2026 Movie Discussion Thread

[Andrew POE!]

6 hours ago, J.H. said:

Bill Affleck?

I know you mean Ben Affleck but a part of me imagines a third Affleck brother doing B-Z level films. Y'know, a Joe Estevez equivalent on the Affleck clan.

James

I probably should have gone to bed instead of watching a weaker effort from John Woo. Stupid sleep

[HarryArchieGus]

On 5/30/2026 at 10:18 PM, J.H. said:

Erin Brokovich - Here's the thing about Julia Roberts, she is an actress who does rom-coms that are... questionable. But when she gets a role she can sink her teeth into, you forget the rom-coms and you realize that she really can act. She makes you believe.

Erin Brokovich is that role. I don't think Roberts has pushed herself as an actress much since. Christ, she is so good in this that you forget the crap she did before this or after. She is a force of nature in this. Every scene, every word spoken and every little movement comes across with purpose and intent. She commands the screen in this. I mean the rest of the cast is great, especially Albert Finney but this is the Julia Roberts show and owns the screen. She won the Oscar for thid and dammit she damn well earned it!

James

 

On 5/30/2026 at 10:45 PM, Andrew POE! said:

I remember seeing Erin Brokovich in theaters while in high school and really hating it. Nowadays, I probably would like it, since I tend to rate everything from Steven Soderbergh highly.

I saw Erin Brokovich for the first time a year ago. Soderbergh directing gave me the impression this might be an anomaly in the Roberts catalog. I didn't think so. I don't disagree that she brings her A game, but I thought the movie suffered from all the trappings of her formula rom-coms. I think I disliked Brokovich more for showing potential before settling back into the unrealistic bullshit that dominates common Julia vehicles. For me, the Roberts film that needs to be seen and discussed (by adults who can handle an uncomfortable story) is Luca Guadagnino's criminally underrated After the Hunt. It's wild that megastar Julia could provide arguably the best performance of her career and be completely overlooked. And even maligned by some close-minded critics. 

[Andrew POE!]

53 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

I saw Erin Brokovich for the first time a year ago. Soderbergh directing gave me the impression this might be an anomaly in the Roberts catalog. I didn't think so. I don't disagree that she brings her A game, but I thought the movie suffered from all the trappings of her formula rom-coms. I think I disliked Brokovich more for showing potential before settling back into the unrealistic bullshit that dominates common Julia vehicles. For me, the Roberts film that needs to be seen and discussed (by adults who can handle an uncomfortable story) is Luca Guadagnino's criminally underrated After the Hunt. It's wild that megastar Julia could provide arguably the best performance of her career and be completely overlooked. And even maligned by some close-minded critics. 

I found myself not really liking After The Hunt, but I may give it a rewatch at some point. I didn't mind the story, I just found it to be going nowhere. 

[HarryArchieGus]

4 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

I found myself not really liking After The Hunt, but I may give it a rewatch at some point. I didn't mind the story, I just found it to be going nowhere. 

Not sure what was missed, but it certainly wasn’t ’going nowhere’. Or does ‘going nowhere’ mean no action? It was an intriguing if unsettling story chockerblocked full of excellent performances. I can imagine this would be exactly the type of movie that would fall into the cracks with a multiple movies a day schedule. It’s a movie that requires a little time to breathe after you’re done watching. All that said, you’re certainly not alone in not liking the movie. Though a lot of those ppl decided they disliked it before even seeing it. 

Edited June 1 by HarryArchieGus

[zendragon]

I'd say Julia Roberts best film especially if you want something out of the ordinary is The Mexican. 

[driver]

19 hours ago, J.H. said:

Bill Affleck?

I know you mean Ben Affleck but a part of me imagines a third Affleck brother doing B-Z level films. Y'know, a Joe Estevez equivalent in the Affleck clan.

James

Yes, Affleck, Bill, Affleck. Solid actor who starts in Pluto originals like Jersey Squirrel, The Accounting, Good Will Bunting. I'll show myself out.

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....I'll let you know if I watch more Bill Affleck movies.

Saint Frances (Mubi, leaving on 6/13) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Having completely loved Ghostlight and seen that first, Saint Frances is a bit of a 'step down' in comparison. Still, I find myself loving Alex Thompson and Kelly O'Sullivan's humanistic comedy/dramas that they've done so far.

A lot of the movie is carried through with the small moments centering around its main character Bridget (Kelly O'Sullivan). Bridget is a woman who is wondering where her life has gone - the start of the movie with her having to listen to a self-centered guy saying he would 'kill himself' because he's 34 and doesn't have any money didn't help her. She meets Jace (Max Lipchitz), who like her and she becomes pregnant, work as a server for a restaurant.

Bridget begins to work as a nanny for Frances (Ramona Edith Williams) whose parents Maya (Charin Alvarez) and Annie (Lily Mojekwu) are going through Maya's pregnancy. The complications of life ensue with Bridget going through an abortion while trying to take care of Frances and deal with Maya's post-partum depression. The movie's characters don't have all the answers or even completely understand what is happening to them. Life is scary and messy like that; Frances' conversation with her mother in the park shows that nothing changes.

While I like this movie, there were times in which it somewhat appeared directionless story wise. My interest did waver a bit. The movie is filmed competently well and I liked how even for an independent release, there's a high degree of polish with how scenes are staged and blocked. The emotional payoff at the end where Bridget takes Frances to first grade and Bridget begins to cry then consoles Frances about Frances worrying about her having a period too is satisfying.

For the most part, Saint Frances is a great feature from Alex Thompson and Kelly O'Sullivan.

Berlin Express (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

While watching this, I had to wonder if Pawel Pawlikowski watched this and Germany Year Zero for inspiration to make Fatherland.

The movie is intriguing to watch at first - characters going through post-WWII Frankfurt and Berlin in the ruins and in the train stations. The movie is a bit convoluted as it becomes a hunt after Dr. Heinrich Bernhardt (Paul Lukas) after he is kidnapped from a train station following the murder of his bodyguard on a train.

The movie is mostly an excuse to show the scenery and it was interesting how they had to be an 'international' story with Americans Robert Lindley (Robert Ryan), Russian soldier Lt. Maxim Viroshilov (Roman Toporow), Henri Perrot (Charles Korvin), secretary to Dr. Bernhardt Lucienne Mirbeau (Merle Oberon), and British diplomat James Sterling (Robert Coote),

It somewhat didn't make sense to me that Perrot would save Dr. Bernhardt from his kidnappers in a brewery only to try to kill him on a train to Berlin, but what do I know. Still, I loved the Third Man-like cinematography the movie uses.

