All posts by Stephen Michael Brown

I've reviewed films for more than 35 years. Current movie reviews of new theatrical releases and streaming films are added weekly to the Silver Screen Capture movie news site. Many capsule critiques originally appeared in expanded form in my syndicated Lights Camera Reaction column.
2025

“Thunderbolts*” Prove An Actual Marvel

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It’s a support group for superheroes as a ragtag bunch of renegades stares into the void of depression to summon better days in solidarity as Jake Schreier’s Thunderbolts* (A-), the most cohesive and satisfying and least fussy Marvel film in quite a while. Looking to get out from under the trauma dump and back with a chest pump, several outcast MCU characters get a timely reintroduction. Ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes — previously introduced characters Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker — embarks on a dangerous mission that forces them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts. Florence Pugh and David Harbour are emotional and comic standouts as literal family members in this film of found family. Lewis Pullman is a solid addition to the troupe, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a delight as a prickly politico. The action sequences are a thrill, the sarcastic comedy is consistent and the emotions are earned as natural outcroppings of solid character work. Music by Son Lux gracefully underscores the occasion of a thoughtful allegory about the road to mental health recovery and how even heroes need a boost from each other sometimes. This rewards the casual viewer and those obsessed with Marvel minutiae alike.

Also: My TikTok FilmThirst video review

2025

As “The Surfer,” Nicolas Cage Stakes His Claim in Bully-Ridden Beach Town

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NOTE: This Cannes Film Festival 2024 entry premiered April 26, 2025 at the Atlanta Film Festival.

It’s a turf war for a surf corps as Nicolas Cage’s character, revisiting his idyllic childhood beach with an optimistic nostalgia, becomes entangled in an escalating conflict with local bullies led by Julian McMahon that pushes him to his psychological limits. Lorcan Fennigan’s offbeat thriller The Surfer (B) summons that urge to avenge those who have crushed one’s precious sandcastle or pierced the armor of one’s very existence. The film is a triumph of mood and tone, filmed on a sun-baked Australian shore where even the animals appear to be mocking the titular character’s plight while a twisted form of toxic masculinity settles in on the seaside enclave. The film is told from Cage’s objective point of view, and audiences will truly relate to the notion of a world crumbling around his increasingly pathetic persona. The bright colors of cars and cabanas eclipse the man’s harrowing breakdown while the exotica style music seems to gleefully dance on his living grave. This is Cage at his most Cagey, culminating in some truly outrageous misadventures as he employs survival tactics in a myopic and petty tribal battle; even eating and drinking become a ridiculous ritual for this man entrenched against the world. His character isn’t really crafty enough to go full Falling Down on his adversaries, but it’s all a fascinating journey into this particular rabbit hole. McMahon’s character is a delightful primal match for him, and the set pieces and situations set up a perfect insular environment for a complete unravel. The film isn’t terribly insightful but is mostly rather riveting. Experience the undertow of this playful and peculiar tale; but whenever the crafty Cage is involved in an idiosyncratic project, swim at your own risk.

2025

“The Accountant 2” is Certified Fun, an Epic Extension for Action Saga

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An offbeat espionage thriller franchise gets a full buddy comedy treatment in the tax season extension surprise sure to please action fans. Gavin O’Connor ups the ante from its predecessor for an epic sequel, The Accountant 2 (A-), by maximizing the intrigue and world building of his protagonist Christian Wolff’s (Ben Affleck, never better) savant status as an advantage in all aspects of his life and pairing this idiosyncratic character primarily with his lethal bad boy brother Brax (the absolutely fantastic John Bernthal). This time the stakes are higher and involve timely topics such as human trafficking. The film starts with some extremely larger than life environments showcasing cunning and comedy – namely a bingo parlor turned bloodbath and a romance convention augmented by algorithms. Treasury Agent Marybeth Medina, played again with aplomb by Cynthia Addai-Robinson, is a convener of the odd couple siblings to get to the heart of a murder mystery, and Daniella Pineda is dynamite as a ruthless assassin. O’Connor wields both humor and high-stakes action with tremendous dexterity in this installment; and although the film loses a little momentum in the final act, it’s so successful in luring audiences to care deeply about the characters amidst the stunts and grandstanding. Giddy moments include manipulation of traffic lights and home computers and even honkeytonk dance floors in this raucous romp with unexpected heart and verve. It’s much more gripping and fun than anyone could have anticipated. 

