A great movie title sets you up for a great moviegoing experience. Our introduction to the tale about to unfold, it can be clever, insightful or silly — but most crucially, it should be memorable. A tepid title blows that one chance to engage viewers from the first word. Here’s a rundown of some of this season’s more well-wrought titles — along with a few missed opportunities.
“A Real Pain,” by writer-director-star Jesse Eisenberg, sees him working opposite Kieran Culkin as his cousin, who’s obviously the real pain in question. Except that’s only part of the story. As the film progresses, we watch as they face their family’s tragic history, and their uncertain future, and the real pain deepens and becomes profound.
Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin star in “A Real Pain,” which gets an A+ for its punchy title.
(Searchlight Pictures)
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Earlier this year, screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes hit with his first produced screenplay, “Challengers,” directed by Luca Guadagnino. The title wraps itself coyly around its three tennis-star lead characters, aptly describing the personal and professional entanglements to come.
Star Nicole Kidman has said that as soon as she read the title “Babygirl,” from writer-director Halina Reijn, “I was like, ‘Right, that’s my film.’” The word can apply to someone of any age, or any gender, as she and all the kids know; “babygirl” is now a slang term of endearment for a cute, appealing man. Star Harris Dickinson is finding out that audiences seem to agree.
Love it or hate-watch it, “Saturday Night Live” altered the television landscape. With its title, the movie about the sketch series immediately claims “Saturday Night” as its own. Director Jason Reitman co-wrote the script with Gil Kenan, and they set the entire film on the first Saturday night the show aired, 50 years ago. An early exchange in the film has a young Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) explaining to a guard who won’t let him into the building that he’s the producer of “Saturday Night,” and the guard retorts, “Oh, the whole night?” Yeah, the whole night.
With its title, Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” starring Gabriel LaBelle, left, Kaia Gerber and Cory Michael Smith, claims the night as its own.
(Hopper Stone/Sony Pictures)
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Writer-director Megan Park’s film “My Old Ass” stars Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza as the same character at different ages, the latter of whom possesses the ass in question. The irreverent title may have kept some people away, though, which is a shame, because it’s a delightful film. It’s also a lot of fun to tell someone, “You have to see ‘My Old Ass,’ it’s fantastic.” (It’s streaming on Prime Video.)
“September 5” is as assured and sober a piece of work as its title suggests. The entire film takes place on that date in 1972, at the Munich Olympics, a day that ought to live in infamy. No embellishment is necessary.
“September 5” is as assured and sober a piece of work as its title suggests. No embellishment is necessary.
(Jurgen Olczyk/Paramount Pictures)
Conversely, the title “Sabbath Queen” is giving humor, it’s giving religion, it’s giving queer joy. For over 20 years, documentarian Sandi DuBowski followed Amichai Lau-Lavie, a descendent of 35 generations of rabbis, as he evolved from radical faerie and drag queen (name: Hadassah Gross) to assuming the mantle of his forefathers.
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Who even cares what “Nightbitch” is about? The title alone is worth a ticket. With that inventive, invented word, writer-director Marielle Heller (“Can You Ever Forgive Me”) lets us know from the get-go that a horror/comedy is about to commence.
The recently released “A Complete Unknown” was written by Jay Cocks with James Mangold, who also directed, and is based on the book “Dylan Goes Electric!” by Elijah Wald. Changing the title from the source material makes great use of Bob Dylan’s lyric to look at the early days of the legendary yet still enigmatic star.
“A Complete Unknown,” starring Edward Norton and Timothee Chalamet, makes great use of a Bob Dylan lyric to look at the early days of the legendary yet still enigmatic musician.
(Macall Polay / Searchlight Pictures)
Sequels, no matter how brilliant they are (I’m looking at you, “Inside Out 2”), need to do more than add a number. Did 1984’s lyrical title “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo” teach us nothing? The only exception to this rule is “The Godfather: Part II.” But then look at “III.” No, wait, don’t.
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And “Moana 2”? It was right there waiting for you: “Mo’ Moana.”
Ridley Scott revisits his old Coliseum stomping ground with “Gladiator II,” and yes, the Roman numerals are better than a “2,” because: Rome. But didn’t anyone think of “Gladiators,” plural? After all, Scott’s earlier triumph, “Alien,” was followed by its first sequel, “Aliens,” a breathtakingly elegant choice. “Dumb and Dumberer” is only slightly less brilliant.
Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal star in “Gladiator II,” a title that could have been more elegant.
(Aidan Monaghan/Aidan Monaghan)
We’re setting aside most franchises, since you have to dance with the IP that brung ya. But the musical “Wicked” has been broken into two films, the second of which is due next fall. The films are directed by Jon M. Chu, from screenwriters Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, based on the play (book by Holzman), which is based on the book by Gregory Maguire. That is way too much talent for the second installment to fall into the “Part Two” trap.
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So congratulotions all around for the perfectly thrillifying “Wicked: For Good.”
Forget the “video game movie” curse;The Mortuary Assistantis a bone-chilling triumph that stands entirely on its own two feet. Starring Willa Holland (Arrow) as Rebecca Owens, the film follows a newly certified mortician whose “overtime shift” quickly devolves into a grueling battle for her soul.
What Makes It Work
The film expertly balances the stomach-churning procedural work of embalming with a spiraling demonic nightmare. Alongside a mysterious mentor played by Paul Sparks (Boardwalk Empire), Rebecca is forced to confront both ancient evils and her own buried traumas. And boy, does she have a lot of them.
Thanks to a full-scale, practical River Fields Mortuary set, the film drips with realism, like you can almost smell the rot and bloat of the bodies through the screen.
The skin effects are hauntingly accurate. The way the flesh moves during surgical scenes is so visceral. I’ve seen a lot of flesh wounds in horror films and in real life, and the bodies, skin, and organs. The Mortuary Assistant (especially in the opening scene) looks so real that I skipped supper after watching it. And that’s saying something. Your girl likes to eat.
Co-written by the game’s creator, Brian Clarke, the movie dives deeper into the demonic mythology. Whether you’ve seen every ending or don’t know a scalpel from a trocar, the story is perfectly self-contained. If you’ve never played the game, or played it a hundred times, the film works equally well, which is hard to do when it comes to game adaptations.
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Nailed It
This film does a lot of things right, but the isolation of the night shift is suffocating. Between the darkness of the hallways and the “residents” that refuse to stay still, the film delivers a relentlessly immersive experience. And thankfully, although this movie is filled with dark rooms and shadows, it’s easy to see every little thing. Don’t you hate it when a movie is so dark that you can’t see what’s happening? It’s one of my pet peeves.
The oh-so-awesome Jeremiah Kipp directs the film and has made something absolutely nightmare-inducing. Kipp recently joined us for an interview, took us inside the film, discussed its details and the game’s lore, and so much more. I urge you to check out our interview. He’s awesome!
The Verdict
This isn’t just a cash-grab; it’s a high-effort adaptation that respects the source material while elevating the horror genre. With incredible special effects and a powerhouse cast, it’s the kind of movie that will make you rethink working late ever again. Dropping on Friday the 13th, this is a must-watch for horror fans. It’s grisly, intelligent, and genuinely terrifying.
A former executive at Live Nation, the world’s largest live entertainment company, is suing the company, alleging that he was wrongfully terminated after he raised concerns about alleged financial misconduct and improper accounting practices.
Nicholas Rumanes alleges he was “fraudulently induced” in 2022 to leave a lucrative position as head of strategic development at a real estate investment trust to create a new role as executive vice president of development and business practice at Beverly Hills-based Live Nation.
In his new position, Rumanes said, he raised “serious and legitimate alarm” over the the company’s business practices.
As a result, he says, he was “unlawfully terminated,” according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
“Rumanes was, simply put, promised one job and forced to accept another. And then he was cut loose for insisting on doing that lesser job with integrity and honesty,” according to the lawsuit.
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He is seeking $35 million in damages.
Representatives for Live Nation were not immediately available for comment.
The lawsuit comes a week after a federal jury in Manhattan found that Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had operated a monopoly over major concert venues, controlling 86% of the concert market.
Rumanes’ lawsuit describes a “culture of deception” at Live Nation, saying its “basic business model was to misstate and exaggerate financial figures in efforts to solicit and secure business.”
Such practices “spanned a wide spectrum of projects in what appeared to be a company-wide pattern of financial misrepresentation and misleading disclosures,” the lawsuit states.
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Rumanes says he received materials and documents that showed that the company inflated projected revenues across multiple venue development projects.
Additionally, Rumanes contends that the company violated a federal law that requires independent financial auditing and transparency and instead ran Live Nation “through a centralized, opaque structure” that enables it to “bypass oversight and internal checks and balances.”
In 2010, as a condition of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger, the newly formed company agreed to a consent decree with the government that prohibited the firm from threatening venues to use Ticketmaster. In 2019 the Justice Department found that the company had repeatedly breached the agreement, and it extended the decree.
Rumanes contends that he brought his concerns to the attention of the company’s management, but his warnings were “repeatedly ignored.”
At the centre of Madhuvidhu directed by Vishnu Aravind is a house where only men reside, three generations of them living in harmony. Unlike the Anjooran household in Godfather, this is not a house where entry is banned to women, but just that women don’t choose to come here. For Amrithraj alias Ammu (Sharafudheen), the protagonist, 28 marriage proposals have already fallen through although he was not lacking in interest.
When a not-so-cordial first meeting with Sneha (Kalyani Panicker) inevitably turns into mutual attraction, things appear about to change. But some unexpected hiccups are waiting for them, their different religions being one of them. Writers Jai Vishnu and Bipin Mohan do not seem to have any major ambitions with Madhuvidhu, but they seem rather content to aim for the middle space of a feel-good entertainer. Only that they end up hitting further lower.
