After The Hunt (2025), Andrew Garfield, Amazon MGM Studios
After the Hunt has Julia Roberts playing a college professor who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads, after her star student accuses a colleague of assault.
Directed by Luca Guadagnino, additional key cast includes Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield and Chloë Sevigny.
This cast is quite the pleasant surprise. I look forward to Roberts, Edebiri and Garfield playing seemingly unlikable characters.
Also, this already appears to be quite well-written, which is great. I mean, it should be fun to watch a Gen X, Gen Z and a Millennial in intellectual battle, no?
Thaddea Graham, Bella Glanville, Will Price, Lio Mehiel, Christine Dye, Ariyan Kassam, Cameron Krogh Stone, Nigel Finnissy and Summer Knox also star.
I recently watched the first two seasons of The Bear on Disney+. It’s a comedy/drama about a young chef with a fine dining past who returns to Chicago to take over his family’s sandwich shop, the perfect setting for power struggles, unresolved familial issues and much more.
The first episode of The Bear is a great one. It’s the kind that captures what it must be like to work in a professional kitchen so well, that I couldn’t help but wonder about how much work it took to make those first scenes look so good. I’m talking about super-engaging dialogue, well-choreographed movement/camera work and a skilled and charismatic lead actor (Jeremy Allen White) who inspires just the right amount of curiosity about his character.
The Bear (2024), Jeremy Allen White, Disney+
In truth, all the actors in The Bear are great, including Ayo Edebiri, Jamie Lee Curtis, Liza Colón-Zayas, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Lionel Boyce, to name just a few.
You may already know that creator Christopher Storer’s show has been quite the hit, with several award nominations and wins, including Golden Globes and Emmys. It’s no wonder that seasons two and three feature a fun selection of A-lister guest stars.
The Bear is generally well-written, acted and shot with some specific standout scenes that will stay with you for a while.
The Bear (2024), Ayo Edebiri, Disney+
Seasons one and two are good, even though it did become difficult for me to watch and endure the shenanigans of the older ‘cousin.’ However, the recently released season three is where I must admit that I can now see myself being less excited about the next season. For me, I think I’ve spent enough time in the kitchen. I’ve seen enough of what I wasn’t aware I was curious about. I’m done with the super long shots of specific characters that linger long enough to test my patience. There seem to be plenty of those in season three. It’s all starting to feel too pretentious and self-indulgent, unfortunately.
It’s clear that I’m very likely falling out of love with The Bear. Yet, I’d still say give it a chance if you’re curious. Particularly because of all it does well that you may also enjoy.
Inside Out (2015) introduced us to Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness; the four key emotions doing their best to work out how to help a young girl named Riley; one trying to process an unexpected move from the Midwest to San Francisco.
Starring Amy Poehler, Lewis Black, Phyllis Smith, Ayo Edebiri and Tony Hale; one of my concerns before watchingInside Out 2 was that it would fall victim to the sequel curse – and it does, but not in the worst way.
The cleverness that was ever present in Inside Out is still there in Inside Out 2. It’s just that because the overall premise no longer has that refreshing newness factor, much of the delight I experienced in this sequel was thanks to the new characters and how cleverly their stories are told. Especially Anxiety, who is perfectly portrayed in voice and energy by Maya Hawke.
Inside Out 2 (2024), Pixar
Besides the one or two times when I was less engaged for the aforementioned reason, the moment a sense of dread truly came over me was at the beginning, when Disgust (who was memorably voiced by Mindy Kaling in the first movie, but now by Liza Lapira) started speaking. I feared that I was not going to enjoy this sequel because I was very attached to Kaling’s distinctive voice and energy as Disgust.
Luckily, for me, the arrival of the very energetic and highly engaging Anxiety was so fun to watch that the absence of Kaling’s voice work proved less of a problem. Essentially, I was very anxious that Inside Out 2 was going to disappoint me terribly until Anxiety came along and saved everything. Ha!
If you saw Inside Out, definitely watch Inside Out 2. Like almost all sequels, it may not be as good as the first, but it’s still good. And I’d hate for you to miss out on Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy, Ennui and my other new favourite, Nostalgia. There’s also the introduction of Sarcasm. You are going to want to see that and all the super well-edited moments.
Inside Out (2015); the clever Pixar film about a young girl’s emotions as they try to help get her through a huge move from the Midwest to San Francisco returns for a second instalment.
Starring Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black and Tony Hale; young Riley Andersen will once again have the help of Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, Sadness and a few extra emotions to guide her through her teenage years.
Directed by Kelsey Mann; Ayo Edebiri, Liza Lapira, Maya Hawke, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Diane Lane are among the cast.
This will likely be good. However, I’m perhaps, expectedly finding myself less excited by this because there isn’t that ‘new factor’ anymore. Hopefully, it will still feel clever even though society has progressed quite a bit where mental health is concerned, since Inside Out (2015)
Additionally, for this second movie, Mindy Kaling (Disgust) and Bill Hader (Fear), who both have distinctive voices and did a great job in the first movie are missing from this cast list. I’ll try not to focus too much on that fact as the movie plays.
Kyle MacLachlan, Lilimar, Yvette Nicole Brown, Dave Goelz and Frank Oz also star.
The Movie My Life 