36 Best Movies To Watch After Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
If you have finished watching the film Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and are looking for other movies like it, here is a list of options to consider.
Daddio
SimilarA Real Young Girl (1976), Antonia's Line (1995), Awakenings (1990), Basquiat (1996),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Boys Don't Cry (1999) Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), City of God (2002), Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Copying Beethoven (2006), Desert Hearts (1985), Do the Right Thing (1989), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Fame (2009), King Kong (2005), Lords of Dogtown (2005),
Lost in Translation (2003) Maria Full of Grace (2004), Michael (1996), Monsoon Wedding (2001), My Life Without Me (2003), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Pi (1998), Pocketful of Miracles (1961), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Sliver (1993),
Strange Days (1995) Stranger Than Paradise (1984), The Apartment (1960), The Bone Collector (1999), The Godfather Part III (1990), The King of Comedy (1982), The Terminal (2004), The Usual Suspects (1995), The Wanderers (1979), Transamerica (2005), Valley of the Dolls (1967), When Harry Met Sally... (1989),
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022) Barbie (2023) Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), Dune (2021), Dune: Part Two (2024), Fast X (2023), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023), Joker (2019),
Oppenheimer (2023) Poor Things (2023), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), The Batman (2022), The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021),
From Certified Copy to Mass to the Before trilogy, cinema is replete with examples of great movies that wring transfixing drama out of an intimate scope and a cast of characters you can count on one hand. Christy Hall’s feature-length directorial debut Daddio aims to follow in the footsteps of those features, but stumbles mightily in the process.
Daddio begins at a New York airport, where Girlie (Dakota Johnson) plops into a taxi after a trip to her home state of Oklahoma. Driving this cab is Clark (Sean Penn), a grizzled man in his sixties who loves shooting his mouth off. Initially, the focus of his ramblings is typical old-man material. He gripes about the ubiquity of apps and credit cards in the modern world. Gradually, though, the duo gets trapped in traffic. Stuck on the road, Clark begins asking Girlie increasingly intimate questions. They started this car ride as strangers. But conversations ranging from the raw to the ribald will have Girlie discovering the listener she didn’t know she needed.
Unsurprisingly, Daddio started as a concept for a stage play. What's surprising is how the final film's visual impulses seem determined to avoid comparisons to something you could watch on Broadway. Hall, cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, and editor Lisa Zeno Churgin act furiously to avoid lengthy single-take shots. Nobody will ever compare this to a Chantal Akerman or Chung Mong-Hong movie. Instead, images default to close-ups and medium shots. Hall and company continuously jostle viewers around the cab. Maybe this is out of concern that moviegoers will see a more staid visual style and immediately ask, “Why isn’t this a play?” Continue Reading →
Fancy Dance
SimilarA Real Young Girl (1976), Antonia's Line (1995), Awakenings (1990),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Blood and Chocolate (2007),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), City of God (2002), Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Copying Beethoven (2006), Desert Hearts (1985), Italian for Beginners (2000), Lolita (1997), Lords of Dogtown (2005),
Lost in Translation (2003) Michael (1996), Monsoon Wedding (2001), Monster (2003), My Life Without Me (2003), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Night on Earth (1991), Oldboy (2003), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Stand by Me (1986),
Strange Days (1995) The Straight Story (1999),
Watch afterBarbie (2023) Dune: Part Two (2024), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), The Equalizer 3 (2023), The Menu (2022),
One of Fancy Dance’s most tender moments takes place in a place one wouldn’t normally associate with personal epiphanies. After glancing at a swarm of convenience store bathroom graffiti, teenager Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) sees an opportunity. Taking out a marker, she scribbles “Roki was here” in her native Cayuga language on the wall. It’s one of many instances in Fancy Dance of characters finding little ways to reinforce their presence even when they’re not physically around. Roki clings to trinkets, including a ritzy jacket associated with her missing mother. Performers at a major Powwow event dance to commemorate dead or lost loved ones.
This thematic motif is extra important given that Roki, like nearly all of Fancy Dance’s principal characters, hails from the Seneca–Cayuga Nation Reservation in Oklahoma. The norm in America is to erase Indigenous lives. Their children are stolen. Homes are wiped out. Cultures are suppressed. The figures on screen here find countless ways to refute that erasure. Such rebellion even manifests through something as small as convenience store bathroom graffiti.
