Diane Lane (FEUD: Capote vs. The Swans, Unfaithful) has been cast in Mike Flanagan’s The Exorcist, produced by Blumhouse-Atomic Monster and Morgan Creek Entertainment for Universal Pictures. She joins Scarlett Johansson and Jacobi Jupe, who were previously announced.
The film will tell an all-new story set in The Exorcist universe and is not a sequel to 2023’s The Exorcist: Believer.
The film is set to be released theatrically on Friday, March 12, 2027, and is set to shoot in New York City.
It is produced by Blumhouse-Atomic Monster, Morgan Creek Entertainment and Flanagan, who will also write and direct via his Red Room Pictures banner. Alexandra Magistro will also executive produce for Red Room Pictures. David Robinson produces for Morgan Creek Entertainment. Jason Blum and Ryan Turek serve as producer and executive producer, respectively, for Blumhouse-Atomic Monster.
From revolutionary writer-director Mike Flanagan-revered creator of the acclaimed series The Fall of the House of Usher, Midnight Mass and The Haunting of Hill House and the groundbreaking films The Life of Chuck (TIFF Audience Award Winner), Oculus, Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game-comes a radical new vision of the most terrifying title in the history of cinematic horror.
The French TV mystery series “Broceliande” comes from a different perspective than most of what I’ve reviewed. The protagonist, Fanny (Nolwenn Leroy in the present; Rebecca Benhamour in the 2003 backstory scenes) has lived with anguish from being the only suspect in the 20-year-old disappearance of her lifelong bestie. Even worse, she has absolutely no memory of what happened on that fateful night. That woman is Laura Perrier, played in a merde-load of flashbacks by Eva Hatik. That name may evoke an association with ”Twin Peaks” baseline plot of “Who killed Laura Palmer?”, but this six-episode miniseries is nowhere near as weird as that was.
Fanny was the last among their group of fellow students to see Laura alive on that fateful night, and was widely assumed by everyone in their eponymous hometown to have killed her due to jealousy over a fellow student, Max (Arnaud Binard). He’d been dating Laura, but started having a thing for Fanny. The weight of that pervasive suspicion and animosity drove her to Paris, where she became an acclaimed plant geneticist. While receiving an award for her body of work, she gets a package from an unknown sender that takes her back to that night in the woods. The group had taken some drugs, leaving her no memory of what happened to her or Laura. No one knew if she was dead, or disappeared by choice, and Fanny couldn’t even be sure that she hadn’t killed her.
That menacing package brings Fanny back home for a rare visit, and in-your-face encounters with the lingering animosity from Laura’s still-unexplained departure. The rest of what happens would be impossible to summarize. Suffice it to say that the series serves up a ton of suspects and motives in an ever-shifting landscape of possibilities. Speaking of landscapes, the exterior locations and old buildings in France’s northwestern Brittany region, particularly the Broceliande Forest, provide the counterpoint of an idyllic setting. There’s some romance and sex (without showing any naughty bits); rather mild on the violence and gore, though there are a quite a few intense, suspenseful moments. We never see anyone killed; just brief views of the bodies afterwards.
Leroy is a singer/composer with relatively few acting credits. Based on this outing, she should be in demand for a lot more screen time. The cast is excellent all around. A trio of writers crafted and developed an impressive array of personality types and subplots to make the half-dozen 50-minute episodes go swiftly. Director Bruno Garcia moves things along at a good pace, although they might have done better with fewer redundant flashbacks. Due to the plot having more twists and turns than a figure skating competition, watching in a binge is recommended for keeping them in order.
REVOLVER LILY is a subtitled Japanese period action drama that is long on looks and star power, but disappointing on narrative punch. Lily (Haruka Ayase) is a former top-notch spy/assassin, now retired and running a brothel. She meets an orphan who may be the key to finding a big chunk of money that’s ardently sought by the army and navy, who are competing brutally with each other, as well, for much-needed funding. Government coffers are insufficient to support either, much less both, adequately. That gives our plucky protagonists more obstacles than anyone should have to face, and sets the stage for multiple levels of action – large and small.
