Movie Reviews
Movie Review: ‘Death of a Unicorn’ is Aggressively Plain | InSession Film
Director: Alex Scharfman
Writer: Alex Scharfman
Stars: Jenna Ortega, Paul Rudd, Anthony Carrigan
Synopsis: Father-Daughter duo Elliott and Ridley hit a unicorn with their car and bring it to the wilderness retreat of a mega-wealthy pharmaceutical CEO.
As a distributor, A24 has developed a reputation for weirdness. Yes, their slate of films year over year has diversified, but they stick closely to that weird vibe. It’s a vibe they cultivate well, but it’s also a vibe that is getting very tired. Unfortunately, Death of a Unicorn is part of that tired wave and is a weird film that’s somehow aggressively plain.
Like most horror comedies of the past few years, Death of a Unicorn is actually about capitalism. Studios and producers latch onto the latest thing and twist it like a damp cloth, wringing it and wringing it until there’s nothing left. This particular metaphor they’re wringing too hard, at this point. Even though many of these producers and studios are aligned, at least monetarily, with the antagonist elites portrayed in the films they produce, the strangeness of their greenlighting these projects comes into focus. By seeing these films we are enriching the people we have come to cheer against. Thus, we are doing exactly as these filmmakers are attempting to warn us not to do. All anti-capitalist coded films not self-produced, then, are inherently capitalist ventures.
That is what you think about as you watch Death of a Unicorn. You think about this because what’s in front of you, in spite of the shiny new trappings, is what we’ve been seeing in these types of horror comedies the last few years. In fact, you might have seen some of the broad strokes of this plot earlier this month in the anti-capitalist sci-fi comedy Mickey 17. There’s no new take on this metaphor, barely new dialogue spoken, and the characters are, all too annoyingly familiar archetypes. The film is so predictable you’ll sigh in your theater seat as you mutter, “unicorn horn puncture in 3…2…1…”
In spite of the overall lackluster script, there are some intriguing pieces of filmmaking that make this film watchable Larry Fong is an excellent cinematographer. He can make CGI integration feel seamless, like the actors were really interacting with creatures. It is all in the angles he chooses to shoot.
Ron Dulin’s editing is also excellent. He creates some of the best “getting ready to leave” montages here. Whether it’s getting from the airport to a secluded compound or packing the essentials for escape from the same compound now overrun with unicorns, these quick time lapses are delightful. His best work is unable to be described in full because it would be a spoiler, but suffice it to say he creates a terrific set up whose payoff is one of the least predictable parts of the film.
There were some standouts among the cast as well. Will Poulter as the heir to the pharmaceutical business, Shepherd, is zany and off beat. He steals every scene he’s in and while his jokes don’t always land quite right, you can’t help but chuckle at his timing or a look he shoots at his scene partners. Though, the best character is weary and put upon Griff, played by Anthony Carrigan. Carrigan’s timing, physicality, and expressive face make him the best person to watch in the background. The way he sighs with both exhaustion and disdain is absolutely perfect.
It’s hard to seem even-handed, but, even though it’s predictable, not scary, and the jokes are overcooked, Death of a Unicorn isn’t a bad watch. It’s a film that has good qualities in a banal package. Which, again, banal isn’t the word you want when your characters are fighting over and running from unicorns. Your mileage may vary with this one.
Grade: C
Movie Reviews
1986 Movie Reviews – Dangerously Close, Fire with Fire, Last Resort, and Short Circuit | The Nerdy
by | May 9, 2026May 9, 2026 10:30 am EDT
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.
This time around, it’s May 9, 1986, and we’re off to see Dangerously Close, Fire with Fire, Last Resort, and Short Circuit.
Dangerously Close
I would love to tell you what the point of this film was, but I’m not sure it knew.
An elite school has turned into a magnet school, attracting some “undesirables,” so a group of students known as The Sentinels take up policing their school, but will they go too far?
