george.schmidt

THE RULE OF JENNY PEN (2025) *** Geoffrey Rush, John Lithgow, George Henare. (Dir: James Ashcroft). Unsettling and expertly executed horror film adaptation of Owen Marshall's short story about an acidic judge suffering a stroke and being placed in an assisted living home in New Zealand who finds himself at odd with its resident bully who wields the titular puppet with nefarious actions ensuing. Veteran character actors Rush & Lithgow as the sharp-witted magistrate and the creepily venal force of will respectively have field days matching their wits and combative actions against one another with aplomb. Director Ashcroft keeps things off balance with interesting camera work by cinematographer Matt Henley shifting its plane of existence through out keeping the film off-setting while the dread instills echoes WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? & MISERY in its victim/threat ethos sharply intact.

RIFF RAFF (2025) *** Ed Harris, Jennifer Coolidge, Lewis Pullman, Gabrielle Union, Miles J. Harvey, Emanuela Postacchini, Pete Davidson, Bill Murray. Quasi-Tarantino lite crime dramedy with Harris as a shady family man whose reunion with his estranged son (Pullman channeling his old man's role in RUTHLESS PEOPLE), who is knee-deep in dire straits with an old frienemy (low-key energy at its best Murray) out for vengeance during the holiday season. John Pollono's screenplay has its moments in balancing black comedy with director Dito Montiel's display of greatest hits crime tropes blending into a miasma of been-there-done-that but with a tongue-in-cheek demeanor.