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What to Know

Mass requires a lot of its audience, but rewards that emotional labor with a raw look at grief that establishes writer-director Fran Kranz as a filmmaker of tremendous promise.

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‘Mass’ Review: Stages of Grief

Years after a school shooting, two couples meet to discuss their children — the one whose life was taken, and the one who took his life.

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By Teo Bugbee

The couples at the heart of the chamber drama “Mass” have much in common. Each pair has two children, one living and one dead. And they share the same tragedy. Linda and Richard’s son, Hayden, killed Gail and Jay’s son, Evan, in a school shooting, before turning his gun on himself.

Years have passed, and now the couples have gathered in the back room of a church to discuss their children — the one who was taken, and the one who took. Gail (Martha Plimpton) and Jay (Jason Isaacs) initiated this meeting, and their goal is to uncover the facts that led to their child’s murder. Gail and Jay ask questions, and Linda (Ann Dowd) and Richard (Reed Birney) respond, recalling attempts to seek psychological help for their son, and the decisions that did not prevent his violence.

The writer and director Fran Kranz stages this congregation like a play. The actors are seated across from each other in a single room, and the camera work is minimal, alternating between close-ups. The dialogue limits the amount of knowledge the audience is given about how or why the central horror took place. This measured approach allows the feelings that flicker across the faces of the movie’s veteran cast to register not only as markers of marvelous acting — though there is plenty of that to spare — but as events with the power to propel the introspective plot.

The movie lacks the gut punch of live theater, the thrill or discomfort of watching people show their feelings in real time. But as cinema, it demonstrates the effectiveness of simplicity. A well-written script and an exemplary cast can still produce a movie worth watching.

Mass Rated PG-13 for references to violence. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes. In theaters.

We earn a commission for products purchased through some links in this article.

Mass review: A moving, thought-provoking and powerful must-see movie

You won't be able to forget it.

The movie – now out on Sky Cinema and in UK cinemas – centres on two sets of parents who, years after an unspeakable tragedy, agree to meet in an attempt to move forward with their lives. It's not necessarily a spoiler to say the tragedy involved a school shooting, but the movie takes its time to eke out the details.

It's not even until Gail (Martha Plimpton) drops a devastating line about 30 minutes in that you're even sure which side is which. Are Jay (Jason Isaacs) and Gail the parents of the victim or are Richard (Reed Birney) and Linda (Ann Dowd)? In some ways, it doesn't matter as writer/director Fran Kranz wants to explore wider issues, using the incident that inextricably linked their lives as the starting point.

The majority of Mass consists of this emotionally raw conversation between the two sets of parents, so it's not an easy watch. But with all four lead actors delivering flawless performances, it's a movie that is always compelling in its exploration of grief.

The conversation takes place in a nondescript back room of a church, which we see getting set up in the beginning. Once both sets of parents have arrived, Kranz puts us in that room and doesn't leave for more than an hour. It plays out in real time, every excruciating moment of silence and awkward small talk included.

You'd be forgiven for thinking the movie started out as a play (it didn't) given the single-location nature of much of its runtime. However, it never ends up feeling stagey and Kranz uses the contained environment to make you feel as the characters do. They haven't been able to escape their grief and what this incident has done to their lives; by leaving you in the room with them, you get a sense of how all-encompassing it has been.

Of course, it helps that for this stripped-back, dialogue-heavy movie, Kranz has brought together four terrific actors who all raise their game. It feels churlish to single out any of Martha Plimpton, Jason Isaacs, Ann Dowd or Reed Birney as they're all exceptional, each wringing their stand-out monologues for full emotional impact.

Their performances aren't showy or mannered as you could imagine them being in lesser hands. So much is portrayed in the silence and the reactions between all four, their internalised pain breaking through only in flashes to make it all the more impactful. They're all worthy of awards recognition, but Mass has been criminally overlooked to date.

The conversation effectively sees all of the characters go through the five stages of grief as they attempt to understand the unexplainable. Kranz's exceptional script never sensationalises or exploits the all-too-real tragedy of school shootings, and is careful to showcase both sides.

It would be easy for Mass to villainise and blame the parents of the killer, but Kranz knows that there are only grey areas and he isn't interested in giving easy answers. The facts only go so far – sometimes there isn't an explanation to be found. Just as the two sets of parents question everything, you'll end Mass with no definitive conclusion of why the shocking event happened, but that's exactly why it lingers with you.

"You think you can attach one word to something in order to understand it. To make you feel safe? Well, I won't say it. I don't believe it," Richard tells Jay, and that could be Kranz talking to the viewer. Mass is a movie that respects the viewer's intelligence, offering the various 'explanations' (video games, undiagnosed conditions and more) and gives you the space to come to your own conclusion.

jason isaacs, martha plimpton, reed birney, ann dowd, mass

That's not to say there isn't a satisfying conclusion to the conversation that takes us the bulk of the movie. It's more that the movie gives plenty to chew over after watching, and lingers in the memory once the credits have rolled.

Quite simply, Mass is already sure to end up on top ten lists of the best movies of 2022. It's a moving, thought-provoking and powerful drama with four of the strongest performances you're likely to see this year.

How to watch Mass online

Mass is available to watch right now on Sky Cinema if you're a Sky subscriber with access to the movie channels. If you're a Sky subscriber without Sky Cinema, you can sign up for £11 extra a month for a minimum 18-month contract.

jason isaacs and martha plimpton in mass

If you're not a Sky subscriber, you can sign up with one of Sky's ongoing deals , including the Sky + Cinema + Netflix package that gives you a bunch of Sky channels, including the Cinema channels, and access to everything on Netflix , for £37 a month over an 18-month period.

Mass is also available to watch on NOW with a Sky Cinema Membership which costs £9.99 a month and comes with a seven-day free trial.

Mass is available to watch now on Sky Cinema and is also out in UK cinemas.

Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies , attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy , initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.

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What “MAS*H” Taught Us

Image may contain Harry Morgan Coat Clothing Apparel Jacket Hat Andr Rieu Human and Person

Rationality has lost its currency. The people in charge are dolts—masters of manipulation making testosterone-fuelled, incendiary moves on the world stage. Patriotism has soured into ugly, gun-loving nationalism, with brown people and foreigners the targets of a nonsensical, hateful rage. Normalcy has vanished. Everyone is freaked out—overworked, irritable, unable to sleep, nerves completely shot. Each morning seems to bring some fresh hell, a reminder that the nightmare is real, and that there is no end in sight. Salvation is found in small, personal connections, in wry humor, and in the forlorn hope that intelligence and decency will ultimately prevail.

That’s one way to describe the basic plot of “ M*A*S*H ,” with the added details that the protagonists are doctors and nurses in a war zone, and the setting is the Korean War. Lost among this year’s observances of the paradigm-shifting cultural events of 1968 is the fiftieth anniversary of the book “ MASH : A Novel About Three Army Doctors ,” a little-remembered shaggy-dog volume by Richard Hooker that engendered fourteen more novels; a feature-film adaptation (directed by the then up-and-coming Robert Altman); and one of the highest-rated television series of all time. Of these iterations, it is the last that arguably left the greatest cultural imprint, running for eleven seasons and considered by many to be the gold standard for quality programming in its day. The show was embraced by audiences and critics alike (it also spawned three of its own spinoffs), and when its finale aired, on February 28, 1983, it set a record for the most-watched television episode in broadcast history—a mark that still stands. “ MASH ” was mainly about decent people trying to survive an intolerable situation, making the occasion of its golden anniversary, this year, fortuitously relevant.

Richard Hooker was actually the nom de plume of Dr. H. Richard Hornberger—a Trenton, New Jersey-born surgeon who had served at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during the Korean War—who wrote the book with the help of the sportswriter W. C. Heinz. The book’s sometimes technical descriptions of the kinds of “meatball surgery” his characters perform in the field give it an air of authenticity. The novel’s focus, however, and its narrative, centers on a somewhat disjointed series of sketches involving a loose assemblage of colorful personalities. Together, they engage in high jinks and exhibit what today might be called bro behavior. Hornberger had been a dedicated fraternity member in college, and the novel’s triumvirate of young doctors (named Hawkeye, Trapper, and Duke) at times comport themselves like badly behaved undergraduates. They rib one another, perpetrate elaborate practical jokes, call each other by pet names, objectify and harrass women, play golf, gamble, drink a surfeit of alcohol, and make a man cave of their shared living quarters (a tent that they famously christen “the Swamp”). Though each is happily married to a wife who awaits him back home, their service in Korea seems to offer them an opportunity to experience a kind of second adolescence.

Our staff and contributors share their cultural enthusiasms.

“ MASH ” is mostly a light, pithy read. The horrors and injustices of war are not explored as thematic elements in the way they are in the film and television adaptations. Hornberger seems to have approached the writing of the novel as something of a lark—a way to recount for posterity some of the more outlandish stories he either experienced or heard about while serving. Altman’s film adaptation is much better than the book and, pound for pound, probably the artistic highlight of the franchise.

For anyone who’s only spent time with the television “ M*A*S*H ,” the title sequence of the film feels immediately familiar: an acoustic guitar is heard arpeggiating a minor sixth chord as Army helicopters appear in midflight, carrying wounded soldiers. Then the similarities end. Unlike the television show’s opening, the lyrics to Johnny Mandel’s theme song in the title-credit sequence are sung :

Through early morning fog I see, visions of the things to be The pains that are withheld from me, I realize and I can see That suicide is painless, it brings on many changes, And I can take or leave it if I please

Altman’s camera draws closer to reveal a mutilated human body, its bloody arm dangling in the air. When the choppers land, there is another familiar tableau, as doctors, nurses, and porters rush forward to collect the wounded. But in Altman’s hands these comings and goings have not been sanitized: the maimed, bedraggled wounded are whisked off with such urgency that a stretcher momentarily capsizes, nearly dumping its human cargo. A chorus of men keeps singing about suicide, about hopelessness and despair, the music building with each succeeding verse, as harmonies and lush string orchestration are added to the arrangement. The juxtaposition of the melancholy melody, nihilistic lyrics (enthusiastically delivered), emotionally charged orchestration, and Altman’s scenes of bodily carnage is destabilizing, setting the tone for everything that follows.