Lilting (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

The thing with memories and with loss is they run in repetition. You remember the unsaid conversations and the unsaid emotions. With Lilting, the movie is about these aspects of life as the focus is on Junn (Cheng Pei-pei) dealing with the loss of her son Kai (Andrew Leung). The circumstances with Junn are rather depressing; she is in a nursing home in a country that's not her own and people speak to her in a language she doesn't understand. As the movie starts, she is recalling either a conversation or a dream of Kai's visit as he took the bus to arrive there and wants to invite her to dinner to meet Richard (Ben Whishaw).

Richard grapples with his memories of Kai at the apartment they shared during their relationship and at a coffeehouse they visit. Richard cannot speak in the dialects that Junn can speak, including Chinese, Cantonese and Mandarin; so he hires Vann (Naomi Yang) to help him. Much of the time with Richard and Junn is spent with the two speaking while Vann acts as a translator. One conversation, Vann made both Junn and Richard angry with suggesting that she stay there and made Junn stand in front of a table where her son's ashes are now sitting on.

Junn has a 'relationship' with Alan (Peter Bowles) that's purely physical touch; at first, Junn talks to him in her language without him readily understanding it. As the movie progresses and Vann serves as translator, it's learned that there is a distance that a language barrier cannot overcome. The two truly has nothing in common.

Richard has Junn and Vann visit him towards the end of the movie and reveals to her that Kai and he were a couple and Kai was gay. Kai was killed walking across the street by a car and it wrecks Richard. Junn talks to Richard in her language and tells him that she thought she couldn't go on with her life after Kai's death, but the memories sustain her. There's nice scenes of the various characters dancing in pairs - Kai and Junn, then Vann and Richard, then Junn and Alan, then Kai and Richard. Junn finally understands and accepts what Richard meant to her son.

With Lilting, it's very low budget yet beautifully shot. The director Hong Khaou has a way of letting the conversations with the actors carry the scenes forward, not really relying on a lot of fancy camerawork or editing tricks. The movie does use a lot of outdoor photography for scene transitions as well as 'frozen' images at certain points.

The Furious (2025) (saw in the theaters) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

A review wouldn't be sufficient for this movie.

Do you want a movie that's as soon as it starts, it's "Let's fucking go!!!!"? All gas, no brakes, all action, no downtime?

Then watch The Furious.

It's pretty much Sounds of Freedom meets The Raid and there isn't any deep characterization from Wang Wei (Xie Miao) and Navin (Joe Taslim). They are after the bad guys that kidnapped children and they are going to bust some heads. Some of the aspects with the police and the Triad reminded me a bit of Johnnie To's movies, but a lot more action going on.

The final fight sequence is the most amazing thing I've ever witnessed. The audience at the zoom in of the guy's eyes is the loudest thing I've ever heard.

Just quit reading this, go see The Furious when it's out!!!

 

[odessasteps]

With the first three EON bond films on the criterion channel, part of me want to a review series. 

[J.H.]

11 hours ago, driver said:

Yes, Affleck, Bill, Affleck. Solid actor who starts in Pluto originals like Jersey Squirrel, The Accounting, Good Will Bunting. I'll show myself out.

I would totally see Jersey Squirrel 

I imagine Good Will Bunting is a baseball movie, unless it is like Legends of the Fall and we know how that plays out for yours truly.

Also... Pluto has original programming? 

James 

Edited June 2 by J.H.

[driver]

10 hours ago, J.H. said:

I would totally see Jersey Squirrel 

I imagine Good Will Bunting is a baseball movie, unless it is like Legends of the Fall and we know how that plays out for yours truly.

Also... Pluto has original programming? 

James 

Doggie, we have to imagine these things. 

Good Will Bunting is about a man who sells flags.
If Tubi can have originals, than so can Pluto.

 

 

Edited June 2 by driver

[Andrew POE!]

Here's some more:

Pond Girl - a movie about a girl that lives in a pond that Bill Affleck may or may not had to do with the girl being in the pond.

Fair - a movie about guy trying to start the Renaissance Fair but needs the support and approval of a British stage actor to endorse a pair of shoes.

The Tender Car - A guy in Long Island reminiscences about a car that barely starts. 

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today...

Honest Thief (Netflix, leaving on 6/2) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

As far as Liam Neeson 'dad movie' vehicles go, Honest Thief is a bit more 'low impact' in comparison. It will not top the trifecta of Non-Stop/Run All Night/The Commuter.

Compared to those movies, it's a bit more reflective - Neeson's character Tom Dolan wants to turn himself in and give back the money out of a sense of guilt and not feel like he's hiding something from his girlfriend Annie Wilkins (a very pretty Kate Walsh). Neeson and Walsh has relatable chemistry - it's kind of sweet to have a movie with romantic relationships for characters above the age of 50. Dolan's reasoning for the robbery has to do with a common issue in America today - the working/middle class lose their pension and retirement while a CEO makes millions and has a 'golden parachute.'

The back half of the movie does tend to be a bit convenient as the walls are closing in on Agent John Nivens (Jai Courtney) due to evidence around what he did with murdering his boss Sam Baker (Robert Patrick) and forcing his partner Ramon Hall (Anthony Ramos) to be an accomplice.

Honest Thief honestly isn't bad, but there are better Liam Neeson movies.

Cane River (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

What I like with Cane River is the fact that it presents the black experience in America as being more than "black people living in inner city / urban areas" that a lot of black cinema (sometimes) is in danger of overdoing. The black rural experience in Cane River is like a lot of the rural experience in the South for both black and white people. Land is important and, in this movie, it shines a light on black land ownership being important.

The movie demonstrates a love and romance is not just two people deciding to fall in love. They each bring their own pasts and pains to the equation. Peter (Richard Romain) gave up a career in professional football because he wasn't liking how he was treated - he was treated like a commodity more than a person. He wanted to work his father's farm and be a poet and writer. Maria (Tommye Myrick) is a woman he meets at a tour who desires to go to college. Between the two is a mutual shared attraction. But there's also a shared pain; Peter comes from the Metoyer family, whose great grandma was a land owner in the region and also a slave owner. Peter begins to learn about his family's history through the book The Forgotten People and realizes and desires to do better. Maria's mother wants Maria to stay away from Peter on account of this - Maria's family has their own pain that Maria carries. Maria's mother in an impassioned scene doesn't want Maria to depend on any man for her future and wants her to go to Xavier University.

