This Week in Movies is a feature that highlights some of the big news stories from the world of movies that dropped over the past seven days. Below you’ll find a small handful of the headlines you might have missed.

Here are some of the top stories from the week of January 18th – 24th….

• Robert Eggers has officially announced his next project. Following the success of his terrific “Nosferatu”, Eggers is reteaming with Focus Features to make “Werwulf”. As its title suggests, the filmmaker’s fifth film is set to be a werewolf horror thriller. Eggers penned the script with Sjón who he previously worked with on “The Northman”. Not much has been revealed about the story, but we do know it will be set in 13th century England and will feature period-accurate dialect. Fans are sure to expect a tense and atmospheric experience similar to the other films in Eggers’ oeuvre. “Werfulf” is currently slated for a Christmas 2026 release.

• Netflix continues to cement itself as the leader of the streaming services by announcing that it has surpassed 300 million subscribers globally. They also shared that the service gained a record 18.9 million subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2024. Netflix is also celebrating the awards season success of “Emilia Perez” which continues to rake in the nominations. On the flipside, Netflix also announced yet another price increase, raising their ad-supported tier a full $1 per month ($7.99) and their premium tier $2 a month ($24.99). Yikes.

• This week we learned that Ryan Gosling is in talks to star in Shawn Levy’s upcoming Star Wars film. It has been five years since we last saw Star Wars on the big screen and during that time there have been countless rumors about what was next for the galaxy far, far away. Levy (“Deadpool & Wolverine”) has been working on his movie for over two years and is set to serve as director, writer, and producer. Gosling’s potential involvement could see Levy’s movie next in line behind 2026’s “The Mandalorian and Grogu”.

• The 2025 Razzie Awards nominations were announced this week and if you blinked you might have missed them. The Razzies were once a silly and fun event leading up to the Oscars that ‘celebrated’ the worst from the year in movies. But several embarrassing missteps in recent years has led to a lot of people losing interest. This year’s nominees seem lazier than usual and not nearly as funny as they want them to be. Among the small handful of movies nominated are “Joker: Folie à Deux”, “Megalopolis”, “Madame Web”, “Reagan”, and “Borderlands”.

• And of course the biggest news of the week was the announcement of the nominees for the 97th Academy Awards. Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennott shared this year’s batch which I couldn’t be less excited about. Among the underwhelming films taking home the most nominations are “Emilia Perez” with 13, “The Brutalist” with 10, and “Wicked” with 10. The excellent “A Complete Unknown” had 8 nominations though it’s not expected to win many (if any). The almost great “Conclave” also received 8 while the grueling awards season darling “Anora” received 6.

The 2025 El Dorado Film Festival is set to return next month. This year’s festival will run from February 26th through March 2nd. The event will once again be held at the South Arkansas Arts Center (SAAC), located at 110 East 5th Street in El Dorado, Arkansas. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased online or at the SAAC box office.

Established in 2014, the EDFF offers a curated selection of independent cinema, narrative and documentary features as well as short films from around the world. The festival recently announced this year’s exciting slate of regional, national, and international feature length and short films. Check them out below…

A Special Opening Night Event – 40th Anniversary Screening of “Fright Night” Featuring El Dorado Native William Ragsdale

On February 26th at 8 PM, the SAAC theater will host a 40th anniversary screening of “Fright Night”. Actor William Ragsdale, who plays Charley Brewster, will introduce the film and participate in a Q&A after the show.

“William Ragsdale has been an inspiration to so many of us El Dorado-raised actors and filmmakers over the years,” EDFF Executive Director Alexander Jeffery. “When I realized that 2025 marked the 40th Anniversary of William’s perennial success, Fright Night, it made all the sense in the world to kick off this year’s festival by celebrating him and his achievements over the years.”

The 2025 El Dorado Film Festival Official Selections

As someone fascinated with the rise and fall of the America Mafia, the new film “The Alto Knights” immediately grabbed my attention. This biographical crime drama is directed by Academy Award winner Barry Levinson (“The Natural”, “Rain Man”) and written by Nicholas Pileggi (“Goodfellas”). And to top it all off it features Robert De Niro in a dual role playing mob bosses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. While that was all I needed to be excited, seeing the first trailer has me even more hyped.

Set in the 1950s, “The Alto Knights” follows the complex relationship between Italian-American mob bosses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello. It centers on their close friendship as well as the eventual tension that leads to an unsuccessful assassination attempt and a dramatic reshaping of the American Mafia. This is fascinating and fertile material and Warner Bros. look to have all the right people in place to explore it.

