“Suffused with a gentle, trickster spirit, the picture’s rose-tinted, Depression era Americana and idealized notions of honor among thieves are even bigger cons than the one pulled off by the protagonists. But we in the audience are willing marks. The Sting is both a grift and a great escape. It makes you nostalgic for something that never was.” – Crooked Marquee, 01/16/2026
“This bummed me out. If you’re from Boston, you probably have an outsized emotional investment in these guys, and it’s sad that there’s no ambition to the picture, no aspiration to excellence. Disposable even by the standards of Netflix movies, it diminishes them and their partnership to appear in something like this. It’s Matt and Ben’s Righteous Kill.” – North Shore Movies, 01/16/2026
“Adapted from Yuknavitch’s 2011 memoir, the film is a fragmented flood of images and sensations putting us in the anguished headspace of its protagonist. Stewart asks a lot of the viewer, leaving us to stitch together story threads through flashes of a sometimes unreliable memory. We don’t see scenes so much as slivers and shards of a shattered life.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 01/15/2026
“Fastvold frames Lee’s life as a musical folk tale, with old Shaker hymns repurposed into earworms by Oscar-winning composer Daniel Blumberg. Seyfried’s ardent, bug-eyed performance sells her testimonies with a devout certainty that’s oddly comforting. You can see why so many people followed her to America. I’d follow Amanda Seyfried anywhere.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 01/15/2026
“The rest is rather pandering in a fan service-y fashion. Around the third Duran Duran song I was like, ‘Yeah, we got it.’ Dr. Kelson is much cuddlier than he was in the previous picture. The genius of Fiennes’ performance was that he seemed to be playing Colonel Kurtz and The Wizard of Oz at the same time. In this one he’s more like Mr. Rogers.” – North Shore Movies, 01/15/2026
My buddy Blake Howard called because he was baffled by director Bradley Cooper’s small-scaled follow-up to the big swings of Maestro and A Star Is Born. We puzzled for a bit over the bizarre camera angles and overcrowded script, trying to find a nice way to say that these actors are all too old for their roles. One thing we agreed on was that it needed more Balls. – One Heat Minute, 01/15/2026
“It’s not just that he’s missing the mustache, he’s also got none of the trademark, smirky joie de vivre. Reynolds moves a couple of beats behind everyone else in the picture, accepting these increasingly absurd situations with a forlorn smile. Even his toupee looks less robust than usual. It’s affecting work, vulnerable in ways we’re not used to seeing the star.” – Crooked Marquee, 01/09/2026
“It’s a film of quiet yearning and missed connections, about people who want to love each other but can’t seem to figure out how. Pokerfaced and exacting even by Jarmusch’s deadpan standards, this is one of those movies that’ll cause some viewers to complain that nothing happens, even though everything does. It all comes in under the radar.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 01/08/2026
“Cooper’s third directorial effort is an intermittently pleasant muddle with three credited screenwriters in search of a clear idea what the movie is supposed to be about. There are so many supporting characters you’ll need a dance card to keep track of everyone, but instead of a bustling ensemble they all feel like half-developed remnants from previous drafts.” – North Shore Movies, 01/08/2026
“With his pockmarks, unibrow and sleazy little moustache, Timée seems to be actively trolling his teen idol persona, playing a fast-talking hustler who’s all guts and gumption, arrogantly convinced of his own greatness and almost entirely devoid of redeeming qualities. It’s the most appealing he’s ever been onscreen. I get the Chalamet thing now.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 12/23/2025
SPLICED PERSONALITY 