Maybe it’s a cultural difference between Japan and US norms, but this one seems unfortunately long on mood and short on the amount of gunplay and martial arts the title portends. The film belongs almost entirely to Ayase, who carries her role with a steely physicality and quiet authority, evoking comparisons to a young Michelle Yeoh (that’s a helluva compliment, folks). She’s believable on both the violent and the thoughtful sides of her character’s journey. That’s especially impressive since Ayase’s background is more in singing and songwriting than acting. And though she was something of an athlete, martial arts were not part of her bio. If the movie worked purely on presence, she’d have it nailed. Unfortunately, presence isn’t momentum, and the film often seems content to admire her from a distance rather than give her enough to do. Too many stretches with too little happening.
Visually, REVOLVER LILY is a work of art. The 1924 sets, props and costumes show meticulous attention to detail. Or at least that seems valid. Since I was a couple of decades shy of being born then, and on the opposite side of the Pacific, I have to base that on how favorably it compares with what I’ve seen in a slew of other films and series set in that era. The action, whenever it finally arrives, is staged with clarity and power – clean choreography, readable geography, and a realistic sense of physical consequences that more hyperbolic action films ignore.
The problem is how slowly the plot moves forward. Long stretches pass in moody quiet, building atmosphere that rarely pays off in proportion. The action scenes feel like punctuation marks in a sentence that keeps refusing to end, particularly in the buildup to its climax. When the violence does break through, it’s sharp and satisfying—but also a reminder that the movie has been withholding the very thing it does best.
REVOLVER LILY isn’t bad; much of it is impressive. It just mistakes restraint for depth, leaving you admiring the workmanship while waiting – too long – for the literal and figurative revolver to actually fire. I’d really like to see Ayase in a vehicle more akin to Hong Kong or Korean action flicks, allowing her to show her thespian and butt-kicking chops to greater advantage.
3 Out of 4Stars
REVOLVER LILY, in Japanese with subtitles, debuts on Digital from WellGo USA on January 27, 2026.
Amanda Siegfried gives a powerful and fearless performance in this drama based on the true story of Ann Lee, the founder of Shaker religious community in 1774 Colonial America. Director/co-writer Mona Fastvold’s historical drama THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE depicts both the life and legend of Ann Lee, the leading light of this religious movement in Britain and then the New World, a faith community known now mostly it’s creation of beautiful practical objects and its lovely hymns, but which also preached gender and social class equality, worshiped through dance and song, and embraced a celibate communal life.
Director Mona Fastvold was inspired to make this historical drama after hearing Shaker songs, and the film is a musical of sorts, with music inspired by Shaker hymns and choreography that recalls the Shakers’ wild religiously ecstatic, whole-body movement way of worship. The musical scenes are striking and integrated logically into the film as moments of worship, using traditional Shaker hymns for choreography by Celia Rowlson-Hall (Vox Lux) that re-imagines the rapturous movements of Shakers rather than strictly recreating them.
Director/co-writer Mona Fastvold and her film-making partner Brady Corbet are the creative team who made THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE, but they were also the creative pair behind last year’s THE BRUTALIST. While the architect character in that film was fictional, Ann Lee was a real person, a historical figure that Fastvold felt deserved more attention, a rare woman religious leader in the late 1700s who rose to head a religious following in England, and then established the religious community in America, just as the country was being born. Like the pair’s previous film, THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE features outstanding cinematography, great acting, and a moving story.
Fastvold leans into the myth and legend of Ann Lee rather than focusing only on facts, although the film is basically historically accurate, apart from a little time shifting for dramatic purposes.
However, it must be said that it is very helpful to already know something about the Shakers beyond that they made beautiful, elegant furniture and wrote a lovely hymn, “Simple Gifts,” that composer Aaron Copeland used in “Appalachian Spring.” The film is light on exposition, despite having a narrator, and really does not give much information on the Shakers until some title cards at the film’s end. Yes, it can be considered a flaw that the film assumes you know more about the Shakers, but a little advance research does enhance the viewing of this ambitious and worthwhile biographical film.
This true story is dramatic, but Amanda Siegfried gives a strikingly raw, no-holds-barred performance as this female religious leader, something very rare then. All this takes place during an era of new utopian religious communities, many of which were drawn to rural Colonial America. People who didn’t fit in to European societies were often drawn to these new faiths.
