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Film Review: Cocaine Bear is wild, high, very bloody, darkly funny, and doesn’t play well with others – The AU Review

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Film Review: Cocaine Bear is wild, high, very bloody, darkly funny, and doesn’t play well with others – The AU Review

They typically say that reality could be stranger than fiction, and within the case of Cocaine Bear, the reality is wild, excessive, very bloody, darkly humorous, and doesn’t play effectively with others.  In fact, that is solely an “impressed by” reality, the kind of reality that will get gloriously twisted for the sake of bombastic leisure.  And, truthfully, we wouldn’t need it every other means.

On the morning of September eleventh, 1985, Andrew Thornton, an Military paratrooper-turned-racehorse trainer-turned-narcotics cop-turned-DEA agent-turned-lawyer-turned-cocaine smuggler, was flying excessive – each actually and figuratively – over the plush greens of the Chattahoochee Nationwide Forest of Northern Georgia.  Shedding his footing as he threw bricks of cocaine out the aspect of his airplane, Thornton’s physique was finally discovered on the driveway of a residential neighbourhood in Tennessee.

Thornton himself is sufficient of a personality to earn a movie about his life, however director Elizabeth Banks and screenwriter Jimmy Warden produce other plans.  230kgs of different plans, to be precise, because the almost-unbelievable off-shoot to Thornton’s demise is that a big black bear really ingested in upwards of 35 kilos of the discarded cocaine and, tragically, died from such an consumption.  That story isn’t practically as a lot enjoyable although, and leaning into the mentality that nothing good comes from medicine and the everyday “creature function” often leads to whichever animal being slayed within the climax by the hands of our supposedly heroic human, Cocaine Bear acts as a revenge narrative of types for the Hollywood-ised iteration of the bear, right here, overvalued on numerous luggage of cocaine with no persistence for intruders, each native and visiting.

While Warden’s script maybe has just a few too many characters to juggle throughout its tight 95 minute operating time, it finally means we’re bestowed much more bloody carnage because the titular bear rips by the ensemble with a ferocity that speaks to the movie’s classification (gotta love “Blood and Gore”, “Animal Assaults” and “Violence” all being causes for its ranking); though, as demonstrated in, arguably, the movie’s greatest set-piece of an ambulance dashing away from the chasing bear, quite a lot of the bodily injury that these characters expertise is sort of self-inflicted.

Whether or not it’s protecting mama bear Sari (Keri Russell) hoping to search out her precocious, skipped-school daughter, Dee Dee (Brooklynn Prince), and her lovelorn bestie, Henry (Christian Converey) – watch for his or her spooning cocaine like sweet sequence – out within the woods; drug kingpin Syd (Ray Liotta, reminding us, once more, why he’ll be tremendously missed), his sorrowful son, Eddie (Alden Ehrenreich), and trusted fixer, Daveed (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), scoping the grounds for the lacking coke within the hopes of saving their very own necks off Thornton’s mistake; or the hooligan collective “The Duchamps” – Child (Aaron Vacation), Vest (J.B. Moore), and Ponytail (Leo Hanna) – a trio of native miscreants who get greater than they bargained for when their try at robbing each Daveed and the native ranger (a scene-stealing Margo Martindale) end in extra brutal a consequence than anticipated, Cocaine Bear flexes an inclusive temperament.  Everyone seems to be equally tasty prey within the eyes of a really drugged-up omnivore.

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However, for a film referred to as Cocaine Bear, and one that’s clearly conscious that its premise is what is going to deliver curious, surrendering audiences in, it doesn’t fairly stability the tone of giving us time to relaxation from the bear assaults.  It’s essential that now we have time to catch our breath, and the dynamic between each Russell & Converey and Ehrenreich & Jackson Jr. speaks to Warden’s witty script, however there’s maybe just a few too many emotionally-inclined beats that the movie doesn’t want.  There’s sufficient happening and a powerful sufficient commentary on mother and father, particularly moms, defending their younger, that the eventual climax feels a bit too on the nostril and tonally misplaced.

That being mentioned, its try at emotionality is minor.  Banks connects greater than she misses with the large swing mindset that’s this movie, and everyone seems to be having far too good a time for any of its missteps to really weigh it down.  Banks is a assured director in mixing the comedic and horror areas – some manners wherein she builds pressure all through give me hope she’ll helm a simple horror movie sooner or later although – and that pocket of enjoying to the ridiculousness and the extra terrifying elements of this story proves a cushty house.

THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)

Cocaine Bear is screening in Australian theatres now.

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Movie Reviews

Marvel Has a Hit Despite Poor Reviews

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Marvel Has a Hit Despite Poor Reviews


Captain America: Brave New World infused some blockbuster cash into the North American box office, bringing in $88.5 million in ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Walt Disney Co. release is by far the biggest opener of 2025, and the company predicts it will hit $100 million domestically and $192.4 globally by the end of the Presidents Day holiday on Monday. It’s Marvel’s first major release since Deadpool & Wolverine broke records last summer and reenergized the Marvel fanbase after the poor showing for The Marvels, the AP reports.

