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Den of Thieves: Pantera, Better Man, The Last Showgirl
Better Man ***1/2
Count me all-in on the trend—after the “Pharrell-as-LEGO” documentary Piece by Piece and this oddball endeavor—of bypassing the Walk Hard musical biopic clichés through imaginative representation of the central figure.
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Porcelain War
Porcelain War **1/2
It’s not surprising that being caught in a war zone should yield a tangle of thoughts and ideas, but that tangle manifests itself in a documentary by directors Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev that never finds a specific focus. At the outset, we meet Leontyev and his personal/artistic partner Anya Stasenko, as well as their friend and fellow artist Andrey Stefanov as they navigate living through the Russian assault on Ukraine, specifically their home city of Kharkiv.
A Complete Unknown, Nosferatu, The Fire Inside, Babygirl
Babygirl ***
Writer/director Halina Reijn is hardly the first filmmaker to address characters exploring a submissive kink—Secretary and Phantom Thread, among others, beat her to that punch—but she’s still able to find a couple of unique angles in the psychology of desire. Her protagonist is Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman), a corporate CEO with a husband (Antonio Banderas) and two daughters who finds herself drawn to new intern Samuel (Harris Dickinson) when he provides her with the chance to release her inner bottom.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Mufasa: The Lion King, Homestead, The Six Triple Eight
Homestead **
Perhaps it's on me that I didn't realize the full story behind this faith-based apocalyptic drama, but it’s hard to overstate the bitterness one can feel when you’re watching what you think is a movie, but instead is the pilot for series. Ben Kasica and Jason Ross created this tale set in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on the United States, as various characters—including military veteran Jeff Eriksson (Bailey Chase) and his family—converge on the Rocky Mountain compound owned by Ian Ross (Neal McDonough), one of the few places in the region with a secure food supply.
Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, Kraven the Hunter, Queer, Carry-On, The End
Carry-On ***1/2
It’s pretty nervy for anyone to try to horn in on Die Hard’s territory as “kick-ass action thriller that’s also a Christmas movie,” but director Jaume Collet-Serra and screenwriters T. J. Fixman & Michael Green craft a ripping good yarn. Set at LAX on Christmas Eve, it follows a TSA agent named Ethan (Taron Egerton) blackmailed by a mercenary (Jason Bateman) to allow a bag through security that decidedly should not be allowed through security.
On Wednesday, The Sundance Film Festival announced its slate of features and episodic selections for the 2025 edition of the festival, scheduled to begin Jan. 23, 2025 and run through Feb. 2 in Park City and Salt Lake City, with online "virtual festival" access for select titles during the second half of the festival. Here are the titles.
Finding the gentle humanity in falling short of a perfect artistic vision
Florence Foster Jenkins—the Depression-era New York socialite who became famous-slash-infamous for her legendarily tone-deaf operatic recitals—is a fascinating enough character that she’s been the subject of multiple theatrical studies, documentaries and feature films. At the core of that fascination is speculation about the intersection between genuine artistic expression and self-delusion, in much the same way that the filmmaking career of Plan 9 from Outer Space’s Ed Wood remains so compelling.
Play for young audiences opens this weekend at Salt Lake Acting Company
Composer Deborah Wicks LaPuma has collaborated on the creation of several theater works for young audiences, including adapting author Mo Willems' Elephant & Piggie's 'We Are in a Play' (which Salt Lake Acting Company staged in 2021 and 2023) and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!