Thomasin McKenzie narrates, a bit in the style of a myth, the sometimes raw, unblinking, emotional biographical drama. It tells Ann Lee’s story in three parts, beginning with her impoverished childhood in grimy, rough Manchester. The film takes us through Ann Lee’s introduction to and then ascendancy in the British Quaker offshoot then known as the Shaking Quakers, and then to her founding of the Shaker community in Colonial America.
Ann was the second oldest of eight children. With their mother dead, their blacksmith father struggles to make a living, even with a second job as a tailor. Ann and the older children are expected to help out and earn extra cash with little tasks where they can. There is no money for education. Even as a child, Ann is deeply religious, and very close to her younger brother William, and offended and appalled by the sinfulness she see all around her in gritty Manchester.
In the film’s second part, Ann (Amanda Seyfried), now grown, is looking for something more life-changing than the Quaker faith of her family. Hearing about a new branch of the Quakers, called the “Shaking Quakers,” who embrace worshiping through shaking dance and chanting and have more radical beliefs about equality, she and her brother William (Lewis Pullman) seek them out. There they find a spiritual home, and new ideas. Ann also meets the man who became her husband Abraham Standerin (Christopher Abbott). With her fervent belief and charismatic personality, Ann Lee, despite being illiterate, rises in the congregation to become its leader.
In the third part, Ann’s bold, and loud, public worship makes her a target of British authorities, which lands her in jail and an asylum. The persecution ultimately leads her to decide, 1774, to move to Colonial America, along with a group of followers, to establish a utopian Shaker community in rural New York. Meanwhile, after losing all four of her children in birth or shortly after, Ann at the same time concludes that God is telling her that sex is the Original Sin, which leads her proclaim that and tell her followers that renouncing it is the only path to salvation.
This third portion of the film focuses on Ann after this point and as she establishes their utopian Shaker community in pre-Revolutionary, and then Revolutionary, America.
One of the most striking aspects of this film is Amanda Seyfried’s wild, fierce, fearless performance. Be warned that some scenes are unblinkingly, harshly realistic or even, with the birth scenes, bordering on graphic. Another striking aspect are the highly-choreographed singing and dancing sequences. They represent the Shaker’s form of worship, but are certainly not an authentic depiction, although they are beautiful and moving. Yet another aspect to note is the filmmaker’s embrace of myth and tales of Ann Lee almost on an equal footing with the known facts about her, although it mostly follows those.
Still, this is a remarkable film, notable for its visual beauty, remarkable cinematography and powerful performances, making it a film worthy of your time as it throws a spotlight on this too-little known female leader of a religious movement.
THE TESTMENT OF ANN LEE opens in theaters on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.
Set against the sun-bleached grit of Los Angeles, Crime 101 weaves the tale of an elusive jewel thief (Chris Hemsworth) whose string of heists along the 101 freeway have mystified police. When he eyes the score of a lifetime, his path crosses that of a disillusioned insurance broker (Halle Berry) who is facing her own crossroads. Convinced he has found a pattern, a relentless detective (Mark Ruffalo) is closing in, raising the stakes even higher. As the heist approaches, the line between hunter and hunted begins to blur, and all three are faced with life-defining choices – and the realization that there can be no turning back.
Adapted from Don Winslow’s acclaimed novella of the same name, the film is written and directed by Bart Layton (American Animals, The Imposter). Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Nick Nolte round out the cast.
Yoshi joins the adventure in this latest video for THE SUPER MARIO GALAXY MOVIE, in theaters April 1.
The voice cast includes Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan Michael Key, Benny Safdie, Kevin Michael Richardson and Brie Larson.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is an animated film based on the world of Super Mario Bros., and follows The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which was released in 2023 and earned more than $1.3 billion worldwide. Both the 2023 film and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie are produced by Chris Meledandri of Illumination and Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo.
The film will be co-financed by Universal Pictures and Nintendo and will be released worldwide by Universal Pictures. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is directed by returning filmmakers Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, from a screenplay by returning screenwriter Matthew Fogel, with Brian Tyler returning to compose the score.
