of American life, the scrappy underdogs, the hustlers, the people doing what they can with what they’ve got. Here, it’s through the lens of romance, tackling a modern day affair perfused with the transactional elements that are all too common in our capitalist world. This reshapes things from a conventional “will this pair make it” to a deeper look at Ani herself. Her pursuit of a better life, her dreams of lifting herself up, her energy, drive, determination in the face of physical and psychological efforts to push her back down to where these affluent folk think she belongs.

    It’s honest and compelling work, sobering and heart-wrenching at times, tempered by an infusion of screwball energy. The initial encounter with these heavies (including the surprisingly empathetic Igor, played by Yura Borisov) is a raucous affair. Sparks fly. Heads butt. Hands are tied, and this is all before they’ve even left the house. Ani is propulsive chaos, whose attitude (reinforced after having a taste of the highlife) is as much a character quirk as well as a plot element. For Madison, this is not just planting a flag as an actress, it’s a role that is both breakout and defining. She explodes off the screen. Ani is flawed, funny, savvy, and fueled by a mix of survival instinct and stubborn optimism. She’s the kind of girl you’d fall for in a heartbeat, but question whether you’d ever introduce her to your mother. Again, a reflection of the class and social perceptions engrained into us all. Madison’s work defines the film itself.

    For Baker, he deftly balances these differing tonal elements by rooting the film in empathy. Never judging these characters never moralizing what some need to do to , just an unflinching gaze and a whole lot of heart. He writes Ani as something indefagitible, even as the fantasy starts to collapse and the cold reality creeps back in. The final scene hits like a gut punch, with our Anora having been chewed up and spat out, left to reflect, finally vulnerable with a future uncertain, and a glimmer of something defiant that will see her through.

    The Package

    Criterion’s 4K-UHD transfer is flawless, with a consistent quality image throughout. High contrast, and robust colors, all work to complement the high detail of the transfer, and easily handle the shifts between the warmer tones of strip clubs and Vegas and the cooler hues of the real world. Blacks are deep and inky, and a nice tempered grain persists throughout. The release includes one 4K UHD disc of the film presented in HDR and two Blu-rays with the film and special features:

    • Audio commentary 1: featuring Baker, Coco, producer Samantha Quan, and cinematographer Drew Daniels, and the other featuring Baker and actors Yura Borisov, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Mikey Madison, and Vache Tovmasyan: A good dive into the more technical aspects of the film, with talk covering locations, approaches to shooting, lighting and tone, and more. A fine ‘filmmakers’ look at Anora
    • Audio commentary 2: featuring Baker and actors Yura Borisov, Mark Eydelshteyn, Karren Karagulian, Mikey Madison, and Vache Tovmasyan: Expectedly, this commentary tilts more towards the performances and personal experiences of the cast. The group also do share insights into some technical aspects of the production, as well as some playful anecdotes. It’s a bit disjointed, but a fun addition
    • New making-of documentary: Running close to an hour, it’s an amalgamation of behind-the-scenes footage from the entirety of the film’s shoot. Unfolding chronologically, it’s a great alternate way to experience the film
    • New interviews with Baker and Madison: One features Baker sharing his inspirations for Anora, while the second pairs them both to talk some specifics about the character and their approach to various scenarios within the film, notably the strip club sequences
    • Cannes Film Festival press conference: with Baker and members of the cast
    • Q&A with Madison and actor-stripper Lindsey Normington: digging into some of the training Madison underwent for the role, as well as thoughts on the film and it’s depiction of strippers and sex-workers
    • Deleted scenes: Around 7 minutes of trimmed footage, nothing of real substance
    • Audition footage: Around 15 minutes of footage for some of the supporting cast
    • Trailers:
    • PLUS: Essays by film critic Dennis Lim and author Kier-La Janisse: Included in the liner notes which also are built to evoke the aesthetic of a 70s film magazine
    • New cover by Bianca Parkes and GrandSon, with photography by Max Abadian

    The Bottom Line

    Anora represents a continuation and refinement of the style of storytelling Baker is known for, an exposed and honest look at people on the fringes of society striving for something better. It’s warm, chaotic, and enthralling and ultimately driven home by a tour de force performance from Mikey Madison. Criterion’s release showcases a pristine transfer and a wealth of extras to better appreciate the magic wrought here.

    Anora is available via Criterion now

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  • LILO & STITCH Flourishes by Keeping the Focus on Family

    LILO & STITCH Flourishes by Keeping the Focus on Family

    The charm and chaotic energy of the original animated classic persists in this live action remake

    Undeterred by the stumbles, the tepid reviews and lackluster ticket sales, the Disney live action program continues. Yet another cherished part of your childhood lifted and put through the process of translating the hand-drawn magic into something more tangible. The process often brings spectacle, but never seems to capture the soul of the original, until now. Lilo & Stitch stands out as perhaps the most successful translation to date, something it achieves by not just respecting the original, but by building out some of its more resonant themes of family and sisterhood.

    If you’re unfamiliar, the story centers on Lilo (Maia Kealoha), a precocious six year old girl navigating life in Hawaii after the tragic death of her parents. She’s quirky, lonely, and acting out in frustration at a lost connection and nothing taking its place. Enter Experiment 626, a genetically engineered alien fugitive who crash lands on Hawaii and evades a pair of alien agents tasked with his capture escapes capture by disguising himself as a dog and becomign adoted by Lilo. As if her sister Nala (Sydney Agudong) didn’t have enough to handle with holding down a job, dealing with social services, and raising her sister, now this whirling ball of chaos is planted firmly in their lives. A destructive element that somehow helps to drive the process of healing and pulling the family back together.

    Director Dean Fleischer Camp’s Lilo & Stitch isn’t just a remake. It’s a thoughtful reimagining that retains the charm of the 2002 original while refocusing the lens on what made it so enduring in the first place: family, grief, resilience, and the healing power of a chaotic little blue alien. This 2025 version builds on that, not just recreating beats but reshaping the narrative for live action. In doing so, it makes one significant and welcome shift in expanding on Nani’s part of the story.

    Played with a real sense of authenticity Sydney Agudong, Nani isn’t just the beleaguered big sister struggling to keep custody. She’s a young woman in her own right, not just trying to hold down a job and care for her sister, she dares to have a dream of a career in marine biology. The loss of these girls parents takes on new depth as we see how her future might be derailed by the tragedy. It’s a modern update that doesn’t feel like an agenda, but reflective of a truth about the lasting impact of loss.

