Robert Pattinson and Zendaya in The Drama. Note: No specific spoilers are given for the movie in this review though, if you have access to a smart phone or any type of social media, The Drama 's big reveal is hardly a secret anymore. What would you do if, days before your wedding, you found out that your fiancé had done something (or planned to) so heinous that you begin to question everything about that individual, your relationship and the future? That's the premise writer

Poster for Bruce Springsteen's 2026 Tour. The raised fist says it all: Bruce Springsteen's 2026 "Land of Hopes and Dreams" Tour is serious, defiant, a pilgrimmage from Minneapolis to Washington where "no kings" will be tolerated and the power of the people will surely be emphasized. Last evening, I had the opportunity to speak again about all things Bruce, including the upcoming tour, with Jesse Jackson, lifelong "Boss" fan and creator of the "Set Lusting Bruce" podcast, now

Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary. Close your eyes and Imagine, if you can, a cinematic hybrid that's part 2001: A Space Odyssey (without the alien monolith), part Top Gun (karaoke and bar singing included), and part ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (Twizzlers instead of Reese's and an alien called Rocky). Then write a screenplay, based on Andy Weir's sci-fi novel, that jams in every available pop culture reference, Rocky Balboa related and otherwise. Top it off with some dazzling

Best Supporting Actor Nominee Jacob Elordi as "The Creature" in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein. " I found what I am. What I'm made from. I am the child of a charnel house. A wreckage, assembled from refuse and the discarded dead. A monster . " - - The Creature (Jacob Elordi), Frankenstein   He kind of looks like Oscar, Jacob Elordi's "Creature," doesn't he? An abstract patchwork of souls whose life is a Tabula Rasa of other's memories, hopes, dreams. I lo

Elvis Presley in 1973. Elvis White trash Elvis The Memphis flash Elvis Under the hood Elvis With Cadillac blood Elvis Darling bud Flowered and returned to the Mississippi mud Elvis -From "American David" by Bono I'll admit I've never been a huge Elvis Presley fan, nor a big fan of documentaries, for that matter. Elvis was just far enough ahead of my generation that, by the time I discovered who he was, he was on the downslide of his career. The only time my parents

Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in Emerald Fennell's " Wuthering Heights." I want your love and all your lover's revenge You and me could write a bad romance. -Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance" Let's face it. Catherine Earnshaw may have found an eternal symbiosis in her relationship with Heathcliff in Emily Brontë's only novel, Wuthering Heights (published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell), declaring, "Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same," but their do

Spoilers abound in this retrospective so, if you've not seen the Before Trilogy, keep that in mind. Celine and Jesse. College students. Reunited lovers. Forever soulmates? Deep breath. It's been over thirty years since Before Sunrise 's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival (January 1995) and twenty-two years (February 2004) since its "sequel," Before Sunset brought audiences back for a second chapter about the very romantic, but often elusive relationship between Jesse (Et

Oscar-nominated Kate Hudson and Co-star Hugh Jackman in Craig Brewer's Song Sung Blue . With apologies to Neil Diamond... Song sung blue. Everybody's knows one. Oscar gold. Everybody wants some. Funny thing, but you can see it when the noms are revealed. All the snubs and slights emerge, no offenses concealed. It's been a fairly uneventful week in terms of Oscar nominations. Critical darling One Battle After Another showed continued awards season momentum. Sinners emerged as

Some of the 2025 movies honored by the American Film Institute (AFI): Top Left, Frankenstein ; Top Right, Hamnet ; Bottom Left, Marty Supreme ; Bottome Right. Note : MJ's reviews of all the movies mentioned here can be found at MJtheMovies homepage. It's that time of year that, for some of us, is as exciting as the holidays themselves: reviewing the year in film, identifying the best movies of 2025, and looking ahead to the awards season, which has already begun via many regi

Will Arnett in Bradley Cooper's Is This Thing On? I hate it when movie titles end with punctuation. It makes writing a review all that more challenging, especially when the title is a question. I'll stop whining now. Bradley Cooper's intimate portrait about the trauma of divorce raises more questions than the simplistic one in its title, a reference to the kind of query an amateur thrust onto a stage might make when being handed a mic: "Is this thing on?" You get the idea. B

