DIE MY LOVE – Review

Just as the end of the year family holiday preparations are beginning, moviegoers are getting another flick about the dark side of motherhood (something to think about as you await her never-dry turkey). Think of these as the flip-side to those Hallmark cable movie staples. So, last year we saw Amy Adams howling at the moon as NIGHT BITCH. And just a few weeks ago, I endured (that’s right, though many of my fellow critics are embracing it) Rose Byrne careening close to the edge in IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU. Now for the first full weekend of November, an Oscar-winning actress who’s been a movie MIA for the last couple of years is returning in a flick with a mixed-message title (or is it somewhat passive-aggressive) title, DIE MY LOVE (I wonder if they toyed with a title riff on the Everly Brothers classic and called it “Dye, Dye, Love”).

After several seconds of a black screen with ambient sounds, the story begins as longtime couple Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) and Jackson (Robert Pattinson) enter what will be their new home. Actually he’s been there before, since it was owned by his late uncle, but she’s a tad “under-whelmed” by the rickety, weather-beaten shack in the middle of rural Montana. Nonetheless, they soon turn it into their family home with the arrival of a baby boy. Ah, but we then get a flashback as pregnant Grace is hosting a big holiday dinner for her in-law, including Jackson’s doting mother Pam (Sissy Spacek) and his addled papa Harry (Nick Nolte), who somehow connects with Grace. The story springs ahead as Jackson begins taking jobs that keep him away from her and the baby . This sends Grace down a road of despair and delusion. She’s certain Jackson’s cheating on her, since their passion has cooled. Is that why Grace likes to crawl around like a cat in the tall grass? Or is it the reason she joins Pam on her midnight sleepwalking strolls? And is the mysterious man on a motorcycle, Karl (LaKeith Stanfield) real or a “player” in her fevered fantasy dream state? Can Jackson get his own act together to guide Grace away from the abyss of possible madness?

Though the two leads get fairly equal billing in all the marketing, this film serves as a reminder that Ms. Lawrence is one of our most compelling and adventurous actresses. Once again, she’s “without a net” as the complex Grace who elects our sympathy just before showing “her claws” (listen to how she verbally assaults that poor cashier). What a handful, though Lawrence conveys her deep almost fanatical devotion to her child (mama Grizzly, indeed), while seeming to endanger herself frequently (always eyeing Pam’s rifle). Her Grace is sad and scary. Let’s hope it’s not another two years until Lawrence “graces” the big screen. Thankfully, she has chemistry to spare with Pattinson, who brings more humanity to Jackson than’s there in the script. He’s not as complicated as Grace, but Pattinson draws us in to see the shift from the beer-swilling “good ole’ boy” to the husband struggling to understand his spouse. Happily, these current film stars share a few scenes with a couple of veteran actors who made their “mark” nearly fifty years ago. Spacek is a caring and giving “Earth mother”, who is one of the few elders who notices something is “off” with Grace and embraces her as a way of destroying the “demons”. But she’s also “fragile” after the loss of her own love, played by the raspy, often menacing Mr. Nolte. Harry isn’t around for the story’s big catastrophic turns, but Nolte projects a pride that shines through even as he struggles to make it past his mental “fog”, which is parted by the concern and compassion of Grace. He’s not given much dialogue, but Stanfield says so much with his dark, brooding eyes, which is like gasoline to the still smouldering embers of passion in Grace’s libido until he gets tangled in her mania.

This exceptional cast is guided by director/co-screenwriter (joining Alice Birch and Edna Walsh in adapting the book by Ariana Harwicz) Lynne Ramsay, whose 2011 horror/drama WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN is far too relevant. She keeps the characters operating in an almost dream-like state, perhaps to reflect Grace’s slowly cracking psyche. This puts us at a distance as the timeline is shifted haphazardly (that family flashback doesn’t fir with the first act). I was reminded of another “artsy” drama in which Lawrence was a tortured (in all ways) lead, the baffling MOTHER. Like that “experiment” we’re subjected to a near constant feeling of danger as Grace makes bizarre choices that often leave her naked and bloody. In that way, Jackson is seemingly an “after thought”, showing up to try to “clean up the mess”. And it’s so messy, sometimes scuttling any incident into the very real challenges of postpartum depression (Grace juggles that with her cluttered “head space”). This makes for frustration for the folks around the couple along with us. And, once again, good intentions are part of the road to Hell and Hellish cinema. Even though Lawrence is still a most watchable talent, her bravado can’t work its magic on DIE MY LOVE.