“The Alto Knights” releases in theaters on March 21st. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

Following its wildly intriguing teaser released several weeks ago, the first full trailer for “Companion” just dropped and it adds even more reasons to be interested. Written and directed by Drew Hancock, “Companion” is yet another A.I./robot thriller that joins the numerous others put out over the last several years. But the trailer leaves the impression that this one may have a unique flavor all its own.

Part sci-fi thriller and part breakup comedy, “Companion” sees Sophie Thatcher playing Iris, the android girlfriend to Jack Quaid’s Josh. Problems start when Josh decides to jail-break his companion like an iPhone. Iris suddenly starts malfunctioning and things quickly turn violent. There’s a lot to like about the trailer including the wild premise and some gnarly kills. But there’s also some curious character bits which are a little questionable.

“Companion” hits theaters January 31st. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

Based on the short story of the same name by George R. R. Martin, “In the Lost Lands” is an upcoming action-fantasy epic from director Paul W. S. Anderson. The film stars Anderson’s real-life wife Milla Jovovich who he previously worked with on the Resident Evil film series and more recently “Monster Hunter”. The film also stars Dave Bautista who can be good if given the right material. The first trailer dropped today and it’s hard to get a good feel for what to expect.

From the trailer the film’s fantastical story is a little hard to put together. It sees Jovovich playing a powerful witch named Gray Alys who’s on a mission to the violent post-apocalyptic wilderness known as the Lost Lands. Ahead of her journey she hires a guide named Boyce (Bautista) who is familiar with the dangers that lie ahead. The two immediately encounter a variety of threats, some natural and some not so much. The film looks to incorporate a heavy does of dark fantasy action and it looks to have an equally dark story. Hopefully that story has enough meat on its bones to stay interesting.

“In the Lost Lands” opens in theaters February 28th. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

Recently I shared my Top 10 films of 2024 (you can check them out HERE). Today is a far less joyous occasion. As I’ve often done in the past, today I’m sharing my choices for the five worst movies I saw this past year. It’s sad to say but there were quite a lot to choose from. But who takes these things seriously anyway? So without further ado, here are my picks. Enjoy….I guess.

Dishonorable Mentions: “Babygirl”, “Dirty Angels”, “Red One”, “Lonely Planet”, “The Killer’s Game”, “Tarot”, “Kinds of Kindness”, “The Crow”, “The Union”, “A Family Affair”, “The Exorcism”, “Something in the Water”, “Sunrise”, “Mean Girls”, “The Apprentice”

#5 – “Space Cadet”

The premise of “Space Cadet” isn’t very encouraging. Then you actually watch the movie and realize it’s worse than expected. “Space Cadet” is absurd in all the wrong ways. You do feel for Emma Roberts who does everything she can to make us laugh or at least care about what we’re seeing. Sadly, her efforts are in vain as the material is just too bad for her or anyone else to overcome.

#4 – “Anora”

I know, I know. People love this thing which may lead some to accuse me of being a contrarian. But nothing could be further from the truth. I left the theater with the same opinion I have now – “Anora” is a messy and shallow grind. It’s a numbingly exhausting 140 minutes spent with annoying characters with practically no meaningful depth.  And good luck finding an emotional core amid the endless yelling, constant arguing, and (at times) brain-melting dialogue.

#3 – “Madame Web”

It certainly wasn’t a great year for superhero movies. Sony’s SpiderVerse had an especially tough time led by the train-wreck that was “Madame Web”. I feel bad for Dakota Johnson who I’m sure received a nice paycheck but who didn’t exactly get a career boost with this one. The movie was risky from the start. But I can’t imagine many expected such catastrophic results. Bland story, bland protagonists, a bland villain, and bland action. That’s not a winning formula.

#2 – “The Strangers: Chapter 1”

I really responded to 2008’s home invasion horror film “The Strangers”. Sadly “The Strangers: Chapter One” captures none of what made the original successful. It’s essentially a stripped-down version of the original film that has us spending most of the running time waiting for something to happen. There’s barely enough material here to fill a 30-minute pilot episode much less a feature length movie. And when something FINALLY does happen, it isn’t worth the wait.

#1 – “Mea Culpa”

Tyler Perry’s self-branded feature “Mea Culpa” clearly wants to be a legal, psychological, and erotic thriller all wrapped into one. The problem is the film isn’t remotely thrilling in any imaginable way. Instead, this astonishingly bad, completely hollow, and downright trashy straight-to-streaming debacle only gets by on its handful of unintentional laughs. There’s certainly talent in the cast, but sadly they’re trapped in a no-win situation. And so is the audience.