715 Best Film & TV Releases Translated Into Arabic (Page 3)
Poor Things (In Arabic: أشياء مسكينة)
Similar2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), 28 Days Later (2002), 28 Weeks Later (2007), 9 Songs (2004), A Clockwork Orange (1971), Aladdin (1992), Aliens (1986), Amélie (2001), Annie Hall (1977), Armageddon (1998),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Blade Runner (1982) Contact (1997), Contempt (1963), Cruel Intentions (1999), Desert Hearts (1985), Dirty Dancing (1987), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Forrest Gump (1994), M*A*S*H (1970), Manhattan (1979), Mars Attacks! (1996), Mary Poppins (1964), Match Point (2005), Metropolis (1927), Mystic River (2003), Once Upon a Time in America (1984),
Rebecca (1940) Shrek the Third (2007), Stalker (1979), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), The Elementary Particles (2006), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), The Holiday (2006), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Party (1980), The Science of Sleep (2006), True Romance (1993), Vertigo (1958), War of the Worlds (2005), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), Wild at Heart (1990), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971),
Watch afterAnatomy of a Fall (2023), Dune: Part Two (2024), Killers of the Flower Moon (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 →
Stamped from the Beginning (In Arabic: وصمة منذ الولادة)
SimilarI've Always Liked You (2016),
Watch afterAvatar: The Way of Water (2022),
Barbie (2023) Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), Dune (2021), Inception (2010), Joker (2019),
Oppenheimer (2023) Parasite (2019), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), The Suicide Squad (2021), Wonka (2023),
The Netflix documentary uses historical evidence and modern scholarship to demonstrate racism's continued role in US society.
At the start of the new documentary Stamped from the Beginning, filmmaker Roger Ross Williams asks his various interview subjects, “What is wrong with Black people?” Considering that all the interviewees in question are also Black, it is unsurprising that the question’s seeming hostility initially throws many. However, once they recognize the context of that query—Williams is asking for a historical context as to what Blacks have done to deserve centuries of institutionalized racism and violence—they are more than willing and able to discuss the subject at length throughout this strong and often provocative film.
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi’s book of the same name inspired the Williams’ film, a karmic debt the director pays back by including the doctor among a number of knowledgeable Black female scholars and activists. Together, they discuss how the twin stains of racism and white supremacy permeate American society in ways that continue to fester today. They explain how the concept of deeming people as greater or lesser by the color of their skin was born out of slavery. The aim was to simultaneously remove enslaved people’s distinguishing characteristics to make them seem like one undifferentiated mass and drive a wedge between them and white “indentured servants” to prevent the groups from joining forces against their common enemy, the wealthy landowner. Continue Reading →
Obliterated
SimilarFlorida Man, Lupin,
Watch afterAhsoka, Gen V, Reacher,
Star Trek: Picard The Wheel of Time, True Detective,
Netflix’s action-comedy is deadly short on both.
There’s something undeniably attractive about the premise of Obliterated. A highly skilled team of soldiers, spies, bomb experts, and tech geniuses stop on nuclear bomb detonation in the heart of Las Vegas and fully celebrate their victory. And by fully celebrate, we mean FULLY. Drugs, alcohol, exotic animals, hundreds of guests, plenty of sex toys, and so on. Then they wake in the morning to find their mission wasn’t as successful as they thought, and now they have no choice but to try and save the day in various stages of loaded and hungover.
Sadly, miles exist between premise and execution. Think the difference between visiting the Bellagio in Vegas and the Tropicana in Atlantic City. Then double it. Maybe triple it. Put it another way, Obliterated is bad. Very bad. Continue Reading →
Napoleon (In Arabic: نابليون)
SimilarA Beautiful Mind (2001), A Real Young Girl (1976), Almost Famous (2000), Apollo 13 (1995),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Brubaker (1980), Copying Beethoven (2006), Dances with Wolves (1990), Erin Brockovich (2000), Freedom Writers (2007), Gandhi (1982), GoodFellas (1990), Gridiron Gang (2006), Manhattan (1979), Mississippi Burning (1988), Monster (2003), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Paris Can Wait (2016), Raging Bull (1980), Schindler's List (1993), Sissi (1955), The Elephant Man (1980), The Last Emperor (1987), The Pianist (2002), The Straight Story (1999), Titanic (1997),
Watch afterAquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023),
Barbie (2023) Killers of the Flower Moon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Society of the Snow (2023), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Killer (2023), The Marvels (2023), Wonka (2023),
StudioApple Studios,
Ridley Scott’s surprisingly hollow biopic of the French military commander falters as a character piece and comes shy of victory as an epic.
