TV Review: ‘Étoile’

by admin | Apr 30, 2025 | Articles, Moviephone Articles

‘Étoile’ Season 1 receives 7.5 out of 10 stars.

Landing on Prime Video with all eight episodes of its first season, ‘Étoile’ is the latest series from Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, responsible for shows such as ‘Gilmore Girls’ and ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.’

Yet it shares more in common with one of their lesser known projects, ‘Bunheads,’ which starred Sutton Foster as a Las Vegas showgirl who marries someone on a whim and ends up in their small home town, working with her mother-in-law at a ballet school. In ‘Étoile’s case, however, the setting is much grander, the stakes are higher and with a two-season order, its fate is much less dramatic.

Related Article: Lauren Graham Says ‘Gilmore Girls: A Year In the Life’ Leaves No Question Unanswered

Does ‘Étoile’ Season 1 perform?

(L to R) Dance performance from Etoile and Gideon Glick in ‘Étoile’. Credit: Philippe Antonello/Prime Video.

Amy Sherman-Palladino has made no secret of her love for, and connection to, ballet. She trained as a dancer in her youth and was considering a career in the medium before TV writing and producing took over her life.

So with the success of ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ and her overall deal at Amazon, she and husband/creative partner Dan Palladino have gone all in on the new series, filling it with their usual rat-a-tat screwball comedy dialogue, plenty of crackling comebacks and enough drama to cross the Atlantic and travel between both New York and Paris.

And given their love for dancing, it’s naturally also a showcase for some truly superb artists, choreographers and others. Depending on your own appreciation for the wild world of creative types and the giant egos in the ballet sphere, chances are this will be your next binge watch.

Script and Direction

(L to R) Taïs Vinolo as Mishi Duplessis and Gideon Glick as Tobias Bell in ‘Étoile’. Credit: Philippe Antonello/Prime Video.

The Sherman-Palladino duo are known, as we said before, for their script work, and here, gifted with a cast that can pull it off (including one who learned English for the role and manages to pull off the quickfire chat), their words are the highlight.

With a much-expanded canvas (previous shows were largely set in one locale, though ‘Mrs. Maisel’ had New York as its playground and sent its title character on tour in one season), the transatlantic storyline of two famous ballet companies trading stars to bolster both their futures offers ripe opportunities to explore an even wider group of characters.

The creative pair has not lost their touch for creating compelling roles and finding entertaining ways into the story, leaning on the funny but also adding plenty of heart as the various struggles and romances come into play.

And with just eight episodes here, they handle the lion’s share of directorial duties, finding interesting ways to shoot both the big performances that anchor a couple of episodes but also focusing on the people behind the scenes.

The different cities’ settings provide appealing backdrops for the various story machinations.

Cast and Performances

(L to R) Yanic Truesdale as Raphaël Marchand and Charlotte Gainsbourg as Geneviève Lavigne in ‘Étoile’. Credit: Philippe Antonello/Prime Video.

The series’ cast is a mixture of players who have worked with the creators before, some acting veterans and interesting people who American audiences might not be so familiar with.

Luke Kirby, who was so good in a supporting role as Lenny Bruce on ‘Maisel’ here shoulders the lead role of Jack McMillan, the harried head of the New York Met ballet company. His family legacy is tied to the building and those who learn to dance within its walls, and he’s endlessly trying to figure out how to manage the gargantuan egos around him (his own is not exactly tiny).

Kirby is fantastic in the role, a mixture of stressed live wire and head cheerleader for the company, and he’s our guide into the world (his mother is played to perfection in a supporting turn from ‘Gilmore Girls’ Kelly Bishop).

Charlotte Gainsbourg is Geneviève Lavigne, Jack’s opposite number in Paris, who has her own issues to deal with. Gainsbourg brings energy and brio to the role, and her chemistry with Kirby is palpable.

Lou de Laâge as Cheyenne Toussaint in ‘Étoile’. Credit: Philippe Antonello/Prime Video.

Lou de Laâge provides a bubble of French sarcasm as ace dancer Cheyenne Toussaint, the lead at the Paris company who is traded for a season to New York. She’s a tornado in a tutu (though rarely seen in one, since her dance costumes are much more subtle) and steals a number of the season’s best scenes, including one where she scares off prospective male dance partners by regaling them with a shocking story about her mother cutting off men’s genitals.

Elsewhere, there are reliable, funny turns from veteran British actors Simon Callow (as Crispin Shamblee, the billionaire of questionable ethics who funds the big trade) and fellow cast member from 1994 rom-com classic ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ David Haig as Nicholas Leutwylek, Jack’s hard-living, jovial creative director whose health and partying ways are a constant source of comedy.

And ‘Gilmore Girls’ fans will be happy to see the return of Yanic “Michel” Truesdale as Geneviève’s right hand man Raphaël Marchand. And yes, he displays nuclear levels of sarcasm himself at times.

Final Thoughts

Luke Kirby as Jack McMillan in ‘Étoile’. Credit: Philippe Antonello/Prime Video.

‘Étoile’ should instantly delight fans of the Sherman-Palladino-verse, and at a time when the arts are under attack in funding terms, it’s nice to celebrate the power of music and dance.

And with another season already commissioned, there’s more to look forward to, and hopefully it’ll undo one of the few mistakes of the season, a final episode plot twist that doesn’t quite make sense.

“The stage is set.”

What’s the plot of ‘Étoile’ Season 1?

