Clayface

My View:  Clayface  (2026)  R   In Clayface, rising Hollywood actor Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) is horribly disfigured by a local crime boss. Desperate to resurrect his career, he sees a doctor, Caitlin Corr (Naomi Ackie), who offers an experimental treatment Matt hopes will restore his face. It works at first, but then suddenly turns his body into living clay, which fuels his pain as he seeks revenge. First, a warning: If you don’t like the sight of blood, this is not your movie. Blood and how it behaves are important parts of the movie, along with self-mutilation. Unless you are a fan of the TV series Batman: The Animated Series or a comic book Batman fan from way back, you will not know who Clayface is going into this film. Matt Hagen slowly turns into a bad guy, set on revenge and willing to kill his victims in rather gruesome deaths. I like this film (not love, only liked) because we get to see how he becomes so consumed by his road to vengeance and feels the world has turned against him. You aren’t going to like Matt/Clayface. Heck, you don’t really like him when he's an up-and-coming star at the start of the film, at the top of his game and just getting an Oscar nomination. This is a horror film, not a superhero film, and it’s meant to make you squirm. There is a scene on a plane where Matt’s new face is not working correctly, and while he is trying to rectify the situation with a knife very close to his eye, I watched with my hand in front of my face. I didn’t love this film because, aside from being set in Gotham, there isn’t much to tie it into the DC universe, and Clayface's revenge tour goes on a little too long and is a little underwhelming in its plot. I should have been chomping at the bit after the film to want to see this villain take on a superhero or two, but I didn’t really care. As someone yelled out at the end of my screening, “Where’s Batman?” I wondered the same thing. My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Clayface Website  Now playing in theaters

Indiefest:  Wicker  (2026)  R   Wicker follows a lonely, ill-tempered fisherwoman (Olivia Colman) who is tired of living alone and asks a local basket weaver (Peter Dinklage) to make her a wicker husband. His creation comes to life (Alexander Skarsgard) and is everything she could ever want in a companion. However, his presence sparks the close-minded village into chaos. Wicker is an absolute blast to watch and is a joyful look at finding love when you least expect it. This is a fable about a wicker man who comes to life, made only to fall in love with a woman who has given up on a meaningful relationship. I loved every performance in this film. Elizabeth Debicki is delightfully wicked as the village matriarch, controlling what everyone thinks and feels about what happens in their community. Peter Dinklage is amazing as the grumpy but kind wicker maker, happiest when he figures out he can make beings come to life to enrich people’s lives, while spouting monologues about why he can do it. Then, there is Alexander Skarsgård, who plays the devoted and in-love wicker man, who is with someone who is amazed that anyone would be interested in someone like the fisherwoman. It’s a remarkable role where the only way to convey his feelings and emotions in a wicker casing is through his words and his eyes. Olivia Coleman gives a masterful, award-worthy performance as a woman who feels all the emotions of being in love but still doubts she is worthy of the devotion the wicker man gives her. Only a gifted actor like Coleman can give us a character we feel deeply for and root for, someone whose love and hurt betrayal we understand. Wicker is a wonderful tale of love, redemption, and triumph of the spirit that you will want to see again. An unusual love story, which, at its heart, isn’t that unusual after all.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See It Again  Wicker Website  Now playing in theaters   Don't confuse this with the two versions of The Wicker Man: the bizarre 1973 Christopher Lee version and the even weirder 2006 Nicolas Cage version (known as the Cage in the Cage with Bees version).