Much of the movie centers on the conversations that Peter and Maria have as they grow closer together. The early scenes show them together, riding horses, swimming in a pool, going to a sauna, walking through a park. The movie has a tendency to probably overuse songs to describe the characters' moods and thoughts. The song about their love sounds like something from Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack, then there's a really godawful song about people drinking and showing people going to a local bar.

The movie changes a bit when the two go to New Orleans with Jean Luc Godard-like back seat car as they travel through the city. It resembles a travelogue, maybe a documentary. There's elements that remind me a bit of Godard's filmography as the two walk through the streets of New Orleans and feed birds in a park and cross traffic together. Maria enrolls into school and gets a job. This docu-drama style continues as they visit each other's churches - Peter is a Catholic, whose family founded the church and has a portrait of a relative on the wall. The relative is shown to be black. They go to Maria's church, which is indicative of the AME experience. But what seems to be the same is someone falling asleep in church.

After talking with her mother in an elongated scene (I would almost dare say was manipulation from her mother), Maria decides to leave Peter and decides that their relationship isn't to last and says her goodbyes. The movie ends much in the way it begins - at a bus station. Peter reads a note from Maria where Maria in voiceover promises to call him once she arrives. Peter yells out triumphantly and the movie ends on a freeze frame.

Cane River as a movie is a beautiful experience to watch; I like the fact that it does something a bit different. Some of the acting from the non-principle actors is a bit lower end; the attorney that Peter is talking to about his relative's land seems a bit 'cue card'-y, despite the attorney stressing the importance of black land ownership - "we're losing a thousand acres a week."

It's a shame that the film director Horace B. Jenkins died suddenly after completing this movie. Imagine what he would have done had he lived longer and completed more movies.

Maniac (1980) (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4/5 stars 

Spoiler

There's a link or thoroughline with Maniac to a lot of different things in cinema. There's Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, the Italian giallos of Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci, Abe Ferrera's New York City cinema of Bad Lieutenant, Ms. 45, Fear City, and King of New York to modern cinema like Todd Phillips' Joker and Nicholas Winding Refn's Bronson and Pusher. New York City is as much of a monster as is the erstwhile Maniac Frank Zito (Joe Spinell). Frank is motivated by Catholic guilt as much as sexual desires and sexual jealousy and resentment towards his mother.

The thing with Maniac is it feels like a dream. The movie starts with Frank Zito observing, much like Hitchcock, Bava, Fulci and other Italian giallo cameras would observe. It feels like the opening to Jaws as the shark watches people on the beach. Frank Zito does rhythmic breathing that could be thought to be as though he were asleep. Yet, he kills couples, wanting what they have, lacking the connections that they have. Frank scalps the women and has them seemingly displayed in his room, talking to them as though they are still alive. He blames them for 'making him do it,' as though the women directly did anything to cause this. The fact is, Frank Zito can only blame Frank Zito for what happened.

As the movie progresses, Zito becomes more bold, following a man and a woman from a club to a bridge and blasting the man with a shotgun. He follows a nurse and stabs her with a long sword-like knife, much like how was done in Torso and Who Saw Her Die?. He spots a photographer in a park named Anna D'Antoni (isn't that the most giallo name ever?) played by Caroline Munro. What's interesting is meeting Anna face to face and watching her work begins to 'humanize' Frank Zito and separate him from the crimes he does. He begins to realize that the victims are people, with careers, hopes, dreams, and intelligence. Those he killed deserved better than his following them and expelling his guilt unto them.

What's interesting is one of the models Rita (Gail Lawrence) has a conversation with Frank as he drops off a necklace. She closes the door to the apartment, yet Frank goes inside and knocks her out. He talks to Rita, telling her that he doesn't wish to hurt her. In one of the most giallo-like shots in the movie, Zito holds the knife over Rita's chest before killing her.

Frank takes Anna on a date and things begin to unravel for him; he takes Anna to his mother's grave while he gives a Hail Mary over the grave and starts to cry. Anna tells Frank that 'it's been so long ago,' meaning that Frank Zito should move on and become a functional person again. Yet, Frank attacks Anna and then Anna hits him with a shovel. Frank hallucinates his mother attacking from the grave. He goes back to his apartment.

The scene at the apartment is nightmarish; I wondered while watching it if the earlier thought that this movie was a dream was solidified in these scenes. Frank imagines the women in his apartment coming to life and chop his arm off and begin to pull his head off. Tom Savini had done a similar effect in 1985's Day of the Dead, that included an ear piercing scream. The women attacking Frank Zito resemble the zombies from George Romero's movies.

The conclusion has the police arriving to Frank's apartment and bursting in, finding Frank stabbed with a knife. It then begs the question if Anna stabbed Frank or if Frank in his dream-like hallucination stabbed himself. The truth will never be known. As they leave, the camera zooms in on Frank's eyes as he opens them, seemingly alive.

Maniac as a movie isn't meant to be 'revered.' There's no moral lesson learned or moral victory from this movie; much like Scorsese's Travis Bickle and Todd Phillips' Arthur Fleck, we aren't supposed to empathize with Frank Zito. Women aren't shown as rejecting Frank Zito; if anything, he rejects himself and blames himself, adopting a soft voice that imitates his mother much like Norman Bates did in Psycho.

But what can be revered is how the director William Lustig and other crew members like cinematographer Robert Lindsay did this movie with virtually no money.

Hidden in the Fog (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Hidden in the Fog starts out well and intriguingly as Lora Willding (Eva Henning) has shot her husband Walter (Georg Rydeberg) and escapes in a vehicle that she leaves wretched. Lora narrates what happened in flashbacks as she escapes through Stockholm streets. She eventually gets caught up by Police Inspector Kjell Myrman (Sven Lindberg) and is interrogated along with others including Jimmie Hedstrom (Sonja Wigert), Walter's lover.

The movie just turns into "people stand in a room, deliver dialogue rather dryly" for scenes on end. The intrigue as to Walter's murder doesn't seem important to the movie, so would they bother? The only saving grace is Henning and her thick Anne Hathaway-like eyebrows (seriously those things look like caterpillars up there) and Sonja Wigert setting the screen on fire with her hotness. The movie makes a reference to Otto Preminger's Laura, which I need to watch.

