THE WEEKEND WARRIOR Sept. 6, 2025
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE, THE FRONT ROOM, REBEL RIDGE, HIS THREE DAUGHTERS, RED ROOMS, MY FIRST FILM
(Apologies for the weird formatting in the column. I didn’t notice it until now.)
This is going to be a weird week, because unlike the last couple weeks and next week, there are only two wide releases, one of which I already reviewed and the other which is a little complicated to explain why I can’t review it. But there are a few other limited releases this week, and probably one of the biggest surprises is that two of my favorite movies of the week come from Netflix. I’ve already written a bit about the box office for Gold Derby, which you read here, so I won’t repeat myself, but I’ll quickly mention the wide releases before getting to the reviews.
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE (Warner Bros.)
Hopefully, you’ve already read my mostly positive review of Tim Burton’s return to one of his earliest movies with key members of that cast returning, most notably Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara, with new characters played by Jenna Ortega, Willem Dafoe, Monica Belluci, and Justin Theroux. Reviews have generally been good so far, but I expect this to be a huge hit, at least opening weekend, and I’ll be curious to see how the fans and general moviegoing audiences react to this, even though it’s likely to have two weeks at #1 with ease.
THE FRONT ROOM (A24)
For reasons I cannot divulge, I won’t be able to review this new movie from the Eggers Brothers, Max and Sam, who are indeed the younger twin brothers of Robert Eggers. This horror movie, really more of a psychological thriller, stars Brandy Norwood as a pregnant woman whose husband is convinced to allow his nightmare of an ailing stepmother, Solange (Kathryn Hunter from Poor Things) into their home, as she proceeds to drive them crazy.
For reasons I can’t divulge, I’m not allowed to review this one, but you can watch my interview with the Eggers Bros over at Cinema Daily US.
THE BOX OFFICE CHART
This weekend is all about Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, but it’s also about how many theaters some of the long-running summer movies will lose and what kind of mess will be created in third through seventh place with multiple movies making between $3 and $4.5 million. (Even Blink Twice and The Forge could be close in their placement.)
1. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Warner Bros.) - $98.1 million N/A
2. Deadpool and Wolverine (Marvel/Disney) - $7 million -55%
3. Reagan (Showbiz Direct) - $4.2 million -45%
4. Alien: Romulus (20th Century/Disney) - $4.1 million -57%
5. The Front Room (A24) - $3.8 million N/A
6. It Ends with Us (Sony) - $3.5 million -53%
7. Twisters (Universal) - $3.3 million -57%
8. Blink Twice (Amazon MGM) - $2.5 million -48%
9. The Forge (Sony/Affirm) - $2.4 million -48%
10. AFRAID (Sony) - $1.4 million -62%
This might seem crazy but my two favorite movies of the week are both from Netflix, one debuting on the streamer, another getting a limited release before streaming in a couple weeks.
REBEL RIDGE (Netflix)
Green Room director Jeremy Saulnier returns with this revenge thriller (of sorts) starring Aaron Pierre (The Underground Railroad) as Terry Richmond, a black man stopped by smalltown Southern police while riding his bicycle down to the courthouse to bail out his cousin with thousands of dollars in cash, which they confiscate from him. When he goes down to the police station to file a complaint, still trying to spare his cousin from a deadly fate if he goes to prison, he gets into a pissing contest with the local police chief, played by the one and only Don Johnson.
I missed Saulnier’s 2018 film, Hold the Dark, but I did love his earlier thriller, Green Room, about a punk band (starring the late Anton Yelchin) that ends up at odds with a gang of skinheads that run the club where they’re playing. Rebel Ridge is a very different movie, and it’s not even your typical revenge thriller ala Billy Jack or Walking Tall or others, where it’s not necessarily about the action, and it’s also only slightly about making any social commentary.
Some might think that’s Saulnier’s intention with an opening scene that’s eerily reminiscent of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. Because of that unfortunate event, you can’t blame someone for presuming that what is happening to Terry is due to racist Southern cops, since we’ve seen so much of that sort of things in real life. Once Terry gets to the courthouse, he does get some help from Anna Sophia Robb’s Summer, who realizes the repercussions if his cousin goes to jail. The film weaves around what is essentially a cat-and-mouse face-off between Terry and the Chief, who has ulterior motives for keeping the money. You might be surprised to learn that Terry’s treatment isn’t necessarily due to racism, though there has to be a little of that in there, as well.
