Opening in theaters on March 21st, ‘The Assessment’ is the sort of thoughtful, low-key but sometimes too dense science fiction movie that largely stays in the indie space since it’s unlikely to attract a giant blockbuster crowd.
Yet it’s somehow reassuring that in an age where IP is king and originality can be scarce at your local cinema, something like this can still hit screens.
Related Article: Alicia Vikander and Director Fleur Fortuné Talk ‘The Assessment’
‘The Assessment’ probably works best if you like your science fiction with some brain matter behind it; but there is also a deep well of emotion running here.
In the mold of Aldous Huxley in particular, its story of a climate-ravaged world that is struggling to survive in the wake of enormous damage done by mankind, it also posits a society that has adapted to dwindling resources by development of a miracle drug that can ward off disease and slow down aging.
But it’s also a tightly-controlled authoritarian regime where dissent is punishable by exile to the savage wastes outside the habitable domes where those who have the resources and are willing to both contribute and obey dwell.
In reality, though, the movie’s focus is much tighter –– it’s the tale of a couple who wish to have a child (reproduction through any method than some asexual fertilization process following a strict assessment period is forbidden) struggling with the unusual demands of the woman sent to test their suitability to be parents at all.
What transpires is a chaotic, testing battle of wills between the two prospective parents and the assessor, who tests them in ways they probably weren’t expecting; this is more than just checking to see if they’ve baby-proofed the wall sockets.
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Script and Direction
Fleur Fortuné, director of ‘The Assessment’, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Written by Nell Garfath Cox, Dave Thomas (who collectively work as filmmaking team Mr. and Mrs. Thomas) along with John Donnelly, this is a cold, thoughtful movie that tells its story with enough human emotion to keep it from feeling like a film school test case. We’re introduced to the central pair through their daily lives as scientists and lovers, but the plot proper doesn’t kick in until the Assessor, played by Alicia Vikander arrives.
As director, music video helmer Fleur Fortune, who has also worked on short films, brings a careful touch to the film, which walks the line of being too intellectual with some skill. She has a keen eye for a visual and also gets great work out of some very good actors. There’s a real melancholy to the movie, even as the color palette is warm and inviting.
Elizabeth Olsen brings quiet grace to Mia, one half of the couple looking to reproduce, yet when scenes call for her to explode with anger, frustration or sadness, she’s more than up to those tasks also.
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It’s Mia’s journey we’re truly on, from meeting her as a young girl abandoned by her mother to the grown woman who is willing to go to whatever lengths to both help society prosper and achieve her own aims, but comes up against some very tough home truths.
As Aaryan, Himesh Patel is dedicated and subtle, a man who will do anything for his wife, but who finds himself conflicted when the challenge of having the assessor in their home becomes all too strange.
Yet beyond the main pair, this is really Alicia Vikander’s film on a pure performance level. Playing Virginia, the state-appointed assessor whose task it is to decide across seven days whether Mia and Aaryan should get to have a child, she gives a tour-de-force acting class.
Switching from bureaucratically efficient to childishly wild in just a few scenes, Vikander here throws herself into the role and brings a truly complicated person to life.
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Stealing the one scene in which she appears is Minnie Driver as Evie, who is old enough to remember the time before the world was ravaged and is soundly cynical about humanity’s chances now, not to mention scathingly critical of those who wish to bring more people into it.
It’s a superb turn from the actor, who spins a vision of a world so bleak that you both recoil from it but sometimes find yourself wishing the movie could expand to show it.
‘The Assessment’ will certainly be a tough watch for some; not just because of what happens in the movie, but also because of the subjects it addresses, including the control of women, the battle for resources and the challenges that parents of any type face.
Yet if you allow yourself to sink into its world, you’ll be rewarded.
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“Would you pass?”
R1 hr 54 minApr 8th, 2025
Showtimes & Tickets
In a climate change-ravaged world, a utopian society optimizes life, including parenthood assessments. A successful couple faces scrutiny by an evaluator over seven… Read the Plot
What is the plot of ‘The Assessment’?
In the near future, prospective parents must pass an initial test to prove their suitability for parenthood, and then endure a seven-day live-in visit from a facilitator known as the assessor who will put them through the wringer in all kinds of imaginable and unimaginable situations where, at the end, they will either get a passing grade — or not. Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel) are assigned an assessor named Virginia (Alicia Vikander), and as they begin the uncomfortable tests, their relationship begins to crumble.
