Entertainment

Despite its creative kill scenes and compact duration, I found myself scribbling questions during my viewing: “When will this movie conclude?” “I’m just not invested.” The issue is that The Monkey lacks depth in its core. It fails to be laugh-out-loud funny, which detracts from the repetitive character stereotypes it employs, and it doesn’t strike an emotional chord with audiences regarding the generational inheritance of fatherly wisdom between brothers.

In the opening scenes, we meet twin brothers Hal and Bill (Christian Convery), who serve as a study in contrasts. Hal, our main character, is fragile — constantly hurt and frequently bullied, particularly by his brother Bill. Bill misconstrues rudeness for charisma, swears excessively, and treats Hal harshly, seemingly under the impression that their birth order separates them by years rather than mere moments. Their mother, Lois (Tatiana Maslany), struggles to care for them amidst her turmoil following her husband Petey’s (Adam Scott) mysterious disappearance, a fact hinted at in the opening scene. Their father left behind an unwanted monkey, and so too do Hal and Bill grapple with this burden when they discover it in a neat, robin’s egg blue hatbox in his room. Events rapidly spiral out of control as a series of strange deaths occur in their small town. The brothers eventually relocate to Maine with their Aunt Ida (Sara Levy) and Uncle Chip (Perkins playing the role of an uncouth uncle), and they dispose of the monkey by throwing it into a well.

Movie award strategists, a unique group within film publicity, guide potential Oscar winners through the tough six months leading up to the Academy Awards. This year has been particularly challenging for them, as evidenced by a burst of laughter when I inquired about their experience. Fortunately, the deadline for final Oscars voting passed on Tuesday, leaving only minor logistical tasks for this weekend’s Independent Spirit and SAG Awards. With more spare time now, it seemed an opportune moment to chat with several strategists, to gather their reflections (not quite a postmortem) on how the season has unfolded.

Essentially, my point is that if someone had predicted at the start of the week that Jewels, Sam, Onya, and Suzie would rank high, with Sam claiming her second victory, while Kori and Acacia ended up in the bottom, leading to Acacia’s elimination, I would have found it intriguing. Frankly, this is the most unexpected turn of events this week. And yes, that’s acceptable. Such weeks are necessary to set the stage and demonstrate to viewers that the top performers truly deserve their positions. However, with minimal internal conflicts among the queens and little uncertainty regarding the contestants at risk, we get episodes like this one: straightforward, lacking much drama, and offering only the question of who will emerge as the winner.

Essentially, my point is that if someone had predicted at the start of the week that Jewels, Sam, Onya, and Suzie would rank high, with Sam claiming her second victory, while Kori and Acacia ended up in the bottom, leading to Acacia’s elimination, I would have found it intriguing. Frankly, this is the most unexpected turn of events this week. And yes, that’s acceptable. Such weeks are necessary to set the stage and demonstrate to viewers that the top performers truly deserve their positions. However, with minimal internal conflicts among the queens and little uncertainty regarding the contestants at risk, we get episodes like this one: straightforward, lacking much drama, and offering only the question of who will emerge as the winner.

Spoilers for this week’s episode of Severance lie ahead.

Discussing the show “Severance” might be an experience that’s equally exciting and perplexing. When will Mark fully regain his memories? What happened to Gemma/Ms. Casey? Why are there goats involved? The answers to these questions, intriguingly or perhaps still infuriatingly, lead to even more complex, philosophical quandaries: Are our personal identities tied to our memories? Are corporations just advanced cults? Is the suffering of others justified? Can a soul be divided in half?

While it’s logical that a series centered around employees at a secretive biotech firm who forget their work-related experiences daily would spark such profound, existential debates, what intrigues me about “Severance” is a relatively minor, practical inquiry: What salary do the employees receive?

Surprisingly, there’s a glimmer of optimism here. While many films imitating “Die Hard” fall short, there’s a longstanding trend of movies from the 90s, to be precise, that took the “Die Hard” concept and excelled. Movies like “Speed”, “Under Siege”, “Cliffhanger”, “The Rock”, and several others follow this pattern. (For an enjoyable exploration of this genre, listen to the podcast “Die Hard on a Blank” by Liam Billingham and Phil Gawthorne.) The film “Cleaner” is directed by Martin Campbell, a renowned action director who has delivered movies such as “Goldeneye”, “Casino Royale”, and “The Mask of Zorro”. Despite not receiving studio blockbusters anymore, he still delivers high-quality action films. (His last film, the gritty war thriller “Dirty Angels”, was released by Lionsgate in December 2021. I was among the few who enjoyed his 2022 Liam Neeson film “Memory”, but I wasn’t as fond of his 2021 film “The Protégé” starring Maggie Q and Michael Keaton.) Campbell’s direction ensures that when chaos ensues, we are in capable hands.

Although Alex realizes that Kidder’s arrest and death under mysterious circumstances won’t be the end for George in the eyes of his father, Dreyer seems certain that he will stop probing the matter. In a state of urgency, Alex storms into Dreyer’s office filled with conspirators and pleads with them to admit their wrongdoings, which appears unreasonable. She confronts Dreyer, saying, “You said one minute of a system shock, but a few months with the right people in power and the country will be back on track by Christmas.” This is our first insight into the objective of Zero Day – an astonishing endeavor to bring together both political parties. Indeed, what?

Schafer mentioned that she had to obtain a fresh passport as the previous one was stolen in Barcelona the previous year. She stated that since she altered her gender marker during her teenage years, she marked herself as female on the application. However, the recently issued passport identifies her as male, which she suspects is due to the lack of an update on her birth certificate. “I don’t care that they placed an M on my passport; it doesn’t fundamentally alter who I am or my trans identity,” Schafer said. “Nonetheless, it does make life a bit more challenging.” She added that she will need to use this new passport for international travel next week, which may necessitate frequent disclosure of her trans status to border control agents, something she’d prefer not to do.

What’s particularly distressing about the situation with the Baldwins is that it’s not merely about Alec and Hilaria, their seven children, and eight pets sharing a five-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. Nor is it solely about Hilaria’s previous scandal involving cultural appropriation and misrepresentation. Additionally, it encompasses the ongoing manslaughter case against Alec following an incident where he unintentionally discharged a prop gun on the set of the film “Rust,” resulting in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.