2 Out of 4

DIE MY LOVE is now playing in select theatres

Win Passes To The St. Louis Advance Screening Of ETERNITY

In an afterlife where souls have one week to decide where to spend eternity, Joan is faced with the impossible choice between the man she spent her life with and her first love, who died young and has waited decades for her to arrive.

Starring Miles Teller, Elizabeth Olsen and Callum Turner, ETERNITY opens on November 26th.

The St. Louis screening is at 7PM on Wednesday, November 12 at Marcus Ronnies 20.

ENTER HERE FOR PASSES: https://forms.gle/bLcqc3uTqYDR2TRJ7

Please arrive early as seating is not guaranteed.

Rated PG-13.

Check Out This First Look At Quentin Tarantino’s KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR 

Quentin Tarantino’s KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR unites Volume 1 and Volume 2 into a single, unrated epic – presented exactly as he intended, complete with a new, never-before-seen anime sequence. Uma Thurman stars as The Bride, left for dead after her former boss and lover Bill ambushes her wedding rehearsal, shooting her in the head and stealing her unborn child. To exact her vengeance, she must first hunt down the four remaining members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad before confronting Bill himself. With its operatic scope, relentless action, and iconic style, THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR stands as one of cinema’s definitive revenge sagas – rarely shown in its complete form, and now presented with a classic intermission.

KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR stars Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah, Gordon Liu, Michael Parks, and David Carradine as “Bill.” The film is produced by Lawrence Bender, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, based on the character of “The Bride” created by Q&U.

Releasing on December 5, 2025, the runtime is 281 minutes (including a 15-minute intermission).

NUREMBERG – Review

Russell Crowe as Hermann Göring in ‘Nuremberg.’ Image: Scott Garfield. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Russell Crowe and Rami Malek give some of their career-best performances in the gripping historical drama NUREMBERG. Set immediately post-WWII, NUREMBERG focuses on an American Army psychiatrist, played by Rami, and Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering, played by Russell Crowe, as preparations are made for the international war crimes tribunal at Nuremberg, Germany.

The drama also centers on creating the post-WWII Nuremberg Nazi war crime tribunals, organized by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, which that held the remaining leaders of the Nazi Germany regime to account for the regime’s evil. The international trials were the first time that leaders of a nation that took the world to war were put on trial for crimes against humanity and against the peace of the world. This ground-breaking tribunal presented to the world evidence of Nazi evil and atrocities, and held the still-living architects of the Holocaust to account.

NUREMBERG presents the events the led to the creation of that international tribunal, an effort led by U.S. Supreme Court justice Robert H. Jackson (the excellent Michael Shannon), but particularly focuses on the Nazis’ second-in-command, Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering (Russell Crowe), and his interactions with the American Army psychiatrist, Dr. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek), assigned to evaluate the Nazi prisoners for fitness to stand trial.

The drama’s other track focuses on U. S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Robert H. Jackson, who resisted Congress’s and others’ push for summary executions of the remaining Nazi regime and instead pushed for international war-crime trials, despite the lack of any precedent for them. Jackson hoped to establish the ascendancy of the rule-of-law over Nazi lawlessness, and to show to the world evidence of the Nazis’ war crimes and the Holocaust.

The film opens on the last day of WWII, in May 1945, with Russell Crowe’s Hermann Goering in a fancy touring car, driving up to some American soldiers on a crowded dirt road and surrendering, before asking them to get his luggage, in a perfect tip-off of his ego. Although Rami Malek’s Dr. Kelley is brought in to assess all the Nazi prisoners for fitness to stand trial, he also has personal ambitions to write a book about Goering and especially focused on trying to “psychologically define evil.” As the days unfold, Kelley slowly develops a complex relationship with his narcissistic yet charming subject.

