Rome (Ashton James), an aspiring rapper, must find his stolen laptop that contains his music album that he desperately needs for a meeting with a music producer in Boxcutter. His friend, Jenaya (Zoe Lewis), joins him on his quest to retrieve it. Director Reza Dahya and co-writer Chris Cromie has made a mildly engaging drama that's slight, undercooked and not unflinching enough. Its best aspects are the natural performances by Ashton James and Zoe Lewis. The plot itself doesn't go anywhere interesting or surprising,  the characters aren't particularly memorable, and the attempts at comic relief don't quite stick the landing. It's not a terrible film; just a very mediocre, bland and forgettable one that doesn't feel like it requires to be seen on the big screen. At 1 hour and 33 minutes, Boxcutter opens at Cinema Village via Game Theory Films.

 

       Two conspiracy theorists, Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and his cousin, Don (Aidan Delbis), kidnap Michelle (Emma Stone), the CEO of a pharmaceutical company and hold her hostage while believing that she's actually an alien in Bugonia. Director Yorgos Lanthimos and screenwriter Will Tracy have made a provocative, audacious and poetic, but heavy-handed blend of satire, dark comedy, horror, thriller and drama. Yes, the plot goes bonkers pretty much right away once Teddy and Don kidnap Michelle. Lanthimos and Tracy don't waste any time with expository scenes. Who are Teddy and Don? What's their true motive for kidnapping Michelle? Is she really an alien or are Teddy and Don simply crazy. Bugonia remains suspenseful, for the most part, until it over-explains everything and leaves little to interpretation, i.e. through flashbacks to Teddy's ill mother, Sandy (Alicia Silverstone). His motive becomes clear and it also becomes crystal clear whether or not Michelle is an alien, so what's left for the audience to figure out?

      The third act goes somewhat off the rails while trying too hard to escalate the absurdity and to bombard the audience with overt symbolism. That said, Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone shine in lively performances. Just as expected from a Yorgos Lanthomos movie, the cinematography and production designs provide plenty of visual style that becomes part of the film's substance. At 1 hour and 58 minutes, Bugonia opens in select theaters via Focus Features before expanding nationwide on October 31st, 2025.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2


 

       Mallory (Mallory Drumm), a filmmaker, and her boyfriend, Alex (Alex Lee Williams), get more than they bargained for when they go to a remove cabin to document his parasomnia in Dream Eater. Co-writers/directors Jay Drakulic, Mallory Drumm, and Alex Lee Williams have made a palpably scary, but uninspired found footage horror film. A couple who live in an isolated cabin will eventually experience something horrifying sooner or later, just as expected. So, the screenplay doesn't offer any surprises which is its systemic flaw.  However, it's a forgivable flaw because, even though the film follows a familiar formula without charting new territory, it follows that formula well enough to deliver the scares and even some impressive visual effects. It's more terrifying than Presence and has some interesting backstory involving the paranormal activity which makes the plot avoid becoming pedestrian, unimaginative and dull like in The Amityville Horror.

      The filmmakers also have a great command of tone without unevenness, bad laughs, unnecessary subplots or a heavy reliance on gore to entertain the audience. As long as you don't expect an elevated B-horror movie, Dream Eater will satisfy your thirst for horror. At just 1 hour and 30 minutes, Dream Eater opens in select theaters nationwide via The Horror Section and Iconic Events. It would pair well with In Our Blood, another found footage horror movie that also opens this weekend.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2


 

       Hedda (Tessa Thompson) and her husband, George (Tom Bateman), a college professor, hosts a lavish party at their mansion Hedda. Tensions arise when her former lover, Eileen (Nina Hoss), arrives with her girlfriend, Thea (Imogen Poots). Writer/director Nia DaCosta has made a slick and stylish, but tonally uneven, cold and shallow adaptation of the Based on the play"Hedda Gabler" by Henrik Ibsen. The costume and set design are exquisite as well as the performances by Thompson, Poots and Hoss. There's some campiness, dark humor, suspense, drama and romance. Unfortunately, the screenplay fails to combine those elements smoothly. Hedda looks like an A-movie and has an intriguing concept with interesting characters, but it's executed like a B-movie. The third act feels sloppy with choppy editing and too many questions left answered. At 1 hour and 47 minutes, Hedda opens in select theaters nationwide via Amazon MGM Studios.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2


 

