Authors Posts by Jeffrey Sanzel

Jeffrey Sanzel

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From left, Kelly Reilly, Tina Fey, Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Yeoh, and Jamie Dornan star in 'A Haunting In Venice' Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios/Disney

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

With over two billion books in print, Agatha Christie remains history’s second best-selling author (just behind Shakespeare). Her works span sixty-six detective novels and fourteen short story collections. Having opened in 1952, The Mousetrap is the world’s longest-running play, with over twenty-nine thousand performances. Christie’s best-known creations are the private detective Hercule Poirot and the amateur sleuth Miss Marple.

Poirot—the meticulous Belgian of the “little gray cells”— is featured in thirty-three novels and fifty-one short stories, with over a dozen films following his exploits. 

Notable actors such as Albert Finney (nominated for an Academy Award for Murder on the Orient Express), Peter Ustinov, Alfred Molina, John Malkovich, and Tony Randall donned the waxed mustache. David Suchet has been the most successful and beloved with Agatha Christie’s Poirot series, which presented seventy episodes from 1989 to 2013. Suchet’s large-than-life Poirot remarkably manages to remain wholly dimensional. 

Kenneth Branagh and Tina Fey in a scene from ‘A Haunting In Venice’. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios/Disney

In 2017, Kenneth Branagh directed and starred in Murder on the Orient Express, a labored adaptation that paled in comparison to the 1974 film and the 2010 television version. Branagh followed it up with the even less adept Death on the Nile (2022). 

His newest entry, A Haunting in Venice, claims its source as Hallowe’en Party (1969). The crisp novel deals with a girl who claims to have witnessed a murder and, shortly after, is drowned in a bobbing-for-apples tub. The similarities between the source and the film are slim. Apart from one character, a few names, a tub of apples, and a Halloween setting, A Haunting in Venice is an unrelated tale.

Hercule Poirot (Branagh) lives in an unsettled Venetian retirement with a bodyguard, ex-policeman Vitale Portfoglio (Riccardo Scamarcio). Mystery writer Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), Poirot’s acquaintance with whom he shares a professional history and a slightly antagonistic bent, coerces Poirot into attending a séance at a nearby palazzo, which follows a children’s Halloween party. Skeptic Poirot agrees to accompany her, intending to reveal the medium as a fraud. 

The palazzo’s owner, Rowena Drake (Kelly Reilly), wants to contact her daughter, Alicia (Rowan Robinson), who had committed suicide by throwing herself into the canal a year earlier. The guests include the family doctor, Leslie Ferrier (Jamie Dornan), his son, Leopold (Jude Hill), and the housemaid, Olga Seminoff (Camille Cottin). The medium, Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh), speaks in the daughter’s voice, proclaiming she was murdered. Poirot quickly exposes Reynolds as a fake. But is she? While Poirot reveals her confederates—Romani siblings Desdemona and Nicholas Holland (Emma Laird and Ali Khan)—doubt looms.

The ensuing plot hinges on the revelation of Alicia’s killer and the question of the palazzo’s haunting by the ghosts of children locked in to die during the plague years. 

A Haunting in Venice is an old dark house thriller with the requisite rainstorm, a falling chandelier, strange shadows, whispering voices, and assorted things that go bump in the night. The real stars are the technical elements. Visually, the film is exquisite: Haris Zambarloukos’s whirring and winding cinematography complements John Kelly’s elegant and evocative production design.

The performances are solid enough, all playing in the same world—but certainly not Christie’s universe. In a complete departure from the author’s self-satirizing writer (cleverly played by Zoë Wanamaker in the series), Fey’s Oliver is a wise-cracking 1940s soubrette and Poirot’s active adversary. Yeoh brings a winking gravitas to the medium, and Reilly ably manages a mother’s grief. Laird and Kahn make for a mercurial pair.

The center of any Poirot mystery is, of course, Poirot. Branagh’s twenty-first-century reinterpretation of the role results in a unique, often troubled, human character. Oddly, the choice becomes problematic, offering a Poirot with a lack of “Poirot-ness.” Missing is the twinkling genius, one step ahead. Instead, this Poirot runs alongside the pack until the final moments. However, Branagh embraces Christie’s vision in the resolution, where he exercises his insights and logic in unraveling the solution. Here, Branagh finds a few moments to shine, offering a glimpse of his potential. 

A Haunting in Venice is a distinct improvement over Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile. But whether Haunting is a Christie-inspired film or just a movie cashing in on the author’s fame, the answer must veer towards the latter. Viewers seeking a traditional Poirot murder mystery with the classic intrepid detective will most likely be frustrated and disappointed. Those more flexible (or less invested in the canon) will find a quick-paced and visually satisfying thriller.

Rated PG-13, the film is now playing in local theaters.

‘The Color Purple’ heads to theaters on Christmas Day. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

By Tim Haggerty and Jeffrey Sanzel

Filmgoers can look forward to an exciting  field of offerings for the fall and holiday season. A wide range of releases promises a host of titles in a strong cross-section of genres including horror, musicals, historical dramas, and family movies. Here are some of the most anticipated movies for the rest of 2023, listed in order of release date. Ready, set, … action!

A Haunting in Venice

Kenneth Branagh’s follow-up to Death on the Nile is A Haunting in Venice, his third outing as celebrated sleuth Hercule Poirot. The Agatha Christie-inspired story focuses on murder during a séance and promises thrills offered up by a star-studded. Along with director-actor Branagh are Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Kelly Reilly and Michelle Yeoh, among others.

Rated PG-13· Release date September 15

Saw X

While not for the faint of heart (or stomach), Saw X marks the tenth in the Jigsaw saga. The film is set between the events of Saw and Saw II and follows a desperate man traveling to Mexico for a medical procedure, which is revealed to be a scam. Tobin Bell once again takes on the role of John Kramer/Jigsaw.

Rated TBA· Release date September 29

The Exorcist: Believer

David Gordon Green appropriately follows the end of his recent Halloween trilogy with The Exorcist: Believer. Originally, the producers were going to reboot the series, but instead have opted for a direct sequel to the landmark 1973 original. Ellen Burstyn reprises her starring role. 