Pierre gives such a great performance that I didn’t even recognize him as “Mid-Size Sedan” from M. Night Shyamalan’s Old, but I generally remember him being pretty good in the indie drama, Brother. I’ve never seen Sophia Robb in this type of dramatic role either, so that’s another testament to Saulnier’s brilliant casting.
The real crux of the film ends up being the amazing antagonist turn by Johnson, who seems to relish how despicable he can make his character. Even so, it’s still not about him being racist, as much as it is about the corruption in this smalltown police force, something Terry decides to make public due to the way he’s being treated. (As we learn later, it’s just a coincidence that the police stopped him and that he had all that money.)
The movie does have a bit of action, including a Mexican stand-off in the last act, but more than anything, it’s about the characters and how people interact when there’s a conflict.
This is a fantastic return to form for Saulnier that should definitely find him many new fans, though it’s a shame that Netflix didn’t think it should get a theatrical release vs. the equally-good His Three Daughters, which is a smaller drama compared to where this one goes.
Rebel Ridge cements Saulnier as a filmmaker who doesn’t necessarily need to label himself as a genre filmmaker, since he’s clearly capable of creating intense drama that’s as exciting as any physical melée or shootout.
RATING: 8/10
HIS THREE DAUGHTERS (Netflix)
Azazel Jacobs’ new drama hits select theaters on Friday ahead of its Netflix streaming premiere on Sept. 20. It stars Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, and Elizabeth Olsen, as three half-sisters who are caring for their dying father in hospice, who could die at any moment. And yet, they’re unable to get past their difficulties and put aside their constant squabbling to properly take care of him.
I haven’t really been a fan of Jacobs’ other films that I’ve seen, namely Terri and French Exit, and because of that, I went into His Three Daughters with some trepidation, but it’s clearly his best film to date, mainly due to the cast he’s put together and their dedication to their characters.
His Three Daughters mostly takes place in the one two-bedroom apartment where Lyonne’s Rachel lives with her father, allowing her two half-sisters to camp out there while helping while not really getting along with them. Every once in a while, we go outside with Rachel, since her sister forbids her to smoke in her own home.
Carrie Coon’s Katie seems to be the oldest and most responsible of the sisters, while Elizabeth Olsen’s Christina may be the biggest enigma, as she went from being a Deadhead to being a loving mother. As the film goes on, we learn a little more about their relationship with their father and his respective spouses, and there’s clearly still a lot of bad will between them. They’re supposed to be sharing duties, but Rachel’s sisters are very judgmental of how she lives, basically smoking pot and betting on sports. They’re all good, but Lyonne is just fantastic, as she continues what is turning out to be one of the most amazing second acts of the past ten years.
Some might be concerned that this is entirely going to be a movie with these three sisters constantly squabbling, but there are some great male characters and performances, even though they’re much smaller roles. For instance, Jovan Adepo shows up as Rachel’s boyfriend Benji, who isn’t happy with the way she’s being treated by her sisters, and she tells them in one of a number of great monologues.
Just when you’ve given up hope of seeing the dying Vincent, who acts almost like the Godot in the famed Beckett play, we do finally meet him with a similarly memorable soliloquy given towards the end, which really drives home the emotions that have been set-up before that.
Azazel Jacobs has really outdone himself with this three-handed drama that could have easily been a stage play. He finds a way to make the most out of the limited setting and the fantastic cast he’s assembled to bring his fantastic screenplay to life keeps the viewer invested throughout.
Rating: 8/10
RED ROOMS (Utopia)
Montreal filmmaker Pascal Plante’s crime-drama stars Juliette Gariépy as Kelly-Anne, a model who becomes obsessed with the high-profile murder trial of a serial killer who brutally murdered three teenager girl. She eventually befriends the younger Clementine (Laurie Babin), who is equally convinced that the defendant is innocent.
The film opens in a stark all-white courtroom where Maxwell McCabe-Lokos’s Ludovic Chevalier is being tried for the murders, but the two women witnessing the trial have their own thoughts about Chevalier’s innocence.
It’s hard to really think of this movie as horror or even a thriller, because it begins as a straight-up courtroom drama and then transforms into a movie dealing with the relationship between these two women who get close while trying to find the “real killer.” In some ways, it’s in a similar vein of horror (with a very small h) as the recent Longlegs and I Saw the TV Glow, neither of which I was a fan, because they were often quite vague in their storytelling, outright boring at times but then exploding with uncharacteristically loud moments.
