Co-writer and director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Marriage Story) helms this dramedy written with Emily Mortimer about a famous film star named Jay Kelly (George Clooney) who in the twilight of his career reflects on his life. Always at his side is his devoted but harried manager, Ron (Adam Sandler), who’s constantly […]
Glen Starkey
The Last Frontier is a slow-burn thriller with moments of gripping action
The Last FrontierWhat’s it rated? TV-MA When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Apple TV+ Created by Jon Bokenkamp and Richard D’Ovidio (The Blacklist), this action thriller series has an interesting premise. Can small-town Deputy U.S. Marshal Frank Remnick (Jason Clarke), with limited resources and a harsh locale, locate fugitives from a downed prisoner transport plane? Among […]
If you saw Wicked, you’re going to see Wicked: For Good
Jon M. Chu directs this second part of the film adaptation of The Wizard of Oz spinoff Broadway musical, Wicked, which explores Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), the future Wicked Witch of the West, and her relationship with Glinda (Ariana Grande), the Good Witch of the North. (138 min.) Wicked: For GoodWhat’s it rated? PG What’s it […]
Playdate is dumb, lightweight fun
PlaydateWhat’s it rated? PG-13When? 2025Where’s it showing? Amazon Prime If you’re looking for a silly, lightweight 90-minute diversion, director Luke Greenfield’s Playdate fits the bill. The absurdist mismatched buddy action comedy follows recently laid-off forensic accountant and new stepdad, Brian (Kevin James), who’s struggling with his father figure role to Lucas (Benjamin Pajak). Brian wants […]
The Running Man is funny, action-packed romp
Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgram vs. the World, Baby Driver) directs and co-writes this dystopian sci-fi thriller based on Stephen King’s 1982 novel The Running Man (published under his pseudonym Richard Bachman), about a televised gameshow in which contestants are allowed to go anywhere as they’re pursued by “hunters” hired to kill […]
A House of Dynamite is an all-too plausible nuclear war scenario
A House of DynamiteWhat’s it rated? RWhen? 2025Where’s it showing? Netflix Kathryn Bigalow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) directs Noah Oppenheim’s script about a missile launched at the U.S.—but by whom and why? Told from three different perspectives, the story depicts the various governmental elements scrambling to determine how to respond. As political drama […]
The Perfect Neighbor holds a mirror to American entitlement and tribalism
Geeta Gandbhir (Katrina: Come Hell and High Water) directs this documentary composed almost exclusively of police bodycam footage about the Ocala, Florida, neighborhood where Susan Lorincz shot neighbor Ajike Owens through a closed front door. The shooting highlighted Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law. (96 min.) The Perfect NeighborWhat’s it rated? RWhat’s it worth, Anna? […]
A missing children mystery unfolds in Weapons, a psychological horror film now streaming on HBO Max
WeaponsWhat’s it rated? RWhen? 2025Where’s it showing? HBO Max Writer-director Zach Cregger helms this psychological and supernatural horror story about insular Maybrook, Pennsylvania, which suffers the traumatic and inexplicable shock of losing 17 children from a single third grade class who all simultaneously leave their houses at 2:17 a.m. and disappear. Suspicion immediately falls to […]
Bugonia is a paranoia-fueled black comedy about misinformation and conspiracy
Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster, The Killing of the Scared Deer, The Favourite, Poor Things, Kinds of Kindness) directs Will Tracy’s screenplay loosely based on South Korean writer Jang Joon-hwan’s screenplay for Save the Green Planet! (2003). The story follows conspiracy theorist—Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and his cousin Don (Aidan Delbis)—who believe Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), the […]
Local production company Room for Cream Films screens a handful of shorts on Nov. 8
Room for Cream ShortsWhat’s it rated? Not rated When? 2025 Where’s it showing? Saturday, Nov. 8, from 6 to 9 p.m., The Department, 986 Quintana Road, Suite B, Morro Bay Room for Cream Films—Alex Raban and Jenny Gosnell’s film production company—presents a variety of its short films this Saturday in Morro Bay. The evening opens […]
Frankenstein is a gothic visual feast about what makes us human
Writer-director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, Nightmare Alley) adapts Mary Shelley’s 1818 gothic horror novel for the big screen. Oscar Isaac stars as brilliant but egotistical scientist Victor Frankenstein, who creates a monstrous creature (Jacob Elordi) constructed from cadaver parts, leading to tragedy for both. (149 min.) FrankensteinWhat’s it rated? RWhat’s […]
Writer-director Ari Aster’s 2018 feature-length debut, Hereditary, is a disturbing shocker
HereditaryWhat’s it rated? RWhen? 2018Where’s it showing? HBO Max Since it’s Halloween season, streaming services are packed with horror films, and one of the best is Hereditary, writer-director Ari Aster’s (Beau is Afraid, Eddington) feature-length debut. Toni Collette stars as Annie Graham, a miniature artist who constructs highly detailed and weirdly unsettling dioramas of houses. […]