Rated R· Release date October 13

Killers of the Flower Moon

It has been four years since Academy Award-winner Martin Scorsese’s much-lauded The Irishman. Now, the great director presents Killers of the Flower Moon. Based on David Grann’s bestseller of the same name, the film centers on a series of Oklahoma murders in the Osage Nation during the 1920s, committed after oil was discovered on tribal land. The film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, John Lithgow, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal and Brendan Fraser, promises to be one of the fall’s best and most exciting films.

Rated R· Release date October 20

Priscilla

Sofia Coppola tells the Elvis story through meeting, courtship, and marriage in Priscilla. Based on Priscilla Presley’s memoir Elvis and Me, Coppola creates the private life of the superstar in what will hopefully be her signature brilliance, blending high art with raw emotion. Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi star as Priscilla and Elvis.

Rated R· Release date October 27

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Taking its cue from the video game, Five Nights at Freddy’s follows a security guard (Josh Hutcherson) on night-time patrol at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, an abandoned family entertainment center, where animatronic mascots kill anyone there after midnight. 

Rated PG-13 Release Date October 27

Pain Hustlers

David Yates features Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Andy Garcia, and Catherine O’Hara in Pain Hustlers, a true-events crime drama centered on a criminal conspiracy at a pharmaceutical start-up.

Rated R· Release date October 27

The Marvels

The Marvel Universe expands with The Marvels, a Captain Marvel sequel starring Nia DaCosta, along with Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, and Iman Vallanis’ Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel of the Disney+ series). 

Rated PG-13· Release date November 10

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes

The multi-million-dollar Hunger Games franchise returns with a prequel based on Suzanne Collins’ novel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes. Series vet Francis Lawrence directs the story that follows young Coriolanus Snow (played by Donald Sutherland in the previous four films) and his involvement with the Hunger Games.

Rated PG-13· Release date November 17

Next Goal Wins

Based on the 2015 documentary, Next Goal Wins tells the story of Dutch American soccer coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender), hired to help turn around the American Samoa national team, considered one of the worst in the world. (The trailers suggest a warm Ted Lasso vibe.)

Rated PG-13· Release date November 17

Napoleon

Napoleon joins director Ridley Scott with Joaquin Phoenix as the French general-turned-emperor. While the film will include a number of Napoleon’s most famous battles, its primary focus is on his tempestuous love story with his first wife, Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby).

Rated R· Release date November 22

Maestro

Perhaps one of the most anticipated fall films is Bradley Cooper’s biopic Maestro. Director Cooper has co-written (along with Josh Singer) the screenplay in which he stars as the extraordinary and complicated musician Leonard Bernstein. The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Maya Hawke and Jeremy Strong.

Rated R· Release date November 22

Wish

Disney’s Wish chronicles the origin story of the Wishing Star, with Ariana DeBose,  Chris Pine and Alan Tudyk starring in Frozen writers Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck’s screenplay. When darkness falls upon the Kingdom of Wishes, a young girl wishes upon a star to save her home, only to have the star physically come to her aid and becomes her sidekick. If the advance buzz is any indication, the animated film could become another Disney classic.

Rated TBA· Release date November 2

Poor Things

Emma Stone plays Bella Baxter, a young suicide brought back to life by a scientist (Willem Dafoe) in the unusual and surreal Poor Things, based on the 1992 Alasdair Gray novel. 

Rated R· Release Date December 8.

Wonka

Timothée Chalamet takes on the title role in Wonka, an origin story of the eccentric candy maker. Paddington director Paul King has assembled an all-star cast with Olivia Colman, Sally Hawkins, Keegan Michael-Key, and Rowan Atkinson. The film promises to be a visual feast and a fascinating take on Roald Dahls’ legendary character.

Rated PG· Release date December 15

The Color Purple

Stephen Spielberg filmed Alice Walker’s indelible novel The Color Purple in his Oscar-nominated 1985 film. Now Blitz Bazawule brings the Broadway musical to the big screen, with  Danielle Brooks, Halle Bailey, Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, and Louis Gossett Jr., showcasing the Tony-nominated score by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray.

Rated PG-13· Release date December 25

This article originally appeared in TBR News Media’s Harvest Times supplement on Sept. 14.

Two Faces of the Moon: A Small Island Memoir

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

Carolyn McGrath’s Two Faces of the Moon: A Small Island Memoir [Brandylane Publishers, Inc.] first presents as an idyllic echo of the natural world. And while the book touches on the bounty and splendor of nature, the work is much more. Two Faces is a rich, sometimes dark, but wholly truthful familial reflection.

Author Carolyn McGrath

While written during the pandemic, Two Faces of the Moon takes place in 2001, the year of her nonagenarian mother’s passing. McGrath establishes the tone by opening with her delivery by cesarean section—“lifted into the world unsullied by the normal push and pull.”

McGrath’s storytelling is boldly unsentimental. She was born to a mother of thirty-six and a father of forty-seven, a man who had a daughter from a marriage twenty years earlier. McGrath lost her father when she was seventeen but found herself constantly drawn to this “troubled man, an alcoholic, a heavy smoker, a war veteran, whose great talent for cussing often caused my mother to cover my ears. A father who clearly wished he had a son instead.” 

The statement paves the way for years of rumination about their thorny relationship, explored throughout this slender, powerful autobiography. While many works of this nature err towards the hagiographic, McGrath is unflinching and frank in her account.

Each summer, McGrath leaves her Long Island suburban home to drive five hundred miles north to Bob’s Lake, Ontario. There, she spends several months living in the 1926-built log cabin her father bought in 1937 for $400. Life is rustic, with an outhouse and a four-burner kerosene stove. She must drive to the nearby farm to draw drinking water from a well. She is accompanied by her dog, Blue, and is joined by the neighbor’s dog, Ring. 

While pondering the saying, “You could never go home again,” she answers: “The trick is to have two homes and never really leave either. I leave home to come home every summer and find it just the same.”

While the book delves into the history of the island, the house, and the lake, Two Faces of the Moon is, first and foremost, a tale of family. McGrath’s vivid, distinctly raw prose recalls the opening line of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” She alternates between the 2001 narrative in present tense and musings on her parents’ lives. The intersection creates friction that leads to constant sparks of insight. 

