DON'T SLEEP ON: Kiss of the Spider Woman

Kiss of the Spider Woman (USA, 2025. Dir: Bill Condon): A sturdy original source can make even a bad movie tolerable (The Dark Tower comes to mind). True artists, however, aim higher and try to build something fresh on top of a strong foundation.

While not the first film adaptation of Manuel Puig’s novel of the same name, Bill Condon’s Kiss of the Spider Woman is set to introduce at least two generations to this seminal tale of freedom and dignity through imagination. Would you like to know more?

THIS WEEK IN MOVIES: Eleanor the Great

Eleanor the Great (USA, 2025. Dir: Scarlett Johansson): It’s a tale as old as time, the big-time actor trying their hand at directing. Recently, we watched Chris Pine crash and burn in the godawful Poolman and Dev Patel killing it in Monkey Man. They both swung for the fences.

Scarlett Johansson takes a safer approach in Eleanor the Great, a tolerable dramedy with a weak script but a strong lead. At 95, June Squibb improbably scores her second starring role as the titular Eleanor, a cantankerous old woman who, following the passing of her roommate, finds herself forced to live with her daughter in New York. Would you like to know more?

THIS WEEK IN MOVIES: Caught Stealing, Night of the Juggler

Caught Stealing (USA, 2025. Dir: Darren Aronofsky): I’m normally in the bag for any new Darren Aronofsky film. I would even defend Mother! from its many haters. Aronofsky is the rare filmmaker capable of making emotional depth cinematic. Watching his characters succumb to their darker angels (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream) is both horrifying and entrancing. Would you like to know more?

THIS WEEK IN VOD: Materialists

Materialists (USA, 2025. Dir: Celine Song): Full disclosure. Remember when the world was singing writer/director Celine Song’s praises following her feature debut Past Lives? I didn’t care for it. I didn’t buy the passivity of the husband character (John Magaro) as his wife embarks on an emotional affair with a man she considered her soulmate. Would you like to know more?

DON'T SLEEP ON: Oh, Hi!

Oh, Hi! (USA, 2025. Dir: Sophie Brooks): Indie films’ path to the big screen has never been more treacherous. It’s not just the challenge of finding distribution or getting attention in a profoundly fragmented market. They can also get scooped up by streamers and end up lost in a never-ending menu — unheralded and unseen. Would you like to know more?

THIS WEEK IN MOVIES: Cloud, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight

Cloud (Japan, 2024. Dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa): One of Japan’s most interesting yet low-key filmmakers, one could place Kiyoshi Kurosawa next to Kitano and Miike. I would argue he’s even more gifted. While almost as prolific, Kurosawa’s hit/miss ratio is much higher. His horror output is strong (Cure, Pulse, Creepy) and his dramas have teeth (Tokyo Sonata, Serpent’s Path). His formula is simple: take a social malaise, turn it into a genre movie. Would you like to know more?

THIS WEEK IN MOVIES: Predator: Killer of Killers

Predator: Killer of Killers (USA, 2025. Dir: Dan Trachtenberg, Joshua Wassung): First thing you need to know before reading this review: I’m not the biggest Predator fan. I find the character one-dimensional and his ethos doesn’t resist analysis. Are you going to tell me in the world of Predator nobody does anything besides hunting? What happens if I’m a predator and I prefer, I don’t know, alien chess? Do I become prey? Also, who develops all that funky technology? It can’t be the meathead dwellers of this planet. Would you like to know more?

THIS WEEK IN MOVIES: Rust

(Rust. USA, 2024. Dir: Joel Souza): There’s one thing I wasn’t expecting from Rust, the infamous western in which cinematographer Halyna Hutchins lost her life when a prop gun loaded with live ammunition went off: a good movie.

Yet that’s exactly what I got. Would you like to know more?

ILM Opens New Studio in Vancouver, Bucks Trend

It was a reasonable next step, yet it felt unexpected.

Two days after the President of the United States slapped tariffs on dozens of countries reportedly to bring manufacturing jobs back into the country, Industrial Light and Magic (the VFX giant initially created by George Lucas to support his Star Wars efforts) officially opened new studio space in Vancouver, BC, the largest of the five hubs ILM has around the world. Would you like to know more?

DON'T SLEEP ON... The Penguin Lessons

The Penguin Lessons (UK, 2024. Dir: Peter Cattaneo): Steve Coogan is the ultimate acquired taste. Casual observers might dismiss him as a self-absorbed jerk. People who have followed his career a bit are aware Coogan can be extremely funny (see Alan Partridge in any of his incarnations). Avid Coogan fans know there’s an undercurrent of melancholy that runs deep in his work and he’s capable of greatness (The Trip saga, Philomena). Would you like to know more?