Kelly-Anne is a particularly interesting character due to a compelling performance by Juliette Gariépy. She’s a stunning model, who also plays online poker, deals in crypto and has access to the darkweb, where she’s gotten access to video of the brutal murders that the killer filmed and uploaded. About halfway through the trial, they show this video to the jurors and one of them faints. We don’t exactly see the video — again, not really horror — but we can only imagine what’s on them, especially when Kelly-Anne shows them to Clementine, who pretty much leaves after that. That’s when the film does start to get more interesting, but that last act also left me scratching my head with its an ending so vague it’s infuriating.
There are elements of Pascal Plante’s film that worked well, most notably Juliette Gariépy subdued performance, as you just can’t take your eyes off of her. The score is also strong and does a lot to build tension, but Red Rooms takes far too long to really get going and then essentially goes nowhere, and that ultimately ends up being its biggest downfall.
Rating: 6/10
Red Rooms is getting a moderate release into 25 or 26 theaters across the country, including a number of AMC theaters, but in NYC it’s playing at the IFC Center and in L.A., it’s playing at the Alamo Downtown L.A.
MY FIRST FILM (Mubi)
Hitting Mubi this Friday after playing in a few theaters last week is Zia Anger’s experimental and presumably semi-autobiographical drama. It’s a strange one, which I’m not even sure I’m able to describe properly, because it seems to mix documentary with fiction, with Odessa Young playing Vita (essentially Anger’s Avatar), who is making her first feature with Devon Ross playing the movie’s leading lady.
While this is a truly original indie film that blurs the lines between fiction and documentary, it’s also quite confounding almost from the beginning, since you’re unsure if it’s intended as a comedy. As it goes along, it becomes more obvious that it most definitely is not. It reminded me a bit of Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture and some of the other movies that came out around that time – Greta Gerwig was in most of them – essentially movies about entitled young white women, the only difference being that this one isn’t set in Brooklyn.
For the most part, this is another movie about making movies and the disappointment when you spend all that time and energy (along with your cast and crew), and no one ends up seeing your movie. That probably should have been the case with this one, since it just feels like a lot of wanking that’s instantly forgettable. I did like some of the actors Anger assembled for it, but it never really goes anywhere until it takes a turn and goes exactly where you’re expecting. Like the recent Janet Planet, this is the kind of movie that critics gush over but regular moviegoers hate… or don’t bother to see at all.
For the most part, Anger seems to enjoy wasting the viewer’s time, spending the entire movie building to the most obvious of analogies that making a movie is a lot like having a baby. While I liked a few parts of Anger’s film school thesis, I mostly did not get this movie or its appeal at all.
Rating: 6/10
LOOK INTO MY EYES (A24)
The new doc from Lana Wilson (Miss Americana) takes an in-depth look at New York City psychics and mediums who help people reconnect with their loved ones in the afterlife, and it definitely seems to be well-timed for release against Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as a companion piece. I don’t have a ton to say about this, probably not enough to review, but I generally enjoyed it, particularly its look at the quirky denizens of my chosen city, because they all have a huge amount of idiosyncrasies. This is opening at the Film Forum on Friday, which is kind of perfect since it has its own share of quirky characters (the people who see movies there, not so much the staff).
THE GOLDMAN CASE (Menemsha Films)
Opening in New York on Friday at Lincoln Center and the IFC Center, and in L.A.at the Laemmle Royal and Encino Town Center on Sept 13 is this new drama from Cédric Kahn, which also mainly takes place in a courtroom and is also in French. This one revolves around the 1976 trial of Jewish left-wing activist Pierre Goldman, played by Arieh Worthalter. This is a movie that I would have loved to see in a theater, but as bad luck would have it, I just didn’t have enough time to watch a screener to review this for this week’s column.
HOLDING BACK THE TIDE (Grasshopper Films)
Opening at the DCTV Firehouse theater down in my Chinatown neighborhood on Friday and then in L.A. on Oct 4 at the Laemmle is this new doc from Emily Packer, which takes a look at the oyster farming industry that used to thrive in New York. So if you like oysters… not necessarily eating them, but just watching a movie about them, than this might be the movie for you.