    Newcomer Maia Kealoha shines as Lilo, balancing mischief with a quiet sadness. The bullying aspect of the original film is somewhat tempered (aside from one casually cruel comment near the start) and she’s not quite as eccentric as her animated counterpart, but the portrayal does the necessary job of grounding the film. As for Stitch, he’s still voiced by original co-director Chris Sanders, and is perhaps more cute than chaotic here, part of this stems from a better developed arc for Stitch himself as the film is set to not just leverage his presence into helping heal the two girls, but to also give Stitch room to grow too. Even with this expansion, Lilo & Stitch remain the emotional core of things and their (mis)adventures remain the most delightful portions of the film.

    Camp, who showcased his ability to charm tug on the heartstrings with Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, brings that same sensitivity to Lilo & Stitch. The landscapes are lush, the lighting warm, the textures tactile, with Hawaii beautfully rendered in the film. The live-action setting plays well with the overall story, the contrast of Stitch and other aliens with our world add more of an absurdist comedic vibe than you’d get in an animated feature. The alien hunter subplot is where more of these CGI beings are spotted and still feels a little tacked on. Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen add much of the slapstick, fish out of water humor as Jumba and Pleakley. Magnussen brings a cheerful cluelessness to his role as “Eearth Expert Pleakley while Galifianakis injects some late-stage menace as his efforts to capture Stitch go to extremes. Courtney B. Vance carves out a space as CIA agent Cobra Bubbles, although with the other story changes his presence doesn’t feel as essential to the film.

    The screenplay, by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes, wisely avoids a shot-for-shot rehash. Instead, it expands character arcs, adds new layers, imaginative elements (playing with portals!), and brings a stronger sense of cultural and emotional grounding. Nani also has a romantic subplot that isn’t just filler, again it adds to illustrating the changes within her life and the loss of her identity now she is a caregiver. Tia Carrere (who voiced the original Nani) returns as a social worker who gives weight to the real-life pressures on the sisters, and a counter comes in the form of Amy Hill’s Tutu, a neighbor and extended family member who adds warmth and wisdom.

    It turns out that for Disney live action adaptations the the formula for success is to not follow the formula, instead it’s to take some creative choices to set it apart from the original. Lilo & Stitch stays true to the charm and playfully chaotic vibe of the original, but takes steps to make the story more resonant and relatable to modern day. In doing so it makes for a deeper story, one that holds true to the underlying message, about the importance of Ohana, whether it comes in the form of a sister, or a salivating blue alien with impulse control issues.

    Lilo & Stitch is releases on May 23rd

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  • MICKEY 17. A Muddled Effort from Bong Joon Ho [4K-Review]

    MICKEY 17. A Muddled Effort from Bong Joon Ho [4K-Review]

    Darkly comic fare, with enthralling world building and a social commentary that is just a little too on the nose

    Six years after Parasite made Oscar history, Bong Joon-ho returns with Mickey 17, a dark but disjointed sci-fi satire adapted from Edward Ashton’s novel Mickey7. The film sees Bong blending dystopian space opera with black comedy and a pointed social critique. But while Parasite sliced through class warfare with surgical precision, Mickey 17 lacks the finesse needed to make its point,

    Robert Pattinson stars as Mickey Barnes, an endearing screw-up with a debt problem. After taking out a loan from the local mob alongside his best friend Timo (Steven Yeun) they find themselves unable to pay if back and with time running out face the very real threat of a slow dismemberment. Their solution, get the hell off of Earth. In this dystopic future, colonial missions are setting out into the stars and one is about to get underway led by a Trumpian strongman named Kenneth Marshall (Mark Ruffalo), who believes in purity, destiny, and the superiority of himself and his followers.

    A registration mishap marks Mickey as an “Expendable”, a role that entails performing the ship’s most dangerous tasks, which almost always end in death. But thanks to technology that backs up his consciousness and reprints a new body. As the space-faring mission unfolds, Mickey doesn’t just give up his life (repeatedly) but also his heart, to fellow crew member Nasha (Naomi Ackie). Making landfall at the distant world of Nilfheim, Mickey 17 is left for dead after an accident, but helped back to the ship by some native creatures. Upon arrival he finds a new surly version of himself already having been activated. “Multiples” are an egregious violation of the law and their combined presence coincides with the climax of the mission and Kenneth Marshall’s efforts to instill his vision of society on this new planet.

    The film’s first half is a stylish, blackly comedic, and undeniably engaging. The world building is enthralling, Bong’s signature deadpan wit and sense of foreboding infuse well into proceedings. But somewhere along the way, Mickey 17 begins to buckle. Exposition piles up (the voice-overs get a bit much), characters spew competing ideologies, and a subplot involving intelligent native alien lifeforms (the very ones who saved Mickey 17) gets lost in the noise.

    There are flashes of brilliance throughout. Visually, the film is gorgeously grubby, blending futuristic advancements with an industrial vibe. Pattinson’s performance is kooky and charming, his physicality shifting just enough between Mickey’s incarnations to make them distinct and offer the audience a character in Mickey 18 to channel some of the palpable outrage the film provokes. His accent and delivery toe the line between goofy and oddly affecting and anchors the film emotionally. Aiding this is Ackie, who brings warmth and depth to a role that serves as a contract to the other blinkered crew members, but crucially humanizes Mickey all the more with her acts. A scene when she cradles Mickey after he’s been used as a guinea pig in a vaccine trial being a standout

    Mickey 17 is also messy. The satire can be heavy-handed , especially when Ruffalo’s character starts spewing fascist-lite rhetoric that feels like an on-the-nose Musk/Trump pastiche. There are jokes that drag far past their expiration date, a bit about sauce from Marshall’s wife Ylfa (Toni Colette, also hamming it up) is stretched way too thin. Even with these flaws, Mickey 17 is always energized and interesting. The film takes some big swings at themes of mortality and morality, greed and values, and our gloomy lurch to putting profit over people. It hammers it’s points home a little too hard, but in this day and age, maybe that’s necessary.

