Movie Reviews
Review: Clooney and Pitt carry the fixer caper 'Wolfs'
The overriding tension in “Wolfs,” starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt as rival fixers brought in to clean up the same crime, isn’t so much the threat of police arrest or Albanian mob assassination — both of which are concerns. It’s that Clooney and Pitt aren’t pals.
The two start out as strangers to one another. It’s a testament to Clooney and Pitt’s jovial on-and-off screen chemistry, and their bond in shared movie-star charisma, that it’s genuinely discombobulating to hear Pitt tersely call Clooney “sir” as he does in the opening scenes of Jon Watts’ winning, clever caper.
Pitt and Clooney first acted together in 2001’s “Ocean’s Eleven.” And like that remake riff on the Rat Pack original, “Wolfs” is as much, if not more, about its movie stars as it is anything else. The movie’s appeal is mostly in their easy charm and chemistry — the little eye rolls and games of one-upmanship that accrue until, finally, they’re buddies, like we want them to be.
Clooney is 63 and Pitt is 60, and there are few bits about back pain and Advil in Watts’ film. But “Wolfs,” which opens in limited theaters Friday and streams next week on Apple TV+, is designed to show you that they can still, without ever really breaking a sweat, get the job done.
When their characters meet, they are both standing in the penthouse of a luxury New York hotel where a tough-on-crime district attorney (Amy Ryan) is in desperate need of a cover up. A young, nearly naked man is seemingly dead on the floor. She’s frantically searched her phone for a number once given for such emergencies. That brings the first never-named fixer (Clooney) to the door. Not long after, the second, also unnamed fixer (Pitt) knocks. After a moment of confusion, he points to a small camera at the ceiling. He’s been dispatched by the hotel owner (an unseen Frances McDormand) who doesn’t want any bad press.
The two fixers are spiritual descendants, you might say, from Harvey Keitel’s Winston Wolfe, the fast-driving cleaner of “Pulp Fiction.” Each is a specialist, supposedly the only man who can do what they do. “Wolfs” — with an awkwardly spelled title that represents the pained collaboration of these two solo freelancers — is a little bit like the pointing Spider-Men meme brought to life. Fitting, then, that it comes from Watts, director of the three Tom Holland Spider-Man films. He also wrote the script.
There are more movies that “Wolfs” has some kinship with, too, like Tony Gilroy’s “Michael Clayton,” a high point for Clooney in which he played the clean-up man of a malicious law firm. “Wolfs” doesn’t measure up to anything like “Michael Clayton” — what does? — and isn’t trying to, anyway. This is more of an old-school movie-star-driven entertainment featuring two actors with skills as rarified as their characters’, the kind of movie that was once regularly at home in theaters but now has instead been built for the streaming era.
Informed that they have to finish the job together, the two fixers begin to go about the business of getting rid of the body. They eye each warily, disinterested in giving away any tricks of the trade. This mostly falls to Clooney’s character, whose creative way of lifting the body onto a luggage rack begins to earn the respect of Pitt’s character.
They turn out to have much, maybe everything, in common. Slowly, reluctantly, they inch toward a partnership. It’s a credit to Watts’ keen sense of rhythm and his stars’ subtlety that it more or less takes the whole movie to get there. Once outside the hotel, “Wolfs” unspools over the course of one night, shot sleekly in the shadows of downtown Manhattan by cinematographer Larkin Seiple.
Things get a jolt when the body in question turns out to be alive, and kind of a hoot, too. The kid, credited only as “Kid,” is roused from a drug-induced stupor, and quickly, in tighty whities, goes escaping down the street, forcing the two fixers on an extensive chase leading up to the Brooklyn Bridge. The kid is played with a lot of goofy moxie by Austin Abrams (“Euphoria,” “The Walking Dead”), and his account of how he got into this mess, delivered in a cheap motel, may be the film’s best sequence. Along with Sean Baker’s upcoming “Anora,” it’s turned into a surprisingly good season for New York nocturnal odysseys propelled by mop-haired kids who end up in Brighton Beach.
But the kid’s perspective on his two captors also pushes “Wolfs” along. He’s naive enough to think they’re his friends, even though they would seem duty-bound to dispatch him. Regarding Clooney and Pitt, both in leather jackets, from the back seat of the car, he otherwise correctly assesses them, calling them “like the two coolest people I’ve ever met.”