WISE GUY: DAVID CHASE AND THE SOPRANOS (HBO Documentary Films)
Premiering on HBO and Max this weekend is Alex Gibney’s new two-part documentary about HBO’s hit series, The Sopranos, and the series creator, David Chase. I’m sure you could have figured that out from the title, but I’ve watched the first half of this, and generally enjoyed the look at the history of how the show came to be, even if Chase himself is a fairly persnickety character.
INSTRUMENTS OF A BEATING HEART
I’ve actually seen this Japanese documentary short, which will debut at the IFC Center this week, presumably for Oscar consideration, but it revolves around a public elementary school in Tokyo where 1st graders are learning their instruments to perform Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” It mainly focuses on a girl named Ayame, who struggles to learn her instrument and join the orchestra while dealing with a particularly tough music teacher. It’s a little odd to me that this 23 minute short is playing on its own for a regular ticket price, but it’s only screening one time a day at 10:30AM, so maybe it’s going to bring in some classrooms of kids.
A few movies I didn’t get to…
THE THICKET (Samuel Goldwyn)
THE DEMON DISORDER (Shudder)
BETRAYAL (Saban Films)
DON’T TURN OUT THE LIGHTS (Quiver Distribution)
I’LL BE RIGHT THERE (Brainstorm Media)
THE COWBOY AND THE QUEEN (Greenwich)
REPERTORY
Important note: There are a number of theaters I regularly cover in this section who don’t always show repertory films, case in point being the Paris Theater, which this week is showing Netflix’s His Three Daughters and the Quad that only does repertory stuff when it relates to an upcoming movie, so in those cases, I just won’t include them in this section.
It’s a new month, which means there are some fantastic new series at my local arthouse theater, and my favorite place to while away the weekend hours!
French filmmaker Jérémy Clapin will be popping into the Metrograph on Saturday to show his new movie, Meanwhile on Earth, which Metrograph Pictures will release on November 8 and his 2019 animated film, I Lost My Body.
“Under My Thumb” seems to be about sexual politics, or as described on the site, the “tug-of-war of wills that occurs in relationships, turning bedrooms into a battlefields and simmering resentments into boiling cauldrons of rage.” There are five movies this weekend, including Richard Ayoade’s The Double (2013), starring Jesse Eisenberg; Lucrecia Martel’s La Ciénaga (2001); Sam Mendes’ Oscar-winning debut, American Beauty (1999) – continuing Metrograph’s continued support of Kevin Spacey ;) – Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct from 1992; and Luis Buñuel’s Belle de Jour (1967), starring Catherine Deneuve.
“Rabbit on the Moon: Folk Tales, Tall Tales, and Local Myths” is a little more self-explanatory (I think) with this weekend screening Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957) and the Oscar-nominated animated The Song of the Sea (2014) from Tomm Moore.
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” is about movies primarily focusing on a community, and this weekend, you can see Kenji Mizoguchi’s Street of Shame from 1956, and John Singleton’s bonafide classic, Boyz n the Hood (1991) which I’ll finally be seeing for the first time after admiring the exhibit at the Academy Museum earlier this year.
Metrograph continues to honor the amazing below-the-line creative people with the latest series about a cinematographer. “Daring Motion: The Films of Mark Lee Ping-Bing” with Ping-Bing being on-hand for a QnA on Friday night and introductions on Sunday. Hou Hsaio-Hsien’s 1985 film A Time to Live and Die will get the QnA (which is already sold out), but will show a few more times, while other films in the series are Tran Anh Hung’s Norwegian Wood (2010), Hsiao Hsien’s Dust in the Wind (1986) and Millenium Mambo (2001), and Gilles Bourdos’ Endangered Species (2017), the latter getting just one screening on Sunday.
“Film Forum Jr” returns on Sunday with the 1961 Oscar-winning musical, West Side Story, which was recently remade by Steven Spielberg, whose “Spielberg Festival” also continues through the weekend without showing his version, but showing lots of other classics, including the original Indiana Jones trilogy, which you can watch as a triple feature on Saturday (by paying for each one individually). Jean Pierre-Melville’s Army of Shadows just won’t go away as it plays through Sept. 12… and if you think that it won’t continue after that, then you just don’t know the Film Forum the way I do.
NITEHAWK CINEMA PROSPECT PARK & WILLIAMSBURG
Thanks again to the Nitehawk for letting me screen M. Night Shyamalan’s Lady in the Water last week, cause it was a dream come true, and it got them moved up the roster, at least this week.