Set in New York City and Paris, the eight-episode ‘Étoile’ follows the dancers and artistic staff of two world-renowned ballet companies, as they embark on an ambitious gambit to save their storied institutions by swapping their most talented stars.

Who stars in ‘Étoile’ Season 1?

• Luke Kirby
• Charlotte Gainsbourg
• Lou de Laâge
• Gideon Glick
• David Alvarez
• Ivan du Pontavice
• Taïs Vinolo
• David Haig
• LaMay Zhang
• Simon Callow
• Yanic Truesdale

Gideon Glick as Tobias Bell in ‘Étoile’. Credit: Philippe Antonello/Prime Video.

List of Series Produced by Amy Sherman-Palladino:

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Movie Review: ‘Thunderbolts*’

by admin | Apr 29, 2025 | Articles, Moviephone Articles

‘Thunderbolts*’ receives 8 out of 10 stars.

Opening in theaters May 2nd is ‘Thunderbolts*,’ directed by Jake Schreier and starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Related Article: ‘Thunderbolts*’ and ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ Dominate Disney’s CinemaCon Show

Initial Thoughts

(L to R) Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian (David Harbour), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and John Walker (Wyatt Russell) in Marvel Studios’ ‘Thunderbolts*’. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2024 Marvel.

This writer doesn’t look to Marvel Studios for deep, penetrating, sober films about the existential crisis of the human race or the inner workings of the heart. At their best, Marvel movies have occasionally delivered something along those lines, but for the most part, they’ve offered the cinematic equivalent of the comic books themselves – fun, breezy to read, occasionally awesome, and genuinely surprising at times.

If that means we’re a little more forgiving of Marvel movies, so be it. But there’s no question that the franchise has had it rough the last few years, with a sense of aimlessness permeating even the best of the recent films and a miasma of apathy seeping out of the worst (hi, ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’). So it gives us great pleasure to report that ‘Thunderbolts*,’ directed by Jake Schreier (‘Paper Towns’), is a focused, fun, character-driven adventure that recaptures a lot of the spirit of the MCU at its best pre-‘Avengers: Endgame.’

The cast is superb, with several standouts, and largely expands on characters who have been mostly second-stringers up to this point. The action is crisp, not as heavy on the CG as in the past, and germane to the story, which is given a lot of heart, humor, and humanity in the script by Eric Pearson and Joanna Calo. And while no one would accuse the MCU of going too deep into more weighty topics, it does handle the subjects of mental illness and depression with sensitivity. ‘Thunderbolts*’ is a more human superhero story than we’ve seen in recent times from this franchise, and it’s all the better for it.

Story and Direction

(L to R) Director Jake Schreier and Wyatt Russel on the set of Marvel Studios’ ‘Thunderbolts*’. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2025 Marvel.

If ‘Thunderbolts*’ does have any major flaw, it’s that the story follows a pretty straightforward course that you can determine not just from the trailers, but from the fact that it’s been done more or less along the same lines with other MCU properties – specifically, ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ But the action is firmly earthbound here, as Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), sister of the late Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), is sent on a clandestine mission by CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (a haughty Julia Louis-Dreyfus) to track someone who’s intent on robbing secret materials belonging to de Fontaine and her secretive OxGroup organization.

It’s clear early on (and from her previous MCU appearances) that de Fontaine is corrupt up to her eyeballs and dealing in things she doesn’t want the government to know about. That draws the attention of Congressman Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who’s given up the superhero life for the Washington D.C. cocktail and committee circuit, although he’s already bristling at it. But he knows de Fontaine is up to something and wants to get the goods on her for impeachment or even jail.

Meanwhile, Yelena arrives at the OxGroup facility buried deep under the desert somewhere and quickly finds out that she – along with other de Fontaine operatives John Walker/U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), and Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) – have been set up: they’ve all been led there so that de Fontaine can incinerate them from afar and tie up her loose ends. But what no one has foreseen is the presence of a dazed, seemingly loopy young man named Bob (Lewis Pullman), who doesn’t remember how he got down there but whose very existence both alarms and excites de Fontaine once she finds out he’s alive.

(L to R) John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian (David Harbour) in Marvel Studios’ ‘Thunderbolts*’. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2025 Marvel.

Although this disparate group of “losers,” as de Fontaine describes them, initially distrust and dislike each other, they must work together to escape the facility and intend to bring down Valentina with the help of Yelena’s loud, colorful adopted father, Alexei Shostakov, aka Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Bucky, who discards his suit and tie for something more battle-ready. But their plan hits a new, potentially catastrophic snag as Valentina reacquires Bob – the only test subject to survive an experimental process to create a superbeing – and reawakens the power placed within him via the Sentry project. Except that Bob is not equipped mentally or emotionally to become a god.

Under Jake Schreier’s smooth, free-flowing, yet economical direction, ‘Thunderbolts*’ succeeds at giving its characters space to breath and its audience a chance to understand what makes many of them tick. Yes, some characters inevitably get short-changed – we’re thinking of Ghost and Taskmaster in particular – but there’s still enough time spent with almost all of them to earn their eventual (and inevitable) formation into a team. A number of the characters get their own individual moments, and thanks to an early ability exhibited by Bob we get to find out what haunts several of them as well.

Every one of these people is damaged in some way, and looking for peace of mind and acceptance. Since they’re castoffs, not heroes, and certainly not the Avengers (who we’re told are not coming back, although it’s never really been explained where everyone who’s still alive has scattered to), they have to find it where they can get it in a world that doesn’t know they exist and in which they don’t even trust each other.

