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Articles by Jared Mobarak
Venice Review: With Union Town, Barbara Kopple Expertly Completes Her Labor-Rights Trilogy
Austin Abrams 12 hours ago Zach Cregger Isn’t Sure He Wants Kids — So He Wrote That Anxiety Into ‘Resident Evil’ indiewire.com - Alison Foreman • 12h Cregger tells IndieWire about giving Austin Abrams two crises to manage in his new film's brilliant opening.
The Wedding Banquet Review: Andrew Ahn Crafts an Endearing, Funny Remake
Now “The Late Show” host said Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is “seen as something of a Trump whisperer” after she visited the White House on Thursday. Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here …
The Quiet Ones Reviews
February 2025 Movie Preview Keith Kimbell Our editors select the most noteworthy films debuting in February, including Captain America: Brave New World, The Monkey, and more.
Meanwhile on Earth
Like I Lost My Body, Meanwhile On Earth is a moving elegy on the power of grief, and the lengths to which we are driven in order to feel whole. While it may not have quite the same visceral impact as Clapin’s animation, and culminates in a soft, somewhat-obvious ending, it nevertheless leaves its own mark. Read More
Week Ending 4/19/24
I still have three episodes left in Netflix and Steven Zaillian’s RIPLEY series, but I can’t say I’m clamoring to finish it. I don’t think it’s bad, per se. It’s just really boring. I enjoyed the first couple of episodes a lot too. Andrew Scott is wonderful. I loved the combative relationship his Tom Ripley has with Dakota Fanning’s Marge (she’s fantastic). And Johnny Flynn playing Dickie with so much insecurity proves a great contrast to Jude Law’s über confidence.
Week Ending 4/5/24
It’s always funny to see the reaction to news like a fifth MATRIX film being developed by Drew Goddard rather than the Wachowskis. A) Who knows if it will ever come to fruition. B) Lana is still attached to executive produce. C) Warner Bros. Discovery has made it VERY clear that they will milk their entire library as shamelessly as possible. What’s most interesting, though, is that sequels didn’t always have to be directed by their original directors. TERMINATOR. ALIEN.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
Cannes Film Festival 2024: Best and Worst Films Keith Kimbell Which films at the 77th Cannes Film Festival wowed our critics, and which ones failed to deliver? We recap the just-concluded festival with a list of award winners and review summaries for dozens of films making their world premieres in Cannes, including new titles from David Cronenberg, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrea Arnold, Kevin Costner, Jia Zhang-Ke, Ali Abbasi, Michel Hazanavicius, Paul Schrader, and more
Skin Deep
Alex Schaad’s spiky, good-looking debut feature takes a clever concept and develops it into a witty, provocative exploration of identity, gender fluidity, sexuality and the pursuit of happiness. Read More
The Best Movie Posters of 2023
I tried making a conscious effort to find posters in areas I might not have normally visited this year. That’s the effect of having been able to follow so many design firms and artists on Twitter before a majority (justifiably) bailed upon its sale. With such broad and instant access, the ease at which I discovered new releases made it so I often forget to look elsewhere.
Week Ending 10/20/23
Discover more from Hey, have you seen ...? Before you ask: Here's what I consumed this week (and whether I liked it). From Netflix to Apple, Martin Scorsese is finding new homes to bring his passion projects and they are reaping the benefits with great reviews and Oscar nominations. Giving a film a wide release is not something Apple does, but that’s what’s happening with KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON this weekend. And not just “wide”. WIDE.
My Sailor, My Love
The actors are in full command of our empathy, especially Brennan’s gray-haired caretaker who, when she cracks open her heart, seems to glow from within. Read More
Robe of Gems
The problem, then, is that too much of this is dispiriting without also being enlightening — the view Gallardo takes is almost that of a bird’s eye, showing much from an emotional remove but revealing little beyond surface-level horrors and characters so numb to it all that we’re left with little choice but to feel the same way. Read More
Week Ending 8/4/23
It’s always wild to me when a festival announces its winners so early in its run even when I know it shouldn’t. When you’re dealing with juried competitions, you don’t need to wait for audiences to see them. It actually makes more sense to hand them out first so that the audiences will see them. No better advertisement than a trophy. The Cheval Noir Award for Best Feature went to LES CHAMBRES ROUGES. Best director to Sam H.