The climax turns into an Agatha Christie-like finale where everyone is gathered in a room as Jack Willding (Sture Lagerwall) does through everyone in the room to determine who had motive to do it. It apparently lands on Lora, until she attempts an escape and is knocked out by Olle Lindaeus (Erik Strandmark). Apparently, Olle was the one who murdered Walter and gets in a fight with...someone on the boat, I couldn't tell because the version on Criterion Channel is pretty damn poorly lit. I think the guy he fought with won.

The movie has great shots of 1950s Stockholm, but the dark lighting really makes this a lesser effort.

Meshes of the Afternoon (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 5/5 stars

Spoiler

If you told me otherwise, I would have been convinced this was filmed in the 1980s by a Kate Bush/Elizabeth Fraser fanatic that bought a vintage camera at a photography store in the Valley and filmed things with her actor husband who was in between spots on Family Ties and Knight Rider.

Instead, no, this was done in the 1940s. During the time, the Hays Code was around. Where men and women who were married in a movie had to sleep in two twin beds like they were away on summer camp.

Meshes of the Afternoon is about the subconscious in a dream state. Time is circular as actions are repeated, but there's variants in the repetition. More things learned and discovered and realized. A key is a knife - both used to open what can be hidden; a key can unlock a door and a knife can slice bread. Both can be used to induce death. If you swallow a key, you might die. If you stab someone or stab yourself,people might die.

In life, people follow the same paths and patterns. They go into a room. They can go up stairs. They can go into a bedroom. They observe something in a distance and want to chase after it, but the fear of the unknown gets in the way. So they stick to the same patterns, the same paths, going up the same stairs to the same rooms, the same entrapment.

Having a mirror as a face blocks what is shown to someone, but reflects back what they see in front of them. From the person looking ahead and seeing the figure, they see the mirror face. From us watching the person looking ahead, we see the person earlier in time.

Meshes of the Afternoon will not make any sense. I'm not even sure what I wrote is even accurate. But I wish it made people in Hollywood go, "Hell yeah, let's make weird sh*t that pisses off that idiot Will Hays! We can do this! Let's just f*cking film weird sh*t! What do you mean we got to put John Wayne in a movie?"

 

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....

The Mouth Agape (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Having started with Maurice Pialat's movie before this, We Won't Grow Old Together, The Mouth Agape seems a bit like a 'companion piece' in some ways. Where that movie was about a couple fighting, arguing, and realizing that even with their affair with each other, their relationship lacks permanence. With The Mouth Agape, this focus goes to a family.

It's sadly true to life how men with really no interesting qualities end up having relationships with the prettiest women. The woman that's the principle character named Monique (Monique Melinand) has a terminal illness. Roger (Hubert Deschamps) runs a clothing and haberdashery store; in one scene, Roger practically gropes a young woman who came in to buy a shirt, she takes her shirt off without wearing a bra, puts the shirt on, swaps the shirt for her sweater, and walks out with a pair of free pantyhose. His son Philippe (Philippe Leotard) is no better - he has affairs with a woman he met waiting for a driving test and tries to flirt with two nurses of his mother. His wife Nathalie (Nathalie Baye) is exquisitely gorgeous and really nice - yet Philippe takes advantage of her kindness, her love, and her physical beauty with his affairs.

The takes in the movie are long because life is short. Then, when monumental events happen, they pass quickly. Maurice Pialat made a movie that mirrored his own life and his own longing to resolve his guilt and grief over his mother's death. What's interesting is towards the beginning after Philippe takes his mother for treatment. She is told she needs a cane to walk now due to something found in her back. Philippe and Monique just sit there silently, eating fruit, smoking cigarettes, Cosi fan Tutte playing on the record player. Both characters don't realize that these would be the final moments they spend in conversation.

Monique goes to a hospital for her treatment with her family visiting. The camera focuses on the family across from Monique where the father and son argue over the mother about the son visiting and stealing things. They lean in to kiss the mother, but hit each other's heads. They then proceed to argue. That scene is supposed to show the difference between Monique and her family and the other woman's family, but there isn't a difference. Monique's family just only hide their issues behind closed doors and not in public.

It's then decided to move Monique back home, where we don't really see her for the rest of the movie. She is being fed and taken care of, but mosty by women. The men don't bother changing the bed or making her comfortable. Roger walks into the cafe to get a glass of wine and talk with the owners, occasionally meeting a woman that came from Paris to flirt before his son arrive. Philippe continues his affairs, yet seems to find himself still attracted to his wife Nathalie - one scene has them apparently having sex in a field before changing and driving off.

Maurice Pialat gives the camera in the movie a bit of the 'male gauze' regarding women. It's to contrast the differences between men and women. Women in this have a more 'off screen' action; men in this are focused on and do things cruelly to women. It's interesting that after Monique's death, she's stripped naked. Previously in the movie, nudity was meant in a romantic state, but with her nudity upon death, there's nothing romantic about it. It's non-sexual and it's a sense of finality.

The last couple of scenes around the funeral is nearly dialogue-less as the body is put into a coffin, Roger kisses her for one last time. The camera pans around the funeral procession, as the hearse is shown. The funeral is never shown, only the aftermath. The conversation after the funeral is about the flowers and differences between flowers, because flowers symbolize beauty and what else could they talk about? Roger is beside himself realizing he made a mistake with how he treated Monique; they were married for 38 years and they argued. Yet he remembers he loved her and he treated her cruelly.

The last couple of scenes are interesting as Philippe and Nathalie leave Roger in the shop. The camera is mounted on a car as the car drives off, with the shop in the ever increasing distance. Roger walks around the shop a bit then turns off the lights to end the movie.

Maurice Pialat as a movie director did a movie that's unflinching, cold, and possibly mean spirited. Yet, the story for this movie is unattached and distant, even as the microscopic focus for this movie is on this family. It's sad that all the principal actors for this movie are now dead, with Nathalie Baye having died in 2026. Nestor Alemendros' cinematography in this and the mis en scene really capture the cluttered nature of these characters' lives, in a town away from Paris.

At Land (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

It doesn't make sense, but it makes sense too.

This is the way dreams are done. Christopher Nolan's Inception likely borrowed a lot from this. It's crazy that Maya Deren got there first.

Life essentially is a struggle as depicted in this. Doing things with people is like crawling on a table while in your mind it's like crawling through bushes. A chess game is one where the pieces move on its own, outside of your control.

You can continue to climb up, but never reaching a top because what you think is the top is something and somewhere else.

Meeting people is hard.

A Study in Choreography For Camera (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4.5/5 stars

Spoiler

As I watch this short film, I wonder "Where has Maya Deren been all my life?" A simple pan of the camera around the forest as multiple versions of the same person pose in place. Then he moves through a living room, then a museum, his head spins around as does his body.