My View:  Wildwood  (2026)  PG-13  Wildwood follows 13-year-old Prue (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee) who, after her brother is kidnapped by a band of crows, ventures into the “Impassable Wilderness” to rescue her brother. With her best friend, Curtis (voiced by Jacob Tremblay), she encounters talking animals, bandits, and a very scary woman (voiced by Carey Mulligan) who once ruled this magical world and wants that power back. Please note that this movie is rated PG-13 because of violence that could shock very young children. Not to spoil anything, but the main villain outright kills someone in full view of the viewer. Visually, it's one of the most astounding pieces of animation I have ever seen. At times, this film has over 500 characters (heck, maybe more) in the frame, all done in stop-motion animation, and it is magical. Wildwood is a beautiful, jaw-dropping-looking film. The attention to detail and the breathtaking scenery is worth the price of admission. I haven’t read the book, but this film is extremely dark in tone and deals with death, betrayal, and grief. All very heady stuff that will require some discussion between parents and their children. Wildwood is a story of belief. Believing that you can overcome it. You are strong and smart enough to defeat evil if you learn to work together and outsmart your adversaries. It’s also about finding family in unexpected places and finding strength in it. Wildwood is a modern fairy tale where the stakes are high, sacrifices must be made, and if you fail, things will never be the same.  My Rating: Full Price  Wildwood Website  Now playing in theaters

Indiefest:  Klara and the Sun  (2026)  PG-13   Klara and the Sun is set in a future where genetic engineering has divided society into social classes and technology dominates daily life. A sick girl's parents purchase an android named Klara (Jenna Ortega). Klara becomes best friends with Josie (Mia Tharia) and goes on a mission to find a cure for Josie’s illness. This is another in a long line of films that try to adapt a book that probably should never be adapted. I like Jenna Ortega, and who doesn’t love some Amy Adams, but this film never works. From the start, the humor is too broad and not funny. Robots learn about life from a store manager (Natasha Lyonne) who tells them stories that are just movie plots. I guess we are supposed to be charmed by this, but in my mind, I kept thinking, why are we seeing this? The friendship robots are dumb. We get it in the first couple of minutes. Move on. This isn’t a bad film, but it’s not a good one either. This is a downer of a film that keeps trying to lift our spirits with stupid stuff Klara does or says, but it just makes it more depressing. I love some of filmmaker Taika Waititi’s films, especially his 2nd feature, Boy (2010), which is brilliant and moving, but this movie is neither. The film is filled with paper-thin characters that feel like a first pitch to a studio, where the person pitching has no clue where the film will go or who the characters are. While the film is told mostly through Klara's eyes, it is often hard to understand her perspective on the story.  Klara and the Sun is about a robot who worships the sun. I thought sun worshipers were out of style. Mr. Waititi hasn’t gotten the message.  My Rating: Cable  Klara and the Sun Website   Now playing in theaters

My View:  A Talent for Murder  (2026) R   A Talent for Murder, a young literary agent, Edward (Alden Ehrenreich), travels to a secluded Swiss chalet in 1995 to convince author Patricia Highsmith (Helen Mirren) to write one final Tom Ripley novel. Highsmith only agrees to do it if Edward first helps her plan the ‘perfect murder.’ The question is, is Edward going to be the murder victim? Or will Patricia be his? A Talent for Murder is three stories in one. The first story is a cat-and-mouse game between Edward and Patricia: Edward wants her to sign a contract for a new book, and Patricia wants Edward to help her create it before she signs. The second story is a love story between Edward and a woman, Clementine Balfour (Olivia Cooke), whom he meets and becomes infatuated with while traveling on a train to meet Patricia. The third story is the one Edward, prompted by Patricia, comes up with: the Ripley story, using himself as Ripley and his new infatuation, Clementine, as a love interest to show how Ripley gets away with murder. Helen Mirren has a ball as the hard-drinking, chain-smoking writer who is used to getting her way by bullying and possibly murder. It’s a marvelous role, and Mirren relishes in creating a character that is wicked, smart, but who might have met her match in the young, full of himself book executive who will not take no for an answer, even if it kills him. I loved this film, with its constant twists and turns that keep you guessing and wondering if anyone is going to die, and I don’t mean the character in the story Edward is telling. Sadly, I felt the ending of the film didn’t match the rest of the film’s cleverness. It’s too easy an ending and feels messy and underwritten. Nevertheless, the rest of the film, with its constant twists of the knife, is a devious romp into the minds of two very clever, screwed-up characters. But be careful: that gun on the wall just might be loaded, and that knife next to it looks pretty sharp.  My Rating: Full Price   A Talent for Murder Website  Now playing in theaters