Florence Pugh and Jake Schreier on the set of Marvel Studios’ ‘Thunderbolts*’. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2025 Marvel.

‘Thunderbolts*’ also addresses depression and mental illness, in a comic book way to be sure, but still with enough tact to drive the pain of both home. Yelena, Walker, and Bucky all strive to find meaning in their lives, while Bob struggles to keep his darker impulses in check with disastrous results. This makes ‘Thunderbolts*’ darker than usual in some respects, although the film is still leavened with humor throughout. The third act, however, delves fully into the darkness, both on a physical and psychological level, making for one of the more satisfying MCU climaxes in a while.

While care has been taken to differentiate the action from some of the more generic Marvel set pieces of the past, Schreier’s strength is still with the characters. This is a quieter than usual Marvel movie in some ways, with long scenes of people talking, but that makes the action pop more when it happens. Some of the film’s scenes are well-suited to IMAX projection, making the movie look bigger than other MCU efforts, and it’s all powered by a propulsive yet nuanced score from Son Lux.

Does the film feel familiar in some ways? For sure. That template of a bunch of misfits coming together as a team is well-worn within the MCU. The movie doesn’t veer in the big picture from the Marvel house ‘feel’ and ‘style.’ But it does add enough depth to the characters and their actions to recover the energy that has been missing for a lot of the last five years.

Cast and Performances 

(L to R) Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Bob (Lewis Pullman), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and John Walker (Wyatt Russell) in Marvel Studios’ ‘Thunderbolts*’. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2025 Marvel. All Rights Reserved.

Everyone does excellent work here, but Florence Pugh is the clear leader of the pack. Facing an existential crisis of her own and still grieving the death of her sister, Yelena is deeply haunted by the copious red in her own ledger as well as a future than she only sees as bleak. “Your light is dim even by Eastern European standards,” Alexei tells her solemnly, although even he can’t reach her (nor does he try very hard at first). Pugh gives a full, emotional, and complex performance, while also effectively portraying Yelena’s compact, deadly physicality.

Equally heartrending to watch is Lewis Pullman as Bob, who is one of the better supervillains of recent MCU vintage. Like Yelena and the others, Bob is damaged goods, but his wounds may run deeper than anyone’s and ultimately manifest themselves in more dreadful ways. Pullman’s heel turn from slightly off, clumsy, yet enigmatic doofus to frightening harbinger of death and destruction is chilling and believable.

Of the rest of the pack, Sebastian Stan is so comfortable with Bucky now that he’s the grounding presence of the movie, linking it to adventures past. David Harbour’s Red Guardian is hilarious and scenery-chewing throughout – until he isn’t, in a scene with Yelena that’s lovely and emotionally resonant. Wyatt Russell’s John Walker – the “dime store Captain America,” as he’s reminded – was hard to like in ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ and initially obnoxious here, but grows into a genuine hero despite his own personal pain. And Julia Louis-Dreyfus clearly relishes having her most screen time yet as de Fontaine, who can be charming, deceptive, and manipulative all at the same time and enjoying every minute of it.

Final Thoughts

Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) in Marvel Studios’ ‘Thunderbolts*’. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. © 2025 Marvel.

It goes without saying that you should stick around for the end credits of ‘Thunderbolts*’. The mid-credits scene is amusing if slight; the post-credits scene is not only important, but actually points to a not-too-distant payoff, unlike many other recent bonus scenes in Marvel movies (ask Harry Styles, Brett Goldstein, and Charlize Theron how they feel about theirs).

That fact alone only adds to the impression that Marvel has at least started a major course correction with ‘Thunderbolts*,’ which at one time was arguably considered a kind of also-ran in the MCU release schedule. Yet this under-the-radar movie fixes a lot of the problems that have become more visible in other Marvel entries, while telling an entertaining, exciting, quite dark, and also moving story populated by characters you like to spend time with and wouldn’t mind seeing again.

“Everyone deserves a second shot.”

Showtimes & Tickets

After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap, seven disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners… Read the Plot

What is the plot of ‘Thunderbolts*’’?

A group of dangerous, unstable antiheroes and castoffs are set up on a doomed mission by a government operative (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), only to find themselves confronting a powerful new menace that threatens Earth.

Who is in the cast of ‘Thunderbolts*’?

• Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova
• Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes
• Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent
• David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian
• Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost
• Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster
• Lewis Pullman as Robert “Bob” Reynolds
• Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine

(L to R) Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and Red Guardian/Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) in Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts*. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2024 Marvel.

List of Movies and TV Shows Featuring ‘Thunderbolts*’ Characters:

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TV Review: ‘You’ Season 5

by admin | Apr 27, 2025 | Articles, Moviephone Articles

‘You’ Season 5 receives 7 out of 10 stars.

Returning to Netflix for its fifth and final season, ‘You’ drags us back into the warped world of Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley), the charming sociopath who fixates on finding the perfect someone to share his life, but always seems to end up with blood and death in his life –– and usually at his hands.

With the pressure off to keep the story going, this new run of episodes looks back as well as confronting Joe where he is now.

Related Article: Joan Allen Talks Netflix’s ‘Zero Day’ and Working with Robert De Niro

Is ‘You’ Season 5 a killer run of the show?

Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg in ‘You’ season 5. Photo: Clifton Prescod / Netflix. Copyright: © 2025.

Given that it started on Lifetime, was renewed for a second season only to suffer the sting of cancellation before those episodes could air, ‘You’ has enjoyed a remarkable life. Picked up by Netflix from that second season onwards, it has since grown into one of the streaming service’s more reliable performers, its patent, potent blend of Penn Badgley’s creepy/smooth voice-over and low key/manic turn as Joe himself and the many twists and turns sparking a fervent fanbase.

Naturally, sticking the landing on a show such as this was always going to be challenging, with multiple dangling story threads to be (somewhat) neatly knotted and a brand new variation on Joe’s obsessive focus on a new particular “You” to be adapted from Caroline Kepnes’ novels. Though “adapted” is used in loose terms these days, as since the first season, the show has diverted considerably, following its own path.

Script and Direction

Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg in ‘You’ season 5. Photo: Clifton Prescod/Netflix © 2025.

The ‘You’ writing team, led by this season’s showrunners Michael Foley and Justin Lo does manage to thread the needle effectively, partly by finding fresh ways for Joe to plan for perfection and to then screw things up royally when he can’t achieve it.

While the shift back to New York might be seen as covering old territory, it allows for a welcome dip back into the history he’s been trying to run from for years, not the least of which is his relationship with Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail) which, as his dalliances tend to, ended badly.

And via the set-up of Joe’s seemingly happy relationship with the wealthy Kate Galvin (Charlotte Ritchie), there’s also the chance to explore another facet of his personality: what does Joe do when his problems –– the external ones, at least –– are fixed by her resources.

Charlotte Ritchie as Kate Lockwood in ‘You’ season 5. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2025.

Of course, nothing in his life can ever be easy, mostly because he’s a diabolical serial murderer with obsessive compulsive tendencies, but the season does have fun with Kate’s extended, squabbling and privileged family.

There’s also the storyline involving Madeline Brewer’s homeless Bronte, a wannabe writer herself who is squatting in the now-closed bookstore from the first season. Naturally, things get complicated.

Main director Silver Tree is back this year and guides the rest of the filmmakers in keeping ‘You’s visual style consistent. The New York backing is a welcome throwback and the show is always shot in interesting, but never distracting fashion.

Cast and Performances

(L to R) Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg and Charlotte Ritchie as Kate Lockwood ‘You’ season 5. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2025.

Badgley is, as always, the core of the show, both on screen and in our heads narrating Joe’s inner monologue. He really has come into his own with this role, and while there are only so many ways for Joe to find or cause trouble, the actor has made him work from day one.

He’s never afraid to look foolish or ridiculous, and he still comes across as a believably romantic figure, bouncing perfectly off of any scene partner and making even the crazier twists and turns function.

As Kate (who was introduced in last season’s England-set storyline), Charlotte Ritchie has proved to be one of the better foils for Badgley, her no-nonsense attitude flipping to anger when she discovers what he’s been up to (again).

(L to R) Madeline Brewer as Bronte and Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg in ‘You’ season 5. Photo: Clifton Prescod/Netflix © 2025.

Madeline Brewer, probably still most recognizable for her role as ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’s Janine, brings a twitchy, vulnerable energy to the series as a young woman Joe sees as something as a mentee, a person he can guide to greatness. It’s a different dynamic from the usual interactions he has with women, though there’s always the lurking sexual tension between them.

Outside of the main trio, this season’s best turns are from Kate’s spoiled, argumentative and weird family, including a wonderful twin turn from Anna Camp as Maddie and Raegan Lockwood, her half-sisters. Fizzing with very different energies, they’re both great.

Final Thoughts

(L to R) Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg and Madeline Brewer as Bronte in ‘You’ season 5. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix © 2025.

‘You’ was always going to be a challenge to end, and while this final season isn’t quite perfect and can’t escape every trap of repeating a beat here and there, it does at least offer a fine conclusion to the show, maintaining the madness while also addressing both the past and the present.

A committed, fun cast and some enjoyable plot turns make it worth watching.

“What goes around comes around.”

What’s the plot of ‘You’ Season 5?

In the epic fifth and final season, Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) returns to New York to enjoy his happily ever after… Until his perfect life is threatened by the ghosts of his past and his own dark desires.

Who stars in ‘You’ Season 5?

Penn Badgley as Joe Goldberg in ‘You’ season 5. Photo: Clifton Prescod/Netflix © 2025.

Penn Badgley Movies and TV Shows:

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Movie Review: ‘The Legend of Ochi’

by admin | Apr 26, 2025 | Articles, Moviephone Articles

‘The Legend of Ochi’ receives 7.5 out of 10 stars.

Opening in theaters on April 25th, ‘The Legend of Ochi’ invites you into a world of creatures, heroes, an ages-old conflict and a surprising friendship that proves to be a balm for a splintered family.

First-time director Isaiah Saxon’s movie also answers the question, “what if A24 let someone make a 1980s family film in the studio’s style?”

Related Article: Willem Dafoe Talks Psychological Thriller ‘Inside’ and Acting by Himself

Will ‘The Legend of Ochi’ make you want to preserve it?

Emily Watson in ‘The Legend of Ochi’. Photo: A24.

Bringing us to the distinct and quirky world of a tiny, remote village nestled on the island of Carpathia in the Black Sea, ‘The Legend of Ochi’ sets its stall early, with a quick introduction to the narrative in storybook form.