She celebrates her isolation. “The delicious feeling I have of being alone here is nothing like loneliness.” She examines the motivations for these journeys: “I discovered my craving for solitude when I realized that I was losing myself. There must be many wives like me who feel their lives were commandeered by the demands of marriage and family.” While directly referencing her parents, family, and friends, she never speaks of her husband by name. 

For all the things she admired about her father, she was afraid of him and felt “as a role model, my dad was terrible.” The outdoorsman focused on fishing, hunting, and frogging. “Guns were like wallpaper while I was growing up.” She aimed to please him but was also aware of the complexity of their bond.

In the present, she details visiting her elderly, ailing mother in the nursing home located an hour from the cabin. She paints one of the most vivid and heart-breaking portraits of aging, with a painfully accurate depiction of dementia. Her reaction to her mother’s passing and its aftermath is one of the most insightful moments in the book.

“While I’m here in the cabin, I feel I’m with both of my parents. My dad’s presence is everywhere […] my mother’s apron still hangs behind the kitchen door…” She shares her parents’ histories, scrutinizing their paths as a tool to reflect on her own choices. She accomplishes this without judgment but with a keen self-awareness. “It seems to me that children are born to be conflicted,” asking the questions: “Which parent do you love more? Fear more? Respect more?”

Living on the island is meditative, her own Walden Pond. And while she examines her life, she never loses the chance to be at one with her surroundings. “I wake up to the sound of Ervin’s cattle lowing lazily across the bay, where they’ve come down to drink. Through the window, I watch seven young ducklings following their momma […] all moving as one large duck atom, no sound. Song sparrows have hatchlings in a tree cavity …” 

Her world is a strange mix of stillness and teeming activity, allowing her to think, wonder, and, above all, feel. McGrath imparts wisdom and fallibility in equal measures. In short, she movingly presents a human being in all her dimensions. McGrath knows a long life comes with “pleasures and rewards, its booby traps and tortures.” She shares her experiences, trials, triumphs, and perspectives in the honest, sometimes lyrical, and always memorable Two Faces of the Moon.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Carolyn McGrath has a degree in classics from the University of Iowa and an MA in creative writing from Stony Brook University in New York where she taught for years in the Department of English and directed the Stony Brook $1000 Short Fiction Prize. She now lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. Two Faces of the Moon is available on Amazon.com, and at Barnes & Noble.

Xolo Maridueña in a scene from 'Blue Beetle.' Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

For every superhero blockbuster, an equal number are box office disasters. For each Avengers: Endgame or Iron Man 3, there is Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash. Many superheroes have risen and fallen, only to rise again in a parade of reboots and colored tights.

The Blue Beetle first appeared in Fox Comics’ Mystery Men Comics #1 (1939). The titular hero, Dan Garet, took Vitamin 2X, which gave him “super-energy.” When Fox went out of business, Charlton Comics bought the character, reprinting some of the stories before launching its version in 1955. In 1964, Charlton re-envisioned the character: Dan Garrett acquired an extra “r” and “t” along with a new origin story centered around a mystical power-giving Egyptian scarab. In 1966, inventor Ted Kord became a gadget-centric Blue Beetle following Garrett’s death. Next, the character’s mythology was reinvented with both Blue Beetles—Garrett and Kord—in Americomics (published by AC Comics). 

Xolo Maridueña in a scene from ‘Blue Beetle.’ Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics

DC Comics bought Charlton’s superhero collection in 1983, changing Ted Kord to a billionaire industrialist. This Ted Kord appeared in various titles, including Justice League, Justice League America, and Birds of Prey, the identity continuing through 2005. DC presented a new Blue Beetle in 2006: teenager Jaime Reyes, whose powers came from the scarab, a piece of alien technology. While the initial series was cancelled due to poor sales, a revival came in 2011, disconnecting Reyes from previous Beetles. In 2016 Garrett and Kord were restored as previous Blue Beetles. Jamie Reyes was the focus of a limited series, Blue Beetle: Graduation Day, offered from 2022 to 2023. 

Enter DC studio’s Blue Beetle. After a prologue establishing Kord Industries locating the scarab in a frozen tundra, the action quickly shifts to bright-eyed pre-law college graduate Jamie Reyes returning home to the fictional Texan town of Palmera City. As he rides down the airport escalator, he adjusts his mortarboard. Turning to the gentleman beside him, he asks, “How do I look?” The man dryly responds, “Like you’re six figures in debt.” The smart quip establishes the tone and world that Jamie faces. 

Jamie is greeted by his family—mother, father, grandmother, sister, and eccentric uncle. During a celebratory meal, Jamie learns that his auto mechanic father lost his job due to a heart attack. They are now in danger of losing the family home, three months in arrears. His sister, Milagro, gets them a job working in the mansion of Kord Industries CEO Victoria Kord (whom Milagro describes with begrudging respect as “Cruella Kardashian”). They lose their positions when Jamie steps into a fight between Victoria and her niece, Jenny. In gratitude, Jenny offers Jamie employment and tells him to come to Kord Tower. 

The next day, Jenny discovers that Victoria uses the scarab for her OMAC (One Man Army Corps) project. Jenny steals the scarab in a fast-food hamburger container, but the laboratory director discovers its theft, and the building is put on lockdown. In danger of being caught, Jenny passes the box to Jamie, who takes it home, warning him not to open it or touch its contents.

Upon returning, the family pressures him to see what is in the box. In full view of his family, Jamie touches the scarab, which attaches itself to him. He is immediately surrounded by an exoskeleton/armored suit, complete with a guidance voice and myriad abilities, including flight and a host of defensive and offensive capacities. (Jenny later tells Jamie that the scarab is an ancient sentient weapon that has chosen him as host.) 

The plot is traditional: a struggle between the emerging hero and the dastardly villain. Jamie learns to harness the powers as Victoria sets out to reclaim the scarab. Victoria is a classic nemesis cut in the Bond villain mode. Susan Sarandon chews the scenery, practically singing the watchcry, “Sacrifices must be made for the greater good.” Her main conflict is with her brother’s daughter, Jenny (Bruna Marquezine), an underdeveloped and bland character. Victoria has a traditional henchman, Ignacio Carapax (Raoul Max Trujillo, expressive with only a few lines), with an important backstory. 

