In “The Front Room”, Brandy Norwood plays Belinda Irwin, a woman who has a lot on her plate. Professionally, she’s an anthropology professor who is fed up with being mistreated by her department. On a more personal level, she’s still struggling with the tragic death of her first born son, Wallace. On top of all that, she’s VERY pregnant. It all leads to bouts with anxiety, fear, and uncertainty. But things only get worse once her stepmother-in-law comes into the picture.

“The Front Room” is based on the 2016 short story of the same name from Susan Hill. It is co-written and co-directed by Max and Sam Eggers. If that last name sounds familiar to you, it’s because they are the brothers of acclaimed filmmaker Robert Eggers. Their adaptation is a fascinating and frustrating creation built around some wickedly cool ideas that unfortunately never materialize into much.

While “The Front Room” is a psychological horror film, it has the makings for a really funny dark comedy. We get flashes of it in scenes that had me and the small audience at my screening laughing out loud on several occasions. That is when the movie is at its best. Unfortunately the horror angle isn’t nearly as effective. The Eggers brothers do some genuinely creepy table-setting, but they struggle getting their movie beyond that.

Belinda and her husband Norman (Andrew Burnap) live in a fixer-upper that they’re having a hard time finishing. He is a struggling young attorney who needs to score one more big client to gain a position at his law firm. She loves teaching at her university but finds herself losing opportunities from a dean who refuses to meet with her or take her calls. Both still feel the emotional weight of losing their infant first born which adds an understandable concern for Belinda’s current pregnancy.

To add to their stress, Norman receives a surprise call from his estranged stepmother, Solange (Kathryn Hunter) who informs him that his father has died from stomach cancer. Norman doesn’t want to attend the funeral due to abuse he experienced as a child. He confesses to Belinda that Solange claims to be “Holy Spirit empowered” and her twisted pseudo-religious beliefs led to trauma he still struggles with today.

Belinda convinces Norman to attend the funeral for his father’s sake. After the service, Solange informs Norman and Belinda that it was his father’s will that she leave them their substantial fortune. It would be enough to finish paying for their house and set up their nearly due baby for life. But it comes with one stipulation – Solange would move in with them and live out her remaining days with family. It’s pretty clear to us that it’s a terrible idea, but Norman and Belinda agree to take her in.

It doesn’t take long for the frail and hunched Solange to become a menace. From seemingly small but nagging things like belittling Belinda’s cooking to taking the nursery to be her room. Norman is quickly fed up but Belinda plays mediator to try and make things work. But the situation soon spirals to more sinister depths as Solange’s real motives eventually come into focus.

Hunter is no stranger to playing eccentric characters and it’s no different here. Her shrill gravelly voice is as discomforting as her unapologetically crass demeanor. Hunter does her job in making us as uncomfortable as Belinda and Norman. But the film leans on her too much and she begins to wear out her welcome with the audience before she ever does with the couple. This is compounded by the fact that we get very little in terms of big twists or fun surprises. It’s just Hunter doing essentially the same thing for the duration.

The Eggers brothers do attempt to add an unexpected spin in their film’s final moments. But it and their ending as a whole lands with a thud. And that summarizes “The Front Room”. It’s a movie that has the source material and the ambition to be an eerie, disturbing, yet darkly funny psychological horror experience. But it never takes its cool ideas far enough which leaves us impressed by the course it sets for itself but annoyed by its inability to get where it’s going. “The Front Room” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

Hot on the heels of a sublime performance in last year’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” (and a subsequent Oscar night robbery in the Best Actress race), Lily Gladstone is back in “Fancy Dance”, a film that in some ways makes for a great companion piece to “Killers”. Directed by Erica Tremblay in her feature film debut, “Fancy Dance” premiered several months ahead of “Killers” at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. It took a while but it finally received a limited theater release and is now available to stream.

Tremblay and her co-writer Miciana Alise hand Gladstone some tricky material which leads to an equally tricky performance. Throughout the film Gladstone projects a tough yet weary exterior. And there’s almost an emotionless quality to her performance which really comes through in her stoic and at times monotone deliveries. It’s a choice that doesn’t always work. But then there are those brilliant moments where Gladstone lets us know there is more than what we see on the surface. Over time, she gives us glimpses of fear, anger, and pain that change our entire perception of her character.

