Reviews for September 18th, 2026
18-year-old Arsa (Gala Martinucci) lives alone on island where she collects objects that wash up onshore, but three tourists disrupt her peace when they arrive to stay at a vacation home there in Arsa. Andrea (Jacopo Olmo Antinori), one of those tourists, becomes infatuated with her. Co-writers/directors MASBEDO (a.k.a. Iacopo Bedogni and Nicolò Massazza) and co-writer Giorgio Vasta have made a picturesque and slow-burning, but tedious and dull drama with great cinematography. The screenplay's systemic issues are that it's low on exposition, including character development, and has very little narrative momentum as well as emotional depth. The scenery, which becomes a character in itself, looks great, though, and there's some stunning underwater cinematography, but beyond that, Arsa runs out of steam within the first 30 minutes and never picks up any steam afterward.
Unfortunately, the filmmaking duo MASBEDO don't take their ideas anywhere interesting. Moreover, Arsa remains enigmatic and underwritten from start to finish, so she's at a cold distance from the audience. Arsa ultimately suffers from the same issues as the equally breathtaking, but emotionally hollow Parthenope which happens to also be set on an island in Italy. At a running time of 1 hour and 36 minutes, Arsa opens in select theaters.
Number of times I checked my watch: 4
In A Bloody Mess, Violet Blank (Sydney O'Toole), a documentary filmmaker, and her film crew investigate a mysterious explosion at manure facility that had occured in the town of Split Springs, Texas back in 2002. Writer/director Daniel Hayden have made a mildly engaging, but mostly unfunny, gross and unimaginative "documentary" with mediocre performances that aren't convincing. The premise sounds like it could be an outrageously funny and bonkers dark comedy or satire with shades of Christopher Guest, but it doesn't quite stick the landing. It's neither surprising, suspenseful, funny nor bold enough to be a guilty pleasure or even mindlessly entertaining B-movie. At a running time of 1 hour and 23 minutes, A Bloody Mess opens in select theaters NYC, LA and Boston via Freestyle Digital Media.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
Dov (Josh Pais), an undercover Mossad agent on the verge of retirement, embarks on one more mission after he cross paths with Gilgamesh (Norman Issa), the Mossad's #1 target, at a Turkish hotel in Checkout. Writer/director Jonathan Dekel and co-writer has made a dull, clunky and lethargic spy thriller/comedy that's low on laughs, thrills, intrigue and suspense. There's some tongue-in-cheek humor, but it doesn't quite land. The plot is forgettable and only intermittently engaging with stilted dialogue and lazy exposition. There are some attempts at deadpan humor, but none of the actors have great comedic timing and some of them, like Josh Pais, are undermined by the witless and unfunny screenplay
Even the mediocre spy thriller/comedy OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and Spy Hard manage to be funnier, more bonkers and more entertaining even if though they're dumb. Checkout ultimately falls flat as a satire, comedy and spy thriller. That said, it's nice to see Josh Pais in a Hebrew-speaking role for the first time. He deserves a better movie. At a running time of 1 hour and 37 minutes, which feels more like 3 hours, Checkout opens at Quad Cinema.
Number of times I checked my watch: 5
Atta (Ricky Adelayitar), an elderly retired fisherman living with his wife (Elizabeth Nortey) in Ghana, aspires to become a boat chief in The Fisherman. With the help of his assistants, Shasha (Endurance Dedzo), Kobina (William Lamptey), and Emmanuel (Kiki-Romi), and a talking catfish, Koobi (Abdulazeem Dulo Harris), he travels to Accra in hope of getting a loan to buy a new boat. Meanwhile, he reunites with his estranged daughter, Naa (Adwoa Akoto). Writer/director Zoey Martinson has made a charming, whimsical and amusing, but slight, undercooked and sugar-coated blend of comedy, drama and magical realism. The talking catfish is initially funny, but becomes less funny and increasingly annoying the more it talks. It's the equivalent of hearing one joke getting repeated over and over ad nauseam. In turn, the emotional beats don't land when the audience is supposed to care about Atta's bond of friendship with the catfish. The premise sounds compelling and inspired, but its execution leaves a lot to be desired because Martison doesn't take it far enough in terms of imagination or in terms of emotional depth. In other words, the film plays it too safely and ends up conventional, heavy-handed, contrived and less than the sum of its parts.