    The Package

    Mickey 17 presents with a really top quality transfer. Detail is superb, showing off the creativity of the production design, from panels to ships to costumes, to creature design. Depth of image is a standout, with an excellent range of color and contrast, deep blacks, and no artifacts or issues, just clean and precise from start to finish. Extra features feel a little lacking considering the source material, current day context, and technical aspects of the production, but they do provide some coverage in the key areas of interest:

    • Behind the Lens: Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17: writer-director Bong Joon Ho, author Edward Ashton, and key cast members, including actors Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, and Toni Colette, chat about the film’s story, thees, and their own characters. Just over 10 minutes, but solid enough
    • Mickey 17: A World Reimagined: Another 10 minute featurette which focuses on the world-building and overall aesthetic of the film
    • The Faces of Niflheim: Just over 8 minutes, it covers the casting process for Mickey, as well as Pattison’s approach to the character(s)
    • Trailers:

    The Bottom Line

    Mickey 17 is an ambitious, satirical space odyssey impresses with its look and feel (aided by one of the best looking 4K releases I’ve seen this year), as well as the turn(s) from Robert Pattison. The messaging is timely, and occasionally effective, but lacks the deftness to really entwine it with the story in a successful way. Bong Joon Ho’s latest is messy and muddled, but undeniably evocative and interesting.

    Mickey 17 is available on 4K-UHD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment now

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  • Weir Watch: Maddening Uncertainty Abounds in PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

    Weir Watch: Maddening Uncertainty Abounds in PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK

    Our exploration of the films of Peter Weir lands on his most celebrated Australian film, with one of cinema’s most notorious endings.

    What do you do when the world doesn’t supply easy answers? What if the world was far crueler than we like to imagine? And what is the effect on communities regarding uncertainty? These are the questions that lie at the heart of what is considered the height of Peter Weir’s Australian New Wave films, 1975’s Picnic at Hanging Rock.

    An adaptation of a popular 1967 novel by Joan Lindsey, Picnic at Hanging Rock marks a lot of firsts for Weir’s career. It is his first adaptation, one that carried a lot of anticipation and expectation. It is also his first period film, set at the dawn of the 20th century which has only become more removed in time from its original release. It is also his first film that can be argued to have almost no comedic elements to it; both Homesdale and The Cars That Ate Paris are dark but funny explorations of class and Australian identity, that rely on a playful absurdity to drive their more focused points. For all of its positive qualities, Picnic at Hanging Rock is devoid of much of a sense of humor, especially after the inciting incident and the follow through.

    That isn’t to suggest it isn’t entertaining; however, it is a radical shift in tone and filmmaking style for Weir, who used the Australian countryside to good effect in Paris, but it becomes a central conceit here. In fact th first act of the movie mostly plays out like a dream, of girls in flowing white wandering through Australian brush, staring up in marvel at the wonder of the natural world. Overtime the tone turns just as nightmarish as Paris, but the initial impression for Picnic at Hanging Rock is idyllic and calm, bolstered by a haunting Gheorghe Zamfir pan flute score.

    Of course things don’t stay there, and the disruption of that peace is at the heart of what Weir is doing with this film. The idea of a single indescribable event beyond comprehension, beyond description unravels the quiet serenity, in ripples that swiftly grow. The menace of an unsolvable mystery weighs down all who know about it.

    Set at the turn of the 20th century (which also feels relevant to the sense of uneasiness,) the film centers on the students at an all girls boarding school, the Appleyard College. The film opens with the girls going for a Valentine’s Day picnic at the real location of Hanging Rock, a former volcanic formation which has become something of a towering, majestic landmark. Even before setting off on their journey, the girls seem something in a trance, reciting pottery to each other, tying each other’s corsets and wisping around in nearly identical white gowns.

    Once they arrive at Hanging Rock however, the spell fully takes over. After their picnic is done, a handful of girls wander off to go explore the rock, while everyone else falls into a deep sleep. This is the section of the film that feels most dreamlike, an aimless wandering through the brush that leads to an exploration of the rocks themselves. This is when the Zamfir score really hits its zenith.


    But then horror strikes. One of the girls on the journey watches as the three others wander up the rock formation, and an unseen evil causes her to scream and flee. We find then the chaperone on the trip has also disappeared. The weight of these four missing persons sets the stage for the rest of the film.

    The weight being of course people needing to figure out what happened. Where did the girls go? Are they still alive? Will it happen again? The uncertainty inevitably drives people mad, especially as half answers start to appear. The full scale of what occurred though remain elusive, which only escalates the tension higher and higher. The final moments of the film intentionally alienate the audience, telling them that just like the characters in the film, if they are seeking answers, they will leave disappointed.

    There is a lot of thematic weight going on in Picnic at Hanging Rock. There are aspect of unfulfilled psychosexual pining, and a sense that the Australian landscape isn’t meant for such pristine human habitation. There is a creeping sense of dread that underpins everything that occurs. But the central theme is the horror of uncertainty, that when circumstances demand answers and there are none, it can unravel any sense of claimed civilization.

    There is a sister film in this regard. While watching, I couldn’t help but be reminded of David Fincher’s Zodiac. Similarly to Picnic at Hanging Rock, Zodiac is less about the incident that bears its name as it is about the aftermath and the effect the events have on those who are affected. Both films are about people attempting to put together pieces of an unknowable truth, longing for conclusion when life offers none. And both films refuse to tie things up easily. Rather they dig down into the rabbit hole, giving some sense of possible conclusion, but never certainty.

    One of the great comforts of films, and most narrative in general, is that sense of closure. A movie ends, and in the case of the most finely crafted ones, a sense of all the plots giving way to some sense of clarity. In the case of Picnic at Hanging Rock, it has the structure and shape of a horror-mystery, a genre specifically that promises some sort of revelation. Yet no clarity is provided, no sense of safety or finality. Instead we are left with only questions and destruction. Because often times life is not as neat and tidy as the movies would want us to believe.

    Next Week: Weir digs deep under the skin of the very nature of white Australian identity in The Last Wave.

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  • CAUGHT BY THE TIDES: Cinematic Storytelling Spanning Decades

    CAUGHT BY THE TIDES: Cinematic Storytelling Spanning Decades

    The latest from Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke is a wondrous musical journey through time and place

    Zhao Tao in Caught By the Tides.

    The films by Jia Zhangke I’ve seen tend to be less linear narrative and more a portrait of a time and place. Caught by the Tides follows this pattern; the experimental 2025 work incorporates footage filmed as far back as 2001, slowly weaving a story about a relationship lost to time. Zhao Tao, a regular face from the director’s works (and his wife IRL), stars as Qiaoqiao. Jia’s film blends documentary and drama as Qiaoqiao wanders from a dying mining town in 2001 to an area affected by construction of the Three Gorges Dam in 2006 to end up in the modern city of Zhuhai two years into COVID.