If the television version of the fictional 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital feels at times (especially in its later seasons) as though its residents are pleasantly glamping in the hills of Korea, the film’s MASH compound is unclean and sordid. The cinematographer Harold E. Stine used a fog filter to dirty up the look of the film. Altman’s surgery scenes are harrowing—blood spurts from a critically wounded soldier’s neck as doctors try to stanch it; the dull, low-fi hum of what sounds like a power tool is heard (or is it an electric razor?); and, in at least one instance, a patient’s torso is hacked at with what looks like a butcher saw.

Some plot devices from the novel are adopted by the screenwriter, Ring Lardner, Jr., but others, which were created from whole cloth, up the ante on the source material. The unit’s resident Lothario, Captain Walt (Painless Pole) Waldowski—played by John Schuck—reveals to Donald Sutherland’s Hawkeye that he has decided to kill himself because of sexual dysfunction, before admitting that there is a larger issue at hand. “I’m a fairy,” he says, dolefully. (Sutherland’s deadpan response is genius.) The company arranges to hold a mock-goodbye dinner for their departing friend, and they prescribe a placebo that they assure him will do the job. Lardner also concocted two of the film’s other more memorable set pieces: a camp-wide broadcast of the nocturnal activities of an unsuspecting Major Frank Burns (Robert Duvall) and Sally Kellerman’s Major Margaret (Hot Lips) O’Houlihan, and a prank in which the doctors collapse the walls of the ladies’ showers while O’Houlihan is bathing, leaving her exposed and humiliated for all the assembled camp to see and cheer at. (Alan Alda remembers the latter scene, especially, as an example of the film’s misogyny, calling it “brutal.” When I asked his co-star Loretta Swit, who played the character on television—with the character’s surname truncated to Houlihan—for her thoughts, she admitted that she’s never watched the film. “Why would I?” she asked.)

Many of the cast members were up-and-comers making their Hollywood débuts (including a young Bud Cort, of “Harold and Maude” fame), and onscreen they each possess an appropriate feeling of unease, as though they really are a bunch of reluctant strangers who were randomly thrown together in a precarious context. The ebullient personalities from the television series are nowhere to be found. Altman’s ensemble completely disappears into their respective roles, and no one ever steals the show (though Kellerman comes gloriously close).

Stories emerged about Altman’s idiosyncratic, freewheeling methods. His approach on the set was like that of a jazz bandleader seeking to harness and ride raw inspiration, to capture lightning in a bottle—a framework that dared his cast toward spontaneity and serendipity. Altman encouraged improvisation from his actors at all times, leading to the film’s revolutionary style, with its herky-jerky manner and overlapping dialogue. “We were a long, long way from an ‘original’ screenplay when actors started speaking,” Sutherland told me. The pace is often slow, dry, and muddled, giving the film an almost Chekhovian feel. Characters mumble and drift in and out of scenes that seem to have no narrative forward movement, making it delightfully hard to tell, at times, what is even going on. All of this so infuriated Lardner that he ultimately told the director, “You’ve ruined my film,” and announced at the movie’s first screening that there was not one word of his that remained in it. (Lardner went on to win an Academy Award for best screenplay.)

An old show-biz maxim holds that one surefire way for a performer to hold an audience’s attention is to appear as though they are in possession of a secret. Altman’s entire film has this feeling. As the “Three Army Doctors,” Sutherland, Elliott Gould (as Trapper John McIntyre), and Tom Skerritt (as Duke Forrest), are sly and subtle. In their hands, Hornberger’s frat boys become hipsters. Their attitudes are droll, their responses to situations are all arched eyebrows and sideways glances. We can’t always hear what any given one says under his breath, but we sure want to. They project a caustic intelligence, their rapport is contagious without ever being cloying, giving the proceedings a slow-burn, subversive edge. Even at their misbehaving worst, we’d just kind of like to hang out with them. As Pauline Kael writes in her review of the film , for this magazine, “ . . . I don’t know when I’ve had such a good time at a movie. Many of the best recent American movies leave you feeling that there’s nothing to do but get stoned and die, that that’s your proper fate as an American. This movie heals a breach . . . ”

Mike Farrell, who played Captain B. J. Hunnicutt in the television series (a character that appears in neither the book nor the film), keenly recalls seeing the movie “ M*A*S*H ” during its 1970 release. Farrell was a young actor living in L.A. at the time, actively involved in the anti-war movement, and he remembers the film’s galvanizing impact, calling it “necessary” in the context of what was then happening in Vietnam. The movie struck a nerve. Amid its absurdity and black humor, it was a sharp commentary on the senselessness of war, and on the obliviousness of those charged with prosecuting it.

The “ M*A*S*H ” television series, inspired by Altman’s film, débuted in the fall of 1972, on CBS. Although not immediately a hit, the network believed in the show, and by Season 2 it had garnered a significant following. The show was by turns funny, serious, and innovative. It explored new narrative techniques, introduced verboten topics to prime time, and probed the psychology of its characters in ways that had not been seen on a television series before—all within the confines of a half-hour sitcom format. Altman despised it. In his director’s commentary for the film, recorded for the 2000 DVD release, Altman calls the show “the antithesis of what we were trying to do,” and claims not to know or like any of the people involved with it. (“Alan Albert, or whatever his name is.”) Gary Burghoff, the only featured actor to appear in both the film and the series, treasures both experiences, and told me that Altman’s resentment probably stems from the fact that the show’s popularity came to almost entirely eclipse the influence of his film. (Altman had no fondness for Hornberger’s novel, either, calling it “just terrible.”)

Unlike the book or the film, the television “ M*A*S*H ” rallies around the character of Hawkeye. As depicted in the book, Captain Benjamin Franklin (Hawkeye) Pierce is a bumpkin from Bumpkintown, Maine. One of Hornberger’s characters describes him as “an uncouth yokel.” The character is introduced as being in his late twenties, a former college athlete, married with two young sons, and an avid reader of Maine Coast Fisherman magazine. While Donald Sutherland had not exactly hit the casting bull’s-eye (Sutherland told me that he and Altman never discussed the Mainer accent called for in the screenplay—“heah” for “here,” etc.), he was arguably within range of the character, having been brought up in Nova Scotia and naturally quiet, unassuming, and laconic. When the producers of the television series recruited Alan Alda to play Hawkeye, they not only intentionally missed Hornberger’s target entirely but wound up in the woods somewhere.

“We needed an attractive, funny guy,” the show’s original producer and co-creator, Gene Reynolds, told me, “a leading man, a hero, someone who could carry the show.” Reynolds had seen Alda onstage in New York and was convinced that this was the guy. Alda’s Hawkeye is flamboyant, intellectual, and manic—almost always the center of attention. New York-y, even. Where Sutherland’s charisma is sneaky, Alda’s is all out front. It stretched the limits of plausibility to imagine him back home in Maine, building lobster traps with his dad, but, as Alda told me, “We weren’t doing the book, and we weren’t doing the movie. I don’t think that the somewhat depressed character portrayed in the film would have worked for very long in the show.”

The question is academic; Alda’s Hawkeye became (and remains) one of the most famous characters in television history. Like Alda himself, his Hawkeye is kind, articulate, and caring. In the show, Alda reacts as much as he acts. One of his greatest gifts as a performer is how well he seems to listen, a skill he says he learned early on in his career, in improvisation class. “The secret to good listening is simple,” he told me. “Unless I’m willing to be changed by you, I’m not really listening.”

The television “ M*A*S*H ” includes two hundred and fifty-six episodes. To be fair, shows produced in the pre-cable, pre-streaming, dead-ball era of television were not designed to reward binge-watching. As Burt Metcalfe, a producer who was with the show from beginning to end, told me, “When you do that many episodes, some are going to be really great, and some are going to be really bad.” Writers were not then expected to build careful continuity, overarching narrative, and granular detail into every episode, practices that have become de rigueur today. Once a show aired, it was gone, to be seen again only in syndication, by happenstance, and almost always out of order.

In its early going, many of “ M*A*S*H ” ’s dramatic plotlines were balanced with generous helpings of slapstick, usually involving one or more of the cast’s pure comic geniuses, notably McLean Stevenson (Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake), Larry Linville (Major Frank Burns), and Burghoff (Corporal Radar O’Reilly), all masters of physical comedy and verbal timing. There are also episodes that plumb the depths of the show’s personalities in ways that neither the book nor the film ever did, many of them among the series’s best known: Hawkeye loses a childhood friend on the operating table (“Sometimes You Hear The Bullet”), and is made to confront his love-avoidant tendencies (“The More I See You,” featuring a memorable guest turn by Blythe Danner); the cold-as-ice Hot Lips allows herself to be vulnerable (“The Nurses”); and Trapper John takes a young Korean child under his wing (“Kim”). Most affecting is the finale of Season 3, in which one of the show’s most beloved personalities is killed off (“Abyssinia, Henry”).

Although the television “ M*A*S*H ” was ensemble-based, Alda is clearly the star. Wayne Rogers’s Trapper John is charming and likable, but ultimately underdeveloped; Duke Forrest—the most amiable of the original trio of doctors—has been jettisoned entirely. Hawkeye becomes the nonconformist-in-chief, gaining the admiration of his fictional colleagues (as well as television audiences) for his expert medical skills, his compassion, and his intolerance for hypocrisy. What is mostly skirted over is his obvious alcohol problem, and his habit of coming on to women in lecherous, creepy ways.

