January 29, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Al Pacino, Bill Skarsgård, Cary Elwes, Colman Domingo, Dacre Montgomery, Dead Man's Wire, Gus van Sant, John Robinson, Kelly Lynch, Myha'la

You’re probably wondering how they got there… (CREDIT: Row K/Screenshot)
Starring: Bill Skarsgård, Dacre Montgomery, Cary Elwes, Myha’la, Colman Domingo, Al Pacino, John Robinson, Kelly Lynch
Director: Gus Van Sant
Running Time: 105 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: January 16, 2026 (Theaters)
Dead Man’s Wire captures the real-life story of Tony Kiritsis (Bill Skarsgård), who in 1977 stuck a contraption onto his mortgage broker Richard Hall’s (Dacre Montgomery) neck that would set off a point-blank shotgun blast if Hall tried to escape. It’s one of the most exhilaratingly strange and disturbing kidnappings that I’ve ever witnessed, and now I can’t help but ask: what are our own dead man’s wires? If life is just one long march to death, then what are those seemingly ever-present albatrosses that will wipe everything away if we lean forward a little too much? Personally, I like to think that I’ve got enough equilibrium to not be dealing with anything like that right now. Maybe I’m not being reflective enough, or maybe that’s just a sign of healthy baseline security. Either way, I’m thankful. But to anyone out there who feels like sharing: did this movie metaphorically resonate with you in a way that was a little too close for comfort?
Grade: 0 Safeties out of 1 Mood Board
January 27, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Annabelle Wallis, Timur Bekmambetov, Kylie Rogers, Chris Sullivan, Mercy, Mercy movie, Kali Reis, Kenneth Choi, Rafi Gavron, Jeff Pierre

Is this the face of mercy? (CREDIT: Amazon MGM Studios)
Starring: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Annabelle Wallis, Kylie Rogers, Kali Reis, Chris Sullivan, Kenneth Choi, Rafi Gavron, Jeff Pierre
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: January 23, 2026 (Theaters)
Have Mercy? In the latest Screenlife venture from director Timur Bekmambetov, some dude played by Chris Pratt must prove his innocence vis-à-vis the murder of his wife to an AI judge embodied by Rebecca Ferguson within an hour and a half, or else he will be instantly executed. So now that I’ve seen this movie, I of course must ask the question: did it make me want to be replaced by artificial intelligence? To which I’ll answer: of course not!
But if that replacement hypothetically must happen, would I prefer that it be Rebecca Ferguson-style? Well, when you put it that way, she does at least bring something unique to the occasion. But I’d still be fighting against it, because it’s just not living up to its supposed potential. Anyway, the movie kind of abandons its Screenlife gimmick for the last ten minutes or so as it gives way to a frenetic climax, and it’s overall a pretty rollicking time at the movies.
Grade: 4 out of 5 Acts of Clemency
January 15, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
CM Punk, Dermot Mulroney, Flying Lotus, Freddie Gibbs, Jermaine Fowler, Jon Oswald, Justin Long, Nicki Micheaux, Night Patrol, RJ Cyler, Ryan Prows, YG

Which one’s Night, and which one’s Patrol? (CREDIT: IFC Films/RLJE Films/Shudder)
Starring: Justin Long, Jermaine Fowler, RJ Cyler, Freddie Gibbs, CM Punk, YG, Flying Lotus, Dermot Mulroney, Jon Oswald, Nicki Micheaux
Director: Ryan Prows
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Rating: R for Intense and Frequently Stylized Violence and Gore
Release Date: January 16, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: In the world of Night Patrol, it’s pretty much all-out war between the LAPD and the city’s black residents. Now, it’s not exactly a unique insight to claim that the police are disproportionately targeting people of color. But director Ryan Prows’ vision amplifies the conflict to the max with a conspiratorially supernatural bent. The action mostly centers around Ethan (Justin Long), a patrol officer following in his father’s footsteps, and his partner Xavier (Jermaine Fowler), a former Crip member who’s basically been disowned by his family. They get caught in the middle of a conflagration that comes to an over-the-top head when a simple car search quickly escalates into murder. Soon enough, Ethan finds himself lured within the dark underbelly of the titular patrol, while Xavier must decide who he will align himself with as his community rises up and makes its final stand.
