The Amateur (2025)

written by Ken Nolan and Gary Spinelli

based on the novel by Robert Littell

directed by James Hawes

Watching the trailer to The Amateur it almost seemed like this action flick, starring Rami Malek as a meek CIA analyst searching for the terrorists who killed his wife, might actually be pretty good. Yet nothing really clicks in this subpar second adaptation of the Robert Littell novel – the story is routine, the action is bland, and Malek shows as much emotional range as a doorknob. Never thought revenge could be so boring.

Rating: **

Atlantic City (1980)

written by John Guare

directed by Louis Malle

In Atlantic City, Burt Lancaster plays Lou, an old small-time crook dreaming of a bygone era of glitz, glamour, and legendary gangsters. Susan Sarandon plays Sally, a young waitress yearning of a future as a croupier in Monte Carlo. Both meet when Sally’s husband Dave (Robert Joy) appears in town with a stolen bag of cocaine and a couple of mobsters hot on his tail. All of this may sound like a conventional thriller, yet director Louis Malle is more interested in the characters and the crumbling city around them, making for an atypical crime/romance film that’s tonally uneven but still worth a watch. Plus it has a quite inventive use of lemon juice I’ll never forget.

Rating: **½

Carlito’s Way (1993)

written by David Koepp

based on the novels Carlito’s Way and After Hours by Edwin Torres

directed by Brian De Palma

A decidedly strange entry in Brian De Palma’s gangster filmography, Carlito’s Way is neither excessive like his 1983 adaptation of Scarface nor heroic like 1987’s The Untouchables. Instead, De Palma goes for a more wistful take, as Nuyorican criminal Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino) tries to go straight after a stint in jail, but soon realizes old habits die hard.

Pacino butchers a Puerto Rican accent the same way he did a Cuban one in Scarface, the mobster elements feel forced, and the romance between Carlito and a stripper named Gail (Penelope Ann Miller) is laughable. But an unrecognizable Sean Penn shines as a sleazy lawyer, and a climactic sequence up and down Grand Central Station is pure joy for De Palma fans like me. A flawed but interesting effort.

Rating: **½

Green Book (2018)

written by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Hayes Currie, and Peter Farrelly

directed by Peter Farrelly

In 1962, Jamaican-American pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) employs Italian-American bouncer Frank Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) to be his driver/bodyguard on a concert tour of the South. Green Book is inspired by their real-life journey, and while it’s a fairly formulaic Hollywood drama about race relations, solid performances by Ali and Mortensen elevate the story beyond just feel-good. Their unlikely friendship – which lasted until their deaths – shines through.

Rating: **½

The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)

written by Bragi Schut Jr. and Zak Olkewicz

from a story by Bragi Schut Jr.

based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker

directed by André Øvredal

On paper, a movie about The Captain’s Log, the seventh chapter of Bram Stoker’s oft-adapted Dracula, sounds like a fantastic idea: Count Dracula travels by merchant ship from Transylvania to London, and along the way gets a little… hungry. The Last Voyage of the Demeter attempts this feat, but the results are middling, with lame VFX and lackluster execution reminiscent of a slasher film. This vampire’s got no bite.

Rating: **

The Monkey (2025)

written by Osgood Perkins

based on the short story by Stephen King

directed by Osgood Perkins

I was really digging filmmaker Osgood Perkins’ career for a while, what with great ghost stories like I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016) and interesting efforts such as The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015) and Gretel & Hansel (2020). But with last year’s Longlegs (2024) and now The Monkey, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. This time around it’s an adaptation of Stephen King’s story about a toy monkey that causes horrific deaths whenever it plays the drums. Perkins goes for comedy/horror, but as usual with this type of hybrid, it’s difficult to get the tone right – I laughed more at Nicolas Cage’s performance in Longlegs than I did here.

Rating: **

Sinners (2025)

written and directed by Ryan Coogler

Sinners is about the blues. It’s about black culture and resilience. It’s about racism. It’s about oppression, religion, spiritualism, drugs, sex, and violence. It’s a horror film about vampires, but also a musical of sorts. Some of it’s funny, some of it exciting, some of it ridiculous. Filmmaker Ryan Coogler throws everything at the screen in his tale of twin brothers (played by Michael B. Jordan) opening a juke joint in 1930s Mississippi and running into an Irish bloodsucker (Jack O’Connell). You can’t help but admire Coogler’s swing-for-the-fences approach, but also sort of wish he’d thought a bit more about how to bring all his disparate ideas together. Sinners is a mess, but an interesting mess nonetheless.

Rating: **½

Smile 2 (2024)

written and directed by Parker Finn

I enjoyed Smile (2022) for what it was, a stylish horror pic with interesting ideas and a couple of cool set pieces. And I’m happy to report Smile 2 lets writer/director Parker Finn expand the lore in unusual ways, as the evil entity from the first film latches on to a scarred pop star (Naomi Scott) trying to make a comeback. It’s a fun little ride, and even though Scott goes overboard a few times, the finale in which everyone gets infected is a twisted delight for horror fans all around. I look forward to Smile 3.

Rating: **½

Carlos I. Cuevas