Week Ending 7/28/23
My first week of full Fantasia coverage is posted below with thoughts on six titles (seven if you include SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL, a film I reviewed for its domestic release that also played the festival). Next week will see more (probably not as many since I’m going to try and get to PASSAGES and a couple other US releases) with the week after housing whatever stragglers I can fit in. The past couple weeks also saw the completion of some TV shows I’d been watching.
Week Ending 7/14/23
The sheer willful and malicious contempt of studio executives making hundred times more money than the creators whose work they sell is finally approaching the “find out” stage of their unchecked greed. Will the system actually change as a result? Maybe. The chance is greater now than before since the WGA just wanted less than 2% of the billions in profits studios make. Now, with the backing of SAG/AFTRA, everyone striking would be shortsighted to not ask for everything.
Week Ending 7/7/23
What a wild week in social media. Hive and Mastodon are rarely talked about anymore due to Elon Musk not completely destroying Twitter yet. But this past week’s snafu with restrictions on how many tweets you’re allowed to view per day has really made it seem like a lot of people are sick of waiting around. It helps that more robust platforms have since been introduced of late with the kind of clout and buzz necessary to finally make a dent in the market.
Week Ending 6/30/23
The BARBIE marketing push is in full effect right now with Dream Mansion rentals and bus wraps inundating my social feeds. It’s going to be really funny when it destroys OPPENHEIMER because everyone is going to write their think pieces about the “death of cinema” again without pertinent context like how Christopher Nolan’s film is a full hour longer than Greta Gerwig’s and thus literally cannot screen the same amount of times in a week. Not that that will be the biggest reason.
Week Ending 6/23/23
It’s been quite the few days in film with THE FLASH bombing, Zaslav laying off every executive at TCM, and everyone and their Paul Schrader going gaga for ASTEROID CITY. Not only did a brief weekend vacation make it so this week only contains three reviews, but it also put me on the road during the press screening for Wes Anderson’s latest. I’ll try to catch it soon. Next week might be light too as there weren’t too many screener offers for the end of June.
Week Ending 6/16/23
I’ve been trying to think of something interesting film/tv related to talk about here and there’s absolutely nothing coming to mind. I’m going to blame it on my brain’s confusion as I shift away from Stanley Cup Playoffs to festival season. Not having a game to watch every night of the week is going to provide a lot of time to watch screeners, but I’m honestly thinking the pace I’ve been going at is enough. I don’t want to burn out like I did last year.
Week Ending 6/9/23
Apologies for the extra-long newsletter this week. That’s what happens when I finally get some time to watch things early and save them for their embargo dates. Although the NHL Playoffs hitting the Stanley Cup Final and thus only having games every other night also opened a lot more time to consume screeners. I have thoughts on three entertaining seasons of TV below and yet I still feel as though I’m woefully behind on that medium. Whether it be MRS.
Week Ending 6/2/23
Yesterday saw the press registration window open for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. While it usually felt like a formality in the past, that no longer seems to be the case with the addition of a mandatory submission of two pieces of work and the very clearly stated, “past approval does not guarantee present approval.” The former used to be voluntary and the latter never quite felt like a threat. So, we’ll see how things shake out.
Week Ending 5/26/23
The latest phase of the streaming wars has begun with the introduction of Max. And what does Warner Bros. do to make it as seamless as possible? Add confusion. People have been posting screenshots of the old HBO Max app just having an error screen without telling their paying customers to download the new Max app.
Week Ending 5/19/23
Can’t say it’s a surprise that Hulu will soon be folded into the Disney+ app. We all knew it was coming once Disney bought Fox and secured a stranglehold of ownership on a streaming platform that was pretty much a competitor to the streaming platform they just launched. With Comcast’s share expiring at the end of the year, nothing is holding the Mouse House back from finalizing said merge and it looks like the ripples begin soon.
Week Ending 5/12/23
I only got to four titles this week (although rewatching AVATAR and watching THE WAY OF WATER is almost four movies in two), but all were very good. Can’t go wrong with quality above quantity—especially since the Stanley Cup Playoffs have turned into a steady stream of blowouts devoid of drama. The week also marked my first time going to North Park Theatre since everything shutdown with COVID. I had tickets to see NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS there a couple days after everything stopped.
Week Ending 5/5/23
It’s been a rainy first week of May here in Buffalo—perfect weather to stay inside to watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs and some movies. I also got to catch Pete Davidson’s new Peacock show BUPKIS (which in turn meant I had to finally watch THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND), so keeping busy wasn’t a problem. I’ve also decided to try sticking with MoviePass. I figured I can commit to two films a month.