What Made an Impression?: What Monsters Be These?: Night Patrol is one of those movies that’s kind of tricky to review, as there’s a reveal about a third of the way through that could be considered the premise, or a surprise twist. (Or both!) Thus, I can’t really get into specifics without severely spoiling the whole shebang. So if you want to be fully unspoiled, stop reading right now and come back later. But for those of you who don’t mind a tease here and there, I’ll say that if you saw Sinners and wished that it had been in modern day SoCal instead of the 1930s American South, then Night Patrol might just be the movie for you. It’s not exactly the movie for me, though, at least not as much as Sinners was, as that period piece approach did quite a bit of the thematic legwork for the bloodsucking reveal. Maybe this sort of genre mix could have worked in Night Patrol‘s milieu as well, and what we’ve got isn’t nothing. But this particular mashup of supernatural and gritty struck me as a minor triumph at best.
Taking It to the Limit: The climax of this wild movie stretches far beyond the horror genre as it takes its battle onward and upward. It cribs quite a bit from superhero flicks, with some iconography in the vein of Superman, Iron Man, and Chronicle (that last reference point rounding it out with a more verite spin). It also gives off some Predator vibes and rambles on about a bunch of creepy folklore. It’s a throw-all-the-spaghetti-at-the-wall strategy that’ll certainly grab your attention, though chances are you’ll be wishing it were a more coherent, cohesive sum of its parts.
Night Patrol is Recommended If You: Want to Smell All the Asphalt in Your Horror Flicks
Grade: 3 out of 5 Generational Secrets
January 14, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
28 Days Later, 28 Years Later, 28 Years Later: The Bone Teple, Alex Garland, Alfie Williams, Chi Lewis-Parry, Emma Laird, Erin Kellyman, Ghazi Al Ruffai, Jack O'Connell, Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Maura Bird, Nia DaCosta, Ralph Fiennes, Sam Locke

Come on, send him your bones! (CREDIT: Miya Mizuno/Columbia Pictures)
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams, Erin Kellyman, Chi Lewis-Parry, Emma Laird, Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Maura Bird, Ghazi Al Ruffai, Sam Locke
Director: Nia DaCosta
Running Time: 109 Minutes
Rating: R for Big Ol’ Zombie Nudity Again, Plus Some More Graphic Zombie Violence, But Even More Disturbing Uninfected Human-on-Human Violence
Release Date: January 16, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: Last we saw of young lad Spike (Alfie Williams) in post-Rage Virus Britain, his mom had died of cancer, while he opted to fend for himself as his dad headed back home. Now he finds himself in the clutches of the Jimmys, a cultish group of scavengers who sport blond wigs in the style of disgraced English DJ Jimmy Savile. Under the leadership of the charismatically cruel Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell), they psychopathically enforce their will over anyone and everyone. It’s a dangerous conscription, though it offers pretty solid protection against the zombified humans infected by the Rage Virus. Speaking of the infected, the most fearsome in the last chapter was the hulking specimen known as Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry), who finds himself forming an unlikely companionship with Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), who may just have developed some reliable treatments all these years later.
What Made an Impression?: I Think I’m Going to Ralph: 28 Years Later featured Ralph Fiennes being his usually terrific self, but it’s The Bone Temple that really lets him explore entirely new dimensions. He brings tenderness to an unlikely buddy comedy, cavorts with the forces of evil, and delivers a choreographed dance to Iron Maiden. It’s as full and varied a performance as you could possibly ask for.
Consistency is Key: It can be tricky shooting multiple sequels together and releasing them within a year of each other. Making matters even trickier is when you switch up the director, with Nia DaCosta taking over the reins from Danny Boyle this time around. But no need to worry, as the same sensibility manages to sufficiently survive. (I’m sure it helped that Alex Garland stayed on as writer.) Furthermore, DaCosta takes firm ownership over this chapter, and it might be my favorite feature from her yet.
The Man Behind the Wig: At times, the Jimmys are just unbearably ultraviolent, and it doesn’t feel like there’s much of a point to that beyond mere indulgence. Plus, O’Connell is all too willing to be as depraved as possible. Fortunately, we eventually get a peek behind the mask to discover how he became this menace in a way that rounds out the full storytelling picture without being overly pat. If things start out a little too mean for your tastes, just be patient, and everything will eventually be in its right place.