Writer/director Saxon has cooked up something unique, though filled with influences from the Amblin creature features of the 1980s and the stylistically challenging work of Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry. There’s also just a hint of Wes Anderson here, though without his rigid dedication to framing and design.

Yet the filmmaker has also injected plenty of his own heart and feeling into the movie, making this an entertaining crossbreed.

Script and Direction

Director Isaiah Saxon on the set of ‘The Legend of Ochi’. Photo: A24.

Saxon’s screenplay is a rich one, choosing to lean less on dialogue and more on emotion and instinct. Which is not to say ‘Ochi’ is a silent film, far from it –– between the bluster of Willem Dafoe’s Maxim the frustration and wonder of Helena Zengel’s Yuri and the straightforward pragmatism of Emily Watson’s Dasha, there is still plenty of language to enjoy.

Yet the focus is really on Yuri and her budding friendship with the sweet baby Ochi she bonds with after its family is scared off by Maxim’s group of boy soldiers.

While the story might be a basic one about a youngster whose life is changed by the connection she makes with an unlikely ally, it has so much of its own personality that it works.

Director Isaiah Saxon on the set of ‘The Legend of Ochi’. Photo: A24.

It’s also in direction where Saxon shines, collaborating with cinematographer Evan Prosofsky and production designer Jason Kisvarday to whip up a world of his own, both recognizably human but just enough removed from reality to give it its own unique feel.

It all conspires to give the movie as a whole the dynamism of a fairytale crossed with a bleak Eastern European drama –– but don’t get us wrong, this is far from a depressing tale.

Cast and Performances

(L to R) Willem Dafoe and Finn Wolfhard in ‘The Legend of Ochi’. Photo: A24.

Helena Zengel might be best known for her work opposite Tom Hanks in ‘News of the World,’ but ‘The Legend of Ochi’ gives her another welcome spotlight. She’s committed as Yuri, the young girl whose family has been shattered by their encounter with the creatures and her parents’ own attitudes.

Desperate for acceptance, Yuri has also become withdrawn, listening to heavy metal music and spending time alone, worried about the legends of the Ochi creatures that those around her are convinced are the biggest threat they face.

Yet when she finally opens up in her friendship with the young Ochi, Zengel brings her fully to life, and the young woman becomes the hero she’s destined to be.

Willem Dafoe likewise fully portrays the blowhard character of Maxim, a man who’s convinced he has a mission, and is so convinced by it he barely has time for his own daughter. The actor is clearly enjoying a new period of offbeat roles that let him properly embrace his love for character work.

Willem Dafoe in ‘The Legend of Ochi’. Photo: A24.

Similarly, Emily Watson brings her all to Dasha, a woman whose life has been designed around learning more about the Ochi, but has, much like her daughter, withdrawn from the world. She’s a spiky, staunchly no-nonsense person, practical to a fault, but also filled with longing for connection again.

Besides the three main cast members, the world is weaved by the ensemble, especially Maxim’s group of young soldiers, who might not have lines, but add plenty to the movie.

And finally, all credit to everyone involved in the puppets and other creature effects –– the Ochi as a species (a sort of bear/bat/ape hybrid) are realized in truly memorable fashion, making them both clearly natural but also not of our environment. The sound design for them is also impressive, crafting a language of hoots and trills that is distinctive and creative.

Final Thoughts

Helena Zengel in ‘The Legend of Ochi’. Photo: A24.

Though it might be too languid and unusual for some family audiences, Saxon’s attempt to make a movie for all ages while maintaining the distinct A24 style works. It has its own voice, and a message that, while you’ve heard it in other movies, works here.

They really don’t make ‘em like this often, and it should be cherished.

“Something else is out there.”

Showtimes & Tickets

In a remote northern village, a young girl, Yuri, is raised to never go outside after dark and to fear the reclusive forest creatures known as the ochi. When a baby… Read the Plot

What’s the plot of ‘The Legend of Ochi’?

In a remote village on the island of Carpathia, a shy farm girl named Yuri (Helena Zengel) is raised to fear an elusive animal species known as Ochi.

But when Yuri discovers a wounded baby Ochi has been left behind, she escapes on the adventure of a lifetime to bring him home.

Who stars in ‘The Legend of Ochi’?

• Helena Zengel as Yuri
• Willem Dafoe as Maxim
• Finn Wolfhard as Petro
• Emily Watson as Dasha

Finn Wolfhard in ‘The Legend of Ochi’. Photo: A24.

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Movie Review: ‘Until Dawn’

by admin | Apr 25, 2025 | Articles, Moviephone Articles

‘Until Dawn’ receives 5.5 out of 10 stars.

Opening in theaters April 25 is ‘Until Dawn,’ directed by David F. Sandberg and starring Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Odessa A’zion, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, Maia Mitchell, and Peter Stormare.

Related Article: Movie Review: ‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’

Initial Thoughts

Ella Rubin stars in ‘Until Dawn’. Photo: Kerry Brown. © 2024 Screen Gems, Inc. and TSG Entertainment II LLC. All Rights Reserved.

As far as generic horror entries go, ‘Until Dawn’ is…all right. Directed by David F. Sandberg (who helmed the horror outings ‘Lights Out’ and ‘Annabelle: Creation’ before going down the superhero rabbit hole with two ‘Shazam!’ films) and written by Blair Butler and Gary Dauberman (the latter having penned all three ‘Annabelle’ films and the recent adaptation of ‘Salem’s Lot,’ which he also directed), the movie is based on a 2015 survival horror game released for PlayStation. Except that – in the time-honored tradition of how Hollywood has treated most video games – the game’s story has been thrown out entirely in favor of an all-original tale loosely set in the game’s world.