Beau Travail and All That Jazz started here.

Trade Winds (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

Trade Winds is such a mismatch of tones that it's almost a failure. The first 20 minutes or so of the movie has Kay Karrigan (Joan Bennett) shooting Thomas Bruhme II (Sidney Blackmer) over something pretty serious and severe (the suicide of her sister), that the rest of the movie seems like a completely different movie. Ben Blodgett (Ralph Bellamy) seems like JT Walsh from Beavis & Butthead Do America except he whips out his badge everywhere. Sam Wye (Fredric March) is hired as a detective to hunt after Kerrigan, who is now a brunette instead of a blonde. Jean Livingstone (Ann Sothern) is Wye's secretary and goes along too.

A lot of the movie is projected footage shot elsewhere and just sort of shoved into the movie. The immersion breaking aspects of it really lessen the effort for the movie.

Still, the actors do what they can with the script and Dorothy Parker's scripting occasionally makes it amusing. The last five minutes where it turns out someone else killed Bruhme II is actually an insult to the audience's intelligence. It's not like the ending to The Palm Beach Story where it has the main characters have twin relatives to get married; the comedy of that movie was thorough and still holds up.

The comedy for Trade Winds seem poorly developed despite a strong start.

Next of Kin (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3/5 stars

Spoiler

Before there was Kane Parsons and Curry Barker doing Backrooms and Obsession, there was Atom Egoyan as another relatively young film director doing a movie that demonstrated poise beyond its years. Next of Kin feels like something David Cronenberg would do in his early days; it's low budget and Canadian, but there's less of the weird, science-y focus that Cronenberg does. Instead, it's more of a dark comedy.

Peter Foster (Patrick Tierney) gets tired of living at his middle class/upper middle class parents' house where all they do is argue with each other and his mother (Margaret Loveys) proceeds to speak for him. What Peter is going through is relatable to me - it's suffocating to be 23 and still living at home. So they go to therapy, where the therapists videotape the sessions and want them to watch.

Peter sees the videotape of George (Berge Fazlian) and Sonya (Sirvart Fazlian) Deryan and decides to become their adopted son Bedros. The Deryans are arguing with their daughter Azah (Arsinee Khanjian).

A lot of the early images of the movie is the camera moving along a conveyor belt as baggage goes through an airport. The imagery is purposeful; it seems to symbolize Peter picking up a new identity of Bedros, like someone picking up a piece of luggage at the airport. The movie doesn't necessarily focus on how Peter feels with this new identity or even the potential of someone from his former life recognizing him in public. Peter's identity as Bedros seems whole and complete; the family think of him as their son.

What's interesting is the element of organized crime George has in his life. George and Sonya gave up Bedros for adoption when they moved to Canada. George, while walking down the street with Bedros/Peter, brags about how much money he has. He can bribe the police, a judge, and it's part of living in Canada. Compared to the life that Peter's parents had, the Deryans are relatively 'better off,' despite possibly being criminal.

What's interesting is Azah suspects that Bedros is not who he says he is - yet she doesn't really speak up. She's fine with the arrangement and there's a possible romantic connection between the two. One scene I liked had the camera panning slowly around a room while Azah and Bedros talked.

To be honest, Next of Kin really didn't have a lot of conflict in its story. Once the initial shock of Peter becoming Bedros wore off, it just seemed to be a way for Egoyan to show family dynamics with a character becoming a different person. In the end, Peter decided to stay as Bedros as he leaves a tape recording for his parents, telling them he still loves them and for them to think of him as their son. The question then becomes, "when would Peter ever go back to his original/actual family?"

For the most part, Next of Kin is an interesting movie and some aspects aren't as polished in the movie. It's not a bad first movie though.

 

[Curt McGirt]

Thank you so much for seeing Maniac for the work of art that it is. It's been unfairly reviled in many quarters for many years, totally unjustified. You didn't even mention the chase in the subway which is note-perfect suspenseful -- in fact, nobody EVER talks about that, but it's okay haha. This is a top ten horror film and I will stand by that. 

[J.H.]

On 5/31/2026 at 3:35 PM, J.H. said:

Dear lord this movie might be Boorman's best in my opinion. 

I wrote this and then got the Criterion release of Point Blank. Goddam what a great movie. I'm pretty sure I reviewed it already but in case I didn't... it John Boorman, it's Lee Marvin. It's a fuckin GREAT moviee!

James

[odessasteps]

 

[Andrew POE!]

Movies today....

Vigilante (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

This movie would be the type of movie that Quentin Tarantino would get excited about. And for good reason. It has Robert Forster as Eddie and Fred Williamson as Nick. It's sleazy, it's slimy, it's seedy, it's New York City in the 1980s.

Quite honestly, the introductory scenes are just incredible with Williamson delivering a monologue about people should take back the streets, the police can't be trusted to do it, the judges can't either, this is their Waterloo! Interspersed in the monologue and in the tight closeup of Williamson are people using a gun range.

The movie simply goes through on style. At times, it feels like something John Carpenter would do around the time of Assault on Precinct 13. Jay Chattaway's soundtrack induces goosebumps and panic as the lights come on the minivan that Nick's vigilante group use. James Lemmo's cinematography is great to watch too - the night time shots are just incredibly well done with a mixture of lighting and shadows. I really loved how the camera and lighting is done on Williamson, especially in the bar scene at the Velvet Cup.

If you think about it, the movie really doesn't hold up under any scrutiny. Eddie's wife Vickie (Rutanya Alda) and son go through a home invasion because Vickie stopped one of the Headhunter Gang from harassing a gas station attendant. Somehow, they knew where she lived. The son gets killed in the home invasion with a multiple closeup shot of the window where the shotgun blasts through the window. Judge Sinclair (Vincent Beck) get Rico (Willie Colon) off of a felony charge and a suspended sentence despite Mary Fletcher (Carol Lynley)’s best efforts as an assistant DA. Eddie is thrown into jail for contempt of court. Why would Eddie have to go to jail for 30 days after what he's been through? Why wouldn't Mary Fletcher try to talk the judge down since the guy just lost his son and his wife is in the hospital?

The movie seems to pick and choose when to be realistic and when not to be realistic. The protagonists are seemingly 'invincible,' especially Nick. The vigilante group was able to track down a robber because of local people not feeling comfortable going to the police. The Headhunter Gang seemingly are clueless as to where the vigilantes are and won't try to isolate them or use their apparent pull with the city and with the defense attorney to get them arrested for made-up charges.