Week Ending 4/28/23
A day after I giffed the repeated, censored f-bombs from SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME and SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, James Gunn and Marvel release a clip from GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 where Star-Lord says the f-word in all its PG-13 glory. I guess it’s the director’s “goodbye” to the fans (people seemed to really get excited about it) as he leaves to become DC’s Kevin Feige. And why not? If any segment of the MCU deserved an f-bomb, it is definitely the Guardians.
Week Ending 4/21/23
It truly is wild how normalized marijuana is today.
Week Ending 4/14/23
The Sabres’ season has once again ended just as the temperature starts holding in 60s here in Buffalo. And while next year brings legitimate expectations of going further for the first time in thirteen years, that means I’ll probably have more free time at night right now to start a few of those shows I mentioned last week.
Week Ending 4/7/23
I’m beginning to get overwhelmed with the amount of new TV coming out. After choosing to devote my time to SUCCESSION so that I’m ready for the finale (I’ve never watched the series until now), the return of YELLOWJACKETS and TED LASSO plus the start of RABBIT HOLE, TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS, BEEF, and more have me wondering how I could ever find the time to catch it all. And the streamers wonder why their growth and profits have stagnated.
Posterized April 2023: Human Flowers of Flesh, Showing Up, How to Blow Up a Pipeline & More
It’s a busy April this year. One less Friday than last month, but the exact same number of posters to sift through. Yes, having films release the Wednesday before Easter helps add to the total, but only two titles are taking advantage: Air (April 5) and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (April 5). And with only one other wide release following them a couple days later, the numbers even out anyway. It goes to show just how much real estate Disney demands whenever they have a new debut.
Posterized April 2023: Human Flowers of Flesh, Showing Up, How to Blow Up a Pipeline & More
A Texas man bragged about stealing $50,000 from a Mexican drug cartel. He was kidnapped less than 2 hours later and is still missing.
Week Ending 3/31/23
In preparation for Easter weekend, two new films are releasing on Wednesday for members of the whole family. So, don’t just assume today’s new slate is it.
Week Ending 3/24/23
I was joking last week about there not being a lot of chatter yet for next year’s Oscars only to have the SXSW screening of AIR have everyone raving shortly thereafter. If you think Amazon doesn’t know what they have, turn on an NCAA hockey game and find yourself watching the trailer every single commercial break. I’m not exaggerating. I must have seen it ten times during the Canisius/Minnesota game. Everyone is hoping Ben Affleck has that ARGO magic back.
Week Ending 3/17/23
Sundance is finished. Berlin is finished. SXSW is just finishing. I’m honestly surprised I haven’t seen too many hyperbolic declarations from critics who have “seen the next big Oscar hopeful” already. I mean, EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE debuted a little more than a year ago at SXSW. I don’t think there were too many people predicting it would be at the Oscars let alone a seven-time winner considering its genre trappings.
Week Ending 3/10/23
Oscar weekend has arrived and there seems to be a couple categories still up in the air—frankly, all we can ask for since going through the motions can force the show into being a slog (for those who don’t think it always is anyway).
Week Ending 3/3/23
It wasn’t a great week of movie watching. Not that I anticipated it would be when I put two different adaptations of CHILDREN OF THE CORN on my docket. Did get to an Oscar nominee that I liked, though. So that was nice. Would have been more, but I spent a bunch of time on March’s Posterized at The Film Stage too. I don’t know if it’s a cyclical/seasonal thing or if the streaming shake-up begun by Warner Bros.
Week Ending 2/24/23
I was an early adopter of Movie Pass way back when before the shenanigans of v2’s reboot (with verbiage that all but erased the fact some of us had been using the service for years before its new “start” date). It was a reasonable $35 a month then with unlimited tickets and a customer support portal that not only worked but was instantaneous (I could message them about an error and they’d manually fill my card with money before I hit the lobby). Greed and Wall Street ruined it—shocking, I know.
Week Ending 2/17/23
It appears the death of the Elmwood and Transit Regals was exaggerated. While still planned to close, they, along with many other locations across the country, keep kicking with pre-sales going forward as far as May. Indiewire had some updates that seem to amount to a game of chicken wherein Regal knows their landlords will have a difficult time turning the properties into anything else but another movie theater.
Week Ending 2/3/23
The groundhog declared that winter continues yesterday and a single-digit, windy weekend arrived in tow. So, it must be right. We’re all Stephen Tobolowsky falling to ground after Bill Murray clocks him here in Buffalo. Perfect time to warm up by the TV for a movie. An old favorite or a newly minted Oscar nominee. Just be wary what you choose and check those ratings since Netflix doesn’t seem to believe you will.
