Here are some reviews of films coming out at the theater this week as well as others that may be in theaters or newly on home video.
Opening: Dec. 20, 2024
Wide (United States)
Homestead
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Mufasa: The Lion King
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Limited (United States)
The Brutalist
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: The film is a momentous cinematic achievement.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is brimming with surface pleasures, but the scaffolding beneath them is getting a bit rusty.
- Excerpt: Vengeance Most Fowl is right in line with the rest of Aardman’s flagship franchise, just as warm-hearted, bouncy, goofy, and unassumingly sharp as ever.
2024 Films In Theaters Now In Select Areas
All We Imagine as Light
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Anora
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Conclave
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Devil’s Bath
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Dìdi
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Juror #2
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Kinds of Kindness
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Moana 2
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Nightbitch
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Oddity
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
A Real Pain
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
The Substance
For member reviews of this film, follow this link
Armand
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: Tøndel’s Norwegian film contains A+ acting, but despite being a Norwegian and a teacher myself, the script’s inner examination of the accused son’s mother just goes too far. Soon into it, I was frustrated and confused, not only with the story but the purpose of the film.
The Bibi Files
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: Banned in Israel, expect this film to be on the Oscar Long List.
Carry-On
Allen Almachar @ The MacGuffin
- Excerpt: If you need some alternative programming for the holidays, this might be it.
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: Defenders will say, ‘Turn off your brain and just enjoy the ride,’ but the sheer number of senseless absurdities pile up until they’re impossible to ignore.
Sebastian Zavala @ Loud and Clear Reviews [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Much like most of Serra’s thrillers, Carry-On does nothing particularly new. Nevertheless, it works as a tense and exciting thrill ride, and as the kind of movie I wouldn’t recommend watching right before taking a flight.
A Case for Love
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: There is a rich diversity of 14 stories and many interviews in seven chapters on perspectives, experiences and insights about themes related to love.
The Day Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
Christopher Reed @ Film Festival Today
- Excerpt: The Earth may not actually blow up, but plenty of other things do. Kablooey!
The Devil’s Bath
Sebastian Zavala @ Ventana Indiscreta [Spanish]
- Excerpt: A chilling portrait of 18th-century rural Austria, The Devil’s Bath strays from horror clichés to immerse us in a deeply human folkloric tale. It is an introspective tragedy that shows how true horror can arise from power dynamics.
The End
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: Shannon and Swinton are the ones doing the heavy emotional lifting by letting the twenty-year-old masks they’ve forgotten were glued to their faces slip.
Flow
Sebastian Zavala @ Cinencuentro.com [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Telling us a story devoid of dialogue or anthropomorphic characters, they’ve developed a visually beautiful and thematically powerful film, which tells us a lot about the value of cooperation and friendship. Full review in Spanish.
Glitter & Doom
Bavner Donaldo @ Cinejour [Indonesian]
Hard Truths
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: Though lauded for its sense of poetry, use of nature and focus on loss, I found its three-hour run time excessive and the slow action frustrating.
It’s Not Me
Jared Mobarak @ JaredMobarak.com
- Excerpt: Gives shape to [Carax’s] ideas and influences while paying homage to the artists who inspired and assisted in the art he’s made.
Kraven the Hunter
Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: I know you’ve heard it’s bad—but trust me, it’s worse.
Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: A dud series wraps up with a major dud. How appropriate.
- Excerpt: Another day, another second or third-level Marvel character “from the Spider-Man universe” given main character energy as Sony makes sure it takes every possible advantage of the contractual carve-out that gives it a small piece of the Marvel universe that isn’t run by Kevin Feige and Disney.
Kraven the Hunter
David “DC” Bolling @ DC’s Take
- Excerpt: The action feels stale, but the unconvincing performances from a talented cast genuinely disappoint.
The Last Showgirl
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: [Anderson taps] into our preconceptions of her celebrity as well as her own regrets born from its hold on her to deliver a beautifully confident, soul-searching, and cathartic masterclass of authenticity.
Sebastian Zavala @ Cinencuentro.com [Spanish]
- Excerpt: It’s about the demands placed on women and how sometimes life gets the better of us. Shelly was with her head in the clouds and, after taking so long to come down, she realised that there was a lot she could have done.
Lead and Copper
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: William Hart, the director of “Lead and Copper,” carefully and honestly documents the sad factors leading up to one of the greatest public health disasters in American history.
Nickel Boys
Christopher Reed @ Film Festival Today
- Excerpt: It’s an intellectual exercise that is missing its heart, stunning to look at, empty to behold.
No Other Land
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: “No Other Land” is disturbing. It is also an important addition to the history of the Zionist state and the repercussions of Western intervention.
Oh, Canada
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: Campaigning for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Lead Actor (Gere), “Oh, Canada” is going to be a hard sell because it has incorporated some tremendously experimental techniques.
Once Upon a Star
Bavner Donaldo @ Cinejour [Indonesian]
Remembering Gene Wilder
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: I appreciate this loving tribute to a man who chose to lift up and bring joy and comfort to the world through his art and charity.
Santosh
Bev Questad @ itsjustmovies.com
- Excerpt: The women carrying this fabulous film to greatness are Sandhya Suri, the powerfully insightful director and writer, and the leads, Goswami and Rajwar. A deep, enthralling thriller, “Santosh” is predicted to be on the short-list for an Oscar.
Scrap
- Excerpt: In her first feature as director, Kerr shows an exceptional gift for cinematic storytelling. The characters and their relationships are the focus, but visual indicators in the frame help illuminate what they are thinking.
Separated
Christopher Reed @ Hammer to Nail
- Excerpt: It’s a hard watch, but not nearly as difficult as the real thing. And since we’ll probably soon be seeing the sequel, which is never as fun as the original, it will most likely be much worse soon.
September 5
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: Therein lies the inherent commentary on display despite the film itself running pretty apolitically from start to finish. While mistakes [are made], they did not have the experience necessary to prevent them. [Today’s media does, but doesn’t care.]
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: The way Grimonprez weaves it all together is enlightening. His ability to also keep it kinetic with the jazz backdrop, damning text quotes, and visual callbacks for two-and-a-half hours is impressive.
Ultraman: Rising
Jared Mobarak @ Hey, have you seen …?
- Excerpt: It’s a fun journey with important themes that never talks down to its audience and an emotionally mature look at familial structures and the danger of letting one’s pain dictate their actions.
Vermiglio
Dennis Schwartz @ dennisschwartzreviews
- Excerpt: Splendid drama about a large Italian Alpine farmer family who live near the border with Germany during World War II.
You Are Not Me
C.H. Newell @ Father Son Holy Gore
- Excerpt: You Are Not Me is a disturbing look at the horrors done to those who don’t fit perfectly into a bourgeois heteronormative world, even those who are meant to be considered family.
