Susan Granger – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

THE OTHER BENNET SISTER – Review by Susan Granger

October 14, 2026October 18, 2026 Susan Granger BritBox, Ella Bruccoleri, jane austen, Pride and Prejudice, Richard E. Grant, Ruth Jones, The Other Bennet Sister

Jane Austen aficionados have devoted so much time to “Pride and Prejudice” characters Elizabeth and Darcy that it may come as a surprise that there’s The Other Bennet Sister, a new BritBox series heralded as a ‘sleeper sensation.’ the often-overlooked middle sister, Mary Bennet (Ella Bruccoleri), is a ‘late bloomer.’ According to her hypercritical mother (Ruth Jones) and apathetic father (Richard E. Grant), among the five ‘eligible’ Bennet daughters, she’s a dismal disappointment – not quick-witted nor beautiful, not energetic nor good at games. Based on Janice Hadlow’s 2020 novel, adapted by Sarah Quintrell, this rich, re-imagined spinoff is an archetypal romantic period drama, exploring the “marriage or misery” dilemma faced by women in that patriarchal period.

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VERITY – Review by Susan Granger

October 8, 2026October 10, 2026 Susan Granger Anne Hathaway, Colleen Hoover, Dakota Johnson, Irina Dvorovenko, josh hartnett, Nick Antosca, Verity

Inspired by Colleen Hoover’s 2018 bestseller, Verity is an erotic psychological thriller, propelled by the screen power of Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, Josh Hartnett and a stunning woodland house in Armonk, New York. The convoluted story begins as struggling, insecure author Lowen Ashleigh is summoned to Hachette Publishers in mid-town Manhattan. En route, a horrific car accident involving a bike messenger leaves Lowen blood-splattered. A hunky passer-by helps her clean up in a nearby coffee-shop restroom, giving her his white shirt so she can look presentable at the upcoming meeting.

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DIGGER – Review by Susan Granger

October 8, 2026October 9, 2026 Susan Granger Alejandro G. Inarritu, Digger, Emmanuel Lubezki, jesse plemons, John Goodman, Riz ahmed, Sandra Hüller, tom cruise

Tom Cruise relishes risk-taking – hanging from airplanes, scaling skyscrapers, sprinting across rooftops and performing other death-defying stunts. Some risks pay off – others don’t. His strange, satirical black comedy Digger falls in the latter category – but it’s not his fault. Utilizing an innovative, character-driven narrative, Digger evokes memories of Dr. Strangelove (1964) and Megalopolis (2024), exploring the complexity of corporate power and societal collapse.

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ANNA PIGEON – Review by Susan Granger

October 8, 2026October 9, 2026 Susan Granger Anna Pigeon, Kim Coates, Lea Thompson, Morwyn Brebner, Nevada Barr, Ronnie Rowe, Tracy Spiridikos, Tricia Helfer, USA Network

Based on Nevada Barr’s 19 best-selling mysteries, created by showrunner Morwyn Brebner and directed by Back to the Future actress Lea Thompson, the procedural crime drama series has adventurous detective Anna Pigeon investigating the demise of a fellow ranger, unearthing a bank robbery ‘cold case’ and finding a ‘missing’ wife and mother. But it’s a bit flimsy, formulaic and predictable.

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HEART OF THE BEAST – Review by Susan Granger

September 29, 2026October 3, 2026 Susan Granger brad pitt, Cameron Alexander, David Ayer, heart of the beast, J.K. Simmons

Symptoms of PTSD – Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – permeate Heart of the Beast, a treacherous survival story about a military veteran and his combat dog in Alaska’s wilderness. Yet it’s also a love story about the devotion between a man and his loyal canine companion, joining classics like Rin Tin Tin, Old Yeller and Lassie.

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NUMB – Review by Susan Granger

September 29, 2026 Susan Granger Aleka Paunovic, Andre Harden, Jamie Bamber, Jason R. Goode, Marie Avgeropoulos, numb, sony home entertainment, Stefanie von Pfetten

Subtitled – “Greed knows no limits” – all four of its leading characters are thoroughly dislikeable and so selfish that you really don’t care who survives the ‘lost in the wilderness’ ordeal. Secretive siblings Lee and Cheryl are a study in contrasts. For a recently released ex-con, he’s deceptively sensitive and friendly, while she’s evasive and openly hostile.

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PRACTICAL MAGIC 2 – Review by Susan Granger

September 21, 2026September 20, 2026 Susan Granger Akiva Goldsman, dianne wiest, joey king, Maisie Williams, nicole kidman, Practical Magic 2, sandra bullock, Stockard Channing, susanne bier, Xolo Mariduefia

Practical Magic 2 begins with “I’m sure you’ve heard tell of the Owens sisters,” reminding viewers of the spellbinding 1998 campy fantasy about a Massachusetts family of witches. Nearly three decades later, widowed Sally Owens has two grown daughters – Kylie and Antonia – who are totally unaware of their mystical. matrilineal curse: Any Owens woman who falls in love condemns that person to an early death. When heartsick Kylie discovers the mysterious ‘Book of the Raven’ and learns the truth about the tortured legacy that permeates her bloodline, she takes off for the Owens’ ancestral home in England, determined to break the ancient curse once and for all.

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MAYDAY – Review by Susan Granger

September 18, 2026September 20, 2026 Susan Granger Apple TV+, John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, kenneth Branagh, Marien Dorocinski, Mayday, Ryan Reynolds

Mayday premiered on Apple TV earlier this month and has already become one of the ‘most watched’ action/buddy comedies of the season. Set in 1987, Ryan Reynolds stars as cocky U.S. Navy pilot Troy ‘Assassin’ Kelly who is forced to eject from his top-secret Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spy plane to avoid a deadly collision over the Siberian forest during the last days of the Cold War. Wounded and stranded behind the Iron Curtain, he’s befriended by Kenneth Branagh, playing Nikolai ‘Nik’ Ustinov, an eccentric ex-KGB officer who is obsessed with American pop culture and dreams of defecting with his estranged daughter Anna (Maria Bakalova).

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COYOTE VS ACME – Review by Susan Granger

September 3, 2026September 3, 2026 Susan Granger animation, Coyote vs. Acme, Dave Green, James Gunn, Jeremy Slater, John Cena, Ketchup Entertainment, looney tunes, Road Runner, samy burch, Warner Bros., Warner Bros. Discovery, Wile E. Coyote, Will Forte

Coyote vs. Acme is a delightful late summer surprise. This live-action/animated misadventure originated in Ian Frazier’s 1990 humorous anti-corporate New Yorker satire, a mock court case in which Looney Tunes’ resilient Wile E. Coyote sues the Acme Corporation for all the defective mail-order products (rocket-propelled roller skates, jet-boosted pogo stick) that have malfunctioned as he relentlessly chased the Road Runner

Reviews

THE SECRET WOMAN – Review by Susan Granger

September 3, 2026September 6, 2026 Susan Granger Barbara Topsøe-Rothenborg, claes bang, danish films, Natalie Wolfsberg Madueno, netflix, Pal Sverre Hagen, The Secret Woman, thriller

Netflix’s intriguing Danish psychological thriller The Secret Woman introduces a lady with amnesia who learns that she’s not only a missing heiress but also married and the mother of a young son. The story begins in Denmark as an adult female is climbing over the railing of a huge bridge with someone in pursuit; terrified, she jumps off, just as a cargo ship passes below. Cut to: Louise Andersen who runs a small café on the idyllic Norwegian island of Hidra with her novelist fiancé Joachim. Their peaceful life is shattered when a stranger appears, insisting that her real name is Helene, not Louise.

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