And One More Thing!: If things go well enough at the box office, there will be (at least) one more chapter in the Rage Virus saga, and The Bone Temple‘s final coda tantalizingly teases what that will be. You don’t need to stick around until after the credits to see it, but nevertheless make sure you pay attention all the way to the end.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is Recommended If You: Like being in the middle of a storytelling circle and winding around the corner with the end in sight
Grade: 3.75 out of 5 Jimmys
January 8, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Benjamin Cheng, Charlie Mann, Gia Hunter, Jessica Alexander, Johannes Roberts, Johnny Sequoyah, Miguel Torres Umba, Primate, Tienne Simon, Troy Kotsur, Victoria Wyant

Primate vs. Primate, in a way (CREDIT: Paramount Pictures)
Starring: Johnny Sequoyah, Jessica Alexander, Troy Kotsur, Victoria Wyant, Gia Hunter, Benjamin Cheng, Charlie Mann, Tienne Simon, Miguel Torres Umba
Director: Johannes Roberts
Running Time: 89 Minutes
Rating: R for Bone-Crushing and Flesh-Ripping Gore, and Some Young People Acting Horny (Before the Gore)
Release Date: January 9, 2026 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: This one’s pretty simple: a chimpanzee named Ben (Miguel Torres Umba) turns rabid from a mongoose bite and then goes violently ham on his human family. If you want to know the Homo sapiens, the main ones are Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah) and her younger sister Erin (Gia Hunter), who are visiting their dad Adam (Troy Kotsur) at his forebodingly cliffside Hawaiian home. There are a few friends in tow as well (played by Victoria Wyant, Jessica Alexander, and Benjamin Cheng), with the promise of a couple of cute guys they met at the airport also potentially on their way. One minute, they’re hanging out in paradise without a care in the world, and the next, they’re stuck in the pool trying to ward off a relentless animal.
What Made an Impression?: Not for the Faint of Heart, or Faint of Anything: This could be a little spoiler-y, but I feel like it’s the responsibility of those of us who have seen Primate before everyone else to let you know that Ben isn’t exactly redeemable after the rabies takes over. You know those horror movies where someone looks into a friend-turned-monster’s eyes and pleads, “You’re still in there, aren’t you?” As you might suspect, there’s a lot of that in this movie, and as you also might suspect, it doesn’t work out okay. Director Johannes Roberts keeps things as brutal as possible, in every way you can possibly imagine. It’s impressive in a way, but it’s not exactly something you can go into without any preparation.
He’s Still Here: You remember that old SNL digital short “Andy Popping Into Frame”? When Primate is at its most playful, it’s basically the hairy version of that sketch. Which is to say, whenever Lucy and company think they’re a safe distance from Ben, he’s actually just hanging a few feet away, ready to dip back and deliver a fatal “Hello again.” Roberts and his cinematographer Stephen Murphy have a hell of a time with this devilishly simple trick, and you’ll absolutely hate them for it for all eternity.
How Do You Say “Dad Jokes at Inappropriate Times” in ASL?: If the Best Picture-winning CODA had you wondering, “Could Troy Kotsur brighten up even the most unbearable cinematic nightmare?”, well, Primate is the perfect test case for that query. And the answer is: yeah, pretty much. The presence of a dorky paterfamilias doesn’t exactly make Ben’s rampage any less terrifying, but it’s nice to be reminded that that sunshine exists when we’re otherwise being told that nature just wants to beat us into a pulp.
Primate is Recommended If: The headline on your Hinge profile is that you’ve been subscribing to Fangoria since Day 1
Grade: 3 out of 5 Mongeese
January 7, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Brenton Thwaites, Daisy Ridley, Mark Coles Smith, Matt Whelan, We Bury the Dead, Zak Hilditch

Get buried! (CREDIT: Vertical)
Starring: Daisy Ridley, Brenton Thwaites, Mark Coles Smith, Matt Whelan
Director: Zak Hilditch
Running Time: 95 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: January 2, 2026 (Theaters)
Would I want Daisy Ridley (or a character played by her) to come and find me if I were a zombie, or (at least a potentially undead fellow)? That’s the question posited by We Bury the Dead (if you imagine yourself within the world of the film, that is). She’s certainly fiercely loyal, so that’s certainly a plus. But the corollary (or at least a corollary, lol) to that question is of course: should I want Daisy Ridley to come find Zombie-Me (or Zombie-Anybody)?