For a film with as many contradictions as Napoleon, it’s odd for it to be so straightforward. It covers 28 years, but it never feels like a lot of changes. It’s over two and a half hours, which, while not a herculean runtime, never entirely slows down. Perhaps it’s because it never really gets started. Ridley Scott’s latest opens with a public decapitation of Marie Antoinette (Catherine Walker), giving way to the 1793 Siege of Toulon. The violence is often unsparingly graphic, so why, then, does it feel so cosmetic? Shouldn’t a live horse eviscerated by a cannonball to the chest do something to the viewer?
Maybe not when there’s such little context. If Napoleon is one thing, it’s episodic—ahistorical, even. David Scarpa’s script begins in the trenches and is content on staying there. Everyone and everything are simply window dressing. That includes Napoleon Bonaparte himself (Joaquin Phoenix), whom the film oversimplifies from intrinsically flawed leader to wholly externalized man-child. After the Siege, he wins the affections of Joséphine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby). The two soon marry. Continue Reading →
Eileen
SimilarA Christmas Carol (1938), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Apocalypse Now (1979), Basic Instinct (1992), Ben-Hur (1959),
Blade Runner (1982) Blue Velvet (1986), Brubaker (1980), Con Air (1997), Contempt (1963), Crash (1996), Cruel Intentions (1999), Cube Zero (2004), Die Hard (1988), Die Hard 2 (1990), Don't Bother to Knock (1952), Dr. No (1962), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Fargo (1996), Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), From Russia with Love (1963), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Goldfinger (1964), Gone Baby Gone (2007), Just Cause (1995), La Vie en Rose (2007), Memento (2000), Metropolis (1927), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006),
Primal Fear (1996) Schindler's List (1993), Scrooge (1951), Solaris (1972), Stalker (1979), Talk to Her (2002), The 39 Steps (1935), The Departed (2006), The Devil's Rejects (2005), The Elementary Particles (2006), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Road (2009), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), The Tin Drum (1979), Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), War of the Worlds (2005), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), You Only Live Twice (1967),
Watch afterAnatomy of a Fall (2023), Interstellar (2014),
Oppenheimer (2023) Poor Things (2023), Saltburn (2023), Shortcomings (2023), Society of the Snow (2023), The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023),
StudioFilm4 Productions,
Thomasin McKenzie & Anne Hathaway burn up the screen in William Oldroyd’s unsettling thriller.
Eileen will likely be lost in the holiday season shuffle among such spectacles as the upcoming Wonka and awards-friendly fare like Ferrari. On the other hand, it’s unclear under what circumstances Eileen would make a big splash. It’s an odd, occasionally off-putting little film that wouldn’t work as well as it does if not for the scorching chemistry between its two leads.