Also: check out my 60-second video movie review at FilmThirst on TikTok.

2025

Spoiler-Free Review: Supernatural “Sinners” Showcases Commanding Coogler 

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The auteur director behind Fruitvale Station deliriously detours from his Wakanda and Creed franchise universes for an original passion project: Sinners (A) is Ryan Coogler unleashed, a polished and imaginative production of a writer/director at the peak of his powers. There’s an extended sequence – and you’ll know what it is when you encounter it – of such accelerating atmosphere and transcendent beauty and surprise, you might feel like your mind just played tricks on you. Think “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by way of Edgar Allan Poe. Coogler’s slow-burn place making of the American South in the 1930s lends both specificity and spellbinding other-worldliness to his mystery box of a genre-hopper. The filmmaker’s man-muse Michael B. Jordan is terrific in the dual role as twin brothers Smoke and Stack, former soldiers and Chicago gangland fixtures with something to prove as they return to their rural hometown origins to ostensibly stand up a juke joint and mentor their musically gifted cousin, a sharecropper and preacher’s son played by R&B prodigy Miles Caton, one of the film’s exquisite sonic discoveries. Incidentally Jordan’s two characters are two sides of an unlucky penny and splendidly rendered, high on the actor’s double star wattage. Some other ensemble members are blissfully reborn in their roles, namely Hailee Steinfeld and Wunmi Mosaku as feisty connectors between cultural worlds. Delroy Lindo is a welcome veteran portraying the town drunk trope with Shakespearean panache, and Jack O’Connor gives lulling lift to a character conjuring cinematic spirits in what feels like nothing short of a battle of the bands in its undercurrent. Coogler applies his eye for epic storytelling in a film marked by characters with preternatural abilities colliding with supernatural scope. Ludwig Göransson’s blues and bluegrass fusion music is intoxicating, as is the sound design underscoring each dramatic line of sinister and sometimes sexy dialogue. The film’s characters are wily magnets for fascinations of the flesh, with world building in pursuit of pulpy ambitions. Autumn Durand Arkapaw’s superb cinematography, shot on 65mm film using a combination of IMAX 15-perf 70mm and Ultra Panavision 70mm cameras, with alternating aspect ratios, provides the perfectly shape-shifting proscenium for a night out like no other. Suffice it to say this film is a no holds barred powder-keg of cinematic excellence with layers of sly subtext fit for decoding and an entertaining surface to simply be relished. Experience this communal discovery in as colossal a theatre as you can access. 

TikTok review: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTjj7NTpS/

2025

Jason Mamoa Salvages Comic Gold from Mayhem of “A Minecraft Movie”

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Director Jared Hess, cult auteur of films such as Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre, helms a high-concept studio movie based on what’s considered an “open sandbox game,” meaning he could choose his own adventure and use IP freely in the box trot of world building. Hess generally fares better in sequences set in his already off-kilter human world, even though most of the plot stays firmly planted in the cubic region. His approach is as tentative as the title: Sure, he’s ostensibly made A Minecraft Movie (C) populated with denizens, domiciles, atmospheres and accessories which a nostalgic generation will find familiar, but equal parts whimsy and writer’s block make quicksand of the situation. Of the misfit protagonists who journey Jumanji-style into the unknown, only Jason Mamoa gets an interesting character: As a paunchy, washed-up gamer-bro from the days of standing arcade championships, he is channeling a go-for-broke humor that lifts most of his sequences to a higher plane. Alas the child actors don’t stand out with inert characters amidst low-stakes peril. Jack Black brings only the screech of high decibels, and a game Danielle Brooks does what she can with a cheery throwaway role. Always funny Jennifer Coolidge makes the most of her divorced schoolmaster character on a date with a “Villager,” and her scenes feel like they’re as much from a different universe as he is. The movie has fun with creative crafting and contraptions, and there are a few funny and exciting sequences leveraging science and gadgetry, especially a flight of fancy with Black riding Mamoa’s back Pegasus-style through a sky battle. The subtext to make stuff not war and to wield one’s imagination to solve challenges has occasional appeal, but the jaundiced journey and strained visual pallet reeks of warmed-over Super Mario Bros., which looks like a high watermark in comparison. Black’s half-baked songs show further desperation in a meandering story that at least answers the question about whether pigs will fly (they do). Despite its box office potential, this is a bricklayer of the bracket season when it comes to much appeal for the adults who accompany the little ones who will undoubtedly will want to see it.