A scene from ‘Blue Beetle.’ Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics

There are references to Jenny’s father, Ted Kord, as well as Ted’s professor, archaeologist Dan Garrett, bringing the Blue Beetle’s entire history into superficial play. The effects are pure videogame, with an excessive amount of blue electricity. The action often resembles Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. 

On the surface, little new or exciting is on offer. However, director Ángel Manuel Soto and writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer manage one important coup: the extraordinary bond of the Reyes family. 

Unlike many genre movies, Blue Beetle uses family not as a vehicle but as the core force. If the theme of familial bond is heavy-handed, the first-rate cast engages us on a genuinely human level. Xolo Maridueña shines as Jamie, easily holding center for the film’s stretched two hours. Damián Alcázar makes the father, Alberto, wise and touching, a patriarch of great understated strength. He is matched beautifully by Elpidia Carrillo as Rocio, Jamie’s mother. Adriana Barraza, as Nana, the matriarch, avoids cliché and has a fun eleventh-hour reveal. Belissa Escobedo brings humor and caring to Milagro, Jamie’s sister. George Lopez takes Uncle Rudy to the limit and beyond, both hilarious and touching. Each stands out individually, but as a whole, they are an exceptional unit. 

While there have been Latino superheroes, Blue Beetle puts representation at its center. An important moment comes late in the film involving the laboratory director (played with conflicted integrity by Harvey Guillén). The exchange leads to a bold choice, highlighting racial issues that weave through the film. 

In the end, Blue Beetle is uneven and occasionally uninspired, but a superior cast and a celebration of family let the film soar. Rated PG-13, Blue Beetle is now playing in local theaters. 

The main cast of 'Haunted Mansion.' Photo courtesy of Disney

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

There’s an old joke (incorrectly credited to W.C. Fields):

“… And I spent a week in Philadelphia.”

“When?”

“Day before yesterday.”

Which brings us to Haunted Mansion.

The Haunted Mansion is one of Disney’s most famous and beloved dark rides. The Disneyland premiere (1969) was followed two years later by the Disney World/Magic Kingdom location. 

Before its current resurrection, Disney produced the (mostly) critically drubbed Eddie Murphy vehicle The Haunted Mansion (2003). However, the film grossed over $100 million worldwide. Muppets Haunted Mansion (2021) appeared on Disney+. The Muppets’ first Halloween special ran a brisk fifty minutes and was warmly received. 

Unlike the park ride, which lasts an entertaining eight minutes, the current film’s interminable two hours offers little but some strong performances trapped like the spirits in the Haunted Mansion. Katie Dippold (Parks and Recreation, The Heat, and the 2016 Ghostbusters) cobbled a mess of sitcom, slapstick, and reflection on grief. Justin Simien (director of the brilliant Dear White People) fails to elevate the movie, which arrives as dead as the house’s occupants. (When Disney first announced a reboot, Guillermo del Toro was attached to the project but exited in 2013. One wonders what the gifted del Toro would have done with this mainstream project.)

Haunted Mansion is set in New Orleans, “the Most Haunted City in America.” In a short prologue, astrophysicist Ben Matthias (a truly grounded and likable LaKeith Stanfield) meets Alyssa (brief but likable Charity Jordan), a ghost tour guide. While he questions her belief in the supernatural, he falls in love with and marries her. After she dies in a car accident, he gives up his scientific work and takes over her ghost tour. 

The ghosts of Gracey Manor. Photo courtesy of Disney

Fast forward to New York doctor Gabbie (strong but underserved Rosario Dawson) and her nine-year-old son, Travis (a sensitive and mature Chase W. Dillon), moving into Gracey Manor to turn it into a bed and breakfast. As they enter the house, they realize they are not alone.

A goofy priest, Father Kent (Owen Wilson doing a nice job as Owen Wilson), recruits Ben to photograph the ghosts with the camera he had developed to shoot dark matter. The skeptical Ben agrees to the proffered ten thousand dollars. When he leaves the mansion, he realizes the ghost of a mariner has followed him. And this is the crux of the story: anyone who enters the house takes the spirits with them. “Ghosts are like bedbugs: they latch on.” A charming image.

Psychic Harriet (always enjoyable Tiffany Haddish) and college historian Professor Bruce Davis (Danny DeVito, both benign and manic) join the quartet. The “dream team,” as Kent labels them, discovers the house’s history and that the inhabitants want their help to be free (though this gets a bit muddled in the end … and the middle … and part of the beginning).

They learn from the crystal ball-trapped Madame Leota (Jamie Lee Curtis—remember her?—she just won an Academy Award) that William Gracey bought the mansion and engaged Leota to contact his dead wife. However, an evil entity tricked Gracey into taking his own life. The malignant force is Alistair Crumb, also known as the Hatbox Ghost (voiced for some reason by Jared Leto). There is talk of the 999 spirits and the need for a willing victim to make one thousand allowing Crump to escape the mansion. (Something like that.) The “climax” is the two worlds—the spectral and the real—colliding.

The movie suggests ghost movies of earlier eras: Bob Hope’s 1932 comedy The Ghost Breakers and William Castle’s creepy 13 Ghosts (1960) come to mind. But Haunted Mansion manages to be simultaneously fluff and leaden. (This calls to mind the old brain teaser: Which is heavier—a ton of feathers or a ton of cement? Answer: One hundred and nineteen minutes of Haunted Mansion.)

The effects replicate the Disney attraction. The low-tech feel serves the commercial advertisement but just makes the movie look cheap. The requisite cobwebs drape the dwelling, and the well-known Haunted Mansion denizens appear (the Bride, the Hitchhikers, etc.). Occasionally, the film nods towards introspection: Harriet speaks of “ghost winks”—messages of hope and comfort from people who have passed on. This heartening concept wandered in from another film.