       Emily (Brittany O'Grady), a documentary filmmaker, and her cinematographer, Danny (E. J. Bonilla), investigate the mysterious disappearance of her estranged mother in the small town of La Cruces in  In Our Blood. Director Pedro Kos and screenwriter Mallory Westfall is a gripping horror thriller that delivers more than just scares: it also has a few twists as well as some surprisingly heartfelt moments. So, unlike Dream Eater which also opens this weekend, it's a slightly elevated horror film. The twists won't be spoiled here, though, but keep in mind that it goes into a direction that makes the story and the relationship between Emily and her mother more complex and provocative. You'll also understand the meaning of the title better afterward. The big twist can also be seen as a metaphor which remains open to interpretation. The cinematography and natural performance enhance the sense of realism even when the plot goes into very dark and disturbing territory. In Our Blood isn't for audiences with a weak stomach or who like their horror films to be tame. There are some elements of psychological horror and also visceral horror. Audiences who prefer horror films that aren't very predictable and that have a thought-provoking story with layers, surprises, suspense and disturbing twists will like In Our Blood the most.  At 1 hour and 28 minutes, In Our Blood opens in select theaters nationwide via Utopia.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2

      John Allen Chau (Sky Yang), an evangelical Christian missionary, put his life in danger when travels to a North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean to convert a Sentinelese tribe to Christianity in Last Days. Director Justin Lin and screenwriter Ben Ripley have made a dull, vapid and undercooked biopic that squanders its many opportunities to become a heartfelt and profound character study and emotional journey. The screenplay, based on the article "The Last Days of John Allen Chau" by Alex Perry, neglects to bring to life its protagonist or to get inside his heart, mind and soul. Is that too much to ask for? He's an interesting, complex human being who's also flawed and naive, but the film doesn't bother to dig beneath John's surface. None of the beats land, especially during the third act that would've been powerful with a more sensitive screenplay. The Mission, the biographical documentary on him, is far more engrossing and illuminating. Last Days will leave you cold, underwhelmed and yearning for much more insight into its subject. At an overlong 2 hours, it opens in select theaters nationwide via Vertical.

Number of times I checked my watch: 4


 

        . At 1 hours and 27 minutes, Luv Ya, Bum!, directed by Sam Wainwright Douglas, David Hartstein and Andrew Alden Miller, opens at Cinema Village via Blue Fox Enterteinment.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2


 

        Mistress Dispeller is a fascinating and eye-opening documentary about a lesser known profession: a mistress dispeller. In China, wives who know that their spouse has been cheating on them hire mistress dispellers to try to save their marriage and to put an end to the affairs. They go incognito and interact with not only the wife, but the husband and mistress too. That description alone sounds like it could be the plot of a screwball comedy.  Director Elizabeth Lo follows one particular mistress dispeller, Wang Zhenxi, who Mrs. Li hires. Wang speaks to Mr. Li and his lover, Fei Fei, compassionately and tries to . No one comes across as a villain nor does the film ask the audience to judge them either. Lo merely observes Wang as she goes about her job, so this isn't a biographical documentary on Wang nor an analysis on the concept of mistress dispelling. How truly effective are mistress dispellers? At what point are marriages beyond saving? Who can the husband hire to save his marriage if he knows that his wife is cheating on him? What makes a good and stable marriage (other than the husband or wife not cheating)? The answers to those questions remain unanswered and left for the audience to ponder all on their own. At 1 hour and 34 minutes, Mistress Dispeller opens at IFC Center via Oscilloscope Laboratories.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2


 

        Zombies attack the partygoers at a Brooklyn club that hosts a drag show organized by Dre (Katy O'Brian) in Queens of the Dead, Writer/director Tina Romero and co-writer Erin Judge have made a tedious, lazy, witless, unfunny and unscary horror comedy. The screenplay takes too long to get to the mayhem as it introduces the audience to boring characters. The costume and makeup designs are among the film's few highlights. None of the ensemble cast gets the chance to stand out and to let their comedic talents shine, not even Margaret Cho who plays Pops. Perhaps Queens of the Dead would've worked better as a short because as a feature length film it stretches its concept too thinly and pales when compared to Shaun of the Dead. In terms of quality, it's pretty much on par with Zombie Strippers. At 1 hour and 39 minutes, Queens of the Dead opens in select theaters nationwide via Independent Film Company and Shudder.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2


 

        Morgan (Allison Williams) has just lost her husband, Chris (Scott Eastwood), and Jenny (Willa Fitzgerald), her younger sister, who leaves behind a husband, Jonah (Dave Franco), and a baby in Regretting You. Jonah happens to be Morgan's ex-boyfriend. Oh, and Chris might have been cheating on Morgan with...guess who? Jenny. Oh, and Morgan's daughter, Clara (McKenna Grace), who's on the cusp of turning 17, has started seeing a boy named Miller (Mason Thames), who lives with his ill grandfather, Hank (Clancy Brown), and takes care of him. Oh, and Miller hopes to get into film school. Based on the novel by Colleen Hoover, the screenplay  by Susan McMartin bites off more than it could chew as it juggles too many subplots and too many characters with very little emotional depth and a lot of sugar-coating.