Every horror fan deserves the occasional (decent) fix, andin the midst of one of the bleakest movie months of the year, Primatedelivers. There’s nothing terribly original about Johannes Roberts’ rabidchimpanzee tale, but that’s kind of the …
by Sean P. Aune | January 10, 2026January 10, 2026 10:30 am EST
Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1986 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. It was also the start to a major shift in cultural and societal norms, and some of those still reverberate to this day.
We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly four dozen.
Yes, we’re insane, but 1986 was that great of a year for film.
The articles will come out – in most cases – on the same day the films hit theaters in 1986 so that it is their true 40th anniversary. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory. In some cases, it truly will be the first time we’ve seen them.
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This time around, it’s Jan. 10, 1986, and we’re off to see Black Moon Rising.
Black Moon Rising
What was the obsession in the 1980s with super vehicles?
Sam Quint (Tommy Lee Jones) is hired to steal a computer tape with evidence against a company on it. While being pursued, he tucks it in the parachute of a prototype vehicle called the Black Moon. While trying to retrieve it, the car is stolen by Nina (Linda Hamilton), a car thief working for a car theft ring. Both of them want out of their lives, and it looks like the Black Moon could be their ticket out.
Blue Thunder in the movies, Airwolf and Knight Rider on TV, the 1980s loved an impractical ‘super’ vehicle. In this case, the car plays a very minor role up until the final action set piece, and the story is far more about the characters and their motivations.
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The movie is silly as you would expect it to be, but it is never a bad watch. It’s just not anything particularly memorable.
1986 Movie Reviews will continue on Jan. 17, 2026, with The Adventures of the American Rabbit, The Adventures of Mark Twain, The Clan of the Cave Bear, Iron Eagle, The Longshot, and Troll.
A still from ‘Song Sung Blue’.
| Photo Credit: Focus Features/YouTube
There is something unputdownable about Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman) from the first moment one sees him at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting celebrating his 20th sober birthday. He encourages the group to sing the famous Neil Diamond number, ‘Song Sung Blue,’ with him, and we are carried along on a wave of his enthusiasm.
Song Sung Blue (English)
Director: Craig Brewer
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson, Michael Imperioli, Ella Anderson, Mustafa Shakir, Fisher Stevens, Jim Belushi
Runtime: 132 minutes
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Storyline: Mike and Claire find and rescue each other from the slings and arrows of mediocrity when they form a Neil Diamond tribute band
We learn that Mike is a music impersonator who refuses to come on stage as anyone but himself, Lightning, at the Wisconsin State Fair. At the fair, he meets Claire (Kate Hudson), who is performing as Patsy Cline. Sparks fly between the two, and Claire suggests Mike perform a Neil Diamond tribute.
Claire and Mike start a relationship and a Neil Diamond tribute band, called Lightning and Thunder. They marry and after some initial hesitation, Claire’s children from her first marriage, Rachel (Ella Anderson) and Dayna (Hudson Hensley), and Mike’s daughter from an earlier marriage, Angelina (King Princess), become friends.
Members from Mike’s old band join the group, including Mark Shurilla (Michael Imperioli), a Buddy Holly impersonator and Sex Machine (Mustafa Shakir), who sings as James Brown. His dentist/manager, Dave Watson (Fisher Stevens), believes in him, even fixing his tooth with a little lightning bolt!
The tribute band meets with success, including opening for Pearl Jam, with the front man for the grunge band, Eddie Vedder (John Beckwith), joining Lightning and Thunder for a rendition of ‘Forever in Blue Jeans’ at the 1995 Pearl Jam concert in Milwaukee.
There is heartbreak, anger, addiction, and the rise again before the final tragedy. Song Sung Blue, based on Greg Kohs’ eponymous documentary, is a gentle look into a musician’s life. When Mike says, “I’m not a songwriter. I’m not a sex symbol. But I am an entertainer,” he shows that dreams do not have to die. Mike and Claire reveal that even if you do not conquer the world like a rock god, you can achieve success doing what makes you happy.
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ALSO READ: ‘Run Away’ series review: Perfect pulp to kick off the New Year
Song Sung Blue is a validation for all the regular folk with modest dreams, but dreams nevertheless. As the poet said, “there’s no success like failure, and failure’s no success at all.” Hudson and Jackman power through the songs and tears like champs, leaving us laughing, tapping our feet, and wiping away the errant tears all at once.
The period detail is spot on (never mind the distracting wigs). The chance to hear a generous catalogue of Diamond’s music in arena-quality sound is not to be missed, in a movie that offers a satisfying catharsis. Music is most definitely the food of love, so may we all please have a second and third helping?
