Plus, a queer rom-com remake
| April 18, 2025 
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Hey, movie fans! As we approach summer movie season and the arrival of new offerings from long-in-the-tooth franchises (looking at you, "Mission: Impossible" and "Jurassic Park"), it's interesting to note what a major studio is doing this week: releasing, in IMAX even, an original film from an auteur. Few filmmakers these days get this opportunity, but Warner Bros. has gone big with the writer-director Ryan Coogler for his Southern gothic horror story "Sinners." Our chief critic, Manohla Dargis, thinks it's a knockout. In her review, she calls it "a big-screen exultation — a passionate, effusive praise song about life and love, including the love of movies." So if you're angling for something fresh and bold (and horror is up your alley), this could be the one for you. Notably, Coogler has yet to direct a film that hasn't featured Michael B. Jordan, the star of "Sinners." Here you can read Reggie Ugwu's interview with Coogler and Jordan about their 12-year collaboration (and find out what Coogler has to say about his screen characters with daddy issues). If you're looking for something lighter, there's a remake of "The Wedding Banquet," Ang Lee's 1993 queer rom-com about love and (sham) marriage. The update is directed by Andrew Ahn and features Kelly Marie Tran and Lily Gladstone, along with the international screen legends Joan Chen and Yuh-Jung Youn. In her review, the critic Alissa Wilkinson praises the performances, calling Gladstone "both centered and luminously funny," and writing that Youn "sparkles and surprises." For more on Chen, you can read an interview about her career renaissance playing mothers in indie films. Enjoy the movies! | STREAMING RECOMMENDATIONS | | | | |
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