Truthfully, when I went to the theater for Anniversary, I had seen just one trailer and gotten excited about the cast, expecting to watch a classic thriller mixed with family drama. I was wholly unprepared for the heaviness of the commentary the film . . .
If, like me, you love spending this time before Halloween watching scary movies and trying not to get into the candy too early, there are many films available to stream with your autumnal treats. Although I highlight options from several streamers, . . .
Apple TV+ has two new movies this month that look at love under unusual, sometimes catastrophic circumstances. In one, a man tries for a second chance at being a good father while driving a school bus through fire. In the other, two friends pine for . . .
Before autumn gets into full swing, bringing longer nights perfect for filling with spooky movies, the cozy weekends provide ample opportunity for feel-good films. So this September, Netflix released two films focused on love.
In The Wrong Paris, Dawn . . .
After a limited release in theaters, Highest 2 Lowest is now streaming on Apple TV+. The crime drama centers on a powerful music mogul, David King (Denzel Washington), who faces moral dilemmas and a fight for his family after his son, Trey (Aubrey . . .
Categorizing a movie by genre can be challenging sometimes, especially when they blend conventions. For example, Then Monkey uses elements of horror and comedy. Night Always Comes, however is billed as a thriller and I had a hard time understanding . . .
With school back in session, why not anticipate the return of fall with an atmospheric horror-mystery about an entire class of third graders vanishing? Weapons, the sophomore film from Zach Cregger, creates a suspenseful, bizarre mystery that feels . . .
When we were kids, my brother and I annoyed our dad by bantering lines from Adam Sandler movies back and forth across the dinner table. It’s for fans like my brother that Happy Gilmore 2 was produced, and Sandler leans into that nostalgia in reviving . . .
Sinners made a big splash at the theaters before coming to Max for streaming. The mid-summer timing of this debut fits the atmosphere of the film perfectly. As the events unfold over one day, the film beautifully captures both the beauty of a summer . . .
Recently, my husband and I watched My Best Friend’s Wedding, a classic rom-com that, at the distance of nearly 30 years, seems fairly deranged. Nonetheless, that movie showcases part of what makes its genre so much fun. It is boisterous in its costumes, . . .
If you listened to my dad on the radio in the 1990s, it might not surprise you to know that I watched Pee-wee’s Playhouse growing up. My mother was also a fan of Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. Then, Paul Reubens’s scandals changed everything. A new . . .
When we started watching Nonnas on Netflix, I told my husband I thought it was about a cabal of grandmothers. My hopes for the movie were pretty modest because it looked like a mediocre comedy bringing together an all-star cast to make a cash grab . . .
If you missed the sci-fi thriller Companion when it was in theaters, it is now available to stream on Max. I went into the film with only the vaguest notion of what it was about. I thought I knew the plot twist, but I also thought I might be wrong. . . .
Usually, when I come home from the theater, I want to tell my husband all about the movie. After seeing Drop, however, I would only say that it was great and I couldn’t wait for him to see it so we could talk about it. This new thriller is too fun . . .
This week, I accidentally watched a trio of films that dwell on how loss can lead to reinvention, each in a different genre, including a romcom, an animated feature, and a documentary. Reader, I cried a lot in the making of this review.
First, The Life . . .
Everyone has bills to pay and that’s the only reason I can think of to explain some of the movies that have come out lately with a stellar cast but little creativity or emotional resonance. After a spate of big streaming misses, it has been refreshing . . .
Great actors can sometimes make stale writing still feel exciting, as exemplified in The Gorge and Running Point. Meanwhile, Sara Bareilles’s songwriting elevates an already great film in Waitress: The Musical.
In The Gorge two highly-skilled snipers . . .
The other day, I asked my daughter to rank the fictional bears. Corduroy topped her list, followed closely by Paddington and Winnie the Pooh. Then, we saw the latest Paddington movie in the theater, and it did not help the loveable bear take the top . . .
Sometimes movies that feel familiar provide a comforting sort of fun and other times they set us up for unexpected twists. The new movie Back in Action deploys all the usual action-comedy tropes but still feels like a blockbuster. Meanwhile, A Different . . .
This week, I watched two films that very differently explore trauma and themes about people’s inhumanity toward each other. Your Monster turns Beauty and the Beast into a tale of suppressed rage whereas A Real Pain explores mental health and intergenerational . . .
Happy New Year, Waynedale. I’m back to report on what I have watched since Christmas: a gripping sci-fi series, the Die Hard wannabe, and new biopics.
First, I caught up on Severance on Apple TV+ before the second season. Created by Dan Ericson . . .
As I wrap my screening of this year’s holiday movies, I enlisted my daughter to help me evaluate two new children’s films: That Christmas on Netflix and The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland on Hulu and Disney+. We enjoyed snuggling up for festive . . .
I took my knitting to the movie theater, which tells you two things. I can knit in the dark. And I think two hours and forty minutes is an awfully long runtime. Despite being in show choir the year Wicked debuted on Broadway, I was not more familiar . . .
Years ago, in a class about food in literature, I first saw the 1992 film Like Water for Chocolate and was charmed by the magical realism in the story of a young woman who can cook her feelings into the food she prepares. Max has revived the story . . .
Woman of the Hour draws inspiration from the real-life crimes of Rodney Alcala, a serial killer who appeared as a contestant on The Dating Game in 1978, during his murder spree. Anna Kendrick plays Sheryl, an aspiring actress who gets an easy gig appearing . . .
Kasey is the author of the “At The Movies With Kasey” column, a review of current movies and TV series.
Kasey Butcher grew up in Fort Wayne and started writing for The Waynedale News in 2003 when she was a sophomore at Homestead . . .
The time has come again my annual roundup of what new horrors are streaming. I want to say that I dutifully paced myself over months, but really, I engaged in a horror binge, making my October very spooky indeed. Still, this is not an exhaustive list, . . .
When I saw that Max was producing a new adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot, I was excited. Although the novel has been on my Kindle for years, I never got around to reading it, or to watching any of the previous adaptations. I knew it was . . .
If you are looking for a show that bridges a late summer feeling into spooky season, The Perfect Couple on Netflix may fit the bill. The limited series takes place over a long holiday weekend but has a cold-blooded murder at its core.
In the story, . . .