WaywardWhat’s it rated? TV-MAWhen? 2025>Where’s it showing? Netflix Created by and starring comedian and musician Mae Martin, Wayward tells the increasingly familiar story of “camps” created for “troubled teens” whose surface-level purpose is to whip kids into compliance and discipline the rebellion out of them. In reality, these camps are absolute cesspools of abuse, neglect, […]
Anna Starkey
Posted inSun Screen
In The Lost Bus, a school bus driver navigates the 2018 Camp Fire to save his passengers
Co-writer Paul Greengrass (United 93, Green Zone, Captain Phillips, News of the World, and three of the Jason Bourne franchise films) directs this screenplay he wrote with Brad Ingelsby (Out of the Furnace, Run All Night, Mare of Easttown) based on a segment of San Francisco Chronicle journalist Lizzie Johnson’s 2021 nonfiction book Paradise: One […]
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Steve is a sobering drama about a determined headmaster struggling to keep his school afloat
SteveWhat’s it rated? R When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Netflix To say that Steve (Cillian Murphy) has a difficult job is an understatement. The young men in his care are difficult at best. They’ve been institutionalized young and all carry their own unique baggage. Steve himself battles his own demons after an accident left him […]
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The Smashing Machine follows early MMA fighter Mark Kerr through his ups and downs
Writer-director Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems, Good Time) helms this biopic about pioneering mixed-martial arts and two-time UFC champion Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson). (123 min.) The Smashing MachineWhat’s it rated? R What’s it worth, Anna? Full price What’s it worth, Glen? Full price Where’s it showing? Regal Edwards RPX Santa Maria, Movies Lompoc, Regal Edwards Arroyo […]
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The Paper takes The Office faux-documentary approach to a struggling smalltown newspaper
The PaperWhat’s it rated? TV-14 When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Peacock Greg Daniels, creator of The Office, has given fans of the iconic show a treat with this follow-up mockumentary series, The Paper. Our documentary team from 20 years ago is now in the Midwest following scrappy local newspaper the Toledo Truth Teller. The first […]
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One Battle After Another is a helluva cinematic ride
Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, The Master) weaves this story about Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio), a former revolutionary now living a paranoid existence off the grid with his daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti). When Bob’s old nemesis, Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), […]
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The Thursday Murder Club follows four cold-case-solving retirees who take on a new whodunit
The Thursday Murder ClubWhat’s it rated? PG-13 When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Netflix Based on Richard Osmen’s novel, this slice-of-life film follows three retirees who welcome in a new recruit to their whodunit club, The Thursday Murder Club. Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, and Ben Kingsley star as the founding members of the crew with Celia […]
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The Girlfriend explores love, jealousy, wealth, and a mother’s overprotectiveness
Cherry (Olivia Cooke) is rich boy Daniel’s (Laurie Davidson) new sexpot girlfriend, and to say his mother, Laura (Robin Wright), is suspicious is quite the understatement. Cherry seems to have expensive tastes, and Laura is sure she’s wooing her precious baby boy to gain his wealth. The Girlfriend What’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2025 Where’s […]
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The Long Walk is gutting look at male bonding under duress
Francis Lawrence (Constantine, I Am Legend, Water for Elephants, four of the five The Hunger Games films) directs JT Mollner’s script based on the Stephen King 1979 dystopian thriller novel of the same name about a group of 50 teenage boys, each from a different state, competing to see who can walk the farthest. The […]
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Highest 2 Lowest reunites director Spike Lee and actor Denzel Washington in a rousing crime thriller
Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, BlacKkKlansman) directs Evan Hunter’s crime thriller screenplay about music mogul David King (Denzel Washington), who’s the target of a kidnapping ransom plot. It’s a loose remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 Japanese film High and Low that was based on American writer Ed McBain’s 1959 novel King’s Ransom. […]
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Unknown Number: The High School Catfish explores the relentless online harassment of teenager Lauryn Licari
Unknown Number: The High School CatfishWhat’s it rated? TV-MAWhen? 2025Where’s it showing? Netflix Lauryn and Owen were just your typical high school couple—planning for prom, texting incessantly, and hanging with their besties. Things took a turn when both teens started receiving cruel online messages and texts from an unknown cyberbully. The messages often took aim […]
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Katrina: Come Hell and High Water chronicles the multiple failures of the hurricane response
Consisting of three episodes—“We Gonna Ride It Out Like We Always Do” directed by Geeta Gandbhir; “Shelter of Last Resort” directed by Samantha Knowles; and “God Takes Care of Fools and Babies” directed by Spike Lee—this new documentary miniseries explores the New Orleans tragedy on its 20-year anniversary. (three approximately one-hour episodes) Katrina: Come Hell […]