A King-sized miniseries that contains a clown named Pennywise highlights our checklist of what to observe this week, together with Ethan Hawke’s star flip as a Broadway legend and a Kelly Reichardt artwork heist film, “The Mastermind.”
Right here is our roundup.
“It: Welcome to Derry”: HBO’s long-gestating prequel to “It” and “It Chapter Two,” primarily based on Stephen King’s mammoth 1986 novel, makes for very best Halloween viewing. The eight-part collection (5 episodes of which had been made out there for overview) inflicts a critical case of the heebie-jeebies and is mostly good, regardless of a few glitches, and expands upon King’s bloody commentary in regards to the energy and nature of worry and the way it can cripple and manifest into one thing supremely evil.
Developed by “It” filmmaking alums Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs together with Fuchs and Brad Caleb Kane as its co-showrunners, “Welcome to Derry” is aware of the King canon ever so properly and that’s its biggest asset, taunting followers to on an Easter Egg-filled chase by King’s macabre creativeness.
It successfully re-creates the surging hysteria taking part in out within the small Maine city of Derry — one in every of King’s favourite haunts — throughout the ‘60s with the omnipresent menace posed by the Chilly Battle and the Cuban Missile disaster. Everyone seems to be on tenterhooks and making ready for one thing depraved to come back and it does, whereas blame will get positioned on anybody away from the white-picket-fence crowd.
These potent parts give “Welcome to Derry” a pointy edge whereas additionally giving us a King staple: a batch of intrepid but weak pre-teens — all clown bait for Pennywise (huge tooth and all, he seems, in fact) — who confront their bullies and fears and have horrific encounters of the grotesque variety.
It’s ghoulish enjoyable to see all of it play out, however “Welcome to Derry’s” ambition typically outstrips its execution. The particular results can look corny and the story overloads us with too many characters. However every are given King-sized personalities, equivalent to a beginner Black household that will get fixed stares from neighbors — a by-the-book airman Leroy Hanlon (Jovan Adepo ), his activist, take-charge spouse Charlotte (Taylour Paige) and their science-loving son Will (Blake Cameron James).
Not lengthy after they transfer in, every realizes the city is festering with secrets and techniques pointing to a legacy of evil which rears its ugly head in so-called protected areas — a tub drain, a household automobile, a neon-lit grocery retailer (the movie’s finest set piece) and so forth.
You don’t need to be a King fan to take pleasure in this, however it helps. What his huge viewers will recognize is getting reacquainted with MVP memorable characters — together with Invoice Halloran from “The Shining” — whereas revisiting the Shawshank jail and the Juniper Hill Asylum once more.
It’s that love and respect for King’s decades-long literary contributions, together with some really terrifying bits, that make “Derry” a particular deal with and an oh-so creepy addition to King’s storied profession — on movie and in novels. Particulars: 3 stars; first episode drops at 9 p.m. Oct. 26 — and it’s a doozy — with a brand new episode each Sunday by Dec. 14.
“Blue Moon”: Ethan Hawke transforms his tall self into proficient however bitter and boozed-up Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart in Richard Linklater’s chamber piece, a treasure chest crammed with zippy traces all delivered by a priceless forged. Make no mistake, that is Hawke’s magic hour, portraying a inventive sort who is usually his personal worst enemy. The movie facilities on an uneasy night within the lifetime of Hart, and begins with him ponying as much as a well-liked Broadway hang-out during which he’s greeted with the all too acquainted face of bartender Eddie (Bobby Cannavale, effortlessly real within the half). Hart begins nursing a bunch of drinks as we be taught his fragile ego is taking an enormous hit over the raves greeting a brand new musical titled “Oklahoma!,” created by his onetime accomplice Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott). There’s greater than only a whiff of a desperation to Hart’s fixation on Rodgers as he snidely opines about his ex-partner’s smashing success — to not his face, in fact — at a post-show social gathering at New York restaurant/bar hotspot Sardi’s. He’s considerably distracted when the entrancing Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley) — his buddy and infinite infatuation — seems. Hart, who’s homosexual, has carried fairly the torch for the unattainable Elizabeth whose eyes shine ever so brightly when she meets alternative itself within the type of Rodgers. Whereas “Blue Moon” will certainly be most loved by theater youngsters, each then and now, the juicy screenplay from Robert Kaplow and performances, primarily Hawke’s, give everybody one thing to savor and keep in mind. Particulars: 3 stars; opens Oct. 24 in theaters.