Fortunately, two major strengths make The Fisherman watchable and at least moderately engaging. Firstly, the performances by the ensemble cast are heartfelt, especially Ricky Adelayitar and Endurance Dedzo who breathe life into their roles. Elizabeth Nortey makes the most of her supporting role as Atta's wife. Their brief scenes together adds a modicum of much-needed poignancy. Secondly, the cinematography and the breathtaking scenery provide some visual style albeit not enough to compensate for the film's lack of substance. The Fisherman isn't as surprising, provocative, imaginative nor bold as Cielo, a superior recent drama that also incorporates magical realism into its story. At a running time of 1 hour and 48 minutes, The Fisherman opens at Quad Cinema via Filmhub.
Number of times I checked my watch: 3
In Floating Carousel, Shanay (Julian Cihi), Sebastian (Dylan T. Jackson), Olivia (Delilah Napier), Ruby (Lucy Powers), and Marlena (Jessica Hecht) struggle with their dating lives in New York City. Co-writers/directors Delilah Napier and Lucy Powers have made a witty, refreshingly unpredictable and wickedly funny romantic dramedy and an honest portrait of the modern dating scene with shades of Robert Altman, Richard Curtis and Woody Allen. The screenplay gradually combines each of the subplots so that, by the end, they all intersect in ways that won't be spoiled here. Shanay is the closest that the film has to a villain because of how he treats women, but he's not a caricature. He's a deceptive and emotionally immature smooth talker, yet he's concurrently charming and, like many people, insecure and lonely. The other characters have their own flaws as well, so expect to relate to at least someone on screen. Kudos to Napier and Powers for seeing and treating each of them as complex human beings and for not being afraid to subvert the audience's expectations with a few surprising turns of events. The always-reliable Dylan Baker and Catherine Curtain show up in supporting roles as Brian and Carla, and Gus Birney plays the supporting role of Nicole. Each of those characters' lives intersect with the other subplots as well.
Floating Carousel wisely avoids clunkiness, melodrama, schmaltz, on-the-nose dialogue and tonal unevenness. Despite many characters and subplots, it never feels undercooked, overstuffed or convoluted. It's shocking at times without going over-the-top, pushing the envelope or disturbing the audience---this isn't Happiness, after all. Moreover, the filmmakers have a great handle on exposition without making the audience feel like they can feel the wheels of the screenplay turning. If you saw Love Actually and wish that it were a darker, more twisted and less cheesy romantic dramedy instead, your wish will come true with Floating Carousel. At a running time of 1 hour and 40 minutes, Floating Carousel opens at The Cinemas NYC via Drama House Pictures.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
The History of Concrete is an amusing, but disjointed, meandering, overstuffed and exhausting documentary ostensibly about director John Wilson's struggles to make a documentary about concrete. In actuality, it's about a potpourri of subjects ranging from gum removal on sidewalks to the first 3D-printed Starbucks to Jack Macco, the lead singer of a band called Nebulus who moonlights as a liquor shop sampler, to Save My Ink Forever, a company that preserves deceased people's tattoos to the basic elements that make a successful Hallmark movie to Dorothy Chin Brandt, the first Asian American judge in the state of New York. Oh, and did I mention that Dorothy is the partner of Jack Macco whom he doesn't even acknowledge until Wilson mentions her to him. Don't ask how or why Wilson suddenly ends up at a party hosted by Kim Kardashian and with Jacob Elordi as one of the guests. At some point, you'll learn about the difference between concrete and cement, and, at another point, Wilson travels to Rome and asks the Carabinieri of all people if they know what the Pantheon is made out of. No, they don't know, nor do random construction workers want to talk to him either.
