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It's not a movie.It's an emotion to our family

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Home » Reviews » Malayalam Movie Reviews

Home Movie Review: A Feel-Good Film That Focuses On Characters Cinema Rarely Does, Indrans Wins Heart!

Rojin thomas, in his writing and direction, is headstrong about one thing, and that is not having a hero in his film..

Star Cast: Indrans, Sreenath Bhasi , Nalsen K. Gafoor, Manju Pillai, Deepa Thomas and ensemble.

Director: Rojin Thomas

What’s Good: Finally, a film acknowledging all the characters cinema has forever used as plot points, and making them the hero. The beauty is, there is no hero here, just Oliver Twist and his cuteness.

What’s Bad: The runtime as long as a period drama which leads to the film become preachy and dilutes the purpose.

Loo Break: Take time and watch this one. Have an empty bladder so you can enjoy the moments that are small but highly relatable.

Watch or Not?: It is a feel-good film, and one that has released after a very long time. I want you to watch and cherish your daily life on screen.

Language: Malayalam (Subtitles)

Available on: Amazon Prime Video

Children grow up but for their parents they are always the munchkins they one day brought home. Technically challenged Oliver Twist (Indrans) is father to two such boys who are now grown up and navigating their route in their respective lives but forget to acknowledge their father who is a silent giver, but never glorifies his victories. Get on board for this journey is heart breaks and Self-realisation; come out of it with a smile.

Home Movie Review: Script Analysis

The definition of family over the years has changed drastically. The dynamic that children and their parents share even more. Home, in its primary conflict, acknowledges this very argument and what it does to people who have a lot to learn about the modern world yet. Written by Rojin Thomas, the story is set in a house lavish enough to accommodate a joint family. The father is a silent doer. He almost does all the chores with his wife without complaining. Once when he does, he regrets it later.

So Rojin makes Oliver Twist, the father, aka Papa, the hero of his story. The perspective throughout is his and how he sees his ecosystem in a mansion unfold around him. Youngest son Charles (Nalsen), clever for his own good, is a lazy chap but still close to parents. Eldest Antony, a budding filmmaker is arrogant, and an outright toxic man, only spitting negativity because he has problems going on in his personal life. Of course, he has a soft corner too, but the arrogant side overpowers.

Now, Oliver, whom Antony sees like an average Joe good for nothing, has to become his son’s friend. He is also an old man wanting to learn the new technology, precisely smart phone. Home is a tale of a family we have seen or maybe one we are living in. The characters are people from around us, their problems and struggles are real, and so are their solutions. Thomas creates the main plot relatable to the tee and makes sure his audience connects to even the Fish Tank stand that breaks one day, signifying the chaos in the household and the pressure it has created. You will see.

Home at the core becomes a story of acceptance. Accepting your family with its simplicity, they need not be extra ordinary or superhumans to feel proud of them. Oliver Twist craves for his son to give him the same acknowledgement he provides to his overachiever father-in-law, but he never really gets angry at Antony for not giving it. Thomas definitely draws inspiration from people around him.

Rojin makes sure he doesn’t make Oliver a saint. In the beginning you see him being a rebel in front of his disabled father, and later when Sreenath’s Antony does it in full throttle, you observe genes have indeed passed from generation to generation.

But what pulls down the energy in this tale about love, longing, and acceptance is the writer deciding to branch out the story to the maximum. We are introduced to multiple conflicts that do have a stake in the summation, but not enough to invest our time into. For example, for a brief moment, Home acknowledges mental health, never to be spoken again. It talks about smartphone addiction, only to be used as a reason. It only becomes preachy and doesn’t add much.

Home Movie Review: Star Performance

Rojin Thomas wins a gold in casting. Every actor performing their parts to perfection and finesse. Indrans playing Oliver Twist is what experience does to a seasoned actor. Differentiating whether it is acting or documentation becomes difficult, and he wins heart with his smile. I was for real hurt when Antony burst out at him.

Sreenath Bhasi becomes the son parents don’t want theirs to become. He gets the tone right and becomes a layered character expected out of him. Nalsen K Gafoor gets to show his versatility in a week. A brainwashed teen in Kuruthi and a lively chap in Home, he has the charm.

Manju Pillai manages to win hearts even amid all these talented men. Her portrayal of the mother who is stuck between a family that is borderline crazy is worth watching.

Home Movie Review: Direction, Music

Rojin Thomas, in his writing and direction, is headstrong about one thing, and that is not having a hero in his film. It’s a family-like yours and mine, and this is the time camera zooms in into the ones it has neglected for years. He brings warmth in his direction, be it Indrans curiosity to learn smart phone, or him sad face that pierces out heart, he knows what draws audience.

Rahul Subrahmanian’s music serves the purpose and works well with the script, but I am not sure about the recall value.

Home Movie Review: The Last Word

It is a slice of life film for real. The family in Home is yours and mine. You will find characters that resemble people in your life. Watch Home and live the feel-good vibe for a few hours amid these testing times.

Home Trailer

Home releases on 19th August, 2021.

Share with us your experience of watching Home.

Check out our review of Sarpatta Parambarai , if you’re into good boxing dramas.

Must Read:  Sarpatta Parambarai Movie Review: Arya Is Impeccable In This Pa. Ranjith’s Winning Knockout Blow!

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Home movie review: Indrans' Malayalam film is a charming relationship drama

Home movie review: sometimes too sweets but most times heartwarming, rojin thomas brings to life a lovely family drama that is driven by indrans' effortless performance..

Malayalam cinema is quietly making an impact with its simple stories. At a time when filmmakers are running behind stars to make pan-Indian cinema; Malayalam industry is betting its money on close-to-heart stories.

Rojin Thomas’s Home, which joins the list of recent feel-good Malayalam movies like Vikruthi and Android Kunjappan, works its magic with a simple story of a technology-challenged father, desperately trying to bond with his sons in the digital age. Home is a charming relationship drama but is too sweet at times making it slightly unbearable. However, it does leave you with a smile on your face with some lovely moments.

Watch Home trailer:

Home follows the relationship between Oliver Twist (Indrans) and his elder son Anthony Oliver Twist (Sreenath Bhasi) over a period of a few weeks. Anthony, a filmmaker basking in the success of his debut film, is struggling to write his second movie. With an ultimatum from his producer, he comes home, a place where he wrote his first script, to find some spark. Anthony’s father is over the moon to see his son back home, and his excitement knows no bounds as he goes around telling his friends about Anthony’s next project with a superstar. With constant pressure from the producer to complete the project, Anthony’s relationship with his family falls apart while his father tries his best to keep everything afloat.

Also read: Netrikann review: Nayanthara shines in a safe adaptation of Korean thriller

What really works in the favour of Home is its simplistic storytelling. It doesn’t boast of a great storyline, but it manages to tug at heartstrings with a plot that’s peppered with some lovely moments and a heartwarming twist. The film does get needlessly long but it makes up for the length with some great performances from the lead cast. Veteran actor Indrans breathes life into the character of the father, who’s stuck between pleasing his sons and getting more comfortable with social media. Indrans makes this a great family drama with his effortless performance and the scenes between the members of the family are highly relatable. Sreenath Bhasi is equally good as the wayward filmmaker-son.

The film does touch upon sensitive themes like discussing meeting a psychologist, and how it’s not something to be ashamed about. There’s also a sub-plot about social media being both a boon and a bane. It’s a film you won’t mind recommending and it makes for a lovely watch with your family.

Director: Rojin Thomas

Cast: Indrans, Sreenath Bhasi and Vijay Babu

• Malayalam Cinema
• Movie Reviews
• Malayalam Actor Indrans Stitch

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'Home' Movie Review

Get the details of the new movie, with voices by Rihanna and Jim Parsons.

— -- With Voices By Rihanna , Steve Martin and Jim Parsons

Three-and-a-half out of five stars

Dreamworks ’ newest animated feature, "Home," isn’t exactly a world-beater, but it is does revolve around a world invasion. Our world, to be exact.

The Boov are intergalactic nomads, who look like the Scrubbing Bubbles and "Despicable Me"’s Minions procreated. They speak English but the way in which they arrange their sentences is ridiculous. The silly Boov leader, Captain Smek, voiced by Steve Martin, is great at one thing: running away! When we first meet him, the Boov are running away from their mortal enemy -- to Earth, a planet they’ll take over by moving all humans to Australia .

One Boov in particular is excited about their new beginning. That’s Oh, voiced by Jim Parsons, whose voice is perfect for any animated character. Oh’s issue is the rest of the Boov don’t like him, but because e’s blissfully unaware of how he’s perceived, he continues to try to ingratiate himself to the rest of the Boov. Then he makes a major mistake that could put every Boov in peril, and finds himself on the run.

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That’s when he meets a young girl named Tip, who has a lovely singing voice. OK, we don’t really hear her sing, but because her voice is supplied by Rihanna, let’s just assume she sings like Rihanna. Tip agrees to help hide Oh, and Oh agrees to help Tip find her mother.

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Tip is a strong, young, intelligent female character. Making her even more compelling and important is she’s black. I don’t think I need to tell you about the lack of young, black female characters in animated movies, because there pretty much are none.

Your kids will likely enjoy "Home" from beginning to end. For adults, however, "Home" feels like two different movies. The first 45 minutes are almost intolerable: the writing isn’t particularly strong, and the story isn’t particularly compelling. It’s annoying, and the chemistry between Tip and Oh is awful. You stick with it, though, because there’s something inherently good about both characters.

Thankfully, your patience is rewarded. The second half of "Home" works with a solid and emotionally satisfying ending. If only the whole movie were that way.

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‘Home’ review: A heart-warming experience that lingers on – and on

Rojin thomas’s family drama is out on amazon prime video..

Rojin Thomas’s Home promises a heart-warming experience and achieves both a heart-warming and seat-warming experience. The Malayalam drama on Amazon Prime Video comes in at an extended two hours and 41 minutes, delivering feel-good vibes, observational comedy and homilies about life and family.

The storytelling is as unhurried and old-fashioned as the hero, a techno-illiterate man who has fallen behind in the age of the smartphone and social media. Oliver (Indrans) lives with his father (Kainakary Thankaraj), wife Kuttiyamma (Manju Pillai) and son Charles (Naslen) in Thiruvanthapuram. Oliver’s older son Anthony (Sreenath Bhasi) is a filmmaker struggling to complete his second movie.

Suffering from writer’s block, easily distracted by the pings and beeps emanating ever so often from his phone, and anxious about his impending marriage to girlfriend Priya (Deepa Thomas), Anthony fails to notice his father’s fumbling attempts to reach out to him. Anthony’s dismissive attitude towards the nondescript and frequently tongue-tied Oliver is in stark contrast with his admiration for Priya’s high-achieving father Joseph (Sreekanth Murali).

Wounded by his son’s open contempt and Charles’s occasional sneering, Oliver pours out his woes to his hypochondriac childhood friend Suryan (Johny Antony). Oliver’s attempts to master the mysteries of the smartphone lead to a series of misadventures that are embarrassing for Anthony but revelatory for Oliver.

Thomas’s screenplay plays out like a limited-episode series crunched into a movie. Home attempts to reach a meeting point between rootedness and individualism, personal contact and the new-fangled but distancing seductions of the smartphone.

Gentle comedy about human foibles is balanced with folksy wisdom about the importance of family ties. Oliver Twist’s journey of self-discovery and his own back story (including the one about his unusual name) prove that he is more hip than square, despite what his son thinks.

Thomas treats deep wounds with a bandage that has a smiley stuck on it. A less cheerful movie might have been more harsh on Anthony, who often comes off as being obnoxious to Oliver. Even Anthony’s girlfriend suffers the blast of his disdain – a situation that resolves itself without any damage to Anthony.

With compromise rather than confrontation in mind, Home focuses on creating relatable situations and amplifying the excellent chemistry between the ensemble set of actors. The movie’s hero is unmistakably Indrans, one of cinema’s finest chameleons.

Indrans’s superlative performance is both understated and attention-grabbing, minimalist in gesture and expression and maximalist in impact. The rest of the cast is on a roll too, helping Home reach its destination despite its numerous detours.

• Home movie review
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Home Movie Review: Heartwarming Tale Of Relationships That Provides A Touch Of Positivity!

Home , the Malayalam feel-good family drama which features Indrans, Sreenath Bhasi, and Manju Pillai, in the lead roles, has finally released on Amazon Prime Video. The project, which is directed by Rojin Thomas, had garnered the attention of viewers with its beautiful trailer. Home is bankrolled by Vijay Babu under the banner Friday Film House. Home

Did the multi-starrer impress the audience? Read the Home movie review here, to know...

What's Yay:

Performances

Technical Aspects

Oliver Twist's (Indrans), family consists of his wife Kuttiyamma (Manju Pillai), his aging father (Kainakari Thankaraj), and sons Antony (Sreenath Bhasi) and Charles (Naslen K Gafoor). Antony, who is a one-film-old director, is struggling to finish his second script. He prefers staying in the city but returns home only to get rid of his creative block. Charles, on the other hand, is a vlogger. The movie focuses on technology-challenged Oliver's struggles to keep up with his tech-savvy sons.

Script And Direction

Rojin Thomas, the young director who rose to fame with the popular films Philips And The Monkey Pen and Jo And The Boy , is back to film-making with Home . The director has succeeded in narrating a simple yet relatable storyline effectively, thus creating a completely feel-good and positive movie experience. The excellent casting deserves a special mention.

The well-written, well-conceived scenes (especially the scenes involving Oliver and his family) and dialogues make Home instantly relatable. A special kudos to the writer-director for touching on some highly relevant topics including mental health. The narrative is constructed in the most simplistic manner without throwing many twists or surprises, which makes the film an uncomplicated watch. But still, Home succeeds in leaving an impression on the viewers.

