Review of SENTIMENTAL VALUE: Fatherly Friction

January 29, 2026

When their mother passed away, Nora (Renate Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) were reunited with their estranged father, the esteemed filmmaker Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård).  Gustav wrote a script about the resistance activities and death of his mother, and wanted Nora, a stage actress, to play the lead role.  When Nora declined because of their past issues, Gustav offered the role to American actress Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning).

"Sentimental Value," winner of the Grand Prix at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, is a Norwegian film directed and co-written by Joachim Trier. This new film reunited Trier with his co-writer Eskil Vogt and lead actress Renate Reinsave from his acclaimed film "The Worst Person in the World" (MY REVIEW).  "Worst" also competed for the Palme D'Or at Cannes in 2021, where Reinsve won the Best Actress award. 

In "Sentimental," Reinsve played a stage actress with a severe stage fright. Her most intense scene here was that opening sequence of her Nora struggling to get into the proper frame of mind to mount the stage was very tense as the clock was ticking past curtain time.  Even if her acting style would be subtler that this for the rest of the film, Reinsve is right in the thick of Best Actress race at the Oscars this year for her performance here. 

There were two other actresses who complete the lead ensemble, and they both also make a big impression on the audience even if they displayed considerable restraint in their portrayals. Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas's Agnes was the peacemaker who treated her father with more kindness than abrasive Nora. I was impressed with Elle Fanning in that scene where her Rachel bared her insecurities to Nora with so much sincerity, sensitivity and humility. 

This awards season, Stellan Skarsgard is one of the leading nominees for Best Supporting Actor. This is another case of lead actors being fielded for Oscar consideration in the supporting category for a better chance to be nominated and win. As the egotistical artist and father, Gustav was the source of the film's tension and Skarsgard truly commanded the screen whenever he was on with his imposing presence. 8/10

Mini-Reviews of 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE and PRIMATE: Gore Galore

January 25, 2026

28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE

Directed by Nia DaCosta

Written by Alex Garland

Following the events of the last film, young Spike (Alfie Williams) was rescued by a gang led by "Sir Lord" Jimmy Crystal (Jack O'Connell), who called himself the son of Satan himself. He called his minions his "Fingers," replacing their names with various forms of his name Jimmy, going around terrorizing people by tying them up and skinning them alive. A female Finger called Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman) has become protective of Spike.  

Meanwhile, back at his Bone Temple, Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) has started to interact with the Infected Alpha whom he called Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) who seemed to be gaining back his sanity as an effect of the multiple doses Kelson had shot into him from darts of his blowgun. When Jimmy Crystal heard that there was this mysterious man with red skin that seemed to have been able to tame an Alpha, he thought Kelson could be his lord Satan.

In this fourth installment in the 28th Day Later film series, there are already more human characters in this film than Infected (zombies). In fact, the diabolically psychotic Lord Jimmy Crystal and his Fingers were more chilling than the Infected. Their scenes of skinning their regular human victims alive were far more disgusting than any of the Infected kills. The interesting musical soundtrack ranged from Iron Maiden to Duran Duran. Fiennes and O'Connell give totally committed performances of opposite extremes. 8/10 

**********

PRIMATE

Directed by Johannes Roberts

Written by Johannes Roberts and Ernest Riera

After spending several years away in the US mainland, Lucy (Johnny Sequoyah) returned to Hawaii to visit her family home with her friend Kate (Victoria Wyant). Kate had invited another girl Hannah (Jessica Alexander), who rubbed Lucy off the wrong way. When Kate found out that Lucy's father will be not be home, she volunteered herself, Hannah and their male friend Nick (Benjamin Cheng), to stay over at Lucy's place.

Lucy's deaf father Adam Pinborough (Troy Kotsur) is a successful author who was going away over the weekend for a book signing of his latest book. Lucy also had a kid sister Erin (Gia Hunter) with whom she had a strained relationship because of the years apart. The family had a genius pet chimpanzee named Ben (motion capture by actor Miguel Torres Umba). However, Ben was not going to be docile himself that particular weekend. 