But too often, the film relies on forced, clumsy humor. Punchlines include a joke about a Yankee Candle and an uncancelled Amazon subscription, a pen and pad purchased at CVS, and sage bought at Costco. Characters snore, and chairs fly down steps, dumping the occupants in mud. Hilarity reigns.

The cast does its best, with Stanfield and Dillon as standouts. A sprinkling of cameos—Marilu Henner as a tourist, Winona Ryder (uncredited, but very funny) as a tour guide, and Daniel Levy as her husband—are fun but do little more than distract for a moment.

Ultimately, Haunted Mansion is a ride not worth taking. Rated PG-13, the film is now playing in local theaters.

 

Molly Gordon and Ben Platt in a scene from 'Theater Camp' Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures/20th Century Studios

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

While recruiting campers for her AdirondACTS camp, director Joan Rubinsky (Amy Sedaris) is sent into a seizure-induced coma by the strobe light in a middle school production of Bye Bye Birdie. Her slacker son, Troy (Jimmy Tatro), takes over the struggling enterprise, ineptly mismanaging its staff of well-meaning but mildly narcissistic misfits. In addition, he must deal with the camp’s failing finances and imminent foreclosure. 

The simple and familiar premise—camp on the verge of closing—sets up a highly enjoyable niche outing, following in the footsteps of the slightly more satirical Camp (2003) and the equally intense Stage Door Manor documentary Stagedoor (2006). 

Based on a short film of the same name, Molly Gordon, along with co-director Nick Lieberman, Ben Platt, and Noah Galvin, has fashioned the heartfelt mockumentary Theater Camp, which delivers consistent laughs but never lacks heart. 

The film follows the four-week theatrical process, from auditions to opening. While mounting productions of Damn Yankees, Cats, and Crucible, Jr. (a hilarious joke to those familiar with the Jr. concept), the focus is on the annual original musical, written by the drama director, Amos Klobuchar (Platt), and the music director, Rebecca-Diane (Gordon). The project, Joy, Still (a bio-musical of the camp founder), takes up most of the film’s rehearsal and performance focus and manages to be simultaneously ridiculous and sincere. 

Perhaps the mix of these tonal elements—ridiculous and sincere—best describes Theater Camp. While hurling barbs at theatre training and its many pretensions, it never loses its love for its subject. This truth is best reflected in the campers who shine in their own ways, displaying raw talent, fearlessness, and pure desire to perform. They represent a true demographic cross-section, bonded in the joy of all things theatrical. 

The staff are an over-the-top crew but somehow make the caricatures believable. Platt and Gordon infuse the codependent pair with the dysfunction common to longtime theatrical collaborators who cannot communicate. Caroline Aaron plays the managing director with a mix of tough love and the awe of the non-artistic. Without losing the humanity, Nathan Lee Graham camps up the choreographer, Clive DeWitt, as does Owen Thiele as the costumer, Gigi Charbonier. 

Ayo Edebiri makes the fraud, Janet, a charming grifter; her teaching of a mask class is one of the satirical highlights. Tatro’s lost Troy is likable, and his gradual awareness of the beauty of what his mother has created is genuine and touching. But it is Noah Galvin, as the jack-of-all-trades stage manager, Glenn, who provides the film’s biggest surprise. Galvin’s transformation at the climax is a revelation and a marvel. 

Thematically, Theater Camp centers on being “one of us.” The staff and campers are cut from the same mold. They are the ones who are never picked first or second (or third or fourth) for teams. They are social outcasts in the outside world. But at AdirondACTS, they are not just accepted but celebrated. 

Towards the end, the camp hosts a mixer with the neighboring camp, the privileged Lakeside. The Lakeside campers view the boisterous, outgoing theatre kids with not just disdain but the view that they are “other.” The film’s creators smartly refrain from giving the Lakeside campers commentary; the contempt is clear but unspoken. For all its problems—and they are myriad—AdirondACTS provides an outlet and a haven for these budding artists. 

In the wake of artistic blockbusters (Barbie, Oppenheimer), Theater Camp is a lightweight diversion and an enjoyable slice of summer fun.

Rated PG-13, the film is now playing in local theaters.

Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in a scene from the film. Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) is considered a founding father of the American school of theoretical physics. His work included the exploration of astrophysics, nuclear physics, spectroscopy, and quantum field theory. In the 1930s, he wrote papers suggesting the existence of what are now labeled black holes.

At the dawn of World War II, Oppenheimer was instrumental in developing the atomic bomb (often referred to as its “father”). In June 1942, he was appointed scientific director of the Manhattan Project and supervised the construction of the Los Alamos laboratories.

Following the War, Oppenheimer assumed the chairmanship of the General Advisory Committee to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). In this role, he voiced opposition to the development of the hydrogen bomb. In 1953, at the height of the Cold War and Red Scare, Oppenheimer was accused of communist sympathies, and the AEC canceled his security clearance.

Matt Damon and Cillian Murphy in a scene from ‘Oppenheimer’. Image courtesy of Universal Pictures

In the year’s best film so far, director Christopher Nolan’s epic Oppenheimer traces the controversial figure’s rise, fall, and redemption. Nolan’s screenplay, closely adapted from Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s 2005 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, runs on three timelines: the buildup of the Manhattan Project, leading to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the AEC’s rigged hearing that stripped Oppenheimer of both prestige and access; and Lewis Strauss’s senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of Commerce.

Many films tackle issues of scientists and scientific discovery: The Imitation Game (2014), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Hidden Figures (2016), and The Theory of Everything (2014) are examples of some of the stronger genre offerings. However, these films often stress the personal elements or water down the science. In the case of Oppenheimer, the epic but breathtakingly paced three hours manages to keep science in the forefront without losing interpersonal relationships.

The film begins with twenty-two-year-old Oppenheimer struggling with anxiety at Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory. After an aborted attempt to poison his professor, Oppenheimer meets Niels Bohr, who suggests he complete his education in Germany. Upon graduation, Oppenheimer begins teaching at the University of California, Berkley, and the California Institute of Technology. The film balances his day-to-day life, including his left-leaning politics, with an attempt to show his genius through strong, abstract imagery. 