But the same positive aspects can also be coined as the negative aspects of the film. The highly predictable narrative, along with the excess duration, make it difficult for the viewers to watch the film in one stretch. Also, the film tends to get preachy towards its climax, thus diluting the overall impact. However, Home definitely provides a much-needed touch of positivity, amidst these tough times.

Indrans, the senior actor wins hearts yet again with his amazing performance as the father who longs for his son's acceptance. The actor has portrayed the unconditional love, helplessness, and innocence of his character with absolute ease. Manju Pillai, who plays Kuttiyamma, once again reminds us that she is an extremely underrated talent, with her impeccable performance.

Sreenath Bhasi has played the flawed-yet-relatable Antony to near perfection. The rest of the star cast, including Naslen K Gafoor, Kainakari Thankaraj, Maniyanpilla Raju, KPAC Lalitha, Johny Antony, Vijay Babu, and others, are good in their respective roles.

Neil D' Cunha, the cinematographer has done a great job with the visuals, that has set the perfect backdrop for the feel-good family drama. Rahul Subrahmanian has scored with a beautiful background score, but the songs are forgettable.

Home is a heartwarming tale of relationships, that provides a much-needed touch of positivity. If you are ready to tolerate the excess duration, this multi-starrer is a perfect watch for this Onam season.

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#Home Movie Review: An eminently comforting film with relatable characters

Rating: ( 3.5 / 5).

There is a scene in #Home where Indrans is sitting inside a restaurant separated from the relatively younger and 'cooler' members of his family. I once happened to see the exact real-life version of this scene when I went to a restaurant alone. This father was seated in front of me -- because my table had only one person -- while his son, wife, and kids occupied a different table. Indrans' character, Oliver Twist, reminded me of him. They couldn't have picked a better actor to play him.

Director: Rojin Thomas Cast: Indrans, Sreenath Bhasi, Naslen, Manju Pillai, Kainakary Thankaraj Streaming on: Amazon Prime Video

Like the father in the above anecdote, the actor can convey volumes without saying anything. You can tell what he is thinking by simply looking at his face. Each member of the film's central family -- Kainakary Thankaraj as the grandfather; Indrans, the father; Manju Pillai, the mother; and Sreenath Basi and Naslen as their sons Anthony and Charles, respectively -- seems to experience this alienation to a certain degree. They seem to exist in separate compartments while living under the same roof.

When we meet Anthony, he is a filmmaker with a single film to his name, leading a disorderly existence. He has been struggling to complete the climax of his second film. The producer (Maniyanpilla Raju) is growing impatient by the day. The latter suggests that he write the last act in the same place where he wrote his successful debut. It's a nice segue to the film's title. Is a chaotic, messy lifestyle with your loved ones better than the same with yourself? #Home seeks to answer this question while addressing a lot of other things.

#Home is not so much an English Vinglish -style story of a person trying to learn about something as a document of a fictitious family, told like an epic (duration: 160 mins). I loved how the film gives equal space to every character and takes its time to bring out their peculiar characteristics. It packs so many relatable Indian moments: the mother trying to wake her son up by increasing the fan's speed; the same lazy son not bothering to put back all the teacups; and the two sons occasionally peeping inside the refrigerator because, as one of them says, "It's a habit, just like checking the phone all the time." Before I sat down to write this review, I came across at least four people who told me they saw themselves or their parents in these characters. For instance, Oliver notes down everything he learns about social media apps in a diary. My mother does that. If she saw this film, I'm sure she would be pointing to this scene like Leonardo DiCaprio in that meme. And Sreenath Bhasi's Anthony represents a multitude of young Indian men forced to detach themselves for the sake of work. Anthony is not the 'bad guy' here; his plight is perfectly understandable if you have experienced/are experiencing the same.

Yes, on the surface, #Home appears to be a story of a man trying to fill the emotional void caused by the technological divide and generational gap. But it's also, primarily, an emotionally overpowering story of self-acceptance. You could call it the 'coming-of-age' of a man in his 60s, triggered by a particular incident that becomes a major cause of embarrassment for Anthony, the filmmaker, and guilt for Oliver. It's a relief to see Indrans not play him too seriously. Oliver is, after all, someone who doesn't make a huge deal about all the conflicts he encounters. He has a sense of humour, and in some cases, he is not even trying to invoke laughter. It just happens organically, and who better than an actor blessed with an incredible flair for comedy. One of my favourite moments in the film has Anthony approaching a superstar named Vishal (Anoop Menon) to pitch his script, and he sees that the former has taken a liking to Oliver instead of him. Another wonderfully comical moment has Oliver accompanying his best friend Suryan (Johnny Antony in another hilarious performance) to a psychologist (Vijay Babu, vibrant as usual).

I must give #Home props for using this last stretch to address India's mental health stigma. Though initially apprehensive about the thought of anyone seeking expert help, Oliver doesn't take too long to warm up to the idea and eliminate whatever misconceptions he may have - learning the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist, for instance - even when his friend remains severely sceptical. The film makes some pertinent points even when the delivery seems straight out of an awareness video at times.

However, one thing that puzzled me is the choice of music in several places. I wonder why the makers chose to overstuff the film with generic, unmemorable tunes to inform us of the emotion of each scene? Since most actors here possess the gift of subtle expression, it's awkward when each performance gets constantly underscored by a corresponding piece of music to tell us what we are supposed to feel at a given point. Isn't everything evident without the inclusion of music? Not that there is anything wrong with using it -- it's cinema, after all -- but it would've worked better in moderation for a 160-min duration film. The familiarity of some musical choices begins to wear one down after a point. Sometimes the music is as intrusive as Charles' noisy demands.

Fortunately, the film's heavily poignant ending redeems its minor shortcomings. It got me teary-eyed in a way that no other recent Malayalam film managed to do. I must thank the makers for doing a film that helps reverse, to a certain extent, the after-effects of some of the dark Malayalam thrillers released recently.  

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HOME MOVIE REVIEW CLICK TO RATE THE MOVIE

Home is a feel-good family film directed by Rojin Thomas. The film stars Indrans, Sreenath Bhasi, Naslen and Manju Pillai in the lead roles.

Home unfolds the story of most of the present-day families. The film revolves around Oliver Twist (Indrans), who constantly tries to get close to his son Antony (Sreenath Bhasi), a filmmaker who has nomophobia. Despite this, Antony doesn't take his father's feelings seriously and taunts him for being technologically challenged. All this leads to a problematic situation in Antony's career, causing a trivial issue with his father. What happens next and how Antony realizes the worth of his father and family form the rest of the plot.

Home speaks the story of the majority of people and families in the world. It specifically points to how mobile and technology have taken over the boomers, leaving little to no time for their parents and family. The film throws light upon the importance of living your life free of technology and with people around you. It also highlights how mobile phones have unconsciously affected our lives in a drastic manner.

The film carries a very relevant subject and message. It is an eye-opener for the boomer generation on how ignorant they have been towards their technologically uneducated parents. The film strongly conveys the emotions of parents, for which the credit goes to its cast and their performance.