MOTHER OF FLIES is a low-budget horror flick that plays out as a sordid endurance test for both the cast and audience, as it straddles the fence between the psychological and supernatural, without delivering on either. It’s a product of the Adams family, written and directed by John, daughter Zelda and wife Toby Poser; starring that trio, plus their other daughter, Lulu. They are not to be confused in any way with the more familiar, and noticeably superior, Addams family. The missing “d” seemingly makes quite a difference.
The plot follows a grieving woman who retreats into isolation after a personal loss, taking refuge in a decaying rural house that quickly becomes less a sanctuary than a cauldron. As her mental state deteriorates, the environment reflects it: rot creeps into every corner; flies proliferate; her own body becomes another site of infestation. That dangled suspense of insanity vs. the supernatural remains vague – presumably by design.
What could have been a marketable premise turns out confusing and dull. Scenes stretch on forever, not because they’re tense or meaningful, but because no one apparently was objective enough to do some editing. No member of the clan could snip another’s dialog or screen time without offending the rest of the household, and ruining the next Thanksgiving. The camera lingers with more familial pride than dramatic purpose. Grotesque images feel inserted or exaggerated for shock value, more than narrative enhancement.
In terms of the performances, the cast is trapped in monotones. There’s no escalation, no modulation—just suffering, presented as a moral achievement. Dialogue is mercifully sparse, but the visuals between talky bits are nothing special. They rely on tropes – rot as metaphor, insects as symbolism, silence as seriousness, etc.
By the time MOTHER OF FLIES slogs its way to the finish line, it brings more relief than enlightenment, leaving us a package that’s less disturbing than exhausting. This one’s unfortunately short on both the sizzle and the steak. All of which is really a shame. This is the family’s fourth collaboration. I haven’t seen the previous three, but note they earned favorable ratings on IMDb, which supports my belief that they have more to offer than this one displays. Enough so that I plan to check out the others.
MOTHER OF FLIES is available streaming on Shudder starting Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.
From visionary Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Mamoru Hosoda (MIRAI) comes a powerful, time-bending animated adventure about SCARLET, a medieval-era, sword-fighting princess on a dangerous quest to avenge the death of her father. After failing at her mission and finding herself gravely injured in the “Otherworld,” she encounters an idealistic young man from our present day who not only helps her to heal but shows her the possibility of a future free of bitterness and rage. When confronted again by her father’s killer, Scarlet faces her most daunting battle: can she break the cycle of hatred and find meaning in life beyond revenge?
In IMAX theaters February 6, 2026. In theaters nationwide February 13, 2026.
The St. Louis screening is on Wednesday, January 28 at 7:00pm at AMC Creve Coeur.
DC Studios’ SUPERGIRL will be in theaters worldwide this summer from Warner Bros. Pictures, starring Milly Alcock in the dual role of Supergirl/Kara Zor-El. When an unexpected and ruthless adversary strikes too close to home, Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, reluctantly joins forces with an unlikely companion on an epic, interstellar journey of vengeance and justice.
Alcock stars alongside Matthias Schoenaerts, Eve Ridley, David Krumholtz, Emily Beecham, and Jason Momoa.
Today James Gunn, who helmed 2025’s SUPERMAN, released this video of Momoa as Lobo via his social media outlets.
Lobo! Considering his name means “he who devours your entrails and thoroughly enjoys it” in his native tongue, perhaps they shouldn’t have been too surprised. Lobo took his predilection for murder and mayhem along with his rocket-fueled motorcycle and went on to become the best bounty hunter in the galaxy. ” As an intergalactic bounty hunter and self-branded “Main Man,” Lobo’s gigs take him all over the universe, but he never lingers for long because there’s always someone or something else to apprehend, preferably as painfully as possible.
Craig Gillespie directs SUPERGIRL from a screenplay by Ana Nogueira and hits theaters June 26.
I would say that it’s unusual for a somber set-in-the-UK drama based on a memoir (yes, it’s all true) to be released three weeks into the new year, well past awards noms deadline, but further research has revealed that this did get a one-week run in a US theater last month to be considered for the accolades. And so far, bupkis (we’ll see early Thursday morning). Of course, that’s no reflection on this film’s quality or merits. Still, its title suggests a whimsical “nature-bonding” story ala THE PENGUIN LESSONS or countless canine sagas. Now, that species connection factors in, but the heart of the story is a woman’s emotional journey in H IS FOR HAWK.
