EUyeshima

I was fortunate to see the 2024 Broadway revival of this Stephen Sondheim masterwork. It was such a transcendent evening of theatre that I was hesitant to see this 2025 ProShot screen translation. However, director Maria Friedman does an impressive job rethinking the stage blocking and inserting close-ups for the camera. Proving her credentials, she had directed not only the stage revival but also a 2013 film version of the same show. Recorded over just three performances at the Hudson Theatre, the film follows the play faithfully and enhances the emotional impact of the character interactions. The concept in George Furth's original book, unchanged in the resulting screenplay, remains challenging in presenting a highly complex backward chronology that follows a trio of friends over the course of two decades. The complications start with the characters introduced as estranged and cynical at forty. We are then led gradually back to their youthful innocence when they were full of dreams and unsure of their talent. The bond of their relationship is what gets them through the turbulence of both success and failure despite the inevitable intrusion of other characters who threaten to extract the threesome from each other. The three central performances remain sterling on screen. As Frank, the most ambitious and divisive of the trio, Jonathan Groff becomes even more central in the film version, easily alternating between fiercely narcissistic and deeply empathetic. Lindsay Mendez plays self-effacing Mary with equal parts turbulence and vulnerability as she constantly pulls back on her love for Frank. Her opening scene is devastating without context. Daniel Radcliffe is winsome and even more poignant on screen, pulling off his two big numbers - the comical meltdown "Franklin Shepard, Inc." and the shimmering "Good Thing Going" - with bell-like assurance. The rest of the cast improves from stage to screen with Katie Rose Clarke believably naive as Frank's first wife Beth (her take on "Not a Day Goes By" is lovely), and Krystal Joy Brown really comes to life as his second wife Gussie. I'm so glad Friedman has done such an impeccable job in capturing this chestnut for posterity.

Seeing an actor as accomplished as Michelle Pfeiffer in this wretched misfire is genuinely demoralizing. Directed and written by the usually dependable Michael Showalter, this 2025 holiday comedy is a monumental waste of her time and talent as she plays a typical Hallmark/Lifetime stereotype, Claire Clauster, an overworked Houston housewife and mother of a brood who takes her for granted during the laborious ramp-up to Christmas. Not only is Pfeiffer misused with her errant Texas accent, but there is an unusually strong supporting cast with the likes of Felicity Jones, Jason Schwartzman, Chloë Grace Moretz, and Dominic Sessa playing the adult children; Denis Leary as her blank slate husband; Joan Chen as a competitive neighbor; Eva Langoria as an Oprah-like talk show host; and Danielle Brooks as a sassy delivery driver. None of them fare any better in the plot, such as it is, which focuses on Claire's response to her children's indifference to her pleas to be nominated a holiday mom on her favorite talk show. After being forgotten to be taken to a dance show she organized for the family, she runs away to LA to go to the talk show where of course, contrived shenanigans ensue. The most contrived episode, however, happens earlier when Claire steals a huge candle at the mall with no remorse or repercussions. It suggests a darker comedy that never occurs. Part of this film's broader problem is that there are too many storylines to track among her various children including a contrite, unexplored conflict between Claire and her embittered eldest daughter. The film made me wonder if Amazon paid these actors extravagant sums to accept such dismal roles.

There's a pervasive haunting serenity throughout this deeply affecting 2025 period drama even though the story told is peppered with tragically heartbreaking elements. In an impressive sophomore directorial effort, Clint Bentley takes inspiration from Terrence Malick whose visionary 1978 classic, "Days of Heaven", comes to mind with its focus on the dependence of humans on nature conveyed in richly verdant tableaux courtesy of Adolpho Veloso's beautiful cinematography. Co-scripted by Bentley and Greg Kwedar, the plot focuses on the life of Robert Granier, an itinerant worker who moves through jobs in railroad construction, logging, and farming as opportunities arose in the early 20th-century Pacific Northwest wilderness. His hardscrabble life is leavened by a brief interlude of domestic happiness, but a tragic event puts him in a near-catatonic state. However, the film is far from stoic as it takes sharp emotional detours with Robert ruminating about the turning points in his life that lead him to his socially isolated state. Amplified by Will Patton's evocative narration, Joel Edgerton delivers subtly potent work as Robert. Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon, and a nearly unrecognizable William H. Macy provide sturdy support in memorable smaller roles. Having just seen Chloe Zhao's "Hamnet", I can see similarities between the films in the level of emotional resonance both convey from deeply personal situations.