Before Roki writes that fateful piece of graffiti, she’s living a quiet life with her aunt Jax (Lily Gladstone). With Roki’s mom missing for weeks now, Jax is the only parent this teenager has. She seems the only one concerned about that vanished lady, given how little effort law enforcement has put into finding her. Unfortunately, Jax’s criminal record from years past leads to the state deeming her unsuitable to be Roki’s guardian. This surrogate mother/daughter duo is now destined to be separated. In the process, this adolescent would also leave behind her reservation's home and culture. Continue Reading →
Janet Planet
SimilarA Beautiful Mind (2001), A Real Young Girl (1976), Antonia's Line (1995), Awakenings (1990),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Boys Don't Cry (1999) Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), City of God (2002), Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Copying Beethoven (2006), Desert Hearts (1985), Frida (2002), Italian for Beginners (2000), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Lords of Dogtown (2005),
Lost in Translation (2003) Michael (1996), Monsoon Wedding (2001), Monster (2003), My Life Without Me (2003), Mystic River (2003), Pocketful of Miracles (1961), Sleepless in Seattle (1993),
Strange Days (1995) The Party (1980) The Party 2 (1982) The Piano (1993), The Queen (2006), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005),
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022) Dune (2021), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), Interstellar (2014),
Oppenheimer (2023) Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), Top Gun: Maverick (2022),
Janet Planet captures a girl caught in her mother’s orbit in the summer of 1991 as she struggles with what to make of the people who enter her mother’s life (friends, boyfriends, strangers) and what to make of herself. It’s also a brutal and empathetic reminder that of all the possible ages to be, 11 might be the worst, and in Janet Planet, 11-year-old Lacy would be the first to agree.
As desperate as adults are to regress to a world before endless Zoom meetings and the monotony of laundry, it’s easy for us to forget how utterly powerless you are at 11. It’s an age where adults still control nearly every facet of your life, and you bear constant witness to their bad decisions with no ability to either help or remove yourself from the situation.
“Every moment of my life is hell,” Lacy tells her mom, Janet, and if you’re honest with yourself about what being 11 actually felt like, you know it’s the most acceptable of hyperboles. But Lacy, observant and thoughtful, shows the kind of understanding I never did at that age when she adds, “But I don’t think it’ll last, though.” Creating moments of clear-sighted vulnerability like that is what playwright and now first-time director Annie Baker does best. Continue Reading →
Tuesday
SimilarA Real Young Girl (1976), Antonia's Line (1995), Awakenings (1990),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Boys Don't Cry (1999) Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), City of God (2002), Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Copying Beethoven (2006), Desert Hearts (1985), Frida (2002), Italian for Beginners (2000), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Lords of Dogtown (2005),
Lost in Translation (2003) Monsoon Wedding (2001), Monster (2003), My Life Without Me (2003), Pocketful of Miracles (1961), Shrek (2001), Sleepless in Seattle (1993),
Strange Days (1995) The Party (1980) The Party 2 (1982) The Piano (1993),
Watch afterA Quiet Place (2018),
Barbie (2023) Dune (2021), Dune: Part Two (2024), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Poor Things (2023), The Equalizer 3 (2023),
From the cosmic ether to the granular eye, Daina Oniunas-Pusić’s singular debut feature, Tuesday, migrates across space and scale with poignant ease. Fifteen-year-old Tuesday (Lola Petticrew) is terminally ill, which her mother (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) doesn’t want to accept. It’s not until Death visits them as an elder macaw (voiced by Arinzé Kene) that Tuesday and Zora can confront the terrifying mysteries of mortality and embrace an afterlife. It’s a soaring cinematic fairy tale about life and loss that touches our heartstrings with the tenderness of a feather.
It starts with the simplicity of belief. Oniunas-Pusić’s writing feels so contemporary because it wholeheartedly embraces wonder as an axiom. This is not a late 20th-century magical comedy where half the movie is spent convincing someone (usually a parent/adult) that the magic is real. There is no dramatic irony. Instead, Pusić invites us to trust and believe in the magical reality she sets before us, just as Zora must learn to trust and believe her daughter when she says it’s time to let go. The appearance of the talking parrot sets off a chain of empathy in which everyone, including Death, wants to be understood.