On Saturday and Sunday, you can see the Oscar-winning Amadeus (1984) at brunch time at Prospect Park, and at the same location, you can see Todd Solonz’s beloved Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) will screen as part of the series “Reeks Like Teen Spirit.” On Monday, Prospect Park will begin its “House Call” series with Patrick Swayze’s Road House (1989), and then on Wednesday, the “Anime After Dark” series will screen Morio Asaka’s 1999 Anime, Cardcaptor Sakura: The Movie.
Williamsburg kicks off its “Bad Neighbors” series on Friday and Saturday (late!) with the 1985 classic, Fright Night. Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Querelle (1982), a movie I’ve never heard of – don’t be shocked, I really don’t know Fassbinder – will screen on Saturday and Sunday morning. “Reeks Like Teen Spirit” will also be celebrated at Williamsburg with Wes Anderson’s Rushmore on Saturday and Sunday morning, and then Ghost World (starring a very young Scarlett Johansson) on Tuesday night.
This week’s “Late Night Favorites” offering is The Goonies from 1985 and also screening as part of the “It’s Murder!” series is Eli Roth’s Hostel (2006). Also continuing through the weekend are Caligula: The Ultimate Cut, Coppola’s The Conversation, Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas, and Cowboy Bebop: The Movie.
Besides screening recent movies like Longlegs and Cuckoo in 35mm, you can also see Martin Davidson and Stephen Verona’s 1974 film The Lords of Flatbush, starring Sylvester Stallone and Henry Winkler (pre-Rocky and “Happy Days”) on Thursday night and Sunday. Woody Allen’s Another Woman (1988) starring the late Gena Rowlands and Ian Holm and the ex Mia Farrow will screen on Friday and Sunday, presumably as a tribute to Ms. Rowlands. On Tuesday, you can see John Casavetes’ A Woman Under the Influence (1974), also starring Rowlands.
Hedda Lettuce’s weekly movie presents Valley of the Dolls Interactive, whatever that is, while Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas (1990) will screen in 35mm on Monday (two screenings).
The big new series at Filmlinc, starting on Friday and running through Sept. 15 is “Isso É Brazil: Cinema According to L.C. Barreto Productions,” which is definitely something I’d be interested in if I had more time to watch some of the movies, without really knowing much about any of them. As the title suggests, it covers 60 years of L.C. Barreto Productions’ films with a 13-film retrospective. There’s a lot of interest in this series that I’d try to catch if I had more time and Lincoln Center wasn’t such a schlep but I’m most interested in the 1974 doc, This is Pelé, since I do love me some Brazilian football.
“Alamo Time Capsule 1979” will show Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker and the UK post-punk classic, Radio On, featuring music from Bowie, Devo, Kraftwerk, and more, and man, do I wish I could catch that, but I have too much going on this weekend already.
This weekend, MoMI is showing two features and two short films by the late Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden: The Silent Holy Stones (2005), Old Dog (2010), and the shorts, The Silent Manistone and The Grassland (as one program). On Saturday, you can catch Agnes Varda’s The Gleaners and I (2000) with a book signing by Carrie Rickey, author of “A Complicated Passion: The Life and Work of Agnès Varda.” On Tuesday, MoMI is showing a 10th anniversary screening of Jennifer Kent’s horror film, The Babadook, with Kent doing a QnA. Sunday afternoon, you can take the kids to see the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer (2008).
Paramount in the ‘70s will show Warren Beatty’s Heaven Can Wait, Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude, two fantastic films and a lot more, as this great series continues until Sept. 15.
On Thursday night, you can see the Who movie, The Kids are Alright, while on Friday night, you can see Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise (1984) as part of “NIght Owl Cinema’s” Jarmusch tribute, and then on Saturday, Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption (1994) will screen as part of “Cult Café.” Sunday morning, you can do the “Sunday Schmooze,” showing last year’s La Syndicaliste or see Miyazaki’s Ponyo with the kiddies. Monday’s screening is John Boorman’s Excalibur from 1981, then on Tuesday, you can see James L. Brooks’ Oscar-winning Terms of Endearment (1983), and then Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel will screen on Wednesday night.
Next week, we get the horror film, Speak No Evil, the Dave Bautista action-comedy The Killer’s Game, and some other odds and ends.