Loretta Swit, who shares with Alda the distinction of being a regular cast member for every season of the series (and was the show’s only regular female character), blanched at the suggestion that the early years could be seen differently today in the context of the #MeToo movement. “There was no predation,” she told me, in no uncertain terms. “The nurses were using the doctors, too—they had needs of their own,” she said. Alda, for his part, has some awareness that the show might be made differently in today’s cultural environment. “Every show reflects its time,” he said.

The show seems to hit its stride somewhere in the middle of its run. When Radar and Hawkeye have a nasty falling out (“Fallen Idol”), it’s genuinely upsetting to see, like watching loved ones come to blows. When B.J. falls “off the fidelity wagon” (“Hanky Panky”), we are made to feel his shameful self-recrimination. The groundbreaking “The Interview” (filmed in black and white) featured the actors improvising their characters’ responses to a fictional war correspondent’s questions; “Point of View” was shot entirely from the perspective of a wounded soldier who cannot speak; and the surrealistic, disturbing “Dreams” delved into the anxieties and fears of the characters as they slept between operating-room shifts. And, in “The Price,” Colonel Sherman T. Potter (Harry Morgan) makes an extraordinary gesture to protect the honor of an elderly Korean national in an episode that contains the sort of subtly effective moral lesson that the series became known for.

“Movie Tonight,” a Season 5 episode that includes the cast’s rendition of the Second World War-era “Gee Ma, I Wanna Go Home,” verges on unabashed musical theatre, a striking example of how much music, in general, was incorporated into the show. This is perhaps most effectively and subtly manifested in the use of the pianistic talents of the actor William Christopher (portraying Father Francis Mulcahy) who, on separate occasions, is found unassumingly playing two of Scott Joplin’s most meditative, stately compositions—“Solace” and “Bethena.”

David Ogden Stiers’s Major Charles Winchester, another character created for the TV series, arrives in Season 6, a far more nuanced foil for Hawkeye and B.J. But there was no replacing Burghoff when he left the show, a year later, at his own initiative. (Metcalfe was clear about the fact that “no one was ever fired from “ M*A*S*H .”) While Alda had long since become the marquee face of the series, Burghoff’s Radar was, in a sense, its gentle heart.

Corporal Walter (Radar) O’Reilly, an Army clerk “fresh out of high school,” is the first character introduced in the novel, in Hornberger’s very first sentence. Twenty-six years old when he was cast in Altman’s film, Burghoff projected a wholesome, wide-eyed innocence that allowed him to play a much younger character. His Radar gradually becomes the show’s everyman. He is resourceful and funny, earnest and clever, an obedient enlisted man who nevertheless circumvents regulations if it means serving the greater good. As his character develops, Radar is also revealed to be an animal-lover, a skilled musician, and a master of impressions. He sleeps with a Teddy bear and reads comic books. It is Radar who knows what’s going on at the 4077th at all times; Radar who is the camp’s eyes and ears.

By Season 7, Burghoff was nearing middle age, and the bloom was off the rose. The actor had already scaled back his appearances on the show, and by the time of his final episode (the strangely moving two-part “Good-Bye Radar”) Radar had become someone we no longer knew—sullen, confused, and miserable. Always something of a loner, he’s finally given his first shot at real romance—a bright spot in the episode—but that plotline is, sadly, never tied up.

If the show had always been brighter than either the book or the film, it had also been warmer, but that brightness becomes a bit garish in its last years as the series seems to drift completely out of the orbit of Hornberger’s original vision. The tension of being stationed three miles from the front lines has mostly dissipated. The characters appear comfortable, even coiffed and manicured. All traces of the war’s filth and residue have been scrubbed clean. By Season 10, Hawkeye has become a bit of a nebbish, and has long since stopped womanizing, telling a nurse at one point, “I can’t take advantage of your feelings for me.” Hot Lips has become Margaret, and her blatant defiance of her superiors (in “Give ‘Em Hell, Hawkeye”), and her berating of a nurse for being a “scheming little social climber” (in “Identity Crisis”) are hard to reconcile with the once proud, career Army woman with an eye for high-ranking generals. Jamie Farr’s Corporal Maxwell Q. Klinger, the formerly cross-dressing soldier, once so desperate to go home he’d attempted to swallow a jeep, bolt by bolt, now seems somehow overjoyed to serve; in Episode 9, he even turns down a discharge. Still, as Emily Nussbaum told me, “It’s possible to love the show and still see the flaws.”

To their credit, the show’s cast and creative team saw the writing on the wall. Though there were initially some qualms about ending the series with Season 11, everyone I spoke with felt at peace with the decision. “We didn’t want to ride the horse downhill,” Farrell told me, “and we certainly didn’t want the network making the decision for us. We wanted to go out on our own terms.” Alda agreed. “We just felt that we’d taken it as far as we could,” he said, “and we never looked back.”

When the network was informed of plans to conclude the series with an episode that depicted the end of the war, an agitated TV executive presented himself on the “ M*A*S*H ” set. “It’s important that you don’t resolve the series,” Farrell recalls him saying, “it will kill the series in syndication. Look at what happened with ‘The Fugitive,’ ” (a show in which the plotline was wrapped up in the final episode, thus eliminating any suspense from the reruns). Farrell still chuckles at the memory of some of the cast and crew politely suggesting to the executive that it might be fair to say that most people were aware that the Korean War eventually ended; the man looked at them blankly, turned, and walked away—a real-life display of the kind of forehead-smacking disconnect between authority and intelligence that had been a hallmark of “ M*A*S*H ” since the publication of Hornberger’s novel.

The show’s final season, which began in the fall of 1982, saw some valedictory returns to form, but the coup de grace is the show’s final episode, “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen,” the two-hour “movie” that is, for all intents and purposes, the end of “ M*A*S*H .” Roughly three out of four people watching television the night of the finale tuned in. When the characters said their heartfelt goodbyes to each other, they became the audience’s proxies, expressing the great store of tenderness and affection that viewers had built up for them over seasons and years. Unlike Hornberger’s novel, or Altman’s film, in the television “ M*A*S*H, ” the characters show a deep love and respect for each other, and a large part of the show’s tremendous appeal has to do with the ways in which it could model healthy, open communication, and the vital importance of community.

At its core, though, “ M*A*S*H ” is about surviving amid chaos. About being trapped in an impossible situation, in which the struggle is taken up every day—not out of any Pollyanna belief that things will change anytime soon but simply because it’s the right thing to do. In 1968, the notion that our true enemy could be the callousness, hypocrisy, and small-minded ignorance of our own leaders was fashionable. Fifty years later, it’s become evergreen.

A previous version of this post contained a misspelling of the name of the character B. J. Hunnicutt. It also overstated the frequency of Loretta Swit’s appearances on the show.

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EXmas movie poster: Leighton Meester and Robbie Amell are ex-fiancés

Common Sense Says
Parents Say 3 Reviews
Kids Say 0 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Holiday romcom has sex, drinking, drugs, mild language.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 14+?

Adults drink regularly and get drunk; in one scene a woman slurs her words and e

Adult characters flirt, kiss, and have sex in a scene where they remain fully cl

"Damn," "ass," "hell," "sucks," "jerk," "butt," "idiot," "balls," "smells like n

Hockey games get physical. A man has a heart attack and must be given CPR; he's

Car and clothing brands, Heineken, Kay jewelry. Parents say they have two mortga

Any Positive Content?

Family matters most. Relationships are about teamwork and communication, not rea

Graham and Ali are both very loyal to Graham's family. The family members provid

The main couple and parents are White, heterosexual Christians. Secondary charac

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Adults drink regularly and get drunk; in one scene a woman slurs her words and eventually throws up. A man uses cannabis and THC products for back pain; there's discussion of gummies and joints. A woman accidentally puts one of his products into her baking, getting everyone high at dinner.

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

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Adult characters flirt, kiss, and have sex in a scene where they remain fully clothed and are only kissing in bed during the time we see them. A woman proposes a threesome with two men. Two women make out. A gift appears to be phallus-shaped. There's reference to masturbation and erectile dysfunction, as well as use of sexual terms like "hit that" and "hump."

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

"Damn," "ass," "hell," "sucks," "jerk," "butt," "idiot," "balls," "smells like number two," fart and burp references.

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

Violence & Scariness

Hockey games get physical. A man has a heart attack and must be given CPR; he's taken away in an ambulance.

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

Products & Purchases

Car and clothing brands, Heineken, Kay jewelry. Parents say they have two mortgages on their house.

Positive Messages

Family matters most. Relationships are about teamwork and communication, not reaching goals individually. Appreciate and spend time with those you love while you still have the time. CPR saves lives.

Positive Role Models

Graham and Ali are both very loyal to Graham's family. The family members provide companionship, support, and love to each other. Graham and Ali are also very competitive with each other, and they try to sabotage each other repeatedly.