Based on Ottessa Moshfegh’s (also odd and occasionally off-putting) novel of the same name, Eileen stars Thomasin McKenzie as the titular character, a lonely young woman stuck in a miserable rut. Living in the most depressing town in Massachusetts circa 1964, Eileen is forced to take care of her alcoholic, mean-spirited father (a chilling Shea Whigham, still somehow not one of Hollywood’s biggest stars), a former cop who’s taken to waving his gun at their neighbors. Working as a secretary at a juvenile detention center, though she’s in her twenties she comes off as someone much younger, a meek and awkward child merely dressing up as an adult. Eileen also has a child’s taste for doing things like ignoring her hygiene, stuffing herself with candy, and compulsively masturbating, while maintaining a rich fantasy life involving rough sex with a detention center guard, or murdering her father. Her boredom has reached pathological levels. Continue Reading →
Slow Horses
Similar2Moons: The Series, A Dance to the Music of Time,
Agatha Christie's Poirot Animated Classics of Japanese Literature, Anna Karenina, Återkomsten, Babel, Baywatch Nights,
Black Books Blackeyes, Bodies, Brimstone, Chuck, Cigarette Girl, Condor, Dancing on the Edge, Dark Winds, Des, Dexter, Erased, Fallen, Fearless, Further Tales of the City, Game of Thrones, Golden Years, Gossip Girl, Hero Return, Jack the Ripper, Jewels, KONOSUBA – An Explosion on This Wonderful World!, La Femme Nikita, La Mante, Lupin, Luther, M*A*S*H, Millennium, Moeder, waarom leven wij?, Monarch of the Glen, More Tales of the City, Mr. Mercedes, Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, Nine: Nine Time Travels, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit,
Planet of the Apes Pride and Prejudice Roswell Sherlock Holmes Soul Land 2: The Peerless Tang Clan, Super Pumped, Tales from the Neverending Story, The 100, The Alienist, The Buccaneers, The Chestnut Man, The Equalizer, The Family Game, The Lost World, The Moon Embracing the Sun, The Shining, The Wimbledon Poisoner, Threshold, Tientsin Mystic, Tira, Troubles, Unorthodox, Unterleuten: The Torn Village, Viso d'angelo, Wedding Impossible, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, Witchcraft, World's End Harem, Wycliffe,
The AppleTV+ spy series retains its humor but gives viewers its most tightly plotted effort yet.
Slow Horses Season 3 reiterates how the series differs from so many other TV shows. While critics frequently discuss film as a director’s medium, television tends to be more showrunner—and thus writer—driven. While Horses indeed derives many of its pleasures from the writers—the returning trio of Will Smith, Jonny Stockwood, and Mark Denton once again man the pens—each season’s unique tone owes to its single director.
James Hawes made the series’ debut season a workplace comedy where the occasional gun battle might break out. Season 2 darkened or ditched much of the comedy for a bleaker, higher action affair under the direction of Jeremy Lovering. In Slow Horses Season 3, Saul Metzstein doesn’t push the team back into the offices. If anything, Slough House appears even less than in Season 2. However, he does re-up some of the mismatched colleagues’ humor, particularly when it comes to the team’s most recent additions, gambling addict Marcus (Kadiff Kirwan) and drug addict Shirley (Aimee-Ffion Edwards). He also further deepens the emotional stakes with a light touch, adding depth to ever-growing complications. Continue Reading →
Wish (In Arabic: أمنية)
SimilarAladdin (1992), Catwoman (2004), Constantine (2005), Dances with Wolves (1990), Dr. No (1962), Enchanted (2007), Fantasia (1940), From Russia with Love (1963), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Hellboy (2004),
Live and Let Die (1973) Mary Poppins (1964), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Princess Mononoke (1997), Shrek (2001), The Big Blue (1988), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), You Only Live Twice (1967),
Watch afterAquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Leave the World Behind (2023), Meg 2: The Trench (2023), Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), Napoleon (2023), Parasite (2019), Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023), Society of the Snow (2023), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Marvels (2023), Wonka (2023),
StudioWalt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Productions,
Kids deserve better than yet another dull, going-through-the-motions misfire.
The animation world was recently startled by Warner Bros.' announcement that they planned to shelve their recently completed feature Coyote vs Acme for a quick tax write-off, rather than spend money to release it. Not to be outdone, Disney Studios offers up Wish, an animated feature that is the kind of artistic misfire that deserves to be hidden away and never spoken about again. This is a creation so alternately bewildering and banal that it's implausible that at no point during the entire creative process did anyone point out the seemingly obvious fact that virtually none of it works on even the most basic levels.