It’s important to let things go! We Bury the Dead isn’t the first movie to ever make that point, nor indeed is it the first zombie movie to make that point. But it does so in its own unique way, making it a fine addition to the repertoire.
Grade: 3 Tasmanians out of 5 EMPs
January 6, 2026
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Albert Brooks, Avatar, Avatar: Fire and AsH, Ayo Edebiri, Bailey Bass, Brendan Cowell, Britain Dalton, Bryan Fuller, CCH Pounder, Cliff Curtis, David Dastmalchian, David Thewlis, Dileep Rao, Duane Evans Jr., Dust Bunny, Edie Falco, Ella McCay, Emma Mackey, Filip Geljo, Giovanni Ribisi, Jack Champion, Jack Lowden, James Cameron, James L. Brooks, Jamie Flatters, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jemaine Clement, Joel David Moore, Julie Kavner, Kate Winslet, Kumail Nanjiani, Mads Mikkelsen, Matt Gerlad, Oona Chaplin, Rebecca Hall, Rebecca Henderson, Sam Worthington, Sheila Atim, Sigourney Weaver, Sophia Sloan, Spike Fearn, Stephen Lang, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Woody Harrelson, Zoe Saldana

Dear Pandora Santa Claus… (CREDIT: Screenshot)
Dust Bunny
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Sophia Sloan, Sigourney Weaver, Sheila Atim, David Dastmalchian, Rebecca Henderson
Director: Bryan Fuller
Running Time: 106 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: December 12, 2025 (Theaters)
Ella McCay
Starring: Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Lowden, Woody Harrelson, Kumail Nanjiani, Spike Fearn, Julie Kavner, Albert Brooks, Ayo Edebiri, Rebecca Hall
Director: James L. Brooks
Running Time: 115 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: December 12, 2025 (Theaters)
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Oona Chaplin, Kate Winslet, Cliff Curtis, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Edie Falco, Brendan Cowell, Jemaine Clement, Giovanni Ribisi, David Thewlis, Britain Dalton, Jack Champion, Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jamie Flatters, Bailey Bass, Filip Geljo, Duane Evans Jr., Matt Gerlad, Dileep Rao
Director: James Cameron
Running Time: 197 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: December 19, 2025 (Theaters)
Hey hey, ho ho ho! And now for something completely the assessment of a few movies I saw in the run-up to the End-of-Year 2025 Holiday Season. I considered doing this before Christmas reared its festive rump, but I didn’t quite get around to it. So now here we are in January, hopefully with the benefit of a little more digestion. For this selection of flicks (whose current theatrical availability ranges from “nowhere” to “everywhere”), I shall now discuss how much seeing them and then writing about them has (or has not) kept the holiday spirit alive.
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December 23, 2025
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Anaconda, Anaconda 2025, Daniela Melchior, Ione Skye, Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Selton Mello, Steve Zahn, Thandiwe Newton, Tom Gormican

They want more than none (CREDIT: Matt Grace)
Starring: Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Thandiwe Newton, Steve Zahn, Daniela Melchior, Selton Mello, Ione Skye
Director: Tom Gormican
Running Time: 99 Minutes
Rating: December 25, 2025 (Theaters)
Release Date: PG-13 for Chomping and Squeezing and Some Drug Tripping
What’s It About?: Back in the ’90s, a group of friends were dreaming of a silver screen future. But flash-forward to the 2020s, and they’ve all settled into B-grade (maybe B+) lives. Doug (Jack Black) is a wedding videographer whose cinematic instincts keep getting rebuffed by his clients; Griff (Paul Rudd) is a bit part actor whose big break is nowhere in sight; Kenny (Steve Zahn) is working as Doug’s screwup assistant and trying to get sober; and Claire (Thandiwe Newton) is adrift in her foundering marriage. Upon reuniting, they decide in the thrill of the moment to produce an amateur remake of one of their favorite movies of all time: the notorious 1997 creature feature Anaconda. So then they actually fly down to the Amazon, rent a real live snake, and start shooting an actual goshdang moving picture. But it doesn’t take long for things to become pear-shaped, as the crew gets tightly wrapped within a misadventure that’s starting to resemble the original way more than they bargained for.