Thankfully, someone has come to the not-hard-to-deduce realization that Clooney and Pitt are good together. A sequel has already been announced. “Wolfs” turns out to be both the beginning and the coda of a beautiful friendship.
“Wolfs,” an Apple Studios release is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for language throughout and some violent content. Running time: 108 minutes. Three stars out of four.
2/5 stars
Guilt proves to be a powerful trigger for a retired bomb disposal expert in the Taiwanese action thriller 96 Minutes, when his past mistakes prove every bit as deadly as a bomb planted on board a cross-country express train.
Austin Lin Po-hung stars as Kang-ren, still haunted by his failure to prevent a deadly department store bomb attack three years earlier, whose past catches up with him at high speed after attending a memorial service for the victims.
Travelling back to the capital with the other attendees, Captain Li (Lee Lee-zen), who was Kang-ren’s boss, receives an anonymous message warning that there is a bomb on board set to detonate in exactly 96 minutes, or if any attempt is made to stop the vehicle or unload its passengers.
Clues point to the bomber being on either their train or the one that left a few minutes prior. Both are filled with grieving relatives, scarred survivors, as well as Kang-ren’s own mother (Lu Hsueh-feng) and fiancée (Vivian Sung Yun-hua).
With the clock ticking, the police must find the device, identify the bomber and save the day before either train hurtles into Taipei station.
Movie Reviews
Review | Another World: macabre human fable is a new milestone for Hong Kong animation
4/5 stars
Hong Kong filmmakers rarely get as philosophical about the human condition as they do in the animated feature Another World, which contemplates the limits of goodness in the face of great evil, set against a vibrant action fantasy backdrop.
Although the film’s focus on reincarnation appears to align it with Eastern religions, Another World’s belief in kindness renders it a universally engaging watch. Young children should stay away, however, as they might be scarred by some of the shockingly grisly moments in this macabre tale.
Leading us into the afterlife is one of its spirit guides, Gudo (voiced by Chung Suet-ying), who is tasked with helping deceased souls let go of their memories and escorting them past a magical waterfall into the next life – all the while making sure the “seed of evil” inside each of them, if any, does not sprout out of resentment.
His latest charge is a girl named Yuri (Christy Choi Hiu-tung), whose pure and lively character fascinates Gudo. Yuri is initially not aware that she has died and is instead persistent in her search for her younger brother, whose fate remains unknown for much of the runtime.
Movie Reviews
Now You See Me: Now You Don’t Movie Reviews Are In – And There’s One Clear Critics’ Consensus
The first critics’ reactions to Now You See Me: Now You Don’t are finally here, and they largely agree that the Lionsgate threequel is another major hit. After being stuck in development, the highly anticipated Now You See Me Sequel will finally arrive in theaters on November 14, 2025, continuing the story of the iconic Four Horsemen, illusionists and street magicians who are experts in orchestrating elaborate heists.
In Now You See Me‘s third installment, the Four Horsemen recruit three skilled illusionists for another heist involving the world’s largest queen diamond before finding it belongs to a powerful crime syndicate. The hype surrounding the movie is poised to rise after the first wave of reactions had high praise for the project.
Critics who saw an early screening of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t in New York shared their first reactions on X. The threequel received largely positive reactions, with nearly all critics saying that it is thoroughly entertaining and fun.
Film critic Andre Saint-Albin described the film as “a sleight-of-hand masterpiece,” noting that Now You See Me 3 has an “entertaining story” and a “phenomenal diamond heist.” He also teased that the film has an “epic” third act while also praising the new casting additions:
“‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’ is a sleight-of-hand masterpiece! The Four Horsemen (Eisenberg, Harrelson, Franco, Fisher) return for their next trick with an entertaining story & a phenomenal diamond heist. Smith, Sessa & Greenblatt plant the seeds as Gen-Z firebrands, clashing with old-school magic. New seeds, old tricks, epic third act! Fleischer’s directs a ride so good fun you’d swear it was sorcery!”
Entertainment reporter Jonathan Sim boldly claimed that Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is a “funny, thrilling heist movie” and teased that it was “filled with surprises:”
“#NowYouSeeMe: Now You Don’t gives us the magic we’ve been waiting for. A funny, thrilling heist movie. The Horsemen are back in action with non-stop fun, tricks, and joy. The new characters are an A+ addition. Filled with surprises and just as dazzling and astonishing as ever.”