Wish takes place in the kingdom of Rosas, which was founded and is currently ruled by Magnifico (Chris Pine), a seemingly benevolent sorcerer who offers peace and protection for all those who live there. The catch is that they must surrender their deepest wish to Magnifico, who stores them in the lab in his castle in bubbles and once in a great while returns one to the person who made it. Inexplicably, the people of Rosas think this is a good deal, none more so than Asha (Ariana DeBose), a teenager who is all in on both Rosas and Magnifico and is hoping that the latter will present her beloved grandfather (Victor Argo) with his wish to commemorate his upcoming 100th birthday. Continue Reading →
Fargo
SimilarAgatha Christie's Poirot Amazing Stories, Angel, Animated Classics of Japanese Literature, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Bates Motel, Baywatch Nights, Black Scorpion, Broadchurch, Cruel Summer, CSI: Miami, Dexter, From, Jack the Ripper, La Femme Nikita, La Mante, Luther, Miss Marple: Nemesis, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, More than Blue: The Series, Murder Most Horrid,
Planet of the Apes Sentimental Journey,
Sherlock Holmes Star and Sky: Star in My Mind, Tales from the Crypt, The Dead Zone, The Shining, The Singing Detective, The Twilight Zone, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Wycliffe,
StudioFX Productions,
The crime drama returns to the Land of 10,000 Lakes and rediscovers its best storytelling self.
Throughout the six episodes of Fargo Season 5 screened for critics, the series isn’t exactly subtle. From opening the season with an on-screen graphic defining “Minnesota Nice” as neighbor attacks neighbor during a school board meeting to Sheriff Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm) staring up at a campaign billboard of himself, the show loudly states its theses at the viewer over and over.
However, it never feels like creator Noah Hawley has lost control of the storytelling. It’s methodically over-the-top. The audience is on a roller coaster, but they can feel the quality of the engineering keeping them on the tracks. In other hands, this approach can feel alienating or blunting. Fargo Season 5 benefits from meeting Hawley’s signature energy with a game cast and impressively insightful art direction. As a result, the series turns in its best offering since Season 2’s near-perfect effort. Continue Reading →
The Holdovers
SimilarApocalypse Now (1979), Brazil (1985), Donnie Brasco (1997), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Fargo (1996), Forrest Gump (1994), Full Metal Jacket (1987), GoodFellas (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016), Monster (2003), Mystic River (2003), Oldboy (2003), Scrooge (1951), Shrek the Third (2007), Solaris (1972), The Apartment (1960), The Departed (2006), The Fisher King (1991), The Party 2 (1982), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), The Silent Partner (1978), To Die For (1995), Wonder Boys (2000),
Watch afterAmerican Fiction (2023), Anatomy of a Fall (2023),
Barbie (2023) Killers of the Flower Moon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Poor Things (2023), Society of the Snow (2023), The Killer (2023), The Marvels (2023),
StarringGillian Vigman,
StudioMiramax,
After stumbling with Downsizing, Alexander Payne bounces back with a gentle & witty comedy-drama.
The artist Dmitry Samarov one said to me that the ratio of good to bad late periods in an artist's life was depressing to consider. For every Sir Edward William Elgar there was an Eric Clapton (my example, not his), and that it was rare to see someone sharpen as they aged. Now, I like Dmitry and certainly respect his opinion, but I can’t help but feel that when film overtook painting as the dominant artwork that people engage with, the ratio shifted towards bizarre experimentation and welcome self-reflection as much as dull self reflection.
Take for instance 62 year old Alexander Payne, who, after the biggest disaster of his career (2017’s confused parable Downsizing), has started his fourth decade as a director by leaning hard back into what he knew (and what the royal “we” enjoyed) and rediscovered himself with The Holdovers, a movie no one can seem to stop comparing to Hal Ashby. No mean feat, of course, but even that sells its virtues short. This is no mere homage, no mere return to form, this is the movie that Payne’s been hoping to make since his 90s heyday, a film that earns both its jaundiced gaze and its catharsis. Continue Reading →
Songbirds (In Arabic: ألعاب الجوع: أنشودة الطيور المغردة والثعابين)
Similar2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), 2046 (2004),
Blade Runner (1982) Brazil (1985), Desert Hearts (1985), Die Hard (1988), I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016), Mars Attacks! (1996), Metropolis (1927), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Random Harvest (1942), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Strange Days (1995), The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Twelve Monkeys (1995),
Watch afterAquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Napoleon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023), Thanksgiving (2023), The Marvels (2023), The Nun II (2023), Wonka (2023),
StudioLionsgate,
Despite a challenging premise and an overlong runtime, the Hunger Games prequel makes the most of the hand it’s been dealt.