What Made an Impression?: How Not to Get Bit By an Excess of Cleverness: I haven’t been closely following the pre-production leading up to 2025’s Anaconda, but this definitely feels like a case of desperately trying to reboot intellectual property by any means possible. Settling on a goofy self-aware version could have been too cute by half, but with Jack Black and Paul Rudd in the leads, you’ve got the exact right stars to thread the needle. And honestly, Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten’s script gets the point across pretty well on its own. As for the rest of the main players, Steve Zahn is absolutely a reliable enough supporting player, while Thandiwe Newton may be a little less practiced in this arena, but she understands the assignment as well as everybody else.
Subheading About What Made an Impression: As an example of how Anaconda makes the meta approach work, characters say the word “themes” as a punch line all by itself multiple times… and it works each time! (It certainly helps that one of the horror themes du jour they’re poking fun at is intergenerational trauma.)
Making It Happen: If Anaconda wants us to teach a lesson alongside all the slithering chaos, there are two opposing pitfalls it could have easily fallen into: telling us that it’s much safer to just give up on our dreams, or stubbornly insisting that we never give up on our dreams no matter what our reality. It’s not cynical enough for the former, and it’s actually thoughtful enough to avoid the latter. The message (as sweetly underscored by Doug’s wife Malie, played by the always-sweet Ione Skye) isn’t that we should just drop all our responsibilities to reclaim our lost passions. But rather, if we don’t give ourselves a chance (or at least an indulgence) every once in a while, our souls will just slowly wither away. And if we’re lucky, our most supportive loved ones will be there to nudge us along (and hopefully serve as our emergency contacts in case anything goes wrong!).
Anaconda (2025) is Recommended If You Like: Scream but wish that it were a creature feature
Grade: 3 out of 5 Themes
December 18, 2025
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
A'zion, Abel Ferrara, Emory Cohen, Fran Drescher, Géza Röhrig, George Gervin, Gwyneth Paltrow, Isaac Mizrahi, John Catsimatidis, Josh Safdie, Kevin O'Leary, Koto Kawaguchi, Larry "Ratso" Sloman, Luke Manley, Marty Supreme, Odessa, Penn Jillette, Ralph Colucci, Sandra Bernhard, Spenser Granese, Ted Williams, Timothée Chalamet, Tyler Okonma

He’s Supreme-ing all over the place! (CREDIT: A24)
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa, A’zion, Kevin O’Leary, Tyler Okonma, Abel Ferrara, Fran Drescher, Koto Kawaguchi, Sandra Bernhard, Spenser Granese, Luke Manley, John Catsimatidis, Isaac Mizrahi, George Gervin, Ted Williams, Emory Cohen, Géza Röhrig, Larry “Ratso” Sloman, Ralph Colucci, Penn Jillette
Director: Josh Safdie
Running Time: 150 Minutes
Rating: R for Plenty of Language, Inescapable Violence, and Some Embarrassing Nudity
Release Date: December 19, 2025 (Limited Theaters)/December 25, 2025 (Expands Nationwide)
What’s It About?: Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet) could just be the biggest deal in the world of 1950s global athletics. That’s how transcendent his table tennis skills are. Now you may be thinking, “Table tennis? Measly old ping pong? What are you getting on about?” Well, Marty doesn’t have any patience for your skepticism. In fact, he doesn’t have patience for much of anything. On the rare occasions when he loses, he throws a fit about how his opponents aren’t playing the game properly. And when he’s back home in New York City in between tournaments, he’s getting up to all sorts of trouble, much of it of his own making. He’s being pulled in a million different directions, by a colorful cast of characters who are equally charmed and enervated by him. They include his very pregnant childhood friend (Odessa A’zion) who’s married to someone else but claims that the baby is his; a faded movie star (Gwyneth Paltrow) he’s trying to mack on; her control freak husband (Kevin O’Leary, aka Shark Tank‘s “Mr. Wonderful”) who could also be his sponsor; his uncle (Larry “Ratso” Sloman) who tries to get him arrested to teach him a lesson; some random criminal (Abel Ferrara) who puts Marty in charge of his beloved dog; and his taxi driver friend (Tyler Okonma, aka Tyler, the Creator) who gets strung along for the ride. Meanwhile, his mother (Fran Drescher) is caught in the background looking incredulous.