Diverse Representations

The main couple and parents are White, heterosexual Christians. Secondary characters include a lesbian sister, an apparently adopted brother (not discussed) of Asian heritage, and non-White love interests (played by a Black actor and an actress with Filipino roots). The female love interest is sexually forward and proposes a threesome. The sister is having similar issues with her girlfriend as the main character with his, and they give each other love and support. There's a suggestion that the Christian parents reject science, for example, by not believing in COVID or evolution.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Parents need to know that the holiday romcom EXmas has sexual situations, drinking and drugs, and mild language. Adults drink regularly and get drunk, and in one scene a woman slurs her words and eventually throws up. A man uses cannabis and THC products for back pain; there's discussion of gummies and joints, and a woman accidentally gets everyone high at dinner when she bakes with one of his products. Adult characters flirt, kiss, and have sex in a scene where they remain fully clothed and are only kissing in bed during the time we see them. A woman proposes a threesome with two men, and two women make out. A gift appears to be phallus-shaped. There's reference to masturbation and erectile dysfunction, as well as use of sexual terms like "hit that" and "hump." Other language includes "damn," "ass," "hell," "sucks," "jerk," "butt," "idiot," "balls," "smells like number two," and fart and burp references. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

Parents say (3)

Based on 3 parent reviews

Very funny, but disrespectful to religion

What's the story.

In EXMAS, couple Ali ( Leighton Meester ) and Graham ( Robbie Amell ) have broken off their engagement, meaning both will have to spend the holidays alone. That is, until Graham decides to surprise his family in Minnesota. Arriving home, he discovers his parents, Jeannie (Kathryn Greenwood) and Dennis ( Michael Hitchcock ), invited Ali to spend the holidays with them in his absence. Digging in their heels, Graham and Ali wager a bet on who will get sent home first, and they compete to ingratiate themselves with the Christmas-obsessed Jeannie. Will the holiday spirit help them rekindle their unresolved feelings?

Is It Any Good?

This formulaic holiday romcom will give viewers a definite sense of deja vu and could have set up its characters' backstory better, but a bit of late-act drama and an appealing cast save it. EXmas is not the first Christmas movie built around a celebrity (Meester), and its overzealous family and squabbling will-they-or-won't-they leads feel familiar too. The relationship between now ex-fiancés Ali and Graham is rushed through in a brisk 5-minute intro that offers explanation but no depth of feeling. A bit more patience in the set-up would have helped articulate the film's central conflict. When things slow down and the tone switches from ridiculous rivalry to genuine emotion, things improve, allowing EXmas to end on a satisfying, yes-of-course-they-will note.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about why Christmas is so often used as a background for romantic comedies, like in EXmas . Does this film remind you of others you've watched?

In what ways does the film use its secondary characters to increase diversity and inclusion?

Who do you think was in the right -- Graham or Ali? Why?

What's your favorite holiday movie? How does this one compare?

Movie Details

On DVD or streaming : November 17, 2023
Cast : Leighton Meester , Robbie Amell , Kathryn Greenwood
Director : Jonah Feingold
Inclusion Information : Female actors
Studio : Amazon Freevee
Genre : Comedy
Topics : Brothers and Sisters , Friendship , Holidays
Run time : 93 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : sexual material, drug content and some language
Last updated : May 29, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

Love Actually

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Best holiday movies for kids, unconventional holiday movies, related topics.

Brothers and Sisters

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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

Cast & crew
User reviews

Raising Voices

A 17-year-old student's life takes a huge turn when she hangs on the school's facade a billboard saying 'Careful: Rapist hiding here'. A 17-year-old student's life takes a huge turn when she hangs on the school's facade a billboard saying 'Careful: Rapist hiding here'. A 17-year-old student's life takes a huge turn when she hangs on the school's facade a billboard saying 'Careful: Rapist hiding here'.

José Manuel Lorenzo
Miguel Sáez Carral
Nicole Wallace
Clara Galle
Aicha Villaverde
13 User reviews
13 Critic reviews

Top cast 83

Juan López Sánchez

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feliciastamour
Jun 6, 2024
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May 31, 2024 (United States)
Official Netflix
Susmayanlar
Madrid, Spain
DLO Producciones
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Runtime 45 minutes

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15 Best Horror Movies Of All Time, Ranked

10 best ma memes that make the movie way less scary, 10 questions marvel still needs to answer about the mcu's phase 5 & 6 movie slate.

"Ma" is a psychological horror film that explores how past trauma influences adult decisions and behaviors.
The main character, Sue Ann, befriends high school students as a way to seek revenge against her childhood bullies.
The film delves into themes of race, gender, and teen movie tropes, while also examining the dangers of revenge and the lasting impact of unprocessed grief.

The psychological horror film Ma ending examines how past trauma informs adult decisions. An outcast woman struggles to maintain healthy relationships with people her own age, so she befriends high school students instead. Directed by Tate Taylor, Ma is grounded by the main character’s internalized grief and ulterior motives, and provides a subtextual commentary on race, gender, and teen movie tropes. In Ma , Octavia Spencer portrays Sue Ann Ellington, a veterinary technician living in Ohio. She meets a group of high school students and agrees to buy alcohol for them.

The kids nickname Octavia Spencer's Sue Ann “Ma ” because she allows them to party in her basement. But when Sue Ann becomes overbearing by sending texts and video messages, her young friends reconsider the relationship, only to be lured back by lies and alcohol. An angry parent confronts Sue Ann about her actions, which kicks off Ma's violent final act. Sue Ann organizes a basement party, drugs the students, and tortures them. She also drugs one of the parents and then kills him in her room. In the Ma ending, Sue Ann is stabbed, and her home is accidentally set on fire. She retreats upstairs to die alongside her former classmate - but why?

Split image of Eyes Without A Face, The Shining and Texas Chainsaw Massacre main characters

What are the best horror movies of all time? Every fan has their opinion, but these movies have stood the test of time to become certifiable icons.

Ma Is Getting Revenge On Her Childhood Bullies

Ma looks ominously into a car window in Ma

Sue Ann pursues a relationship with the students because she identifies them as the children of her childhood bullies. Andy (Corey Fogelmanis) drives a security company vehicle owned by his father, Ben Hawkins (Luke Evans), Sue Ann’s former crush who publicly humiliated her in high school. "Ma" confirms the Hawkins familial connection via Facebook. She also investigates Maggie Thompson (Diana Silvers, Booksmart ), a girl who she IDs as the daughter of Erica Thompson (Juliette Lewis ), a former classmate who failed to prevent Sue Ann’s bullying.

Sue Ann’s basic motivations are established from the start. Her actions aren’t random but rather calculated. For the audience, though, it may be initially unclear why Sue Ann is still angry about the past. As she spends more time with the teenagers, she recognizes personality traits that are connected to her high school bullying. In Andy, Sue Ann sees the archetypal “Cool Guy,” a heartbreaker just like this father. In Maggie, Sue Ann sees a passive and naive young woman - just like her mother, Erica. When Maggie mouths off during a party and calls Sue Ann a “loser,” she’s quickly taught an important lesson about peer pressure.

Maggie takes too many shots and can't remember what happened the following morning. For Sue Ann, Andy and Maggie represent the dream high school couple, and they're symbolic of what evaded her as a teenager. Most importantly, though, they remind Sue Ann of their parents. In Ma , it’s the side characters who further distress Sue Ann. McKaley Miller portrays a loud-mouth student named Haley, a girl who later sends a derogatory video message about "Ma." In Sue Ann’s mind, Haley reminds her of a former bully named Mercedes (Missi Pyle), who just so happens to be dating Ben.

Whereas young Andy and Maggie remind Sue Ann of the romance she never had, Haley and Mercedes remind her of the archetypal mean girls. In addition, a student named Chaz (Gianni Paolo) is symbolic of the high school jock. During the first basement party, he teases Sue Ann about not being "cool." She subsequently pulls out a gun and forces him to strip - but then smiles and keeps the party rolling. Out of the main group of students, a black teenager named Darrell (Dante Brown) informs the audience about Sue Ann’s self-image as a social outcast. He’s the character that comes up with the nickname “Ma.”

Sue Ann recognizes his willingness to conform with his all-white friends. When Andy has to write a school essay about a slave ship and states that he can’t attend a basement party, Darrell makes a racially-themed joke that doesn’t go over well with "Ma." Each character symbolizes a specific high school trope for Sue Ann. As the story progresses, she becomes overwhelmed by these painful reminders and actively decides to pursue a more aggressive form of revenge. History repeats itself, and Sue Ann becomes a source of laughter for a new generation of students. This is significant because "Ma" wasn’t simply teased in high school, she was set up to be publicly humiliated in front of her peers.

Like many other horror villains, Sue Ann from Ma became a pop culture icon, appearing in many hilarious memes that make the movie less scary.

Ma Was The Victim Of A Horrible High School Prank

Sue Ann’s line of work is connected to past bullying. As a veterinary technician, she protects dogs and other animals because she was treated like one in high school. Various flashback sequences reveal Sue Ann’s backstory and explain her lack of empathy. The first flashback sequence shows a teenage Sue Ann being invited to a party at a local rock pile. Another flashback sequence shows her forming a relationship with Ben. Later, Ben requests a romantic meeting in a school closet. The final flashback sequence reveals that Sue Ann gave oral sex to the boy she thought was Ben, but turned out to be a different classmate.

Sue Ann was set up, and her peers laughed wildly as she exited the closet. On a practical level, this moment explains why Sue Ann immediately decided to investigate Andy Hawkins in Ma's opening sequence. But on a psychological level, it suggests an ulterior motive for actually pursuing a friendship with the teenagers. Sue Ann could be motivated by curiosity or pure revenge - probably a mixture of both. In Ma , Sue Ann is still clearly angry about past bullying , but she also wants to belong. This concept drives the first half of the film.

Sue Ann and Ben are reunited at the veterinarian's office. For the story, the location is relevant, as Sue Ann views Ben as a dog (something that's particularly apparent in the way she eventually kills him). At first, Ben plays nice, just like he did in high school. He requests a meeting... just like he did in high school. However, Ben reveals his true nature when he publicly and aggressively confronts Sue Ann about her relationship with his son, Andy.

