Movie/TV Reviews

Susan Ganger’s review of “Running Point” (Netflix)

 

You don’t have to be a basketball fan to enjoy the new Netflix series “Running Point” – but knowing some of the background helps.

Loosely inspired by the real-life of Los Angeles Lakers President Jeanie Buss, who is one of the executive producers, Kate Hudson plays blonde, beautiful, hoops-obsessed Isla Gordon, only daughter of the callous, now-deceased, billionaire owner of pro basketball’s (fictional) L.A. Waves.

Despite her obvious passion and knowledge of the game, frivolous former party-girl/Playboy model Isla has been almost completely shut out of the family’s franchise by her chauvinistic brothers: cocky Cam (Justin Theroux), dopey Ness (Scott MacArthur) and nerdy/gay Alexander – a.k.a. ‘Sandy’ (Drew Tarver).

That all changes when Cam is ousted from his top position after a cocaine-fueled car wreck that lands him in rehab. In his absence, Cam appoints Isla as his interim successor, running the business which is now in the midst of a humiliating Western Conference losing streak.

Adding to the turmoil, the dysfunctional Gordon family is stunned to learn that young Jackie (Fabrizio Guido), a sweet-natured Waves’ popcorn ‘n’ peanuts vendor, is actually their half-brother, courtesy of their father’s secret affair with the housekeeper.

Created by Mindy Kaling, Ike Barinholtz, Elaine Ko and David Stassen, this clever workplace sit-com is endowed with engaging supporting characters – like tattoo-covered, unpredictable point guard/rapper Travis Bugg (Chet Hanks); aging, diva-like Marcus Winfield (Toby Sandeman); hunky, empathetic Coach Jay (Jay Ellis); and Isla’s snappy bestie/chief-of-staff Ali Lee (Brenda Song).

A feel-good sports comedy – think “Succession”-meets- “Ted Lasso” – each of the 10 episodes runs a taut 30 minutes, as Isla faces a potential setback which leads to a successful resolution, followed by an unintended negative consequence.

And it’s fun to watch ‘nepo’ adults Kate Hudson (Goldie Hawn’s daughter) chew the scenery with Chet Hanks (Tom Hanks’ son).

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Running Point” is an amusing, slam-dunk 7 – with all episodes streaming on Netflix – and it’s been renewed for a second season.

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Susan Granger’s review of “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” (Universal Pictures)

 

“Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” is the first film in the British romantic comedy franchise to skip a US theatrical release and go straight to streaming on Peacock. That’s probably a wise choice because Bridget Jones’ fans are older now and it’s fun to watch at home.

Still a grieving widow, idiosyncratic Bridget (Renee Zellweger) desperately misses her beloved late husband, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), four years after he was killed on a humanitarian mission in Sudan. That pervading sorrow extends to their 10-year-old son Billy (Casper Knopf) and 6-year-old daughter Mabel (Mila Jankovie).

Although Bridget’s former lover/boss – now best friend – ever-flirtatious Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) offers support, meaning that he’ll watch the kids so she can occasionally get out of her London home, her love life is nonexistent.

Until one day, carelessly disheveled, ever-klutzy Bridget and her children are – literally – stuck up a tree on Hamstead Heath. Offering help are Billy’s starchy-yet-charming science teacher, Scott Williker (Chiwetel Ejiofor), and a cheeky park ranger, Roxter McDuff (Leo Woodall).

Bridget chooses Roxter’s rescue and he soon becomes her lover. But she’s in her ‘50s and he’s a 29-year-old biochemistry student. As she once again navigates the often-toxic dating world, self-deprecating Bridget is acutely aware of their age difference and confesses some confusion about her reawakening sexuality to her perceptive gynecologist (Emma Thompson).

Humor and honesty prevail in the mature, even melancholy script by series creator Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer and Abi Morgan – with Zellweger’s zany slapstick sensitively directed by Michael Morris.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy” is a sweetly satisfying, screwball 7, streaming on Peacock.

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Susan Granger’s review of “Zero Day” (Netflix)

One of 2025’s most anticipated ‘new’ Netflix releases – ‘Zero Day” – marking Ribert De Niro’s first leading role in a television series – is a dreadful disappointment. Obviously ‘green lit’ before the Trump tidal wave swept the Presidential election, it’s filled with unfulfilled promises.