The basic plot of the film is simple enough, but there is an oddball “twist” toward the end tht served no real purpose and somehow turns the whole thing into a murder-mystery. Mysteries only work when you know you’re supposed to be solving them, and not when you’re alerted to one existing with 15 minutes left.
Decent 80s music, some stylistic shots, absolutely no substance.
Fire with Fire
Oh wait… I may want to go back and watch Dangerously Close again over this one.
Joe Fisk (Craig Sheffer) is being held at a juvenile delinquent facility close a high-end all-girls Catholic school. One day while running through the forest as part of an exercise he spots Catholic schoolgirl Lisa Taylor (Virginia Madsen) and the two fall immediately in love because… reasons.
This film is just so incredibly lazy. The ‘love story’ really can just be chalked up to ‘hormones.’
Last Resort
Once again I am baffled how Charles Grodin kept getting work so much through out the 1980s.
George Lollar (Grodin) is a salesman in Chicago in need of a vacation. He loads up the family and takes them to Club Sand, which turns out to be a swingers resort as well as surrounded by barbed wire to keep rebels out.
There are a lot of talented people in this movie such as Phil Hartman and Megan Mullally, but the film lets them down at every turn with half-baked ideas of jokes. Supposedly, Grodin rewrote nearly the entire script and I think that explains a lot about how this film feels like unfinished ideas. It’s a Frankenstein monster of a script with half-complete ideas that feel like they are from completely different movies.
Short Circuit
Lets just get this out of the way: What in the world was Fisher Stevens doing?
NOVA Laboratory has come up with a new series of military robots called S.A.I.N.T. (Strategic Artificially Intelligent Nuclear Transport). Following a successful demonstration for the military, Five is struck by an electrical surge and finds itself needing ‘input.’ After inadvertently escaping the lab, it wands into the life of Stephanie Speck (Ally Sheedy), who cares for animals and takes Five in. Dr. Newton Crosby (Steve Guttenberg) is trying to get five back, while the security team wants to destroy it.
Overall, the film is thin, but harmless. The 80s did seem to love a ‘technology being used for the wrong reasons’ theme, and this falls into that camp. What is mind-blowing, however, is Stevens as Ben Jabituya, Crosby’s assistant. Not only is he wearing brown face, but he’s doing a horrible Indian accent and later reveals he was born and raised in the U.S.
His whole character is mystifying.
Honestly, a couple of decades ago I may have recommended this movie, but it’s a definite pass now just for being offensive.
1986 Movie Reviews will continue on May 16, 2026, with Sweet Liberty and Top Gun.
By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer
Posted: May 8th, 2026 / 08:34 PM
AFFECTION movie poster | ©2026 Brainstorm Media
Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Jessica Rothe, Joseph Cross, Julianna Layne
Writer: BT Meza
Director: BT Meza
Distributor: Brainstorm Media
Release Date: May 8, 2026
AFFECTION is an odd title for this tale. While it is about a number of topics and emotions, fondness isn’t one of them. Obsession, definitely. Love, possibly. The kind of general warm fellow feelings associated with “affection”? No.
There have been a lot of movies lately in which characters – mostly women – are grappling with false identities and/or false memories imposed upon them, mostly by men.
Let us stipulate that the protagonist (Jessica Rothe) in AFFECTION is not an android or in an artificial reality. However, we can tell something is way off from the opening sequence. A car is stalled on a tree-bordered highway. Rothe’s character is lying face down on the asphalt beside it, possibly dead.
But then the young woman rises, dragging a broken ankle. She experiences a full-body seizure. Fighting to recover, she sees oncoming headlights and tries to run, only to be hit by a car.
The woman wakes up in a bed she doesn’t recognize, next to a man (Joseph Cross) she likewise is sure she’s never seen before. One big confrontation later, the man says his name is Bruce – and that the woman is his wife, Ellie.
