THE WEEKEND WARRIOR Jan. 23, 2026 (“Print” Edition)
STANDOUT: THE BEN KJAR STORY, CLIKA, H FOR HAWK, ARCO
For many of my colleagues, this year’s Sundance Film Festival, and the final one to take place in Park City, Utah, has begun already, although I won’t be watching any of those movies until next Wednesday, since I’m signed up for the virtual press platform. But theatrical doesn’t just roll up and die when most of the film critic in the country (and from others) converge in Park City, so I’m sticking with my top priority (for better or worse), which is to try and keep the Weekend Warrior alive.
Hopefully, you’ve already watched this week’s “Video Edition,” but you can watch it below if not.
In it, I’m mostly covering Chris Pratt’s Mercy (as well as interviewing director Timur Bekmambetov) and Return to Silent Hill, and you can watch my interview with the director of the latter, Christophe Gans, below…
And a quick reminder of my box office predictions if you missed those…
Box Office Predictions for January 23, 2026
1. Mercy (Amazon MGM) - $10.4 million N/A
2. Avatar: Fire and Ash (20th Century/Disney) - $8 million -45%
3. Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse) - $6.8 million N/A
4. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony) - $6 million -54%
5. The Housemaid (Lionsgate) -$5 million -43%
6. Zootopia 2 (Disney) - $4.5 million -49%
7. Marty Supreme (A24) - $3.3 million -43%
8. Primate (Paramount) - $2.5 million -50%
9. Anaconda (Sony) - $1.7 million -49%
10. Greenland 2: Migration (Lionsgate) - $1.7 million -50%
– The Testament of Ann Lee (Searchlight Studios) - $1 million
– H is for Hawk (Roadside Attractions) - $700k
That doesn’t leave a lot left to cover except for a few reviews, including one that’s embargoed until Thursday.
Hey, guess what? I actually have a bit of a “Chosen One” this week, though you’ll have to live in Utah or Idaho to see it… for now. (And I expect most of the movie people in Utah right now are going to be at Sundance, but who knows?)
I actually consider myself lucky to have learned about Tanner Christensen’s documentary STANDOUT: THE BEN KJAR STORY (Angel Studios/Remember Films) to be able to review it, although I completely missed it out of the Slamdance Film Festival last year. The irony is that it’s a sports doc about Utah-based college wrestling hero Ben Kjar, and by last year, Slamdance had relocated to Los Angeles after having taken place concurrently with Sundance in Park City for many years. Because I’m not that into sports myself, I’m not sure if this would even have been on my radar, so I was glad I watched it to learn the amazing story about Ben Kjar’s life and wrestling career, despite facing a debilitating rare childhood genetic disorder that forced him to have cranial surgery that left him looking different than the other kids. Despite getting bullied and being treated like a freakish monster from strangers, Ben persevered and confidently took on all comers when he decided to pursue wrestling, going against both his doctor’s and mother’s advice. I was thrilled to learn that Angel Studios has come onto the project to help with its regional distribution, and you can watch the trailer below and immediately realize what an amazing doc this is.
You can find out where to get tickets for this inspirational sports film at the official site. (Apparently, it will be available to watch in other states like Ohio, North Carolina, and others, but hopefully will expand further in the coming weeks.)
I said earlier this week that I really didn’t know much about the new Sony Pictures release CLIKA, which will be in 500 theaters this weekend, but I did a bit of reading, and guess what? I actually made an effort to watch the movie, so I could write more intelligently about it. So apparently, this is the product of a well-regarded Miami record label called Rancho Humilde that specializes in the Mexican music known as “corridos,” and working with Sony Music Latin, they decided to create this showcase for JayDee, frontman from the popular California group Herencia de Patrones, in hopes this might catch on in a similar way as Eminem’s 8 Mile or less-so, the 50 Cents movie Get Rich or Die Tryin’. Good luck with that.
We meet Jay Dee’s character, Chito Gonzalez, as he’s picking peaches as a day worker with his good friends, who are constantly urging him to record some of his songs, but Chito’s mother is about to lose their family home, so he just doesn’t have the time to wait for fame and money to catch up with him. Instead, he turns to his uncle, who is making a lot of money doing drug runs, delivering large quantities of bud for his clients. He brings Chito on to make some runs, and Chito is immediately drawn to the money he is bringing in, which he can use to help his mother who doesn’t approve of her brother’s practices. Chito also has his eyes on the gorgeous church-going Candy (Laura Lopez), but he is also using the money to help fund a recording studio to record his tunes.