    Caught by the Tides revisits past cinematic worlds; the middle section especially offers a feel of déjà vu to anyone who’s seen Jia’s Still Life. I’d forgotten I had, so was surprised when the imagery felt familiar, yet new. In the loose story here, Qiaoqiao is left by her boyfriend Bin (Li Zhubin) when he looks for work elsewhere. In the second section, she’s determined to meet up with him but he won’t return her calls/texts. Intertitles speak for her character, like she’s in a silent film.

    Zhao Tao and Li Zhubin in Caught By the Tides.

    There’s something uniquely visual to Caught by the Tides, although the scoring and songs used throughout also contribute to the experience. The electronic scoring from Lim Giong sounds almost ethereal at times. The sound design shows consideration and intention. Fluid editing adds to the momentum of the work, although the filmmaker is not afraid to dwell in certain moments.

    The last section – more recently filmed in 2023 – feels more narrative-driven as it pulls pieces of the puzzle together. An aging Bin searches for his place among TikTok influencers and Qiaoqiao makes a new friend. Caught by the Tides depicts the impact of technology and modernization in China, from internet cafes to a town being destroyed for a dam to AI friends to robots. But it’s notable that a scene of community (a small group of women singing to each other) opens the film and a scene of community closes the film. In between, Caught by the Tides mesmerizes and transports the audience.

    A store robot and Zhao Tao in Caught By the Tides.

    Caught by the Tides opens at AFS Cinema on Thurs, May 22. Other works in Jia Zhangke’s filmography are currently streaming on the Criterion Channel (including the aforementioned Still Life).

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  • ENEMY OF THE STATE – On the Run with Will Smith and Gene Hackman [Two Cents]

    ENEMY OF THE STATE – On the Run with Will Smith and Gene Hackman [Two Cents]

    Say hi to the FBI.

    Two Cents is a Cinapse original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team curates the series and contribute their “two cents” using a maximum of 200-400 words. Guest contributors and comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future picks. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion. Would you like to be a guest contributor or programmer for an upcoming Two Cents entry? Simply watch along with us and/or send your pitches or 200-400 word reviews to cinapse.twocents@gmail.com.

    The Pick: Enemy of the State (1998)

    By the late 1990s, both Gene Hackman and Will Smith were on a hell of a hot streak. Hackman had just been in bangers like The Birdcage as well as his legendary 1995 triple threat of The Quick and the Dead, Crimson Tide, and Get Shorty, and Will Smith had gone from sitcom star to blockbuster headliner in just 3 years. So, if you’re Jerry Bruckheimer and have a script set to team these two up in a “Lethal Weapon for the digital age” spy thriller and you have Tony Scott’s number? Well, you get a popcorn classic that gives you a bit of nutrition in between the exploding personalities and literal pyrotechnics.

    The Team

    Ed Travis

    Revisiting curated Gene Hackman titles alongside my Cinapse brethren and sistren has been a journey through multiple legitimate masterpieces. This is not that. 

    BUT, I’m actually not here to talk trash against Enemy Of The State. Far from it. While this may not be a masterpiece, I’m very on record that that designation should be sparse. If everything is a masterpiece, then nothing is. It just happens that Hackman routinely either CHOSE projects that became masterpieces, or he actively MADE them into masterpieces through his performance. 

    I had loads of thoughts upon this revisit of Enemy Of The State, a film I likely hadn’t revisited since the 1990s. My primary takeaway was that “we really had everything, didn’t we?”. What I mean by that is, in the 1990s, Hollywood was putting out stuff directed by Tony Scott, with massive casts of iconic and talented actors. And even somewhat standard studio output like Enemy was elevated and almost revelatory by today’s standards. Sure, it’s a standard thriller, but it feels so much better than most of Hollywood’s current output. 

    I was thrilled to revisit this immediately after we covered The Conversation, as it’s now common knowledge that Hackman is unofficially revisiting his Harry Caul character in this film. While that is a fun connection and even seems textual in Enemy, as they show a younger headshot of “Brill” on screen and it’s clearly a still photo of Caul, not much is made of the continuation. Don’t get me wrong, Hackman is as incredible as always in Enemy. But he’s in blockbuster mode, riffing against Will Smith in movie star mode. This is a Jerry Bruckheimer facsimile of Harry Caul. It’s not some probing reassessment of the 1970s film, it’s more like “what if Harry Caul blew some shit up”? And honestly? I’m on board for that. 

    Lastly I’ll note that Enemy Of The State has long been a placeholder film in my brain as an example of a film showing the State to be all powerful; a tale that justifies conspiratorial thinking. I remember being put off by the premise in the 1990s because the tech was too flashy and the government too incompetent to replicate what’s shown here. Watching a barely-pre-9/11 paranoid thriller today, the tech has actually caught up, and it’s likely that much of the surveillance depicted here CAN be utilized. And the police state has only increased. But competence has not. The will and the tech to oppress us is upon us, and some of the only solace I personally can find is that our leadership’s incompetence at least slows down their push towards the fascism threatened in Enemy Of The State.

    @edtravis on Bluesky

    Brendan Agnew

    How fucked up is it that Enemy of the State has almost become quaint? After being circled by Oliver Stone before reteaming Jerry Bruckheimer with Tony Scott, this was not only Scott’s stress test for the hectic and dizzying directing style that would define his 21st century work, it’s also a movie that portrayed the NSA as so all-powerful and potentially corruptible that the NSA Director at the time initiated a public relations campaign to combat damage to the agency’s image.

    In hindsight, that’s both cute and chilling.

    As a film on its own, Enemy of the State holds up as a breakneck techno-thriller that plays something like North By Northwest meets The West Wing, with a labor lawyer Robert Clayton Dean (Will Smith) getting caught up in a murder cover-up that spirals out of control until he’s the NSA’s most wanted man in America. Where the film differentiated itself was the use of (at the time) cutting edge technology being shown to track down, listen in on, and smear the character of “undesirables” deemed either dangerous or inconvenient enough to the wrong agency. It’s a good thing Gene Hackman’s Brill (a clear riff on The Conversation’s Harry Caul) is there to walk Dean through how to keep the feds off his trail and – hopefully – turn the tables and get his life back.

    Watching this play out in a world where we carry computers in our pockets that are tracking us everywhere we go was like looking back in time before the water in the pot we’re collectively in started to boil, especially with the hindsight of how much the surveillance state warned about in this film has become an everyday mundanity. There’s not a lot of gray matter between this film’s ears other than “It would suck to not be able to hide, even if you were Will Smith,” but the story of a wrongly-persecuted black man being hunted by John Voight has gained retroactive thematic heft, if nothing else. It’s also still a wonder to watch a seasoned craftsman like Scott command such a massive production even before you start digging through the laundry list of character actor greats that show up here.