Gladstone plays Jax Goodiron, a young woman living on the Seneca–Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma. Her sister Tawi lives a troubled life which leaves Jax as the primary caregiver for her 13-year-old niece Roki (Isabel DeRoy-Olson). Making matters worse, Tawi hasn’t been seen in two weeks which has raised the attention of the Indian Child Welfare agents. Jax is used to her sister taking off but never for this long. She’s reported Tawi missing, but with the exception of her half-brother JJ (Ryan Begay), a member of the Indian tribal police, neither the Sheriff’s Department or the feds seem interested.

Among Jax’s more intriguing facets is the fact that she isn’t a particularly good person. She shoplifts, steals cars and sells them to a salvage yard, and even runs drugs for a local hood named Boo (Blayne Allen). Worst of all, she often involves her niece in many of her crimes.

Yet the film still manages to earn our sympathy for Jax by revealing her to be a victim of her seemingly unbreakable circumstances. Her world is presented through an authentic and distinctly indigenous lens that reveals a segment of society too often ignored. Trembley’s clear-eyed and unvarnished representation immerses us into a firmly grounded setting. In essence, we sympathize for Jax’s plight because we’re able to understand the obstacles she has faced and the barriers she still endures.

Another reason we’re sympathetic is because Jax genuinely loves Roki and is taking care of her the best way she knows how. It’s clear that Jax was thrust into a maternal role she was never equipped for. Yet she only wants Roki to be happy, even if it means telling her that Tawi will be back in time for the mother-daughter dance at a powwow in Tulsa. But Jax knows that grows more and more unlikely the longer Tawi is missing.

While one aim of the film is to shine a light on the epidemic of missing Native American women and the ambivalence towards their disappearances, another hones in on the thorny subject of foster care and child welfare within the indigenous communities. This is explored most when Child Protective Services remove Roki from her home and temporarily places her with Jax’s estranged white father Frank and his new wife Nancy (Audrey Wasilewski). It spurs Jax to make some well-meaning yet rash choices that sends the film’s second half in a much more dire direction.

There are instances in “Fancy Dance” where characters and their intentions aren’t fully fleshed out, and the film’s pacing sometimes undermines the potency of its messaging. But for the most part Tremblay speaks volumes and not through heavy-handed sermonizing. Instead, she speaks through her richly textured and detailed depiction of reservation life. And she conveys an array of real-life social issues through the experiences of individuals navigating that life. It shows her competency as a filmmaker and her trust in the audience to put in the effort. “Fancy Dance” is now streaming on AppleTV+.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

Likable lead characters and good old-fashioned star power can often carry a movie a long way. Such is the case with “Fly Me to the Moon”, a fun and undeniably charming new film starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum. It could best be described it as a romantic comedy and a historical reimagining mixed together into a breezy and accessible summer feature. Even better, it turns out to be one of the season’s bigger surprises.

Directed by Greg Berlanti and written for the screen by Rose Gilroy, “Fly Me to the Moon” turns back the clock to deliver the kind of well-made feel-good entertainment that we don’t get much of these days. It’s ready-made to be seen on the big screen and offers audiences a welcomed break from the usual summer blockbuster diet of sequels, prequels, reboots, and remakes.

The bulk of the story takes place in 1969 during the height of America’s space race with the Soviet Union. With the horrors of the Vietnam War dominating the headlines, the country’s interest in the space program was waning. So the government needed a new strategy if they were ever going to realize Kennedy’s ambition of reaching the moon. The bulk of the pressure fell on the underfunded and understaffed NASA who had endured a number of setbacks, some of them tragic.

With only seven months left to prepare for the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, NASA’s image was in need of a makeover. Not only did they need to win back the public, but they needed to win over key Senators who were leaning towards cutting funding to their program. Enter Kelly Jones (a luminous Johansson), a tenacious marketing specialist from Manhattan with a rather eventful history.

One evening Kelly is approached by Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson), a mysterious suit who works for the White House. He tells her that he wants to hire her, and if she agrees he can make certain troubling blemishes from her past disappear. The job is to sell the country on NASA’s space program and more specifically its upcoming moon mission. Without many options, Kelly agrees and immediately heads off to John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Once there, Kelly kicks into marketing mode much to the chagrin of the Apollo 11 Launch Director, Cole Davis (Tatum). He’s a ‘strictly business’ kind of guy who quickly grows annoyed by Kelly’s slick and savvy salesmanship despite his obvious attraction to her. Before long she has major advertisers lining up to partner with NASA including Tang, Fruit of the Loom, Peter Pan, and Omega watches. And no matter how hard Cole tries to push back, Kelly is always one step ahead of him (and having the support of the President doesn’t hurt).

