Lucy Liu Shines in the Devastating True Story ‘Rosemead’

December 2, 2025

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Lucy Liu in Rosemead (CREDIT: Vertical/Screenshot)

Starring: Lucy Liu, Lawrence Shou, Orion Lee, Jennifer Lim, Madison Hu, James Chen

Director: Eric Lin

Running Time: 97 Minutes

Rating: R for Language and Mature Themes

Release Date: December 5, 2025 (New York)/December 12, 2025 (Los Angeles)

What’s It About?: In an urgent tale based on unsettling true events, Lucy Liu plays a mother named Irene who’s very worried about her schizophrenic teenage son Joe (Lawrence Shou) and his increasingly erratic behavior. When she discovers that he’s been looking up information about infamous mass shootings, she starts to suspect that he’s planning to pull off the same thing at his school. Unfortunately, she cannot devote all of the energy that she would need to prevent this, because she is also dealing with a terminal cancer diagnosis. As Irene feels Joe drifting further and further out of her grasp and she becomes more and more isolated from the rest of the world, irreversibly drastic action starts to seem like the only possible solution.

What Made an Impression?: Praying That It Doesn’t End This Way: After reading that synopsis, perhaps you’re scared that Rosemead is running headlong in the most tragic direction. Of course, you could look up the real story to find out if those suspicions are warranted. But in the interest of avoiding spoilers, I’ll leave that resolution to the theater. However, I’ll also make sure to note that whether or not the worst does indeed happen, the dread hanging over that possibility is unbearably palpable throughout the entire movie. This definitely isn’t the sort of film you should be watching at your most emotionally vulnerable. Conversely, it is the kind of movie that makes you question if it’s even worth putting absolutely devastating stories like this up on the big screen. Hopefully they can foster understanding and play at least some small part towards preventing further tragedies.

That’ll Do: To redirect things over to a more technical discussion, Rosemead didn’t exactly thrill me with its daring or bowl me over with its aesthetic choices. Above all else, I’m glad that Lucy Liu really got the opportunity to flex her dramatic chops. She’s been putting in consistently great work for more than three decades, and I can’t remember her ever getting a spotlight quite like this one. It would just be nice if it were in a movie I could rave about more breathlessly. As it is, though, this is a perfectly fine cinematic contribution that everyone involved should be appropriately proud of.

Rosemead is Recommended If: “Lucy Liu’s Career-Best  Performance” was on your 2025 Bingo Card

Grade: 3 out of 5 Diagnoses

‘Presence’ Review: It’s Time for the Ghost’s Perspective

January 22, 2025

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Yay, Presence! (CREDIT: NEON, Courtesy of Sundance Institute)

Starring: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland, Julia Fox, Natalie Woolams-Torres, Lucas Papaelias

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Running Time: 85 Minutes

Rating: R for At-Home Profanity and Malicious Drugging

Release Date: January 24, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Rebecca (Lucy Liu) and Chris (Chris Sullivan) are in the market for a fresh start, so they settle into a charming three-bedroom suburban house along with their teenage kids Chloe (Callina Liang) and Tyler (Eddy Maday). Tyler’s trying to focus on the swimming team, while Chloe is reeling from the recent death of a friend. Their parents are also going through a rocky period, with the implication that Rebecca has recently done something illegal, possibly to protect Tyler. Meanwhile, Chloe suspects that there may be a supernatural entity lurking within their walls. And chances are that hunch is very correct, considering that this movie is in fact shot from the POV of the titular presence.

What Made an Impression?: Feels Like Home: As the spectral camera walked along every floorboard and peeked out of every window, I found myself thinking, “This looks so much like my grandparents’ house in southeastern Pennsylvania,” and also, “This reminds me quite a bit of my brother’s house in Westchester County.” Which is to say: it’s a lot like my own childhood home, but not quite. It’s the sort of suburban house right off a busy main road whose origins probably date back a few hundred years, back when the area was all farmland. This is exactly the sort of abode where you’d expect ghosts to be lurking .I imagine I’m not the only one who will find Presence giving them a sense of uncanny familiarity.
Friendly and Curious: If the spirit in Presence operates according to one overriding mission, it is to find the answer to the question “What am I doing here?” Perhaps the most common trope of ghost stories is that the undead have some unfinished business they must take care of before they can fully cross over to the afterlife. That certainly appears to be true of this particular ghost, but it’s taking some effort to figure out exactly what that unfinished business is, beyond the inkling that it has something to do with Chloe. So that results in plenty of aimless activity like just wandering around and moving objects from one spot to another (with the exception of a thrillingly revelatory climax). This existential ghost story requires a fair amount of patience, but it also offers sufficient rewards if you’re willing to stick with it.