    But the real reason to watch is to see the volcanic charisma of Smith and Hackman bounce off of each other, and while the film takes its time getting Dean and Brill together, it makes the absolute most of their team-up. Enemy of the State isn’t a modern classic like Unforgiven or even as well-oiled as Crimson Tide, but it’s exactly the sort of high-gloss / high-concept / star-driven blockbuster that we practically took for granted in the ‘90s only to lament not having now.

    @blcagnew on Bluesky

    Justin Harlan

    I enjoyed The Conversation far more than I expected to, so I went into Enemy of the State highly optimistic. Turned out to be even more my kind of action thriller than I initially expected. In fact, dare I say that I kinda loved it?

    As a film discussed as a somewhat spiritual sequel to The Conversation, I can see why that comparison is drawn. Albeit, I really do wish that they literally just gave Hackman’s character the same name to take those theories up a notch here. Other than that, my only complaint with this one is that I wanted more Hackman on screen, as he’s obviously one of the best of all time… but, also, because he seemed to have stellar on screen chemistry with Will Smith.

    The cast is about as late 90s as a cast can get, though the vast majority of the big names in the film are only there for name recognition as far as I can tell. They do a good job, but very few of them are asked to really show their chops. The fact that Scott Caan, Jake Busey, and the other guy who works with them as henchmen types all had the same goofy 90s haircut was pretty stellar.

    But I digress, this is primarily a solid Will Smoth vehicle with Hackman as an unexpected mentor and partner; while real life baddie Jon Voight plays the on screen baddie. Voight is solid in his role, but knowing who he’s crone, maybe so much if it wasn’t even scaring… he’s just honestly politically corrupt and shitty.

    Alas, keep bringing on the Hackman. It really just never gets old!

    @thepaintedman on Bluesky

    Spencer Brickey

    In 1998, Tony Scott shot a tight, stylized political paranoia film that seemed to star over half of Hollywood. In only a few short years afterwards, it became clear that he had created one of the most prescient films ever made.

    Following a lawyer thrown into a government cover-up, and the grizzled former NSA agent who’s the only man who can save him, Enemy Of The State is pretty standard Tony Scott fare. Which is to say it is genuinely fantastic action filmmaking that blows most of what we get today out of the water. Tony Scott always had one of the best aesthetics as a filmmaker, and Enemy of The State is no different, the entire world almost always shrouded in sunset shadows, colors popping off and reflecting surfaces shining. Scott shoots the hell out of this, be it a insane car chase between moving train cars, or a heated exchange in a hotel elevator.

    The cast is also jaw dropping, rivaling True Romance in the “oh wow, they’re in this, too?” department. Beyond just the leads of Smith, Hackman and Voight, you also have (deep breath) Regina King, Lisa Bonet, Barry Pepper, Scott Caan, Jake Busey, Jason Lee, Gabriel Byrnes, Jack Black, Jamie Kennedy, Anna Gunn, Phillip Baker Hall, Seth Green, Jason Robards, and fucking Tom Sizemore. Just an absolute insane ensemble, everyone firing on all cylinders.

    Of them all, Hackman is the MVP. Essentially playing Harry Caul from The Conversation (sure, it’s not official, but, come on; Scott even remakes the square recording scene!), Hackman is all ticks and barbs here, his charm hidden beneath layers of accumulated paranoia and apathy. His help comes begrudgingly, and he doesn’t warm easily. One of the highlights of Enemy Of The State is watching Hackman and Smith warm up to each other, Hackman’s charisma coming out the more they work together. It is another outstanding performance in a career of almost only outstanding performances.

    Which is why I’ve always been bummed that I never really vibed with what Will Smith is doing here. Playing a role that feels much more attuned to Denzel Washington’s wheelhouse (or, what was very close to actually occurring; Tom Cruise), Smith never really embodies the character to me. He’s classically great whenever the charm or the jokes are needed, but always flounders when he needs to give off an air of seriousness or being off balanced. He has the classic issue that true blue movie stars can have; he’s just too “cool” for this role. This is a role that needed someone who could be vulnerable, and that is the opposite of Smith’s abilities. 

    What must have felt like far fetched government overreach in 1998 became incredibly real only 3 years after release. After the 9/11 attacks, the chaos and hysteria that gripped the country allowed for the patriot act to be passed, giving the government unparalleled access to the privacy of the American people through surveillance means. 24 years after the attacks, we’ve only become more surveilled, more analyzed, more controlled. When Voight’s villainous NSA deputy director says that “privacy will soon only be in the mind”, I don’t think anyone watching this at release realized we’d be there in only a little over a quarter century.

    Spencer Brickey on Letterboxd

    There’s just one last entry in our Goodbye to a Great series, so join us for one of Wes Anderson’s defining works with The Royal Tenenbaums.

    May 19 – The Royal Tenenbaums – (Digital Rental / Purchase – 1 hour 50 minutes)

    And We’re Out.

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  • BRING HER BACK is Viscerally Uncomfortable and Unforgettable

    BRING HER BACK is Viscerally Uncomfortable and Unforgettable

    The Philippou Brothers’ sophomore feature proves they’re a horror force to be reckoned with

    Stills courtesy of A24.

    Michael and Danny Philippou gave the Horror genre a much-needed shot in the arm with their breakout festival debut Talk To Me, which infused possession thrillers with an addictive kinetic energy honed during their formative years as successful stunt YouTubers. With such a signature manic look and irreverent tone, it’d be easy and expected to tackle a follow-up feature by repeating the same stylish flair, applied to similar beats. Hell, A24’s first sequel, Talk 2 Me, was announced weeks after the first film’s wild box office weekend. 

    I’m excited to report that the Philippous’ new film, Bring Her Back, is very, very much not another Talk to Me. While the film retains the duo’s macabre sense of humor, Bring Her Back replaces their debut’s rapid-fire energy with a simmering, sinister patience. It’s restrained by design in terms of location, characters, and tone. That is, until the well-matured character dynamics and taut atmosphere of dread break into some of the most unexpectedly disturbing and gut-wrenching sequences out there. It’s a rewarding and unrelentingly bleak exercise in darkness–and cements the Philippous as fiendishly inventive horror auteurs with ironclad grips on their audience.