To call The History of Concrete an anarchic mess would be an understatement. Believe it or not, it covers even more topics than the ones mentioned above, so it's as tiring as watching 10 different documentaries or so all at once with tonal whiplash and nausea as two of the side effects. Don't be surprised if you think you're actually watching a mockumentary. Moreover, Wilson includes too much of his narration which is sometimes humorous and witty, but often annoying and distracting. At a running time of 1 hour and 42 minutes, The History of Concrete opens in select theaters via Magnolia Pictures.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
The Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie is an intimate and heartbreaking documentary about novelist Salman Rushdie, his attempted murder in 2022 and how he has been healing in the aftermath. Audiences expecting a thorough and illuminating biodoc on Rushdie will be disappointed. Director Alex Gibney deserves to be commended for gaining access to Rushdie himself and the footage that his wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, took at the hospital as he recovered. He also tries to make the doc feel more cinematic, and to add little depth and creativity through the use of animation as well clips from classic films The Seventh Seal. It's emotionally devastating to watch Rushdie laying with an eye injury on his hospital bed which Gibney includes without any sugar-coating or shying away from showing the injury unflinchingly.
To be fair, though, that footage gets tedious and goes on for too long---well after it makes its point. Much of the film is merely a reader's digest summary of Rushdie's memoir, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder without adding any new revelations, insights or perspectives. Gibney doesn't ask Rushdie enough provocative questions or put his attempted murder within a larger context to provide the documentary with more scope. Perhaps you'd learn more about Rushdie by reading his memoir instead. It's not enough for a documentary to just appeal to the audience's emotions because a truly great documentary should find the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them emotionally as well as intellectually. At a running time of 1 hour and 47 minutes, The Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie opens at IFC Center via Abramorama.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
Cecil (Malcolm McDowell), a schoolteacher, misses his train to the town of Fortune to begin a new job as a schoolmaster in Last Train to Fortune. He crosses paths with Dooley (James Paxton), an outlaw who agrees to take him there on horseback in exchange for money. Along the way, they get into gunfights, bond by a campfire and meet a saloon keeper, Miss Lily (Bernadette Peters). Director Adam Rifkin and screenwriter Michele Rifkin have made a witty, delightful, breezy and heartfelt western comedy about two seemingly different people who become unlikely friends. Last Train to Fortune doesn't have a complicated or suspenseful plot filled with lots of big surprises, grit or palpable thrills. Instead, the surprises are smaller, but more intrinsically impactful in the long run because they involve the gradually blossoming friendship between Cecil and Dooley. What the film lacks in physical grit, it makes up for in its emotional grit sans schmaltz. Both Cecil and Dooley are well-written characters because they each have their own unique personality which often clash. It's amusing to watch Cecil quip and outsmart him while teaching him a few things in the process. As it turns out, Dooley has an interesting backstory that explains (without excusing) why he became an outlaw, so he's a villain, but not a cartoonish or evil one for that matter. The more that Cecil spends time with him, the more signs that Dooley actually has some decency and even some introspection.
Bernadatte Peters and Mary Steenburgen make the most out of their supporting roles---Steenburgen shows up as a schoolteacher, but you'll have to be patient for her character to finally arrive. Malcolm McDowell has a lot of fun with his role and displays great comedic timing while radiating charisma. The pace moves briskly, the landscape provides some scenery, just as expected, and the film doesn't drag or overstay its welcome. Kudos to Adam and Michel Rifkin for showing restraint and for understanding the concept that "less is more." At an ideal running time of 1 hour and 34 minutes, Last Train to Fortune opens at Village East by TriCoast Worldwide and Vitagraph Films, and would be a great double feature with Cat Ballou.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
When Doug (Will Brill), a playwright working as a middle school theater teacher, learns that the new boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend, Abigail (Gillian Jacobs), happens to be the school's principal (Rob Lowe), he hatches a plan to sabotage the school's chances of getting a Blue Ribbon of Academic Excellence by secretly switching the school's play from West Side Story to a play about 9/11 in The Musical. Director Giselle Bonilla and screenwriter Alexander Heller have made a painfully unfunny, witless and shallow portrait of a toxic human being and a bad role model. Doug comes across as selfish, unreliable, calculating, manipulative, envious, emotionally immature, and as irritating as nails on a chalkboard.