It’s easy to understand these characters when the performers make everything so legible. Petticrew shows Tuesday’s conflicted feelings about being a youth at the end of her life. She’s being pulled away yet has found much to appreciate and enjoy. Tuesday could be a tragic figure, but Pusić and Petticrew render her more human than mortal. It would be easy for Petticrew to remain at Louis-Dreyfus' feet (as Tuesday does) for most of the film, but they instead crafts a fortitude that holds its own. Continue Reading →
Love Lies Bleeding
Similar2046 (2004), 28 Days Later (2002), Aliens (1986), All the King's Men (2006), American Psycho (2000), Arlington Road (1999), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Bad Education (2004), Bangkok Dangerous (2008), Basic Instinct (1992),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994),
Blade Runner (1982) Blue Velvet (1986), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Buffalo Soldiers (2002), Caché (2005), Catwoman (2004), Chinatown (1974), City of God (2002), Con Air (1997), Cruel Intentions (1999), Cube Zero (2004), D.E.B.S. (2005), Desert Hearts (1985), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Die Hard (1988), Donnie Brasco (1997), Enough (2002), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard (1967), Fargo (1996), Four Brothers (2005), Frenzy (1972), Ghost (1990), GoodFellas (1990), High Crimes (2002), House of Strangers (1949), I Stand Alone (1998), Insomnia (2002), Italian for Beginners (2000),
Jackie Brown (1997) Léon: The Professional (1994),
Live Free or Die Hard (2007) Lolita (1962), Lolita (1997), Look Who's Talking Too (1990),
Lost in Translation (2003) Mamma Mia! (2008), May (2003), Memento (2000), Minority Report (2002), Molly's Game (2017), Monsoon Wedding (2001), Monster (2003), Mulholland Drive (2001), My Life Without Me (2003), No Good Deed (2002), Oldboy (2003), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Owning Mahowny (2003), Paris Can Wait (2016), Point Break (1991), Pulp Fiction (1994), Rope (1948), Scarface (1932), Se7en (1995), Secret Window (2004), Serial Mom (1994), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Sliver (1993),
Strange Days (1995) Street Kings (2008), Swimming Pool (2003), Taxi Driver (1976), The 39 Steps (1935), The Big Lebowski (1998), The Dark Knight (2008), The Devil's Rejects (2005), The Good German (2006), The Holiday (2006), The Interpreter (2005), The Long Goodbye (1973), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), The Omen (2006),
The Party (1980) The Party 2 (1982) The Piano (1993), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), The Usual Suspects (1995), Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), True Romance (1993), Valley Girl (1983), Vertigo (1958), We Own the Night (2007),
StudioA24 Film4 Productions,
The word for Rose Glass (Saint Maud) and Weronika Tofilska's Love Lies Bleeding is "precise." From the individual and combined performances of leads Kristen Stewart and Katy O'Brian (whose turn as a cunning Imperial agent was a bright spot in the often dreary third season of The Mandalorian) to DP Ben Fordesman's chameleonic camera work and hair department lead Megan Daum's wide-ranging design work, everyone on the project knew exactly what they wanted to do and how to get it done. The result is a bracing, clear-eyed noir thriller, and a fraught, swoon-worthy romance. It's my favorite movie of 2024 so far.
It's the late 1980s. The reserved and insightful Lou (Stewart) manages a grimy bodybuilding gym in a sunbleached western suburb. She does not talk to her father, the cruel, cunning crime lord Lou Sr. (Ed Harris). She loves her sister, fraying housewife Beth (Jena Malone), and hates that she will not leave her loathsome slimeball husband JJ (Dave Franco). The closest person Lou has to a romantic partner is the aggressively cheerful Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov), and their on-off something or other boils down to, in Bart Simpson's words, "geographical convenience, really." Enter Jackie (O'Brian), a drifting bodybuilder aiming for a Las Vegas contest where victory can leap passion into profession. The sparks are immediate.
Jackie (Katy O'Brian) strives for bodybuilding stardom. She's doing the work, but the events of Love Lies Bleeding bend the barrier between her reality and her dream. A24.
Jackie's drive lights a fire in Lou, and Lou's methodical care grounds Jackie. Simultaneously, Lou's desire to help Jackie achieve her dream and Jackie's desire to make Lou happy lead them to make bad calls—the sort of bad calls that lead to worse calls that lead to blood. And neither JJ's venality nor Lou Sr.'s mercilessness should be discounted. Continue Reading →
Neighbors
SimilarAmélie (2001), Bed and Board (1970),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Bring It On (2000), Charlotte's Web (2006), Election (1999), Go (1999), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Look Who's Talking (1989), Look Who's Talking Too (1990),
Mary Poppins (1964) Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Meet the Robinsons (2007), Party Monster (2003), Valley Girl (1983), Wonder Boys (2000),
Josh Forbes’ uneven horror-comedy goes nowhere after a while, but has fun getting there.
Apartment life means having to give up most expectations of peace and quiet. I’ve had a neighbor who spent most of his days listening to disco music set at eleven on the volume dial, occasionally letting out a joyful “woo!” Another would tunelessly noodle on a keyboard for hours at a time. A third sounded as if he offered Irish step dancing lessons for extra income. Some people talk a good game about not putting up with noise, but most of us just learn to deal with it, usually by grumbling about it and making our own noise to cover it up.
Every now and then, however, a person will just snap, and then you end up with Destroy All Neighbors, a likably silly horror-comedy that compensates for a lack of plot and character development with gory practical effects and a memorable performance by Alex Winter. Continue Reading →
Mean Girls
Similar101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure (2002), Antonia's Line (1995), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Bring It On (2000), Bugsy Malone (1976), Cars (2006), Chicago (2002), D.E.B.S. (2005), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dogma (1999), Election (1999), Enchanted (2007), Fame (2009), Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019), Frozen 3 (), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Help! (1965), Italian for Beginners (2000), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Look Who's Talking (1989), Look Who's Talking Too (1990), Mamma Mia! (2008),
Mary Poppins (1964) Michael (1996), Monsoon Wedding (2001), Paris Can Wait (2016), Shall We Dance? (2004), Shrek (2001), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Sugar & Spice (2001), The Holiday (2006),
The Party (1980) The Party 2 (1982) The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), Valley Girl (1983), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), You've Got Mail (1998),
Watch afterPoor Things (2023), Saltburn (2023), Society of the Snow (2023), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Wonka (2023),
StarringJon Hamm,
The Broadway adaptation defangs its best characters in a misguided effort to appeal to a new generation of viewers.