The film's cast includes Indrans, Sreenath Bhasi, Naslen and Manju Pillai. Hats off to Indrans. He is the backbone of this film with truly remarkable performance. He strongly holds the credit for the emotional foundation the film is built on. Sreenath Bhasi is yet another strong part of the film. He has balanced the paradoxical emotional state that every youngster today goes through. Naslen has given his best performance till date. Manju Pillai was very convincing and befitting for the role of Kuttiyamma (Oliver's Wife). Performance-wise, the film stays solid and deserves accolades.

Neil D' Kunha's cinematography is another beautiful aspect of the film. The film journeys through many beautiful frames and colours. It carries the moments with its beautiful visuals and keeps up a pleasant mood throughout the film. Visually the film is wonderful.

Written and directed by Rojin Thomas, the film tries to lift a very beautiful and worthy message, which it did portray successfully, but not in the most effective manner. The film throughout was enjoyable, but the frequency of the writing was up and down. It has some witty, emotional, and lovely moments, but at the same time, the pace and the predictable writing take it down the steep.

Despite the minor flaws, the film is emotionally captivating with Indran's strong performance. A bit more betterment in direction and script could have carved an amazing feel-good drama.

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REVIEW RATING EXPLANATION

பிரேக்கிங் சினிமா செய்திகள், திரை விமர்சனம், பாடல் விமர்சனம், ஃபோட்டோ கேலரி, பாக்ஸ் ஆபிஸ் செய்திகள், ஸ்லைடு ஷோ, போன்ற பல்வேறு சுவாரஸியமான தகவல்களை தமிழில் படிக்க இங்கு கிளிக் செய்யவும்      

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Review: Long before Bond, ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’ kicked off British covert ops

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Guy Ritchie’s latest, the cumbersomely titled “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare,” is at once his “Inglourious Basterds” and his “Dunkirk.” With his adaptation of the 2016 nonfiction book “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: How Churchill’s Secret Warriors Set Europe Ablaze and Gave Birth to Modern Black Ops” by historian and war reporter Damien Lewis, Ritchie borrows Quentin Tarantino’s winking postmodern retro style to pay homage to real-life British war heroes with the same reverence that Christopher Nolan paid to the heroes of Dunkirk.

The prolific Ritchie started out with cheeky crime comedies ( “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” “Snatch” ) and has dabbled in historical bombast ( “King Arthur,” “Sherlock”), Disney remakes (“Aladdin”), contemporary thrillers ( “Wrath of Man,” “The Covenant”) and, to diminishing returns, more recent crime comedies (“The Gentlemen,” “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre” ). But he finds a nice groove with this entertaining World War II not-quite-comedy. There’s a glee in the Nazi killing and an exceptionally dry humor that is English through and through, but Ritchie strikes a tone that rides the line between self-serious and self-consciously humorous.

If Tarantino uses a stylistic pastiche of 1960s and ’70s exploitation films and spaghetti westerns in order to rewrite history to his own liking, Ritchie borrows Tarantino’s approach to perform a kind of pulpy myth-making and celebrate a group of undersung real-life war heroes (who may have inspired Ian Fleming’s James Bond). The score by Christian Benstead is all Ennio Morricone -style whistles and guitars.

Though it is not named as such in the film, which is heavily imagined and fictionalized with the addition of a few new characters, the script, which is by Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Arash Amel and Ritchie, essentially follows the 1942 special-operations mission known as “Operation Postmaster.” Concerned about the interference of German U-boats throttling England’s ability to receive supplies, Winston Churchill ( Rory Kinnear in the stiffest makeup job seen in some time) gives the go-ahead for Brigadier Gubbins’ “M” to hire the right man to target an Italian freighter loaded with U-boat supplies. Cripple the U-boats, open the channel.

The right man for the job is the incarcerated Gus March-Phillips (Henry Cavill), and he assembles his team of expert rapscallions, including Danish warrior Anders Lessen (Alan Ritchson), explosives expert Freddy Alvarez (Henry Golding) and Irish sailor Henry Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin). On the way to the Spanish island of Fernando Po, off the coast of equatorial Africa, they’ll have to make a stop to pick up Geoffrey Appleyard (Alex Pettyfer), imprisoned as a POW in a Nazi outpost on La Palma, in the Canary Islands.

Their liaisons on the ground in Fernando Po are the British secret agents Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) and Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González) a half-Jewish actor and singer trained in the spycraft of seduction, whose target is a sadistic, high-powered Nazi named Luhr (Til Schweiger). They also have an ally in the Eton-educated “Prince of Fernando Po” Kambili Kalu (Danny Sapani) and his private militia.

While Ritchie structures the film around tense conversations and bursts of violence, “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” is a bit languidly paced in between and isn’t that suspenseful. In an opening sequence, we see our ad-hoc special forces team dispatch a group of German sailors with a bit of amateurish theater and a dose of their signature firepower. No one breaks a sweat, no one raises their voices, they never run out of ammo and even in extreme situations there’s time for droll Britishisms, smarmy jokes and homoerotic ribbing.

Ritchie positions these heroes as highly capable and utterly untouchable warriors, mowing down Nazis without ruffling their mustache hairs (hot tip: don’t Google these guys if you want to keep the good times rolling). It’s all a part of the fantasy he spins through style and reference. This isn’t an authentic representation of World War II, it’s an imagining of what this story would be like told in a ’70s exploitation flick. It’s the kind of movie that would star Rick Dalton, the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio in “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.” González isn’t miscast as English spy Marjorie Stewart because she’s playing the kind of actress who would play Stewart opposite Dalton.

Even if the heavy stylization leaves the film feeling a bit arch, there’s a real affection that comes through in Ritchie’s homage to these early special-forces soldiers, making them larger-than-life cinema heroes and letting the audience in on the fun. You’re only left wanting more time with this team. Who knows, maybe Ritchie will rewrite history to his liking if there’s another installment of ungentlemanly warfare.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.

'The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare'

Rating: R, for strong violence throughout and some language Running time: 2 hours Playing: In wide release Friday, April 19

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Common sense media reviewers.

Vampire tale is extremely gory but fun, smart; swearing.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Just because someone has acted badly in the past d

Joey has learned from her past mistakes and is att

Of the nine characters who appear on screen, four

Extreme blood and gore. Severed head, headless cor

One character misinterprets another's intentions a

Constant extreme language includes "f--k," "mother

Characters drink heavily from a well-stocked bar a

Parents need to know that Abigail is a horror movie about a team of kidnappers whose target turns out to be a ballet-dancing child vampire (Alisha Weir). It's well-made and even a little funny, but it's also extremely gory. Expect lots of vampire violence, blood and gore spewing everywhere, someone falling…

Positive Messages

Just because someone has acted badly in the past doesn't mean that they'll continue to do so, so it's not necessary to punish all past transgressions. Appreciate and celebrate people's efforts to improve themselves. Forgiveness is important.

