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Reviews for October 17th, 2025

 

      In  After All,  Ellen Sharpe (Erika Christensen) returns to her small Texas hometown to take care of her mother,  Verna (Penelope Ann Miller), who's suffering from the aftermath of a stroke. Meanwhile, she tries to mend her relationship with her estranged daughter, Haley (Kiera Muhammad).  Director Kerstin Karlhuber and screenwriter Jack Bryant have made a heartfelt, but contrived and schmaltzy drama about a dysfunctional family dealing with an illness and traumas from their past. The performances by Erika Christensen, Penelope Ann Miller and Kiera Muhammad are decent, but not emotionally convincing enough to breathe life into their roles or to rise above the clunky screenplay and stilted, on-the-nose dialogue. It often feels like a Lifetime Movie of the Week with a third act that's too rushed to make a palpably strong emotional impact. At 1 hour and 44 minutes, After All opens in select theaters via Brainstorm Media. It would be the inferior B-movie in a double feature with the inferior One True Thing.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

       Sam (Kate Mara), an astronaut, experiences bizarre events when she goes to rehab after she crash lands into the ocean in The Astronaut. Diego Luna plays her husband, and Laurence Fishburne plays General William Harris who sends her to rehab. Oh, and she also has a daughter. Writer/director Jess Varleyhas made a sci-fi thriller that's initially suspenseful and intriguing before taking a nosedive as the plot becomes convoluted and  preposterous. Yes, there's a twist, but it's handled in a way that lacks internal logic without nearly enough exposition. The on-the-nose dialogue and flashbacks spoon-feed the audience, though, so if you're looking for subtlety or nuance, this isn't the film for you. It's about as shallow, lazy and undercooked as Laurence Fishburne's last sci-fi movie, Slingshot. In a double feature with Bugonia, it would be the inferior B-movie.  At 1 hour and 31 minutes, The Astronaut opens in select theaters nationwide via Vertical.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

       Finn (Mason Thames) and his younger sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), attend a winter camp that their mother had worked at as a counselor in Black Phone 2. Soon enough, The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) terrorizes them again. Writer/director Scott Derrickson and co-writer C. Robert Cargill have made an atmospheric, but repetitive, overlong and unimaginative B-movie with lazy exposition and stilted dialogue. It's rarely exhilarating, thrilling or scary, and there are too many scenes that overstay their welcome, so there are pacing issues. The ending can be seen from a mile away which means that the audience has nothing surprising offered to them. Attempts to ground the film in humanity, like during the phone call with Gwen and her dead mother, are maudlin and clunky. Moreover, the film overstays its welcome as it clocks near the 2 hour mark. This could have been a much leaner 90 minutes with tighter editing. The highlight is the stylish and creepy opening credits sequence. After that, it's all downhill from there. At 1 hour and 54 minutes, Black Phone 2 opens nationwide via Universal.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3

 

 

      Ethan Hawke portrays songwriter/lyricist Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon. On the opening night of the Rogers and Hammerstein's show Oklahoma which he collaborated on, he spends his time drunk and depressed while sitting at the bar at Sardi's. Bobby Cannavale plays a bartender, Andrew Scott plays Richard Rogers, and Margaret Qualley shows up as Eliizabeth, Lorenz's young muse. Director Richard Linklater and screenwriter Robert Kaplow have made a warm, witty and breezy, but slight and forgettable biopic. Audiences looking for a thorough biopic on Lorenz Hart will be disappointed, though, because this is merely a brief snapshot of Lorenz's experience at the bar of a restaurant during the opening night of Oklahoma. Margaret Qualley is miscast and gives a wooden performance, although she's undermined by a screenplay that doesn't give her much to do other than look and act charming. Bobby Cannavale is wasted in a supporting role that doesn't give him much to do either. However, Ethan Hawke's solid performance helps to elevate and invigorate the film. He breathes life into the role of Lorenz Hart which the screenplay fails to accomplish. Moreover, the filmmakers should be commended for keeping the running time under 2 hours because if the film were longer, it would've started to drag. At 1 hour and 40 minutes, Blue Moon opens at Angelika Film Center via Sony Pictures Classics.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

      Four adult friends, played by Marisé Alvarez, Karla Monroig, Angelique Burgos and Angelica Vale, reunite for getaway in Puerto Rico in Diario, Mujer & Cafe. Writer/director Roselyn Sánchez has made a bland, by-the-numbers, witless and choppily edited dramedy. The screenplay suffers from an undercooked and overstuffed plot and has very little insightful to say about female friendship, happiness and self worth. It's not funny, surprising or profound enough to keep the audience engaged on any level. Even the scenery doesn't help to enliven the film. Diario, Mujer & Cafe makes 80 for Brady and Book Club look like masterpieces. At an overlong 1 hour and 50 minutes, it opens at Look Dine-In Cinemas W57.