Ben has a tracking device on his security vehicle and knows that Andy has been to Sue Ann’s home. This particular moment precedes the final flashback sequence. In the present, Ben dates Mercedes, the "Cool Girl" who helped set up Sue Ann in high school. The final act essentially begins with Sue Ann killing Mercedes, as she runs her over with a car.

Ma's Big Twist: Sue Ann Has A Daughter

The Ma ending twist changes the film’s power dynamics. Early on, the teenagers are told not to go upstairs. Later, Maggie and Haley try to find a bathroom, and they’re scolded by Sue Ann. The girls ultimately decide to break into Sue Ann’s house after two important events: Ma reveals she has pancreatic cancer (a lie), and that’s why she’s been acting strange, and the students notice that “Ma” has clearly been stealing jewelry. So, they break into Sue Ann's home and receive a big surprise. A young girl wearing a mask frightens them, revealed to be Genie (Tanyell Waivers), Ma’s teenage daughter.

At first, Genie appears to be a threatening character, but she’s revealed to be a soft-spoken girl. Maggie and Haley know Genie as the wheelchair-bound girl from school, so they’re surprised she can walk. Ma has been gaslighting Genie - manipulating her daughter into believing a false reality. This causes Maggie and Haley to become even more skeptical of Sue Ann, as they feel bad for Genie and don't like that she’s being kept at home. In the Ma ending, Genie returns when Sue Ann organizes another party. First, Ma invites Ben to her home and quickly injects him with diazepam.

Ma then kills Ben quite gruesomely : giving him a transfer of canine blood taken from Maggie's dog, and then slitting his wrists and letting him bleed out. In the basement, Sue Ann spikes the drinks, and the teenagers are knocked out. Meanwhile, a grounded Maggie escapes from home and finds her unconscious friends and Ben's body at Ma’s house. She’s also injected and knocked out. Ma tortures each of the students, and the specifics are associated with past bullying and high school archetypes.

The jock, Chaz, is burned with an iron. The loudmouth, Haley, has her lips sewn shut. The conformist black teenager, Dante, receives a splash of white paint across his face, with Sue Ann noting that “there’s only room for one of us” - a meta-joke about teen movies that often feature just one clichéd black character. Ultimately, Genie saves the day by knocking her mother out with a frying pan (which starts the house fire). While Sue Ann is temporarily stopped, the teens regain consciousness and are freed from the house.

When Ma wakes up and tries to drag Genie back into the fire with her, Maggie stabs her and states, “I’m not like my mother. I’m not weak.” This climactic moment implies that the film's young teenagers are indeed complex - not just mirror images of their parents.

Ma Dies With Ben - But Why?

Despite Maggie’s best effort to kill Sue Ann, the character doesn’t immediately die. Instead, she grins from a window as the rescued teenagers try to process what just happened. The Ma ending shows Sue Ann walking upstairs and lying next to Ben, bringing the story full circle. Sue Ann finally gets another private moment with Ben. As a teenager, she wanted romance. As an adult, she wanted respect. In the end, Sue Ann dies next to the man who caused her so much pain. She couldn’t have him, but she could ensure that he wouldn’t hurt her anymore.

The fire rages on, serving as a visual metaphor for Sue Ann’s internal angst since childhood, and also connected to her gaslighting of Genie. It's Ma who fueled this fire. The Ma ending raises bigger questions about race, gender, and unprocessed grief. In the end, Sue Ann - a black woman - lies next to a white man who shows little remorse about his past actions. Ben previously labeled Sue Ann as a “loser” during their confrontational meeting, suggesting that he didn't respect her as a woman or a human being.

As a teenager, Ben clearly didn’t consider Sue Ann’s feelings as a black woman trying to bond with her white peers. She was humiliated, and thus made to feel like she not only wasn't good enough but that she didn't belong. On a psychological level, this connects to Sue Ann’s befriending of the young teenagers. In a sense, she was trying to re-live her teenage years. But Sue Ann was ultimately reminded of the past, and the wrath of "Ma" was unleashed .

Ma Is About The Dangers Of Revenge & Ills Of The Past

Octavia Spencer Diana Silvers and McKaley Miller in Ma

Ma explores the effects of childhood trauma and emotions that haven’t been properly dealt with. In the first half, Sue Ann's actions underline her questionable decision-making, but it’s clear that she’s simply looking for connections. Sue Ann appears to be a loner who needs a few friends.

In reality, however, Sue Ann is a mother, and so the daughter's revelation sets up a larger story about accountability. One could argue that Sue Ann didn’t initially plan to physically hurt anybody. But when she’s disrespected by the children of her high school bullies, an inner fire burns once again, and Ben’s blatant disrespect only makes matters worse. Sue Ann’s villainous turn aligns with the realization that she’s being forced to conform to judgmental white people once again.

In that sense, Ma is a cautionary tale about the ills of the past, and how some people, not all, are pushed to the edge when they feel helpless, betrayed, and misunderstood. If only someone had defended Ma during her lowest moment as a teenager, perhaps the downward spiral into violence would never have begun. Alas, that help never came, leaving her teetering on the edge, and eventually falling over it.

Ma Could Return In a Sequel, Says Director

When it was released in 2019, Ma earned mixed reviews from critics, many of whom praised Spencer's performance as the titular villain, but lamented that the movie was never allowed to reach its full potential. Despite that appraisal, Ma actually did quite well financially, thanks to the steadfast Blumhouse Productions formula of making horror movies on budgets low enough that they don't need to be massive hits. Ma earned $61 million on a budget of only $5 million, making it immensely profitable for Blumhouse and distributor Universal Pictures. That kind of return on investment usually does spell a sequel, especially when it comes to horror movies. For his part, Ma director Tate Taylor is very open to the possibility of a Ma movie sequel .

Taylor says he's positive Spencer would return to star if asked to do so. In early 2021, Taylor said that while Sue Ann appeared to die in the house fire, he purposefully left whether she did a bit ambiguous. A script for a sequel isn't yet written, but Taylor envisions Sue Ann having moved to the Pacific Northwest under a new identity, and become a real estate agent. She'd then hold open houses, and murder some of the people who opted to attend. It's not clear why exactly she would do this, but that's the idea Taylor has so far. Granted, the way he states, that Sue Ann would "murder white people looking at McMansions" suggests a strong racial component to the story once again.

Someone else who is very interested in a Ma movie sequel is Melissa McCarthy. While this might seem off the wall, McCarthy was out in June promoting her role in Little Mermaid , and she said she would love to work with Octavia Spencer. " I would do anything for that glorious woman ,” McCarthy said (via Deadline ). While the Ma sequel has not been announced, McCarthy could fit the idea of the two of them starring in it together. " She’s a better person, she’s the funniest human I know, she’s the kindest, smartest person I know. We’ve been friends for over 25 years. "

Where To Watch Ma Online

With Ma having become something of a cult item in the time since its release - hence the sequel talk from director Taylor - those who've yet to see it or want to see it again might be wondering where it's available to stream. The movie is now available to stream in numerous places online. The biggest spot to find Ma is on Netflix . It is also available to stream on Fubo, FX Now, Tubi, and DirecTV. Fans can also rent it at all major digital retailers. Also, worth looking at, the Ma movie Blu-ray release comes complete with an alternate ending and over 10 minutes of deleted scenes.

Horror Movies

'Skincare' with Elizabeth Banks is a sleazy little movie. And that's a good thing

If it had come out 50 years ago, “Skincare” would have been one of those mildly scandalous, much-talked-about entries in the ABC Movie of the Week roster.

Instead, here we are in 2024, and “Skincare” instead arrives as a campy, fun thriller “inspired by” a real-life story, one that’s likely to come and go without much fanfare — though Elizabeth Banks’ performance deserves some.

Banks plays Hope Goldman, an aesthetician in Hollywood with a sterling clientele; director and co-writer Austin Peters zips through her rise to success before the opening credits are over. Now she’s about to launch her own line of beauty products. It’s an exciting time, punctuated by an interview with local anchor Brett Wright (Nathan Fillion, at his squirmy best).

What is the plot of 'Skincare'?

Then a few clouds start appearing on her well-manicured horizon. A new beauty and skincare shop opens across the street, owned by Angel (Luis Gerardo Méndez), who has a proprietary process that makes you look younger. He starts stealing some of Hope’s thunder — and her clients.

From there it’s a pretty rapid downward spiral. A sexually explicit email goes out to everyone in her address book. She begins showing up online as a sex worker offering rather specific services. Someone cuts her tires.

Naturally, Hope blames Angel. In the ultimate insult, Wright ditches Hope’s interview and runs one with Angel in its place.

Jordan (Lewis Pullman), a friend of a friend who is a life coach (or at least trying to be), offers to help Hope. Marine (Michaela Jaé Rodriguez), her assistant, tries to keep the business afloat amid competing disasters.

This is when Banks shines, as Hope gradually descends into an obsession with Angel. It’s one of those situations where you want to tell Hope that she’s about to make a big mistake (and another, and another), but she can’t see it because she is so determined to bring him down. In her mind it’s either her or him, and the way even her most-loyal clients start showing up across the street, she may be right. Banks makes the whole thing believable.

Is 'Skincare' based on a true story?

The case that inspired the film involves Dawn DaLuise, who was accused of hiring a hit man to kill a rival. She spent 10 months in jail and was acquitted in 2015. She later offered “Killer Facials,” and told the New York Post she plans to sue producers over the film. That sounds like the source for a pretty good movie, too (it even involves the “Bling Ring”).

“Skincare” is more the story of people making one head-bangingly bad decision after another — and not just Hope. Fillion is perfectly cast as a sleazy anchor who is used to getting his way. Pullman (the son of Bill Pullman) makes a complex character even more so. He keeps you guessing.