There's also aspects that just never add into the finale. The Headhunter Gang gun down two police officers, yet nothing is said about that again. Eddie hits a police car while chasing after Prago (Don Blakely), but the police never go after him too. I guess the line earlier about how's 'there's only two police cars when they should be ten' popped up there. One of the vigilantes get shot when they kill Rico at his house, yet the Headhunter Gang never track him down to kill him in the hospital. He just walks off with a gunshot wound to the shoulder and everything's fine.

But you don't watch Vigilante for expecting things like a plot to make sense or for the characters to make sense too. You watch Vigilante to see Fred Williamson waste fools with a shotgun. Williamson blasts a guy and his bodyguard that work in the mayor's office because those that make crime happen are the rich! You watch Vigilante to see Robert Forster throw a guy off a tower and the dude to be dead while no one does anything! Forster blows up the judge's car with a detonator using his son's model plane controls. Did anyone see the judge get murked after a long day's work? Apparently not.

Vigilante like Death Wish lets you live vicariously through seeing people kill criminals (even though the real problem isn't the criminals, but Reagan's 'trickle down' economics). There shouldn't be any thought really put into this movie. Sometimes, you just have to enjoy it for what it is.

Ritual In Transfigured Time (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Somehow, not as good (?) as the earlier Maya Deren short films I've seen, but a lot of ideas that are decades ahead of its time. The freeze frame shots have been used by every film director in the 1970s/ "New Hollywood" / Martin Scorsese. The party scenes felt like scenes I've seen in later movies, mainly in high school 'coming of age' movies where the sense of isolation and loneliness is shown with the main character walking through and observing other people engrossed in conversations and with people they feel disconnected to engage with.

Then the woman is chased by the man who is just leaping into the air; the chase has appeared in a lot of slasher and horror movies (although here, it's funny due to the fact that the guy is just jumping into the air).

The final photo negative shot has appeared in 'mind altered' horror movies and dramas.

Maya Deren ran ahead, we're still catching up now.

The Private Life of a Cat (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4/5 stars

Spoiler

Hissiskel and Meowbert gave this two paws up.

*ducks the tomatoes thrown at me and running away*

Masters of the Universe (2026) (saw in the theaters) - 2.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Hissiskel and Meowbert give this one paw up, one paw down. They liked Cringer (Tom Wilton) and thought....he was the cat's pajamas.

That's the review.

Actually no, it's not.

Growing up, I was a huge "He-Man and Masters of the Universe" fan. I had the toys. I didn't have Prince Adam, but I had He-Man, Skeletor, Man-at-Arms, Orko, and the Greyskull Castle. The problem is, I couldn't remember a single episode of the TV series. It seemed to mesh together and be about the same episode every week (at least in my mind).

So I watched 1987's Masters of the Universe and....that actually scared me a bit. The post-credit scene about gave me a heart attack as a kid. It was so sudden when it happened. But the movie treated it like This Was Serious Business. The 1987 movie felt like something Arnold Schwarzenegger would do after doing The Running Man and Predator, but instead it's Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langhella.

Which brings us to 2026's Masters of the Universe. What seems to be prevalent in the movie is how both self-serious and sarcastic it is. It's very much a product of post-MCU big budget filmmaking. Everyone has quips. Everyone. Even the villains like Skeletor (Jared Leto) and Evil-Lyn (ill-used Alison Brie). Susan Sarandon said recently that all movies are political movies. Well, Masters of the Universe is a political movie too. It seems to be making the choice of mocking its own main character Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) and the ideas of 'wokeness' (notice the 'he/him' pronouns on his desk, his frequent attempts to establish dialogue with everyone including Skeletor). Adam's origin has him not being taken seriously and not even regarded as a warrior by his father King Randor (James Purefoy).

Adam isn't the only one where there's a storyline about being 'a failed man.' Duncan/Man at Arms (Idris Elba) is found as a drunk and his daughter Teela (Camila Mendes) has him in a cell for the Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker-like base where the heroes hide. Duncan's storyline is about reclaiming who he is and helping Adam after Roboto (Kristen Wiig) is reprogrammed and gets blown up too.

Masters of the Universe is also sort of gay too and seems to be unabashed with it. The names that Adam calls the heroes in the movie were based on his recollections of what they were (meaning, we don't even know the actual names for some of them). Fisto (Johannes Haukur Johannesson) is because "you like to fist everyone!" (which is a lot more gay than you realize). Ram Man (Jon Xue Zhang) is because "you like to ram men" (uhhhh, yeah). It seems silly and juvenile because it is. Adam calls himself “He-Man” at the end to snickers as he rides away on Battle-Cat.

So the movie doesn't really do as well with its theme and a lot of the execution as it should. The climatic scenes has an almost-Inception like dream world where Adam encounters Skeletor in various forms and locations on Earth (the gym, the opening dinner date, his job). Adam, as a character, is just sort of thrown into Earth and presumably grew up (somehow) to get a job at an Office Space-like work environment. We never learn about Adam's adopted parents (which would have turned the movie into another version of Superman if we had). A lot of the movie visually borrows from Lord of the Rings, Dune, Star Wars (the ship chase is virtually cribbed from the speeder bike sequence in Return of the Jedi), Game of Thrones, and Valhalla in Marvel's Thor. It's high fantasy everywhere. It's also a shit-ton of lens flare; if you told me otherwise, I would have thought J.J. Abrams directed this.

Still, despite some questionable story choices, the movie has a really great sense of editing for the needledrop sequences. The Cure's "Boys Don't Cry" is played on the piano, before the song launches and shows Adam's work today. There's a hilarious usage of "Princes of the Universe" from Highlander (the movie did a 'blink and you miss it' reference in a line of dialogue from the police to Highlander too). Dolph Lundgren's cameo is hilarious as well and actually had people cheering at the showing I went to (and Adam re-uses his 'advice' in a later scene).

For the most part, Masters of the Universe is more 'key jangling' big budget blockbuster that occasionally gets things right and gets most things partially right

Scary Movie (2026) (saw in the theaters) - 2/5 stars

Spoiler

I didn't really watch the previous movies in the Scary Movie series, but this one at first actually almost works. It lifts jokes from other horror movies to the point that you have to have seen them to get the references. Also, premise wise it literally uses Scream 5 and 6 - the opening with Teyana Taylor was pulled from Scream 6 and was actually hilarious. The new characters and their introductions instantly reminded me of the introductions from Scream 5, but that's about it. It's almost too obvious who is being copied (the daughter takes after Melissa Barrera's character, Tuesday takes after Jenna Ortega with the name also being like Ortega as Wednesday, and the male 'love interest' takes after Jack Quaid's character).