What Made an Impression?: I Probably Would’ve Fallen Asleep: There are some movies that I’m afraid to talk about too in depth when reviewing them because I don’t want to spoil anything. Marty Supreme is similar but profoundly different: I don’t want to say too much because I could easily end up just listing all the plot details without providing any analysis. This is a dense flick that also manages to whiz by despite its two-and-a-half-hour running time. Ostensibly a sports drama, it’s also just as much a crime caper, screwball comedy, and lovingly realized period piece. And each slice of the pie delivers.
That Boy Can Ball: But let’s be clear, even though the plot isn’t all ping pong all the time, Chalamet came to play. There are no half-measures with this thespian. He’s expressed his desire to be one of the all-time greats, and he’s clearly compelled to impress his audience. But this isn’t joyless Method acting, instead it only makes us hungry for more. Just as he served as a musical guest on SNL after playing Bob Dylan, I wouldn’t put it past him to show up paddle in hand for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games.
A Champion for the Ages: To sum it all up, Marty Supreme is one of the most unmissable cinematic experiences of the year, a runaway train that careens off the tracks all the way to Jupiter. And a bang-up entertainer like this delivers an appropriately propulsive soundtrack, with Oneohtrix Point Never delivering one of his typical mind-melting scores, while some needle drops from the ’80s offer temporal displacement that somehow doesn’t feel anachronistic. Give yourself time and space to breathe after this one, you’re gonna need it.
Marty Supreme is Recommended If You: Wish that Uncut Gems had been more like Forrest Gump (or vice versa)
Grade: 4.5 out of 5 Orange Ping Pong Balls
December 17, 2025
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar, Elizabeth Perkins, Indiana Elle, Michele Morrone, Paul Feig, Sydney Sweeney, The Housemaid

They were maid for this (CREDIT: Daniel McFadden/Lionsgate)
Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar, Michele Morrone, Elizabeth Perkins, Indiana Elle
Director: Paul Feig
Running Time: 131 Minutes
Rating: R for Sex, Nudity, A Shocking Amount of Violence, and Other Disturbing Behavior (Including Sexual Assault)
Release Date: December 19, 2025 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney) is desperate for a job, any job, especially one that’ll guarantee a roof over her head. She’s an ex-con out on parole who’s been living in her car, you see. So it feels like a miracle when she’s hired by Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried) as a live-in housemaid for her gated suburban mansion. Nina’s husband Andrew (Brandon Sklenar) and seven-year-old daughter Cecelia (Indiana Elle) are a little puzzled at first by their new roommate, but it’s really Nina that Millie has to watch out for, despite their promising start. Her behavior becomes increasingly unstable as she constantly gaslights Millie. Meanwhile, Andrew is lifesavingly eager to protect his new employee. But as you might suspect, The Housemaid is the type of movie where these characters aren’t exactly who they initially seem to be.
What Made an Impression?: History Repeating Itself: Is Sydney Sweeney basically just Amanda Seyfried but a decade younger? If we thoroughly compare and contrast their personalities and career arcs, it probably won’t be an exact match. But in this movie, their already similar faces and hair are styled about as closely as they possibly can be. And that is surely intentional in pretty much every way you can possibly conceive of.
Can We Be Real?: The Housemaid is a movie that you’ve got to be patient with, and director Paul Feig trusts that his audience will be okay with a two hour-plus runtime despite the breeziness of the trappings. Furthermore, you have to be willing to accept that until the final act, Seyfried is pretty much the only actor who’s not suppressing her emotions. But the payoff is worth it, because the climax is climactic all over the place. And before we get there, it’s not completely devoid of entertainment value, especially thanks to some especially droll line readings, like “Juice is a privilege, not something you drink out of a dirty glass.”
Broke is What They’re Going For: Throughout this review, I’ve been teasing just how twisty and revelatory this movie’s conclusion is. So of course I’m going to conclude by teasing that aspect once again. Obviously, now’s not the time for spoilers, but I will say that The Housemaid spends its last 45 minutes or so earning its R rating, and then some. Covers are dropped, old wounds are revealed, new wounds are poked, and just desserts are delivered forcefully. Folks, if you’re planning on seeing this, you gotta do so in a crowded theater full of stunned ooh’s and ah’s.
The Housemaid is Recommended If You: Wished that Conclave had been more like The Stepford Wives
Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Fake Resumes
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