Positive Role Models

Joey has learned from her past mistakes and is attempting to do the right thing. She's brave and cunning and continues in the fight when the chips are down. Despite the fact that she's participating in a kidnapping, she puts her skills to good use and hopes to earn the right to return to her family.

Diverse Representations

Of the nine characters who appear on screen, four are White men. One is Abigail (Irish actor Alisha Weir), and two others are women, including Melissa Barrera, who was born in Mexico, and Kathryn Newton, who's White. Two others are Black men (William Catlett and Giancarlo Esposito). All of the characters are on screen enough to have their own backgrounds and agency.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Extreme blood and gore. Severed head, headless corpse. Characters explode, spewing blood and gore everywhere. Character falls into a swimming pool filled with partial dead bodies, gore, muck, buzzing flies, etc. Vomiting/spewing blood. Woman is violently thrown around, bashed against walls and windows, choked, stabbed, etc. A person's face is partially chewed off; he gurgles and collapses. Guns and shooting, threatening with guns. Young vampire girl is shot and has her hand burned off by sunlight. Stabbing with metal cross, stake. Child injected with knockout drug. Vampires bite characters in the neck, leading to gory wounds. Characters fall from high places and crash to floor. Character rages with anger. Violent story told about characters being torn limb from limb.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

One character misinterprets another's intentions and comes on to her a little too strong; she reacts angrily. Character draws a penis on a passed-out character's face.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Constant extreme language includes "f--k," "motherf----r," "s--t," "bulls--t," "Jesus f---in' Christ," "a--hole," "bitch/son of a bitch," "dumbass," "ass," "d--k." Middle-finger gestures.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters drink heavily from a well-stocked bar and sometimes drink directly from the bottle. Smoking pot. A character is said to be a recovering drug abuser and is referred to as a "junkie."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Abigail is a horror movie about a team of kidnappers whose target turns out to be a ballet-dancing child vampire ( Alisha Weir ). It's well-made and even a little funny, but it's also extremely gory. Expect lots of vampire violence, blood and gore spewing everywhere, someone falling into a pool filled with dead bodies, a severed head and a headless corpse, biting, stabbing, vomiting blood, bite wounds, burn wounds, and more. A woman is thrown around, slammed against walls and windows, and choked and characters -- including a child -- are threatened with guns and other weapons. Language is constant and extremely strong, with uses of "f--k," "motherf----r," "s--t," "bulls--t," "a--hole," "bitch," etc. Characters drink, sometimes to excess, and one smokes pot. One person misinterprets another's intentions and comes on too strongly, a character draws a penis on another person's face while they sleep as a prank. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

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Based on 4 parent reviews

A bloody good time (literally)

What's the story.

In ABIGAIL, a team of criminals -- code-named Joey ( Melissa Barrera ), Frank ( Dan Stevens ), Sammy ( Kathryn Newton ), Peter ( Kevin Durand ), Rickles ( William Catlett ), and Dean (Angus Cloud) -- are hired for a kidnapping. Their target is Abigail ( Alisha Weir ), the young, ballet-loving daughter of a rich and powerful man. The team pulls off its assignment easily and take their target to a remote house, where they're met by Lambert ( Giancarlo Esposito ). He tells them to keep an eye on Abigail, to wait for 24 hours, and to not disclose any personal information to one another. They're left with food and a fully stocked bar, and they begin to pass the night. But there's something they don't know about Abigail.

Is It Any Good?

Using a simple setup with a few clever twists, this gory, slick vampire movie layers in horror and humor in a most appealing manner, moving with ease and confidence almost the entire way. With Abigail , co-directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett , of the collective known as Radio Silence, add another winner to their distinctive filmography. It recalls elements of their earlier movies Ready or Not , which was set in a large, opulent mansion, and Scream VI , which had a bloody showdown in a large, beautiful theater. But this one adds in supernatural elements and a gleeful excess of gore.

The filmmakers establish a tone that incorporates humor without distracting from the true horror of the situation. It doesn't undercut or betray anything; the elements are melded together gracefully. There's time to build characters -- or at least enough that we know how we feel about them. And everything is clear and fluid; there's never any junky camerawork or cheap short cuts. It's entertaining throughout, except for a few small quibbles. In the final act, there's an overcooked element -- best not revealed -- that detracts from the quality of the story. And then there's Abigail herself, who's at least a couple of centuries old, spending all that time in the body of a small girl. Movies like Near Dark and Interview with the Vampire have also introduced characters who suffer gravely from a curse like that -- being an experienced person in an inexperienced body -- but Abigail never addresses this concept. Still, there's enough here to make this nail-and-neck-biter well worth recommending.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Abigail 's violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of horror movies ? Why do people sometimes like to be scared?

Did you notice diverse representations in the movie? What about stereotypes ?

How is forgiveness demonstrated in the movie? Why can it be so difficult to forgive people?

What's the lasting appeal of vampire stories? Why do viewers never seem to tire of these monsters?

Movie Details

• In theaters : April 19, 2024
• Cast : Melissa Barrera , Dan Stevens , Kathryn Newton
• Directors : Matt Bettinelli-Olpin , Tyler Gillett
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Latino actors
• Studio : Universal Pictures
• Genre : Horror
• Topics : Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
• Run time : 109 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : strong bloody violence and gore throughout, pervasive language and brief drug use
• Last updated : April 20, 2024

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, the long walk home.

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`The Long Walk Home" tells the stories of two women and their families at a critical turning point in American history. One of the women is black, a maid in an affluent neighborhood, a hard-working woman who goes home after a long day and does all of the same jobs all over again for her family. The other woman is white, the wife of a successful businessman. She works, too. She doesn't have a paid job, but in 1955 in Montgomery, Ala., it was full-time work to please a husband who thought a woman's place was in the home, and who had a great many other thoughts on the proper places of just about everybody in his narrow world.

These characters are confronted by a historic moment. One day in Montgomery a black woman named Rosa Parks, who had worked hard and was tired, refused to stand up in the back of the segregated bus when there was an empty seat in the front. Her action, born out of a long weariness with the countless injustices of discrimination, inspired the Montgomery bus boycott, which was led by a young local preacher named Martin Luther King Jr., and which grew into the civil rights movement.

For a woman like Odessa Cotter ( Whoopi Goldberg ), however, the eventual verdict of history could not have been easily guessed on the day she decided to join thousands of other Montgomery blacks in refusing to take the bus. She simply knew how she felt, and acted on it, and started to walk to work every day. That meant getting up a couple of hours earlier in the morning, and getting home long after dark at night, and it meant blisters on her heels. It also meant inconvenience for her employer, Miriam Thompson ( Sissy Spacek ), who had a house to keep and a husband to feed, and who took her duties as a wife very solemnly - suppressing the obvious reality that she was married to a jerk.

Odessa is not eager for her employer to discover she is honoring the boycott - she doesn't want to risk losing her job - but one day Miriam finds out, and decides that she will give the maid a ride in her car a couple of days a week. This decision of course would enrage Miriam's husband, a self-satisfied bigot named Norman ( Dwight Schultz ), but Miriam doesn't tell him, and when he finds out, she defends her action as part of her job as a dutiful housewife.