From the start, it was evident that rabies would cause Ben's uncharacteristically deadly behavior. Like typical horror formula, the victims were taken out one by one, until they figure out how to neutralize the killer. From the opening, we already know that the kills will be graphically violent, from a face getting ripped off to a jawbone being pulled out from its sockets. The atmosphere was just like any other serial killer film where the victims are trapped in one house. Only difference here, the killer was a rabid chimp, not a man. 7/10

Review of RENTAL FAMILY: Hearts for Hire

January 22, 2026

Phillip (Brendan Fraser) was an American actor who now lived in Japan. He had a successful toothpaste commercial there, but unfortunately since then, the acting jobs have been few. One day, Phillip was recruited by a company called Rental Family, who provided actors who act as surrogates for people in need of family or friends. After resisting at first, Phillip agreed to become their "token white guy" for customers with that particular unusual requirement. 

His first job was to act as the groom for a lesbian (Misato Morita) for a wedding ceremony that her parents dreamed of. He was then hired by a single mother (Shino Shinozaki) to act as the father of a biracial girl Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman) to fulfill an application requirement for an exclusive school. He was then hired by a daughter (Sei Matobu) to act as a reporter interested to interview her father, retired film director Kikuo Hasegawa (Akira Emoto). 

Hikaru is the professional name of the female Japanese-American filmmaker who co-wrote (with Stephen Blahut) and directed this dramatic film, only her second feature film as director. Prior to this, her last high-profile job was directing three episodes of the acclaimed Netflix series "Beef" (2023). Hikaru's storytelling style was gentle and full of heart, enhanced by beautiful cinematography of Japanese landscapes by Takurô Ishizaka as backdrop.

The topic is very uniquely Japanese. The idea of hiring people to pretend to be temporary family or friend will likely not fly in any other culture in the world, but, if we were to believe this movie, perfectly acceptable for the Japanese, as long as there is a higher purpose to achieve. As a foreigner, Phillip did not immediately accept the job, and even wanted to back out of his first one at the last minute. However, he eventually understood and became good at it.

The agency owner Shinji (Takehiro Hira) and his fellow employee Aiko (Mari Yamamoto) have fully and passionately embraced the noble aims of their company, and do not find anything wrong about living these elaborate lies. However, they would eventually also learn from Phillip's experiences as he tended to develop genuine empathy with his clients. However, cutting ties and apologies are very difficult to do after each job is done.   

The inherent kindness in Brendan Fraser's face makes his Phillip easy to like and relate to. He had genuine chemistry with both Gorman and Emoto, so that his scenes with them, particularly the goodbyes, are quite heartrending. Thankfully, director Hikaru never went into any hysterical melodrama in these scenes replete with Japanese aesthetics and restraint all the way through. Despite the underlying deception depicted, warmth still radiates through. 8/10

 

Netflix: Review of THE RIP: Pervasive Paranoia

January 19, 2026

In police parlance, a "rip" is a raid on a criminal hideout where the cops recover stolen goods, including drugs and cash.  This new star-studded Netflix film written and directed by Joe Carnahan tells about a grand rip, where the cops raid a house where criminals have stashed upwards of $20 million in cash. The enormity of the loot raised countless red flags and doubts among the members of the Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) that did the raid. 

Lt. Dane Dumars (Matt Damon) was promoted to lead the TNT of the Miami Police when former leader Capt. Jackie Velez was murdered. Based on a tip, Dumars led his team -- Sgt. JD Byrne (Ben Affleck), Mike Ro (Steven Yeun), Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), and Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandino Moreno) -- to raid a certain house where a major stash of cash was hidden. A girl named Desi (Sasha Calle) who lived there denied knowing anything.  

The main draw of this film was admittedly its two lead actors -- Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. We all know they were best friends since childhood in real life, who started their film careers together as extras in "Field of Dreams" (1989). By 1997, they both won Oscars for a screenplay they wrote together -- "Good Will Hunting," and the rest, as they say, was history. Whether as leads or cameos, "The Rip" is now the 13th film they were on screen together.  

The supporting cast here also had Oscar pedigrees. Steven Yeun had been nominated as Best Actor in "MInari" (2020). Catalina Sandino Moreno had been nominated as Best Actress in "Maria Full of Grace" (2004). Teyana Taylor is just waiting for her nomination (and likely win) this year for "Another Battle After Another" (2025). Their ensemble work as cops grappling with moral issues in the face of the blinding lure of millions in cash was topnotch. 

