‘Black Widow’ Is About Yelena, Not Natasha
"Black Widow" has strong female characters but sidelines its title character and serves as a launchpad for her successor, Florence Pugh's Yelena.

Struggling actor John Person agrees to drive a blue suitcase from Los Angeles to the small town of Baker, Calif., and hand it over to a mysterious cowboy in return for having his credit card debt of $27,000 paid off. Upon his arrival, John can't find the cowboy but receives an ominously head-shaped package he's supposed to hang onto. While waiting, John gets close to Ruthie, whose psychotic boyfriend, Randy, keeps threatening to kill him.
"Black Widow" has strong female characters but sidelines its title character and serves as a launchpad for her successor, Florence Pugh's Yelena.
As a huge fan of Sean Baker’s Tangerine, The Florida Project, and Red Rocket, I’ve wanted to watch Anora since before it even was released. But life got in the way, my watchlist grew, and honestly, the fact that it was marketed as a romantic comedy put me off. Even with all the critical praise and the five Academy Awards it won last year, I just kept postponing it indefinitely.
The French-born director Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s strategic choice to entrust the interpretation of a conventional, feminine character to a non-binary actor pays off: Corrin’s Lady Chatterley is awkward, edgy, and uninhibited at the same time.
This surprisingly clever romantic comedy perfectly balances genuine heart with wild reality television chaos. It is an uplifting and funny reminder that second chances and real community can show up exactly when you stop looking for them.
"The Mitchells vs. The Machines" captures the eternal struggle between kids who want to pursue the arts and their practical parents who think they'll fail.