      There are also questions that point to plot holes like, "What happened to Jonah's baby that he couldn't take care of on his own? He claimed that the baby is with his mother, but will she take care of it in the long run?" and "When did Clara lose her virginity? She claims that she lost it to Miller, but there's no scene that alludes to that beforehand--they almost have sex once, but she changes her mind at the last minute. Was she lying about losing her virginity?" Also, not to nitpick, but do all of Miller's favorite films that he has posters of in his room have to be Paramount films? Could he not throw in something like Pulp Fiction, Back to the Future or The Breakfast Club? Oh, and guess which film he screens for Clara at the AMC that he works at? Clueless. Why that film? Why would he or she love that film? It has no thematic connection to Regretting You nor does it even have 1% of its wit, so it seems very random.

      The performances are decent, but they're all undermined by the shallow screenplay. There are also pacing issues with the first act moving too quickly and the second act moving too slowly while the third act moves too quick briefly before moving to slow again. Moreover, the editing feels choppy at times, i.e. during a pool scene in the daytime with Morgan and Jonah that abruptly cuts to them in the living room at night.   Director John Boone and screenwriter Susan McMartin have made a schmaltzy, maudlin, overstuffed, sloppy and undercooked mess. At an overlong 1 hour and 56 minutes, Regretting You opens in theaters nationwide via Paramount Pictures.

Number of times I checked my watch: 4

      River of Grass is a poetic and illuminating interpretation of the non-fiction book The Everglades: River of Grass by Marjory Stoneman Douglas while also serving a protest for environmental conservation of the Everglades. Director Sasha Wortzel combines her own words with the words of Marjory Stone Douglas as she guides the audience through the history of the Everglades. There are no talking heads; just narration, footage and on-screen texts. The film's images and sounds speak just as loud---if not louder--than the powerful words of Douglas. You'll learn a lot about how and why the Everglades are such an integral and vital part of Florida's ecosystem. So, prepare to have a deeper understanding and appreciation for the Everglades. You might also be tempted to read Marjory Stoneman Douglas's book if you haven't read it before or heard of it. At 1 hour and 23 minutes, River of Grass opens at DCTV's Firehouse Cinema via Fourth Act Film.

Number of times I checked my watch: 2


 

       Mia (Camille Sullivan) encounters the paranormal when she searches for her younger sister, Riley (Sarah Durn), who has missing in Shelby Oaks. Writer/director Chris Stuckmann has made a visually stylish and atmospheric, but uninspired and pedestrian horror thriller that's low on scares and imagination. There are a few ephemeral jump scares and creepy images, but nothing beyond that. The evil entity wants to possess people, but why? What's its motive? What's its backstory?  Of course, there's a creepy basement, an house isolated in the woods, an abandoned town, an abandoned prison and an old woman who pops out of nowhere. Of course, there's more to her than meets the eye.  It's okay that the screenplay heavily borrows from other horror movies. Nor is there anything wrong with clichés---it's a cliché to complain about clichés! Most movies are derivative of other movies. As Hitchcock once astutely observed, it's not important where you take ideas from, but where you take them to.  Some filmmakers can take stale ideas and make them feel fresh. Unfortunately, Stuckmann doesn't accomplish that feat. He fails to take those ideas anywhere interesting, imaginative or surprising.  At 1 hour and 39 minutes, Shelby Oaks opens nationwide via NEON.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3


 

       Singer/songwriter Bruce Springstein (Jeremy Allen White) makes the album "Nebraska" while dealing with his childhood trauma and romancing Faye (Odessa Young), a single mother, in  Springstein: Deliver Me From Nowhere. The screenplay by writer/director Scott Cooper is shallow, by-the-numbers, bland and sugar-coated, much like last year's A Complete Unknown. However, the performances by the ensemble cast, namely Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong, Paul Walter Hauser and Stephen Graham are terrific enough to invigorate the film. The flashback scenes to Springstein's childhood are redundant, though, and only serve as exposition. Cooper's screenplay ultimately fails to design enough of a window into Bruce Springstein's heart, mind and soul. He's a stranger to the audience at the beginning and remains a stranger to them until the very end. It's also hard to grasp how he's truly grown and changed throughout the course of the film. His few epiphanies don't feel contrived.

      Not surprisingly, the scenes with Springstein's music are the ones that are exhilarating on a palpable level. If only the same could be said about the scenes without his music which, sadly, fail to resonate on an emotional level like the recent, underseen music biopic Stelios manages to accomplish with flying colors. At 1 hour and 59 minutes, Springstein: Deliver Me From Nowhere opens nationwide via 20th Century Studios.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3