FRIDAY FAMILY FILM NIGHT

In which the Mister and Monsters join me in reviewing BLACK NARCISSUS (1947) from the novel by Rumer Godden and written and directed by The Archers, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.  In this Technicolor masterpiece, a group of Anglican nuns led by the ambitious Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) travels to a remote, wind-swept palace in the Himalayas to establish a school and hospital.  As the si...

In which the Mister and Kid 1 join me in reviewing CLEO FROM 5 TO 7 (1962) from writer/director Agnès Varda. In Agnès Varda’s 1962 French New Wave classic, a striking pop singer named Cléo (Corinne Marchand) spends ninety minutes wandering through the sun-drenched streets of Paris while anxiously awaiting a medical diagnosis that could confirm a terminal illness.  As she moves from a state of supe...

In which the Mister and Kid 2 join me in reviewing LES DIABOLIQUES (1955) from the novel, "Celle qui n'était plus" by writers,Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejaca and a screenplay by Henri-Georges Clouzot and Jérôme Géronimi.      In director Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1955 suspense classic LES DIABOLIQUES, the frail Christina (Véra Clouzot) and the steely Nicole (Simone Signoret) — the...

In which the Mister joins me in reviewing SUSPICION (1941) from a screenplay by Samson Raphaelson, Joan Harrison and Alma Reville, from Anthony Berkeley's "Before The fact" novel, the film is directed by Alfred Hitchcock.      A shy heiress named Lina McLaidlaw (Joan Fontaine) impulsively elopes with the charming but penniless playboy Johnnie Aysgarth (Cary Grant) against her father’...

** Originally watched last year on TCM 's Noir Alley with host Eddie Muller and based on Lucille Fletcher's radio play which she then converted to a screenplay ** In which the Mister joins me in reviewing SORRY, WRONG NUMBER (1948) from a screenplay by Lucille Fletcher, who created the original radio play, the film is directed by Anatole Litvak.       Leona Stevenson (Barbara Stanwyck), a...

In which the Mister joins me in reviewing THE SECRET AGENT (2025) from writer/director Kleber Mendonça Filho.      A research scientist named Armando (Wagner Moura) flees the political repression of 1977 São Paulo for his hometown of Recife, adopting a false identity to evade a corrupt businessman and the military regime.  While hiding in a safe house filled with fellow dissidents, he navigates a...

In which the Mister and Monsters join me in reviewing ZOOTOPIA 2 (2025) from Jared Bush's screenplay, the film is directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard.   In Zootopia 2, intrepid rabbit cop, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), and her charming fox partner, Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman), are assigned to track down a mysterious and elusive reptile named Gary (Ke Huy Quan) who has infiltrated the city....

In which the Mister joins me in reviewing JANE EYRE (1943) from Charlotte Brontë's novel and a screenplay by Robert Stevenson and Aldous Huxley.   In director Robert Stevenson’s atmospheric 1943 Gothic masterpiece, the resilient orphan Jane Eyre (Joan Fontaine) escapes a childhood of abuse to become a governess at the gloomy and isolated Thornfield Hall.  She soon finds herself drawn to the br...

In which Kid 1 and I do a compare and contrast of WUTHERING HEIGHT 1939 vs WUTHERING HEIGHTS 2026, both sourced from Emily Brontë's novel.   In writer/director Emerald Fennell’s stylized and provocative 2026 reimagining of the Brontë classic, the feral bond between the spirited Catherine Earnshaw (Margot Robbie) and the brooding orphan Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) is forged amidst the gothic deca...

In which the Mister joins me in reviewing MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM (2020) from writer Ruben Santiago-Hudson and director George C. Wolfe.  Adapted from the August Wilson play, the legendary "Mother of the Blues" Ma Rainey (Viola Davis) arrives at a sweltering Chicago recording studio for a session fraught with tension between her, her white management, and her ambitious band.  While...

In which the Mister and Monsters join me in reviewing 42 (2013) from writer/director Brian Helgeland.  Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) makes the historic and controversial decision to sign Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman), effectively breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball.  Robinson is thrust into a world of intense racial hostility, facing everything...

In which the Mister joins me in reviewing GOOD LUCK, HAVE FUN, DON'T DIE(2026), from writer Matthew Robinson, the film is directed by Gore Verbinski.  A manic time traveler (Sam Rockwell) from a dystopian future crashes into a Los Angeles diner to recruit a specific team of "unqualified" patrons for a high-stakes mission.  The mismatched group—which includes a grieving mother, two cy...