In the meantime, she and her husband grow in different ways because of the boycott. Miriam is no activist, but can see as a wife and a mother what the boycotting black women are going through, and begins to sympathize with them. Her husband is taken by a relative to a White Citizen's Council meeting, where rabble-rousers depict the boycotters as dangerous subver sives (any true American would of course prefer to stand in the back of the bus than sit in the front - if he were black, that is).

The movie leads up to an inevitable confrontation between the white husband and wife, and to a climax of surprising power. But the general lines of the plot are not what make the movie special. We know going in more or less what will happen, both with the boycott and with these characters. What involved me was the way John Cork's screenplay did not simply paint the two women as emblems of a cause, but saw them as particular individuals who defined themselves largely through their roles as wives and mothers.

This movie would not have been made quite the same way 10 or 20 years ago. The focus would have been on the liberalism of the white woman and the courage of the black woman, and most of the scenes would have involved the white family. "The Long Walk Home" takes the time to develop both families, to show that in addition to being heroic but abstract media images, the maids like Odessa were also individuals with all the usual human hopes and worries, not least of which was losing a job.

Because the movie does center some of its important scenes inside the black household, it's all the more surprising that it uses the gratuitous touch of a white "narrator" - apparently to reassure white audiences the movie is "really" intended for them. The narrator is Spacek's teenage daughter, who has no role of any importance in the movie and whose narration adds nothing except an unnecessary point of view. When she talks about her memories of "my mother," we want to know why Goldberg's daughter doesn't have equal time. She probably has more interesting memories.

That objection aside, "The Long Walk Home" is a powerful and affecting film, so well played by Goldberg and Spacek that we understand not just the politics of the time but the emotions as well. In a way, this movie takes up where " Driving Miss Daisy " leaves off. Both are about affluent white Southern women who pride themselves on their humanitarian impulses, but who are brought to a greater understanding of racial discrimination - gently, tactfully and firmly - by their black employees.

Miss Daisy and Miss Miriam are not revolutionaries. Neither are Hoke Colburn and Odessa Cotter. But the situation had gotten to the point where something had to be done, because people after all must be permitted fairness and dignity, and these two movies tell two small and not earthshaking stories about ordinary people, black and white, who managed to talk and managed to listen, and made things a little better.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

The Long Walk Home (1991)

Sissy Spacek as Miriam Thompson

Whoopi Goldberg as Odessa Cotter

Dwight Schultz as Norman Thompson

Ving Rhames as Herbert Cotter

Dylan Baker as Tunker Thompson

Erika Alexander as Selma Cotter

Directed by

• Richard Pearce

Photographed by

• Roger Deakins
• Bill Yahraus
• George Fenton

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By Matt Burgess

The Biggest Deepfake Porn Website Is Now Blocked in the UK

Two of the biggest deepfake pornography websites have now started blocking people trying to access them from the United Kingdom. The move comes days after the UK government announced plans for a new law that will make creating nonconsensual deepfakes a criminal offense.

Nonconsensual deepfake pornography websites and apps that “strip” clothes off of photos have been growing at an alarming rate —causing untold harm to the thousands of women they are used to target.

Clare McGlynn, a professor of law at Durham University, says the move is a “hugely significant moment” in the fight against deepfake abuse. “This ends the easy access and the normalization of deepfake sexual abuse material,” McGlynn tells WIRED.

Since deepfake technology first emerged in December 2017, it has consistently been used to create nonconsensual sexual images of women—swapping their faces into pornographic videos or allowing new “nude” images to be generated. As the technology has improved and become easier to access, hundreds of websites and apps have been created. Most recently, schoolchildren have been caught creating nudes of classmates .

The blocks on the deepfake websites in the UK were first spotted today, with two of the most prominent services displaying notices on their landing pages that they are no longer accessible to people visiting from the country. WIRED is not naming the two websites due to their enabling of abuse.

One of the websites with the restriction in place is the biggest deepfake pornography website existing today. Its homepage, when visiting from the UK, displays a message saying access is denied. “Due to laws or (upcoming) legislation in your country or state, we are unfortunately obligated to deny you access to this website,” the message says. It also shows the visitor’s IP address and country.

The other website, which also has an app, displays a similar message. “Access to the service in your country is blocked,” it says, before hinting there may be ways to get around the geographic restriction. The websites do not appear to have any restrictions in place when visiting from the United States, although may also be restricted in other countries.

It is not immediately clear why the sites have introduced the location blocks or whether they have done so in response to any legal orders or notices. Nor is it clear whether the blocks are temporary. Messages sent to the websites through email addresses and contact forms went unanswered. The creators of the websites have not posted any public messages on the websites or their social media channels about the blocks.

Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, has the power to persue action against harmful websites under the UK’s controversial sweeping online safety laws that came into force last year. However, these powers are not yet fully operational, and Ofcom is still consulting on them.

It’s likely the restrictions may significantly limit the amount of people in the UK seeking out or trying to create deepfake sexual abuse content. Data from Similarweb, a digital intelligence company, shows the biggest of the two websites had 12 million global visitors last month, while the other website had 4 million visitors. In the UK, they had around 500,000 and 50,000 visitors, respectively.

Matt Reynolds

Dell Cameron

Medea Giordano

This week, politicians in the UK announced plans for a law that criminalizes the creation of nonconsensual deepfakes. Under the law, which is yet to be passed, people could face an unlimited fine if they create deepfakes to “cause alarm, humiliation, or distress to the victim.” This builds on previous provisions that make it illegal for people in the UK to share sexualized deepfakes .

“While it’s unclear if these platforms have been ordered to block UK access or have done so proactively due to the recent criminalization, it shows legislation can make a meaningful difference in removing the legal ambiguity that many deepfake pornography platforms use as cover for the clear ethical harms they cause,” Henry Ajder, an AI and deepfake expert, tells WIRED. Ajder adds that search engines and hosting providers around the world should be doing more to limit the spread and creation of harmful deepfakes.

While the two websites can still be accessed in the UK using a VPN, the restrictions are a sign that constant pressure—from lawmakers, tech companies, and campaigners—can make deepfake porn harder to access and create. “Of course, people will be able to use VPN to access these websites and apps, but that introduces friction,” Durham University’s McGlynn says. “It introduces a message that there’s something wrong and harmful about this material such that you have to use a VPN to access it.”

“Hopefully,” McGlynn adds, “this can show other governments around the world that if we take steps, we could actually reduce the prevalence [of] and easy access to deepfake sexual abuse material.”

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‘The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady’ Review: Eva Green Surprises in French Blockbuster’s Less-Than-Faithful Finale

As in Richard Lester's two-part 1970s adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas novel, the villainous Milady takes the spotlight in the second half, though this time, the film inventively strays from the source.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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For readers of Alexandre Dumas’ novel, extravagant French adaptation “ The Three Musketeers – Part II: Milady” packs its share of surprises: killing off important characters, sparing others and reimagining allegiances that have stood for nearly two centuries. For viewers of “Part I: D’Artagnan,” however, this swashbuckling sequel feels totally in keeping with what came before. Even the twists track, paying off what amounts to a nearly four-hour investment (not counting however many months audiences may have waited to see how the story ends).