Presence is Recommended If You Like: Paranormal Activity, Unsane, Casper

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Gasps

‘Red One’ Keeps It Icy for Christmas

November 14, 2024

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Oh, by the way, which one’s Red? (CREDIT: Amazon MGM Studios)

Starring: Chris Evans, Dwayne Johnson, Lucy Liu, J.K. Simmons, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Reinaldo Faberlle, Kristofer Hivju, Nick Kroll, Wesley Kimmel, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Marc Evan Jackson

Director: Jake Kasdan

Running Time: 123 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Combat Between Humans, “Elves,” Talking Polar Bears, and Krampus

Release Date: November 15, 2024 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) has been a devoted cynic ever since he figured out before all the other kids that Santa Claus was a myth. So it was only natural that he would grow up to be a mercenary hacker and a deadbeat dad. So imagine his surprise when head of North Pole security Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson) shows up at his home and informs Jack that his shenanigans are partly responsible for the kidnapping of Saint Nick (J.K. Simmons) himself. This being a Christmas movie and all, mythological holiday creatures are very real, and Callum and his colleagues are responsible for making sure that naughty listers like Jack don’t screw things up. Trouble is, Callum is contemplating retirement as the naughty list threatens to grow longer than the nice list, perhaps eternally. So you know, multiple characters in Red One are in a position to rediscover the Christmas spirit.

What Made an Impression?: Santa, Santa Claus, Where Are You?: Just because Santa Claus is kidnapped, that doesn’t matter that he has to be a minor character in his own movie. But alas, Red One makes the puzzling decision to keep J.K. Simmons stowed away for the vast majority of its running time. His captor is a shapeshifting ogre played by Kiernan Shipka – surely they could have thrown an hour’s worth of zingers back at each other! And honestly this is one of the more interesting cinematic Santas I’ve seen in quite a while: basically a jacked zaddy who pumps iron to refill all the calories he burns on Christmas Eve. The Christmas cheer in Red One is fairly generic, but there’s no need to convince anyone that this St. Nick is worth saving.
A Little Bit of This, Some of That Guy, Then We Go Home: Red One left me feeling a little blue, or maybe even gray, but it wasn’t for lack of effort or ideas. There’s a bit about how toy stores are portals for North Pole workers, Nick Kroll shows up as a shady middleman for the Christmas baddies, and there’s some grounded interplay between Jack and his ex (Mary Elizabeth Ellis). It’s all pleasant enough to serve as background entertainment as you make your way through your Advent calendar, though it lacks the pizzazz to inspire the same yuletide rediscovery that Jack and Callum are destined for. Although, if somebody posts a series of behind-the-scenes videos of J.K. Simmons Claus pumping even more iron, then perhaps it will have all been worth it.

Red One is Recommended If You Like: A movie that seems like it should be going straight to Netflix ending up on the big screen

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Bench Presses

‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ Did Not Make Me Furious, At the Very Least

April 11, 2023

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Look at how furious Shazam is! (CREDIT:
Warner Bros. Pictures/Screenshot)

Starring: Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Adam Brody, Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, Rachel Zegler, Ross Butler, Ian Chen, D.J. Cotrona, Jovan Armand, Grace Caroline Currey, Meagan Good, Faithe Herman, Djimon Hounsou, Marta Milans, Cooper Andrews

Director: David F. Sandberg

Running Time: 130 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: March 17, 2023 (Theaters)

Shazam! Fury of the Gods reminded me of Wonder Woman 1984, both in terms of how it makes risky storytelling decisions, and also in terms of how Wonder Woman is in it. In the case of the WW follow-up, it was kind of inexplicable compared to the first outing. But in the case of the lightning bolt boy, the darkly kooky vibe was absolutely called for and precedented, it just didn’t work as well as it did the first time. But I’m still glad I watched it!

Grade: A Sort-Of Unicorn