The character of Coriolanus Snow is an odd choice for a Hunger Games hero. In the original books and films, as played by screen giant Donald Sutherland, Snow was a cold-hearted, cruel dictator clearly meant to echo real world fascist leaders. Here, in the prequel story The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (say that five times fast), Coriolanus (Tom Blyth) is just a sensitive, emotional teen dreamboat whose main goal is to provide for his family in the wake of the violent revolution that tore apart Panem, the country formerly known as the United States of America.
It’s difficult to understand why author Suzanne Collins, who wrote the novel Songbirds is based on, made the decision to try to humanize a violent authoritarian when a core theme of the original Hunger Games books and movies was lashing back at systemic oppression. Nonetheless, director Francis Lawrence (Catching Fire, I Am Legend) and his enthusiastic cast of talented performers make the best of the rather thematically confused story arc they’ve been given, turning in one of the most exciting, emotionally arresting entries in the franchise. Continue Reading →
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
Similar4400, A Dance to the Music of Time, A Step Into The Past, Ah! My Goddess, Amazing Stories, Animated Classics of Japanese Literature, Astro Boy, Atomic Train, Ben 10: Omniverse, Christopher Columbus,
Doctor Who Eureka Seven Fallen, Family Guy, Flower Boy Next Door, Golden Years,
Hospital Playlist I Dream of Jeannie, Intruders, Kamen Rider, Lost Love in Times, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, My Holo Love, Nine: Nine Time Travels, Phil of the Future,
Planet of the Apes Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Force Brave, Prehistoric Park, Renegade,
Scully Sentimental Journey, Sonny Boy, Stand Up!!, Star-Crossed Lovers, Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The 4400, The Dead Zone, The Far Pavilions, The Fire Next Time, The Girl from Tomorrow, The Lost Recipe, The Sarah Jane Adventures, The Slime Diaries: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, The Wallflower, Thunderstone, Ultraviolet, Wedding Impossible,
StarringKieran Culkin,
The ScienceSaru-produced animated series rebuilds rather than retells Bryan Lee O'Malley's beloved comic.
Late in the final volume of Bryan Lee O'Malley's 2004-2010 comic series Scott Pilgrim (Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour), once the action's done and the hateful Gideon Graves has been slain, protagonists Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers take a moment to process everything. Defeating Gideon meant facing not only the vicious misogynist swordsman but also their respective character flaws (It's telling that one of Scott's key moments is his realizing just how alike he and Gideon are, and by gaining that understanding, he affirms that, yeah, Gideon has so got to die).
There are a few candidates for Scott's actual finest hour in Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour. His after-action conversation/reconciliation/renewal with Ramona is my pick. Bryan Lee O'Malley/Oni Press.
As Ramona says, change is one of life's constants, which applies to Scott Pilgrim's ventures into new mediums. Edgar Wright's thoroughly enjoyable movie shifted around characters and reworked some of Scott's flaws. The colorful, impeccably soundtracked, hair-tearingly difficult Ubisoft-produced video game ramped up the goofy save for one particularly pointed ending. And now, with the Netflix animated series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, creator O'Malley—joined by co-writer and co-showrunner BenDavid Grabinski and animation studio ScienceSaru (with episode director Abel Góngora) have changed things up yet again. Rather than retell Scott Pilgrim as it's been since 2004 (a story already told, with riffs, as a comic, movie, and video game), the creative team opts for something more radical. It's a work as much in conversation with the Scott Pilgrim that came before as an adaptation. Continue Reading →
Trolls (In Arabic: ترولز)
SimilarAladdin (1992), Billy Elliot (2000), Chicago (2002), Dances with Wolves (1990), Dirty Dancing (1987), Enchanted (2007), Fantasia (1940), Forrest Gump (1994), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Ice Age (2002), Italian for Beginners (2000), Mary Poppins (1964), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Muriel's Wedding (1994), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Princess Mononoke (1997), Shall We Dance? (2004), Shrek (2001), Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Stranger Than Paradise (1984), The Terminal (2004), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971),
Studio20th Century Fox,
The Trolls movies continue to indulge in their best and worst impulses in a third installment.