Based partly on the book “The Nazi And The Psychiatrist” by Jack El-Hai, and written for the screen by the film’s director, James Vanderbilt, NUREMBERG is a powerful, classical-made historical drama that it strikingly timely. Director Vanderbilt uses the complicated relationship between cunning Nazi Goering and determine shrink Dr. Kelley, building a cat-and-mouse game between them that adds a psychological thriller aspect to the film. While the first part plays out much like a psychology drama/thriller, not just the cat-and-mouse between Nazi and psychiatrist but Justice Jackson’s maneuvering to get the international tribunal he believes is the best way to ultimately defeat Nazi evil and keep it from re-emerging. That portion is then capped by a riveting courtroom drama, where Goering takes the stand, and evidence of Nazi crimes are laid bare before the court, and the whole world.

Russell Crowe and Rami Malek give Oscar-worthy performances, among their careers’ best, but also lead a sterling cast the includes not only the always-excellent Michael Shannon as the Supreme Court justice. Richard K. Grant plays the British prosecutor Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe in this international effort, in this international effort, and Leo Woodall is Sgt. Howie Triest, the German-speaking American soldier translator for Kelley, someone with his own heartbreaking backstory. Colin Hanks plays Dr. Gustave Gilbert, another psychologist brought later to reassess Kelley’s work, and John Slattery is Col. Burton Andrus, who runs the Nuremberg prison where Nazis are held whose major job is to keep them alive so they can be executed after they are tried.

As preparations are made for the unprecedented war trials, Dr. Kelley engages in a cat-and-mouse discussions with Goering, as he also evaluates other Nazi leaders’ fitness for trial, and tries to keep them that way before the trial. Suicide is a concern, as the Allies want them to stay alive for execution.

Unlike previous films about the Nuremberg trials, this gripping drama gets to the courtroom portion later in the film, but it is the most powerful, emotional and timely portion, as the prosecutors present their case for the rule-of-law and Goering is put on the stand. Crowe’s Goering on the stand offers some of the film’s most compelling and timely moments, as Goering gives details on how the Nazis took power, their goals, and their rationalizations for what they did, with an echo of Hannah Arendt’s “banality of evil.”

However, audiences should be aware that this gripping portion of the film also includes archival footage of concentration camps and death camps taken as Allied troops liberated those camps. That archival footage may be familiar to some yet it remains visceral and hard to watch. While the footage is needed to make its powerful point about Nazi horrors, some might want to look away from the screen at those moments.

NUREMBERG will be called an Oscar-bait drama by some, and it is, but it is Oscar-bait with a higher purpose, to revisit a time when the world held evil to account, and as a reminder, once again, what we all should remember: never again.

NUREMBERG opens Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in theaters.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

Teaser For Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson Biopic MICHAEL Is Here

MICHAEL is the cinematic portrayal of the life and legacy of one of the most influential artists the world has ever known. The film tells the story of Michael Jackson’s life beyond the music, tracing his journey from the discovery of his extraordinary talent as the lead of the Jackson Five, to the visionary artist whose creative ambition fueled a relentless pursuit to become the biggest entertainer in the world. Highlighting both his life off-stage and some of the most iconic performances from his early solo career, the film gives audiences a front-row seat to Michael Jackson as never before. This is where his story begins.

In theaters on April 24, 2026, MICHAEL stars Jaafar Jackson, Nia Long, Laura Harrier, Juliano Krue Valdi, with Miles Teller, and Colman Domingo.

From director Antoine Fuqua with a screenplay by John Logan, watch the first teaser for MICHAEL.

