The latest from writer/director Noah Baumbach, which he co-wrote with Emily Mortimer, is a sentimental look at aging movie star Jay Kelly (George Clooney) just entering a reflective period of his life (explored in flashbacks) whose attempts to connect with either of his grown daughters (Riley Keough and Grace Edwards) is hindered by decades of him choosing his career over them.
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Choosing to make the franchise monster the protagonist of the film rather than the antagonist, Predator: Badlands introduces us to the runt of the litter in Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) who, in order to prove himself, goes to the the most dangerous world known to the Yautja seeking to kill the unkillable Kalisk. Gifting Dek with more personality than any Predator before him, the young warrior unlearns a bit of Yautja culture accepting assistance in his quest from a damaged synthetic named Thia (Elle Fanning) along with various creatures including one Thia names Bud.
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Adapted from the novel of the same name, Die My Love is most notable for the standout performance of Jennifer Lawrence whose character Grace falls into postpartum depression following moving into the suburbs with her husband (Robert Pattinson) and delivering their first child. The film often blurs the lines of what’s real and what’s hallucinatory fantasy of Grace including visions of a mysterious man (LaKeith Stanfield) on a motorcycle, conversations with her dead father-in-law (Nick Nolte) who it seems is the only one she ever truly bonded with, a mysterious black stallion, and the film’s fiery conclusion.
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Biopics usually attempt to cover either the generation of an artist, an attempt at capturing their greatest hits, or a pivotal moment in their career. At the time Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere begins, Bruce Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) is already riding high fresh off a tour and his first #1 single. Returning home, while from time to time giving us glimpses of his childhood, the film focuses on Springsteen working on the songs which would make up his next two albums while dealing with ghosts from his past and beginning a burgeoning romance he’s not ready for.
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At twice the length of 1931’s Frankenstein, Guillermo del Toro‘s new adaptation of Mary Shelley’s tale of a mad scientist the fruit of his labors is an elaborate look into the life of Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) and the madness which spawned his creation (Jacob Elordi). I have a limited tolerance for melodrama, especially one without the wit or snark to undercut the tedium that all-too-often is the byproduct of the genre. Rarely have I seen a film that so earnestly, and so seriously, leaned into its melodramatic overtones.
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