Brave New World is also a major transition for the Captain America brand—anointing Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson as the new Cap, officially taking over from Chris Evans, who played the character for almost a decade. Harrison Ford co-stars as the US president who transforms into the Red Hulk. Brave New World, directed by Julius Onah, came into the weekend facing poor reviews. The film is sitting at 51% “rotten” on Rotten Tomatoes. In his review for the AP, Mark Kennedy called it “a highly processed, empty calorie, regret-later candy of a movie.” Audiences were more generous. The “verified audience score” from Rotten Tomatoes was 80%, and the CinemaScore was a B-. Second place went to Paddington in Peru, the third installment in the franchise, which finally opened in North America this weekend.

Below are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Tuesday.

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  1. Captain America: Brave New World, $88.5 million.
  2. Paddington in Peru, $13 million.
  3. Heart Eyes, $10 million.
  4. Dog Man, $9.7 million.
  5. Ne Zha 2, $7.2 million.
  6. Love Hurts, $4.4 million.
  7. Mufasa: The Lion King, $4.2 million.
  8. One of Them Days, $3 million.
  9. Companion, $1.9 million.
  10. Becoming Led Zeppelin, $1.8 million.

(More box office stories.)

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Review | Dreams, chilling film with Jessica Chastain about US-Mexico ties

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Review | Dreams, chilling film with Jessica Chastain about US-Mexico ties

3.5/5 stars

“I want to take care of you,” coos Jessica Chastain’s wealthy American in Michel Franco’s latest film, Dreams, playing in competition at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival.

It is another sparse, clinical work from the Mexican-born Franco, who last gave us 2023’s sublime Memory – which co-starred Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard.

In his new film – which will leave you dazed and disquieted, and is likely to rattle around your head for days after watching it – Chastain headlines as Jennifer, a San Francisco socialite whose father’s foundation has been funding arts initiatives in Mexico City.

There she met Fernando (Isaac Hernández), a dancer working for the foundation – although we only learn this in flashback.

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The film begins as Fernando – who was deported from the United States in 2013 – crosses from Mexico into the US in a truck filled with other illegal immigrants.

Dreams director Michel Franco addresses fraught US-Mexico relations in his new film. Photo: Teorema
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‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’ movie review: Renée Zellweger returns as our favourite singleton in a film that’s strictly for fans

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‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’ movie review: Renée Zellweger returns as our favourite singleton in a film that’s strictly for fans

Renée Zellweger in a scene from ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’
| Photo Credit: JAY MAIDMENT

One thing Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, taught me was that some clothes were indestructible. Bridget’s (Renée Zellweger) closet still has the red, printed pyjamas, the see-through top and granny underwear from the first movie, Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001). You could say yay for Bridget’s environmental consciousness while wondering about hygiene.

Though director Michael Morris and Zellweger said they have carefully introduced the callbacks to the earlier movie so that it appears organic to the story, that does not seem to be the case. Scenes and bits of dialogue and characters have been bunged in willy-nilly, usually dragging one out of the movie.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy (English)

Director: Michael Morris

Cast: Renée Zellweger, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leo Woodall, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant

Runtime: 125 minutes

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Storyline: Four years after Mark Darcy’s death, Bridget plunges once more into the world of dating

Among all these hit-and-miss callbacks, is one that is hugely welcome — Bridget’s former boss and lover, the roguishly charming Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant). The movie starts with Daniel listening to a beauteous Geminita (Elena Rivers) spouting rather alarming poetry when Bridget calls. His conversation on the phone while explaining to the disapproving crowd that it is his mum on the line, is hilarious and undiluted Daniel. 

It is four years since the death of her beloved husband, human rights lawyer, Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) in Sudan. Bridget is now a 50-something single mother with two children, Billy (Casper Knopf) and Mabel (Mila Jankovic). Bridget is encouraged by her family and friends, including Shazzer (Sally Phillips), Jude (Shirley Henderson) and Tom (James Callis) to start dating again. Daniel is now a family friend called upon to babysit Billy and Mabel.

Bridget’s adventures in dating in the time of dating apps are mildly amusing and being a single parent in the face of terrifyingly efficient tiger mums is somewhat amusing. This time around the beautiful toy boy Roxster (Leo Woodall) and the gruff science teacher Mr. Wallaker (Chiwetel Ejiofor) form the two sides of Bridget’s love triangle. There is a Christmas concert, a heartfelt song, camping and conversations over blue drinks with friends.

Hugh Grant, left, and Renée Zellweger in a scene from ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’

Hugh Grant, left, and Renée Zellweger in a scene from ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’
| Photo Credit:
UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Bridget suffers a double dose of grief as her father, Colin (Jim Broadbent) is no more. Her mum, Pamela (Gemma Jones) lives in a care home with her best friend, Una (Celia Imrie) and still calls Bridget at inopportune moments. Bridget returns to work at the television studio where her former boss, Richard Finch (Neil Pearson) makes her feel welcome.

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Based on Helen Fielding’s 2013 novel of the same name, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy does not have the warmth, wit, energy or singular vocabulary of the first movie. All the cast seems just that one beat out of step, which ends up in a disjointed movie experience. Nothing, including Wallaker’s switch from grumpy science teacher to hopeless romantic, feels organic. And just in case one did not get all the callbacks, the end credits feature stills from the first movie. It is only the scenes with Grant’s Daniel that sparkle, and those are the ones that help us overlook the shortcomings of the rest of the movie.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is currently running in theatres

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