The Fabulous Four
NetworkNBC,
SimilarA Little Princess (1995), Bratz (2007), Charlie's Angels (2000), Dancer in the Dark (2000), GARO, He's Just Not That Into You (2009), I'm Not Ashamed (2016), Loonatics Unleashed, Madan Senki Ryukendo, Mashin Sentai Kiramager, Mirai Sentai Timeranger, Spider-Man, Sugar & Spice (2001), The Batman, The Protector, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), Thelma & Louise (1991), Whip It (2009), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988),
Watch afterA Quiet Place (2018), Anatomy of a Fall (2023),
Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) Barbie (2023) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022),
Breaking Bad Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), Dune (2021), Dune: Part Two (2024), Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), Fast X (2023), Fight Club (1999), Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024),
Game of Thrones Godzilla Minus One (2023), Green Book (2018), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), Inception (2010), Inside Out 2 (2024), John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023), Joker (2019), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Knives Out (2019), Nobody (2021),
Oppenheimer (2023) Parasite (2019),
Poor Things (2023) Saltburn (2023), Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), Society of the Snow (2023),
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021),
Stranger Things The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Marvels (2023), The Menu (2022),
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Wonka (2023),
While the general world of theatrical comedies remains elusive at multiplexes everywhere, one strain of the genre keeps on chugging in theaters. The Last Vegas/Going in Style/Book Club-style comedy is still going strong. Titles focusing on a wacky trio or quartet of famous actors over 60 persist at Cinemarks everywhere. Even Book Club 2: The Next Chapter’s box office failure last year couldn't stop this subgenre. On the surface, The Fabulous Four looks like another breezy summertime entry in this domain. In many ways, including its flat third act, it totally is. Yet, some distinctive and even downright weird touches keep it from being another Wild Hogs pastiche.
Back in the day, Marilyn (Bette Midler), surgeon Lou (Susan Sarandon), singer Alice (Megan Mullaly), and botanist Kitty (Sheryl Lee Ralph) were best friends growing up in New York City. After a few decades, though, those friendships have grown complicated. Lou and Marilyn, specifically, are no longer on speaking terms. However, that frayed dynamic is about to get “repaired” now that the latter character is getting married. While preparing for a lavish wedding in Key West, she yearns for her best friends to be her bridesmaids—all three of them.
Alice and Kitty tricking Lou into traveling to Key West was only the beginning of their struggles. Once these former pals reunite, tensions clearly haven't frayed between the duo. Unresolved conflict looms over every pre-wedding celebration, even once Lou begins a flirty rapport with local DILF Ted (Bruce Greenwood). Can this quartet reunite and become “the fabulous four” again? Or will yesteryear’s turmoil capsize a once beautiful friend group? Continue Reading →
Landscape with Invisible Hand
Similar2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), 9 Songs (2004), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Annie Hall (1977), Apocalypse Now (1979),
Blade Runner (1982) Boys Don't Cry (1999) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Chocolat (2000), Contact (1997), East of Eden (1955),
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), He's Just Not That Into You (2009), Heaven Is for Real (2014), I Robot (2004),
Jackie Brown (1997) Love in the Time of Cholera (2007),
Manhattan (1979) Mars Attacks! (1996),
Mary Poppins (1964) Meet the Robinsons (2007), Metropolis (1927), Murder She Said (1961), O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000), Predator (1987), Random Harvest (1942), Solaris (1972), Solaris (2002), Stalker (1979), Starship Troopers (1997), Stranger Than Fiction (2006), The Blue Angel (1930), The Butterfly Effect (2004), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), The Elementary Particles (2006), The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992),
The Name of the Rose (1986) The Outsiders (1983), The Science of Sleep (2006), The Silent Partner (1978), The Thing (1982), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), To Die For (1995),
War of the Worlds (2005) Watch afterBarbie (2023) Prey (2022), Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023), Shortcomings (2023), The Equalizer 3 (2023),
StudioMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
Cory Finley is obsessed with money. His characters have nice things or want them. They live in beautiful houses or enviously plot to get them. Even in the year 2036, with aliens living on (or, more precisely, about two miles above) planet Earth, people still fret over money and try to make scads of it. That’s the state of things in his latest, Landscape with Invisible Hand. It’s a title with the same bespoke aestheticism as the stuffed ocelots and oversized chess pieces his characters own. It feels seemingly designed to scare off less curious viewers. While the film has an awful lot of plot, the undergirding is the same. As in his 2017 debut Thoroughbreds, his follow-up Bad Education, and even his episodes of the abysmal miniseries WeCrashed, the drama comes from the idea of what money does to the soul. Continue Reading →