    After the death of their sole remaining parent, troubled teen Andy (Billy Barratt) and his legally blind little sister Piper (Sora Wong) risk splitting up in the Australian foster care system due to Andy’s brief yet impactful history of violence. Their savior, former foster counselor Laura (Sally Hawkins) gives them a new home where they can remain together until Andy turns 18 and becomes Piper’s guardian. Laura, still grieving the loss of her similarly blind daughter, is more than eager to give Piper the care she needs…even if it means going out of her depth by taking in another not-quite-child. But Andy and Piper aren’t alone–they also share the home with Laura’s remaining child, Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), rendered mute by his sister’s death. 

    As Piper slowly lets their guard down around her new foster mother, it slowly dawns on Andy that there’s more insidious motivations behind Laura’s gentle generosity–ones that threaten to upend his relationship between the last family member he has left.

    Part of what makes Bring Her Back such a compelling watch is how each of the film’s central characters commit to their individual roles, even as the film increasingly weaponizes their prickly and personal dynamics between one another. Barratt and Wong have a winning chemistry with one another, and as Andy is forced to swallow much of what’s happening to him in order to shield Piper from what’s going on, the crux of of Barratt’s role is to convey to audiences the pain and terror he faces even as he tries to remain cheerful to Piper or stoic to people like Laura or other social workers. It’s a challenge Barratt more than lives up to, providing Bring Her Back with nerve-shredding anxiety as we stress out so much about the fate of these little kids. In her own debut role, Wong refuses to let a character like Piper become a prop or danger-magnet due to her disability, exploring the world of Bring Her Back with curiosity and agency even as she begins to question her brother’s seeming selflessness towards her. Phillips’ non-verbal role as Oliver is easily among Milly Shapiro in Hereditary or Harvey Scrimshaw in The Witch as part of A24’s growing pantheon of creepy Horror kids–and like those roles, Ollie reveals himself to be a character with plenty of meat for an actor to chew on outside of silent menace. 

    But the hands-down star of the film is Sally Hawkins as Laura, making her (to my knowledge) first turn in a straight-up horror film. Hawkins sinks her teeth into this role, inhabiting Laura with a frayed yet optimistic resilience that takes on increasingly dark tones as more becomes clear. As she encourages Andy and Piper to open up to her, Laura’s emotional honesty allows us to completely understand her grief over losing her child–and, over time, how it walls her off from anything else worth empathizing with. As Bring Her Back progresses, we realize just how adept Laura is at using her gentleness like the lantern on a deep-sea angler fish, and how Hawkins is at manipulating where audiences place their trust in a film like this.

    The resulting atmosphere, cultivated by the Philippous to sickening perfection, is one of intense, brooding stillness crackling with an air of pervasive menace. If the ghosts of Talk to Me could be defined by their desire to lash out and make public displays of gruesome sensation, the crippling stillness of Bring Her Back suggests that such visible horror is possible at any minute, if not for how much the characters need to keep such impulses at bay. As mentioned in the film’s post-screening Q&A, the Philippous drew major inspiration from Bette Davis films like Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? as far as creating palpable character-driven tension; I couldn’t help but draw my own comparisons to other 60s’ era paranoid thrillers like Bunny Lake is Missing, particularly in how the film makes such a concentrated effort to show just how the leads aren’t crazy, but are instead subject to a sanity-straining mousetrap to the unwitting ignorance of those they care about most. Audiences are squirming in their seats over just what Andy and Laura will do to protect those they care about even before the Philippou’s unabashed love for no-CGI practical effects finally barrels into the fray.

    One wouldn’t expect the film’s stillness to lend itself to the same visceral tactility that made Talk to Me such a memorable first film–but it’s still a very sensory film, as Piper navigates Laura’s multi-textured house, or Andy endures physical and mental strains to uncover the truth behind Laura’s motivations amidst torrential rainstorms or sprawling, lush forests. Word of warning, this love for sensation in all its forms is all the more prevalent in two absolutely sickening sequences that brought cheers, gasps, and near-walkouts in our screening. This might not be the best film to eat before (or even after) watching.

    What remains the most effective aspect of Bring Her Back, though, is how much the Philippous have matured as storytellers between their already-impressive debut and this film. Without going into spoilers, so much of what would be the interesting parts of a story like Bring Her Back’s has seemingly already happened before frame one; there’s a tome’s worth of lore creeping at the edges of the frame, whether it’s the previous dynamics of Andy and Piper’s family, or the larger machinations of what Laura may or may not be up to. However, the Philippous ensure Bring Her Back remains constantly active, moving, and present for both its characters and their audience. 

    Bring Her Back is a gentle yet poisonously evil horror show, one that I’m not eager to shake anytime soon. If Talk to Me signaled the arrival of two powerful horror voices, Bring Her Back ensures they aren’t going anywhere as long as we can stomach what sights they have in store.

    Bring Her Back hits theaters on May 30th courtesy of A24.

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  • HURRY UP TOMORROW: The Weeknd Screams in Neon and Bleeds Synth Pop on the Silver Screen

    HURRY UP TOMORROW: The Weeknd Screams in Neon and Bleeds Synth Pop on the Silver Screen

    Tomorrow is a cult film in the making

    With concert films dominating the multiplex, it didn’t surprise me that The Weeknd AKA Abel Tesfaye who’s music already has a very cinematic language would try and make the jump to the big screen, but in his own way. While I personally spent two hours transfixed in pure cinematic phantasmagorical bliss, I think what he’s released, directed by Trey Edward Shults (It Comes at Night) will no doubt confound and confuse most casual fans. Hurry Up Tomorrow coincides with the release of his latest album of the same name and is an intense visceral and surreal deconstruction of fame, ego and addiction. The film has the artist who’s been publicly talking about retiring his Weeknd moniker, doing so in a visual tour de force that screams in neon and bleeds synth pop. 

    The film follows a fictionalized version of the singer playing himself on his current tour struggling to keep it together after a recent breakup. Plied with drugs and alcohol by his manager (Barry Keoghan) to keep on performing, we soon discover that all his years of toxic behavior have finally caught up to him and manifested itself in the singer losing his voice on stage due to stress – which really happened. This has The Weeknd fleeing a gig after the incident and into the arms of a gorgeous pyromaniac super-fan Anima (Jenna Ortega), which is also the psychological term for the feminine part of a man’s personality.  Their one night tryst shockingly ends with Anima kidnapping her idol and forcing him to confront his darkness, all while delivering a stark Patrick Bateman-esque meta commentary on his career.  Taking a page from The Wall, using the cinematic language of The Shining through the prism of Dario Argento, we witness a descent into madness in a hotel room, as Abel is tortured by the literal manifestation of everything he’s been running away from.