Much of Oppenheimer plays in lectures and classrooms, as well as offices and laboratories. Nolan keeps the action moving and the stakes perpetually high. The rise of Hitler deeply affects the scientific community, many of whose members were Jewish. In 1942, General Leslie Groves recruits Oppenheimer to lead the Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer gathers an extraordinary team to secretly develop the atomic bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Throughout, the scientists debate the issues of the long-term and far-reaching effects of their actions. In addition, the constant specter of espionage hovers over the project. 

The film builds to the first of several milestones with the Trinity, the test of the atomic bomb on July 16, 1945. Simultaneously, it highlights the perpetually shifting collaborations, suspicions, setbacks, and infighting throughout the three years of development. 

Marking his sixth collaboration with Nolan, Cillian Murphy delivers a flawless performance as the gifted, complex Oppenheimer. He brings a range of shades, from the self-important to the self-doubting. Following the dropping of the atom bomb, his simple, devastated, “And now I am the condemned. Destroyer of worlds,” is of Hamlet proportions. He manifests the struggle between the intense scientist and the man drawn to the power given to him as leader of the Manhattan Project. A womanizer who loves his wife, a father who shows little interest in his family, and a man later plagued by his choices, Murphy delivers a truly Oscar-worthy performance. 

Equal to Murphy is Robert Downey, Jr., as the seemingly mild, almost benign, but ultimately vindictive Lewis Strauss, who offered Oppenheimer the directorship of Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study. Downey, Jr. gives one of his finest, most dimensional performances as Strauss’s real and imagined slights drive him to take down the scientist. As with Murphy, Downey, Jr., will most likely receive an Academy Award nomination (if not a win). 

Emily Blunt makes alcoholic and volatile wife, Katherine, a frustrating and noble figure. Matt Damon’s General Groves is the company man who sees the bigger picture. Florence Pugh’s independent communist Jean Tatlock brings both sensual and tragic qualities to Oppenheimer’s sometimes lover. David Krumholtz is powerfully understated as Isidor Rabi, a voice of wisdom and conscience, as is Tom Conti as the knowing Albert Einstein. 

In the Senate confirmation hearing, Rami Malek’s David Hill smartly projects shades of Joseph Welch taking down Joseph McCarthy. Kenneth Branagh makes a strong cameo as Niels Bohr, and Gary Oldman, one of the greatest actors of his generation, is indelible as President Truman. Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Jason Clarke, Matthew Modine, and Tony Goldwyn are among the dozens of supporting performers who comprise this exceptional ensemble. 

Hoyte van Hoytema’s astonishing cinematography enhances and highlights the shift in time and place, perfectly complementing the work of production designer Ruth De Jong. Every element is in perfect synchronicity, from costumes to soundtrack. But Nolan, as Oppenheimer’s creator, manifested this exceptional undertaking. He skillfully blended science, politics, and morality into a cinematic gem that will be honored now and remembered as a work as complicated and brilliant as its subject. 

Rated R, the film is now playing in local theaters.

Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in a scene from 'Barbie' Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

What can you say about someone who has had over two hundred careers—fashion editor, science teacher, paramedic, paratrooper, Canadian Mountie, aircraft engineer—but was quoted as saying, “Math is tough?” While she beat Neil Armstrong to the moon, she encouraged her followers to “Get your sparkle on—show the world where you belong.” 

Featured from toy shelves to The Nutcracker (to The Magic of Pegasus 3-D), Barbie—full name Barbara Millicent Roberts—first appeared in March 1959. The eleven-inch plastic figure was the brainchild of Ruth Handler (Mattel, Inc. co-founder, with husband, Elliot). Inspired by the German Bild Lilli doll, the first Barbie sold for $3. Today, Barbie is a multi-billion-dollar industry.

Barbie’s world includes her on-again-off-again boyfriend Ken, best friend Midge, and sister Skipper. The first celebrity Barbie was Twiggy (1967). Barbie first ran for president in 1992 and has been on the campaign trail at least seven times since. She will continue to evolve and be reinvented. But as busy as she is, Barbie has now made time for a feature film. 

Director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women) reteams with Frances Ha screenwriter Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Marriage Story, Margot at the Wedding) to direct “big screen” Barbie. They have written a fascinating societal exploration, presented through the prism of the alternate world, Barbie Land. Barbie is no theme park ride or action toy translated to a mass market money grab. The film is a serious meditation on gender roles and expectations. It takes on multiple overlapping themes—perhaps too many to answer—and resonates long after its brisk two-hour running time.

Margot Robbie in a scene from ‘Barbie’. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

Barbie deals with a tear in the separation of Barbie Land and the real world, a rip connected to Barbie’s doubts about her perfect existence. She leaves the female/Barbie-dominated universe to learn that women have not achieved the positions of strength they have in her native existence. Initially, the comedic conflict sparks from the clash of the two planes. Still, the bigger issue arises from Ken’s awareness of the disproportionate power allotted to men outside Barbie Land. (In Barbie Land, the Kens are relegated to a peripheral existence, not holding the key positions taken by the Barbies.) Ken’s epiphany causes Barbie Land to devolve into a world of toxic masculinity dominated by the Kens. The host of mindless bros’ tenuous grasp turns the idyllic utopia into an almost hellish frat-scape, Kendom Land. The fact that Ken somehow connects patriarchy to horses speaks volumes.

The resolution strangely errs on the side of hijinks, with the Barbies righting their world through a subterfuge that plays on Kens’ easily flattered egos. The commentary is strong but subsumes the message of self-awareness and empowerment. They fool the doltish Kens rather than directly engage them. However, in the end, the Kens gain a modicum of self-awareness. 

Barbie manages to be comedy, spoof, satire, and message movie, sometimes in turn, other times simultaneously. From its 2001: A Space Odyssey opening to its exquisitely conceived Barbie Land that is both vibrantly two- and three-dimensional, Barbie is a delight, with visual jokes, hilarious asides, and social commentary.

Margot Robbie’s in all ways flawless Barbie proves the actor’s exceptional skills and depth. She manifests a true living doll but allows for both growth and arc, never missing a beat or a laugh. Ryan Gosling makes the ideal foil, as the mostly clueless Ken, coming to a misplaced awareness. The supporting Barbies are effective on different levels, as are the coterie of Kens. 

