Reviews for February 6th, 2026
In Aida y Vuelta, chaos ensues during the production of the Spanish TV series "Aida." Complications arise when someone on the set gets accused of inappropriate behavior. Writer/director Paco León and co-writer Fernando Pérez have made a breezy and mildly amusing satire with shades of Almodóvar, but it's tonally uneven and not funny, outrageous or witty enough. Carmen Machi, who reprises her role as Aida, manages to be the film's MVP with her charismatic performance that adds some nuance and gravitas. Audiences who've watched the sitcom Aida will appreciate the inside jokes and seeing all of the familiar faces, but everyone who's unfamiliar with it won't have anything to engage themselves especially because all of those inside jokes will go over their head. Moreover, the tone is all over the place with some serious moments that lead to tonal whiplash, and there are too many underdeveloped subplots. The last few minutes, though, are among the few surprisingly empowering and memorable moments. Aida y Vuelta is ultimately just as dull, slight and forgettable as the Charlie XCX satire The Moment. At a running time of 1 hour and 30 minutes, it opens at Village East by Angelika via Outsider Pictures.
Number of times I checked my watch: 4
79-year-old Maria (Carmen Maura) refuses to leave the Morocco apartment when her daughter, Clara (Marta Etura), announces to her that she's selling it in Calle Málaga. Clara puts her in an assisted living facility, but she soon escapes it and moves back into the apartment that she had lived at for four decades. Writer/director Maryam Touzani and co-writer Nabil Ayouch have made a bittersweet, but tedious and mildly engaging drama elevated by Carmen Maura's warm and radiant performance. There's very little narrative momentum and too many underdeveloped subplots like the friendship that she develops with Absalm (Ahmed Boulane), an antiques dealer whom she's trying to buy back all of her possessions from. Their friendship (or is it more than that?) feels contrived. The same can be said about her friendship with Sister Josefa (María Alfonsa Rosso), a nun who listens to Maria's emotional confessions without replying to her. Maria comes across as stubborn, lonely and somewhat sad, although the film shies away from exploring her sadness or her past more unflinchingly. There are no flashbacks here and minimal exposition. Fortunately, Carmen Maura shines in a genuinely heartfelt performance that provides emotional depth that the screenplay itself lacks. She's the film's heart, mind and soul. It's too bad that the screenplay doesn't delve into that enough to make the film a more powerful experience. At a running time of 1 hour and 56 minutes, Calle Málaga opens at Film Forum via Strand Releasing.
Number of times I checked my watch: 3
Dracula (Caleb Landry Jones) pines to be reunited with his murdered wife, Elisabeta (Zoë Bleu) through her reincarnation, Mena (also Zoë Bleu) in Dracula. Meanwhile, a priest (Christoph Waltz) hunts him down. Writer/director Luc Besson has made an atmospheric, but dull and overlong Gothic horror romance that suffers from style over substance. The plot merely goes through the motions as Dracula's wife gets murdered before he turns into the infamous Count. Then there's a flash forward to 400 years later, where Mina, Elisabeta's reincarnation, is engaged to Jonathan (Ewens Abid). What was their marriage like to begin with? What has Dracula been up to the past 400 years besides making a potion to lure women? The screenplay isn't interested in exploring its characters or in making the story of Dracula heartfelt despite his longing for Elisabetha. So, in turn, the beats don't land during the third act.
This new version of the classic novel by Bram Stoker offers nothing new, bold or exciting, unfortunately. The only glue holding it together includes the stylish production design, the atmospheric cinematography and the decent performances by Caleb Landry Jones and Christoph Waltz each of whom has been in far more exhilarating films---Jones in Dogman and Nitram, and Waltz in Inglorious Basterds, to be precise. At a running time of 2 hours and 9 minutes, Dracula opens at nationwide via Vertical.
Number of times I checked my watch: 3
Hannah (Olivia Colman) isn't happy when her 16-year-old non-binary child, Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde), wants to stay with her grandfather, Jim a.k.a. Jimpa (John Lithgow), for a year in Jimpa. Jimpa had come out of the closet when Hannah was a teenager, but remained married to her mother to raise her and her sister, Emily (Kate Box). Writer/director Sophie Hyde and co-writer Matthew Cormack have made an occasionally poignant, but undercooked, overstuffed and unfocused portrait of a dysfunctional family. The frequent flashbacks to Jimpa's past are clunky and poorly integrated, although they do help to explain a little more about his emotional struggles and how they affected the relationship between him and Hanna as well as his wife. The screenplay's systemic issues derive from biting off more than it could chew. There are many interesting characters and even some provocative conversations about timely issues like gender identity, but the film barely scratches the surface of those issues. Moreover, many of those conversations suffer from on-the-nose dialogue and feel contrived.
