Ryan Syrek

It is entirely possible that Rumours, an alleged comedy from writers/directors Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, and Guy Maddin, is smart and funny. I am basing a lot of that on the fact that Cate Blanchett agreed to star in it. I am not basing a lot of that on my having found it smart and funny. I trust Cate Blanchett more than myself, as we all should.

Wicked ’s lineage is so complicated, Maury Povich is heavy breathing. L. Frank Baum’s book became a movie that inspired a book that became a musical that became a movie. You may be expecting a snide comment about derivative exploitation of “intellectual property,” but your presumption is wrong. Wow, you should really be forced to watch a musical about being overly judgmental with an audience filled of show choir students.

Someone saw the “how often dudes think about the Roman empire” TikTok shenanigans and said “Get Ridley on the phone.”

Juror #2 Is a Grown-Up Movie for Grown-Ups (by the Most Grown Up)

Image Die Hard but instead of bullets, there’s talking. And instead of getting snaped by Alan Rickman’s villain, Jason Bateman talks a lot. And instead of Bruce Willis saying “Welcome to the party pal,” Taron Egerton scowls and sometimes frowns…and listens to people talking a lot.

In an interview with Variety, writer/director Robert Eggers tried to explain why the villainous vampire in his inert, dull, needless reboot of Nosferatu looked so dumb. He told the magazine that he tried to envision how an undead Transylvanian nobleman would actually look. “No matter what, there’s no way this guy can’t have a mustache,” he concluded. So, there you go: A real Hungarian vampire would have a big bushy state trooper mustache. That’s just facts.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved tislelizumab-jsgr (Tevimbra) in combination with chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for adults with unresectable or metastatic HER2-negative gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinomas with programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, according to a news release from BeiGene , the drug's manufacturer.

The weather is about to get “gosh-darn cold” over the next week, which is an official Midwest meteorologic designation. The Damned has a great set of tips to survive frigid temps. This probably isn’t what Icelandic director Thordur Palsson had in mind when he crafted this grim 19th century horror-fable about what happens when you don’t help others.

Weird shifts in style, genre, and tone within one movie are typically a delicious treat. They’re like a scoop across all the flavors of Neapolitan ice cream or a cup filled with every option from a soda fountain. The problem – for me and me alone apparently – is that Anora scooped across vanilla, chocolate, and hummus or filled a cup up with Dr. Pepper, A&W Root Beer, and ranch dressing. That is to say, the film contains many good things that don’t work in one bite or gulp.

Even the good movies were bad. 2024 was one full diaper, which is why the best movies of the year were mostly feel-bad fare. I am writing this just hours after David Lynch’s death was announced, so 2025 may be “the year the diaper overfloweth.” This isn’t performative melancholy, I swear.