Skip to main content
OH, CANADA
At first glance, Leonard Fife diverges from the Paul Schrader archetype we know from films like Taxi Driver (1976) and First Reformed (2018). The protagonist of Oh, Canada is an acclaimed documentarian, not an alienated insomniac hunched over a journal. But make no mistake, Leonard (Richard Gere) needs the same thing all Schrader men do—absolution—and his only pathway is confession. In this case, the cancer-stricken filmmaker makes his “final prayer” to a film crew of his former students (Michael Imperoli and Victoria Hill), while his wife Emma (Uma Thurman) looks on, disturbed at the aching length and depth of Leonard’s testimony. His memories, flashbacks within flashbacks, are where Oh, Canada discovers the cinematic reason to adapt Russell Banks’ novel Forgone. In his half-lucid recollections, Leonard is played by Jacob Elordi but then sometimes also still by Gere, who at 75 years old remarkably embodies a better 28-year-old than he does a dying old man. Oh, Canada undulates too much between staid and loopy to belong atop the Schrader canon. His reunion with Gere 45 years after American Gigolo is full of beguiling handjobs but also impressively invented footage from all the times Leonard spoke truth to the Catholic Church or U.S. military with his documentaries. But it delivers on a powerful theme—that people want to be truly seen before the end—especially for the things they did when no one was around to film it. R. CHANCE SOLEM-PFEIFER. Amazon Prime Streaming, Apple TV.
BACK IN ACTION
In what is both Cameron Diaz’s first vehicle in over a decade, and Jamie Foxx’s return to the craft after surviving a sudden stroke in 2023, Back in Action tells the story of a pair of spies who, after getting knocked up and falling in love during a mission to secure a doomsday-ish device, agree to fake their own deaths to raise a family together in suburban Atlanta. 15 years later, when their daughter (McKenna Roberts) is caught underage clubbing, the pair’s cover is compromised and they end up—you guessed it—back in action. Like most popcorn blockbusters, Back in Action requires a certain degree of poetic faith to work. Diaz and Foxx never quite sell their romantic partnership while operating a plotline more tired and flimsy than the return of two ‘00s superstars deserves, but their Roberts and a charmingly geeky Rylan Jackson round out the family in a way that softens the films rough edges, though not necessarily in a way that makes the film more watchable. Directed by Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses, Identity Theft), this is less a family movie night event and more a background noise-type flick for Gen X and elder Millennial parents to wistfully reminisce over while doing chores. PG-13. BRIANNA WHEELER. Netflix.
THE COLORS WITHIN
Vibrant red, luscious green, and brilliant blue are the colors that Totsuko (Libby Rue), a Catholic boarding school student with synesthesia, sees when looking at other people. All colors are eclipsed, however, when she sees Kimi (Kylie McNeil), a fellow student turned dropout, and the two forge an unexpected and possibly sapphic bond as they form a band with Rui (Eddy Lee), an outcast boy who favors playing and repairing instruments over his cram school studies. The three bandmates begin practicing in an abandoned church on a remote island in this slice of life drama from veteran director Naoko Yamada. The Alcoholics Anonymous-adopted serenity prayer acts as a through line throughout the film, often repeated by Totsuko in times of desperation, although the meaning falls flat when she forgets the pivotal, final line: “to garner the wisdom to know the difference.” Even though synesthesia gives this anime its name, and its visual effects rendered as watercolor washes, it rarely comes up onscreen. The trio’s concert—an admittance to their aloofness to their classmates and family—results in a not-quite-pop, not-quite-rock power ballad that fails to strike a chord. A few interesting moments pop up, like Rui’s use of a theremin and the band’s heartfelt roundtable discussions seemingly lifted from The Breakfast Club, but whether they redeem the film by themselves remains to be seen. PG. TIM TRAN. AMC, Regal and Cinemark locations.
WOLF MAN
In 2020, writer/director Leigh Whannell struck scary movie gold with The Invisible Man, modernizing H.G. Wells’ sci-fi classic into a taut thriller about stalking, gaslighting and domestic abuse. His second crack at a Universal monster, Wolf Man, sadly doesn’t live up to those standards. Blake (Christopher Abbott) and his family (Julia Garner, Matilda Firth) are attacked by a mysterious creature en route to his missing/presumed-dead father’s farm in the Oregon wilderness to settle affairs. The old man (Sam Jaeger) was a paranoid survivalist who turned his house into an impregnable fortress where the family can wait out the night, but not before Blake gets clawed by the monster, causing a gruesome, inhuman transformation. Wolf Man kicks off with a potent metaphor about breaking the cycle of trauma—Blake is aware he’s inherited his dad’s hair-trigger temper and does not want to scar his daughter in the same ways he was—but that subtext is dropped by Act 2 when the metamorphosis begins, possibly a casualty of the film’s lengthy development. Fortunately, Whannell and cinematographer Stefan Duscio are skilled enough to not bore the audience. They how to move a camera and frame a shot for maximum tension, and the actors are certainly game for the scares. The eponymous beast looks more grounded than previous incarnations, though no less menacing and accompanied by harrowing body horror than Rick Baker’s iconic make-up effects in An American Werewolf in London. Wolf Man doesn’t rewrite the book on one of cinema’s most revered terrors, but if you’re looking for a scary time in a cabin in the woods, you could do worse. R. MORGAN SHAUNETTE. AMC, Cinemark and Regal locations.