While Critics Choice’s Tony Mosello admitted that it’s more of the same, he said that fans will love Now You See Me: Now You Don’t due to its fun “twists and surprises, with elevated stakes:”
“NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T proves the original Horsemen still have “it”, injecting the show with youthful energy via the newcomers and a fun, campy, and villainous Rosamund Pike. Full of twists and surprises, with elevated stakes; it’s more of the same, but fans will LOVE it.”
CinemaBlend’s Riley Utley shared that the threequel made her “smile from ear to ear,” and the movie reminded her why the first movie made her fall in love with films in the first place:
“‘Now You See Me: Now You Don’t’ reiterates with exclamation points why the first ‘Now You See’ movie was one of the projects that made me fall in love with movies. There’s nothing better than projects that make me smile from ear to ear, blow my mind and make it clear why movies are magic.”
That Hashtag Show’s Manny Gomez praised how the latest Now You See entry allowed the original cast to “set the stage for the new magicians to shine:”
“#NowYouSeeMe is a fun addition to the franchise that allows the beloved cast to set the stage for the new magicians to shine. Loved the magic… misdirection… and twists and turns that make going to the movies fun.”
The Direct’s David Thompson was proud to declare that the “magic is back” in the Now You See Me franchise after seeing that the third installment was filled with “some satisfying twists and turns:”
“Happy to report the magic is BACK in the #NowYouSeeMe franchise — loved the new cast, a bunch of fun sequences, & some satisfying twists and turns.”
Film critic and The Film Blerds host Brandon Norwood said that fans of the series will definitely “love” Now You See Me: Now You Don’t because it is “thoroughly entertaining:”
“NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T: Thoroughly entertaining! The younger cast mixes in well with the OGs. Fans of the series, you’ll love this. Really miss mid-budget studio popcorn fare like this.”
Popternative’s Christopher Gallardo enjoyed the latest Now You See Me entry and described it as a “new-gen rivals old-gen story” that has a special flair:
“NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T is an exciting thrill-ride with all the tricks and dazzle you’d want. It’s a ‘new-gen rivals old-gen’ story with a special flair that shines with it’s fun cast chemistry. Sessa, Greenblatt, and Smith especially rock all throughout!”
FandomWire’s PossesSEAN gave high praise to the movie’s “impressively staged set pieces,” calling the threequel a “great popcorn movie:”
“#NowYouSeeMe: NOW YOU DON’T was catnip for me — another exhilarating, funny caper with some of the most impressively staged set pieces of the year. A great blend of old and new that effectively ups the stakes and scale. What a great popcorn movie!”
Ethan Simmie of The Movie Draft Podcast admitted that Now You See Me: Now You Don’t went “full Mission: Impossible mode,” with him celebrating the fact that it was “some of the most fun” he’s had at the movies this year:
“NOW YOU SEE ME: NOW YOU DON’T is some of the most fun I’ve had at the movies all year! This entry goes full Mission: Impossible mode and is hilarious, entertaining, and perfectly meta. I could watch one of these every single year forever. We really do come to the movies for magic.”
Directed by Ruben Fleischer, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is one of the 12 biggest sequels in 2025. The movie has a stacked cast, including Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco. They are joined by newcomers Justice Smith, Ariana Greenblatt, Dominic Sessa, and Rosamund Pike. Now You See Me: Now You Don’t will premiere in theaters on November 14, 2025.
Now You See Me 3’s Success Could Lead to Franchise’s Promising Future
Based on the first wave of reactions, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t seems poised for success, which is good for the franchise’s future. Moreover, widespread critical praise could boost the movie’s box office returns.
The long wait for Now You See Me: Now You Don’t could be seen as an advantage because it offers a sense of nostalgia to original fans. The nine-year gap also allowed the movie’s writers to strike an ideal balance, crafting intricate heists while establishing seamless chemistry between the returning cast and new additions.
If successful, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t could lead to future installments or potential spin-offs. With prequel entries to many recognizable franchises like Alien: Earth (read more about Season 2 here) and It: Welcome to Derry finding success in streaming, the threequel’s triumph at the box office could push Lionsgate to explore a spin-off focusing on the younger versions of the Horsemen.
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