    I personally found the uncompromising nature of the narrative structure and visual language of the film both metaphorically and visually a perfect match for anyone who’s fallen under the spell of the artist’s tortured lore. Over the years in building this character of The Weeknd Abel has openly shown his love for genre cinema, not only through his music and videos, but his disfigured alter egos and even a house at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights. It’s a stark contrast to his more radio friendly pop tracks he’s known for, that if you listen close enough are all haunted by a darkness that the singer is exploring here on film. This works not only thanks to the gorgeous and densely layered visuals, but Abel lays himself bare in front of the camera, showing a vulnerability that is both uncomfortable and hard to ignore. 

    The film doesn’t feel like a vanity project, but a genuine narrative with some intriguingly interesting ideas it’s attempting to deconstruct and digest about fame and power by someone who’s experienced it first hand. Is it great to be a rock star, who’s rich and adored by millions? Sure it is sometimes, but what Abel is trying to say here it’s not that simple, at least in his case. We see the godlike singer ascend to a stadium full of adoring fans, but that can change in an instant, as the singer loses his voice and the audience immediately turns on him rendering him to nothing. That constant need for validation, birthed while trying to fill the void left by his absent father, placed the artist in a never ending loop of self destruction, isolation and vice needed to continue to fuel this creative spark, to write these songs that have made him one of the greatest musicians of our time. 

    Tomorrow is a cult film in the making that works not only as a piece of transgressive art, but as an artist leaving behind his hard partying persona and looking to the future. The film explores the price of fame and the toll of having to live up to the expectations placed before celebrities in this day and age, that will surprise most with its depth. The film also somehow manages to humanize and allow us as an audience to even empathize for brief periods, with The Weeknd – while not dulling his sharp edges. This is accomplished with a rich tapestry of visuals married perfectly to the artist’s tracks that tells a deeply personal story dodging the superficiality you’d expect, on its journey to get to the core of what inspires the artist and if he can survive it. While I hope folks will come out and discover Hurry Up Tomorrow in theaters — I personally can recommend the Dolby flavor enough, I feel like it will probably be recognized after the fact like most genre masterworks are. 

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  • BETTER MAN Deserves Your Attention [4K-Review]

    BETTER MAN Deserves Your Attention [4K-Review]

    Put aside preconceptions and check out one of the most creative and biopics ever made

    For months the internet has been stacked with dismissive opinion over Better Man, largely centered around not knowing and/or not caring about the subject of this biopic, Robbie Williams. To put it bluntly, get over it. Whether you like him or not, know him or not, Better Man is one of the most wildly original, creative, and emotionally triggering films of the past few years.

    The creative leap taken here by director Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) is to depict Williams in precisely the way he has always seen himself: as a performing monkey. At 16, he became a key player in the boy band Take That and fueled their pop music domination in the ’90s. A separation and ensuing solo career saw his singer-songwriter work garner him a series of hit #1 UK singles, six albums entering the top 100 all-time sales charts in the UK, and a Guinness World Record in 2006 for selling 1.6 million tickets in a day for his Close Encounters Tour. He even ventured into a Vegas residency and crooned his way through a duet with Nicole Kidman. Alongside the fame and success, though, were darker moments fueled by his confrontational personality, disruptive demeanor, and substance abuse–all well chronicled by the British tabloids. Better Man is a warts-and-all depiction of Williams’ life and career against the backdrop of nearly two decades of British pop culture.

    The script from Gracey, co-writing with first-time screenwriters Oliver Cole and Simon Gleeson, gives you that foundational through-line that you’d expect from a music biopic; thankfully, the end product is more reminiscent of Rocketman or Walk the Line rather than Bohemian Rhapsody and Back to Black. Gracey takes us through the beats of Williams’ career, relationships, family strife, and ever-deepening descent into addiction. Key moments are brought to life with a dovetail into musical set pieces, where key compositions from William’s catalog are married to grand visual sequences. Rock DJ lights up a Regent Street showstopper, Come Undone underscores a nightmarish sequence that wouldn’t feel out of place in Trainspotting, and Let Me Entertain You fuels a frenetic psychological battle royale as Robbie finally faces up to his own self-judgment and doubt. To be clear, this isn’t a purely whimsical endeavor; sex, drugs, and violence are all presented in unvarnished fashion.

    Unlike the woeful Bohemian Rhapsody, Better Man does not alter or sanitize the misdeeds of its lead, or his expressions of sexuality. You’re not just reminded how good some of these tunes were as we become privy to how Williams pulled them out and worked them over to become hits, a process facilitated by his longtime collaborator Guy Chambers (Tom Budge). While these tracks fuel some of the more visually and audibly memorable sequences, it’s the quieter moments of the film that are among its most indelible. The time Robbie spends with his nan (a wonderful Alison Steadman), and fellow pop star and first love Nicole Appleton (Raechelle Banno) are standouts. It’s Better Man’s father/son dynamic that sets much of Robbie’s life in motion, with the abandonment and future approval of his father Peter (a spot-on turn from Steve Pemberton) serving as key informers to the damage and the drive that accompanies Williams through his life.

    Voiced by Williams, this monkey man is realized by the marvelous mo-cap performance of Jonno Davis. The creation is a marvel to behold, not just from a technical viewpoint. Never acknowledged by other characters, never played for laughs or leveraged into the narrative, he is just simply a visual of William’s perception of himself. From a CGI perspective, it’s not quite at the level of the recent …of the Apes movies, but it’s pretty damn close. The film reworks old concerts, performances, and photoshoots to show this monkey-man at the center of the limelight, as Williams very much was. Robbie is imbued with personality and emotive force, whether glimpsed as a young chimp eating a bag of crisps on the TV with his gran, or a pitiful older form, slumped on a toilet with a needle in his arm. At his cheekiest or his most loathsome, it’s impossible to not feel a tug at the heartstrings gazing into his eyes.