Note: “The Creeper” echoes this review on TikTok at FilmThirst.

2025

“A Nice Indian Boy” Works Wonders

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It’s official: The romcom of the year is a gay Hindu love story hot off the film festival circuit. Roshan Sethi’s A Nice Indian Boy (A-) is an utter delight, with Karan Soni as a repressed doctor falling in love with a sentimental photographer played by Jonathan Groff. This sweet romance told in five sharp chapters disarms aspects of the central culture clash by making Groff’s character the adopted son of Indian parents, aligned in faith with an otherwise star-crossed lover. Soni’s droll, deadpan running meta commentary into his own courtship provides such an intensely cynical world view that he seemingly can only be conquered by Groff’s sunny demeanor. Two supporting women also steal the show including Sunita Mani as the protagonist’s lone sister and Zarna Garg as their mom. Garg in particular is hysterical in her attempts to understand her son’s orientation; she is wonderfully affecting in the role. The movie is full of lush colors with enjoyable music and Bollywood styled rituals. Its comedy is tinged with heartfelt and bittersweet lessons about how one can discover the love of a lifetime when least prepared. Even viewers with clinched hearts will find new capacity to love this movie and its lively characters.

Note: Thanks to Atlanta’s Out on Film and Tara Theatre for the early screening for an enthusiastic crowd!

2025

Hearty Foal Becomes Party Foul for Quirky “Death of a Unicorn” Denizens

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Protruding from its mythical head is a dubious “L.” A24’s anticipated creature feature debuted at South by Southwest; and in one sour swoop this mediocre movie diminished both the lure of an infallible indie studio’s track record and the lore of its buzzy film festival launchpad. A vehicular collision with a mighty beast possessing a horn of plentiful power presents complications for an ensemble of morally dubious characters in Alex Scharfman’s comic cautionary tale Death of a Unicorn (C). It’s a film that rarely lives up to the convictions or creativity of its outrageous high concept, despite some initially funny flourishes. As father and daughter at the movie’s core, both Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega fail to showcase why they are usually regarded as such agreeable stars. Their uninspired characters could no sooner train a dragon or drain a unicorn of its majesty than deliver a compelling line of dialogue. Thankfully two supporting characters living a life of leisure, mother and son played by Téa Leoni and Will Poulter, understand the assignment and provide the story’s main laughs with outrageous affronts to dignity and decency. Scharfman rarely sharpens the teeth or social commentary of his “eat the rich” and “don’t mess with Mother Nature” parable platforms, simply rehashing Jurassic Park style chases but with underwhelming visual effects. He ultimately abandons the wit of the successful first act for a series of stunts and silly sequences representing diminishing returns. A few fun kills provide brief thrills, but the movie lacks imagination and surprises. The film’s novelty is initially nifty but then is revealed for what it is: all horned up with no place to go. 

Note: Our partner TikTok channel FilmThirst features a brief review of this film as well.

2025

Live-Action Disney’s Perceived Poison Apple Emerges a Semi-Charmed “Snow White”