As a political thriller, it has a provocative premise: a catastrophic terrorist cyberattack disables computers throughout the nation. Planes crash. Cars collide. Hospitals shut down. Wall Street, including the New York Stock Exchange, halts. All forms of digital communication cease to exist. The concept is truly terrifying.

Fear reigns – so the President of the United States (Angela Bassett) turns to former President George Mullen (De Niro) to head a task force with infinite powers to find out what happened and make sure it doesn’t occur again.

“We need a result everyone can trust, and everyone trusts you,” she explains.

Unfortunately, ‘believability’ erodes as soon as Mullen is shown doing his morning exercise routine, including swimming and running solo in the woods near his rural home. Secret Service protocols would never, ever allow that to happen.

Then it becomes obvious that octogenarian Mullen is coping with serious mental issues. Ever since his son died, he’s had hallucinations and keeps hearing the same chaotic Sex Pistols song – ‘Who Killed Bambi?” – in his head.

Has he been brain-washed, like in “The Mancurian Candidate” (1962)? Or is this perhaps linked to the sounds reported by U.S. diplomats in Havana, Cuba, that were thought to be sonic attacks?

One could only wish! Instead, suspicions implicate Russian agents, a leftist hacktivist collective, a Speaker of the House (Matthew Modine), a provocative talk show pundit (Dan Stevens) and an extremist tech billionaire (Gaby Hoffman).

Murky melodrama reigns as Mullen’s alienated daughter (Lizzy Caplan), a New York Congresswoman, is involved with her father’s harried ‘fixer’ (Jesse Plemons) who’s being blackmailed by a hedge-fund honcho (Clark Gregg).

Aside from his mysterious Israeli contact (Mark Ivanir) and long-suffering wife (Joan Allen), the only person Mullen will listen to is his former chief-of-staff (Connie Britton) with whom he secretly had an illegitimate daughter years ago.

The six-part limited series – created by Eric Newman (“Narcos”) with journalists Noah Oppenheim & Michael J. Schmidt and directed by TV veteran Lesli Linka Glatter (“Love & Death”) – should have been so much better!

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Zero Day” is a paranoid, anxiety-propelled, frustrating 5 – with all six episodes streaming on Netflix.

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Let’s Look at the 2025 Oscars by Susan Granger

 

There’s an obvious disconnect between the movie-going public and the 97^th Academy Awards, broadcast on Sunday, March 2^nd by ABC, hosted by Conan O’Brien and scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., EST and streamed live on Hulu, YouTube TV, AT&T TV and Fubo TV.

Like the Independent Spirit Awards, many of the nominated films are relatively obscure while popular choices are almost ignored. The Independent Spirit Awards began in 1984, honoring edgy, low-budget (under $30 million) films but – in recent years – with the deliberate ‘diversity’ expansion of Academy membership, many of the 7,000 Independent Spirit voters have also become Oscar voters.

Politics definitely plays a role. The Academy Awards have a long history of reflecting or defying the nation’s political climate. The Oscar nominations and eventual winners inevitably mirror the creative community’s response to Donald Trump’s reelection – epitomized by the inclusion of “Emilia Perez” – starring Karla Sofia Gascon – sending a social justice message of inclusion in the cultural debate over transgender rights.

In a time of turmoil, especially among liberals, progressives and moderates, many vote for the underdog – the little movie that stood up for inclusion and compassion as a rebuke to the politics of division.

Best Picture: After winning at the Directors Guild, Producers Guild and Critics Choice, the obvious frontrunner is Sean Baker’s “Anora” about a Brooklyn sex worker who falls in love with and marries the son of a Russian oligarch.

There are two widely different musicals. Best known for its audacity, “Emilia Perez” revolves around a Mexican drug cartel kingpin who transitions to become a woman, while “Wicked” is a lavish adaptation of the Broadway musical based on the classic “Wizard of Oz” mythology about corrupt leaders, the dangers of authoritarianism and the power of resistance. Both contain deep political messages.

Also in contention are “The Brutalist,” a meandering study of immigrant trauma & anti-Semitism; the Bob Dylan-goes-electric biopic “A Complete Unknown”; the Vatican thriller “Conclave” that topped the SAG Awards; the action-filled sequel “Dune: Part Two”; the Brazilian family drama “I’m Still Here”; “Nickel Boys” dissecting the friendship of two Black teenagers at cruel racist reform school; and “The Substance” about the desperate quest for eternal youth.

My prediction: “Anora”

Best Actress: For the first time since 1978, all five actresses nominated in this category starred in Best Picture contenders.  