The film's tone vaguely resembles the off-kilter comedic tone in Election which also has an unlikable characters, but Doug manages to be even more unlikable and unpleasant than any of them. That would've been okay if the screenplay were delve more into Doug's childhood and/or his relationship with his mother and father to figure out how he ended up such a mess like Ari Aster does in the far more bold, intelligent, funny, perceptive and wildly entertaining Beau is Afraid. Heller could've also given him at least somewhat of a character arc. It doesn't seem like Doug has truly learned anything by the time the end credits roll, but, concurrently, the audience barely learns anything about him either. Without laughs, wit, emotional depth or perceptive insights about the dark side of human nature, The Musical is a misfire. At a running time of 1 hour and 27 minutes, The Musical opens at Angelika Film Center via Blue Harbor Entertainment and Variance Films.
Number of times I checked my watch: 6
No Country for Mothers is an eye-opening, persuasive, focused and vital documentary about the lack of U.S. public policies designed to make childcare more affordable and for mothers to receive paid leave. It shouldn't be a huge financial struggle for a mother to take time off work to take care of her child or to pay for childcare. Every mother will be able to relate to that in some way. The documentary also argues that pitting working moms against work-at-home moms or "tradwives" causes a divide between mothers that merely distracts from the systemic public policy issues. Director Raeshem Nijhon interviews a wide range of subjects who provide many insights, namely, Reshma Saujani, the founder and CEO of Moms First, Nadia Mondési, a working mother, Kathryn Anne Edwards, an economist, and Erica Komisar, a psychoanalyst and author.
No Country for Mothers will make you indignant at times, but it ultimately accomplished more than that: it informs clearly without bombarding the audience with information and statistics. It also simultaneously gives the audience hope that change is possible. It's an upstream battle, and Donald Trump is only making everyone worse by trying to freeze federal funding for childcare. Does he not have a mother? Is Melania not a mother? Where's his empathy? What would his mother and Melania think about that? That's a topic for a separate documentary that would probably make audiences even more indignant. After watching No Country for Mothers, you'll understand how and why mothers need much more financial and social support, and how and why it can only be achieved through systemic changes in public policy. At a running time of 1 hour and 15 minutes, No Country for Mothers opens at Cinema Village via Culture House and Moms First.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
After the Farmer (voice John Sparkes) destroys their pumpkin patch before Halloween, Shaun (voice of Justin Fletcher) uses mad science to fix the issue, but it makes it worse by inadvertently turning the Farmer into monster that terrorizes the town of Mossingham in Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. Nina Sosanya does the voice of the Farmer's love interest, The Vet. Co-directors Steve Cox and Matthew Walker and co-writers Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow is a harmless and amusing, but slight and just mildly engaging children's movie with stop-motion animation. The plot isn't too scary for older kids and has some slapstick humor that will keep them entertained and occasionally laughing. However, there's not enough to entertain adults or to make them laugh. The plot has no surprises and almost everything including the ending is telegraphed.
Moreover, the third act feels rushed and conventional. Only the impressive puppetry and stop-motion animation stands out, especially the reliance on facial expressions instead of words for communication between the characters. If you're not already familiar with the Shaun the Sheep series, this one won't probably won't make you excited to see the previous films or the TV series. For a stop-motion animated film that's more zany, witty, funny and captivating for both kids and adults equally, see A Town Called Panic. At a running time of 1 hour and 20 minutes, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom opens nationwide via GKIDS.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
In Sunny Dancer, Ivy (Bella Ramsey), an alienated, rebellious 17-year-old girl who survived leukemia, attends a CRF Camp for young adults with cancer. Neil Patrick Harris plays the camp's director, Patrick, Shalom Brune-Franklin plays the camper's therapist, Lucy, and Jessica Gunning and James Norton play Iy's mother and father. Writer/director George Jaques has made an irreverent, wickedly funny and tender coming-of-age movie with razor-sharp wit and a warm, beating heart. Ivy comes across as a mess, but, to be fair, what teenager isn't? She's rude, blunt and snarky which makes her all the more interesting even though she's not always likable. It would be safe to say that she's cut from the same cloth, in a way, as Maude from Harold and Maude or Enid from Ghost World. Her character can be overwhelming and shocking at times, especially when it comes to her quips, but, behind her façade, she has some decency and isn't truly mean-spirited.
