Film

The Substance, a new body horror thriller starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid, examines the harsh reality of ageism in Hollywood and societal norms of beauty that devalue older women.

Moore is Elisabeth Sparkle, a fading star who feels the weight of rejection after her boss Harvey—played by Quaid–replaces her with a younger face as the host of her long-running fitness show “Sparkle Your Life.”  With her dreams crumbling, Elisabeth turns to a black-market treatment promising youth and vitality. The harrowing procedure results in a clone named Sue (Qualley)—a vibrant and stunning version of the aging actress. The catch is that they must share an existence, alternating a weekly schedule while their other half is unconscious. Soon tension builds as Elisabeth seems to wither away into obscurity as Sue basks in her newfound fame. But how will another horrifying twist of fate alter their course?

The Substance premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and launched in U.S. theaters in September. Helmed by French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat (Revenge), the film morphed out of Fargeat’s own experiences with aging, feeling that it would be “the end of her life” because she wouldn’t be valued as a young, attractive woman anymore. She created the film to address the “violence and absurdity” of these feelings, which she felt were powerful and vivid for many aging women.

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Writer-director Hallie Meyers-Shyer (Home Again) has crafted an earnest and poignant drama about the hardest job in the world — being a good parent. Tackling the titular role is the always charming Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) as Andy Goodrich, a busy art dealer and also a father of three. When his second wife calls to tell him that she’s checked herself into rehab for the next ninety days, Andy begs his adult daughter Grace from his first marriage, played by Mila Kunis (Luckiest Girl Alive), to watch the twins while he tries to breathe life back into his dying art gallery. About to become a parent herself, Grace begrudgingly agrees. But the more Grace watches her father race home to be with the kids, go to all their parent-teacher conferences, and read them their favorite bedtime stories, the more Grace sees a wonderfully doting father emerge that she never had growing up because he was never there to see her grow up. What follows is an emotional journey between father and daughter as they revisit old memories and attempt to heal old scars. With gut wrenching performances by cast mates Andie MacDowell (The Way Home), Laura Benanti (Life & Beth), Kevin Pollak (The Neighborhood), Poorna Jagannathan (Wolfs), Michael Urie (Maestro), and Vivien Lyra Blair (The Boogeyman), Goodrich promises a good cry.

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For his latest flick, writer-director Jon Watts (The Old Man) has given us a buddy comedy starring our most favorite buddies. The film drops us into a rendezvous gone awry for a district attorney whose career seems all but over as she stares at a dead body lying on her hotel room floor. So she calls an emergency number that summons a fixer trained in the art of discretion, played by the incomparable George Clooney (IF). But in the middle of his masterful body bagging, there’s a knock at the door. Another fixer chosen by hotel management — and this man’s rival, played by the equally bad ass Brad Pitt (Babylon). These lone wolves are forced to work together to clean up this mess, which only gets messier when their dead body wakes up in the trunk of their car. This kid’s troubles lead them to bags of heroin, and that’s when the bullets fly, and the chase is on. The action moves fast and gets flashy, but the true fun of this film comes from watching Clooney and Pitt one-up each other with their years of undeniable chemistry. With a stellar cast that also features Amy Ryan (Sugar), Austin Abrams (Penelope), Poorna Jagannathan (The Out-Laws), Richard Kind (Evil), and Zlatko Buric (Rumours), Wolfs delivers both the bark and bite.

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Based on Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø’s short story “The Jealousy Man,” Killer Heat follows twin brothers on a Greek island who become embroiled in a violent love triangle. The “Jealousy Man” in the literary title refers to a detective, Nick Bali, who is hired to investigate the suspected crime.

The Amazon Prime thriller stars Richard Madden (Game of Thrones, Bodyguard), Shailene Woodley (Divergent), and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Dark Knight Rises, Inception).

Madden plays both Elias Vardakis and his twin brother, Leo, who dies in what is supposedly a rock-climbing accident. The wealthy Vardakis family control the island and the police who refuse to look into Leo’s death. However, Elias’ wife, Penelope, believes that something sinister has happened to her brother-in-law, so she hires a private detective, played by Gordon-Levitt to investigate the death. Soon relationship secrets and scandals are unearthed, including about Bali’s own not-so-clean past.

Gordon-Levitt praised Madden’s skills at playing two complex characters. “And he’s playing this really diabolical — two guys, and both of them in different ways are pretty damaged, nasty character,” he told People magazine about his co-star. “And Richard himself is kind of a teddy bear, a real sweetheart.”

Killer Heat is currently streaming on Prime Video.

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