In which the Mister joins me in reviewing SEND HELP (2026), from writers Damian Shannon and Mark Swift, the film is directed by Sam Raimi.  A mousy corporate strategist named Linda (Rachel McAdams) and her arrogant, nepo-baby boss Bradley (Dylan O’Brien) are the only survivors of a private jet crash on a remote island in the Gulf of Thailand.  The workplace hierarchy is instantly demolished when L...

In which the Mister joins me in reviewing TRAIN DREAMS (2025), from writers Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar and based on Denis Johnson's novella, the film is directed by Clint Bentley.  Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) is a soft-spoken laborer helping to carve the railroad through the rugged wilderness of the early 20th-century Pacific Northwest.  After building a modest life and starting a famil...

In which the Mister and Kid 1 join me in reviewing ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (2025), from writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson and inspired by Thomas Pynchon's novel "Vineland".  A washed-up former radical named Bob Ferguson (Leonardo DiCaprio) lives a paranoid, weed-hazed life off the grid until his teenage daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti), is targeted by a vengeful ghost from his pa...

In which the Mister and Kid 1 join me in reviewing BUGONIA (2025), from writer Will  Tracy, the film is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.  Based on South Korea's cult classic, SAVE THE GREEN PLANET (2003), two conspiracy-obsessed cousins (Jesse Plemons as Teddy and Aidan Delbis as Don) kidnap a high-powered pharmaceutical CEO named Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), convinced she is a malevolent alien...

In which the Mister and Kid 2 join me in reviewing KPOP DEMON HUNTERS (2025), from writers Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan and Maggie Kang, the film is directed by Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang.  Three members of the global sensation girl group HUNTR/X lead a secret double life as mystical warriors who use the power of their music to maintain a magical barrier protecting humanity from soul-hungry...

In which the Mister joins me in reviewing THE UGLY STEPSISTER (2025), from writer/director Emilie Blichfeldt.  In this macabre and dark reimagining of the Cinderella story, a young woman named Elvira (Lea Myren) becomes obsessed with winning the affection of a shallow prince to save her family from sudden poverty but more so because of her naivety in believing she loves him.  Encouraged by her rut...

In which the Mister joins me in reviewing IF I HAD LEGS I'D KICK YOU (2025), from writer/director Mary Bronstein.  Linda, a New York psychotherapist played by Rose Byrne, spirals toward a total breakdown as she struggles to manage her young daughter's mysterious illness while her husband remains emotionally and physically distant.  After her apartment ceiling collapses, Linda is forced int...

In which the Mister joins me in reviewing THE WHEEL (2021), from writer Trent Atkinson and director Steve Pink.  In this intimate drama, Albee (Amber Midthunder) and Walker (Taylor Gray), a young couple married since their teens, retreat to a remote mountain cabin for a weekend to work through a self-help book in a final attempt to save their failing marriage.  Their arrival creates a volatile dyn...

In which Kid 1 joins me in reviewing MATERIALISTS (2025), from writer/director Celine Song.  Lucy (Dakota Johnson), a successful New York City matchmaker who treats romance as a transactional game of status and finances, finds her pragmatic worldview challenged when she becomes entangled in a complex love triangle.  She is forced to choose between Harry (Pedro Pascal), a wealthy and seemingly &quo...

In which the Mister joins me in reviewing MISSISSIPPI BURNING (1988), with a screenplay by Chris Gerolmo, the film is directed by Alan Parker.  In 1964, two FBI agents with clashing philosophies—a by-the-book idealist and a cynical former Southern sheriff—are sent to a small Mississippi town to investigate the disappearance of three civil rights activists.  They find themselves stonewalled by a "c...

In which the Mister and Monsters join me in reviewing HAIRSPRAY (1988), from writer/director John Waters.  In 1962 Baltimore, a vibrant and "pleasantly plump" teenager named Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake) achieves her dream of becoming a regular dancer on the popular local TV program, The Corny Collins Show.  As she gains sudden fame, Tracy uses her new celebrity status to challenge the sho...

In which the Mister joins me in reviewing RIKI-OH: THE STORY OF RICKY (1991), from the manga by Masahiko Takajo and Tetsuya Saruwatari, and a screenplay by writers Ngai Choi Lam and Tetsuya Saruwatari, the film is directed by Ngai Choi Lam.  In a dystopian 2001 where the prison system has been privatized for profit, a young man named Ricky is sentenced to ten years for avenging the tragic death of...

In which the Mister and Kid 2 join me in reviewing KUNG FU HUSTLE (2004), from writers Stephen Chow, Kan-Cheung Tsang, Xin Huo and Man-Keung Chan, the film is directed by Stephen Chow.  In 1940s Shanghai, a small-time con man named Sing (Stephen Chow) dreams of joining the notorious, tuxedo-clad Axe Gang and attempts to prove his worth by extorting the residents of a run-down housing complex calle...