It's just after the first hour, the movie runs out of steam and out of jokes.

It turns into a sketch comedy show as a movie. Scene changes have seemingly no continuity to it and makes it irritating to even follow; one character is stabbed in one scene, but then shows up fine in the next. That then makes the movie a series of jokes that don't fit together, but instead are the 'next parody' to use. The Weapons parody scene would have been better if they've licensed George Harrison's "Beware of Darkness" (I'm sure someone will do a fan edit of it on YouTube). Other parodies like Terrifier 3, The Substance, and the John Wick fight sequence are done in such a way to remind me of the actual movies.

A lot of the humor in this is mining that Brenda (Regina Hall) and other characters are black; it's funny in the first hour, but wears thin as the movie progresses. I did like Ray (Shawn Wayans)'s scene where he says 'he's no longer gay' due to parodying both evangelical churches wanting to 'pray away the gay' and what he describes that he doesn't do anymore.

The new characters, like are obvious Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown copies, end up dead before the end of the movie. The deaths is almost as much as what Scream 7 did and yet this movie is better than Scream 7. It's also better filmed somehow. I can't help but to feel the Wayans were saying something about the series that it was parodying lost the plot with Scream 5/6/7.

So, in the end, who was Scary Movie for? I don't think it even knows. It just knows the original parody characters are what works, so it'll literally kill off the 'new generation' characters it introduces.

Mediation on Violence (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3.5/5 stars

Spoiler

Compared to other movies I've seen of Maya Deren, this is almost 'conventional' in comparison. The camera is mostly stationary, with slight cuts as Chao-Li Chi moves out of frame or going to a different direction. It resembles tai chi exercises, but slowly as Chao-Li increases his movement and his rhythm, begins to resemble fighting. At one point, he's using a sword in a place that resembles a park then goes back to the weaponless combat in a single room.

There's something really unique and different about the fact that a practitioner of Chinese martial arts was just simply filmed for doing combat exercises compared to everything else that was in theaters at the time.

 

[Technico Support]

10 hours ago, Andrew POE! said:

The names that Adam calls the heroes in the movie were based on his recollections of what they were

So those aren't the characters' actual in-universe names in the film?  That's lame.  I'd rather filmmakers just live with the absurdity of their subject matter and own it than make up some bullshit real world reason to dodge it.  It reminds me of the 2000s X-Men films with their minimalist black leather uniforms because, in a superhero movie, colorful super suits are just too out there.

[Mister TV]

On 6/3/2026 at 10:10 PM, Andrew POE! said:

Movies today....

The Mouth Agape (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4.5/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

Having started with Maurice Pialat's movie before this, We Won't Grow Old Together, The Mouth Agape seems a bit like a 'companion piece' in some ways. Where that movie was about a couple fighting, arguing, and realizing that even with their affair with each other, their relationship lacks permanence. With The Mouth Agape, this focus goes to a family.

It's sadly true to life how men with really no interesting qualities end up having relationships with the prettiest women. The woman that's the principle character named Monique (Monique Melinand) has a terminal illness. Roger (Hubert Deschamps) runs a clothing and haberdashery store; in one scene, Roger practically gropes a young woman who came in to buy a shirt, she takes her shirt off without wearing a bra, puts the shirt on, swaps the shirt for her sweater, and walks out with a pair of free pantyhose. His son Philippe (Philippe Leotard) is no better - he has affairs with a woman he met waiting for a driving test and tries to flirt with two nurses of his mother. His wife Nathalie (Nathalie Baye) is exquisitely gorgeous and really nice - yet Philippe takes advantage of her kindness, her love, and her physical beauty with his affairs.

The takes in the movie are long because life is short. Then, when monumental events happen, they pass quickly. Maurice Pialat made a movie that mirrored his own life and his own longing to resolve his guilt and grief over his mother's death. What's interesting is towards the beginning after Philippe takes his mother for treatment. She is told she needs a cane to walk now due to something found in her back. Philippe and Monique just sit there silently, eating fruit, smoking cigarettes, Cosi fan Tutte playing on the record player. Both characters don't realize that these would be the final moments they spend in conversation.

Monique goes to a hospital for her treatment with her family visiting. The camera focuses on the family across from Monique where the father and son argue over the mother about the son visiting and stealing things. They lean in to kiss the mother, but hit each other's heads. They then proceed to argue. That scene is supposed to show the difference between Monique and her family and the other woman's family, but there isn't a difference. Monique's family just only hide their issues behind closed doors and not in public.

It's then decided to move Monique back home, where we don't really see her for the rest of the movie. She is being fed and taken care of, but mosty by women. The men don't bother changing the bed or making her comfortable. Roger walks into the cafe to get a glass of wine and talk with the owners, occasionally meeting a woman that came from Paris to flirt before his son arrive. Philippe continues his affairs, yet seems to find himself still attracted to his wife Nathalie - one scene has them apparently having sex in a field before changing and driving off.

Maurice Pialat gives the camera in the movie a bit of the 'male gauze' regarding women. It's to contrast the differences between men and women. Women in this have a more 'off screen' action; men in this are focused on and do things cruelly to women. It's interesting that after Monique's death, she's stripped naked. Previously in the movie, nudity was meant in a romantic state, but with her nudity upon death, there's nothing romantic about it. It's non-sexual and it's a sense of finality.

The last couple of scenes around the funeral is nearly dialogue-less as the body is put into a coffin, Roger kisses her for one last time. The camera pans around the funeral procession, as the hearse is shown. The funeral is never shown, only the aftermath. The conversation after the funeral is about the flowers and differences between flowers, because flowers symbolize beauty and what else could they talk about? Roger is beside himself realizing he made a mistake with how he treated Monique; they were married for 38 years and they argued. Yet he remembers he loved her and he treated her cruelly.

The last couple of scenes are interesting as Philippe and Nathalie leave Roger in the shop. The camera is mounted on a car as the car drives off, with the shop in the ever increasing distance. Roger walks around the shop a bit then turns off the lights to end the movie.

Maurice Pialat as a movie director did a movie that's unflinching, cold, and possibly mean spirited. Yet, the story for this movie is unattached and distant, even as the microscopic focus for this movie is on this family. It's sad that all the principal actors for this movie are now dead, with Nathalie Baye having died in 2026. Nestor Alemendros' cinematography in this and the mis en scene really capture the cluttered nature of these characters' lives, in a town away from Paris.