Paramount’s new version of Tina Fey’s cult classic Mean Girls boasts a tagline many Millennials found downright offensive upon debut: “This ain’t your mother’s Mean Girls!” The movie, based on the Broadway musical adapted from the original 2004 film, makes it abundantly clear that it’s aimed directly at Gen Z from its very opening moments, which look like a vertical phone video straight out of TikTok. Fey, the writer of both versions of Mean Girls, hasn’t been without her fair share of controversies over the twenty years since the first film premiered. In a clear effort to avoid upsetting younger audience members who have grown up with more sensitive media, Fey kneecaps many of her own best jokes. The updated script is a wobbly attempt to satisfy fans of the original without offending newcomers. The set-ups where there used to be jokes still remain, but they’re empty husks strung together by mostly forgettable songs. Though not without its unique charms, the musical Mean Girls is glaringly unfunny.
The music, written by Fey’s husband and frequent creative collaborator Jeff Richmond, does little to make up for the chasms where cutting punchlines have been removed. Richmond can write excellent, hilarious songs like the ones in 30 Rock and Girls5eva, but his compositions here are basic and feel uninspired. Most of the sincere songs revolve around bland messages about self-esteem that lack any insight into the actual emotional experiences of teenage girls. Emo outcast Janis ‘Imi’ike (Auli’i Cravalho, Moana), formerly a supporting character, gets what feels like four separate songs about the power of Being Yourself. Only “Sexy,” a playful number about Halloween costumes performed by ditzy beauty Karen Shetty (Avantika), stands out. Continue Reading →
The Iron Claw
SimilarA Beautiful Mind (2001), A History of Violence (2005), All the King's Men (2006), All the President's Men (1976), Almost Famous (2000), American Psycho (2000), Anna and the King (1999), Annie Hall (1977), Antonia's Line (1995), Apollo 13 (1995), Apt Pupil (1998), Bad Education (2004), Basquiat (1996), Bed and Board (1970),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Billy Elliot (2000),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Brubaker (1980), Caché (2005), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Chariots of Fire (1981), Chopper (2000), Don't Look Now (1973), Donnie Brasco (1997), Down by Love (2016), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Enemy at the Gates (2001), Erin Brockovich (2000), Fallen (1998), Forrest Gump (1994), Frida (2002), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Gandhi (1982), Ghost (1990), GoodFellas (1990), Gridiron Gang (2006), Heaven Is for Real (2014), Heavenly Creatures (1994), I Stand Alone (1998), Inland Empire (2006), Invictus (2009), JFK (1991), La Vie en Rose (2007), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Lords of Dogtown (2005),
Manhattan (1979) Match Point (2005), May (2003),
Mississippi Burning (1988) Monster (2003), mother! (2017), Moulin Rouge! (2001), My Brother Is an Only Child (2007), Owning Mahowny (2003), Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006),
Primal Fear (1996) Prozac Nation (2001), Raging Bull (1980), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Schindler's List (1993), Sissi (1955), Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress (1957), Sissi: The Young Empress (1956), Solaris (1972), Something the Lord Made (2004), Sommersby (1993), Stolen (2024), Talk to Her (2002), The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019), The Big Blue (1988), The Butcher Boy (1998), The Devil's Rejects (2005), The Elephant Man (1980), The Fisher King (1991), The French Dispatch (2021), The Great Escape (1963), The Hours (2002), The Hustler (1961), The Irishman (2019), The Karate Kid (1984), The Killing Fields (1984), The Last Emperor (1987),
The Party (1980) The Party 2 (1982) The Pianist (2002), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), The Queen (2006), The Straight Story (1999), The Tin Drum (1979), Titanic (1997), Volver (2006), Walk the Line (2005), We Own the Night (2007),
Watch afterAmerican Fiction (2023), Bullet Train (2022), Dune (2021), Dune: Part Two (2024), Elemental (2023), Poor Things (2023), Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023),
Sean Durkin’s biopic about the Von Erich wrestling dynasty features stellar performances in a script that can’t quite find its footing.
In 2008, Mickey Rourke made a surprise and stunning comeback in Aronofsky’s The Wrestler. His once pretty-boy face distorted from years of drugs and plastic surgery suddenly felt tailor-made for the role of Randy “The Ram” Robinson — a wrestler on the outs, clinging to the only thing he knows while the rest of his life crumbles around him. 2023's The Iron Claw offers us a similar story, right down to the comeback for its lead.
