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Anora, Here, Music By John Williams, Emilia Pérez, Absolution and more
Absolution **
Has Liam Neeson really been riding in the same groove for so long that he’s moved from multiple “aging badass reaching a life transition” roles to multiple “aging badass reaching a life transition who also has dementia” roles? His unnamed character here is long-time muscle for a Boston-area crime boss (Ron Perlman), facing memory loss and trying to use the time he has remaining to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Frankie Shaw) and grandson (Terrence Pulliam).
Two new productions explore the psychological cost of bigotry
It ain’t easy talking about hate. It’s depressing to feel like it should have gotten easier in recent years, considering how often various groups are demonized in our world, but it’s still hard to contemplate dehumanization in a way that isn’t didactic.
Venom: The Last Dance, Conclave, Your Monster, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin
Conclave ***1/2
A movie about the election of a Pope might not be as hard a sell if the marketing department were able to reveal the kind of movie it actually is—but the complexity it ultimately reveals is part of what makes it so fascinating. Director Edward Berger (the Oscar-winning 2022 All Quiet on the Western Front) and screenwriter Peter Straughan adapt Robert Harris’s 2016 novel that takes in the aftermath of the sudden death of the Pope, leaving Cardinal Thomas Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) responsible for overseeing the conclave of cardinals that will select his successor.
The singer gets improvisational and experimental for SLC visit
André Benjamin brought his New Blue Sun world tour to the Eccles Theater on Wednesday, Oct. 16, and his intent was clear; a real artist is always on the move.
Smile 2, We Live in Time, Goodrich, Rumours, Exhibiting Forgiveness, Woman of the Hour
Exhibiting Forgiveness ***
There are some challenging things percolating beneath the surface of writer/director Titus Kaphar's movie, which might have made even more of an impact had he not been so determined to underline things that didn’t need underlining. It’s the tale of on-the-rise visual artist Tarrell Rodin (André Holland), whose burgeoning success is unexpectedly accompanied by the reappearance of his long-absent father, La’Ron (John Earl Jelks), in recovery from years of drug addiction and seeking reconciliation for the damage he did as a father.
KRCL/Fisher Beer Anniversary Ale launch, shows at City Weekly store
Fisher Beer + KRCL Anniversary Ale launch party 10/15
Local radio station KRCL is teaming up with Fisher Brewing to release a special brew to celebrate 45 years of local radio.
Saturday Night, Piece by Piece, The Apprentice, Lonely Planet, In the Summers and more.
The Apprentice **1/2
There’s the version of this movie that’s genuinely inquisitive about the circumstances that created Donald Trump, and the version of this movie that exists strictly as an excuse to laugh at him—and then there’s this version, which falls squarely between the other two. It opens in 1975 New York, with Trump (Sebastian Stan) trying to make his own mark outside the shadow of his slumlord dad Fred (Martin Donovan).
Darkly comic ghost story explores what happens when indifference comes back to haunt you
There’s a ghost wandering through the audience at the outset of Chisa Hutchinson’s Whitelisted—not literally, of course, and not even really within the framework of the play.
