The holiday time is ushering in some nifty, or at least interesting, gifts for Bay Area movie fans.
Major releases due in theaters this week include “Anaconda,” “Is This Thing On?,” “No Other Choice,” and “The Choral” all land in theaters this week. And Netflix is serving up the new tearjerker “Goodbye June.”
Here’s our roundup.
“Is This Thing On?”: Director/co-screenwriter Bradley Cooper curbs the flashier filmmaking flourishes that marred his “Maestro” and that understated approach results in one of his best features, an observant and wise depiction on the disorientation and loneliness that happens when a couple separates. Both funny and bittersweet, “Is Thing Thing On?” begins with the amicable parting of ways between Alex (Will Arnett, who is also co-writer and producer) and Tess (Laura Dern). They’re not angry at each other, just resigned to the reality that they’ve lost their way as a couple. They’ve been married for more than 20 years and have kids but are in a rut, feeling like they’ve missed out. Alex unwittingly thrusts himself onto the comedy stage where he bares his soul. The audience connects to his truth-laced shtick and he’s soon a regular. Meanwhile, former volleyball star Tess craves reviving an on-hold career and pursues a job as a coach and even wades into the dating pool. Their couple friends (Cooper and Andra Day, Sean Hayes and Scott Icenogle – who are married in real life) and Alex’s parents (Christine Ebersole and Ciarán Hinds) react to the “news” of their calling it quits in a variety of ways; the actor Balls (Cooper) evaluates his marriage to the confident Christine (Day) who isn’t a big fan of Alex. A light but astute touch from Cooper and a smart screenplay from Cooper, Arnett and Mark Chappell make the film seem mature and wise. The stand-up scenes ring true, and are even painful when Alex vents rather than invents on stage. “Is This Thing On?” isn’t flawless and does rely on a couple of plot turns that seem a bit of stretch. You won’t care. This one’s a little treasure that speaks with compassion and believability about the changing nature of relationships. “Is This Thing On?” is gratefully never cynical, just aware that the happily-ever-after scenario doesn’t cover the the scope of what relationships are all about. Details: 3½ stars out of 4; opens Dec. 25 at area theaters.
“Anaconda”: If you’re choosing to remake a dumb monster movie, then do it with the same infectious tongue-in-cheek style as director/co-screenwriter Tom Gormican does here. “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” filmmaker realizes only a moneygrubbing hack would go for an exact remake. No one wants that. Instead, he and co-screenwriter Kevin Etten and a delightful goofball cast get all meta and irreverent with their revisit of the 1997 howler that starred J-Lo, Ice Cube, a bellowing Jon Voight and a very hungry snake. The crux of the plot, if you could even call it that, hinges on four middle-aged childhood friends from Buffalo — wedding videographer Doug (Jack Black), recently fired third-tier actor Griff (Paul Rudd), stuck-in-a-rut Claire (Thandiwe Newton) and ne’er-do-well Kenny (Steve Zahn) — combatting their midlife crises by journeying to the Amazon so they can shoot a remake of one of their favorite monster flicks. In one of the most heartwarming sequences a flashback shows these young film buffs shooting one of their shlocky Big Foot-esque monster movies. It’s unexpectedly sweet and endearing. Once the quartet hits the Amazon, of course, all heck breaks loose, leading to showdown between this motley crew and the ginormous anaconda (the CGI effects are good, not overdone). Is any of it scary? Hardly. But it is consistently funny — and Gormican’s film never bites the hand that feeds it — in other words, he doesn’t sneer at the original. “Anaconda” is inspired and silly and even advocates, just as “Marty Supreme” does, for all of us to dream as big as you can even when the odds are stacked against you. “‘Anaconda” will make you laugh and then slither its way into your heart. Details: 3 stars; in theaters Dec. 25.