Gamers may (rightly) complain about the disrespect (although it didn’t much hurt ‘A Minecraft Movie,’ did it?), but this version of ‘Until Dawn’ still has to succeed as a horror movie. It’s entertaining in a superficial way — and repetitive in the way that games can be — but it ultimately succumbs to its own thin nature and the lack of real stakes. While the game took inspiration from slasher movies and some other horror classics, the movie goes all-out in its homages to the genre to the point of distraction. What Sandberg and Dauberman, who certainly know their genre, might have intended as a celebration of horror ends up being a warmed-over pastiche.

Story and Direction

Director David Sandberg on the set of ‘Until Dawn’. Photo: Kerry Brown. © 2024 Screen Gems, Inc. and TSG Entertainment II LLC. All Rights Reserved.

It’s been a year since Clover’s (Ella Rubin) sister Melanie (Maia Mitchell) took off for parts unknown following the death of their mother, and now Clover is convinced that something is amiss. Along with four friends – ex Max (Michael Cimino), bestie Megan (Ji-young Yoo), and lovers Nina (Odessa A’zion) and Abe (Belmont Cameli) – she tracks her sibling as far as a remote area named Glore Valley, where it turns out that there have been a number of strange disappearances.

And that’s the least of it. The gang of five drive through pouring rain into the valley, only to emerge at the area’s Welcome Center – with the rain still cascading around the little patch of dry land that the center sits on. Plus this has to be the most inhospitable welcome center of all time, as Clover and the others are soon stalked and brutally dispatched once night falls by a masked figure wielding a pickaxe – only, to their surprise, to wake up again at the same point earlier in the day at which they arrived in the valley.

As this goes on, the group is viciously murdered again and again – by the slasher, by poisoned water that makes them explode, and by other gruesome and painful means – only to do it again the next day. It becomes apparent that they’re caught in some kind of time loop and can only die a certain amount of times. And each time the cycle starts anew, there are more buildings, more monsters, and more ways to get killed – with the only clue about how to escape coming from an apparition in the form of a witch: “Either survive the night or become part of it.”

As mentioned earlier, the plot of ‘Until Dawn’ the movie has little to do with the game, save for some references to a mine collapse and a handful of Easter eggs regarding the main characters of the game and the actors who voice them. Instead, the movie utilizes every horror trope it can get its claws on: a masked slasher, a witch in an old house, a buried town, evil dolls, demonic possession, flesh-eating ghouls (here called wendigos, another nod to the game, although they’re not like any wendigo we’ve ever read about), and even a giant monster stomping around the woods (more like the wendigo we know).

(L to R) Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Belmont Cameli, Odessa A’zion star in ‘Until Dawn’. Photo: Kerry Brown. © 2024 Screen Gems, Inc. and TSG Entertainment II LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Equally comprehensive is the list of movies that ‘Until Dawn’ pulls from: ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,’ ‘Friday the 13th,’ the first two ‘Evil Dead’ movies, ‘Poltergeist,’ ‘The Descent,’ ‘The Blair Witch Project,’ ‘My Bloody Valentine’…the references go on and on. Eventually it all gets explained (by Peter Stormare, playing a version of the character he voiced in the game), although the reason why all this is happening seems somewhat vague and underwhelming after 90 minutes of watching the kids get mutilated, mangled, and mauled in every way possible.

The gore effects, to be sure, are vivid and plentiful, a nice throwback to the hard-R rated cinematic abattoirs of the 1970s and ’80s. They’re fun to watch in the moment, channeling fleeting sensations of the giddy vibe that accompanied watching such outrageous effects decades ago. But the film can’t really rise above the nostalgia it invokes: an attempt to suggest that the ghastly events occurring in Glore Valley are a manifestation of Clover’s fear and grief rings hollow, since why would she manifest those as flesh-eating monsters?

Sandberg does wring some nicely atmospheric moments out of the premise early in the film, but once we get past the initial revelation of the time loop, the script just goes in circles itself, the crew adding a little more knowledge to their skimpy arsenal every time they respawn…kind of like a video game.

Cast and Performances 

(L to R) Peter Stormare and Ella Rubin star in ‘Until Dawn’. Photo: Kerry Brown. © 2024 Screen Gems, Inc. and TSG Entertainment II LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Not much to work with here, really. This is sort of a classic ensemble of fairly unmemorable teens/twenty-somethings who are held back by flatly drawn characters and in some cases, their own relative lack of experience. The actor who probably comes off the best is Odessa A’zion, who was stuck in another woeful horror retread a few years back (Hulu’s ‘Hellraiser’), but can muster up some presence, charm, and inner strength (see her performance in the excellent ‘Fresh Kills’), earning her the most cheer-worthy moments.

No one here is bad, and the cast shows considerable commitment to the often physically demanding story, with all them dragged, beaten, stabbed, blown up, violently poisoned, and generally roughed up throughout the movie. But lead Ella Rubin doesn’t do much in particular to distinguish herself from plenty of similar characters, and the male leads are handsome but bland. The only other actor in the movie is, of course, the always offbeat Stormare, who can do this kind of thing in his sleep and makes a meal out of saying the name “Clover.”

