Film Reviews: New Releases for April 18 | Buzz Blog

Thursday, April 17, 2025

Film Reviews: New Releases for April 18

Sinners, The Wedding Banquet, Sneaks, The Ugly Stepsister, One to One: John & Yoko

Posted By on April 17, 2025, 6:49 PM

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click to enlarge Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton in Sinners - WARNER BROS. PICTURES
  • Warner Bros. Pictures
  • Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton in Sinners
One to One: John & Yoko ***
I completely understand the idea that, after 50-plus years, we really don’t need another documentary about any of the Beatles—and if this one works, it’s because director Kevin Macdonald kind of understands that, too. Because this is less a documentary about John Lennon and Yoko Ono than it is about the world that shaped them at a particular moment in their lives: approximately 18 months between 1971 and 1973 when they were living in New York’s Greenwich Village, absorbing American culture and politics from television, including a documentary about conditions at a home for developmentally-disabled children that inspired the “One to One” benefit concert in August 1972. Macdonald includes performance clips from the concert—Lennon’s only full-length live performance as a solo artist—but also fills the film with images from early-1970s television: snippets of hit shows, commercials, news coverage of the 1972 presidential campaign and the war in Vietnam. The result is a fairly fascinating distillation of the mental whiplash that could result in the juxtaposition of innocuous programming ignoring these years’ social upheaval with stark reminders of violence, sexism and racism. Yes, we do get a picture of Lennon, Ono, and the other activists and artists in their New York circle through contemporaneous interviews and recordings, trying to figure out what they can do to make the world better. The sense of discovery comes from realizing that every radical is forced in a specific crucible. Available April 18 in theaters. (R)

Sinners ***1/2
Multiplex cinema could always stand more big swings, and it’s hard to imagine a swing bigger than writer/director Ryan Coogler’s mix of horror, musical and socially-conscious drama. Set in 1932 Mississippi, it finds twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Coogler’s regular muse Michael B. Jordan) returning from Chicago to their old home stomping grounds, hoping to use the money obtained from their various … enterprises to open a backwoods juke joint, with music provided by their young cousin and budding blues guitarist Sammie (newcomer Miles Caton). The details of what follows are best left discovered—go in as cold as possible—as are some of the temporal tricks Coogler is willing to employ to suggest the role of Black music across generations. But most impressively, Coogler keeps firing off risky ideas in this story—everything from the role of traditional Black folk magic, to the real possibilities for Black Americans to win at capitalism, to the consequences of “passing” as White—while simultaneously delivering something that’s wildly entertaining. And if I’m reading this correctly, it incorporates one of the most audacious perspectives on Christianity and colonialism that I’ve ever seen a mainstream film attempt. The result is a kind of celebration of living on your own terms, dying on your own terms, or maybe even existing somewhere between the two on your own terms. Available April 18 in theaters. (R)

Sneaks **
Perhaps it never occurred to you to do a remake of Toy Story 2 with shoes instead of toys, but hey, that’s why they don’t pay you those big Hollywood bucks. Unfortunately, that’s more or less what you get in this animated adventure that follows a pair of exclusive-release sneakers—siblings Ty (Anthony Mackie) and Maxine (Chloe Bailey)—who are won in a raffle by a New York youth (rapper Swae Lee), then separated after they’re stolen by an overzealous collector (Laurence Fishburne). The early scenes promise a bit of ingenuity from co-directors Rob Edwards and Christopher Jenkins, including a graffiti-inspired opening credits sequence and a Greek chorus of shoes hanging from power lines. But ultimately it settles into a plot that echoes TS2’s rescue subplot, along with a friendship between Ty and cynical abandoned sneaker J.B. (Martin Lawrence) that feels like it’s going to break into “When She Loved Me” at any moment. There are a few lively chases and even a big musical production number, so it’s not so much that Sneaks is a bore. It simply never finds its own emotional hook beyond all the things it cribs from its Pixar inspiration, even if this movie’s collector is more well-rounded as an antagonist. So you can rewatch a classic in Toy Story 2, or settle for Toe Story 1. Available April 18 in theaters. (PG)

The Ugly Stepsister ***
It’s certainly no great leap to body horror from the original, pre-Disney version of the Cinderella story, and writer/director Emilie Blichfeldt turns obvious finger-wagging at unreasonable beauty standards into something that’s grotesquely fun. Certain elements of this grim fairy tale are familiar—a lovely girl turned into a maid by her stepfamily; a ball to find a prince’s bride—but turns the focus on Elvira (Lea Myren), who goes to extreme measures to match the beauty of her stepsister Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss) and win the hand of the prince. Myren’s performance provides a terrific anchor for everything, capturing the desperation of someone twisted into knots by storybook notions of happily-ever-after, remaining sympathetic even as she becomes a villain to Agnes. But it’s also impressive how deftly Blichfeldt plays with our knowledge of the story—there’s a delightful twist on how this Cinderella comes by her magically-repaired ball gown—while being selective about when and how to use the real over-the-top material and overseeing top-notch tech credits like the sound design underscoring the way Elvira starves herself. It might end up feeling a bit saggy at 109 minutes, and there’s nothing radically new here about how women harm themselves to appeal to others (especially hard on the heels of The Substance). Kudos, though, to Blichfeldt for finding twisted satisfaction in noting that sometimes, a scream is a wish your heart makes. Available April 18 in theaters. (NR)

The Wedding Banquet ***
A lot has changed for queer people in the past 30 years, and a lot hasn’t—and co-writer/director Andrew Ahn finds a solid balance between the two in his remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 art-house hit. In this incarnation, gay Korean immigrant Min (Han Gi-Chan)—facing an ultimatum from his grandmother (Minari Oscar-winner Youn Yuh-jung) that could threaten his legal status in the U.S.—attempts to set up a green-card/beard wedding with Angela (Kelly Marie Tran), the best friend of Min’s long-term partner Chris (Bowen Yang). There are additional complications as Angela and her own partner, Lee (Lily Gladstone), attempt to conceive a child through IVF, even as Angela struggles with lingering issues with her own mother (Joan Chen), and the plot starts to feel kinda overstuffed with everyone’s various dramas. But what the script by Ahn and original Wedding Banquet screenwriter James Schamus lacks in structural efficiency, it makes up for in plenty of solid laugh lines, and opportunities for every one of the cast members to shine. Perhaps more importantly, it feels savvy about recognizing not just how queer folks create families of choice, but where those same folks can still feel the need for the families that raised them, and how they can try to find a way back into right relationships. Even when you’re one or two steps ahead of the characters in figuring out what comes next for them, it’s hard to resist the crowd-pleasing good vibes. Available April 18 in theaters. (R)

About The Author

Scott Renshaw

Scott Renshaw

Bio:
Scott Renshaw has been a City Weekly staff member since 1999, including assuming the role of primary film critic in 2001 and Arts & Entertainment Editor in 2003. Scott has covered the Sundance Film Festival for 25 years, and provided coverage of local arts including theater, pop-culture conventions, comedy,... more

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