by Nathaniel R
It's Friday which means "new movies!". We'll discuss the streaming titles in a bit but first here's what's new in movie theaters today, Friday, October 28th, to help you plan your weekend...
ARMAGEDDON TIME -[REVIEWED] James Gray (Ad Astra, The Lost City of Z) is back. He's the latest director to jump on the auto-fiction trend with this story based on his adolescence in the 1980s and the frictions in his Jewish family as well as his friendship with a struggling black classmate. Anne Hathaway and Anthony Hopkins are both fantastic as the proxies for Gray's mother and grandfather.
CALL JANE -[REVIEWED] Phyllis Nagy, the screenwriter of Carol, makes her directorial debut with this drama starring Elizabeth Banks as a suburban housewife who joins an underground network to help "girls in trouble". Sigourney Weaver is wonderful as the ringleader in a key supporting role.
HOLY SPIDER [REVIEWED] Ali Abbasi (Border) returns with this startling and disturbing procedural (inspired by a true story) about a female journalist (Cannes Best Actress winner Zar Amir-Ebrahimi) attempting to expose a serial killer who is preying on sex workers in the Holy City of Masshad. Nobody else seems the least bit concerned about the murders. It's Denmark's submission for Best International Feature Film.
For Oscar-obsessives clarification in case you're wondering: Though Ali Abassi is Iranian, he has been submitted by both Sweden (Border) and Denmark (Holy Spider) in recent years. He was born in Iran but emigrated to Sweden when he was 21 and then graduated from film school in Denmark a decade later which is where he still lives. His films have thus always been Swedish/Danish co-productions whether they're in in Swedish (Border) or Persian (Holy Spider) or are multilingual (Shelley).
HOT BLOODED: ONCE UPON A TIME IN KOREA - A gangster looking to retire is betrayed and caught in a mob war. Jung Woo (You're the Best), Kim Kap-soo (A Tale of Two Sisters) and Choi Moo-sung (I Saw the Devil) star.
PLEASE BABY PLEASE - Haven't seen this one yet but it looks like a camp thrill and the title cards in the trailer are out-of-this-world delightful. A bohemian couple ("the magnifient Andrea Riseborough" and "the dazzling Harry Melling") in the 1950s encounter a group of leather clad greasers known as "The Young Gents". New sexual desires are awakened in this queer musical from director Amanda Kramer. The supporting cast features "The irresistible Karl Gussman and the legendary Demi Moore".
PREY FOR THE DEVIL - The weekend's only brand new wide release (the studios keep leaving money on the floor!) is yet another exorcism thriller. There's seemingly a new one each month and yet they all do okay. If only audiences would flock to other subgenres as faithfully. Imagine having new dance musicals or new rom-coms about ex-couples every few weeks!
Plus three key Oscar hopefuls are expanding their theater counts...
BANSHEES OF INISHERIN [REVIEWED] Martin McDonagh's amazing new tragicomedy, which played to packed houses last weekend, is adding 11 major cities today with a wider expansion soon to follow. The next two films are expanding even further than that since they've been out longer...
TÁR - [REVIEWED] Todd Field (In the Bedroom) directs Cate Blanchett to one of her most grandiose perfromances as a famous lesbian composer/conductor with a god complex in this drama that deals with cancel culture. 4 Gotham Award nominations including supporting bids for Noemie Merlant and Nina Hoss as Lydia Tár's assistant/mentee and wife, respectively.
TILL - [NOTES FROM THE DIRECTOR] Chinonye Chukwu (Clemency) directs Danielle Deadwyler in this drama about Mamie Till-Mobley, who fought for justice and public awareness after the racist murder of her son Emmett Till in 1955.