It was riveting to watch Damon and Affleck play flawed characters who lose trust in each other while doing a job where trust was essential. They clearly trusted each other as actors as their strong chemistry held the twisty cross and double-cross story together. Despite some questionable plot points, Carnahan's script and direction effectively steeped the cops' team dynamics in pervasive paranoia that also kept viewers hanging on to the very end. 7/10

Review of ANACONDA (2025): A Silly Serpentine Spoof

January 9, 2026

Doug (Jack Black), Griff (Paul Rudd), Kenny (Steve Zahn), and Claire (Thandiwe Newton) had been close friends since their childhood making amateur films. When they got together at Doug's latest birthday, Griff told them that he owned the film rights to the 1997 action-horror film "Anaconda". As they were all unhappy with their jobs now, they impulsively decided to all go to the Amazon to film a low-budget indie version of their all-time favorite movie.

The gang planned out their script and their shoot carefully, even hiring a snake handler named Santiago (Selton Mello) who had a tame pet anaconda which was perfect for their purposes. They were able to rent a great-looking houseboat to travel on the Amazon River. This was steered by a girl named Ana (Daniela Melchior), whose impressive skills in shooting firearms made Doug include her in their film, much to Griff's annoyance. 

This new "Anaconda" film, co-written and directed by Tom Gormican, is a spoof (not a sequel) of Luis Llosa's "Anaconda" (1997)  This is the third film written and directed by Gormican after "That Awkward Moment" (2014) with Zac Efron, Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan, and "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" (2022) with Nicolas Cage and Pedro Pascal. All his three films explore the theme of male friendships tested under stressful situations. 

The humor of this movie was of the silly, slapstick style, mostly care of Black and Zahn. Black's most hilarious scene for me was that crazy macabre one where a boar was strapped on to Doug's back while a squirrel was stuffed into his mouth. Zahn's zaniest scene was that one when Doug's leg was paralyzed by a bite of a poisonous spider, and Kenny had to pee on the wound as an antidote. Kenny's anxieties made this scene way funnier than expected.

Black, Rudd, Zahn and Newton all had a relaxed chemistry between them, making their onscreen friendship fun to watch. The CGI giant snakes did not really look very realistic, but nevertheless what they did to Santiago's rather cute pet anaconda was not funny at all. Admittedly, the comedy was hit and miss, the horror was not really scary, and the action stuff about gold smugglers was a dud. However, the cameos of 1997 actors were a big hit. 6/10

Review of THE HOUSEMAID: The Price of Privilege

January 8, 2025

Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney) was dead broke and had just been living in her car for some time. One day, she was unexpectedly hired by Mrs. Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried) to be the live-in maid for their elegant  Long Island mansion. When she moved in and was warmly welcomed by Nina and her kind husband Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), Millie thought her days of miserable existence have finally come to an end. Or so she thought.

This convoluted psychological thriller film was directed by Paul Feig from a screenplay written by Rebecca Sonnenshine, adapted from the 2022 novel by Freida McFadden. Feig is known for comedies prominently featuring female characters, like "Bridesmaids" (2011), "The Heat" (2013), or "Ghostbusters" (2016). Despite the ominous plot brewing between its two lead female characters, Feig still managed to inject his new film with a darkly comic tone. 

The first act seemed so straightforward, with three beautiful people sharing one big house, you would logically predict that something sexy and scandalous was afoot. Suddenly, everything turned around one way in the second act, with psychological breakdowns, false accusations. Expository flashbacks to set things straight, but just when you thought you had the story all figured out, the outrageous story twisted yet another way before the end. 

Both Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried played deeply flawed characters, but the actresses played them well enough for audiences to sympathize with them. Sweeney was the obvious underdog, but she was certainly no saint. At first, Seyfried had the more sinister role with all the manipulation and gaslighting Nina was doing. Despite this, she was still able to draw us to her side despite all that, and that is no mean feat.  

The most interesting character in the whole story was actually the guy caught in between the two squabbling ladies -- Andrew. From a casual boy-next-door type photographer in his last film "Drop" (2025), Sklenar had transformed himself this time into a privileged millionaire Casanova with a killer smile and magnetic charisma that was absolutely irresistible to all women, including his mother Evelyn (Elizabeth Perkins). 7/10