Although her image has been tarnished by the scandal following her racist/bigoted inflammatory social media posts, Karla Sofia Gascon (“Emilia Perez”) is touted as the first ‘trans’ performer ever nominated. Actually, Gascon was preceded by Ellen – now Elliot – Page (“Juno”), who later revealed a gender identity change. And don’t forget Neil Jordan’s controversial “The Crying Game” (1992) featuring a transgender woman.

Other nominees include Cynthia Erivo (“Wicked), Mikey Madison (“Anora”), Demi Moore (“The Substance”) and Fernanda Torres (“I’m Still Here”).

Torres’ nomination shows how the Oscar race has become global; years ago, her mother, Fernanda Montenegro, was the first Brazilian nominated in this category.

The favorite is Demi Moore as the aging star desperate to recapture her youthful glory. When she won at the Golden Globes & Critics Choice, she said she felt she’d been dismissed as a ‘popcorn actress’: “I’ve been doing this a long time, like over 45 years, and this is the first time I’ve ever won anything as an actor.”

My prediction: Demi Moore for “The Substance”

Best Actor: Nominees are Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist”), Timothee Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”), Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”) and Sebastian Stan (“The Apprentice”).

Winning an Oscar for playing a music legend is a tradition that goes back to Jimmy Cagney’s energetic portrayal of George M. Cohan in “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (1942), so it might be 29-year-old Timothee Chalamet’s year, having won top honors at the SAG Awards, making him the youngest ever to take the lead actor trophy.

Unlike SAG, however,, the Academy tends to make actors pay their dues, and Chalamet’s career is just beginning.

In contrast, Adrien Brody embodies the Holocaust survivor/visionary architect in “The Brutalist,” Ralph Fiennes strives for Papal truth in “Conclave,” Sebastian Stan plays Donald Trump in “The Apprentice,” while Colman Domingo is incarcerated at “Sing Sing” when he discovers the transformative power of art.

My prediction: Timothee Chalamet for “A Complete Unknown”

Best Director: Nominees are Jacques Audiard (“Emilia Perez”), Sean Baker (“Anora”), Brady Corbet (“The Brutalist”), Coralie Fargeat (” The Substance”), and James Mangold (“A Complete Unknown.”)

While Coralie Fargeat escalates the story of an older woman combatting social, professional and physical obsolescence into a gruesome body-horror spectacle, Sean Baker captures the chaos of a Russian fixer’s intervention into a quickie marriage, James Mangold re-creates Bob Dylan’s switch to electric, and Brady Corbet delves into disillusionment with the American immigrant experience.

My prediction: Sean Baker for “Anora”

Best Supporting Actress: Nominees are Monica Barbaro (“A Complete Unknown”), Ariana Grande (“Wicked”), Felicity Jones (“The Brutalist”), Isabella Rossellini (“Conclave”), and Zoe Saldana (“Emilia Perez”).

Although she only shows up in the second half of the film, Felicity Jones is riveting as the defiant, disabled Hungarian Holocaust survivor, while scene-stealing Monica Barbaro was sensational as Joan Baez. Isabella Rossellini would get my vote as Sister Agnes, the conscience of “Conclave,” but Zoe Saldana has not only emerged from the “Emilia Perez” transgender scandal unscathed but she’s also scoring on TV as a fierce “Lioness.”

My prediction: Zoe Saldana for “Emilia Perez”

Best Supporting Actor: Nominees are Yura Borisov (“Anora”), Kieran Culkin (“A Real Pain”), Edward Norton (“A Complete Unknown”), Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”), and Jeremy Strong (“The Apprentice”).

While three-time nominee Edward Norton completely transforms into musician/activist Pete Seeger and Emmy/Tony winner Jeremy Strong is convincing as Roy Cohn, SAG winner Kieran Culkin seems unbeatable as an endearing goofball celebrating his first Oscar nomination.

My prediction: Kieran Culkin for “A Real Pain”

Best Adapted Screenplay: Nominees are “A Complete Unknown,” “Conclave,” “Emilia Perez,” “Nickel Boys,” and “Sing Sing.”

My prediction: Peter Straughan for adapting Robert Harris’ 2016 novel “Conclave”

Best Original Screenplay: Nominees are “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “A Real Pain,” “September 5,” and “The Substance.”