Timothée Chalamet as ping-pong virtuoso Marty Mauser in Josh Safdie's Marty Supreme. Timothée Chalamet aspires to greatness. Just ask him. At last year's SAG Awards when he accepted the "Actor" for Best Male Lead in a Movie (for playing a "version" of folk rock icon Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown ), Chalamet gushed to his fellow actors that he wanted to be one of the greats: “ I'm really in pursuit of greatness … I want to be one of the greats; I'm inspired by the greats ,”

Director Rob Reiner during the filming of 1995's The American President. "It's like, how much more black could this be? And the answer is none. None more black." -Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest), This is Spinal Tap (1984)  It is only fitting that an off-hand remark on a totally unrelated topic from his first directorial effort be used to describe Rob Reiner's (and wife Michele's) untimely death this past week. News of the couple's murder allegedly at the hand of thei

Bruce Springsteen Photos from the Born to Run Album Shoot. It's the gift that keeps on giving: presenting a research paper at last September's " Born to Run 50th Anniversary Symposium and Academic Conference," held at Monmouth University in New Jersey. Not only was the conference experience beyond awesome (see additional link at the end of this post), I continue to feel a part of this newly discovered musical and academic community. After giving my paper at the conference, I

George Clooney as the title character in Noah Baumbach's Jay Kelly. "All my memories are movies." - Jay Kelly (George Clooney) George Clooney and Jay Kelly are very similar. In fact, at times, the two seem interchangeable: both are famous, handsome, charismatic Hollywood leading men. Both live whirlwind lives filled with soundstages, industry tributes, and entourages. Both are in their sixties, facing the inevitable fading of good looks, virility and popularity. I'd say the s

Jessie Buckley (L) and Paul Mescal (R) in Chloé Zhao's Hamnet. To grieve or not to grieve. That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in cinema to milk The tears and sobs of the audience's heart Or show restraint against box office competition. Or, perhaps, take on a slew of other Oscar contenders By drowning them in a sea of a thousand wet fantasies. Alas, the conundrum Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao (for 2022's Nomadland ) accepted when she signed on to make Hamnet, a

From Left, Callum Turner, Elizabeth Olsen and Miles Teller in David Freyne's Eternity. "You can only choose one." - Eternity tagline. If you had to pick one path for the after-life (assuming there is one), what would it be? What would you choose? I'll admit that, after seeing a trailer for Eternity several weeks ago, I was hoping for a screwball rom-dramedy in the tradition of Warren Beatty's 1978 triumph, Heaven Can Wait. You know, someone dies (perhaps, prematurely), and

Felicity Jones (L) and Joel Edgerton (R) in Clint Bentley's Train Dreams. He liked the grand size of things in the woods, the feeling of being lost and far away, and the sense he had that with so many trees as wardens, no danger could find him . -Denis Johnson, Train Dreams Logger Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) never knew who his parents were. A mostly self-taught lad who came to Fry, Idaho (later Bonners Ferry) sometime before the turn of the 20th century, Robert

Ariana Grande (L) and Cynthia Erivo (R) in Jon M. Chu's Wicked: For Good Wicked Director: Jon M. Chu Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Michele Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum Remember the sequence in 1939's The Wizard of Oz , the one where Dorothy's house, seemingly swept up by a midwest tornado, lands in Munchkinland, falling on the Wicked Witch of the East in the process? All that's left of her are the ruby shoes and a pair of striped red socks. Anyway, the house

Colin Farrell in Edward Berger's Ballad of a Small Player. Not all movies are created equal, and not all streaming options provide the best movie experience. By now, most of you who read this blog know that I'm a purist about going to a theater to see a movie: the way they were made - and intended - to be seen. Of course, certain films, notably those that are smaller and more intimate in terms of conversations between characters, set design, location, and scope of story, can

Margaret Qualley (L) and Ethan Hawke (R) in Richard Linklater's Blue Moon. On a dark and rainy night in November 1943, a drunken Lorenz "Larry" Hart (Ethan Hawke) stumbles down a NYC alley, incoherently mumbling song lyrics before collapsing on the street. As he lies alone shivering in the cold, a message appears on the screen, informing us that Hart died several days later from complications of pneumonia. But was it just pneumonia, or did other demons contribute to Larry's d