Beetlejuice is an important movie for me. “Nice fucking model” was the first time I heard an F bomb. It was my introduction to Tim Burton and my first goth girl crush, in Lydia Deetz. I’ve revisited the film many times over the years and it’s still a favorite of mine and I thought a sequel would never happen. When Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was announced I was cautiously optimistic. My girlfriend and I are huge Tim Burton fans so we went to see the film on opening day with her son.

Here’s my thoughts on Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Synopsis

After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was directed by Tim Burton (Beetlejuice) from a script by Al Gough and Miles Millar (Wednesday) based on a story by Gough, Millar and Seth Graham-Smith (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). The film stars Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice), Winona Ryder (Edward Scissorhands), Catherine O’Hara (Nightmare Before Christmas), Jenna Ortega (X), Justin Theroux (Your Highness), Willem Dafoe (Poor Things) and Monica Bellucci (Irreversible).

It was an absolute pleasure to see Keaton, Ryder and O’Hara back on screen together after all these years. Keaton’s Beetlejuice is still a manipulative sleazeball, but is infinitely more likable. Ryder’s Lydia is still the lovable goth girl we know and love, though haunted by a lifetime of trauma and has to rediscover herself. O’Hara Delia is still loud and brash, but has grown into a loving stepmom and grandmother. Ortega’s Astrid is a welcome addition to the cast, sharing some traits of Lydia while very much being her father’s daughter.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is far from a rehash of the first film. It feels more grown up, darker, dirtier and quite a bit gorier, while still being funny as hell. The film pulls influence from Gothic horror films, specifically the films of Mario Bava, who is a actually referenced in the film. Bellucci’s Delores feels like a character Barbara Steele would have played in the 60’s. The make up and special effects are very old school, using traditional makeup effects and stop motion animation. The production design is gorgeous. We get to see more of the other side, which was a nice change of pace. The story gives everyone their part to play and everything coalesces into an absolutely grand finale.

Final Thoughts

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a sequel that honors what came before but is bigger, bolder and bloodier than what came before. The new additions to the cast liven things up and up the stakes. The film was an absolute blast to watch in theaters. My girlfriend, her son and I all loved it! Highly recommend.

A woman (Salma Hayek Pinault) walks into a plaza sparsely occupied by patrons enjoying an afternoon coffee and a magazine and lottery ticket kiosk. She approaches the booth and fingers a stack of newspapers before asking the attendant (Demián Bichir), an older man with rounded shoulders and reading glasses perched on his nose, a question. Her delivery is studied, as if a more natural cadence battles against an inherent severity. She begs the man to close up the shop and have a drink with her. Her mannered sweetness becomes more urgent with his refusal. This is a command, not a request. 

Premiering at the Toronto Film Festival, Without Blood is Angelina Jolie’s latest foray into directing. The actress, who is making waves this festival season with her performance in Pablo Larrain’s Maria, adapted this thinly plotted parable from the novella of the same name by the Italian writer Alessandro Baricco. Without Blood obliquely investigates the psychological and generational toll of war. 

Jolie treads familiar ground here: A handful of her previous directorial efforts, including In the Land of Blood and Honey, Unbroken and First They Killed My Father, set their action against the distressing backdrop of war. Whereas these other films grounded themselves with the details of real conflicts like the Bosnian War or the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, Without Blood claims no land or era. This lack of specificity may have worked in the hands of a more risk-taking helmer, but Jolie’s approach to direction can be as stiff as the woman’s initial encounter with the kiosk attendant. Despite bursts of intelligence, especially when it comes to conveying the fractured quality of trauma narratives, Without Blood’s vagueness ends up blunting many of its lessons. 

An uneasy tension hangs in the air as the man and woman settle into a nearby restaurant. She begins to tell her story, parts of which Jolie shows early in a confidently staged scene. Her name is Nina, and when she was a young girl, three men broke into her house and executed her father (Alfredo Herrera) and brother (Alessandro D’Antuono). While her father’s screams overwhelmed the bungalow and her brother’s blood dripped onto her ankle, Nina hid silently in a burrow beneath some floorboards. 

