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
Vel (Peace Ikediuba), an alien consciousness inhabiting a human body, gets sent on a mission on Earth to find out what kind of research another alien consciousness, Mauro (Circus-Szalewsk), is working on in The Infinite Husk. She must complete her mission to return back to her home planet. but she starts to develop feelings for the human body or "husk" that she inhabits. Writer/director Aaron Silverstein has made a profound, poetic, and cerebral sci-fi movie that explores philosophical themes about what it means to be human. Who is Vel? Why is moving from body to body? Who is Mauro and what kind of research is he working on? Why do Vel's superiors want her to destroy his research? Exposition is kept at a minimum as the audience gets thrown into the middle of Vel's mission, so Silverstein isn't afraid to confuse the audience at first. Patient audience will be rewarded. Don't expect to learn much about Vel's home planet. There's not much action except for the last 15 minutes because there's more of an emphasis on Vel's existential and philosophical conversations with Mauro and on her emotional journey as she experiences epiphanies. The pace moves slowly, but not too slowly, and there some trippy, surreal visual effects that make the most out of the low budget while adding style that becomes part of the film's substance. The Infinite Husk is a prime example of how a film with low budget can have more imagination and depth than Hollywood films with 100 times the budget. At a running time of 1 hour and 47 minutes, Infinite Husk opens at AMC Empire via Chroma.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
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, Heather (Julie Ann 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, Heather 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. Heather 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 Heather? Without enough information about Heather 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
In Still Hope, 16-year-old Hope (Luna Rivera) deals with the trauma of being sex trafficked after being reunited with her family. Director Richie Johns and his co-writers, Randy McWilson and Mitch Hudson, have made a genuinely heartfelt, inspirational and eye-opening drama. Hope struggles with PTSD and other psychological effects from her traumatic experiences after a guy she trusted ended up sex trafficking her. Adjusting to a new life isn't easy for her. Fortunately, after her rescue, she's surrounded by people who love and care about her including her family. Still Hope bravely sheds light on the tough, but vital topic of sex trafficking and on the emotional journey of its survivors who learn how to heal from their emotional pain and to forgive their abusers. It's not easy for Hope to find that forgiveness, but she tries her best. She and other survivors of any kind of abuse would hopefully heal from the wisdom of Pablo Neruda's poem: "They can cut all of the flowers, but they can't stop the spring from coming." It's equally uplifting and empowering to watch the garden of Hope's soul gradually blossom, so-to-speak, after many of her flowers were cut by her abusers. At a running time of 1 hour and 53 minutes, Still Hope opens nationwide via Fathom Entertainment. It would be an interesting double feature with the documentary The Abolitionists (2016) and the upcoming revenge thriller Redux Redux.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
Maya (Madelaine Petsch) fights for her life against the remaining Strangers led by Scarecrow (Gabriel Basso) in The Strangers: Chapter 3. Meanwhile, her sister, Debbie (Rachel Shenton), desperately tries to find her in the small town that has a corrupt sherriff (Richard Blake). The screenplay by Alan R. Cohen and
Alan Freedland suffers from a stale plot that lacks surprises and suspense while only offering ephemeral thrills and scares. It spends too much time with exposition and flashbacks that diminish the narrative momentum. The dialogue often sounds stitled and there are even a few unintentionally funny scenes. Is it to much to ask for some comic relief? The mediocre acting from the ensemble cast, except for Richard Blake who gives an effectively creepy performance, doesn't help to keep the audience engaged either. There's also the choppy editing, dull action scenes with kills that are far from memorable, and twists that can be seen from a mile away. The Strangers: Chapter 3 is a slight improvement from the consistently bad The Stranger: Chapter 2, but not by much. The third time's not the charm. At a running time of 1 hour and 38 minutes, it opens nationwide via Lionsgate.
Number of times I checked my watch: 3
In Unexpected Family, Zhong (Peng Yuchang), a young man from a small town, moves to Wuhan to start a new life and to bury his grandmother's ashes. Jia (Pan Binlong) hires him to work for his car wash company and allows him to live at a house owned by Ren (Jackie Chan), an elderly man suffering from Alzheimer. Zhong agrees to pretend to be Ren's son, Zhuangzhuang, a professional weightlifter, who died. Jia as well as Su (Karlina Zhang) and Jin (Li Ping) also live with Ren and convince him that they're his family members.
Writer/director Taiyan Li and his co-writers Carbuncle Yan and Yining Yan, have made a poignant, funny and wise dramedy that's equally heartbreaking and heartwarming. Even though the people who live with Ren are deceiving him, they're not doing it with any malice or to steal his money or possession from him. Zhong shows signs that he has a good moral conscience because he tries to tell Ren the truth that he's not his son, but he doesn't believe him. There are no villains here except for a silent one: Alzheimer's. There's just enough comic relief to balance the film's heavier elements and there are even a few brief action sequences. Fundamentally, Unexpected Family is about love, family, grief, compassion and the importance of cherishing life's precious memories.
The filmmakers avoid schmaltz, preachiness and melodrama while deftly balancing the different tones in a way that doesn't result in any tonal unevenness. Sure, there's some on-the-nose dialogue, over-explaining and a few contrived scenes that require suspension of disbelief, but those are forgivable flaws. Most importantly, the third act earns its uplift and even has a surprise that won't be spoiled here. Kudos to the filmmakers for grounding the film in tenderness and warmth---or, in other words, humanism, a truly special effect. Jackie Chan gives the best performance of his career. It's refreshing to watch him play against type in a complex and serious role. Unexpected Family would be an interesting double feature with Rental Family and Peacock. At a running time of 2 hours and 1 minute, it opens at AMC Empire via China Lion Film Distribution.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
Chrys (Dafne Keen) and other students in her high school stumble upon a mysterious Aztec death whistle that causes whomever blows it to imminently die in Whistle. Director Corin Hardy and screenwriter Owen Egerton is an uninspired and tedious horror thriller that's low on imagination and scares. The plot heavily borrows from many other similar films about cursed objects like in The Monkey and Talk to Me or about young people simply trying to escape death like in the Final Destination series. There's nothing inherently wrong with a film being derivative, though. Hardy and Egerton know where to take their ideas from, but don't quite know where ideas to. They stretch the concept too thinly with no surprises or anything that elevates the film above a mediocre B-movie. If it were campy, had some tongue-in-cheek humor or memorable kills, it would've been mindless entertaining crowd-pleaser like Final Destination Bloodlines. None of the characters stand out here; they're one-dimensional and forgettable. Nick Frost is wasted in a supporting role that doesn't utilize enough of his comedic skills. Ultimately, Whistle feels just as disappointing as Primate. At a running time of 1 hour and 40 minutes, it opens nationwide via Independent Film Company and Shudder.
Number of times I checked my watch: 3