Zac Efron may be fortunate enough not to have a tawdry past to overcome like Rourke, but he’s never really found his footing since leaving his teen heartthrob days behind. That said, thanks to complications from a broken jawbone, his face is radically different from the one we knew in High School Musical, even sparking gossip of plastic surgery gone wrong (another insult often lobbed at Rourke, though in his case it’s certainly true). But just like Rourke, his new jawline perfectly suits him in The Iron Claw, which may finally prove to be his breakthrough role as an adult, dramatic actor. Continue Reading →
Maestro
Similar9 Songs (2004), A Beautiful Mind (2001), A History of Violence (2005), Aladdin (1992), Alex Strangelove (2018), Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), All the President's Men (1976), Almost Famous (2000), Annie Hall (1977), Apollo 13 (1995), Ask the Dust (2006), Attica (1980), Auto Focus (2002), Bad Education (2004), Barton Fink (1991), Basquiat (1996), Belle de Jour (1967),
Ben-Hur (1959) Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Billy Elliot (2000),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Brubaker (1980), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Chariots of Fire (1981), Chopper (2000), Crash (1996), Cruel Intentions (1999), D.E.B.S. (2005), Dead Poets Society (1989), Desert Hearts (1985), Donnie Brasco (1997), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), East of Eden (1955), Enemy at the Gates (2001), Enough (2002), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Frida (2002), Gandhi (1982), Good Luck Chuck (2007), Gridiron Gang (2006), Heaven Is for Real (2014), Heavenly Creatures (1994), Help! (1965), High Crimes (2002), Invictus (2009), Lolita (1997), Lords of Dogtown (2005), Lorenzo's Oil (1992),
Manhattan (1979) Match Point (2005), Molly's Game (2017), mother! (2017), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), No Good Deed (2002), Notes on a Scandal (2006), Owning Mahowny (2003), Prozac Nation (2001), Raging Bull (1980), Random Harvest (1942),
Rebecca (1940) Rosemary's Baby (1968), Schindler's List (1993), Sissi (1955), Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress (1957), Sissi: The Young Empress (1956), Something the Lord Made (2004), Sommersby (1993), Sugar & Spice (2001), The Blue Angel (1930), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), The Cider House Rules (1999), The Elephant Man (1980), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), The Godfather (1972), The Great Escape (1963), The Killing Fields (1984), The Patriot (2000), The Pianist (2002), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Queen (2006), The Science of Sleep (2006), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry (2022), The Straight Story (1999), The Sweet Hereafter (1997), The Tin Drum (1979), Titanic (1997), Transamerica (2005), True Romance (1993), Twin Murders: The Silence of the White City (2019), Valley Girl (1983), Walk the Line (2005), When Harry Met Sally... (1989),
Watch afterAmerican Fiction (2023), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Leave the World Behind (2023), Napoleon (2023), Poor Things (2023), Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023), Saltburn (2023), Society of the Snow (2023), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), The Killer (2023),
StudioNetflix,
Bradley Cooper pays respectful homage to Leonard Bernstein in this lavish passion project.
The problem inherent to most biopics is one of balance. Err too far on the side of worshipful and you get nonsense like Oliver Stone’s The Doors. Or you could swing in the other direction and you end up with an “oops, all warts” camp disaster like Mommie Dearest. Most linger somewhere in the middle, at a respectful distance, so that they’re ultimately kind of boring, and offer nothing new or particularly insightful about its subject matter.
Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, about the life of legendary composer Leonard Bernstein, isn’t boring. It’s too visually dazzling for that. It does not, however, leave one feeling like they’ve really gotten to know more about Bernstein other than he was a complicated, workaholic genius who struggled with his sexuality, which is all information that could be gleaned from his Wikipedia page. But it sure is lovely spending time in his world for a little while. Continue Reading →
Poor Things
Similar101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure (2002), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), 28 Days Later (2002), 28 Weeks Later (2007), 50 First Dates (2004), 9 Songs (2004), A Certain Magical Index: The Miracle of Endymion (2013), A Clockwork Orange (1971), About a Boy (2002), Aladdin (1992), Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Amélie (2001), Annie Hall (1977), Armageddon (1998), Ask the Dust (2006), Bed and Board (1970),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Blade Runner (1982) Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Buffalo Soldiers (2002), Charlotte's Web (2006), Chopper (2000), Closely Watched Trains (1966), Contact (1997), Contempt (1963), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000), Cruel Intentions (1999), D.E.B.S. (2005), Desert Hearts (1985), Dirty Dancing (1987), Down by Love (2016), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Face/Off (1997), Fantastic Four (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019), Forrest Gump (1994), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Good Luck Chuck (2007), Human Nature (2001), Inspector Gadget (1999), Jules and Jim (1962), Lolita (1962), Lolita (1997), Love and Honor (2006), M*A*S*H (1970),
Manhattan (1979) Mars Attacks! (1996),
Mary Poppins (1964) Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Match Point (2005), Meet the Robinsons (2007), Metropolis (1927), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005), Momo (1986), Monsoon Wedding (2001), Moulin Rouge! (2001), My Brother Is an Only Child (2007), Mystic River (2003), Night on Earth (1991), Notes on a Scandal (2006), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Party Monster (2003),
Rebecca (1940) Shaun of the Dead (2004), Shrek (2001),
Shrek the Third (2007) Solaris (1972), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Stalker (1979), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Starship Troopers (1997), Sugar & Spice (2001), The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), The Butcher Boy (1998), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), The Elementary Particles (2006), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), The Holiday (2006), The Hustler (1961), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976),
The Party (1980) The Party 2 (1982) The Science of Sleep (2006), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), The Thing (1982), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), Titanic (1997), To Die For (1995), True Romance (1993), Valley Girl (1983), Vertigo (1958), War of the Worlds (2005), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Wild at Heart (1990), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971),
Watch afterAmerican Fiction (2023), Anatomy of a Fall (2023), Dune: Part Two (2024), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Maestro (2023), Saltburn (2023), Society of the Snow (2023), The Killer (2023),
StarringWillem Dafoe,
StudioFilm4 Productions, Searchlight Pictures, TSG Entertainment,
Yorgos Lanthimos directs a sumptuous adult fairy tale featuring Emma Stone at her very best.
Here’s the thing about Yorgos Lanthimos: you’re either on board with him, or you’re not. Even in The Favourite, arguably his most accessible film, there’s a sort of joyful grotesqueness to it, leaving the audience laughing and wincing simultaneously. His latest offering, Poor Things, is his most visually dazzling film yet, with moments of stunning beauty and bittersweet insight, but still isn’t afraid to test the audience’s sensibilities. It’s a film about what it means to be alive, every little disgusting aspect of it.
Based on Alasdair Gray’s novel of the same name, Poor Things opens in dreary black and white London, where eccentric scientist Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) is overseeing an experiment that’s both miraculous and horrifying. Baxter, whose face looks like it was carved into several pieces and then put back together the wrong way, has brought a woman back to life after she committed suicide. The woman, whom he’s renamed Bella (Emma Stone, with a magnificent pair of eyebrows), initially has the mind of a toddler, but she’s learning and maturing at an astonishing rate. Bella refers to Godwin as “God,” and so far knows no one and nothing else but him and their home together. Continue Reading →
Priscilla
Similar2046 (2004), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), Almost Famous (2000), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Annie Hall (1977), Antonia's Line (1995), Auto Focus (2002), Awakenings (1990), Basquiat (1996), Bed and Board (1970), Belle de Jour (1967),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Billy Elliot (2000), Blood and Chocolate (2007), Born on the Fourth of July (1989),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), City of God (2002), Closely Watched Trains (1966), Contempt (1963), Copying Beethoven (2006), Crash (1996), D.E.B.S. (2005), Dead Poets Society (1989), Desert Hearts (1985), Dirty Dancing (1987), Don't Look Now (1973), Donnie Brasco (1997), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Election (1999), Enough (2002), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), Forrest Gump (1994), Gandhi (1982), GoodFellas (1990), I ♥ Huckabees (2004), Italian for Beginners (2000), JFK (1991), La Vie en Rose (2007), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Lolita (1997), Look Who's Talking (1989), Look Who's Talking Too (1990), Lords of Dogtown (2005),
Lost in Translation (2003) Mamma Mia! (2008), Michael (1996), My Brother Is an Only Child (2007), My Life Without Me (2003), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Orlando (1992), Raging Bull (1980), Rosemary's Baby (1968), Schindler's List (1993), Shall We Dance? (2004), Sissi (1955), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Solaris (1972), Something the Lord Made (2004), Sommersby (1993),