It's never a good sign when you can hear the wheels of the screenplay turning every step of the way no matter how hard the solid ensemble cast tries to rise above the mediocre, sugar-coated screenplay. Jimpa isn't as cringe-inducing, juvenile and shallow as The Roses, another Olivia Colman movie about a dysfunctional family, although that film doesn't set the bar very high. For a more heartfelt, organic, intelligent and sensitively written movie about a father-daughter relationship starring Colman, see The Father which would be the superior film in a double feature with Jimpa. At a running time of 1 hour and 53 minutes, Jimpa opens at Quad Cinema via Kino Lorber.
Number of times I checked my watch: 3
After his fiancée, Meghan (Alyson Hannigan), leaves him at the altar in Rome, Matt (Kevin James) decides to experience their honeymoon on his own in Solo Mio. He befriends Gia (Nicole Grimaudo), a friendly cafe owner. Co-directors Chuck and Dan Kinnane along with co-writers Kevin James, Patrick Kinnane and John Kinnane, have made a sweet, heartwarming and breezy, but occasionally cheesy and contrived romantic comedy. The screenplay rushes through the first act because within the first few minutes, Meghan has already left Matt at the altar. How did they meet? What was their relationship like leading up to that moment? What, if anything, went wrong with it? Solo Mio isn't too interested in delving into the answers to those questions or in including enough exposition to know whether or not to root for their relationship to work. Meghan remains an underdeveloped character who's essentially a plot device. Gia, on the other hand, gets more of a backstory and manages to be a more interesting and complex character. Will Matt choose her over Meghan? Without enough information about Meghan and what she's going through emotionally, it's hard to care about the answer to that question. Matt does go through somewhat about a character arc, but it doesn't feel truly organic because it's hard to sense how introspective he truly is. His relationship with Gia also comes across as contrived and requires some suspension of disbelief, although it's great to see a character who's kind. There are no villains here, in fact, which is refreshing.
The filmmakers do include a little comic relief with fish-out-of water humor, i.e. when Matt incorrectly pronounces "zucchero", the Italian word for sugar----an ingredient that, figuratively, Solo Mio has plenty of and, at times, enough to give you a cavity. Your enjoyment of the film depends how much you can handle a saccharine romcom and on how much you're willing to suspend your disbelief. At a running time of 1 hour and 36 minutes, Solo Mio opens at nationwide via Angel Studios.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
Starman is a stylishly edited and briskly, but meandering, unfocused and incomplete documentary about Gentry Lee, a NASA engineer, scientist and science fiction writer. Director Robert Stone bites off a lot more than he could chew. He combines talking-head interviews with Gentry Lee along with archival footage. What makes Starman incomplete, you ask? It only provides the audience with a reader's digest version of Lee's work while neglecting to delve into his life. You'll learn about his various missions while working with NASA, about his fascination about whether or not mankind is alone in the universe and, briefly, how has learned to appreciate the majesty of nature while shedding light on the importance of making the world a better place. That last theme, saved for the tail end of the film, feels like it belongs either in a separate film or needs to be explored with more depth because it's oversimplified in a way that's cheesy and sugar-coated. The same can be said about Lee's quest to find evidence of alien life.
Director Robert Stone doesn't bother to ask Lee tough questions like if the government has tried to suppress him about his discoveries and what kind of an uphill battle, if any, that he's going through. Moreover, Lee speaks to the camera with a tone of voice that seems overexcited---almost hammy. It's fine at first, but eventually gets exhausting and distracting. The film's major flaw, though, is that it juggles too many themes without enough focus or profound insights. A truly great documentary should find the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them emotionally as well as intellectually. Starman is moderately entertaining, but weaker when it comes to the other two essential elements. Watch The Age of Disclosure for a far more provocative and illuminating documentary about the possible existance alien life. At a running time of 1 hour and 25 minutes, Starman opens at IFC Center via Obscured Pictures.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