Week Ending 1/27/23
Buffalo has always had an embarrassment of riches when it came to movie theaters, but COVID and streaming have really taken a bite out lately. First it was Dipson Eastern Hills shuttering and now it is the impending demise of both the Elmwood and Transit Regals. The latter is the biggest surprise for me because Transit was the area’s sole IMAX screen. I guess the Galleria Mall location is making enough at the box office to stay alive instead. Who knows, though?
Week Ending 1/20/23
The OFCS nominees are out and I was happy to see that I had caught everything but two: FUNNY PAGES and AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER. I probably could have gotten away with ignoring both, but I had been meaning to watch the former for a while now (thoughts below). So, why not take the opportunity to squeeze it in? I’d love to have fit in AVATAR too, but I have no interest in hitting a theater right now.
Week Ending 1/13/23
The SAG Awards nominations were released this week with Ana de Armas and Adam Sandler somewhat surprisingly making the cut in their respective “Lead” categories. I pretty much had given up on watching either of their films (BLONDE and HUSTLE) until something like that happened, so, of course, I finally caught up to both to shore up my OFCS votes. Actors are a huge portion of the Academy’s membership, so SAG picks could definitely translate to the Oscars.
Week Ending 1/6/23
I anticipated moving into some new releases this week to start 2023 off with genre fare (there’s no better month for horror outside of October than the January doldrums) since the window to receive FYC screeners seemed closed. And then came the emails from holdouts Focus Features and Sony Pictures Classics with all the titles I had tried to get before GWNYFCA voting. So, that meant adding more to the watchlist prior to OFCS voting on 1/15.
Week Ending 12/30/22
Like usual, the week between Christmas and New Year’s becomes a race to watch all the GWNYFCA nominees I hadn’t yet seen before submitting my ballot (results hit at 10am today, 12/30). There were only four this year, so the prospect shouldn’t have seemed daunting. Unfortunately, two of those four were parts of franchises, so the total number of films to catch was actually seven.
Week Ending 12/16/22
I’m binging like crazy and yet it will never be quick enough. My nomination ballot for the Greater WNY Film Critics Association is due 12/21 and my watchlist doesn’t seem to ever get shorter. It finally looks like I might have a moment to watch more foreign films and then BABYLON arrives to take the place of two since it was three hours and ten minutes long. There are so many epics like that this year.
Week Ending 12/09/22
As I slowly make my way through the “contenders,” my hope is to also catch as many of the International Oscar selections as I can. I’ve created a Letterboxd list of them all right here if you’re wondering what title each country submitted. Getting to them all is impossible, but it’s a nice way to push myself into treading outside my comfort zone to see what the rest of world is doing with the cinematic medium.
Week Ending 12/02/22
Thanksgiving weekend is when the majority of FYC (For Your Consideration) screeners hit my inbox and mailbox, so the rest of this year’s newsletters should be jam-packed. And since Substack won’t stop warning me that I’ve gone over the “email limit” for mirroring the below into your inbox, I apologize for the length. I’m working under the assumption one very long newsletter a week is better than multiple shorter ones clogging your notifications.
Week Ending 11/25/22
My plan is to publish these on Thursdays since most new releases hit theaters that night before subsequently taking over screens on Friday. Of course, my first weekly newsletter falls on an outlier to that pattern due to the Thanksgiving holiday. So, here we are: Wednesday. So far things are looking good as far as viability.
Hey, have you seen ...?
11/19/22 - I watched a movie today and did not (nor do I plan to) write a long-form review of it. I haven’t been able to say that since June 6th, 2006—the day I saw THE BREAK-UP and wrote my first review for the now defunct “spreeblog” at Buffalo Spree magazine, where I worked as a graphic designer at the time. Since then I’ve literally written a review of every film I saw regardless of whether it was new or old, a first-time watch or revisit, a feature or short.
Hyde Park Picture House
Film description Tensions rise between restless teenager Julija (Gracija Filipović) and her oppressive father Ante (Leon Lucev) when an old family friend arrives at their Croatian island home. As Ante attempts to broker a life-changing deal, their tranquil yet isolated existence leaves Julija wanting more from this influential visitor, who provides a taste of liberation over a weekend laid bare to desire and violence. Content Warning: Scenes of domestic abuse.
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