Despite being workplace adversaries, a romantic spark ignites between Kelly and Cole. And I emphasize “spark” because this isn’t what you would call a romantic movie. There is a hint of sexual tension between the characters and Johansson and Tatum have good chemistry. But it’s a small part of a bigger story. And that’s a big reason “Fly Me to the Moon” works as well as it does. Sure it’s light and frothy in spots, but it’s a movie that’s not easy to pigeonhole.

Berlanti and Gilroy try to add some emotional depth which for the most part works. For Kelly, it’s the weight of the missteps she’s made since losing her mother. For Cole, its the haunting memory of the Apollo 1 tragedy which happened under his watch. Gilroy’s script doesn’t really see these subplots through, but they do help open up and define these characters. As for Harrelson, he doesn’t have a big role but he livens up every scene he’s in which has become his MO in recent years. He’s a hoot.

If you’ve seen the trailer you know the movie also includes the filming of a fake moon landing. Interestingly this doesn’t unfold until the final act and it’s where the movie is at its most far-fetched. But surprisingly even it has more layers than you might think. It leads to a semi-satisfying ending to what is mostly a well-made, well-acted, and well-paced throwback movie – the kind I admittedly miss. Its blend of humor with romance and history with fiction makes for a lighthearted crowd-pleasing joyride that anyone can get onboard with. “Fly Me to the Moon” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

Normally I would be a little hesitant about a prequel to something as singularly epic as “Mad Max: Fury Road”. Especially a prequel that doesn’t even include Mad Max. But they had me the moment it was announced that Mad Max creator and mastermind George Miller was returning as co-producer and director. And getting more backstory of a character as dynamic as Imperator Furiosa made it even more enticing.

In reality, Miller had a prequel centered around Furiosa in mind as far back as 2010. Following the success of 2015’s spectacular “Fury Road”, he received the green light to make his movie. And it’s a good one. Perhaps not as mind-blowing as its predecessor, but nearly everything fans of the franchise will be looking for. At the same time, some may be surprised by certain choices Miller makes. Some of them work really well; others I’m still not sure about.

Interestingly, “Furiosa” features a lot more world-building than you might expect. Miller and his returning co-writer, Nico Lathouris put a lot of effort into adding texture to their Wasteland. They spend a healthy amount of time setting up key players and developing the tensions between them which our heroine must eventually navigate. As a result, “Furiosa” isn’t as propulsive as “Fury Road” and the action doesn’t really drive the movie as it has in past Mad Max films. Yet there is a depth of storytelling that may catch you by surprise.

Of course we do get the exhilarating vehicular mayhem and visceral road combat that the franchise is best known for. But with the exception of one extraordinary sprawling sequence midway through, much of the action is somewhat smaller in scale and takes on slightly different forms. This is seen clearest in the ending which is anything but the sweeping fuel-injected set piece we’re accustomed to. It’s a finish that I’m still wrestling with.

Furiosa’s post-apocalyptic odyssey plays out over the course of five chapters. It begins with a young and fiery Furiosa (played by Alyla Browne) living happily with her mother (Charlee Fraser) in the Green Place, a lush and fruitful Eden-like homeland surrounded by harsh and barren desert. Her life is forever changed after she is abducted by raiders from the Biker Horde and taken to their leader, a ruthless power-hungry warlord named Dementus (an endlessly charismatic Chris Hemsworth).

After her mother’s rescue attempt ends badly, Furiosa is enslaved by Dementus and paraded around in a cage as his prized possession. With Furiosa refusing to give up the location of her homeland, Dementus sets his sights on another resource-rich target – an outpost called The Citadel which is ran by the oppressive cult leader Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme). After Dementus fails to stir up an insurrection among Joe’s fanatical ranks, he infiltrates and takes over a vital fuel depot called Gastown. He then uses his control over the gas flow to force a meeting with Joe. The two enemies strike a deal which includes Joe getting Furiosa and grooming her to be one of his future wives.

After several years, Furiosa (now played by a quiet yet fierce Anya Taylor-Joy) has shaved her head and poses as a boy working in Joe’s garage. That leads to her meeting Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke), the highly skilled driver of Joe’s gas-hauling war-rig who takes her under his wing and teaches her the art of road warfare. But they soon find themselves caught in the middle of a full-fleged war between the feral armies of Dementus and Joe.