The supporting cast is a strength throughout. Erik Palladino plays a mechanic who is part of a long line of men who are attracted to Hope, who at the moment is far too distracted to pay attention. Wendie Malick, always welcome, drops in to inadvertently introduce Jordan to Hope while she’s there for a facial. He’s a lot younger than she is, yes, but she tells Hope men of his generation are too driven by their professional aspirations to be interested in sex, anyway.

It’s all got a nice patina of sleaze, as it should. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who the culprit is (though the LAPD has its troubles), but it doesn’t matter. Peters even pays homage to “Sunset Boulevard” before it’s done.

This isn’t that, not by a long shot. But it is an entertaining little movie, and gives Banks the kind of role she deserve more of.

'Skincare' 3 stars

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

Director: Austin Peters.

Cast: Elizabeth Banks, Lewis Pullman, Luis Gerardo Méndez.

Rating: R for sexual content, graphic nudity, language throughout, some violence and brief drug use.

How to watch: In theaters Friday, Aug. 16.

'The Instigators' review: Matt Damon and Casey Affleck can do better

Reach Goodykoontz at [email protected] . Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm . X: @goodyk . Subscribe to the weekly movies newsletter .

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‘The Union’ Review: Old Friends Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry Reunite in a Middling Spy Movie

Playing ex-flames who team up to save the world, the two leads have chemistry, but the movie lacks the personality to make their low-key screwball dynamic worth the hassle.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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Life peaked in high school for Mike McKenna ( Mark Wahlberg ), whereas then-sweetheart Roxanne Hall ( Halle Berry ) managed to escape dead-end New Jersey and travel the world. While he joined the local construction workers union, she joined the Union , a clandestine spy group about whom Roxanne blandly claims, “Half the intelligence community don’t know we exist, and the other half regret finding out.”

Reviewed at Egyptian Theater, Los Angeles, Aug. 12, 2024. MPA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 107 MIN.

Production: A Netflix release and presentation of a Municipal Pictures production. Producers: Mark Wahlberg, Stephen Levinson, Jeff G. Waxman. Executive producer: Jennifer Madeloff.
Crew: Director: Julian Farino. Screenplay: Joe Barton, David Guggenheim. Camera: Alan Stewart. Editor: Pia Di Ciaula. Music: Rupert Gregson-Williams.
With: Mark Wahlberg, Halle Berry, Mike Colter, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jessica De Gouw, Alice Lee, Jackie Earle Haley, J.K. Simmons.

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Movie Review: Mark Wahlberg, Halle Berry lead a middling spy comedy in ‘The Union’

Mark Wahlberg plays an oridinary New Jersey construction worker who gets roped into a world of international espionage in “The Union.”

“The Union,” an action comedy with Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry, should have been more fun. Or more exciting. It certainly had a lot working in its favor, including big stars and a budget for globetrotting.

But it’s lacking a certain charm that could help it be something more than the Netflix movie playing in the background.

“The Union,” streaming Friday, is a fairy tale — a very male one, about a middle-aged everyman (Wahlberg) whose life never quite got started and who gets recruited to be a spy out of the blue. Mike is a broke construction worker still living in his hometown of Patterson, New Jersey, (yes, there are Springsteen songs) with his mother, hanging with his old friends in bars. His biggest win of late was a one-night stand with his 7th grade English teacher and the one event on his calendar is his friend’s wedding in a few weeks where he’s the best man.

That’s all to say that for Mike, it is a breath of fresh air when his old high school girlfriend Roxanne (Berry), walks into the bar one evening looking like a punk rock superhero. Glamorous and confident, she has clearly found a life outside of Patterson. The problem, or a problem I think, is that we already know what she does. Instead of putting the audience in Mike’s shoes, as the fish out of water trying to figure out why he’s woken up in a luxury suite in London after meeting his high school ex in his hometown bar, “The Union” starts on Roxanne. It begins with a kind of “Mission: Impossible”-style extraction gone wrong, in Trieste, Italy, where most of her team ends up dead.

The idea came from Stephen Levinson, Wahlberg’s longtime business partner, who together helped bring another middle of the road Netflix action-comedy to life in “Spenser Confidential.” And it was directed very basically by Julian Farino, a journeyman director who helmed many episodes of “Entourage,” and written by Joe Barton and David Guggenheim. And there is a sort of charming fantasy about the notion that anyone could be an international spy given the opportunity and a few weeks of training. In the movies, women get to find out they’re secret royalty and men get to find out they’re secretly great spies.

“The Union” never quite hits its stride tonally. It’s not silly enough to be a comedy, but I think that’s what it would prefer to be. J.K. Simmons is given too little to work with as the head of this secret agency, which also employs underwritten characters played by Jackie Earle Haley, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Alice Lee. One of the more moderately successful running jokes is that Mike’s undercover character is from Boston (get it?). A hulking English henchman even has a heart to heart with him about “Good Will Hunting.”

Berry and Wahlberg are fine together, with an easy rapport, but zero chemistry. This would not be problem if the movie wasn’t also trying to be a will-they-won’t-they romance between a woman who forgot her roots and a guy who needs to. I never quite bought into the idea that either of them are actually still thinking about their high school relationship and what went wrong. There’s been a lot of life in the interim to dwell on decisions you made at 17. Not everyone can be Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, or even Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton – but maybe the story should have changed to suit these actors.

There’s just not enough there — action, comedy, romance, art — to demand (or, rather, earn) your full attention.

“The Union,” a Netflix release streaming Friday, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for “sequences of strong violence, suggestive material and some strong language.” Running time: 107 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.

Movie Review: Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry lead a middling spy comedy in ‘The Union’

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Maestro review: Bradley Cooper’s Bernstein film is nicely affectionate – fake nose and all

Cooper is effortlessly charming in a film that’s been making headlines for all the wrong reasons, and his co-star carey mulligan is magnificent, article bookmarked.

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Bradley Cooper enjoyed a monster critical and commercial hit with 2018’s A Star is Born , which he directed and starred in, playing an alcoholic country and western crooner, opposite Lady Gaga. How on earth, observers wondered, was he going to trump that success? Five years on, Cooper is directing and playing the lead in another fine music-based project, albeit one very different in tone. Maestro is a biopic of American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein , the man who brought us West Side Story and On the Town .

The film arrives trailing controversy in its wake. Cooper, a non-Jewish actor, has been excoriated in the media for wearing a prosthetic nose as Bernstein. It was naive of him not to have anticipated the furore his make-up was going to cause. Nonetheless, no one who sees the film will argue that this is anything other than an affectionate portrait. Cooper is effortlessly charming as the musician, playing him as a gregarious and lovable figure whose face seems to be fixed into a near-permanent smile.

Bernstein is a mass of contradictions. He’s a conductor, teacher and TV personality as well as a composer. He writes both orchestral works and Broadway musicals. He needs privacy and solitude to create but loves to live his life flamboyantly in public.

It can’t be said that the script, which Cooper co-wrote with Josh Singer, is especially taut. The storytelling is choppy and episodic. Scenes are strung together in a sometimes random fashion. However, Carey Mulligan is magnificent as the musician’s South American wife, Felicia, a successful actor in her own right. She a warm, glamorous figure who mothers Bernstein even as he betrays her, and looks after his wardrobe (one reason why he becomes more dapper as the film goes on). Mulligan (who looks certain to win awards nominations) captures her character’s pragmatism, imperiousness and, in the latter scenes, her extreme vulnerability.

Tensions in the marriage erupt because Lennie is bisexual and can’t give up his male lovers. (At one stage, we see him playing percussion on his boyfriend’s buttocks). He adores Felicia but betrays her. She thinks she understands his nature and can deal with his infidelity, but ultimately ends up devastated by his deceptions.

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Early scenes are shot in black and white. Like Lady Gaga’s Ally Maine in A Star is Born , Bernstein enjoys a meteoric rise. He fills in at very short notice when the conductor of the New York Philharmonic falls ill, cementing his reputation in the process. He is only 25 at the time, a young bohemian on the make.

Bernstein is prodigiously talented but often far too busy socialising or teaching students to do justice to his own gifts. He’s ambitious, sometimes ruthless and yet has a laidback bonhomie that marks him out as very different from the hard-driving fictional conductor played by Cate Blanchett in last year’s Oscar contender, Tar . He is the type of man so desperate for company that he won’t even lock the bathroom door.

Author Tom Wolfe famously satirised Bernstein as embodying “radical chic”. He was a wealthy, privileged New Yorker who hosted swanky parties for the Black Panthers at which he would serve little Roquefort cheese morsels rolled in crushed nuts. Cooper goes in far more gently on the conductor than Wolfe did but leaves us in no doubt that Bernstein enjoyed being around people from all sorts of backgrounds, sometimes to the detriment of his work.

In its weaker moments, the film offers lacklustre recreations of moments in Bernstein’s career that can be found online in old YouTube clips. For instance, we see him and Felicia interviewed at home on TV by renowned broadcaster Ed Murrow. It’s an intriguing scene but doesn’t add anything that isn’t already there in the original Murrow show.

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Nonetheless, Cooper is an inventive director with an eye for a striking shot. He generally finds original ways to frame scenes. Several of the most heated spats between Bernstein and Felicia take place in the bedroom, as he is changing his socks or folding his trousers. There’s a devastating moment of betrayal in which Bernstein is spotted by Felicia at the end of a corridor in an embrace with his lover Tommy (Gideon Glick). She doesn’t say anything and he tries to pass it off as nothing important, but it’s at this point their marriage begins to unravel.

