The Out-of-Frame Horror: "The Zone of Interest," reviewed.

Sandra Hüller has a dream house next to hell in The Zone of Interest. (A24)

Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin was my favorite film of 2014 (though it was released outside of the U.S. a year earlier). My review of his even-more-challenging follow-up, The Zone of Interest, is here. I wrote, erroneously, that the movie was in black-and-white. It’s not, but monochrome was how I remembered it. That’s definitely the strangest mistake I’ve ever made in (digital) print.

"Poor Things," rich text

Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo in Poor Things.

My Washington City Paper review of Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things, one of 2023’s most rewarding films, is here.

"Napoleon:" Not Dynamite!

Once more into the breach. (Apple)

Sir Ridley Scott, the tireless 85-year-old director of two sci-fi landmarks, a classic feminist road movie, one Best Picture-winning epic and a lot of other stuff, has notched another middling megaproduction with Napoleon. My Washington City Paper review is here.

Friedkin Deserved Better: "The Exorcist: Believer," reviewed.

Ellen Burstun with Exorcist: Believer cowriter/director David Gordon Green.

My Washington City Paper review of The Exorcist: Believer, yet another unworthy sequel to one of the great horror films, is here.

A Rogue One: "The Creator," reviewed.

John David Washington and Madeleine Yuna Voyles in an Gareth Edwards film. (Disney)

My Washington City Paper review of The Creator — Monsters, Godzilla, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards’ new sci-fi epic — is here.

Talkin' Long Movies on "Weekend Edition Sunday"

Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in Martin Scorsese’s 3.5-hour historical epic Killers of the Flower Moon. (Apple)

There’re few things I love more than to immerse myself in he richly-imagined world of a movie, but even I can see that popcorn flicks, in particular, have hulked out to dangerous dimensions. I noted this alarming trend on the occasion of Avengers: Endgame in 2019 and again back in May when Martin Scorsese’s 3.5-hour adaptation of David Grann’s nonfiction true-crime epic Killers of the Flower Moon debuted at the Cannes Film Festival. Weekend Edition Sunday host Ayesha Roscoe had me and my pal Bob Mondello on to refute, which great respect, her assertion that movies are too long. According to Bob, what was originally slated for a four-minute time slot was allowed to strech out to a luxurious 7:15, which seems fitting.

The Old Vampire and the Sea: "The Last Voyage of the Demeter," reviewed.

He’s well-fed on his ocean voyage from Romania to England.

My Washington City Paper review of the Dracula… mid-quel. I guess? … The Last Voyage of the Demeter is here.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One"

IMF lifers Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie always wanted to crash a train together. (Paramount)

it’s an honor and a privilege to dissect the latest entry in my favorite film franchise with Linda Holmes, Wailin Wong, and Roxanna Hadadi on today’s Pop Culture Happy Hour. My estimation of the film grew when I saw it a second time after we recorded this, but it’s an accurate reflection of my somewhat perplexed initial response.