Strange Days (1995) Sugar & Spice (2001), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), The Cider House Rules (1999), The Elephant Man (1980), The French Dispatch (2021), The Holiday (2006), The Irishman (2019), The Last Emperor (1987), The Outsiders (1983), The Pianist (2002), The Piano (1993), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), The Queen (2006), The Science of Sleep (2006), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), The Straight Story (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Tin Drum (1979), The Wanderers (1979), Transamerica (2005), Twin Murders: The Silence of the White City (2019), Valley Girl (1983), Valley of the Dolls (1967), Walk the Line (2005), Wonder Boys (2000), You've Got Mail (1998),
Watch afterAquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Maestro (2023), Poor Things (2023), Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023), Saltburn (2023), Society of the Snow (2023), Thanksgiving (2023), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Killer (2023), The Marvels (2023), Wonka (2023),
StarringDagmara Domińczyk,
StudioA24 American Zoetrope,
As daybreak bleeds from within the walls, Priscilla Presley (Cailee Spaeny) wakes up next to her husband, Elvis (Jacob Elordi). Her water’s broken and, as he calls for a car, she goes to the bathroom, where she applies the perfect fake eyelashes in silence. Continue Reading →
Saltburn
SimilarAmerican Psycho (2000), Antonia's Line (1995), Apt Pupil (1998), Arlington Road (1999), Back to the Future Part II (1989),
Ben-Hur (1959) Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Billy Elliot (2000), Brazil (1985), Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), City of God (2002), Copying Beethoven (2006), Crash (1996), D.E.B.S. (2005), Desert Hearts (1985), Election (1999), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Fargo (1996), Frida (2002), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Go (1999), Heavenly Creatures (1994), In China They Eat Dogs (1999),
Jackie Brown (1997) Klute (1971), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Lolita (1997), Look Who's Talking Too (1990), Lords of Dogtown (2005),
Lost in Translation (2003) M*A*S*H (1970), Mamma Mia! (2008), Mars Attacks! (1996), My Life Without Me (2003), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Notes on a Scandal (2006), Oldboy (2003), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Orlando (1992), Paris Can Wait (2016), Point Break (1991),
Primal Fear (1996) Prozac Nation (2001), Pulp Fiction (1994), Romeo + Juliet (1996), Rope (1948), Serial Mom (1994), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Shrek (2001), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Stolen (2024),
Strange Days (1995) Sugar & Spice (2001), Swimming Pool (2003), Talk to Her (2002), The Big Blue (1988), The Butcher Boy (1998), The Fisher King (1991), The Holiday (2006), The Hours (2002), The Hustler (1961), The Last Emperor (1987), The Piano (1993), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Tin Drum (1979), To Die For (1995), Transamerica (2005), Valley Girl (1983), Vertigo (1958), Werckmeister Harmonies (2001), You've Got Mail (1998),
Watch afterAnatomy of a Fall (2023), Leave the World Behind (2023), Maestro (2023), Poor Things (2023), Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023), Society of the Snow (2023), Thanksgiving (2023), Wonka (2023),
StudioMRC,
With her first film, Promising Young Woman, writer-director Emerald Fennell took a storyline that was essentially a cloddish-but-glossy retread of such female-driven revenge sagas as Ms .45 and I Spit on Your Grave, infused it with insights regarding gender issues that would barely have passed muster in a 100-level college class and somehow rode it to inexplicable praise and an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Continue Reading →
Dicks: The Musical
SimilarAlex Strangelove (2018),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Billy Elliot (2000), Bugsy Malone (1976), Chicago (2002), D.E.B.S. (2005), Dirty Dancing (1987), Enchanted (2007), Fame (2009), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Go (1999), La Vie en Rose (2007), Mamma Mia! (2008),
Mary Poppins (1964) Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Shall We Dance? (2004), Transamerica (2005), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971),
Watch afterAvatar (2009),
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) Barbie (2023) Dune (2021), Dune: Part Two (2024), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), Joker (2019), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Parasite (2019), Poor Things (2023), Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), The Batman (2022),
Studio20th Century Fox,
A24
The audaciously titled Dicks: The Musical comes with an equally eye-catching tagline, boasting the honor of being “A24’s first musical.” That’s bound to intrigue cinephiles everywhere. After all, not every movie studio is trendy enough to regularly sell out of logo festooned merchandise. Or even make hipster merch in the first place. Continue Reading →
Totally Killer
SimilarA Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Antonia's Line (1995), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), Back to the Future Part II (1989),
Back to the Future Part III (1990) Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Billy Elliot (2000), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), D.E.B.S. (2005), Freaks (1932), Frenzy (1972), I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016), Inside (2007), Italian for Beginners (2000), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Look Who's Talking (1989), Look Who's Talking Too (1990), Mamma Mia! (2008), Mars Attacks! (1996), Meet the Robinsons (2007), Momo (1986), Monsoon Wedding (2001), Saw II (2005), Serial Mom (1994), Shrek (2001), Silent Hill (2006), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Star Trek: First Contact (1996),
Strange Days (1995) Sugar & Spice (2001), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), The Devil's Rejects (2005), The Matrix (1999), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003),