Her fate became lore in this unnamed country where a years-long battle brewed between two factions. Whether that conflict is regional or political is never made clear and, in Jolie’s estimation, is not relevant. Without Blood is more concerned with how all war wounds people, from its youngest victims to its oldest perpetrators. Most of the film takes place in a cafe, where Nina and the man, whose name we later learn is Tito, exchange different versions of her fate. In Nina’s telling, she is adopted by a pharmacist (Pedro Hernández), who gambles her off to a count (Luis Alberti). She ends up married at 14 and bearing the wealthy baron three sons. As Tito tells it, Nina’s union was a botched assassination turned marital arrangement: The count fell in love instead of killing her. The truth lies somewhere between Nina’s scarred memories and Tito’s vague recollections. In between these exchanges, the pair offer platitudes about the dangers (but never the details) of war. 

The conversation between Nina and Tito swings between gripping moments and duller ones that are helped along by Hayek Pinault and Bichir’s tense banter. Their chemistry is defined by mutual recognition and shared trauma. Hayek Pinault hones in on understated motions — tears welling up in the eyes, tightening the grip on her spoon or pursing her lips — to convey the depth of her character’s pain. Bichir nails the subtle shifts required from his character, whose innocence becomes less black-and-white over the film’s brisk 90-minute runtime. 

Still, Jolie’s overly cautious visual language limits the impact of the drama. Flashbacks to the pair’s past offer some dynamic moments, like bird’s-eye-view shots that suggest Tito has been watching Nina over the years, gesturing at their linked fates. There’s beauty here, too, as Jolie captures the vividness of the ochre landscape. For the most part, though, she relies on close-ups, toggling between the two diners’ faces in straightforward edits by Xavier Box and Joel Cox. 

That innocent people suffer from conflict is not a provocative stance. But it seems like the only point Without Blood can make when it’s not focused — more interestingly — on observing how trauma lives in the body and shapes the mind. Despite flashes of power, the story ultimately seems too thin to bear the weight of its themes.

Former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of 10 Republican House members to vote for President Donald Trump’s impeachment in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 insurrection, would “certainly” be open to serving in Kamala Harris’ cabinet should she win in November, he told The Times on Sunday.

“I love defense. I love foreign policy. And I think that’s where she’s frankly shown she’s a little more hawkish than Democrats have been, so that would be a good area to bring a standard Republican in,” Kinzinger said in an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival, where his new documentary, “The Last Republican,” had its world premiere on Saturday. “I want her to win. I want her to succeed. The most important issue that this country is facing, which doesn’t get enough attention to me, is Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against a Russian invasion. She’s the best counter for that, and I would love to help her in any way achieve that goal.”

Kinzinger’s name was among those floated by political observers after Vice President Harris, in a recent interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, said that she would nominate a Republican to her cabinet if elected.

In the interview Kinzinger, who spoke on Harris’ behalf at the Democratic National Convention last month, also weighed in on which Republican officials he’d like to see endorse the Democratic ticket. Former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, last week joined the growing list of Republicans to throw their support behind Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

“We’re not going to get 20% of Republicans. If we can cross 5% to even 10%, this can guarantee a Harris victory, because it’s going to be this close,” he said, explaining why he thinks such cross-partisan endorsements are so important. “So I think the ones that have yet to speak out are, people like Mark Esper, who was the Defense secretary. Really anybody in Donald Trump’s cabinet. Almost none of his former cabinet members have endorsed him, which is incredible. I really would like to see [former Vice President] Mike Pence take the step of saying, ‘I’m not going to write somebody in.’ I mean, it is your right as an American to write somebody in. If you literally can’t stomach Harris, fine. write somebody in and don’t vote for Trump. But let’s be realistic here. You really have two choices for president. I’d love to see General [John F.] Kelly, [former White House chief of staff]; H.R. McMaster, [former national security advisor]; [and other] people in the national security establishment that know the damage that Donald Trump could do. They need to warn fellow Republicans, because there’s still a lot of Republicans that care about national security.”

Kinzinger also noted that he wishes George W. Bush would speak out, though he acknowledged that Bush’s office has said neither the former president nor former First Lady Laura Bush plan to make an endorsement in the 2024 election.

As to the prospect of a contested election or Trump victory, Kinzinger expressed deep concern. Although he said he does not fear another insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, he does worry about the intense pressure on Republicans at the state level to decline to certify an outcome in Harris’ favor — and the presence of militias who could overrun state houses that have “1/500th the security” of Congress.

Kinzinger added that he doesn’t believe Trumpism can survive another Trump term.

“No president comes out more popular,” he said. “It’ll burn itself out, because they’ll have the instruments of power, they’ll fail to do what he promised, and everybody will kind of get worn out. But the question is, what damage is done over that four years?”

Watch the rest of The Times’ interview with Kinzinger and “The Last Republican” director Steve Pink here.