Michael Jackson had 13 number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 during his solo career. This list includes collaborations with other artists. https://www.michaeljackson.com/the-artist/

Michael Jackson’s solo #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 

  • “Ben” (1972): The title track from his second solo album.
  • “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” (1979): The first single released from his Off the Wall album.
  • “Rock with You” (1980): A single from the Off the Wall album.
  • “Billie Jean” (1983): The iconic single from the album Thriller.
  • “Beat It” (1983): Also from the Thriller album.
  • “Say Say Say” (1983): A duet with Paul McCartney.
  • “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” (1987): A duet with Siedah Garrett, from the album Bad.
  • “Bad” (1987): The title track from the album.
  • “The Way You Make Me Feel” (1988): Another #1 hit from the Bad album.
  • “Man in the Mirror” (1988): From the album Bad.
  • “Dirty Diana” (1988): The fifth consecutive single from Bad to reach #1, a record for a male artist.
  • “Black or White” (1991): The first single from the album Dangerous.
  • “You Are Not Alone” (1995): Became the first song in Billboard Hot 100 history to debut at #1. 

Maven. Photo Credit: Glen Wilson

Win Passes To The St. Louis Advance Screening Of NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T

The Four Horsemen (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Isla Fisher) are back — to unite with a new generation of illusionists (Justice Smith, Dominic Sessa, Ariana Greenblatt) for their most global, high-stakes magical adventure yet. Their mission: Expose the corruption of Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike), a powerful diamond heiress with ties to arms dealers, traffickers, and warlords. Aided by the legendary Thaddeus (Morgan Freeman), the two generations of magicians must overcome their differences to try and defeat their cunning and dangerous adversary, in this magic-fueled heist filled with the franchise’s signature twists, turns, and thrilling reveals — along with some of the most thrilling illusions ever captured on film.

NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T is directed by Ruben Fleischer (Venom, Uncharted, Zombieland), from a screenplay by Michael Lesslie and Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese and Seth Grahame-Smith, story by Eric Warren Singer and Michael Lesslie, and based on characters created by Boaz Yakin & Edward Ricourt. Lionsgate presents, a Cohen Pictures production.

ONLY IN THEATERS NOVEMBER 14.

Official Site: https://nowyouseeme.movie/ 

DON’T MISS THE NEXT #NOWYOUSEEME MOVIE UPDATE. TEXT +1 (315) 669-8263

The St. Louis screening is at 7PM on Monday, November 10th at Chesterfield Galaxy 14 Cine.

ENTER HERE FOR PASSES: http://www.lionsgatescreenings.com/KSzuN12880

Please arrive early as seating is not guaranteed.

PG-13 for some strong language, violence and suggestive references.

Dominic Sessa as Bosco, Jesse Eisenberg as Daniel Atlas, Isla Fisher as Henley Reeves, and Justice Smith as Charlie in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t. Photo Credit: Katalin Vermes

Win Passes To The St. Louis Advance Screening Of THE RUNNING MAN – Starring Glen Powell

GET READY TO EXPERIENCE EDGAR WRIGHT’S THE RUNNING MAN ON THE BIG SCREEN!

In a near-future society, The Running Man is the top-rated show on television—a deadly competition where contestants, known as Runners, must survive 30 days while being hunted by professional assassins, with every move broadcast to a bloodthirsty public and each day bringing a greater cash reward. Desperate to save his sick daughter, working-class Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is convinced by the show’s charming but ruthless producer, Dan Killian (Josh Brolin), to enter the game as a last resort. But Ben’s defiance, instincts, and grit turn him into an unexpected fan favorite—and a threat to the entire system. As ratings skyrocket, so does the danger, and Ben must outwit not just the Hunters, but a nation addicted to watching him fall.

Based on the Novel by Stephen King.

Directed by Edgar Wright and starring Glen Powell, William H. Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, Emilia Jones, Daniel Ezra, Jayme Lawson, Sean Hayes, Katy O’Brian with Colman Domingo and Josh Brolin, THE RUNNING MAN IS IN THEATRES, DOLBY CINEMA, 4DX, PREMIUM LARGE FORMAT AND IMAX ON NOVEMBER 14, 2025.

The St. Louis screening is at 7PM on Monday, November 10th at the Alamo Drafthouse City Foundry.

ENTER HERE FOR PASSES: https://gofobo.com/TRMWAMG

Please arrive early as seating is not guaranteed.

Rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout, and sexual references.

L-r, Katy O’Brian, Glen Powell and Martin Herlihy star in Paramount Pictures’ “The Running Man.”

©2025 Paramount Pictures. All Right Reserved.

“Forest of the Missing” – Review


The French procedural miniseries “Forest of the Missing (La Foret des disparus)” resembles all the different countries’  incarnations of “The Border”, with a dozen bodies found in the Black Forest on a military site that’s shared by Germany and France, requiring cops from both countries to cooperate in the sleuthing.  The remains were buried separately over the previous 15 years. That indicates the work of a serial killer, though it takes a long time to identify the men doing their dirt naps. And when the sleuths do start coming up with names, there seems to be no connection or pattern among them. 

The prime police detectives are Erik (Gregory Fitoussi) and Franz (Tcheky Karyo), with semi-reliable assistance from former judge Camille (Helene de Fougerolles). She’d been injured a year before in a serious car crash that left her amnesic. If that weren’t bad enough, she’s also got a bitchy teen daughter, Iris (Victoria Eber), to contend with. Franz chafes at the younger Erik being designated as lead detective on the case.

As one might expect, theories and suspects abound in such a complex, prolonged scenario. As Camille starts getting flashes of returning memories, her role in the crimes and solutions becomes larger, albeit erratically so. There are scenes with on-screen violence and menace in this suspenseful drama. But they don’t belabor the appearance of the stiffs, minimizing the gore factor. Performances are solid all around. US viewers will recognize Turkish native Karyo from dozens of English-language and imported films – largely crime dramas. I’ve mostly seen him playing bad guys, which transitions well to this character’s sour disposition while on the other side of the law.  

This is marketed as a miniseries, which is legitimate since it delivers closure in its four hourlong episodes. That makes it a tighter package than many of the European series I’ve covered. Kudos to director Ivan Fegyveres and the four credited writers for that. But they end with a teaser for a follow-up that thus far hasn’t materialized.  That’s OK, either way. 

“Forest of the Missing”, in French with subtitles, streams on MHz Choice on November 4, 2025.

3 Out Of 4 Stars

https://watch.mhzchoice.com/forest-of-the-missing

“Cassandre” Season 4 – TV Series Review

Gwendoline HAMON – Alexandre VARGA

The light French crime dramedy “Cassandre: Season 4” continues with the same cast and another four non-bloody rounds of murders to solve. My review from Season One gives you the who’s who and some background for enjoying this one: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2025/01/cassandre-season-1-tv-series-review/

Since then, there’s been a bit of will they/won’t they between Cassandre and Pascal, with other romances along the way for each. Cassandre’s son is still a pain in the neck, but less so than her ex, another cop who keeps showing up on cases more frequently than she’d like. The characters on the rest of her team have also continued being developed – especially Emmanuele Bougerol’s Major Kerouac (no known relation to Jack), who anchors the station while the detectives do their thing in the field.

This quartet begins with a murder victim’s father holding a courtroom hostage when the perpetrator isn’t dealt with severely enough by “the system”.  In the next, a murder occurs that seemingly relates to one years before, occurring weeks after the guy convicted for the first comes back from prison. Guess who the prime suspect is? That premise is similar to the Belgian “Public Enemy” series (also reviewed on this site). 

In the third, corporate crime and personal affairs make a juggling act of motive and perpetrator options. This one has the most action and blood of the season, but still less than our typical prime-time crime fare. The fourth begins with a monastery tour group finding a dead baker at the bottom of a well, where there shoulda oughta hadda been water.

Cassandre’s appeal as a protagonist continues to grow. The actress playing her, Gwendoline Hamon, looks like a cross between Renee Russo and Michelle Pfeiffer, varying between the two with the camera angle. No need to binge, since each 90-minute episode is a stand-alone plot. But watch them in order for the relationship progressions.  And it’s worthwhile getting to know these likable characters, since four more seasons  have already aired abroad, and they ain’t done yet.

“Cassandre: Season 4”, in French with subtitles, streams on MHz Choice on November 4th.