“The Mastermind”: In her observant, character-driven indie movies, Kelly Reichardt (“First Cow,” “Showing Up”) brings a painterly eye to fill out her canvas with wealthy particulars — the clothes, the artwork within the foreground and background, an indication, and so forth, all of which result in a vibrant portrait of a time, a spot, a personality. With “The Mastermind,” starring Josh O’Connor in one other chic efficiency, she manages to use a recent coat of paint to the artwork heist film. It’s a style that might appear to be relatively one-note, however “The Mastermind” sounds many notes. With its leisurely tempo — a Reichardt trademark — “Mastermind” fuses Reichardt’s ardour for the artwork world along with her love of nonconformist lead characters. It’s an incisive Nineteen Seventies-set character examine about rudderless Massachusetts native J.B. (O’Connor). He’s married and has two youngsters — however has one hell of a time determining what to do together with his life, to the dismay of everybody, particularly his dad, who’s a choose. As extra folks round his age take umbrage, J.B. comes up with a rebellious plan and it begins by his filching a small figurine on the Framingham Museum of Artwork. From there, he devises a grander plan, stealing 4 items of Arthur Dove art work. However as with a lot of what J.B. aspires to do, it’s not totally properly thought-out and is way from foolproof. “The Mastermind” rejiggers how heist films inform their story and is intent on displaying the foibles of a misguided, clueless soul. Reichardt once more fingers a steady of nice actors — Gaby Hoffmann, John Magaro, Invoice Camp, Hope Davis — attention-grabbing supporting characters. However that is O’Connor’s movie and he as soon as once more provides a masterful efficiency in a movie that whereas not a masterpiece is a putting piece of artwork. Particulars: 3½ stars; opens Oct. 24 in theaters.
“Dream Eater”: Indie horror movies shot on a budget and counting on jittery hand-held camerawork would possibly properly be turning passe, however this Eli Roth-backed distant rental home within the snowy Minnesota woods stakes a declare that there’s nonetheless life available on this overworked found-footage style. On this efficient, no-nonsense chiller, a pair – one with an escalating type of parasomnia (a sleep disturbance that results in fugue-like sleep strolling) – search and don’t get some R&R collectively and wind up arguing extra and getting extra agitated as freaky issues begin to occur. Directed and written by Jay Drakulic (who stars as boyfriend Alex) Mallory Drumm (as girlfriend Mallory) and Alex Lee Williams, “Dream Eater” hardly rewrites the discovered footage ebook, however it does know inform an excellent and fast little campfire story that options an ominous whistle that gave me a chill or two. Particulars: 2½ stars; opens Oct. 24 in choose theaters.
“The Monster of Florence”: One in every of Italy’s most infamous serial killer circumstances turns right into a surprising, riveting four-part Netflix collection that takes one sudden growth after one other and shuffles extra suspects than an Agatha Christie thriller. However the Grand Dame of the thriller novel wouldn’t have dreamt up such a lurid and disturbing crime. Stefano Sollima (finest identified for the “Suburra” movie and TV collection) juggles household loyalties and secrets and techniques, sexual violence, repressed sexuality, machismo and way more maybe whereas exploring a killing spree that ran from 1968 to 1985. All the eight double murders had been {couples} having intercourse in automobiles. The forged is nice however it’s the shock-a-minute story that makes this difficult to shake off. Particulars: 3 stars; now out there on Netflix.
“The Perfect Neighbor”: Geeta Gandbhir’s intestine punch of a documentary culls police-cam footage to chronologically chart a 2022 Florida standoff between a white neighbor with deteriorating sanity and a single Black mother with kids. The gun-owning Susan Lorincz isolates and relentlessly harasses and targets Ajike Owens’ household, calling police numerous instances about such infractions as youngsters taking part in on the garden and them simply being youngsters. Ganbhir’s heartbreaking movie is all of the extra highly effective for letting the footage illustrate the way it snowballed into one thing much more. It’s a tricky however necessary watch that sounds the alarm on a lot of points – racism, gun possession and psychological well being, to call a number of. Particulars: 3½ stars; out there on Netflix)
Initially Printed: October 23, 2025 at 2:40 PM PDT