Cooper also uses moments from Bernstein’s work, for example, sailors hoofing it up in On the Town , to reveal details about his life. As an actor, he goes to extreme lengths to portray Bernstein accurately. He is shown playing the piano seemingly very proficiently. Everything about his performance from the hair to the gestures to that already notorious nose has clearly been thought about deeply. This, though, isn’t one of those biopics portraying a long-suffering artist tormented by his own gifts. In order to create, Bernstein needs the music to “sing in” him. He is at his best when he is happiest – and he is at his happiest when Felicia is by his side.

“A work of art does not answer questions. It provokes them; and its essential meaning is in the tension between the contradictory answers,” Bernstein famously said, in a quote that features in the film (produced by Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg). Fittingly, then, we never learn exactly what makes Bernstein tick. Cooper shows us his subject’s mix of magnetism, volatility and childlike egotism but he remains a strangely elusive figure. It’s left to Mulligan’s Felicia to crack the film’s sometimes too-shiny facade and to give its story some bruising emotional depth.

Dir: Bradley Cooper. Starring: Carey Mulligan, Bradley Cooper, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman, Michael Urie. 15, 129 minutes.

‘Maestro’ streams on Netflix from 20 December

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The Outrun review: "Saoirse Ronan is exceptional in this affecting drama about addiction and hope"

GamesRadar+ Verdict

An exceptional performance from Saoirse Ronan powers this affecting, slow-moving drama about addiction and hope.

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The Outrun opened the 77th Edinburgh International Film Festival. Here’s our review…

“It never gets easy - it just gets less hard.” So goes the advice to recovering alcoholic Rona (Saoirse Ronan) in this drama based on Amy Liptrot’s best-selling memoir. We first meet Rona when she is living back home in Orkney with her mother; a reluctant house guest whose friends have all moved away.

There’s a telling scene where she asks a young man for a light in the street and awkwardly tries to strike up a conversation. She’s clearly desperate for friends, and the folks in her mother’s Bible club aren’t going to cut it. But going back to London would likely be too much temptation, as we see in the flashbacks that give glimpses into Rona’s descent into alcoholism - an addiction that cost her everything she held dear.

There’s a stark contrast in style and pace between the scenes in the capital and those on the windswept islands. Some of Rona’s memories have the juddery excitement of a giddy party; others pause for a romantic moment with her ex-boyfriend.

As the film progresses, the flashbacks become more disturbing - we join in Rona’s horror as she wakes up with no memory from a violent, drunken night. It all feels horribly believable, unlike many an onscreen alcoholic episode. Ronan is as mesmerising to watch as ever, whether in self-destructive mode or in a subdued depression, wondering if she will ever be happy again.

Nora Fingscheidt (System Crasher) directs with a slow and steady hand, taking time to explore both Rona’s moments of solitude and those in which she encounters others. From her loner father to her Alcoholics Anonymous comrades, each interaction sheds light on Rona’s psychological state. In the present, she is often a woman of few words, leaving Ronan to convey a range of emotions with her movements and micro-expressions.

She’s supported by a strong cast including Stephen Dillane as her father, whose mental-health problems Rona fears she has inherited. Paapa Essiedu puts in a sympathetic performance as her one-time boyfriend Daynin, whose patience is tested to the limit. Meanwhile, Saskia Reeves is excellent as the well-meaning but disapproving mother.

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Tv/streaming, collections, chaz's journal, great movies, contributors, the martian.

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"The Martian," Ridley Scott's film about an astronaut surviving on a desolate planet, is at heart a shipwreck story, one that just happens to take the form of a science fiction adventure. But although the outline offers no surprises, the details and the tone feel new.

Like all the variants of "Robinson Crusoe"—including " Cast Away " and, of course, "Robinson Crusoe on Mars"—this film is about a man, Matt Damon's Mark Watney, who summons all of his ingenuity and courage to endure a seemingly impossible situation, then must deal with loneliness on top of it all. If you've ever seen a film, you know going in that things are going to turn out fine for Mark—that no studio is going to pay for a special effects driven epic about a smart, likable castaway who dies in the last five minutes. You also know that, despite the Lone Man Against Nature plot line, there's a reason why the filmmakers cast Oscar nominee Jessica Chastain as the captain of the mission that's forced to abort its exploration of the planet's surface and leave Mark for dead—and it wasn't so that she could turn tail and head for Earth with her crew in the first ten minutes and never return. You also know that, despite the heated discussions back on earth of how risky, time consuming and expensive a rescue mission would be, NASA will still have to stage one, and that any objections (mainly by Jeff Daniels' character, the agency's director) will be waved off in the name of doing what's right. Since what will happen is never in question, all that remains is "how."

Fortunately, the hows are cleverly envisioned by Scott and screenwriter Drew Goddard (who adapted Andy Weir's source novel, and also penned " The Cabin in the Woods " and many episodes of ABC's castaway drama "Lost"). The film pays thoughtful attention to basic questions like, "What do you do if the face plate of your helmet cracks?" and "How do you create a food supply on a planet that can't sustain plant life?" The short answers to those questions are, respectively, "apply duct tape" and "grow potatoes in a makeshift greenhouse fertilized with the solid waste left behind by the rest of the crew." Throughout the course of this long but never dull film, Mark makes for an affable and centered lead character—a wisecracking botanist who talks constantly to himself (and by extension the audience) in video diary entries, and sees each new crisis as a problem solving exercise, provided he can get his fear and despair under control long enough to think straight, which of course he does.

I'm making it sound as though "The Martian" is predictable. It is, but that doesn't hurt its effectiveness. The most fascinating thing about the film is how it leans into predictability rather than make a show of fighting it. In the process, comes up with a tone that I don't believe anyone has summoned in this genre, certainly not at this budget level. Of all the stories you've seen about astronauts coping with the aftermath of disaster—including "Mission to Mars" and the visually superior and more aggressively melodramatic " Gravity ," which is more of a self-help parable with religious overtones—"The Martian" is the most relaxed and funny, and maybe the warmest. Strangely like " Alien ," Scott's breakthrough 1979 thriller, and maybe his follow-up " Blade Runner " as well, "The Martian" makes the future look at once spectacular and mundane. For all its splendors, the world that enfolds the characters is simply reality : the time and space in which they happen to be living.

At times it seems as if the movie's greatest artistic inspiration is not any particular previous film or novel, but the second act of " 2001: A Space Odyssey ," which features endearing images of Dr. Heywood Floyd anxiously reading the instructions on a zero gravity toilet, and sleeping on a Pan Am flight to an orbital space station like a businessman taking the red eye from Los Angeles to New York. Much of the film's soundtrack consists, hilariously, of disco, the only music available to Mark (via his captain's abandoned laptop). The juxtapositions of Scott's panoramic red-brown landscapes, Damon's grimy, stubbly face, and 1970s dance floor classics like "Turn the Beat Around," " Hot Stuff " and "Rock the Boat" are sublime. They make Mark's predicament seem like an elevated version of a tedious but necessary task, like tiling a roof or repainting a garage. Hard work always seems to go faster when you put some tunes on.

"The Martian" occasionally plays like an unscripted TV show about a man stranded on another planet. There's a touch of "How to" in the way Scott and Goddard tell the story. As Mark talks to himself, he walks us through his processes, showing how, for instance, he re-liquefies dried-out waste and mixes it into arid Martian soil, then inserts halved potatoes into crop furrows and waits for a sprig of green to appear. Cost-benefit analysis constantly comes into play, as when Mark drives several hundred kilometers in a rover to dig up tech left over from another Mars mission, and has to decide whether to turn off the heat in the cockpit to save power during the long journey (he decides against it, because even though the heater eats up juice, he can't function if his nether regions are frozen).

Chiwetel Ejiofor's Dr. Vincent Kapoor, the head of NASA’s Mars missions, wants to bring Mark home out of a sense of honor and obligation. All of the other characters—including Chastain's Capt. Melissa Lewis, Daniels' Teddy Sanders, and Teddy's morally indignant right hand man, Mitch Henderson (played by Sean Bean , the ideal actor to play a man of conscience)—are basically on the same page. It's not a question of whether everyone wants to do the crowd-pleasing and heroic thing, but whether it's possible. It takes a while just to get a radio message to Mars and back, and you can't just send a spacecraft there like you'd overnight-mail a birthday gift. The mission has to be prepared for, and paid for. That can take months or years. At one point the NASA people discuss whether to skip safety inspections on an unmanned flight in order to make a particular calendar window.

The NASA technicians, scientists and managers race against the clock, working through equations on wiper boards and worrying about money and fuel and safety issues, but for the most part they talk to each other without hysteria. They say impulsive things, and then have to apologize. They crack jokes. Some of the exchanges verge on workplace comedy. Much of Scott's reputation rests on his ability to conceive and execute elegant images, often in service of grim stories, so it's easy to forget how good he is at camaraderie and banter (see " Thelma and Louise " and " Matchstick Men ," among others). "The Martian" fuses these sides of his talent better than any film he's directed. At its best, it has the serene assurance of a Howard Hawks buddy adventure in which no predicament is so dire that it can't still feature a bit of light humor.

The characterizations start out feeling a bit vague and flat, but deepen through the accumulation of little details. Even supporting players who show up for a scene or two have a life force, such as Donald Glover's Rich Purnell, a brilliant but eccentric young scientist who lives so deep inside his own head that he doesn't know the NASA director's name. One of the best scenes finds Kapoor and communications expert Mindy Park ( Mackenzie Davis ) interpreting the inflection of Mark's typed response to a radical scheme to rescue him: "Are you f-----g kidding me?" Kapoor hopes that Mark meant to indicate excitement at NASA's audacity, but deep down he knows that's probably not it.