The Party (1980) The Party 2 (1982) Twelve Monkeys (1995), Valley Girl (1983), You've Got Mail (1998),
Watch afterSaw X (2023), Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023), Talk to Me (2023), The Equalizer 3 (2023),
The low-budget confines of Blumhouse movies mean that any idea can become a movie, including bold original visions like Whiplash or Get Out. Unfortunately, it also means a lot of subpar stuff can easily get the green light. The latest example is the new Amazon/Blumhouse collaboration, Totally Killer. Hailing from director Nahnatchka Khan, Totally Killer dares to ask a question no reasonable soul was pondering. “What if Happy Death Day and Hot Tub Time Machine had a tedious baby?” Buckle up, horror devotees. Here comes yet another dose of 1980s nostalgia and some frighteningly lousy editing. Continue Reading →
Fair Play
Similar9 Songs (2004), A Real Young Girl (1976), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Antonia's Line (1995), Basic Instinct (1992), Belle de Jour (1967),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Boys Don't Cry (1999) Cape Fear (1991), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Chinatown (1974), City of God (2002), Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Contempt (1963), Copying Beethoven (2006), D.E.B.S. (2005), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Frenzy (1972), Italian for Beginners (2000), Just Cause (1995), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Lolita (1997), Look Who's Talking Too (1990), Lords of Dogtown (2005),
Lost in Translation (2003) Memento (2000), Michael (1996), Monsoon Wedding (2001), My Life Without Me (2003), Orlando (1992), Raging Bull (1980), Secret Window (2004), Shall We Dance? (2004), Straw Dogs (1971), Talk to Her (2002), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), The Holiday (2006), The Piano (1993), The Shining (1980), Valley Girl (1983), Vertigo (1958), Volver (2006), Werckmeister Harmonies (2001),
Watch afterBarbie (2023) Leave the World Behind (2023), Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), The Killer (2023),
StudioMRC,
Fair Play is all about the rules of engagement—in business, in bed, in relationships—and the chaos that ensues when someone who lives and dies by those rules suspects his partner is breaking them. However, it isn’t the fairness of the righteous or the just she’s violating. No, it is the unwritten rules he believes everyone should play the game by. Continue Reading →
Blue Chips
While difficult, it is essential when reviewing a film to evaluate it within the context of the era. To choose a relatively inoffensive hypothetical, if a movie made before 1980 refers to bipolar disorder as “manic depression,” you shouldn’t ding it for the outdated terminology. After all, at that moment, that was the proper parlance. Still, it’s not easy, especially when our understanding of an issue has changed significantly in the years since. This reviewer, for instance, struggled mightily to judge William Friedkin’s 1994 directorial effort Blue Chips on its own era-specific merits. Continue Reading →
High-Rise
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn't exist. Continue Reading →
Theater Camp
SimilarBend It Like Beckham (2002) Billy Elliot (2000), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Italian for Beginners (2000), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Lolita (1962), Muriel's Wedding (1994), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Paris Can Wait (2016), Pretty Woman (1990), Shrek (2001), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Toy Story 2 (1999),
Watch afterShortcomings (2023),
StarringDavid Rasche,
For decades, the great American institution of summer camp has been fodder for cinema, and for good reason. A group of hormonal teenagers put together in an artificial environment is the perfect recipe for drama, with the gorgeous backdrop of the outdoors. Continue Reading →
Bad Girl Boogey
SimilarA Nightmare on Elm Street (1984),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Desert Hearts (1985), Happy Death Day 2U (2019), I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016), Transamerica (2005),
Despite interminable “why is horror so popular?” articles written by people who have little knowledge about or interest in horror, the reason why it thrives as a genre is because of its flexibility. You can approach virtually any subject – sexuality, xenophobia, illness – through the lens of horror and make it effectively nightmarish. Certain all-too-vocal horror fans don’t like when things get too topical (presumably because it forces them to think), and point to slasher movies as “real” horror, because they focus predominantly on violence and mayhem, rather than bringing any real-world elements into it. Watch most slasher movies from the 80s through the 00s and you’ll notice that, other than maybe the hair and clothes, nothing sets them in any specific time period. They exist in bubbles, with characters seemingly untouched by anything until a masked killer shows up to ruin the party. Continue Reading →
1976
With a travel book in her hands and a cigarette in her fingers, Carmen (Aline Küppenheim) deliberates what shade of paint she’d like for her walls. She wants it like a sunset but not too pink. Maybe a bit blue. After all, it’s not like she goes outside too often. Even her commutes, now to her Las Cruces beach house, are isolated. It’s 1976 in Chile, three years into dictator Augusto Pinochet’s rule. While paint drips onto Carmen’s heels, defectors and accused communists fall in the streets. But hey, she’s got a home to renovate. Continue Reading →
You Hurt My Feelings
SimilarBend It Like Beckham (2002) Caché (2005), Maria Full of Grace (2004), Sissi (1955), Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress (1957), Sissi: The Young Empress (1956),
StudioFilmNation Entertainment,
The white lie at the center of You Hurt My Feelings isn’t harmless, nor does it spiral out to reveal lie upon lie, turning a marriage into a house of cards. Instead, it lies somewhere less explored: a trivial thing whose impact is understandably real. It’s a fine line to walk, but Nicole Holofcener does just that, and with a razor-sharp wit to boot. Continue Reading →