At Land (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4.5/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

It doesn't make sense, but it makes sense too.

This is the way dreams are done. Christopher Nolan's Inception likely borrowed a lot from this. It's crazy that Maya Deren got there first.

Life essentially is a struggle as depicted in this. Doing things with people is like crawling on a table while in your mind it's like crawling through bushes. A chess game is one where the pieces move on its own, outside of your control.

You can continue to climb up, but never reaching a top because what you think is the top is something and somewhere else.

Meeting people is hard.

A Study in Choreography For Camera (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 4.5/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

As I watch this short film, I wonder "Where has Maya Deren been all my life?" A simple pan of the camera around the forest as multiple versions of the same person pose in place. Then he moves through a living room, then a museum, his head spins around as does his body.

Beau Travail and All That Jazz started here.

Trade Winds (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 2/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

Trade Winds is such a mismatch of tones that it's almost a failure. The first 20 minutes or so of the movie has Kay Karrigan (Joan Bennett) shooting Thomas Bruhme II (Sidney Blackmer) over something pretty serious and severe (the suicide of her sister), that the rest of the movie seems like a completely different movie. Ben Blodgett (Ralph Bellamy) seems like JT Walsh from Beavis & Butthead Do America except he whips out his badge everywhere. Sam Wye (Fredric March) is hired as a detective to hunt after Kerrigan, who is now a brunette instead of a blonde. Jean Livingstone (Ann Sothern) is Wye's secretary and goes along too.

A lot of the movie is projected footage shot elsewhere and just sort of shoved into the movie. The immersion breaking aspects of it really lessen the effort for the movie.

Still, the actors do what they can with the script and Dorothy Parker's scripting occasionally makes it amusing. The last five minutes where it turns out someone else killed Bruhme II is actually an insult to the audience's intelligence. It's not like the ending to The Palm Beach Story where it has the main characters have twin relatives to get married; the comedy of that movie was thorough and still holds up.

The comedy for Trade Winds seem poorly developed despite a strong start.

Next of Kin (Criterion Channel, leaving on 6/30) - 3/5 stars

  Reveal hidden contents

Before there was Kane Parsons and Curry Barker doing Backrooms and Obsession, there was Atom Egoyan as another relatively young film director doing a movie that demonstrated poise beyond its years. Next of Kin feels like something David Cronenberg would do in his early days; it's low budget and Canadian, but there's less of the weird, science-y focus that Cronenberg does. Instead, it's more of a dark comedy.

Peter Foster (Patrick Tierney) gets tired of living at his middle class/upper middle class parents' house where all they do is argue with each other and his mother (Margaret Loveys) proceeds to speak for him. What Peter is going through is relatable to me - it's suffocating to be 23 and still living at home. So they go to therapy, where the therapists videotape the sessions and want them to watch.

Peter sees the videotape of George (Berge Fazlian) and Sonya (Sirvart Fazlian) Deryan and decides to become their adopted son Bedros. The Deryans are arguing with their daughter Azah (Arsinee Khanjian).

A lot of the early images of the movie is the camera moving along a conveyor belt as baggage goes through an airport. The imagery is purposeful; it seems to symbolize Peter picking up a new identity of Bedros, like someone picking up a piece of luggage at the airport. The movie doesn't necessarily focus on how Peter feels with this new identity or even the potential of someone from his former life recognizing him in public. Peter's identity as Bedros seems whole and complete; the family think of him as their son.

What's interesting is the element of organized crime George has in his life. George and Sonya gave up Bedros for adoption when they moved to Canada. George, while walking down the street with Bedros/Peter, brags about how much money he has. He can bribe the police, a judge, and it's part of living in Canada. Compared to the life that Peter's parents had, the Deryans are relatively 'better off,' despite possibly being criminal.

What's interesting is Azah suspects that Bedros is not who he says he is - yet she doesn't really speak up. She's fine with the arrangement and there's a possible romantic connection between the two. One scene I liked had the camera panning slowly around a room while Azah and Bedros talked.

To be honest, Next of Kin really didn't have a lot of conflict in its story. Once the initial shock of Peter becoming Bedros wore off, it just seemed to be a way for Egoyan to show family dynamics with a character becoming a different person. In the end, Peter decided to stay as Bedros as he leaves a tape recording for his parents, telling them he still loves them and for them to think of him as their son. The question then becomes, "when would Peter ever go back to his original/actual family?"

For the most part, Next of Kin is an interesting movie and some aspects aren't as polished in the movie. It's not a bad first movie though.

 

Disappointed this wasn't the other Next of Kin with Patrick Swayze, Liam Neeson, Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Ben Stiller, a ton of great character actors and Adam Baldwin with a pretty offensive portrayal of an Italian-American.

[Andrew POE!]

1 hour ago, Technico Support said:

So those aren't the characters' actual in-universe names in the film?  That's lame.  I'd rather filmmakers just live with the absurdity of their subject matter and own it than make up some bullshit real world reason to dodge it.  It reminds me of the 2000s X-Men films with their minimalist black leather uniforms because, in a superhero movie, colorful super suits are just too out there.

Yeah, those aren't the characters' actual in-universe names; we never learn what the names are except for a few of them (like Duncan). The movie tries to do both - it lives with the absurdity, but also has a real world reason to dodge it. It's owed to the fact that Adam is a dork basically. Mark Kermode described him perfectly in his video review. 

[Andrew POE!]

1 hour ago, Mister TV said:

Disappointed this wasn't the other Next of Kin with Patrick Swayze, Liam Neeson, Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Ben Stiller, a ton of great character actors and Adam Baldwin with a pretty offensive portrayal of an Italian-American.

I can't watch everything.

Edited June 5 by Andrew POE!

[J.H.]

1 hour ago, Andrew POE! said:

I can't watch everything.

NOT WITH THAT ATTITUDE!!

James

[Curt McGirt]

Always wanted to see all of that Next of Kin. Saw some of it on TV and it was great, just to hear Liam Neeson doing a southern accent alone haha.

[Zimbra]

I just read that Bad Boys was originally intended as a vehicle for Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey and I think I need to go lie down for a while.

[J.T.]

I just pictured Jon Lovetz saying "Mike Lowrey is just playin' cop! He can quit whenever he wants to! Mike Lowrey gonna be a'ight!" in my mind and suddenly I was overcome with waves of nausea.

Edited June 5 by J.T.