My prediction: “Anora”

Best International Film:  There’s one undeniable frontrunner and a diverse quartet of contenders. The one to beat is France’s “Emilia Perez,” Jacques Audiard’s transgender crime/drama musical, streaming on Netflix.

Walter Salles’ “I’m Still Here” (Brazil) and Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” are deeply personal stories about life under authoritarian regimes. “The Girl With the Needle” (Denmark) revolves around abortion rights and women’s bodily autonomy. And the dialogue-free CGI cat adventure “Flow” (Latvia) marks a rare animated entry in this category.

My prediction: “I’m Still Here”

Best Documentary Feature: Once again, nominees in this rarefied category have excluded the year’s most popular crowd-pleasers, like recent BAFTA-winner “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story,” “Will & Harper,” “Martha,” and “I Am: Celine Dion.”

Instead, there’s “Black Box Diaries” about sexual assault; “No Other Land,” an Israeli-Palestinian collaboration about Israeli actions in the West Bank; “Porcelain War” about three steadfast Ukrainian artists resisting the Russian invasion; “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat” examines the 1961 assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba; and “Sugarcane” reveals systematic abuse/deaths at an Indian residential school in Canada.

My prediction: “No Other Land”

Best Animated Feature: “Memoirs of a Snail,” the 1970s-set Australian Claymation feature about a mollusk-obsessed hoarder, cost $4.5 million and “Flow,” Riga’s cat-based CGI feature, cost $3.8 million. Yet they’re facing off against studio tentpoles like Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” DreamWorks’ “The Wild Robot,” and Aardman’s “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.”

“Flow” by Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis has strong international support but “The Wild Robot” dominated the Annie Awards.

My prediction: “The Wild Robot”

Best Editing: Nominees are “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “Conclave,” “Emilia Perez” and “Wicked.”

My prediction: “Conclave”

Best Cinematography: Nominees are “The Brutalist,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Emilia Perez,” “Maria,” and “Nosferatu.”

“Brutalist” cinematographer Lol Crawley filmed the entire epic for under $10 million using the high-resolution VistaVision format with its rotated image that allowed for 70 mm prints to be created for film festivals/screenings although he never shot a larger format than 35 mm.

My prediction: “The Brutalist”

Best Costume Design: Nominees are “A Complete Unknown,” “Conclave,” “Gladiator II,” “Nosferatu,” and “Wicked.”

Paul Tazewell was previously nominated for creating period costumes for “West Side Story,” and he outdid himself with the bold, colorful garb for “Wicked.”

My prediction: Paul Tazewell for “Wicked”

Best Makeup & Hairstyling: Nominees are “A Different Man,” “Emilia Perez,” “Nosferatu,” “The Substance,” and “Wicked.”

Prosthetics turned actor Sebastian Stan into a man with genetic neurofibromatosis in “A Different Man,” trans-actress Karla Sofia Gascon back into her pre-transition masculine self in “Emilia Perez,” Bill Skarsgard into a vampire in “Nosferatu” and Demi Moore from gorgeous to ghastly in “The Substance.” The “Wicked” makeup challenge was dyeing Cynthia Erivo green as Elphaba, using a discontinued eyeshadow line mixed with shades of neon yellow.

My prediction: “The Substance”

Best Production Design: Nominees are “The Brutalist,” “Conclave,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Nosferatu,” and “Wicked.”

My prediction: “Wicked”

Best Visual Effects: Nominees are “Alien: Romulus,” “Better Man,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” and “Wicked.”

In “Alien: Romulus,” VFX was used to superimpose the face of the late actor Ian Holm onto another actor to revive his “Alien” character, and with “Apes,” the challenge was to pay homage to the franchise without rehashing original films. But it’s hard to beat the VFX sandworm-riding sequences of “Dune: Part Two.”

My prediction: “Dune: Part Two”

Best Sound: Nominees are “A Complete Uknown,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Emilia Perez,” “Wicked,” and “The Wild Robot.” Not surprisingly, it’s a music-heavy season with many familiar names, like “Wicked” rerecording mixer and two-time Oscar-winner Andy Nelson and Oscar-winner rerecording mixer Paul Massey for “A Complete Unknown.”

My prediction: “Wicked”

Best Score: Nominees are “The Brutalist,” “Conclave,” “Emilia Perez,” “Wicked” and “The Wild Robot.”

