More recent movies:
THE ALTO KNIGHTS (2025): Plodding, painfully talky gangster drama starring Robert DeNiro in an ill-advised and very hammy dual role as former childhood friends turned gangland rivals Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, with Debra Messing and Kathrine Narducci, neither very good, as Frank and Vito's respective wives. Scripted by Nicholas Pileggi, the verbose first-person narration (by Costello, late in his life) makes GOODFELLAS and CASINO seem taciturn, and the whole thing is dragged perilously close to self-parody by the artificiality of DeNiro's dual roles, which are both annoying affected and both marked by distracting prosthetics. As with THE IRISHMAN (2019), the endless nattering dialogue strains patience, and the script takes huge liberties with facts and chronology. CONTAINS LESBIANS? Vito's wife Anna is said to be running an after-hours gay and lesbian bar in the late '40s (she actually ran at least three, and continued to do so for most of her life), but it's glimpsed only briefly, mostly after closing. VERDICT: Labored nostalgia act with two DeNiros too many.
CORA BORA (2023): Unendurable Millennial comedy starring Megan Stalter of HACKS as a boorish bisexual L.A. singer/songwriter who is bulldozing her own life and her open relationship with her long-distance girlfriend (JoJo T. Gibbs), a grad student in Portland, with her stereotypical Millennial all-consuming self-absorption. Stalter is at least as obnoxious as on HACKS (which is a lot — she's one of the worst parts of that show), and the script buries the needle on the Cringe-O-Meter at least a half-dozen times in just the first half-hour. It's indistinguishable in tone from the similarly objectionable Peacock show LAID, except that the only bloodshed in this one is among the audience. CONTAINS LESBIANS? Cora is a Toxic Bisexual™. VERDICT: Punishingly unfunny from beginning to end; if you're allergic to cringe, you'll likely need an EpiPen by the 30-minute mark.
ECHO VALLEY (2025): Awful thriller about depressed, recently widowed lesbian horse farmer Kate Garresson (Julianne Moore), who's drawn into web of blackmail and murder involving her worthless daughter Claire (Sydney Sweeney), Claire's worthless boyfriend (Edmund Donovan), and a sleazy dealer they've ripped off (Domnhall Gleeson). Kyle Maclachlan shows up for one scene as Kate's ex-husband. More unpleasant than thrilling, and its reactionary undertones don't sit well. Sweeney is awful — as on EUPHORIA, she overacts floridly — and Gleeson looks like he's crawled out from under a rock; Fiona Shaw is good as Kate's older friend Leslie, her only ally. CONTAINS LESBIANS? Both Kate and Leslie are gay, but it's primarily treated as a source of misery, with no risk of Moore having to kiss a woman. VERDICT: Dreary and grim. CWs apply for repeated, upsetting threats of animal harm.
FREAKY TALES (2024): Flimsy but mostly endearing seriocomic retro oddity by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, set in Oakland in 1987, about four sets of people touched by a mysterious cosmic power: good-hearted punks (Jack Champion and Ji-Young Yoo) beset by Nazi skinheads; two lyrically adept young women (Normani and Dominique Thorne) facing a rap battle with a big-name hip-hop star; a grieving underworld enforcer (Pedro Pascal) tormented by a bent cop (Ben Mendelsohn); and Oakland Warriors basketball star Eric "Sleepy" Floyd (Jay Ellis) setting out for bloody vengeance against a gang of white supremacist armed robbers. (The real Floyd has a cameo.) Full of nods to everything from THE LAST DRAGON (1985) to PULP FICTION, its episodic plot strains too hard in its obvious desire to be a future cult classic (you really can't force that). However, the relaxed tone and appealing cast (in particular Ji-Young Yoo) make it a pretty good time if you don't expect too much. CONTAINS LESBIANS? None. VERDICT: Pleasant if obviously synthetic '80s homage. Note that while it's more silly than harrowing, there is some surprisingly gory violence, plus a Tom Hanks jump scare.
HEADS OF STATE (2025): Asinine buddy action-comedy pairing John Cena, as an Ahnuld-like former action star recently elected U.S. president, and Idris Elba, as the grumpy UK prime minister, forced to go on the run together after Air Force One is attacked by mercenary terrorists secretly working with the U.S. vice president (Carla Gugino) to undermine NATO. With this premise, you know you're in for a hefty dose of incoherent centrist politics, but expecting the audience to laugh and cheer as U.S. and UK leaders mow down random heavies in quippy '80s fashion is too distasteful to be fun even in a stupid way. I also objected to Professional Nepo Baby Jack Quaid's antagonistic supporting role as a nerdy CIA officer. CONTAINS LESBIANS? No. VERDICT? With a completely different plot and premise, Cena and Elba wouldn't be the worst buddy-action team, but this is way too queasy-making.
LOVE KILLS (2024): Initially engrossing but unpleasant indie drama, written, produced, directed, and scored by Duke, about a young couple, Lia (Gaia Brooks) and Milo (Maximilian Seed), who take on a new roommate, Brianna (Lucy Diamante), an immigrant sex worker in hock to a brutish dealer called Cashmeer (Konstas Angel). Initially disdainful of Brianna, Lia ends up falling for her, which has ugly consequences. The story doesn't go where it initially seems like it's going to, but its outcome is oppressively grim, with some upsettingly graphic violence, and there's something about the characters' relationships that never quite rings true. CONTAINS LESBIANS? Yes. VERDICT: Well-made, but a real downer I wouldn't care to revisit. CWs apply for intimate partner violence.
QUEEN OF THE RING (2024): Glossy biopic about women's wrestling pioneer Millie Burke (a very swole Emily Bett Rickards), from her first meeting with wrestler/promoter Billy Wolfe (Josh Lucas) through her 1954 shoot match defense of her title against June Byers (Kailey Latimer). Apparently a passion project for indie record producer Ash Avildsen, who co-wrote, directed, and produced, the film's sometimes cheesy script, based on a 2009 biography by Jeff Leen, is not up to dealing in a more than superficial way with the complexities of the characters and relationships it depicts, and it marginalizes its Black characters. Nonetheless, it is a crowd-pleaser, if more in a #girlpower, "wrestle-ladies hot" sense than as serious drama. CONTAINS LESBIANS? Yes, though not as prominently as one would like. VERDICT: Attractive, mostly pleasing fluff, but CWs apply for intimate partner violence in its depiction of Burke's relationship with Wolfe.