The woman at this story’s center is a research (mostly science history) fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge named Helen Macdonald (Claire Foy). On a blustery day in 2007, she’s birdwatching in the nearby countryside. As she heads home, she phones her photojournalist father Alisdair (Brendan Gleeson) with news that she spotted a pair of goshawks (a rare sighting). Dad cuts the call short as he must head to a London assignment. That evening, at her on-campus housing home, Helen meets another academic, Christina (Denise Gough) for dinner. On the way out, Helen gets a phone call that changes everything: her adored papa succumbed to a fatal heart attack in the city. Helen’s life goes into a tailspin, indecisive about pursuing a three-year position in Germany, which squelches her new romance. She then has an epiphany and knocks on the door of an old friend named Stu (Sam Spruell). Years before, both had been ardent members of a falconry society. He’s still involved (his bird is perched in his kitchen), so Helen asks him for intel on getting back in. But she doesn’t want a falcon. Instead, Helen wants to train the more difficult, spirited goshawk. Stu hooks her up with a seller, and soon the bird she names Mabel is taking up her every spare moment. Quickly the bond between the two becomes so intense that Helen is neglecting her classes and ignoring calls and visits from friends. And then the school administrators tell her that this type of “pet” isn’t allowed in college quarters. Can Helen continue to train and hunt with Mabel? And could this be a way for Helen to escape her grief rather than facing it and moving forward with her life?
This exploration into the art and skill of falconry becomes a compelling showcase for the gifted Foy. We’ve seen her excellent supporting work in films like FIRST MAN and WOMEN TALKING, but we’ve really not seen her carry the emotional weight of a film’s lead performance (though I’m told she was excellent as Queen Elizabeth II in the streaming series, “The Crown”). Foy shows us the vibrant, engaged Helen in the early scenes of her birdwatching and lecturing her class, but with her loss we see the light in her eyes suddenly dim. Not even a romantic online fling brings that spark back, until Mabel literally swoops in. Then Foy shows us another side of Helen, with an overriding obsession that almost seals her off from the world. It’s a tricky balancing act as Helen elicits our sympathy while often frustrating us, and Foy is more than up to the complex challenges. Happily we’re treated to several flashbacks of her opposite the always engaging Gleeson as her lovably gruff, but warm and encouraging papa, perhaps a near perfect “girl dad”. It’s quite a contrast to Helen’s maternal connections with her mum, played with subtle restraint and grace by Lindsay Duncan. We see that the loss of her soulmate has drained her, though she also yearns to share the grief with her increasingly distant daughter. Spruell is strong as Helen’s her birding buddy Stu as he tries to help train Mabel while attempting to calm the always anxious Helen. Speaking of pals, Gough (so wonderful on another streaming show, “Andor”) is also very effective as co-worker confidant Christina, who wants to be a “lifeline” to her floundering chum as she tries to understand her increasing withdrawl into mania.
The impressive ensemble is guided by director Phillipa Lowthrope, working from Emma Donoghue’s screenplay adaptation of Helen Macdonald’s acclaimed memoir. Lowthrope keeps us engaged, as the backdrops suddenly switch from ancient academia to the glories of the countryside. And those scenes of Helen working (she insists that they’re partners in the hunts) with the gorgeous, intense (her glare) Mabel truly soar. A sequence in the deep woods of Mabel swooping in on a very unlucky rabbit is haunting (there’s a drone crew in the credits that were really “on their toes”). While these scenes are worthy of any lauded nature docuseries, it’s the very human drama at the center of the story that’s truly compelling. This is such a well-crafted exploration of the impact of mourning on someone grieving, though it offers no easy fixes. In less works, the introduction of an “animal partner” would be the needed “remedy”, but here we see how the distracting fixation can cut a person out of the human (rat) race. Some viewers may be a bit put off by the rather open-ended finale, but life can’t always be “wrapped up in a bow” to facilitate a desired “happy ending”. That idea and the winning performance of Foy really enables H IS FOR HAWK to spread its wings and take flight.
3 Out of 4
H IS FOR HAWK opens in select theatres on Friday, January 23, 2026