My prediction: “The Brutalist”

Best Song: Nominees are “El Mal” (“Emilia Perez”), “The Journey” (“The Six Triple Eight”), “Like a Bird” (“Sing Sing”), “Mi Camino” (“Emilia Perez” and “Never Too Late” (“Elton John: Never Too Late”).

Unlike previous years, the original song nominees will not be performed, although you may hear music from Broadway’s “Wicked.”

My prediction: “El Mal” from “Emilia Perez”

Best Animated Short: Nominees are “Beautiful Men,” “In the Shadow of the Cypress,” “Magic Candles,” “Wander to Wonder,” and “Yuck!”

My prediction: “Wander to Wonder”

Best Documentary Short: Nominees ae “Death by Numbers,” “I Am Ready, Warden,” “Incident,” “Instruments of a Beating Heart” and “The Only Girl in the Orchestra.”

My prediction: “I Am Ready, Warden”

Best Live Action Short: Nominees are “A Lien,” “Anuja,” “I Am Not a Robot,” “The Last Ranger” and “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent.”

My prediction: “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent”

 

 

Susan Granger’s review of “The Gorge” (Apple TV+)

“The Gorge” is a remote, fog-shrouded place that the most powerful nations of the world are determined to keep secret. Ever since the end of W.W, II, it’s been guarded by enormous watchtowers perched on opposite sides.

This sci-horror thriller begins as two elite, world-class snipers are chosen to maintain and protect the huge, remote chasm. On the Eastern European side, there’s Drasa (Anya Taylor-Joy), a renowned markswoman from Lithuania, and on the Western side, there’s Levi (Miles Teller), an experienced American assassin who stealthily moves from the miliary to contract work.

Accepting this ‘cloaked’ assignment involves a year-long commitment with no technology: no Wi-Fi, no phones, no communication with the outside world. Only a radio check-in with their respective headquarters every 30 days. They have no idea where they are on the globe and are forbidden to contact one another.

But they do have high-tech binoculars – so the inevitable happens. She sees him; he sees her. The only hitch is that hideous, ravenous monsters – dubbed ‘The Hollow Men’ from a T.S. Eliot poem – keep surfacing from the depths of the mysterious abyss, trying to scale the steep walls. requiring Drasa and Levi to utilize all of their weaponized experience just to stay alive.

“The Gorge is the door to hell…You need to stop what’s there from coming out!” That’s really all you need to know.

Cleverly scripted by Zach Dean (“The Tomorrow War”), who manages to mesh sci-fi horror with romance, and inventively directed by Scott Derrickson (“Doctor Strange”), it’s a fun ‘n’ frightening excursion into a chilling genetic mystery – packed with quirky historical twists, screwy sci-fi science and relentless, radioactive action.

The chemistry clicks between Anya Taylor-Joy (“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “The Queen’s Gambit”) and Miles Taylor (“Top Gun: Maverick,” “Whiplash”) with additional menace emanating from a cold-blooded paramilitary spook played by Sigourney Weaver.

Full disclosure: My son, Don Granger, was one of the producers.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Gorge” is an exciting, explosive, engaging 8, streaming on Apple TV+.

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Susan Granger’s review of “Apple Cider Vinegar” (Netflix)

 

Having been married to a neurologist for 27 years, I have always had a healthy skepticism about the ‘miraculous’ claims of alternative medicine – and watching Netflix’s limited crime drama series “Apple Cider Vinegar” confirmed them.

WARNING: There is a major ‘spoiler’ concluding this review because the showrunner, Australian writer/producer Samantha Strauss, deftly deflects any kind of satisfactory conclusion with an irritating: “Look it up on Google.”

Belle Gibson (Kaitlyn Dever) is an audacious single mother/influencer who launched a wellness empire in Australia by convincing people that she’d had brain cancer and successfully cured herself with a holistic approach and all-natural lifestyle, chronicled in her 2014 book “The Whole Pantry.”

Her meandering “true-ish story based on a lie” is related via a confusingly jumbled timeline, incorporating her frenetic long-term relationship with Clive Rothwell (Ashley Zuckerman) and the young son they’ve raised together.

Belle leveraged the success of her social media app to build the Whole Pantry brand, encompassing cookbooks in Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. She earned half a million dollars in less than two years, spurred by (unsubstantiated) claims that her brain cancer had spread to her blood, spleen, uterus and liver.

Intertwined, there are case histories of two ‘real’ cancer patients: blogger Milla (Alyssa Debnam-Carey) and ‘believer’ Lucy (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) – both reject treatment in favor of pseudoscience, claiming: “Western medicine is run by pharma giants and male doctors who are immune to our concerns and only want to make money and boss us around.”