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Bourboulon isn’t the first filmmaker to split Dumas’ novel down the middle. Half a century earlier, Richard Lester directed back-to-back features, dubbed “The Three Musketeers” and “The Four Musketeers” — though the latter was rechristened “They Call Her Milady” (“On l’appelait Milady”) in France, suggesting a precedent for accentuating Green’s character in the second half. She’s an infinitely more interesting source of obsession for D’Artagnan than Constance, who comes across as beatifically banal as played by Khoudri here. That in turn makes D’Artagnan’s efforts to rescue her seem rather uninspired, as if he could be doing something better with his time — like lusting after Milady.

In this telling, Constance stumbled upon the perpetrators of the plot to assassinate the king just before the first part ended, which at least imbues the character with a certain value. Still, it’s far more exciting to see D’Artagnan and Milady together, as they are early on, fighting side by side for a change. Bourboulon’s big innovation in these films can be seen in his action sequences, which typically unfold via elaborate oners — dynamic set-pieces designed to look as though they were captured in a single unbroken shot.

During an early escape, the camera chases after D’Artagnan, running along the lofty fortress parapet. When the young hero finds himself cornered, the lensman plunges right behind brave D’Artagnan into the moat. The effect is far more immersive than most adventure movies, which use quick cutting to place viewers in the fray. The way DP Nicolas Bolduc shoots these well-choreographed, minimally edited sequences, we feel like participants in the action, as in a knife fight that comes just a few scenes later, where the nimble camera is at knee level when D’Artagnan drives a blade through his opponent’s leg.

The other musketeers have less to do this time around, though each remains sworn to protecting the honor of others. Porthos has fallen in love with Aramis’ sister, Mathilde (Camille Rutherford), and together the two confront the cad who took advantage of her. In a rather confusing (but nonetheless exciting) subplot, Athos risks his life to rescue a comrade strapped to a wooden cross. He too has unfinished business with Milady — which remains the case all the way to the end, suggesting a thread that could inspire an off-canon “Part III,” should Bourboulon care to continue the epic.

Stateside, subtitles tend to relegate movies to art-houses, where the kind of young audiences most likely to appreciate such showy theatrics rarely set foot. Like last year’s “Napoleon,” this is megaplex entertainment at its most grand. Still, it would take some clever marketing to transform this import into a “Parasite”-style phenomenon, even if both well-made offerings have the same quality: They fill an entertainment niche that American movies have all but abdicated.

Reviewed online, Dec. 19, 2023. Running time: 121 MIN. (Original title: “Les trois mousquetaires: Milady”)

• Production: (France-Germany-Spain-Belgium) A Samuel Goldwyn Films (in U.S.), Pathé (in France) release of a Dimitri Rassam, Jérôme Seydoux presentation of a Chapter 2, Pathé Films, M6 Films production, in co-production with Constantin Films Produktion, ZDF, Deaplaneta, UMedia, with the participation of OCS, Canal+, M6, in association with Ufund, with the support of La Région Île-de-France, La Région Bretagne in partnership with the CNC, BNP Paribas. (World sales: Pathé, Paris.) Producer: Dimitri Rassam. Co-producer: Ardavan Safaee.
• Crew: Director: Martin Bourboulon. Screenplay: Matthieu Delaporte & Alexandre de La Patellière, based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas. Camera: Nicolas Bolduc. Editor: Célia Lafitedupont. Music: Guillaume Roussel.
• With: François Civil, Vincent Cassel, Romain Duris, Pio Marmaï, Eva Green, Louis Garrel, Vicky Krieps, Lyna Khoudri, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Éric Ruf, Marc Barbé, Patrick Mille, Julien Frison. (French dialogue)

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Movie Reviews

'the beast' jumps from 1910, to 2014, to 2044, tracking fear through the ages.

Justin Chang

Gabrielle and Louis (Léa Seydoux and George MacKay) meet in 1910 Paris, 2014 Los Angeles and again in 2044 in The Beast . Carole Bethuel/Kinology hide caption

Gabrielle and Louis (Léa Seydoux and George MacKay) meet in 1910 Paris, 2014 Los Angeles and again in 2044 in The Beast .

There's no easy way to sum up the work of the brilliant and maddening French writer-director Bertrand Bonello. In recent years, he's made a zombie thriller rooted in Haitian voodoo lore and an unconventional biopic of Yves Saint-Laurent. His most controversial title, Nocturama , is a hangout movie about a group of French youth carrying out terrorist attacks around Paris. Bonello's films have a unique way of blurring the intellectual and the aesthetic: Their gorgeous surfaces are often loaded with troubling and provocative ideas.

His latest movie is called The Beast , and it's one of the best and least classifiable things he's ever done. It's a wildly original adaptation of the 1903 Henry James novella The Beast in the Jungle , about a man who dwells in a constant state of fear.

James' story is a cautionary tale about the dangers of being too cautious, of not embracing life and love to the fullest. Bonello takes this premise and spins it in several unexpected directions. First, he recasts the hesitant protagonist as a woman, named Gabrielle, played by the wonderful Léa Seydoux. Then he positions her in three different stories, set in three time frames, and suffused with elements of horror, mystery and science fiction. It's easier to follow than it sounds: Even when it's not entirely clear where or when we are, Bonello's filmmaking is so hypnotic, and Seydoux's performance so subtly mesmerizing, that you can't help getting caught up in the flow.

'Zombi Child': When The Real Horror Is Colonialism

The first story is the one that most closely resembles the novella. It's 1910, and Gabrielle is a renowned pianist who has a run-in at a Paris salon with a gentleman named Louis, played by the English actor George MacKay. In a setup that evokes the confounding 1961 classic Last Year at Marienbad , Gabrielle and Louis seem to vaguely recall having met before. There's a clear attraction between them, but Gabrielle, who's married, resists pursuing it. Her restraint will cost her in a climax that coincides with a real-life Parisian catastrophe, the Great Flood of 1910.

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The second story takes place in Los Angeles in 2014, and has some of the eerie menace of David Lynch 's masterpiece Mulholland Dr. Gabrielle is now an aspiring model and actor who's been housesitting for a wealthy Angeleno. Rattled by a violent earthquake one morning, she steps outside and runs into Louis, who's now a deeply disturbed incel who's been posting misogynist video rants online.

MacKay is utterly terrifying as this Louis, who's modeled on a man who killed six people in 2014 in Isla Vista, Calif. What makes this second segment so chilling is that, unlike in the novella, the protagonist's fear is not unfounded. The beast stalking Gabrielle is all too real.