Number of times I checked my watch: 5







 

       Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac), a mad scientist, must deal with the consequences of bringing to life a creature (Jacob Elordi) that falls in love with Lady Elizabeth (Mia Goth), the fiancée of his younger brother, William (Felix Kammerer) in Frankenstein. Writer/director Guillermo del Toro has made a visually stylish, but shallow and overproduced adaptation of Mary Shelly's classic novel. The plot just seems to be going through the motions and doesn't bother to breathe life into any of the roles or to make the audience care about anyone, even Frankenstein's creature. The costume design, lighting, cinematography, set designs and visual effects are all superb and add some atmosphere with some breathtaking shots, so on a purely aesthetic level, Frankenstein is a full of marvelous spectacle. Unfortunately, beyond that, it doesn't offer anything else that stands out, including the performance which are decent at best. On top of that, the film begins to drag and feel exhausting around the 2 hour mark. It's never good when you can feel the weight of a film's running time. So, there's plenty in Frankenstein to engage your eyes, but not enough to engage your heart, mind and soul. At 2 hours and 30 minutes, Frankenstein opens in select theaters via Netflix before streaming on Netflix on November 7th, 2025.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2







      An elderly woman, Vermina (Robert Longstreet, in drag), kidnaps Sandi (Tipper Newton) and her young daughter, Bernice (Kynzie Colmery), and tortures them in her basement at gunpoint in Fuck My Son!. Why? Because she wants Vermina to fuck her son, Fabian (Steve Little). Writer/director Todd Rohal has made a lean, mean, bold and bonkers horror comedy that's unafraid to be crude, rude and lewd. If a TROMA film had a baby with a John Waters film, it would look something like this. The plot doesn't take itself too seriously and the tone is all over the place, but perhaps that's the point. There's plenty of gore, vomit, excrement and grotesque images that are meant to disgust the audience and make them feel dirty and uncomfortable. If that's the film's goal, it succeeds at it with flying colors. If that sounds like fun to you, then this might be just the film for you. It's occasionally campy and even has a few musical sequences, so prepare for a wild trip down the rabbit hole of the dark side of human nature. Fuck My Son! would be best enjoyed while high or with a few beers. At 1 hour and 34 minutes, it opens at IFC Center.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

       In Good Fortune, Arj (Aziz Ansari) struggles to make ends meet as a gig worker and as a part-time worker at a hardware store. When Jeff (Seth Rogen), a wealthy venture capitalist, fires him as his assistant because he used his company's credit card for a date at an expensive restaurant with his love interest, Elena (Keke Palmer), Gabriel (Keanu Reeves), a guardian angel, decides to teach Arj a lesson by having Arj trade places with Jeff. He loses his wings, though, and must learn to become human after Martha (Sandra Oh), his superior, finds out about the misuse of his guardian angel powers.  The screenplay by writer/director Aziz Ansari is mildly amusing and intermittently witty, but meandering, overstuffed and uninspired without enough laughs or bite. There are too many characters, too many subplots and too many scenes that range from contrived to corny o tor trying too hard to be outrageous and quotable, i.e. Gabriel's line involving the words "chicken nuggies". The romantic subplot between Arj and Elena falls flat, and Arj's character arc doesn't feel believable or organic. Also, the third act feels rushed and goes exactly how you imagine it would without it taking any risks. Humor often derives from surprising the audience, so the lack of surprises and the tendency for the screenplay to aim for the low-hanging fruits are among its systemic issues.

      Good Fortune's messages about class, capitalism and happiness are barely explored beneath the surface, unfortunately. Moreover, Ansari gives a bland performance with poor comedic timing; if Gabriel were in this film more, Keanu Reeves would've helped to elevate it well above mediocrity because he gives the funniest performance among the ensemble cast. For a much more bold, funny and razor-sharp satire of the same themes, see Triangle of Sadness, Trading Places or The Admirable Crichton.  At 1 hour and 38 minutes, Good Fortune opens nationwide via Lionsgate.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

      In It Was Just an Accident, Vahid (Vahid Mobasser) kidnaps Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi) because he thinks that he's the officer who tortured him when he was a political prisoner, but he's not 100% sure because he was blindfolded at the time. Soon enough, a wedding photographer, a bride and her groom join Vahid on his revenge quest and help him to decide whether or not to kill Eghbal. Writer/director Jafar Panahi has made a mildly engaging thriller that lacks palpable suspense, emotional depth and any surprises. This is the first film by Panahi where the characters are merely plot devices and underdeveloped thereby making it hard to care about anyone on screen. All that the audience knows about Eghbal is that he has a family including a young daughter and wife. Was he the one who tortured Vahid? Vahid seems very thirsty for revenge and isn't against burying him alive if he's guilty. Unfortunately, other than the sound of his torturer's false leg which Eghbal also has, that's all the evidence that he has to confirm his strong suspicion.