America Ferrera’s real-world Gloria has the most memorable moment in the film—a speech about the double standard women face daily. Her passion and laser focus give weight without weighing down the significance. Ariana Greenblatt, as her daughter, Sasha, neatly represents today’s generation of detached teens searching for connection. Michael Cera’s sad sack Allan is subtly hysterical.

Rhea Pearlman offers the luminous, not-so-spectral spirit of Barbie creator Ruth Handler. In her two scenes, she manages to be heartbreakingly human and otherworldly wise. She speaks as the head and heart of possibility, which was her inspiration in creating the doll. She is somehow Dumbledore to Barbie’s Harry. 

The film’s major misfire is the comedic Mattel corporate board, headed by Will Ferrell, doing Will Ferrell at his most Will Ferrell. The painfully predictable slapstick seems forced in an otherwise sharp and meditative story.

*Reviewing is the definition of subjective. I left unsure of exactly how I felt about what I had witnessed. I also knew that I was not its true demographic. 

Curious, I engaged with people exiting the film and reached out to others over the next few days. These ranged from adult mothers and daughters with complementary opinions to viewers in their twenties and thirties. Three slightly dazed mothers with a half dozen girls under age eight contemplated how much their young charges had—or had not—understood. 

While a few attendees were mildly disappointed, the consensus was that Barbie was an effective and affecting film. Older viewers seem most linked by the nostalgia, reflecting bittersweetly on childhood hours. However, recurring comments tended towards empowerment, identity, and reflection of girlhood/womanhood. The film seriously considered the day-to-day struggles of being female and cultural over-sexualization. But Barbie also symbolizes the ability to change, hearkening to her creation as representing myriad possibilities. Many were deeply moved by the montage of women throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; almost all cited Gloria’s monologue as a high point. The most common refrain was, “I felt seen.”

Ultimately, Barbie transcends. As a work and work of art, it accomplished something extraordinary, something “more than.” It has let its audience “feel seen.” And that alone makes Barbie exceptional. 

Rated PG-13, the film is now playing in local theaters.

Harrison Ford in a scene from 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny'. Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd. / Disney

Reviewed by Jeffrey Sanzel

The Indiana Jones films are among the most popular blockbusters of all time: beginning with Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), followed by the prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), then Indiana Jones and the Lost Crusade (1989). It was almost twenty years before the fourth chapter was released: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). This last received the poorest reviews and the weakest response. Stephen Spielberg directed all four films, with Harrison Ford starring as Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, Jr., an archeology professor. Worldwide grosses have approached two billion dollars. 

In between the third and fourth films, a television series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, followed Jones as a child and youth. Twenty-eight episodes and four made-for-television films ran from 1992 through 1994. In addition, dozens of books, comic books, toys, and other tie-ins surround the Jones icon.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, as Helena, and Harrison Ford, as Indiana Jones, star in ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.’ Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd./Disney

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny opens in the closing days of World War II. Jones faces Nazi adversaries as he attempts to recover the Lance of Longinus. The German officers reveal Hitler believes the relic to contain extraordinary powers that could reverse the course of the war. The Lance is a fake, but Nazi astrophysicist Jürgen Voller has found half of Archimedes’ Dial, an invention of the ancient Syracusan mathematician said to be able to locate fissures in time. 

After an extended fight and chase on a train, Voller is killed (spoiler alert: he is not), and half of the Dial is supposedly lost (spoiler alter: it is not). Of course, Jones and sidekick, archaeologist Basil Shaw, survive.

The action jumps from 1944 to July 1969, just after the moon landing. Borderline alcoholic Jones, a passionless professor at New York City’s Hunter College, instructs indifferent students on the eve of his forced retirement. His son, Mutt, died in Viet Nam, and his wife, Marion Ravenwood, left him. Enter his goddaughter, Helena Shaw, Basil’s only child. Helena seeks the Dial, and while Jones had promised the near-insane Basil to destroy it, he preserved it in the college storeroom.

While retrieving it, Jones and Helena are attacked by muscle sent by Voller, now a scientist working for NASA. During this melee, Helena reveals herself to be less a student of archeology and more a mercenary treasure hunter planning to sell the Dial fragment in a Tangiers black-market auction. What ensues is a world-crossing journey, with a plethora of fights and escapes. These—the film’s raison d’être—are slightly cartoonish but grandly, energetically executed. However, they are too long. Much, much too long. 

Somewhere along the way, the series traded its signature humor and bold but neatly developed characters for impressive but bloated action sequences: extended chases in narrow streets and open spaces, replete with rooftop leaps, helicopters, planes, motorcycles, and innumerable cars. There is even an escape on horseback through a parade, invading the New York City subway.

With a few exceptions, the body count is composed of expendable characters. The almost bloodless violence borders on heightened slapstick, with square-landed punches usually followed by an attempt at a wry quip. The core villain, Voller, could be straight out of a Hollywood propaganda film; his henchmen are the usual obedient thugs. Helena’s sidekick, Teddy Kumar, vaguely replicates Short Round from the earlier films.

So much of The Dial of Destiny is an homage to Indiana Jones, one through three. While the trio paid tribute to the serials of the 1930s and ‘40s, Dial celebrates the trilogy. As soon as the chords of John Williams’ unmistakable underscore play, Jones saves the day (or at least the moment). But building an entire two hours and twenty minutes on waves of nostalgia comes up, if not empty, certainly less than satisfying. The film’s climax, a bizarre sword-and-sandal sequence, becomes uncomfortably comical and slightly clumsy.

While Ford announced this would be his final performance in the role, he remains in fine form as the curmudgeonly Jones, with his have-hat-and-whip-will-travel presence. He continues making the most incredible situations palatable. (Perhaps the CGI that renders the prologue’s younger Jones is the most extraordinary special effect.) 

Phoebe Waller-Bridge creates a quirky, amoral Helena, a great foil for Jones. She infuses the grifter with a mix of noir femme fatale and girl-next-door charm. Mads Mikkelsen’s Voller succeeds as the typically erudite fascist with requisite lip-curling contempt. Ethann Isidore manages to avoid precociousness as Teddy.