Inspired by the non-fiction book “The Woman Who Fooled the World” by investigative journalists Beau Donelly & Nick Toscano, it’s scripted by Samantha Strauss, Anya Beyersdorf & Angela Betzien – who fail to provide a satisfactory answer to what happened to the disgraced fraudster. Instead, the final scenes focus on survivors.

SPOILER: In April, 2017, the Federal Court of Australia ruled that Belle was “misleading” & “deceptive,” fining her more than $1 million. That was later reduced to $410,000, which she still has not paid although her Melbourne home has been raided twice in an attempt to recoup the money she owes.

Segments of Belle Gibson’s interview with “60 Minutes” Australia can be viewed on YouTube.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Apple Cider Vinegar” is an exasperating, scamming 7 – with all six episodes streaming on Netflix.

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Susan Granger’s review of “The Wild Robot” (DreamWorks Animation/Univeral Pictures)

 

When a storm at sea dislodges a shipping container from a cargo ship, a large box washes ashore on a faraway island inhabited only by animals.

Battered and bruised but incredibly resilient, the sole occupant of the box is a Rozzum 7134 android assistant (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) that can walk, talk, assimilate information and help around the house. She’s designed to serve.

Confused about her kindly nature, the animals (beavers, possums, porcupines, deer, bears) view Roz as a monster and try to kill her – until by accident she accidentally crushes all but one goose egg in a nest.

When the abandoned gosling hatches, the baby bird imprints on dutiful Roz as she evolves into a maternal role although, as she admits, “I do not have the programming to be a mother,”

Calling him Brightbill, Roz searches her database to try to teach him basic skills – like how to hunt, swim and fly – aided by Fink (Pedro Pascal), a conniving fox, and Pinktail (Catherine O’Hara), a harried possum mother.

As Brightbill (Kit Connor) grows, Roz realizes that the time is coming for the local gaggle of geese to migrate and, although Brightbill resists parting from his home and family, he, fortunately, has a Canadian goose mentor, Longneck (voiced by Bill Nighy). as he tries to follow the feathered flock heading south for the winter.

There’s a meaningful lesson here: If Roz properly does her job as a mother, her child will eventually leave.

Written and directed by Chris Sanders (“Lilo & Stitch,” “How to Train Your Dragon”), this futuristic story of survival, parenting and community is based on a 2016 best-selling books by Peter Brown and is Oscar-nominated for Best Animation, Sound and Original Score.

As for a sequel, it’s inevitable, since “The Wild Robot” encompasses only part one of a trilogy of YA novels.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Wild Robot” is a tender-hearted 10, the best family film of last year, now streaming on Peacock.

Susan Granger’s review of “Anora” (Neon/Film Nation)

 

Winner at the Directors’ Guild, Producers’ Guild, Critics’ Choice, Cannes Film Festival and Best Picture Oscar frontrunner “Anora” may have a similar concept to “Pretty Woman” but with one helluva difference.

Oscar nominee Sean Baker’s raucous, raunchy rom-com revolves around Anora – a.k.a.  Ani (Oscar nominee Mikey Madison) – a tough-talking 23 year-old stripper from Brighton Beach in South Brooklyn, who hooks up with 21 year-old Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), the obscenely spoiled son of a Russian oligarch.

They meet at the tacky HQ KONY Midtown Manhattan strip club where Ivan – nicknamed Vanya – specifically requests the services of a Russian-speaking lap dancer. What starts out as a drug-fueled, transactional sex worker/client relationship in a private room soon progresses to wild New Year’s Eve party that culminates in an impromptu wedding in Las Vegas.

Ani’s thrilled with the accoutrements of this whirlwind romance, particularly the cash payment of $15,000 a week as his personal escort, a sparking 4-carat diamond engagement ring and long sable coat, while Vanya relishes the idea that this quickie U.S. ‘green card’ union will enable him to escape parental control and become an American citizen.

But when Ivan’s irate folks in Moscow discover their precious son/heir has married a prostitute, all hell breaks loose. Specifically, there’s a remarkable home-invasion scene in which Toros (Karren Karagulian), an Armenian ‘fixer,’ and his two muscle men (Vache Tovmasyan, Oscar nominee Yuri Borisov) try to capture Ani and Ivan to facilitate an immediate annulment.