      There are attempts at dark and absurdist comedy, but the humor often falls flat, i.e. when everyone include the bride, groom and photographer have to push Vahid's van suddenly or when they have to hide Eghbal from authorities who want to check the inside of the van. The third act goes in a direction that makes very little sense given the little that the audience learned about Vahid, and it's hard to grasp what's going on inside of him emotionally or how introspective he is for that matter. The last few moments of the film are supposed to be shocking, but it's easy to predict given the preceding scenes. It Was Just An Accident asks a lot of questions, but doesn't answer them with anything insightful or revealing about the dark side of human nature. At 1 hour and 42 minutes, It Was Just an Accident opens at Film Forum via NEON.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3







      When Charlie (Priya-Rose Brookwell) goes to live with her aunt, Dinah (Golda Rosheuvel), a farmer, she discovers that she has magical powers that can help pumpkins grow big in Grow. With the help of her neighbor, Arlo (Nick Frost), she competes in the town's annual pumpkin-growing contest. Director John McPhail and his co-writers, Christos N. Gage, Ruth Fletcher Gag and Nick Guthe have made an amusing, light and breezy family-friendly movie that's sweet and delightful. It's often silly and cheese without managing to rise above mediocrity. When Ridley Scott recently observed that modern cinema is drowning in mediocrity, he was right, after all. Nick Frost is wasted in a supporting role that doesn't make enough use of his comedic talents. However, Grow is nonetheless harmless fun that will keep kids mostly entertained without boring adults too much. Just don't expect a witty, warm and memorable children's movie like Paddington, Babe or James and the Giant Peach.At 1 hour and 47 minutes, Grow opens in select theaters nationwide.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3





 

      In Köln 75, Vera Brandes (Mala Emde), a concert promoter, organizes a concert for jazz musician Keith Jarrett (John Magaro) at the Opera House in Köln, Germany.  She goes through all of that at the age of 18 despite many obstacles. The screenplay by writer/director Ido Fluk, set in 1975 while briefly flashing back to 1973 and forward to 2007, is a mildly engaging, but meandering and undercooked drama based on a true story. It doesn't quite work effectively as a biopic on Vera Brandes nor on Keith Jarrett because it's uninterested in stopping to get to know both of them. So, despite the potential, there isn't much of a character study which is unfortunate because there's a lot going on inside of Vera as well as Keith. The plot just seems to be going through the motions as the audience gets introduced to Vera's friends, her boyfriend and her parents.

      Writer/director Ido Fluk also squanders the opportunity to turn the film into an experience that's suspenseful or intense as Vera desperately struggles to organize the concert while encountering some setbacks along the way. The scenes with those setbacks, which won't be spoiled here, lack much-needed tension and fall flat. The ending feels rushed and not quite as powerful as it could've been with a more sensitive and unflinching screenplay. Fortunately, Mala Emde's heartfelt performance keeps the film afloat and breathes some life into her role that the shallow, sugar-coated screenplay fails to accomplish. At 1 hour and 56 minutes, Köln 75 opens at IFC Center via Zeitgeist Films.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3







      The Man Who Saves the World? is a captivating and provocative documentary about Patrick McCollum, an activist who believes that he's fulfilling an ancient prophecy by uniting the Amazon's Indigenous tribes and making the amazon and the world a better place. Is he naive and idealistic or realistic? Is he delusional and crazy or rational? Director Gabe Polsky doesn't judge him nor does he ask the audience to. It turns out that he's been through a lot of emotional trauma which he's quite candid about. The Man Who Saves the World? delves briefly into his childhood and how he ended up being so passionate about his activism. He and Jane Goodall even became good friends. McCollum might seem a bit offbeat and unconventional at times, but he's not crazy---his personality seems as eccentric as Maude's personality in Harold & Maude. He's also determined, compassionate, brave and a critical thinker which makes him inspirational. Kudos to director Gabe Polsky for finding just the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them emotionally as well as intellectually. At 1 hour and 27 minutes, The Man Who Saves the World? opens at Cinema Village via Area 23a.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1





 

      James (Josh O'Connor), has a wife, Terri (Alana Haim), and two children. He leads a double life as the mastermind of a gang of art thieves in The Mastermind. Writer/director Kelly Reichardt has made a very slow-burning, dull and lethargic crime drama that lacks palpable suspense, intrigue, memorable characters or comic relief. It's loosely based on a true story, but very few scenes actually ring true. Josh O'Connor is a fine actor, though, who has plenty of charisma, so it's disappointing that he's undermined by a shallow, witless and undercooked screenplay. He does make it somewhat easier to somewhat still like James even when he robs an elderly woman. Unfortunately, the female characters including Terri, James' mom, Sarah (Hope Davis), and his friend, Maude (Gaby Hoffmann) remain underwritten. At a running time of 1 hour and 50 minutes, it opens at Angelika Film Center via MUBI.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3