Jules
SimilarA.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Alien (1979), Alien Resurrection (1997), Alien³ (1992), Aliens (1986), Chicken Little (2005), K-PAX (2001), Mars Attacks! (1996), Monsters vs Aliens (2009), Nowhere (1997), Predator (1987), Predator 2 (1990), Species (1995), Stalker (1979), The Butterfly Effect (2004), The Cabbage Soup (1981), The Thing (1982), The X Files: I Want to Believe (2008),
War of the Worlds (2005)
In a media landscape with fewer and fewer options actually targeted toward adults (often tied to the death of the mid-budget movie), audiences take the scraps they're given and make the best of them. This is the space that Jules occupies, a sci-fi fairy tale about the specific loneliness of senior citizens who feel isolated, ignored, and afraid. It’s also a thin, often ham-fisted take on a tale that could have had real legs in more capable hands. Continue Reading →
The Last Voyage of the Demeter
SimilarBlade Runner (1982) Blindness (2008), Carrie (1976), Carrie (2002), Children of Men (2006), Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), Die Hard (1988), Dr. No (1962),
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) From Russia with Love (1963) Goldfinger (1964), Gorky Park (1983), I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016),
Jackie Brown (1997) King Kong (1933),
Live and Let Die (1973) Lord of the Flies (1963), Mystic River (2003), Patriot Games (1992), Poseidon (2006),
Rebecca (1940) Shaft (2000) Shooter (2007), Starship Troopers (1997), Swimming Pool (2003), The 39 Steps (1935),
The Name of the Rose (1986) The Perfect Storm (2000), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Silent Partner (1978),
War of the Worlds (2005) Wild at Heart (1990), You Only Live Twice (1967),
Watch afterAmerican Fiction (2023),
Barbie (2023) Gran Turismo (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), Meg 2: The Trench (2023), Talk to Me (2023), The Nun II (2023),
The Last Voyage of the Demeter feels like a movie from a different era. To a point, it is—writer Bragi Schut first drafted his adaptation of the 'Log of the "Demeter"' sequence in Bram Stoker's Dracula in the early 2000s. It's a capital letters Hollywood Creature Feature—a grimmer straight horror cousin to 2004's action/horror hybrid Van Helsing. At its best, it's an admirably gnarly monster flick—bolstered by sturdy craft from director André Øvredal and consistently good performances from a game ensemble. At its worst, it loses confidence and resorts to bumbling attempts to guide its audience by the hand—most notably in its prologue and epilogue. Continue Reading →
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
Despite their hue, not all TMNT films deserved to be greenlit.
Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird created The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back in 1984. Now almost 40 years later, what started as a comic book has inspired seven movies, five television series, and countless amounts of merchandise. This week the four ninja tortoises return in a new animated incarnation, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. Considering I’ve been a fan of the Turtles since six years old, this seems like the perfect time to put an official rating on four decades of movies. Some are gnarly, some tubular, and there’s always a whole lot of cowabunga.
Writers Note: This list doesn’t include the recent Netflix installment Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie, a TV-movie crossover Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or the live recording of the 1990 Coming Out of Their Shells stage show. That one you can catch on YouTube, although I don’t know why you would. Continue Reading →
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
SimilarA.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Aliens (1986), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), F9 (2021), Face/Off (1997),
From Russia with Love (1963) Goldfinger (1964), Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008),
Shrek the Third (2007)
The blockbuster landscape shifted with Michael Bay's 2007 Transformers movie. It fit his directing style, with his love of explosions and male gazing, but what it amounted to was a guy playing with big, expensive cinematic toys. There was knowledge gained from those five previous installments when the 2018 spin-off Bumblebee had more personality and excitement than any of its predecessors. Continue Reading →
To End All War: Oppenheimer & the Atomic Bomb
SimilarSissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress (1957),
To The End opens with activist Varshini Prakash, leader of The Sunrise Movement, as she tours the destruction left in a wildfire’s wake. A bleak landscape meets her. There are houses burned and left in ruin. A car drives into the area, flames licking at the road as smoke covers the terrain. It’s a hell of a stirring beginning to Rachel Lears’ timely and extensive climate change documentary To The End. Continue Reading →