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All the princess problems — sound stages on fire, casting controversies, misbegotten social media posts and one of the lowest rated teasers since trailers have been tested — haven’t sullied the wishing well for Disney’s latest foray into Snow business. It seems even a woke White can re-awaken for a spell, featuring enchanted anti-Fascist fun for the whole family, extending the Mouse House’s cottage industry of adapting every piece of IP this side of Home on the Range and The Rescuers Down Under. Director Mark Webb’s long promised 2025 live action fairy tale film Disney’s Snow White (B-), delayed for, um … the pandemic? … or strike threats? … maybe, evolves the 1937 animated classic with a sometimes sophisticated screenplay by The Girl on a Train and Secretary erotic thriller scribe (a choice!) Erin Cressida Wilson and a bevy of Broadway talent. And magic mirror, mirror, it’s a musical by golly, with a rousing good versus evil story, a hopeful message and heroine and a few welcome surprises amidst the flurry of fussy but adorable deer and birds. Rachel Zegler is in full command of her luminous star power in the instantly iconic title role, warrior royalty incarnate with a gorgeous, heartfelt belt sensationally suited for Benj Pasek and Justin Paul’s catchy and contemporary original songs. Andrew Burnap is dashing and funny as a new love interest character bricked up for feisty forest fights and the occasional dulcet duet timed to choreographer Mandy Moore’s spry steps. And as the Evil Queen, Gal Gadot is gorgeous and campy AF while posing menacingly in costume guru Sandy Powell’s glam gowns and crowns, sporting Freddy Krueger talons and noshing on cracked crab leg snacks, even though she proves a poor unfortunate soul in the singing department. Webb bobs for apples thematically and tonally until emerging with sweet cinematic cider: for every high point group musical sequence, there’s also a dollop of the dubious: a witch disguise serving Reverend Kane from Poltergeist 2, an inert and unconvincing State of the Union style drawbridge speech and a blatant, inaccurate product plug for the bejeweled theme park roller coaster, to name a few. But even ho-hum is better than heigh-ho when the movie jump-scare reveals seven deadly sins: the what-the-duck-dynasty stop-motion septet of dwarf denizens mining and whining in a nearby uncanny valley. Zegler deserves a lifetime achievement award for singing, dancing and whistling while she works with these supporting hybrid CGI puppet monstrosities, hunkering like Hummels at the gates of hell with dad joke quips. Were there a digital dwarf-free edition of the film, this Disney musical joy-bomb would score more than its otherwise provisional recommendation. As live action Disney movies go, however, this one deserves an electrical light parade following the studio’s prolonged purgatory in a remake cringe festival. Out of Grimm, this film gets a few grins; and it ultimately scores the sweet central duo of Zigler and Burnap big wins.

Note: Our partner TikTok channel FilmThirst features a brief review of this film as well.

2025

Bowen, Tran and Gladstone Rise to Occasion of “The Wedding Banquet” (2025)

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For his remake of the celebrated 1993 Taiwanese film of the same name, director Andrew Ahn brings something borrowed and something new to his 2025 The Wedding Banquet (B+), recently screened at Sundance and Out on Film festivals. Hoping to remain in the U.S., a gay heir to a family fortune played by a wily and winning Han Gi-chan proposes a green card marriage to his lesbian friend (Kelly Marie Tran, never better) in exchange for paying for her partner (a delightfully droll Lily Gladstone) to get in vitro fertilization treatment so the ladies can start a family. Complications arise when his grandmother (stern and wonderful Youn Yah-jung) surprises the friend circle (led by a sassy but remarkably restrained Bowen Yang) with plans for an extravagant Korean wedding ceremony. There are enough contemporary twists differing this new film from the original (including a hilarious Joan Chen as Tran’s uncommonly accepting mother) that the 2025 version plays more as revival and homage with similar high concept but a plot that feels organic to modern sensibilities. The ensemble is tremendous, with the film an apt showcase for actors who rarely get this kind of robust opportunity to fully embody richly drawn personas; and Ahn imbues the proceedings with a lithe and lived-in quality and some fun commentary further revealing character. It’s a fresh and funny take on sacrifices of all sizes in pursuit of particular forms of domestic bliss; and fresh on the heels of A Nice Indian Boy, it’s another enjoyable, emotional and elevated entry into the romcom form for modern households.

2025

World Premiere of Epic Atlanta ’96 Olympic Story Slated for 2025 Atlanta Film Festival

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The Games in Black & White

The  feature-length documentary The Games in Black & White by Atlanta Story Partners will premiere at the 49th Annual Atlanta Film Festival Sat., April 26, 2025 at the Rialto Center for the Arts. Centered around the enduring friendship of Ambassador Andrew Young and 1996 Olympic CEO Billy Payne, characterized as one of the most successful partnerships between the races in the American south in the civil rights era, the film presents the first comprehensive story of Atlanta’s 1996 Olympic Games from initial bid to enduring legacy. Ticket availability through the Atlanta Film Festival website will be announced in weeks ahead. 

“Beyond the highlight reel of extraordinary athletic feats, this film illustrates how two men, one Black, one White, embodied the promise of the civil rights movement and helped fulfill the destiny of ‘the city too busy to hate,'” explained George Hirthler, Atlanta Story Partners co-founder, the film’s writer and producer.

Atlanta Film Society Executive Director Christopher Escobar added the documentary is a natural to present at the Atlanta Film Festival, known for attracting the latest and greatest independent films from around the globe to Atlanta as well as sharing the city’s story with the world: “We’re excited not only to premiere this film but also to present it within walking distance of where all this history took place, at an incredible, historic Atlanta venue, Rialto Center for the Arts.”