Final Thoughts

Odessa A’zion stars in ‘Until Dawn’. Photo: Kerry Brown. © 2024 Screen Gems, Inc. and TSG Entertainment II LLC. All Rights Reserved.

‘Until Dawn’ is slickly made, with some nice production design elements and a few spooky moments. Aficionados of the games may be very disappointed with the lack of real connection to the source material. When they’re on their game (no pun intended), both Sandberg and Dauberman can bring the horror goods (the former’s ‘Lights Out’ and the latter’s ‘Annabelle Comes Home’ are both underrated). There’s no question that ‘Until Dawn’ is programmed to be a crowd-pleaser – the film keeps piling on the effects and gore with increasing intensity.

However, it’s all in the service of characters and a story that are not so much flimsy as just a string of sequences meant to unearth memories of other, better movies. Genre fans might have fun picking out all the references even as they get tired of the circular narrative beats, but it only exacerbates the perception that the filmmakers have no original ideas of their own, or even interesting takes on the genre tropes they’re supposedly celebrating. If you can survive that to the end credits – never mind dawn – you might enjoy yourself.

“Every night a different nightmare.”

Showtimes & Tickets

One year after her sister Melanie mysteriously disappeared, Clover and her friends head into the remote valley where she vanished in search of answers. Exploring… Read the Plot

What is the plot of ‘Until Dawn’?

Clover (Ella Rubin) and four of her friends travel to a remote valley in search of her missing sister, only for the group to find themselves trapped in a nightmare in which all of them are killed by a vicious murderer each night – only to wake up and relive the horror again unless they can survive until dawn.

Who is in the cast of ‘Until Dawn’?

• Ella Rubin as Clover
• Michael Cimino as Max
• Odessa A’zion as Nina
• Ji-young Yoo as Megan
• Belmont Cameli as Abe
• Maia Mitchell as Melanie
• Peter Stormare as Dr. Hill

The hourglass resets each night in ‘Until Dawn’. Photo: Sony Pictures. Photo: Kerry Brown. © 2024 Screen Gems, Inc. and TSG Entertainment II LLC. All Rights Reserved.

List of David F. Sandberg Movies:

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Movie Review: ‘The Accountant 2’

by admin | Apr 22, 2025 | Articles, Moviephone Articles

‘The Accountant 2’ receives 6 out of 10 stars.

Opening in theaters April 25th is ‘The Accountant 2,’ directed by Gavin O’Connor and starring Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Daniella Pineda, Allison Robertson, and J.K. Simmons.

Related Article: 10 Things We Learned at Amazon MGM’s ‘The Accountant 2’ Press Conference

Initial Thoughts

Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) in ‘The Accountant 2’. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video © Amazon Content Services LLC.

2016’s ‘The Accountant’ was an offbeat thriller about an autistic man named Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck), whose brilliance with numbers has led him to become a forensic accountant for criminal organizations looking to find theft in their ranks, while he fronts as a legitimate public accountant and acts as an undercover mole for the U.S. Treasury. Featuring a strong central performance from Affleck, a terrific supporting cast, and a quirky blend of action, drama, and humor, ‘The Accountant’ scored well enough with audiences to put a sequel in motion.

Some nine years later, ‘The Accountant 2’ has arrived, with Affleck, co-stars Jon Bernthal and Cynthia Addai-Robinson, director Gavin O’Connor, and writer Bill Dubuque all returning. The results are a mixed bag, with the movie intermittently capturing some of the original’s charm by building on the chemistry between Affleck and, as his brother, Bernthal.

But a ridiculously convoluted plot, the addition of a new character almost reminiscent of a Marvel-type villain, and – speaking of Marvel – the expansion of Christian’s support system into something resembling Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, make it clear that the creatives here want to – perhaps unwisely — build this into a superhero franchise of their own.

Story and Direction

(L to R) Ben Affleck (Christian Wolff), Cynthia Addai-Robinson (Marybeth Medina), Director Gavin O’Connor, and Jon Bernthal (Brax) in ‘The Accountant 2’. Photo Credit: Warrick Page/Prime © Amazon Content Services LLC.

Eight years after the events of ‘The Accountant,’ Ray King (J.K. Simmons), retired director of the U.S. Treasury financial crimes bureau, is shot dead outside a bar by assassins (don’t holler, it’s right there in the trailer) after a meeting with an unknown woman who only goes by the name Anais (Daniella Pineda). King’s death and the circumstances behind are naturally investigated by his one-time assistant, Deputy Director Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), whose last message from King was to call in Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) – accountant to criminal organizations and FBI mole – to help her figure what shady business their friend was wrapped up in.

The only lead is a photo of an undocumented family of immigrants, who disappeared some years back. Christian, who now lives an itinerant life out of his tricked-out Airstream RV, in turn calls his brother, security expert and professional killer Brax (Jon Bernthal), to help, despite the two not being in touch again for years. As Christian, Brax, and Marybeth delve deeper into what Ray was involved with, they discover he was on the trail of human traffickers – and the woman he was meeting the night he died has her own agenda and bizarre history as well.

What set ‘The Accountant’ apart from most other crime thrillers was the way Christian went about solving problems – as puzzles in math and logic – and the relationship between him and the corporate accountant played in the first film by Anna Kendrick, who’s sorely missed here. That’s replaced by essentially a bromance between the two siblings, and indeed the best parts of ‘The Accountant 2’ are the scenes of simple back-and-forth between the preternaturally calm Christian and the frequently hot-headed Brax.