The supporting cast play mostly enlarged cameos. Antonio Banderas twinkles as Renaldo, a boat captain. John Rhys-Davies is delightful in his return as Jones’ old friend, Sallah. Toby Jones strikes the right balance between sanity and madness as Basil. Shaunette Renée Wilson gives one of the more dimensional performances as a government agent. 

While forging no new ground, those looking for another chapter in the saga will be either disappointed with its failure to compete with the earlier films or delighted with its improvement over the fourth, ill-conceived outing. With exotic locations, Teutonic villains, time travel, giant bugs, eel-filled waters, and enough stolen car chases for a dozen films, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny neither improves nor weakens the franchise. 

Disney recently announced that The Dial of Destiny is the final entry. And while not perfect closure, it is good enough to draw the curtain on four decades of epic adventure.

Rated PG-13, the film is now playing in local theaters.

Margot Robbie in a scene from 'Barbie'. Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment

By Tim Haggerty & Jeffrey Sanzel

This summer’s cinematic offerings range from blockbusters to independents, with Hollywood stars intermingled with well-known character actors and a handful of up-and-coming personalities. 

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

First up is the fifth installment of the Indiana Jones franchise: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Three decades in, Harrison Ford continues his adventures three decades in as the titular professor of archeology, Dr. Henry Walton Jones, Jr. Approaching retirement, Indy must don his hat and pick up his whip once more to make sure an ancient and powerful artifact, the Antikythera, doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. Phoebe Waller-Bridge plays his goddaughter.

Rated PG-13 · Release date June 30

Insidious: The Red Door

Patrick Wilson makes his feature directorial debut with The Red Door. Wilson and Rose Byrne appear in this last entry of the Insidious run, in which the original Lambert family attempts to (finally?) exorcise the demons plaguing them. (As with most horror movies of this ilk, demons surprisingly can be resurrected by decent box office returns.)

Rated PG-13 · Release date July 7

Joy Ride

Joy Ride stars Oscar-nominated Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once) joins Ashley Park, Sherry Cola and Sabrina Wu in a buddy comedy about a quartet of friends who embark on a trek across Asia to help one of their group search for her birth mother. Directed and co-written by Adele Lim (Crazy Rich Asians).

Rated  R · Release date July 7

Mission: Impossible 7

Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, and Rebecca Ferguson join headliner Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning, Part One. Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team embark on “their most dangerous mission,” tracking down a weapon that threatens humanity in this action-franchise. The claim is that Dead Reckoning, Part Two (due out June 28, 2024) will be the final chapter. 

Rated PG-13 · Release date July 12

Theater Camp

Budding thespians are the target of the satirical Theater Camp which follows the eccentric staff of a rundown theatre camp in upstate New York as they come together with a less-than-theatrically-inclined member of the camp family to keep the program going following the sudden absence of the beloved founder with Dear Evan Hansen’s Ben Platt playing a counselor guiding the campers in their summer’s big show. 

Rated PG-13 · Release date July 14

Oppenheimer

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer promises to be a dark, powerful, and cutting-edge biopic of the scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, chronicling his work on the atomic bomb and the repercussions on his professional and personal lives. Cillian Murphy plays Oppenheimer, supported by an extraordinary cast: Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Kenneth Branagh, Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Gary Oldman, Rami Malek, and Josh Hartnett.

Rated R · Release date July 21

Barbie

Possibly the most anticipated release is Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. With an all-star cast—Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Will Ferrell, Dua Lipa and many others—the meta-comedy shows a particular Barbie (Robbie) and Ken (Gosling) as they venture into the real world. If the trailers reflect the finished production, it should be one of the summer’s best.

Rated PG-13 · Release date July 21

Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion is Disney’s latest foray into bringing amusement park rides to the big screen. A woman and her son enlist a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts to help rid their home of supernatural squatters. All -star cast includes LaKeith Stanfield, Danny DeVito, Owen Wilson, Rosario Dawson, Jared Leto, Winona Ryder, Tiffany Hadish and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Rated  PG-13 · Release date July 28

Talk to Me

The Australian horror film Talk to Me was a hit at the Sundance Film Festival and has already garnered excellent reviews. The traditional plot centers on friends who unwittingly unleash malevolent forces when conjuring spirits with an embalmed hand.

Rated  R · Release date July 28

TMNT: Mutant Mayhem

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle phenomenon returns with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. The movie’s revival is due to longtime fans Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and is computer animated feature emphasizing the “teenage” element of the original comics.

Rated  PG-13 · Release date August 2

Strays

Will Ferrell leads an all-star voice cast (Jamie Foxx, Isla Fisher, Josh Gad, Will Forte, Sofia Vergara) in the adult live-action animal adventure Strays. A naive border terrier (voice of Ferrell), abandoned by his deadbeat owner, decides to trek back home to exact his revenge. 

Rated  R · Release date August 18

Blue Beetle

Those seeking a superhero infusion will embrace Blue Beetle. Cobra Kai’s Xolo Maridueña plays the title character in this DC origin story about a recent college grad who becomes possessed by the Scarab, an ancient alien biotechnological relic, which turns him into the Blue Beetle. With Susan Sarandon and George Lopez.

Not Rated  · Release date August 18

Bottoms

After her dark comedy Shiva Baby, director Emma Seligman’s sophomore outing is Bottoms. Seligman reunites with Shiva Baby’s Rachel Sennott for this teen sex comedy in which two high school seniors create a fight club so they can hook up with cheerleaders.

Not Rated  · Release date August 18

Brief Encounters

Brief Encounters is the summer’s most unusual opening. Filmed in 1967, the movie was banned in the Soviet Union and is finally getting its formal American release. Romanian-born director Kira Muratova (generally identified as Ukranian) sets a romantic triangle amid the casual shortages and shoddy apartments of professional-class Odessa.

Not Rated · Release date August 25

With a mix of comedy, drama, thriller, and pure escape—along with the usual sequels—summer 2023 promises something for every filmgoer. 

This article originally appeared in Summer Times, TBR News Media’s seasonal guide supplement.