3 Out Of 4 Stars

BUGONIA – Review

Jesse Plemons stars as Teddy in director Yorgos Lanthimos’ BUGONIA, a Focus Features release.
Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features © 2025 All Rights Reserved.

Jesse Plemons gives a jaw-dropping performance as conspiracy-obsessed young man who convinces his pliant cousin to help him kidnap the high-powered woman CEO, played by Emma Stone, of a Big Pharma/agra-chemical company, driven by the belief that she is an alien from another planet who is set on destroying the world, in BUGONIA, Yorgos Lanthimos’ darkly comic, oft horrifying but ultimately humanly touching social commentary on our crazy modern world. Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos is known for his award-winning, imaginative films with a dark world view, such as THE LOBSTER, THE FAVOURITE, and POOR THINGS. BUGONIA is actually a loose re-make of a South Korean film, SAVE THE GREEN PLANET, and the pair of young men plan to force the CEO alien to contact her emperor and call off the destruction of Earth. Basically, it comes down to a face-off between the obsessed conspiracy-theorist and the heartless corporate CEO, in a battle of the wills filled with twists and enough unexpected turns to spin your head around.

The strange title actually comes from an ancient Greek ritual in which a bull is sacrificed in such a way that it was believed that the carcass would produce bees. This plan to have the alien CEO contact her space alien emperor seems as likely to succeed.

While this premise seems ripe for comedy, audiences should be warned that the film has plenty of violence, and a horror aspect, not just talking in the basement where the two are holding her.

What really makes this film is Jesse Plemons’ startling performance. Plemons gives an Oscar-worthy performance unlike anything you have ever seen from him, as a young beekeeper and environmentalist in a fading small town, who has been driven mad by terrible events in his life and too much time spent on the conspiracy-theory drenched internet. He lives in the crumbling old house outside of town where he grew up with his mother, along with his neurodivergent cousin.

Beyond saving the planet, Jesse Plemon’s character has more personal issues with Emma Stone’s CEO. One of his issues with her company is linked to colony collapse disorder, which the beekeeper links to certain chemicals, and the other has to do with his mother’s experimental treatment for drug addiction, which had devastating results.

While Plemon’s character is a lost soul with a tragic history, Emma Stone’s CEO is a soul less, hard-driven executive in spike heels who works out with martial arts and seems to have little feeling for people. In one of her first scenes, the CEO is recording a diversity message for her employees, when she flubs a line saying “diversity” too many times, with an expression that makes it clear she’d rather not say it at all. She walks down a hall, reminding her employees they now can leave work at 5:30pm. adding “Your call!” but then “unless you have work to finish,” undercutting the whole work-life balance initiative she is launching. “Your call!” she repeats.

Plemon’s character Teddy’s partner in crime is his pliant cousin Don, played well by fuzzy-haired newcomer Aidan Delbis, who lives with Teddy because he has no one else. Don adores his smart, slightly older cousin, who apparently is the only one in town who treats him with kindness and a level of respect. Plemon’s Teddy is clearly smart but absorbed in his elaborate tin-hat theories, which the pliant cousin listens to and accepts – partly because he feels he has no choice.

Teddy wants to kidnap alien CEO Michelle to force to contact her Emperor and call of the attack on Earth. The kidnapping doesn’t go smoothly but the pair do get her back to Teddy’s basement. However, he does not want her to contact her Mothership for rescue, so he cuts off her hair – which is how she sends messages to other aliens.

At first our sympathies are more with the broken, lost Teddy, but that turns rather quickly. And turn back again, and again, with a series of shockers and twists that continue to the end.

None of these characters are simple or black-and-white. The film gives all the characters depth and complexity, which adds an unexpected layer of humanity and heart to the tale, despite the sometimes awful events than unfold.

Whether it is aliens or just alienation, BUGONIA delivers a punch, but primarily through the outstanding performances, especially by Jesse Plemons, one that should win him an Oscar nod at a minimum.

BUGONIA opens Friday, Oct. 31, in theaters.

RATING: 3 out of 4 stars