Co-produced by award-winning filmmaker and Atlanta Story Partners co-founder Bob Judson, The Games in Black & White features a cast of Centennial Olympic all-star organizers as well as interviews with gold medalists such as Johann Olav Koss and Dan O’Brien, the latter filmed in modern-day Centennial Olympic Park. The filmmakers captured interviews in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Oslo and Paris to share additional, previously unheralded legacies of the 1996 Olympics.

Grammy-winning producer Dallas Austin served as music director and produced the film’s theme song, “The City Too Busy to Hate,” which will be released in advance of the premiere. The film also features an original score by local jazz musician Joe Alterman. Atlanta-based actor Greg Alan Williams narrates the film.

Along with Payne and Young, the filmmakers completed interviews with more than 40 people associated with the 1996 Games or the Olympic Movement, including former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, Martin Luther King III and former Atlanta First Lady Valerie Jackson, among others. The team also interviewed U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee CEO Sarah Hirshland; LA28 Board Chair Casey Wasserman; five-time Olympic medalist and LA28 Chief Athlete Officer Janet Evans; and LA28 Chief of Games Management Doug Arnot, who was also managing director of venues and operations at the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. 

The Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF) is an Academy Award-qualifying festival and the Southeast’s preeminent celebration of cinema. Every spring, the 11-day festival presents approximately 150 local and international works representing 50+ countries. The 49th Annual Atlanta Film Festival will take place April 24-May 4, 2025, with announcements ahead about an array of slated films and events.

This documentary will be screened at the Atlanta Film Festival April 26 at 6:30pm at The Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University. Tickets available here.

2025, Rent It Tonight

It’s Spy vs. Spy Times Three in Sleek Caper “Black Bag” 

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Fair warning to moviegoers with short attention spans, audiences expecting a thriller with rollicking action or viewers opting to experience this film streaming rather than in theatres: this isn’t for you. Steven Soderbergh’s Black Bag (A-) is a brisk and efficient espionage caper that demands, nay, requires your attention to appreciate the art and slow-burn of its double crosses and droll wit. An impeccable British sextet of spies engage in enjoyable mind games resembling a whodunit in one of David Koepp’s most nuanced scripts. Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett give restrained but memorable performances as the central married couple who are also British intelligence operatives. This duo’s marital bond is eclipsed only by devotion to their fidelity to their nation. Marisa Abela and Tom Burke bring humor and Naomie Harris and Rege-Jean Page bring solemnity to the table as the London-based characters engage in a metaphorical chess match. Pierce Brosnan also has a small but pivotal part in the ensemble and gets some nice grace notes. Soderbergh clearly relishes his role as a veteran cinematic showman and purveyor of a terrific twisty story. The plot is contained to just a handful of days and a few nifty locations, but it contains multitudes in a streamlined package. The polygraph sequence alone overshadows the creativity of most movies’ gadget lairs. This is the kind of well-crafted drama for adults Hollywood rarely doles out these days. Soderbergh has made dozens of movies, but it plays like a brand new discovery. See it; it’s clutch.

Note: Our partner TikTok channel FilmThirst features a brief review of this film as well.

2025

Atlanta’s Out On Film Presents Spring Mini-Fest’25 March 17-19, 2025

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Atlanta’s preeminent, Oscar-qualifying film festival Out On
Film brings five of 2025’s most anticipated LGBTQIA+ narrative films and documentaries to Southern audiences with its “Spring Mini-Fest’25,” taking place over three consecutive evenings March
17-19 at Landmark’s Midtown Arts Cinema. Back for a third year, Spring Mini-Fest kicks off Monday, March 17 with the comedy of errors The Wedding Banquet (2025), starring Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone.

March 18 will feature two anticipated documentaries: Sally, a rich portrait of Sally Ride, the first woman in space and her 27-year secret romance, and Speaking Out, featuring three men’s gripping stories of sexual trauma and recovery.

Spring Mini-Fest’25 wraps up March 19 with An Unexpected Community, a star-studded look at the popular pandemic-era female/queer Zoom group Women On The Net plus the sweeping post-WWII romantic drama On Swift Horses, starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi and Will Poulter.

Tickets for all films are on sale now at outonfilm.org.

The Wedding Banquet (2025) at Out on Film
The Wedding Banquet (2025)
An Unexpected Community at Out on Film
An Unexpected Community
On Swift Horses Film at Out on Film
On Swift Horses