Sunny Dancer doesn't have any big surprises in terms of its plot. e.g. when Ivy befriends some of the other campers like her bunkmate, Ella (Ruby Stokes), and develops feelings for Jake (Daniel Quinn Toye), who's just as alienated as she is. However, despite the conventional, by-the-numbers narrative, Bella Ramsey's radiant and heartfelt performance invigorates the film. Thanks to the sensitive screenplay, you'll often laugh while occasionally tugging at your heartstrings without tonal whiplash. Moreover, the third act earns its uplift and will make your spirit soar. At a running time of 1 hour and 46 minutes, Sunny Dancer opens in select theaters nationwide via Quiver Distribution.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
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Li Mingqi (Jiang Qiming), a factory worker, lives with his wife, Gao Yafeng (Li Xueqin), and dreams of fulfilling his late father's wishes to fly, so he tries to build machine with jet packs that can help him accomplish that in Take Off. Writer/director Peng Fei Song and his co-writers, Xuetao Shuang and Yizhou Xu, have made a mildly engrossing, but overlong, sugar-coated and contrived drama. The screenplay suffers from too many underdeveloped subplots that add unnecessary padding to the narrative. Very few scenes ring true, and the ending can be seen from a mile away. With a more sensitive and focused screenplay that didn't feel so by-the-numbers, Take Off would've been more emotionally resonating instead of resorting to mediocrity without truly earning its uplift. At a lengthy running time of 2 hours and 3 minutes, Take Off opens in select theaters via Orchard Tree Media.
Number of times I checked my watch: 3
Samuel (Ethan Hawke), a prisoner at a work camp who yearns to reunite with his daughter, Penny (Avy Berry), strikes a deal with Warden Clancy (Russell Crowe), to smuggle gold through the Oregon wilderness in exchange for an early release in The Weight. Other prisoners including Rankin (Austin Amelio) and Singh (Avi Nash) along with a runaway, Anna (Julia Jones), join him for the dangerous mission. Director Padraic McKinley and his co-writers, Matthew Booi and Shelby Gaines, have made a spellbinding and gripping thriller with stunning cinematography and an Oscar-worthy performance by Ethan Hawke. The screenplay follows a conventional, linear structure which works well because the first act briefly establishes the bond between Samuel and his daughter before he's sent off to prison. A lot remains at stake for Samuel and the other prisoners if they don't succeed in smuggling the gold bars which are quite heavy. Fortunately, The Weight has plenty of Spectacle that can be found within the palpable tension of the mission itself and the obstacles that they experience along the way. There's one particularly intense where they must bring the gold through a footbridge from one side of a cliff to another. It's among the film's most cinematic moments that will have audiences at the edge of their seat.
Beyond the Spectacle, though, The Weight manages to ground it in humanism, a truly special effect, by allowing the audience to get to know the personalities of Samuel, Singh, Anna and Rankin. The screenplay isn't afraid to explore the darker side of human nature and to make some of them less likable than others. Unsurprisingly, the natural landscape becomes a character in itself while adding some visual poetry albeit not as much as can be found in a Terrence Malick film. To be fair, much of the poignancy comes from the moving and raw performances, especially the always-reliable Ethan Hawke who breathes life into his role. The Weight ultimately comes close to being as powerful as Wages of Fear and Sorcerer which it shares a lot in common with.0 At a running time of 1 hour and 53 minutes, The Weight opens nationwide via Vertical.
Number of times I checked my watch: 1
You Had to Be There is a breezy and amusing, but slight, shallow and underwhelming documentary about how the 1972 production of Godspell in Toronto served as a catalyst that ignited the careers of many of its actors and actresses including Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin and Jayne Eastwood. Director Nick Davis blends talk-head interviews with lively animated sequences reimagine the Godspell theater production because there's actually no recording of it available---although Martin Short does quite candidly admit that he illegally recorded its audio.
You Had to Be There offers a few somewhat interesting anecdotes from some of the talking heads, and it's great to hear the passion and joy in subjects' voices as they look back on their fond memories. One of them even talks about what other career they might've had if Godspell weren't there to skyrocket their career. For the most part, though, this doc doesn't say anything new, revealing or truly insightful because Davis doesn't ask enough profound questions. It feels more like the kind of doc you'd find on a DVD extra. At a running time of 1 hour and 38 minutes, You Had to Be There opens at Film Forum via Greenwich Entertainment.
Number of times I checked my watch: 2