Miller fills his world with a wild assortment of characters sporting such gonzo names as The People Eater, Rictus Erectus, Toe Jam, and Organic Mechanic. Many are new while some will immediately be recognized by the “Fury Road” faithful. What matters most is that they all fit in Miller’s world as seamlessly as sand, rust, and blood. A host of superb supporting performances help bring the chaos to life. But it’s Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth why shine brightest. Taylor-Joy isn’t given much dialogue and she doesn’t need it to convey the pent-up rage and determination that drives her character. Then there’s Hemsworth who fuses comical with sinister in one of my favorite performances from the 40-year-old Australian.

“Furiosa” is a stylish, immersive, and unabashedly cinematic experience that represents the manic vision of George Miller in all its delightfully demented glory. Mad Max die-hards will relish the pitiless sun-baked hellscapes, the insane vehicular concoctions, the grimy and brutish societies, and the anything-goes Wasteland violence. And they’ll be surprised by the hefty attention to character development and world-building. “Furiosa” has a little bit of everything. One minute you’ll be chuckling at Hemsworth snapping the reins of his motorcycle chariot and the next you’ll be wincing at man burning alive or a severed arm dangling on a chain. What can I say – welcome to the Wasteland. “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

I’m betting a lot of people (particularly younger audiences) will go into “The Fall Guy” completely unaware that it’s loosely based on a 1980s television series. I’m guessing they’ll be going to see the new Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt movie and who can blame them? But “The Fall Guy” was also a fairly popular ABC TV series that ran from 1981 through 1986. It starred Lee Majors as a Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a bounty hunter. The show also starred Heather Thomas who became a pinup sensation and a brown GMC K2500 4×4 pickup truck that we all wanted to own.

Former stuntman turned director David Leitch pulls some inspiration from the television show but mostly makes his own movie, calling it “a love letter to stunts” in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. That fits considering the stunt work is one of the film’s biggest strengths. Amazingly, mostly practical stunts were used in the handful of intensely choreographed action set pieces. Mix in some decent humor, a semi-interesting romance, and two form-fitting leads with good chemistry and you have the kind of frothy entertainment people often look for in a summer blockbuster.

Probably the least interesting part of “The Fall Guy” is the plot. Written for the screen by Drew Pearce, the story itself is pretty generic although it often puts its stars in positions to shine. Gosling plays Colt Seavers, an accomplished Hollywood stuntman who has spent six years as the primary stunt double for Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), the biggest action star on the planet. While filming Ryder’s latest blockbuster, Colt breaks his back after an ambitious stunt goes wrong. It leads to him leaving the stunt business and his girlfriend, a camera operator named Jody Moreno (Blunt).

Bop ahead eighteen months where Colt is working as a valet for a Mexican restaurant. One day he’s unexpectedly contacted by producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) who informs him that Jody is preparing to direct her first film, an epic sci-fi blockbuster called “Metalstorm” starring Tom Ryder. Gail invites him to the set in Sydney, Australia telling him that Jody (who he hasn’t spoken to since they split) wants him to join the production. But when he arrives he’s disappointed to discover that Jody didn’t request him. In fact she doesn’t want him anywhere around her movie mainly because she’s never forgiven him for their breakup.

As luck would have it, Jody is in desperate need of a seasoned stuntman for her biggest action scenes. So with the coaxing of her stunt coordinator and Colt’s best friend Dan (Winston Duke), Jody reluctantly agrees to let her ex-boyfriend work on her movie. Her ire is pretty hard to miss. But so is the clear and glaring truth that Colt is still crazy about her. That leads to some pretty obvious tension which eventually starts to melt as the romance angle kicks into gear.

Things take a weird turn after Gail informs Colt that Tom Ryder has vanished after getting involved with some rather shady characters. She wants Colt to secretly search for Ryder and bring him back to the set before Jody finds out and panics. Colt’s unsure at first, but then it hits him – save Jody’s movie by finding her star and win back the love of his life. But wouldn’t you know it, the search for Ryder uncovers some big and deadly secrets. And soon Colt finds himself running for his life, targeted by those wanting to keep him away from the truth.

It almost feels like there are two different storylines. Without question they’re connected, but they play differently. One involves Colt and Jody trying to rekindle their movie set romance. It’s where we get a lot of the cool behind-the-scenes looks at making a movie, especially when it comes to stunt work and directing action scenes. But some of the bigger set pieces are tied to Colt’s search for Tom which is where the story really lags. Both angles eventually collide in the film’s big finale, but one is considerably more entertaining than the other.