      Pets on a Train is about a group of animal bandits led by Falcon and Rex team up to save the other animals on a train from the evil Hans, a badger who's plotting a train heist Co-directors Benoît Daffis and Jean-Christian Tassy and their co-writers David Alaux, Jean-François Tosti and Éric Tosti, have made a mildly engaging, fast-paced, amusing and kid-friendly animated adventure. It's uninspired, not funny or witty enough, and doesn't have any memorable characters that would allow it to become a new animated classic like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish or Madagascar, but it's not a dull, inane or tedious experience either. At 1 hour and 27 minutes, Pets on a Train opens in select theaters nationwide via Viva Pictures.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2



 

      When the Nazis arrest Salomon (Nye Occomore), a Jew, his German friends, Helmuth (Ewan Horrocks) and Karl (Ferdinand McKay), form a resistance group against the Nazis in Truth & Treason. Writer/director Matt Whitaker and co-writer Ethan Vincent have made a gripping, well-acted and heartfelt thriller based on a true story. In terms of its structure and filmmaking style, it's conventional without taking major risks or packing an emotional wallop. However, it's nonetheless a captivating film with decent production values that avoids becoming lethargic, melodramatic, convoluted or unfocused. At a running time of 2 hours, Truth & Treason opens in select theaters nationwide via Angel Studios.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

      In Vindication Swim, Mercedes Gleitze (Kirsten Callaghan) becomes the first British woman to swim across the English channel after many unsuccessful attempts. Others doubt that she actually accomplished that feat, so she does it all over again in a "vindication swim" to prove that she wasn't lying. Writer/director Elliott Hasler has made a clunky, vapid and contrived biopic that's low on suspense and emotional depth. Kirtsen Callaghan is miscast and gives a dull performance. To be fair, though, she's undermined by a screenplay that suffers from on-the-nose and stilted dialogue that fails to get inside Mercedes' heart, mind and soul. Mercedes remains at a cold distance from the audience from start to finish. Even the scenes of her swimming aren't exhilarating enough to invigorate the film. At 1 hour and 38 minutes, which feels more like 3 hours, Vindication Swim opens at Quad Cinema via Freestyle Releasing.

Number of times I checked my watch: 5





 

      After the death of their parents, Samantha (Chevel Shepherd) and her brother, Austin (Major Dodge, Jr.), move into the horse farm of their grandmother, Betty (Thesa Loving), in Wildfire: The Legend of the Cherokee Ghost Horse. Diana (Anne Heche), a rodeo trainer, teaches her how to ride a horse and introduces her to a horse named Wildfire that she bonds with. Eric Parkinson and co-writer Mike Snyder have made a genuinely wholesome, tender and inspirational movie that deals with the topics of grief and guilt in a way that's gentle and family-friendly. If you're looking for an unflinching exploration of those themes, this isn't the film for you, though. The filmmakers keep the tone light for the most part without the plot becoming emotionally devastating or heavy-handed, even when Samantha goes missing. The film is wise without being preachy, and sweet without being saccharine. At 1 hour and 45 minutes Wildfire: The Legend of the Cherokee Ghost Horse opens at Cinema Village via Hannover House.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2





 

       Wisdom of Happiness is an enlightening, but repetitive and oversimplified documentary about the Dalai Lama's quest for happiness and inner peace.   Co-directors Barbara Miller and Philip Delaquis film the Dalai Lama as he talks directly to the camera about his philosophies and a little about his traumatic childhood that he had overcome. He had an abusive father, but a loving mother which is who he learned compassion from. Unsurprisingly, he comes across as emotionally mature, emotionally generous, candid and introspective. He tends to repeat his messages about the importance of compassion, though, so the film feels somewhat heavy-handed, cheesy and preachy at times. Moreover, the filmmakers don't trust the power of the Dalai Lama's words enough because he cuts to poetic shots of nature occasionally while he talks. They don't challenge him with questions that would put his aphorisms into a different perspective, i.e. "How would someone who lacks introspection be able to look inward and process his/her anger and frustration in a healthy way?" He says that people with hateful, angry and other negative emotions or thoughts should "detach" from them. What does he mean exactly by "detaching"? How does someone who lacks emotional maturity accomplish that? It sounds easier said than done even for those who are emotionally mature. Fortunately, the running time isn't too long, so the film doesn't overstay its welcome or feel exhausting. At 1 hour and 30 minutes, The Wisdom of Happiness opens at Quad Cinema via Ascot Elite Entertainment.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2