Indiefest: Making Marie Antoninette  (2026)  Making Marie Antoinette is a documentary about the making of Sofia Coppola’s award-winning 2006 film. It’s always fun for me, as a film critic and movie lover, to see how movies are made. It’s a hard, long process that requires an incredible number of people, and it’s a miracle if the film turns out even ok, much less if it turns out well. However, this is a very different kind of documentary because it's made by a mother, Eleanor Coppola, documenting a movie being made by her daughter. Add in the fact that this movie was completed after Eleanor had passed away, and it makes it even more poignant. It’s a very personal look at a young filmmaker tackling a big-budget film for the first time in a setting, the Palace of Versailles, that has never allowed this type of film to be made there. We get to see all the thousands of decisions that a director has to make, all the while trying to keep the picture moving along. What makes this film work is that Eleanor gives us insight (with Diane Lane doing the voiceover for Eleanor) on how she sees the production and the worried mother on how her daughter is handling the stress. What I loved about this movie is that it showed how detail-oriented Sofia was, how real flowers were used, over 70 dresses that Kristen Dunst wore in the production, and how all the food shown on camera was edible. I hope this documentary will make you want to see Sofia’s movie, whether again or for the first time. And while you are watching the movie, remember how hard everyone worked to bring this vivid look at a doomed queen to life. My Rating: Full Price    Making Marie Antoninette Website   Now in select theaters and streaming on MUBI on Friday, November 6, 2026.

My View: Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald  (2026)  R   Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald is a documentary about the legendary comedian whose unique humor took him from the desk of ‘Weekend Update’ to sold-out venues, where fellow comics consider his stand-up routines perfect and hilarious. Norm Macdonald was one of my favorite stand-up comics. He had a unique way of looking at things and making them funny, even when dealing with topics like Hitler or death. He was also an enigma. Even his closest friends knew little about Norm. They had no clue if he had ever been married (he did have a son), was straight or gay, had gone to college, or even if he graduated high school. Heck, most didn’t know that he fought cancer for the last nine years of his life. But they all knew he was the funniest guy in the room, no matter what room it was. Norm is a documentary that doesn’t give you any answers. In fact, it just continues the subject of Norm, the unknown. What we learned was that he was an incredibly talented comic who could make everyone laugh, and he did what he loved right up to the very end. The documentary gives you clip after clip of Norm being funny. It even gives you a sampling of his off-the-wall, weird and wonderful tweets, something he became even more famous for. He was a comic’s comic. As Conan says late in the film, ‘If you want to see me really laugh, watch me when Norm is on my show.’ And if you want to really laugh, do what the film suggests at the end of the documentary: go down the rabbit hole of Norm’s talk-show appearances. My favorite is a Conan clip (shown much too briefly in the doc) where Norm mocks a CarrotTop movie coming out, and Courtney Thorne-Smith, one of the movie's stars, is sitting right next to him. Even she can’t stop laughing. My Rating: Full Price   Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform

Forgotten Film: Theater of Blood (1973) R   Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price) is a Shakespearean actor who believes he is far better than any other actor but is overlooked, all because of the critics who have hurt him. So he goes on a quest to systematically murder those critics with death scenes straight from the Shakespeare plays they looked down on. Price is perfect in the role of an overly dramatic actor who is better at killing than performing. It's a role that Price, who could be flamboyant with the best of them, could do in his sleep. The final scene is not to be missed, watching an actor who knew how to make something dramatic without going over the top, while also having a twinkle in his eye. So much fun.   Theater of Blood Info  My Rating: Bargain Matinee     Available on most streaming services

Weird Credits:  From the credits of Wicker:  Wicker Husband Lead Makeup Artist

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  The Only Living Pickpocket in New York (2026)  R  The Only Living Pickpocket in New York is about Harry (John Turturro), an aging, struggling old-school pickpocket who has a hard time surviving in a modern world of trackable smartphones and cameras everywhere. Harry makes the mistake of taking a highly valuable USB stick from a ruthless crime family and is in a world of trouble. To learn the tricks of the trade, John Turturro studied real sleight-of-hand and theft techniques with illusionist Apollo Robbins.    The Only Living Pickpocket in New York Website   In theaters on Friday, October 30, 2026

Until Next Time!