MOVIE OF THE WEEK July 17, 2026: THE KIDNAPPING OF ARABELLA

Quirky and poignant, Italian writer/director Carolina Cavalli’s The Kidnapping of Arabella tells the story of a young woman named Holly, whose grief and childhood pain conspire to leave her believing that the space-time continuum has somehow brought her face to face with a younger version of herself. As she figures out what to do with that unlikely opportunity, she must ultimately face the reality she’d rather ignore. As the movie begins, Holly, who studies physics and is mourning the loss of her mother, is begrudgingly working at an ice rink, where she opts to blame small holes in the fabric of the universe for unusual moments like randomly finding a tooth on the ice. When, after scamming/bullying a fast-food worker into giving her a free order of fries, Holly encounters a feisty 8-year-old girl in the parking lot, she becomes convinced that the child is, in fact, her younger self, brought to her to give her a second chance at making better life choices. So when the girl offers to pay Holly for a ride to “anywhere but here,” they drive off together.

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THE KIDNAPPING OF ARABELLA – Review by Cate Marquis

Italian writer/director Carolina Cavalli’s The Kidnapping of Arabella is a delightful, creative film that could be called an absurdist comedy but it is more complicated than that. It is an intriguing, marvelously-acted mix of magical realism and psychological drama wrapped up in an absurdist buddy road trip. It all starts with Arabella, a precocious 8-year-old who is a holy terror to her father, a successful but mournful novelist Orest,, and a chance meeting with a sad, deluded (but very smart) young woman named Holly outside a fast food joint called Taco King. What happens isn’t really a kidnapping, more an escape engineered by clever Arabella, an “assisted” running away in which Arabella essentially tricks mentally-fragile Holly into taking her along, by playing along with a delusion that the little girl is a younger version of Holly herself, magically transported back from the past. This fantastical idea launches the pair on a great adventure across northeastern Italy.

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WISH – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

Wishes are powerful—and sharing them with others can help them come true.

Such is the message of Wish, the latest musical comedy from Walt Disney Animation Studios. Wishes are stock in trade for Disney, with songs about how “a dream is a wish your heart makes” and, of course, “when you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.” So centering a story about a kingdom of wishes seems very on-brand. Wish is tough to dislike. Lively and charming, Wish is a sweet cocktail of catchy songs, amusing humor, and especially stellar voice performances from Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose, Alan Tudyk, and Chris Pine. Who knew the onetime Captain Kirk could sing?

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DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES – Review by Susan Granger

Confession: I’ve never played Dungeons & Dragons, so I had to learn a bit about the classic fantasy role-playing game before watching the movie. If you’re also a newbie, I’d advise you do the same. Scripted by co-directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, along with Michael Gilio, it’s based on the complex, immersive game created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson in 1974, popularly known as D&D which – in turn – has influenced subsequent game systems involving ‘let’s pretend’ and improvisation. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is a silly, swaggering, swashbuckling adventure.

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DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has ample dungeons, honor, and dragons, along with tremendous fun. From an ensemble cast playing characters with clear traits and motivations to a story filled with clever sequences and close escapes, it’s a rousing adventure that also scores points for unexpected heart. Based on the long-running fantasy tabletop game, it leans heavily on humor without dissolving into farce and is an enjoyable romp.

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THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY HOLIDAY SPECIAL – Review by Susan Granger

An animated flashback that shows how, years ago, Yondu (Michael Rooker) ruined Christmas for young Peter Quill by trashing his tree, throwing out his gifts and scolding him for his sentimentality. Listening to this recollection in outer space and realizing how much now-grown Peter – a.k.a. Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) – misses Earth’s holiday customs and traditions, his Guardian friends, Mantis (Pom Klementieff) and Drax (Dave Bautista), embark on a quest to find him the perfect Christmas gift.

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ALL THE OLD KNIVES – Review by Diane Carson

The setup for All the Old Knives works well. After Chechen terrorist Ilyas Shushani’s capture, he reveals that a CIA mole in their Vienna station contributed to the death of one hundred passengers, crew, and hijackers eight years earlier. This alarming news prompts Chief Victor Wallinger (Laurence Fishburne) to reopen this Flight 127 case. For those of us who embrace the cloak-and-dagger genre, it’s a worthy entry.

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