While feckless Ivan flees, feisty Ani turns ferociously feral, screaming uncontrollably and utterly terrorizing the thugs as she tears apart the luxurious waterfront McMansion.  (The palatial Mill Basin property actually once belonged to Russian billionaire Galina Anisimove.)

In interviews, writer/director Sean Baker, who favors making movies about bawdy, brash sex workers (“Tangerine,” “The Florida Project,” “Red Rocket”) often mentions that he was loosely inspired by Federico Fellini’s “Nights of Cabria” (1957), starring Giulietta Masina as the determined prostitute who – at the conclusion – sheds a single tear.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Anora” is a provocative 8, available to rent/buy on Prime Video and soon to be streaming on Hulu.

Susan Granger’s review of “You’re Cordially Invited” (Amazon Studios)

 

For years, studio strategy included releasing a star-studded romantic comedy for Valetine’s Day weekend. But Amazon’s Will Ferrell/Reese Witherspoon “You’re Cordially Invited” is a dismal mess.

Widower Jim (Ferrell) is an overly devoted father to Jenni (Geraldine Viswanathan); since the death of his wife/her mother many years ago, Jenni has been the center of his life and he’s become creepily co-dependent on her.

So when Jenni returns to their home in Atlanta with a diamond engagement ring on her finger and her DJ fiancé Oliver (Stony Blyden) in tow, Jim immediately books a June 1^st destination wedding at the Palmetto House, an idyllic inn on the small Georgia island where he married her mother decades earlier.

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Margot (Witherspoon), a high-powered reality TV executive, is planning the Palmetto House nuptials of her younger sister Neve (Meredith Hagner) to her Chippendale’s dancer boyfriend Dixon (Jimmy Tatro) on the same date.

When these two disparate groups arrive on the island, the accidental double-booking is revealed, creating an extremely awkward situation since there can be only one wedding at a time at the resort – and both are determined to use the picturesque pier at sunset.

While a compromise is negotiated, chaos results when Margot and Jim each strive for dominance within their respective extended families, eventually resulting in plans to sabotage each other, only to discover – in a bizarre third-act twist – they they’re romantically attracted to one another.

Yet the only glimpse of their improbable and unconvincing romantic chemistry is glimpsed during the end credits.

Written and directed by Nick Stoller (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”), it’s simply one of the world’s worst wedding comedies, despite memorable turns from Celia Weston as a starchy Southern matriarch and Leanne Morgan as sex-starved Aunt Gwyneth – plus senseless cameos from NFL quarterback Peyton Manning and musician Nick Jonas s Pastor Luther.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “You’re Cordially Invited” is a flimsy, floundering 4. It’s streaming on Prime Video so I’d advise sending regrets.

Susan Granger’s review of “The Room Next Door” (Sony Pictures Classics)

 

Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar’s first feature film in English – “The Room Next Door,” winner of the Golden Lion at the 81^st Venice International Film Festival – revolves around mortality and euthanasia, the decision to commit suicide.

Aware that her inoperable cervical cancer is terminal, Martha (Tilda Swinton), a former war correspondent estranged from her only daughter, convinces her novelist friend Ingrid (Julianne Moore) to accompany her to a a serenely peaceful rented house – in the woods of upstate New York – where she plans to take a fatal drug dose.

Acquiring the lethal pill off the dark web, Martha decides to be self-determined to the end but she doesn’t want to be alone, which is why she asks Ingrid to be in the room next door, to be her witness.

Although Ingrid is terrified of the concept of death, she reluctantly agrees, and they discover that their friendship and understanding deepens during this final getaway. That’s the crux of Sigrid Nunez’s 2020 novel “What Are You Going Through” which inspired Almodovar’s adapted screenplay.

Nunez’s novel takes its title from a quote by French philosopher Simone Weil: “The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to ask: ‘What are you going through?’”

That’s explored even further when Ingrid reunites with Damian (John Turturro), an old lover who is obsessed with the environment and climate change, observing, “You’re living with a dying woman in a world also in its death throes.”

In Spain, despite religious opposition, assisted suicide is accepted while – in the United States – the right to die is controversial. Euthanasia is legal in only 10 states and Washington, D.C.  Obviously in the context of this film, Almodovar believes that the freedom to end one’s life is a fundamental human right, particularly if the person is living in pain.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Room Next Door” is a bittersweet, visually sumptuous, spectral 6, streaming on Prime Video.