“Sort of” based on a chance Sally Kirkland encounter, “Sallywood” (FanForce/Buffalo 8), the feature-length debut by Xaque Gruber, feels like a vintage indie movie. Low budget, quirky, naïve, and unintentionally annoying.
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When we last left Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande) in “Wicked,” the former defied gravity and took to the western sky, leaving her BFF/nemesis behind in Oz.
For most of her fans, Lady Gaga’s Grammy-nominated song “Born This Way” felt like a love letter to her queer followers. An acknowledgement that she saw and heard them and shared their feelings of affection. What many didn’t realize was that Gaga’s song, co-written with gay singer/songwriter Jeppe Laursen, had roots that reached back more than 30 years.
You know that friend or relative, who having experienced a traumatic life event, has gone off the deep end, and is convinced that the conspiracy theory they’ve concocted as their safety net is 100% true? That’s essentially the premise of “Bugonia” (Focus), the latest from prolific filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos.
Based on a short story by Joe Hill (son of Stephen King), the 2021 horror flick “The Black Phone” relied more on suspense and jump scares than it did on gore and OTT special FX. The movie’s supernatural element was that the dead adolescent male victims of The Grabber (a masked Ethan Hawke) communicated with Finney (Mason Thames), the serial killer’s latest captive, via a non-functioning black telephone.
Horror movies, and specifically the trend of horror comedies, have evolved rapidly in recent years. When it comes to zombie horror comedies, it’s hard to top 2009’s “Zombieland,” and possibly 2013’s “Warm Bodies.”
Since the early days of his movie career, Channing Tatum has been the kind of model-turned-actor who struggled to strike a balance between his breathtaking attractiveness and his acting abilities. Alternating between fluff, rom-com, and Hollywood blockbusters (“21 Jump Street,” “White House Down,” “The Lost City”) and more serious fare (“Stop-Loss,” “Foxcatcher,” “Side Effects”), even appearing in a pair of Coen Brothers movies (“Hail, Caesar!” and “The Hateful Eight”). Then, of course, there’s “Magic Mike,” in a category all its own.
It’s a relatively safe bet to say that you’ve never seen a movie like Ben Leonberg’s “Good Boy” (IFC/Shudder). Not just because of what writer/director Leonberg manages to incorporate into the daring horror flick’s 73-minute runtime. Not just because Leonberg makes his singular mark while also recalling David Lynch and Jane Schoenbrun. Not just because Leonberg succeeds in telling a horror story from a dog’s perspective without utilizing CGI.
As if the folks in Southern California didn’t have enough natural disasters with which to contend, including wildfires, earthquakes, and mudslides.
“Plainclothes” (Magnolia), the directorial debut by queer filmmaker and screenwriter Carmen Emmi, is not as simple as the title might suggest. There is also a double-meaning at play as neither of the main characters – Lucas (Tom Blyth) and Andrew (out actor Russell Tovey) – is dressed in their respective “uniforms” when they first meet.
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