Ellie insists that her name is Sarah Thompson, and she is married to someone else, with a son. When she sees her reflection in a mirror, she doesn’t relate to the face looking back at her.
Bruce counters that Ellie has a rare neurological condition that causes her to block out her waking life and believe her dreams are real. This is why they agreed, together, to move to this isolated house, without the kinds of interruptions that can hinder Ellie’s recovery.
The set-up is presented in a way where we share Ellie’s skepticism. But Ellie and Bruce’s little daughter Alice (Julianna Layne) immediately identifies Ellie as “Mommy!” Alice appears to be too young to be in on any kind of deception, so what is going on here?
AFFECTION eventually explains this via a helpful videotape, though it’s so convoluted that viewers watching on streaming may want to replay the sequence to make sure they understand the exposition.
Writer/director BT Meza musters a sense of menace and lurking weirdness, as well as making great use of his location.
We still have a lot of questions, many of which are still unanswered by the film’s end. It may not matter to the points AFFECTION is trying to make, but a better sense of exactly how all this started might help our investment.
As it is, despite a heroically versatile performance by Rothe, a credible and anguished turn by Cross and appealing work from Layne, we’re so busy trying to piece together what’s important and what’s not and how we’re supposed to feel about all of it that it can be hard to keep track of the action as it unfolds.
Agree or not, Meza’s arguments are lucid and illustrated clearly by AFFECTION’s events. However, the movie is structured in a way that becomes more frustrating as it goes. We comprehend it intellectually but can’t engage viscerally.
Related: Movie Review: ITCH!
Related: Movie Review: HOKUM
Related: Movie Review: ANIMAL FARM
Related: Movie Review: OVER YOUR DEAD BODY
Related: Movie Review: THE WOLF AND THE LAMB
Related: Movie Review: BASIC PYSCH
Related: Movie Review: SCREAMS FROM THE TOWER
Related: Movie Review: FUZE
Related: Movie Review: LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY
Related: Movie Review: HAPPY HALLOWEEN
Related: Movie Review: NORMAL
Related: Movie Review: MOTHER MARY
Related: Movie Review: FACES OF DEATH
Related: Movie Review: EXIT 8
Related: Movie Review: HAMLET
Related: Movie Review: THE YETI
Related: Movie Review: OUR HERO, BALTHAZAR
Related: Movie Review: THE SERPENT”S SKIN
Related: Movie Review: PRETTY LETHAL
Related: Movie Review: READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME
Follow us on Twitter at ASSIGNMENT X
Like us on Facebook at ASSIGNMENT X
Article Source: Assignment X
Article: Movie Review: AFFECTION
Related
Related Posts:
RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — In this episode of 8News Reel Talk, digital producer Julia Broberg is joined by anchor Deanna Allbrittin and reporter Allison Williams to talk about “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”
The hosts gave their reviews and assigned the following star ratings:
Deanna: ★★★★.5
Allison: ★★★.25
Julia: ★★
To watch more livestreams and digital video content, head to the WRIC+ Originals page. You can also watch full on-demand videos on your smart TV using the WRIC+ app.
-
Rhode Island4 minutes agoProposed tax hike would hurt small businesses and our communities | Opinion
-
South-Carolina10 minutes ago11 Unforgettable Small Towns to Visit in South Carolina
-
South Dakota16 minutes agoHuman trafficking survivor advocate to speak at Rapid City church event
-
Tennessee22 minutes agoEthan Mendoza injured as No. 4 Texas loses to Tennessee, 5-1
-
Texas28 minutes agoWarm Saturday in North Texas ahead of severe weather chances later for Mother’s Day
-
Utah34 minutes agoDiscover the deliciousness of New York-style pizza at Fini Pizza in Utah City
-
Vermont40 minutes agoVermont teen dies in crash with tree
-
Virginia46 minutes agoPHOTOS: Virginia Beach Police investigate firearm-related incident at Carriage House Apartments