The poster for this past summer's R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings had a reasonably clever tagline to explain the strained dynamic between the film's two leads. Against an image of Jennifer Lawrence squeezing Andrew Barth Feldman's cheeks, a single word is placed on top of each person's face: "Pretty" and "Awkward." Nothing revolutionary in design, but it gets the job done. Best of all, that tagline also makes for an apt descriptor for Trolls Band Together.
The third entry in the Trolls trilogy (based on the popular 80s dolls), Trolls Band Together does indeed live up to the phrase “Pretty. Awkward.” The animators at DreamWorks keep coming up with gorgeous-looking environments for the titular critters to inhabit that look like they emerged from the wreckage of a craft store explosion. Unfortunately, the writing remains as stilted as ever. Continue Reading →
Nebraska
Long overshadowed by Sideways, we’re giving this understated dramedy its due for depicting Midwest with the specificity Hollywood rarely gives it.
Alexander Payne’s Nebraska is as unassuming as the regular Midwestern folk it depicts. Even though this small, quiet, black-and-white comedy was flooded with nominations during the 2013 awards season it won almost none of them. Ten years on, it remains overshadowed by Payne’s more popular works like Sideways and Election. But this odd little dramedy is not only one of Payne’s finest films to date, it’s also his one true love letter to his home state of Nebraska and the Midwest itself.
Elderly alcoholic Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) has fallen for a Publisher’s Clearinghouse–style scam and is convinced he’s won a million dollars. Determined to collect the cash in person, son David (Will Forte) ignores his mother and brother’s pleas and agrees to drive him all the way to Lincoln, Nebraska. On the way, the pair get waylaid in Woody’s hometown of Hawthorne, giving David a glimpse of not just who his father is, but how a place and the people in it shaped him. Continue Reading →
Killers of the Flower Moon (In Arabic: كيلرز اوف ذا فلاور مون)
SimilarA Christmas Carol (1938), A History of Violence (2005), Almost Famous (2000), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Apocalypse Now (1979), Apollo 13 (1995), Belle de Jour (1967), Ben-Hur (1959),
Blade Runner (1982) Blood and Chocolate (2007), Blue Velvet (1986), Brubaker (1980), Caché (2005), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Chicago (2002), Code of Silence (1985), Con Air (1997), Contact (1997), Contempt (1963), Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000), Cruel Intentions (1999), Dances with Wolves (1990), Don't Bother to Knock (1952), Donnie Brasco (1997), Enough (2002), Fargo (1996), Forrest Gump (1994), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Gandhi (1982), Gone Baby Gone (2007), I Am Not a Serial Killer (2016), I've Always Liked You (2016), Just Cause (1995), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), La Haine (1995), Léon: The Professional (1994), Manhattan (1979), Memento (2000), Metropolis (1927), Mississippi Burning (1988), Oldboy (2003), Predator (1987),
Primal Fear (1996) Random Harvest (1942), Rope (1948), Saw IV (2007), Schindler's List (1993), Shall We Dance? (2004), Sissi (1955), Solaris (1972), Strange Days (1995), Taxi Driver (1976), The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), The Cider House Rules (1999), The Devil's Rejects (2005), The Elementary Particles (2006), The Elephant Man (1980), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), The Irishman (2019), The Road (2009), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), The Straight Story (1999), The Tin Drum (1979), Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), Titanic (1997), To Die For (1995), What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993),
Watch afterAmerican Fiction (2023), Anatomy of a Fall (2023), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Leave the World Behind (2023), Napoleon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Saw X (2023), The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Killer (2023), Wonka (2023),
StudioApple Studios,
To talk about The Killer is to strip away pretense. Well, one can try. Cold it may be, but David Fincher's latest is an incredibly open film. The houses are made of glass; the windows are ceiling-high; the voiceovers from the title character (Michael Fassbender) give infallible insight into his worldview. The film is his worldview, simple in its machinations and complex in its philosophy. In most other circumstances, this would unfold over time. And it does here, at least to an extent. Continue Reading →
All the Light We Cannot See
SimilarA Fortunate Life, A Respectable Trade,