Interestingly, Gosling and Blunt have pretty strong chemistry although not as much in the romance department. Instead it’s in their comic exchanges that we see the two connect the most. Pearce works in some pretty good laughs, many of them made better by the two stars effortlessly working off each other. Unfortunately the humor dries up over the course of the second half, not because Leitch and Pearce aren’t trying. It’s that the gags aren’t as fresh and don’t land as intended

“The Fall Guy” certainly has its strengths: a playful energy, a few fun meta moments, some good early laughs, and pretty cool action. Ryan Gosling does his thing while Emily Blunt is delightful as usual. But the movie’s charms can only carry it so far and its routine starts to wear a little thin well before the two-hour mark. It’s not bad but not all that memorable either. Kinda like most of the summer popcorn movies that we still enjoy. “The Fall Guy” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

I can’t say I was expecting much from another installment of the long dormant Omen film franchise. I can say I left “The First Omen” wonderfully surprised. I didn’t think it would tell such a smart and entertaining story. I wasn’t expecting such good instincts and control from first-time feature film director Arkasha Stevenson. And I had no idea that Nell Tiger Free would deliver such a bold breakout performance.

“The First Omen” is the sixth feature in the franchise and serves as a prequel to the original 1976 movie starring Gregory Peck. In several ways it resembles other religious horror films – the many church symbols, a handful of genre tropes, a generally predictable story arc. Yet “The First Omen” is a wickedly savvy chiller that has its share of wild plot swings and gnarly twists. Even better, there’s an intriguing supernatural mystery furtively nestled within the film’s classic-styled horror frame.

Set in 1971, a young novitiate named Margaret Daino (Nell Tiger Free) arrives in Rome. She was summoned by Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy) who ran the Massachusetts orphanage she grew up in and has been a father figure to her since she was a child. He assigns Margaret to Vizzardeli Orphanage where she immediately connects with a troubled young girl named Carlita Scianna (Nicole Sorace).

Margaret’s growing relationship with Carlita begins to concern the others nuns, especially the orphanage’s abbess Sister Silvia (Sônia Braga). Her efforts to reach Carlita are often stymied by her superiors who are quick to label the girl “a problem child”. Their cruel and abusive tactics include tying Carlita down with restraints and isolating her in a place dubbed “the bad room”. Perplexed by their treatment, the increasingly defiant Margaret begins pushing back against Sister Silvia’s wishes which creates even more tension.

Meanwhile away from the orphanage Margaret is persuaded by her more ‘adventurous’ roommate, Sister Luz (Maria Caballero) to slip off to a popular nightclub for an evening of unsisterlike revelry. It’s one of several key events that leads the devout yet conflicted Margaret to question much of what she’s known and loved about the church for most of her life. And in several ways that growing inner conflict indirectly drives many of her later decisions.

At this point you may be wondering about the supernatural horror. After all this is an Omen movie, right? To Stevenson’s credit, she takes her time unpacking the story and setting up what’s to come. She patiently defines her characters and their places, allowing things to slowly simmer before ramping up to a scalding boil. Yet even in the earliest scenes, Stevenson develops and maintains a looming sense of evil that steadily intensifies, leading up to utterly terrifying final act that’s not for the squeamish.

Margaret’s story takes its biggest turn when she is approached by the disgraced Father Brennan (played in the 1976 film by Patrick Troughton, here by Ralph Ineson). He was excommunicated following his attempts to expose a sinister plot within the church. He warns Margaret to beware of Carlita and that “evil things” will begin to happen around the girl. An uneasy Margaret doesn’t buy his conspiracy theory. That is until truly horrifying things do indeed happen, leading to some dark and shocking discoveries that just may prove Father Brennan right.

Stevenson ratchets things up in the film’s final third as a blood-soaked wave of revelations come to light. The dark twists work well largely due to the time put into developing Margaret as a character and in turn raising the stakes (in sharp contrast to the somewhat similar and notably flimsier “Immaculate” from just last month). It all culminates into something wicked, grisly, and gloriously bonkers.

I love it when a movie surprises me and “The First Omen” did just that. This isn’t some lazy cash grab meant to milk an established franchise. It’s a smart, crafty, and artfully made horror film that doesn’t rely on cheap jump scares or tired gimmicks. It features confident direction and storytelling topped off with a fearless Nell Tiger Free lead performance. It all works to make a film that doesn’t feel bound by franchise constraints yet still shrewdly compliments and eventually connects with the 1976 original in a number of cool ways. “The First Omen” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 4 STARS