The film's ecstatic peak is its most counter-intuitive sequence, a music montage near the climax that interrupts the flow of the rescue action to show the astronauts on Mark's old spaceship contacting their loved ones via satellite video: a husband shows his wife a record album that he bought for her birthday, and a father delights his kids by floating through the spaceship's interior in zero gravity, swallowing water globules like a porpoise going after minnows. Billions gather to watch the the rescue on live TV at the end, but nowhere else do we get the impression that all other drama has ceased while humanity frets over Mark's fate. For Mark it's life or death, but we infer that there are long stretches when the public has forgotten that he's stranded. The most significant recurring images in the film are closeups of sprigs sprouting from the potatoes that Mark buried in his greenhouse. Life goes on no matter what.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

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Film credits.

The Martian (2015)

Rated PG-13 for some strong language, injury images, and brief nudity.

141 minutes

Matt Damon as Mark Watney

Jessica Chastain as Melissa Lewis

Kate Mara as Beth Johanssen

Jeff Daniels as Teddy Sanders

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Venkat Kapoor

Michael Peña as Rick Martinez

Aksel Hennie as Alex Vogel

Sebastian Stan as Chris Beck

Kristen Wiig as Annie Montrose

Sean Bean as Mitch Henderson

Donald Glover as Rich Purnell

Mackenzie Davis as Mindy Park

Naomi Scott as Ryoko

Ridley Scott
Drew Goddard
Harry Gregson-Williams

Director of Photography

Dariusz Wolski
Pietro Scalia

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COMMENTS

M*A*S*H
Krista B Brilliant low-budget independent film with big budget results. Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/19/24 Full Review CHRIS M I saw it a theater as a teen back in the early 1970s ...
M*A*S*H movie review & film summary (1970)
Directed by. Robert Altman. One of the reasons "MASH" is so funny is that it's so desperate. It is set in a surgical hospital just behind the front lines in Korea, and it is drenched in blood. The surgeons work rapidly and with a gory detachment, sawing off legs and tying up arteries, and making their work possible by pretending they don't care.
Mass movie review & film summary (2021)
Mass. An out-of-nowhere triumph, "Mass" is the sort of American drama that you rarely see anymore: an intimate four-character piece about the aftermath of a school shooting that unfolds mostly in one room, letting a powerhouse cast and a thoughtful script carry much of the burden of meaning. Martha Plimpton and Jason Isaacs play the parents of ...
Mass (2021)
Mass. Years after an unspeakable tragedy tore their lives apart, two sets of parents (Jason Isaacs and Martha Plimpton, Reed Birney and Ann Dowd) agree to talk privately in an attempt to move ...
M*A*S*H (1970)
M*A*S*H: Directed by Robert Altman. With Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman. The staff of a Korean War field hospital uses humor and hijinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.
'Mass' Review: Stages of Grief
The movie lacks the gut punch of live theater, the thrill or discomfort of watching people show their feelings in real time. But as cinema, it demonstrates the effectiveness of simplicity. A well ...
'Mass' Review: The Charged Drama of the Aftermath of a School Shooting
Crew: Director, screenplay: Fran Kranz. Camera: Ryan Jackson-Healy. Editor: Yang-Hua Hu. Music: Darren Morze. With: Martha Plimpton, Jason Isaacs, Ann Dowd, Reed Birney, Breeda Wool, Michelle N ...
M*A*S*H (film)
M*A*S*H is a 1970 American black comedy war film directed by Robert Altman and written by Ring Lardner Jr., based on Richard Hooker's 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors.The film is the only theatrically released feature film in the M*A*S*H franchise.. The film depicts a unit of medical personnel stationed at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) during the Korean War.
M*A*S*H* (1970) Movie Review
What you will—and won't—find in this movie. Considerable drinking and some smoking. Hawkeye an. Parents need to know that this classic film is excellent -- and also shows the marks of its time (1970) and the era in which it was set (the Korean War in the 1950s) with considerable sexist, racist, and xenophobic behavior.
Mass review
Mass is a movie that respects the viewer's intelligence, offering the various 'explanations' (video games, undiagnosed conditions and more) and gives you the space to come to your own conclusion ...
Mass (2021)
Mass: Directed by Fran Kranz. With Breeda Wool, Kagen Albright, Michelle N. Carter, Martha Plimpton. The parents of both the shooter and one of the victims of a school shooting tragedy agree to meet and talk in an attempt to move forward.
What "MAS*H" Taught Us
What "M*A*S*H" Taught Us. Alan Alda, Mike Farrell, and Harry Morgan were among the ensemble cast of the long-running TV series " M*A*S*H.". The book upon which it was based celebrates its ...
Midnight Mass movie review & film summary (2021)
Mike Flanagan 's "Midnight Mass" sees the talented writer/director move from adapting Stephen King to crafting a project that feels so distinctly like one of the horror master's works that even fans will wonder how they missed its book release. With elements of The Stand, The Shining, and Salem's Lot, Flanagan's study of religion ...
EXmas Movie Review
This movie was great and funny, great acting until it mocked the Catholic Church with the "plenty of crackers" comment at Mass, disrespecting the true presence of God in the Eucharist. The movie makes a joke of the Sign of the Cross. The Baby Jesus figure is jokingly lost and replaced with with ugly stuffed animals.
Raising Voices (TV Series 2024)
Raising Voices: Created by José Manuel Lorenzo, Miguel Sáez Carral. With Nicole Wallace, Clara Galle, Aicha Villaverde, Teresa de Mera. A 17-year-old student's life takes a huge turn when she hangs on the school's facade a billboard saying 'Careful: Rapist hiding here'.
Ma Movie Ending Explained
The psychological horror film Ma ending examines how past trauma informs adult decisions. An outcast woman struggles to maintain healthy relationships with people her own age, so she befriends high school students instead. Directed by Tate Taylor, Ma is grounded by the main character's internalized grief and ulterior motives, and provides a ...
Victoria Mas on The Mad Women's Ball: 'My book is a fiction... but
I n the opening pages of Victoria Mas's debut novel, The Mad Women's Ball, a 16-year-old girl is hypnotised by a 65-year-old man."Shoulders back, bosom forward, head held high," the girl ...
Exmas Is One of the Most Uncomfortable Holiday Movies Since The ...
The holiday movie season is officially underway, and along with the usual treacly treats comes Exmas, a Freevee movie centered on the battle between two exes, Graham (Robbie Amell) and Ali ...
'Skincare' review: A campy thriller where Elizabeth Banks glows
The case that inspired the film involves Dawn DaLuise, who was accused of hiring a hit man to kill a rival. She spent 10 months in jail and was acquitted in 2015.
'The Union' Review: A-List Reunion Makes for a Middling Spy Movie
'The Union' Review: Old Friends Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry Reunite in a Middling Spy Movie Playing ex-flames who team up to save the world, the two leads have chemistry, but the movie lacks ...
Vedaa movie review: Sharvari breaks the mould as John Abraham gets to
John Abraham Vedaa Review: The challenge facing a film which wants to front a female lead while taking care that the big male action hero is never down-faced is clear in the way 'Vedaa' is constructed: the title belongs to her, the story which moves everything into high gear is hers, but when push comes to multiple shoves, the plot-line gives into the demands of macho-hero-doing-hero ...
Movie Review: Mark Wahlberg, Halle Berry lead a middling spy comedy in
Movie Review: Mark Wahlberg and Halle Berry lead a middling spy comedy in 'The Union' Aug 14, 8:01 PM Music Review: Post Malone's country album 'F-1 Trillion' is a long time coming.
Stree 2 movie review: Shraddha Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao film dumbs down a
Stree 2 movie review: Despite all the frantic criss-crossing in Shraddha Kapoor-Rajkummar Rao film, you feel the pace of Stree 2, never the best thing for a film which wants you to suspend all disbelief for its duration. Rating: 2.5 out of 5. Written by Shubhra Gupta
Ma movie review & film summary (2019)
The set-up for "Ma" has that same inherently disorienting quality, but it abandons the many discernible themes that come to its surface: popularity as power, tokenism, the lingering horror of our high school years. "Ma" can't even muster a delicious slice of nastiness—it's not sharp enough for that. Thriller. Horror. Comedy.
Vedaa Movie Review: Film with a message, packed with a solid punch
Vedaa Movie Review: Critics Rating: 3.5 stars, click to give your rating/review,Inspired by real-life stories 'Vedaa' speaks out loud against caste- based injustices and crimes.
Maestro review: Bradley Cooper's Bernstein film is nicely affectionate
Rebel Moon Part One review: Zack Snyder's Netflix epic is a borderline incoherent shambles Early scenes are shot in black and white. Like Lady Gaga's Ally Maine in A Star is Born , Bernstein ...
Khel Khel Mein movie review: Akshay Kumar exhibits flair in no-holds
Akshay Kumar Khel Khel Mein Review: Married couples, infidelity, and attendant dark secrets come up for a dissection in 'Khel Khel Mein', which borrows the name of a popular 70s comedy but is very different in tone and tenor. This desi adaptation of the 2016 Italian film 'Perfect Strangers' opts for the setting of a Big Fat Indian Wedding, which allows its participants to be all very ...
The Outrun review: "Saoirse Ronan is exceptional in this affecting
Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy. The Outrun opened the 77th ...
Alien: Romulus review: This 'clever, gripping and sometimes awe ...
Since the first two films in the 1980s, the sci-fi horror series has been a very mixed bag. But this latest gets back to basics, and makes for a superbly scary monster movie.
The Martian movie review & film summary (2015)
Much of the film's soundtrack consists, hilariously, of disco, the only music available to Mark (via his captain's abandoned laptop). The juxtapositions of Scott's panoramic red-brown landscapes, Damon's grimy, stubbly face, and 1970s dance floor classics like "Turn the Beat Around," " Hot Stuff " and "Rock the Boat" are sublime.

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