Agatha Christie's Poirot Alias Grace, Animated Classics of Japanese Literature, Anna Karenina, Återkomsten, Atomic Train, Babel, Blackeyes, Brides of Christ, Chicken Nugget, Christopher Columbus, Cigarette Girl, Cleopatra, Dancing on the Edge, Dark Winds, Dead by Sunset, Dexter, Elizabeth R, Fallen, Fearless, Further Tales of the City, G.B.H., Gossip Girl, Heidi, House of Cards, Intruders, Jack the Ripper, Jewels, Love You Just as You Are, M*A*S*H, Moeder, waarom leven wij?, Monarch of the Glen, Mr. Mercedes, Murder in the Heartland, Narco-Saints, Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Peter and Paul,
Planet of the Apes Pope John Paul II,
Pride and Prejudice Roswell Scully Sherlock Holmes Son of the Morning Star, Soul Land 2: The Peerless Tang Clan, Spies of Warsaw, Super Pumped, Tales from the Neverending Story, The 100, The Buccaneers, The Chestnut Man, The Far Pavilions, The Fire Next Time, The Gold Robbers, The Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These, The Lost World, The Moon Embracing the Sun, The Murder of Mary Phagan, The Phantom of the Opera, The Serial Killer's Wife, The Shining, The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, The Strain, The Sun Also Rises, The Three-Body Problem, The Wimbledon Poisoner, Three Days of Christmas, Tientsin Mystic, Tiger Lily, 4 femmes dans la vie, Tira, Troubles, Ultraviolet, Unorthodox, Unterleuten: The Torn Village, Viso d'angelo, Wedding Impossible, White House Plumbers, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, Wycliffe,
Early in For All Mankind Season 4, Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) and Dani Poole (Krys Marshall) reencounter each other for the first time in years on the Happy Valley Mars base. Smiling warmly, each says, “Hi, Bob,” to each other. For fans of the show, it has an immediate impact. The significance of the silly greeting reminds those audience members of the deep bond between these two astronauts. Newcomers likely won’t grasp the specifics of the importance, but Marshall and Kinnaman’s performances make it quite clear that it isn’t some random bit of silliness. Continue Reading →
The Marvels (In Arabic: ذا مارفلز)
Similar2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Aladdin (1992), Aliens (1986), Armageddon (1998), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), Back to the Future Part II (1989), Back to the Future Part III (1990), Batman Begins (2005), Batman Forever (1995), Batman Returns (1992), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Catwoman (2004), Constantine (2005), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard (1967), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Hellboy (2004), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Ice Age (2002), Jaws: The Revenge (1987), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004),
Live and Let Die (1973) Mars Attacks! (1996), Men in Black II (2002), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Shrek 2 (2004), Shrek the Third (2007), Sin City (2005), Snakes on a Plane (2006), Solaris (1972), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Superman Returns (2006), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), The Fifth Element (1997), The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), The Road (2009),
Watch afterAquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Five Nights at Freddy's (2023), Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), Napoleon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (2023), The Killer (2023), Wonka (2023),
StarringSamuel L. Jackson,
Most films don’t come with homework. The same cannot be said of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s new movie, The Marvels. Unless you’re a devoted MCU fan with an encyclopedic knowledge of both the movies and the Disney+ TV originals, it’s difficult to understand the mechanics of this disastrously convoluted entry in the floundering franchise. It feels like being dropped headfirst into a crossover episode based on three shows you’ve never seen -- mostly because it is. The Marvels kicks off with a bit of genuine visual interest (that never appears again) in the form of hand-drawn comics created by teenage superhero-slash-Captain Marvel fangirl Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), aka Ms. Marvel. Vellani, who previously appeared as Kamala on the little-seen Disney+ series Ms. Marvel, is a spunky, hilarious teenage heroine whose impressive comedic timing buoys the leaden, disjointed script. She so thoroughly steals the show that it’s disappointing this movie wasn’t just about her; instead, it's a confused mix of storylines involving Kamala, Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), and astronaut Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris, Candyman). It feels like the powers that be made a huge mistake in consigning her story to a poorly publicized streaming original, instead of letting her headline a film on her own. Continue Reading →
The Garfield Movie (In Arabic: الدعسوقة ميراكيلوس والقط الأسود: الفيلم)