“Song Sung Blue”: Neil Diamond’s voluminous fan base will be the most appreciative of Craig Brewer’s truth-based musical biopic, a decent tearjerker inspired by a same-titled 2008 documentary. It, like that film, chronicles the lives, careers and misfortunes of Mike Sardina and Claire Stengl, a popular duo that formed the Neil Diamond tribute band called Thunder and Lightning. Thunder sang and was a Vietnam veteran and recovering alcoholic while Lightning played keyboards and suffered from bouts of depression. Both loved to perform and did they ever pack them in throughout Milwaukee and beyond, Brewer’s feature could use more creative spark, and sometimes feels a bit choppy. But that doesn’t diminish the power of its story nor the lead performances from Hugh Jackman and, in particular, Kate Hudson who’s going for something bigger than what the screenplay allows. The stars’ charisma outshines the flaws of “Song Sung Blue,” a satisfying portrait of two Neil Diamond lovers who weathered hard times and sang their way into the hearts of others back then and now with this admirable film. Details: 3 stars; in theaters Dec. 25.
“No Other Choice”: When South Korean paper manufacturing exec Man-su (Lee Byung Hun, in a performance that deserves awards traction) loses his 25-year-old job in an inhumane American conglomerate takeover, the married father of four takes desperate matters into his own hands. His macabre solution to slay his fellow competition so that he can ensure his family maintains their idyllic and materialistic lifestyle leads to a growing body count. How Man- su goes about his plan shouldn’t be divulged; you need to discover it for yourselves. Rest assured you’re in for one wild ride and are in the hands of one of our greatest living filmmakers, Park Chan-wook — known for shocking viewers — is up to his devious, often exhilarating, ways here. While “No Other Choice,” based on the late/great author Donald E. Westlake’s 1997 novel “The Ax,” doesn’t rank with his best — including “Oldboy,” “Decision to Leave” and “The Handmaiden” — this still ranks as one of 2025’s best films, an alternately funny, savage and violent satire that taps into a hostile, dog-eat-dog work environment created by hostile corporate entities interested in profit over people. “No Other Choice” has some screwball moments that mostly work and some sexual stuff that doesn’t entirely pan out, but it Chan-wook and cinematographer Kim Woo-hyung create virtuoso visual moments that take your breath away and which few others could even dream of. Somehow he makes the casual act of a drinking a boilermaker one of the most intoxicating and thrilling images of 2025. What an extraordinary treasure Park Chan-wook is. Details: 3½ stars; in select theaters Dec. 24, expands Jan. 2.
“The Choral”: Nicholas Hytner’s musty World War I period piece resembles an artifact, a drama that’s composed of parts and themes from other, better, films. That might be comforting to some, but makes for a rote, unsurprising film. I also grew frustrated over how “The Choral” tiptoes around potent topics — sexuality, class, war, and so on — rather than dealing with them full on. Ralph Fiennes’ presence does elevate Alan Bennett’s screenplay a notch or two, even if he’s not given a lot to work with. He plays an incoming chorus master, Dr. Henry Guthrie, who’s a recent hire from Germany who aims to shake up the staid Choral Society crowd by helming a performance of “The Dream of Gerontius” that is more contemporary and relevant. Bennett has produced polished diamonds of screenplays and plays before (“The Madness of King George,” “The History Boys”) but here he neve quite succeeds in weaving together the various narratives — the cocky young men next in line to join the ranks, the lives of the other choir and board members and Guthrie’s past and his sexualit. “The Choral” has top-tier production values to its credit, but it all seems cobbled together from other oft-told stories. In the end, it should have taken a cue from Guthrie’s tinkering about with dated material and punched it up a bit more. Details: 2 stars; opens Christmas Day in select theaters.
“Goodbye June”: A cast of incredible actors — Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Johnny Flynn, Andrea Riseborough, Toni Collette, Timothy Spall — gets trapped in a familiar dysfunctional family Christmas tearjerker that too often speaks in cliches and is stocked with one-note characters. There is the harried but successful sister (Winslet), the black sheep sis (Collette) who’s into chakras and movement therapies, the loyal-to-a-fault, repressed stay-at-home son (Flynn) and so on. They all congregate at a hospital during holiday time when cancer plaguing the matriarch (Mirren) takes a far more serious turn. Winslet capably directs a screenplay by her son Joe Anders that needed a few more rewrites before Winslet shouted “rolling.” Some scenes work — the ones between Winslet and Riseborough, for example — but others backfire, such as when Spall’s addled character performs karaoke. What’s supposed to be tender and touching rings utterly phony and manipulative. To its credit, the cast works wonders with the little it i given, but that just isn’t enough. Details: 2 stars; drops Dec. 24 on Netflix.
Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.
The Mercury News
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