    The aforementioned element of the film that might put-off some is Williams himself. Many stateside have little knowledge of the man, and some may find his cheeky demeanor to be somewhat grating. He’s undeniably the marmite of the Brit-pop world. As an Expat, I was certainly more informed as to the background of the subject and the smattering of UK references in the film, from who the All Saints are, Knebworth, Top of the Pops, Parky, and even the endearing use of The Two Ronnies as an ongoing tether between Robbie and his Nan. Despite this, I urge people to take a chance on such a wild, creative swing that pays off in spades. Switching out the lead for a CGI monkey-man in a way adds a clever layer of curiosity and accessibility to the project. Even if you’re not familiar with the man, the film remains a remarkable take on the all-consuming nature of ego and inner demons. As commented on within the film, “How can you be miserable when you have it all?” That’s the human psyche for you. Fame is no shield from insecurities, and Better Man reminds us of that by blending the fantastical with a solid thud of reality. We see one of the biggest musical stages in the world, with over 125,000 people, and the most human thing there is this CGI monkey.

    The Package

    The 4K presentation tilts towards a more ‘filmic’ look than a pristine, sharp one. Some of the grain and tones give the film a softer look, but it lends to a nice aesthetic. Colors are strongly represented with good range and depth. Blacks are deep and dense too.

    The package itself is a card exterior that opens to reveal one of the promotional poster images for the film. The inner liner showcases various scenes from the film.

    Extra Features:

    • Let Me Entertain You: The Making of Better Man — Director Michael Gracey and star Robbie Williams provide an in-depth look behind the vision and production of the film with additional insight from the cast and crew: Just over 30 minutes long and gives a good overview of the film’s conception and execution, mo-cap work, choreography and musical scene composition, and the film’s release and reception
    • Monkey Business: The VFX — Meet the visual effects team of Wētā FX as they delve into the process of using cutting-edge technology to bring Better Man to life: Only 15 minutes, it’s a more focused look at the (really impressive) mo-cap work done to bring the chimpified-Williams to life

    Better Man leverages its simian-styled gimmick to craft a biopic that just soars. It charts the highs and many lows of a life not just under the spotlight, but one wrestling with inner doubt. Michael Gracey’s film is a gut-punch, a tearjerker, and a toe-tapper all rolled into one. Put aside whatever preconceptions you have about the film; you’re sorely missing out if you don’t.

    Better Man is available on 4K-UHD via Paramount Presents now

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  • FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES is Grisly as it is Great!

    FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES is Grisly as it is Great!

    Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein Deliver a PERFECT Final Destination film.

    While Final Destination: Bloodlines may superficially appear to be Hollywood’s latest attempt at digging up another long dead horror franchise for an easy IP cash-in, there’s something to be said when you have not only a great idea, but the cast and crew to execute it flawlessly. With some of the writers from the recent Scream Reboot/Sequel, combined with a pair of fresh directors (Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein), we get just that with the sixth and easily best entry in the series. The film does all this, while also addressing some of the known issues and tired tropes these films were known for, delivering a refreshingly unique direct sequel to the pre-established canon, that is as savage and as engaging as this franchise has ever been. 

    Making its first big departure, the film begins with a rather spectacular period set piece in 1968 at the opening night of the Sky View restaurant — think Seattle’s Space Needle. Here we meet the bright and beautiful Iris Campbell (Brec Bassinger) and her doting fiance Paul (Max Lloyd-Jones) who take us through 15 gorific minutes that deliver everything you would expect from a Final Destination opening, but oddly more. Brec Bassinger infuses this massive blood drenched spectacle with some unexpected heart, as her character immediately locks the audience in with her empathetic and courageous actions when disaster strikes and the glass dancefloor begins cracking. In another thankful departure, they’ve pulled back the focus a bit from expendable teens and insufferable college kids, by having Iris and Paul taking the first steps into an adult life together as we then witness everyone – including them die.

    While that turns out to be a recurring nightmare haunting Iris’ now granddaughter Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) in the present day, we learn it was in fact the premonition her grandmother had, before saving hundreds of people that night. Since then however, Death has been meticulously following its pre-existing plan and working its way through the now three generations of families of everyone who walked away that night. It’s something that doesn’t fully click into our family until at least the halfway point, as the series is infused with actual lore this time around, since Iris is shockingly not only still around, but has since authored a tome on how to cheat Death in the FDCU. She bestowes this book on Stefani before her own gnarly death, which somehow manages to be even harder to watch the second time around. It’s literally that gnarly someone in post was like, ‘let’s run this again!’ The other big break with the franchise that really drew me in was the family dynamic at the heart of the film, that elevates the stakes to a whole new level . 

    While there is some estrangement and melodrama as you’d expect, there’s still an unbreakable bond and a love that you really haven’t seen in this series until now, which really locked me into these characters. Made up mostly of first timers and TV actors, the cast here fully invests in this family and their lives, really bringing them to life on screen in a way that will definitely catch you off guard. Also the fact that we have entire families, with fathers, sons and daughters, allows Bloodlines to go multigenerational and broader than its teenager to twentysomething demographic, which helps to not alienate the older horror fans that grew up with these films. There’s even a few fun twists along the way, character-wise that will only endure these characters even more. The hook here is these are for the most part good people you genuinely care about, rather than simply waiting with bated breath to watch them get what they deserve. 

    While the original films ebbed and flowed in quality, I caught this in IMAX and the film for the most part held up on the big screen. There was obviously some heavy use of CGI for the flashback period beginning on the giant mid-air structure, but once it got to the kills and time jumped, the film felt much more grounded and practical in its approach compared to other entries. I also found it refreshing that we didn’t keep cutting back to the opening as you would in the previous films, which allowed some mystery to the latter half of the film and also made it a lot less repetitive in that respect. The Rube Goldberg-esque kills here still feature that level of creativity you’d expect with a Final Destination film, along with some truly nightmarish imagery that kept surprising me with just how far they would go each time. For you gore hounds out there this is honestly the closest you’re going to see Terrifier level kills in a mainstream, rated R flick. 

    Final Destination: Bloodlines is easily the best film to come out of the franchise and that’s not an easy statement from a longtime fan, but it’s well deserved. They’ve managed to update the series, while not trying to outsmart the original films, but instead really hone in on what made the films as fun as they were – crazy, spectacularly insane kills. This all while offering up as a bonus a cast that genuinely makes us vested in these characters who feel a bit more nuanced than previous iterations and keep us caring about whether they will make it the full 90 minutes. It’s honestly not something I thought I would be writing a few days later after viewing the film, but it’s even got some interesting musing on generational trauma hidden under the hood as well, that probably could be its own write-up. But horror fans are eating very well in 2025 and Bloodlines is just that, a blood splattered thrill ride that is viscerally unrelenting as it is engaging, with its story of a family forced to confront the choices of their matriarch.

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