SimilarArmageddon (1998), Batman Begins (2005), Batman Forever (1995), Batman Returns (1992), Ben-Hur (1959), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), Code of Silence (1985), Constantine (2005), Enchanted (2007), Fantasia (1940), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), I've Always Liked You (2016), Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Mary Poppins (1964), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Paris Can Wait (2016), Princess Mononoke (1997), Shall We Dance? (2004), Strange Days (1995), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), The Science of Sleep (2006), True Romance (1993), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), You Only Live Twice (1967), Zatoichi (2003),
Watch after1917 (2019),
Barbie (2023) Oppenheimer (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 Flash (2023), The Suicide Squad (2021),
StarringAyane Sakura, Brett Goldstein, Hannah Waddingham, Hisako Kanemoto, Junko Minagawa, Kotono Mitsuishi, Marina Inoue, Mariya Ise, Megumi Hayashibara, Samuel L. Jackson, Sayaka Ohara, Shizuka Itoh, Shoko Nakagawa,
StudioColumbia Pictures, dentsu, King Records, Studio Deen, Toei Animation, Toei Company,
When I was around thirteen, two classmates, Christina and Taylor (their real names, it’s not like they’re going to read this), played a prank on me that resulted in my eating dog food. In retrospect, it could have been worse: nobody else saw it happen, and for whatever reason they kept it to themselves. But when I think about my teenage years (and I try not to much at this point in my life, other than at a superficial pop culture level), my mind often goes to that moment. Continue Reading →
Lawmen: Bass Reeves
SimilarAmazing Stories, American Horror Story, Animated Classics of Japanese Literature, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Cruel Summer,
HIStory Murder Most Horrid, Sentimental Journey, Star and Sky: Star in My Mind, Super Pumped, The Twilight Zone,
Watch afterFargo, Gen V, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters,
The Last of Us Yellowstone,
StudioMTV Entertainment Studios,
Screenwriter Josh Olsen (A History of Violence) used to tell anyone who would listen that his passion project was an account of the life of Bass Reeves, a man whose life and career were the stuff of fables. Reeves was the first Black deputy sheriff west of the Mississippi, with an arrest record in the thousands by most accounts. Best of all, legends assert that he almost never killed or shot anyone he didn’t have to. Continue Reading →
Priscilla
SimilarAli: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Annie Hall (1977), Belle de Jour (1967), Billy Elliot (2000), Blood and Chocolate (2007),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), Contempt (1963), Crash (1996), Dead Poets Society (1989), Desert Hearts (1985), Dirty Dancing (1987), Donnie Brasco (1997), Enough (2002), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Forrest Gump (1994), Gandhi (1982), Italian for Beginners (2000), La Vie en Rose (2007), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), Lost in Translation (2003), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Raging Bull (1980), Shall We Dance? (2004), Solaris (1972), Strange Days (1995), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), The Cider House Rules (1999), The Elephant Man (1980), The Irishman (2019), The Last Emperor (1987), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), The Science of Sleep (2006), The Tin Drum (1979), Wonder Boys (2000),
Watch afterAquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Killers of the Flower Moon (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,
StudioAmerican 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 →
May December (In Arabic: مايو ديسمبر)
SimilarAli: Fear Eats the Soul (1974), Anna and the King (1999), Billy Elliot (2000), Brazil (1985), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Fargo (1996), M*A*S*H (1970), Mars Attacks! (1996), Monster (2003), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Oldboy (2003), Shaun of the Dead (2004), Stalker (1979), Talk to Her (2002), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), The Road (2009), The Tin Drum (1979), Volver (2006), Wonder Boys (2000),
Watch afterAmerican Fiction (2023), Anatomy of a Fall (2023), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Leave the World Behind (2023), Napoleon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Poor Things (2023), Saltburn (2023), Thanksgiving (2023),
In such films as Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, Velvet Goldmine and I’m Not There, filmmaker Todd Haynes has taken the stories of famous people and utilized what we know—or think we know—about them to explore ideas about celebrity and our all-consuming need to render their often-complex stories into straightforward narratives. That strange compulsion to explain, understand, and commodify the lives of real people is at the heart of his latest work, May December, and it certainly seems to have sparked something in him because the end result is the strongest work that he has done in quite some time. Continue Reading →