I wasn’t really familiar with many of the names involved with Clika, including director Michael Greene, but one thing rather telling is that one Jimmy Humilde, came up with the story, co-wrote, and co-produced the film, and I’m going to assume that he’s probably the head of this record company who decided to put one of his hot artists into a movie. I’m not one of these critical gatekeepers who feels that only a certain breed should be allowed to make movies, but in the case of Clika, it’s obvious that this was made by a record label exec who has absolutely zero experience making movies. After watching the movie, that became more obvious, because there are so many problems, from the writing and the storytelling, to the acting, since Jay Dee clearly is not an experienced actor who can keep the viewer invested. In fact, his character is such an asshole through most of the movie, one wonders why anyone involved with his career would want to put him in this sort of vehicle that puts him in such a bad light.
Granted, like hip-hop, this is clearly a different culture, but there’s just way too much sexism towards women, being treated like sex objects, and even trying to shoehorn a romance with a nice girl into it just doesn’t do much, partially because Lopez just isn’t a very strong actress herself. Maybe the really telling thing to Clika is that it has a small appearance by Eric Roberts, and if that isn’t a sure-sign of a bad movie, than I don’t know what it is.
In fact, Clika – that term is never explained incidentally – is just so predictable in the story it’s telling, plus it barely focuses on the music aspects, since it’s trying instead to tell a fable that if you try to cut corners by dealing drugs, bad things will happen to you… and in Chito’s case, they do. In fact, it completely glosses over what changes, since we see his Tik Tok video go viral, and then we’re back into all the drug stuff.
I don’t want to spoil the movie’s predictable ending, but the fact that the big climax is Chito signing a deal with the actual Jimmy Humilde, just gives you some idea of the hubris surrounding this project. If nothing else, at least the movie is short, but there was nothing about watching this story unfold made me any more interested in Jay Dee as an artist. Clearly, this movie was not made for “gringos” like me.
Rating: 5/10
If you’re a fan of Claire Foy and thought the only thing that would make a movie starring Foy more awesome would be to pair her with a bird of prey than Phillipa Lowthorp’s H IS FOR HAWK (Roadside Attractions) is the movie for you. Oddly, I still haven’t watched Netflix’s “The Crown” even though it seems like my kind of show, especially the fact that it’s written by Peter Morgan, one of my favorite playwrights and screenwriters. This movie isn’t written by him, but it follows Foy’s Helen, a college professor who loses her father (as played by Brendan Gleeson). To help her get over that loss, she decides to take on training a hawk, she names Mabel, and yeah, that’s the movie. I was hoping to review this movie, but I realized that I just didn’t have a lot to say about it. The general premise and plot just didn’t interest me very much, and I barely could get through the movie, so I guess that’s a pseudo review for you.
Neon will be opening Ugo Bienvenu’s French animated film ARCO, thought to be one of the features likely to be nominated in the Animated Feature category at the Oscars this morning, in New York and L.A. this Friday, ahead of a nationwide expansion on Jan. 30. I actually saw this a few months ago at a screening with Bienvenu doing a QnA. While I enjoyed the look of the movie, I wasn’t as crazy about the film’s science fiction fantasy story, and I also wasn’t crazy about the dubbed version of the movie that I saw, because I find that foreign animated features usually work better in the original language than when dubbed by Hollywood actors like Natalie Portman (who came on board as an exec. producer), Will Ferrell, and Andy Samberg. The movie involves time travel, set in the year 2075 when a girl sees a boy in a rainbow suit fall from the sky who turns out to be from the future, so she tries to return him back to his time while they’re being chased by men who want the time travel suit for themselves. It was just really hard to get into the general premise but having the likes of Ferrell and Samberg hamming it up for the kiddes made this an even less enjoyable experience. Guess I won’t be reviewing this one either.
Anyway, this opens in NYC at the AMC Lincoln Square uptown and Angelika Film Center downtown, and in L.A. at the AMC Century City and AMC Burbank 16. This is perfectly fine for kids if you’re in one of those areas.
Apparently, I had seen Maxime Giroux’s IN COLD LIGHT, starring Maika Monroe, at Tribeca last year, but I had completely forgotten it, since I never reviewed it, and it was thanks to an enigmatic message from my Chicago pal Robert Kojder that reminded me that I actually had seen this, even though I never reviewed. I actually mentioned on Letterboxd that it was pretty bad, though I didn’t remember much about it. Apparently, Monroe plays Eva, who just got out of prison – wait a second, doesn’t Monroe play an ex-convict in the upcoming Reminders of Him??! – and she sets up trying to reclaim her drug operation before witnessing a brutal crime. It’s been so long since I’ve seen this, I can’t remember anything more about it.
Next week, lots of new movies with the highlights being Sam Raimi’s Send Help and the Jason Statham action-thriller Shelter, both which I hope to have seen by next week. I’ll also be seeing the Charli XCX pseudo-doc (?) The Moment Monday morning, so hopefully I’ll have a lot to talk about.
THE REPERTORY ROUNDUP
NITEHAWK CINEMA PROSPECT PARK & WILLIAMSBURG
BAM (BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC)