A new one happened to me this week. I asked the publicist for a movie from a mini major studio that used to supply screeners for all its films (before recently becoming more selective on which titles to send and which to hold back) whether their latest was going to be made available. They said they didn’t know because they were handling theatrical, but they sent me to the publicists handling digital who then said they’d let me know.

Well, I didn’t hear anything … until a screening link popped into my inbox one day without warning. Then came the publicist email saying, “A screener of XXX has been sent to you and all thoughts are embargoed until XXX.” I thought to myself, “Cool, I’ll watch it tomorrow.”

And then, about an hour later, I received a second email from the publicist saying the studio advised they “aren’t able to send links.” Sure enough, I checked the screener link and found it no longer active. They rescinded my access.

Which is fine. I get it! But why do publicists keep putting their feet in their mouths with their verbiage? Tell me it was sent in error. Don’t tell me the studio said you “weren’t able” when you obvious were because you did. Tell me I don’t rate—I’m often surprised when I do! I didn’t expect a screener to be available anyway, but sending and then pretending like it never happened is wild.

It really is a crapshoot, though. That title isn’t even getting a wide release, so why not give smaller city critics a look? There are many smaller studios than this one getting wide releases and they still send links (see IFC Films all the time, Seven Veils last week, and The Day the Earth Blew Up this week). It’s to the point where the lack of consistency has me simultaneously wanting to just not bother and spam every single publicist on the off chance their film is inexplicably available.

The worst: When a publicist who always says “No” suddenly emails me asking to review a different title as a favor to them. Sometimes it’s a publicist I can barely earn a response from one week who then spams my inbox the next for something else. I guess the system forcing me to shoot my shot blindly is forcing them to do the same.

What I Watched:

CONTROL FREAK

(streaming on Hulu)

Val! That’s the wrong hand! The fact I thought this without even considering there was a second step in her extreme yet industrious process to rectify that presumed mistake should tell you how much confidence I had in Control Freak.

I love getting new monsters with a unique cultural spin and the whole metaphorical personification of imposter syndrome and self-loathing as a parasitic demon, but Shal Ngo’s narrative execution behind those things feels never-ending. Scratching. Futile attempt to stop scratching. Alienating loved ones via the frustration from scratching. An escalation of the scratching. Over and over.

Kudos to the gore and effects work in the third act. Gnarly stuff. Some wild real-life developments that seem scientifically impossible eventually undercut it, but maybe my fatigue with the story made me miss context? It’s stuff that we shouldn’t need to suspend our disbelief for when we’re already doing that for the psychological horror.

Despite having watched Miles Robbins act in so many movies, I couldn’t stop seeing him as Dylan from The Quarry throughout this one. The limb removal parallel didn’t help matters. Kelly Marie Tran = innocent. She’s quite good here.

- 4/10

THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP

(in theaters)

Considering what David Zaslav did to Coyote vs. Acme (erasing it from existence for a tax write-off despite very positive reactions), we're lucky that Peter Browngardt's The Day the Earth Blew Up found its way to Ketchup Entertainment to become the first Looney Tunes film not released by Warner Bros. since 1975's United Artists documentary Bugs Bunny: Superstar. Why Zaslav decided to shop this one around upon deciding not to release it on Max as originally planned (or why someone was willing to buy it) and not Coyote vs. Acme, is anyone's guess. It's probably just some algorithmic equation Wall Street fed him to ensure another few million dollars entered his own pockets.

Browngardt and original screenwriter Kevin Costello (who are ultimately joined by nine storyboard artists to fill out a whopping eleven-person writing credit) took inspiration from 1950s-era science fiction B-movies to hatch an alien invasion plot that only the unlikely duo of Porky Pig and Daffy Duck (both voiced by Eric Bauza) can thwart. While the over-arching narrative design hews close to the threat inherent to films like The Day the Earth Stood Still or Invasion of the Body Snatchers, however, this remains a Looney Tunes property and thus needs a joke premise behind it. Queue the introduction of the Goodie Gum bubblegum factory and its potential to manufacture a stick that's able to mind control the entire planet with humanity's propensity to chew.

First things first: two prologues. One to introduce The Invader's (Peter MacNicol) arrival at the back of an asteroid and his first victim, an unsuspecting scientist (Fred Tatasciore) who bravely chases a crash landing only to walk right into the villain's trap. A second to introduce Porky and Daffy's origins as infants raised by a matte painting (except, distractingly, in two specific instances despite already establishing his intentionally static nature as a visual gag) known as Farmer Jim (also Tatasciore). Think of this latter bit of exposition as a reminder of canon for the two characters' friendship and just how often Porky's plans for normalcy are upended by Daffy's inability to control his worst impulses. We even get a "Merry Melodies"-esque montage to drive this dynamic home.

Between that short-within-the-feature and another gorgeously rendered retro-futurist sequence depicting our heroes' first day working at Goodie Gum (thanks to the recruitment by Candi Milo's equally awkward and chaotic Petunia Pig) I really hoped for more turns into disparate aesthetics and references that sadly never came. Once that first day moves from success to disaster (Daffy's curiosity leads him to unwittingly figure out The Invaders plans with the perfect amount of hysteria to ensure no one will ever believe him), Browngardt and company settle into a straightforward narrative of action, suspense, and absurdist comedy. Because it's not enough to just save the day. Porky and Daffy are so unfortunate that saving the day from an external foe often means ruining things badly enough to need saving it again ... from themselves.

Besides a penchant for butt jokes, I really enjoyed the sense of humor that runs throughout. Petunia provides a nice foil to the main duo as her position as romantic interest for Porky and fabricator of Daffy's wild ideas makes it so she proves crucial to keeping them together rather than tearing them apart. They do the latter all by themselves once frustrations grow to a fever pitch and force Porky to undermine Daffy's involvement and Daffy to lose confidence in his instincts. You can't blame this result either considering Daffy too often single-handedly destroys any momentum they have earned. It's only natural that Porky would blow-up and that Daffy would feel so ashamed that he won't want to risk enduring a second helping of steam whistle rage.

Anyone who knows Looney Tunes, however, knows Daffy's idiocy as a secret weapon is as important as its ability to create conflict. Because the more he undermines the realistic nonsense solutions hatched, his unrealistic nonsense ultimately becomes the solution. We're dealing with gum-chewing zombies controlled remotely by The Invader through a telekinetic bond with space goo-infused candy. There's also a not-so-hidden worse danger looming in the shadows and a ruthless house inspector (Laraine Newman's Mrs. Grecht) gleefully preparing to wipe Porky and Daffy's dilapidated house off the map. Put all that together and you need a bit of insanity to go with a closet full of novelty teeth, Brian Adams-backed flashbacks, REM-fueled action. Because being too safe (Porky) or too demented (Daffy) never succeeds. You need a bit of both.

- 7/10

LEILA AND THE WOLVES

(limited release)

Looking into a mirror, Leila (Nabila Zeitouni) sees herself as a grandmother far into the future. She sits with her daughters and granddaughters, asking each who they are and whether they've married and/or had children. It's an image of a woman's patriarchal duty to serve men and something Leila rejects upon her return to reality. That's neither the fantasy she wants nor the future she truly sees for herself. No, it's the fantasy Arab men have been projecting upon her from the day she was born.

Heiny Srour's documentary Leila and the Wolves mixes fictionalizations of true-to-life scenarios with archival footage and dream sequences adding context to each vignette. She gives her Leila character the ability to open windows into the past and share with us the untold tales of Palestinian and Lebanese women throughout the twentieth century. It's a journey that stems from a London exhibit of photographs depicting the freedom fighting of these two people and the choice of its curator (Rafik Ali Ahmad) to only select images of men. "Where are the women?" she asks. "They weren't involved in politics then." is the reply.

Knowing this to be a false, revisionist statement, Leila's glimpses backwards in time place Ahmad into the roles of domineering, traitorous, and conservative men standing in the way of or being duped by women leading their rebellious charge. We witness wives and daughters pouring boiling water onto the heads of British colonialists in Palestine during the 1930s. We witness the clandestine operations to resupply mountain rebels with weapons via wedding ceremonies no one would second guess. There's the fight for women to join the military in both Palestine and Lebanon and the feminist desire to escape the oppressive nature of male counterparts demanding their service to the cause while also denigrating their desire to provide it.

The wolves of the title are therefore not just those holding British, Nazi, and Israeli flags. No, the sharp-toothed predators are just as prevalent within these women's doors as they are outside of them. Brothers and husbands demanding warm dinners even as their sisters and wives worked all day filing down bullets to fit into their guns. Fathers limiting the education of their daughters so that they will marry and give birth to new male soldiers rather than be able to learn, lead, and strategize the fight themselves. There's the struggle between enduring the abuse to serve their people and wondering if it would have been easier to simply stay home. The old guard shakes their heads while the new tightens their fists.

Throughout this timeline jumping history lesson are also scenes of women in full burqas sitting on the beach as though they are the ghosts of each story Leila invokes to share these generational touchstones. We see Leila in her white dress walking through scenes of war—some locations burnt out and destroyed while we hear the sounds and voices that one would imagine used to fill the space in happier times of peace. And for every moment of grief or empowerment lies a scene of violence and death with the British and Israeli armies killing and throwing out Palestinians or adding fuel to the Lebanese sectarian civil war. Some are battles. Others are slaughters.

The result is a powerful document of women's crucial impact to the Arab world during this time of cultural and political upheaval. It ensures their voice won't be silenced or pushed to the sidelines as if they weren't there fighting the entire time. Where European and American sentiment looks to erase the entirety of Arab autonomy and ownership throughout the region or Arab men look to pretend they fought to preserve it all themselves, Srour—by way of Leila—helps to set the record straight.

- 8/10

THE WORLD WILL TREMBLE

(limited release)

Written in 1942, the Grojanowski Report became the first eye-witness account of the Holocaust. Smuggled out of Poland to be broadcast in London, the world finally learned that the Nazis were building extermination camps to commit genocide. Grojanowski was the pseudonym of Szlawek Ber Winer who escaped the Chełmno "labor" camp with Michał Podchlebnik and fled to Grabów, not long before its own people would be gassed, in search of a rabbi who was said to have connections with the underground. Already forced to bury their own families, these two prisoners sought to do all they could to ensure the truth might spare the families of others.

Written and directed by Lior Geller, The World Will Tremble tells their story in faux "real-time" from the moment Wolf (Charlie MacGechan) puts his plan in motion until Rabbi Schulman (Anton Lesser) speaks the title's words to trigger a cut to black. Szlawek (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) initially tries to stop Wolf from carrying out his plan of cutting through the canvas side of their transportation truck and running along the riverbank to Grabów. He knows their survival is tenuous and talk of the Russians being on their way is a nice fantasy to cling to so as not to volunteer his head to the chopping block. But as Wolf explains, they're all dead already. So, there's really nothing to lose.

It's a suspense-filled journey that pulls zero punches as far as the abuse endured at the hands of Nazi officers from Szlawek being unable to reclaim his lost shoe before being forced to dig a new grave to Lange (David Kross) donning a smile while assuring his camp's latest batch of Jewish prisoners would "suffer no more" to Nazis giving Szlawek, Michał (Jeremy Neumark Jones), Wolf, and others glass bottles to hold above their heads for target practice. We witness the same lies and torture they do as they keep their heads down to hopefully get through the day and commence their escape that night. We suffer their tragic fates as night turns back to day and their quartet is cut in half. And even when they do flee, it will take a mix of luck, courage, and wits to reach their destination.

I'll be the first to say that Geller is doing a lot of sensory manipulation via Erez Koskas' soaring score and Ivan Vatsov's lingering close-ups, but I wouldn't lie and say it's not effective. Sure, some will reject it and thus the film as a whole, but I think doing so would be a disservice to the narrative structure and performances driving through its clichéd presentation to truly deliver the gut-punch nightmare these characters suffer en route to exposing how the Nazis' deeds were not just your normal "product of war." Jackson-Cohen, Jones, and MacGechan are phenomenal. We sense their love and empathy through each exchange as well as their increasing sense of emboldenment to risk what little time they might have left and attempt changing the course of history.

It's a harrowing experience, like pretty much every film depicting the Holocaust, full of extreme displays of pure evil. The dynamic between Nazis and prisoners is heightened by the unapologetic laughter and cruelty of the former. Kross, Tim Bergmann, and others dig into the psychopathy of their roles to horrific effect, and, as a result, find how their desire to demean and torment their captives can also be used against them. It's a fact that's not lost on Szlawek. He possesses no illusion of superiority or safety, so even those trying to help him and Michał are met with a healthy dose of caution and skepticism. They can't afford to trust anyone until that person proves their worth. One wrong word or expression could mean a bullet to the head.

The quick pace and fluid passing of time is the best feature of The World Will Tremble because this escape becomes less about the characters than the act itself. That's what sets it apart from the more action-centered Defiance or other such tales of escape and survival. Yes, we still care deeply for Szlawek and Michał, but it's through their grief and perseverance rather than our hope for their salvation. That's not their goal. Nor is it the film's goal. The mission here is to tell the world what's happening regardless of whether that's accomplished by them orating the truth or having a written account be found on their corpse. The information is key with Szlawek and Michał serving as its messengers. Everything they sacrifice proves that it will always be more important than their lives.

And I'd once again be remiss not to mention context with current events when talking about a film depicting the Holocaust. Geller's decision to focus on the act of exposing what the world doesn't yet know really helps explain why so many people still refuse to call what Israel is now doing to Palestine as genocide. Hitler operated in secrecy by leading lambs to slaughter in ways that couldn't be combated because no one knew what was happening until it was too late. Israel is conversely decimating Palestinian lives, culture, and land in broad daylight. By conducting their genocide in the open, they allow their victims a means to fight back and be labeled "terrorists" in the process. Witnesses can therefore lie to themselves and accept the propaganda explaining away the death toll as a cost of "war." Someone would stop them if it wasn't, right?

- 8/10

Cinematic F-Bombs:

This week saw DON’T LOOK BACK (1967), of the earliest cinematic uses of the word (8 instances in a single scene), added to the archive (cinematicfbombs.com).

Bob Dylan dropping an f-bomb in Don’t Look Back.

New Releases This Week:

(Review links where applicable)

Opening Buffalo-area theaters 3/14/25 -

• The 4 Rascals at Regal Galleria

• Black Bag at North Park Theatre; Dipson Amherst, Flix, Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge, Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria, Quaker

• Court - State Vs. A Nobody at Regal Elmwood

• The Day the Earth Blew Up at Dipson Flix, Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge, Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria, Quaker

  Thoughts are above.

• Dilruba at Regal Elmwood, Transit

• The Last Supper at Dipson Flix, Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge; Regal Transit, Quaker

• Mithde at Regal Elmwood

• Novocaine at Dipson Flix, Capitol; AMC Maple Ridge, Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria, Quaker

• Opus at Dipson Flix, Capitol; AMC Market Arcade; Regal Elmwood, Transit, Galleria, Quaker

• Perusu at Regal Elmwood

Streaming from 3/14/25 -

• The Electric State – Netflix on 3/14

• Anora – Hulu on 3/17

  “It's a wild ride through Brooklyn that entertains and thrills in equal measure. Madison is truly a force of nature when it comes to standing her ground—even if her footing simply can't compete with that of those pushing her around.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.

• Exhibiting Forgiveness – Hulu on 3/18

  “That's where the difference between effective and transcendent lies—a filmmaker putting truth ahead of convenience in a way that allows the characters to accept the past without fear or denial. It happened and it mattered, but it's no longer in control.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.

• The Outrun – Netflix on 3/18

  “That third act is probably the slowest, but it's also the most emotionally resonant. And you can't go wrong when Ronan is delivering one of her most three-dimensional performances amidst those ebbs and flows.” – Full thoughts at HHYS.

• The Twister: Caught in the Storm – Netflix on 3/19

• Den of Thieves 2: Pantera – Netflix on 3/20

• O’dessa – Hulu on 3/20

• Tyler Perry’s Duplicity – Prime on 3/20

Now on VOD/Digital HD -

• Eat the Night (3/11)

• Every Little Thing (3/11)

• I’m Still Here (3/11)

  “And it all hinges on Torres being able to pull off the internal emotional struggle to keep moving forward no matter what she discovers. Eunice is a woman who cannot afford to break.” – Full thoughts at jaredmobarak.com.

• Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (3/11)

• Parthenope (3/11)

• Silent Zone (3/11)

• Borderline (3/14)

• High Rollers (3/14)

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