(L to R) Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) and Brax (Jon Bernthal) in ‘The Accountant 2’. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios © Amazon Content Services LLC.

The scene in which the two share beers atop Christian’s Airstream, talking about their dad, the effect he had on them, and their own fractured relationship – Brax looking for a sign of affection, Christian not able to give it due to his condition – is the best in the film. The second best comes right after that, when Christian and Brax head out to a country bar where Christian abruptly starts line dancing with a woman who’s interested in him, much to Brax’s delight. Although it stops the plot and the film literally in their tracks for 10 minutes, it at least features some of the idiosyncratic vibe of its predecessor.

The brotherly comedy in the movie – which is ramped up here – clashes awkwardly with the grim human trafficking plot at the center of the film, a confusing vortex of plot points that could snarl even a human computer like Christian. There are also increasingly outlandish and indirect nods to superhero cinema, with Christian’s helper at Harbor Neuroscience now a team of a dozen kids, all on the spectrum, who sit at their laptops and can do everything from hack into mobile phones to switch off blocks of traffic lights (where are their teachers?). With backup like that, the Wolff brothers are all but indestructible, even against a kind of super soldier who adds another layer of comic-book mayhem to the proceedings. By the time we get to the standard, improbable (and generic) climactic shootout with the two brothers against an army of thugs, it’s truly difficult to remember how they got there and what the endgame is.

It’s the clash of tones – family melodrama, buddy cop movie, brutal thriller, and Marvel-lite knockoff – that doesn’t add up in the end, making ‘The Accountant 2’ literally less than the sum of its parts. By piling on more, the filmmakers end up with less.

Cast and Performances

(L to R) Brax (Jon Bernthal) and Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) in ‘The Accountant 2’. Photo Credit: Warrick Page/Prime © Amazon Content Services LLC.

We’re not able to comment directly on the neurobiological accuracy of Ben Affleck’s work – which got a split response from the autism community in the first film – but he and the movie seem somewhat at odds: the literal-minded Christian is used more as the butt of jokes this time out (almost like Dave Bautista’s Drax, to wring another Marvel comparison out of this), while the humor was more organic the first time around. Affleck still acquits himself well enough, though, especially in the scenes between him and Bernthal. His best moments come when we see Christian attempting to push himself past his neurological barriers and not always getting there.

Bernthal is probably the film’s MVP, in the sense that we learn more about him this time out while Affleck’s Christian is already established. One of current cinema’s best tough guys, Bernthal gets the chance to peel away some of the top layers of Brax’s heavily armored personality and reveal the wounded younger sibling underneath. He plays Brax’s need for approval – denied by the boys’ father, he now turns to his older brother for it – beautifully, along with the hurt he feels when he doesn’t get what he yearns for, creating an intense, internal tug of war with his fierce sense of loyalty and brotherly love.

Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) in ‘The Accountant 2’. Photo Credit: Warrick Page/Prime © Amazon Content Services LLC.

Cynthia Addai-Robinson is once again sort of the audience avatar, meant to smooth over the vagaries of the plot by asking helpful questions of the brothers, but while she does get one brutal fight scene, she’s largely out of the picture by the third act. As for Daniella Pineda, we’ll leave her role spoiler-free except to say that a choice made by the filmmakers late in the game doesn’t make much sense to us. The rest of the cast — villains and thugs – are unremarkable and unmemorable.

Final Thoughts

Brax (Jon Bernthal) in ‘The Accountant 2’. Photo Credit: Warrick Page/Prime © Amazon Content Services LLC.

We went into ‘The Accountant 2’ with decent expectations, especially because the first movie grew on us and there was a lot of potential in the relationship between the two brothers. And while they do provide the best moments in the movie, the bigger scope pushes this into more generic action/crime territory and loses some of what made the first one distinct.

Sadly, making Christian, Brax, and their confederates into a crimefighting force in all but name means that the franchise will have to go even more blockbuster for ‘The Accountant 3,’ if that film comes to pass. But we kind of wish that the series would find its way back to logic puzzles, corporate shenanigans, and a modest murder mystery – the elements that boosted the good will for ‘The Accountant’ in the first place.

“Do you like puzzles?”

Showtimes & Tickets

Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) has a talent for solving complex problems. When an old acquaintance is murdered, leaving behind a cryptic message to “find the accountant,”… Read the Plot

What is the plot of ‘The Accountant 2’?

When someone close to her is killed by unknown assassins, Treasury Agent Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) is forced to contact Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) to solve the murder. With the help of his estranged but highly lethal brother Brax (Jon Bernthal), Chris applies his brilliant mind and less-than-legal methods to piece together the unsolved puzzle. As they get closer to the truth, the trio draw the attention of some of the most ruthless killers alive — all intent on putting a stop to their search.

Who is in the cast of ‘The Accountant 2’?

• Ben Affleck as Christian Wolff / The Accountant
• Jon Bernthal as Braxton
• Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Marybeth Medina
• Daniella Pineda as Anaïs
• Allison Robertson as Justine
• J. K. Simmons as Raymond King
• Robert Morgan as Burke
• Grant Harvey as Cobb
• Andrew Howard as Batu

Gavin O’Connor attends the Amazon MGM Studios ‘The Accountant 2’ World Premiere at SXSW on Saturday March 8, 2025 in Austin, Texas.

List of Gavin O’Connor Movies:

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