The third story is the most elusive and intriguing. It's set in 2044, when the world is run by AI. Gabrielle plays a human who, to join the work force, must undergo a process that will rid her of her emotions. This segment, with its shades of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , explains the framework of the entire movie: It turns out that the 1910 and 2014 sections are remnants of Gabrielle's past lives, now being purged from her subconscious.

Bonello doesn't tell the stories one at a time; he jumps around and among them. He's tracking the sources of human alienation and anxiety through the ages, asking why, in every era, we find ways to disengage from life and the people around us. The movie is especially insightful about how technology evolves. Each chapter features an artificial human companion of sorts: a line of baby dolls in 1910, a talking doll in 2014, a robot friend in 2044. Along the way, Bonello also asks questions about the future of movies, a medium so overrun with CGI that it's become harder to tell what's real from what isn't.

As grim as The Beast sounds, it isn't entirely pessimistic about the state of the world. I left the movie feeling disturbed but also enthralled, and strangely reassured by Seydoux's presence in all three stories. The futuristic Gabrielle may have to divest herself of her feelings, but Seydoux's emotions are always within reach. The more unreal her surroundings become, the more hauntingly human her performance feels.

From 'Rebel Moon 2' to 'Bob Marley: One Love,' here are 15 movies you need to stream now

They say April showers bring May flowers. This month also unloads a deluge of movies to watch at home.

Netflix, Amazon's Prime Video, Peacock, Max, Apple TV+, Paramount+ and others have a spring fiesta of streaming options for film lovers of all tastes, from breezy romantic comedies to bone-chilling horror. There are recent theatrical releases, like an acclaimed Oscar-nominated Holocaust drama and one of the most Disney-fied Disney movies ever , but also original flicks such as Zack Snyder's latest sci-fi epic and a Sundance Film Festival documentary about politically savvy teen girls.

Here are 15 notable new movies you can stream right now:

In director Matthew Vaughn's madcap adventure , Bryce Dallas Howard plays a best-selling novelist who discovers that the fictional exploits of her secret-agent character (Henry Cavill) are coming uncannily close to things happening in real life, leading her to partner up with a shaggy actual spy (Sam Rockwell).

Where to watch: Apple TV+ .

'Bob Marley: One Love'

So good as Malcolm X in "One Night in Miami," Kingsley Ben-Adir notches another biopic highlight as reggae superstar Bob Marley . He's effective at capturing the musician even if the movie meanders with a narrative set during the 1970s, as Marley tries to use his songs to bring together a politically divided Jamaica.

Where to watch: Paramount+.

'You don't mess with Bob': How Kingsley Ben-Adir channeled Bob Marley for 'One Love' movie

'Drive-Away Dolls'

Margaret Qualley  and Geraldine Viswanathan co-star in director Ethan Coen's gonzo crime comedy as lesbian pals needing a change of pace who wind up behind the wheel of a rental car with a mysterious briefcase in the trunk. What unfurls is a noir-spattered road trip full of sex toys, decapitated heads and dimwitted goons.

Where to watch: Peacock .

'Drive-Away Dolls' review: Talented cast steers a crime comedy with sex toys and absurdity

'Girls State'

Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss' compelling follow-up to 2020's " Boys State " centers on teenage Missouri girls placed in competing political parties who create a mock state government. Abortion is a hot-button issue in the proceedings, which include a competitive gubernatorial race and an investigation into Girls State itself.

Where to watch: Apple TV+.

'The Greatest Hits'

The car accident that killed her boyfriend (David Corenswet) left Harriet (Lucy Boynton) with head trauma and the ability to time-travel to a past moment with him when she hears certain songs. But obsessively searching for the right tune to save him in the past might cost her a new chance at romance in the present of this intriguing but overly earnest drama.

Where to watch: Hulu .

'Late Night With the Devil'

David Dastmalchian has a hell of a role in this retro horror flick, starring as a 1970s late-night TV host in desperate need of ratings. For a Halloween special, he brings on a girl supposedly possessed by a demon in a gambit that brings in eyeballs but spirals supernaturally out of control for everyone involved.

Where to watch: Shudder , AMC+ .

'Lisa Frankenstein'

A horror rom-com about reanimated undead love and body-robbing shenanigans, "Lisa" is a playful and bloody teen-movie reimagining of the "Frankenstein" mythos . Kathryn Newton plays a 1980s goth girl and Cole Sprouse is a Victorian corpse resurrected amid lively characters and clever, sardonic dialogue.

'Frankenstein' forever: 'Lisa Frankenstein,' Oscar fave 'Poor Things' reclaim Mary Shelley's feminist mythos

'Migration'

In the animated comedy, Mack (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani) is the overprotective dad of a duck family who reluctantly agrees to a Jamaican getaway with his wife (Elizabeth Banks) and kids. However, they get sidetracked and wind up in New York City, where they meet a streetwise pigeon (Awkwafina) and a vicious chef.

Rudy Mancuso co-writes, directs and stars in this delightfully clever romantic comedy as a creative New Jersey man with synesthesia, experiencing melodies and rhythms around him in extraordinary fashion. It exacerbates problems with an ex (Francesca Reale) yet fascinates a new love interest (Camila Mendes).

Where to watch: Prime Video .

'Night Swim'

Thinking about putting in a pool in the backyard? Well, think again. Wyatt Russell plays an ex-baseball star who moves into a new house with his wife (Oscar nominee Kerry Condon) and kids and feels swimming could be good for their souls, but the outdoor pool contains a dark force that doesn't have fun in its plans.

'Rebel Moon − Part Two: The Scargiver'

Do you live for slow-motion scenes of people harvesting grain? Then director Zack Snyder has the sci-fi sequel for you. The first "Rebel Moon" was derivative and the second one is just dull, with ex-warrior Kora (Sofia Boutella) leading a band of underdogs and farmers against the invading army of the villainous Imperium.

Where to watch: Netflix .

'The Stranger'

So, yeah, Quibi turned out to be pretty much a streaming disaster. Still, the content was pretty good and is now finding new homes as real movies, not a piecemeal experiment: Director Veena Sud's thriller ratchets up the suspense with Maika Monroe playing a rideshare driver and Dane DeHaan as the creepiest passenger ever.

'Talk to Me'

The best horror movie of last year was this haunting Australian indie chiller that introduced a new top-tier scream queen, Sophie Wilde, and a memorable scary-movie artifact: a mysterious embalmed hand that teens use to livestream freaky possessions that, of course, go terrifyingly awry.

Where to watch: Paramount+ .

A tune-filled, big-hearted storybook fantasy that's chock-full of Disney references. The animated musical features Ariana DeBose as an idealistic youngster who runs afoul of her kingdom's narcissistic ruler (Chris Pine) and befriends an energetic star to help rescue her people's wishes.

Where to watch: Disney+ .

'The Zone of Interest'

Director Jonathan Glazer 's best picture nominee centers on a German family going about their daily business. This banality, though, happens next door to Auschwitz, where gunshots, screams and the industrial sounds of ovens are the unnerving soundtrack that the characters ignore but you simply can't in this disturbing yet essential Holocaust drama.

Where to watch: Max .