THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 – Review by Susan Kamyab

Twenty years later Andy is an awarding winning journalist, who has just been let go from her publication, along with her fellow journalism colleges. She receives a life-changing phone call to return to Runway and become the magazine’s features editor in hopes of saving the company from financial struggles and the decline of print journalism. Things have changed since the last time Andy was here. These days, the things Miranda used to say to her employees are not appropriate anymore and she even has to hang her own coat. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is a luxurious theatrical joy.

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THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA 2 – Review by Leslie Combemale

The budget for The Devil Wears Prada 2 was significantly higher than the original 2006 film. Meryl Streep, beloved for her love-to-hate character Miranda Priestly, is quoted as saying, “on this one honey, they spent the money”. She’s right. Every dime shows up onscreen. From the opulent, sophisticated locations and sets to the gorgeous costumes and haut couture designs worn by a parade of star cameos, TDWP2 is serving SERVINGGG LEWKS. The eye candy is everywhere. Fans of the original will love this film for that alone, but they’ll also get a long awaited reintroduction to Miranda Priestly (La Streep), her ever-under appreciated right hand man Nigel Kipling (Stanley Tucci) and her erstwhile nemeses Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) and Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt).

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VIOLET (TIFF2021) – Review by Leslie Combemale

What’s the worst that can happen? That’s not a question the voices inside your head will likely answer, because doing so might end the self criticism, judgment, and worry that play like a tape loop in your brain. That isn’t something studio executive Violet Calder (Olivia Munn) has figured out in the film Violet, from actor Justine Bateman in her first narrative feature as writer/directed.

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VIOLET (TIFF2021) – Review by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas

Violet is a film about toxic relationships, not just with others, but – first and foremost – with ourselves. It makes literal the internal struggles so many of us face on a daily basis: how much do we share? Who do we trust? How do we change our lives? Violet uses the codes and conventions of cinema and weaves them into Justine Bateman’s own strikingly creative approach to filmmaking to address the tricky representational arena of self-sabotage, as the character is pushed and pulled with exhausting frequency between what she feels, what she does, and what the cruel, infantalizing voice in her head tells her about herself. Violet is a film about struggle, about fighting back and taking control, but the way that Bateman brings this internal universe to life makes it not only one of the most memorable films at TIFF this year.

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MOSQUITO COAST – Review by Susan Granger

Inspired by Paul Theroux’ 1981 novel, this seven-episode adventure/drama/thriller series revolves around idealistic inventor Allie Fox who goes on the run with his wife Margot, rebellious teenage daughter Dina and middle-school-age son Charlie when their house in Stockton, California, comes under bank foreclosure.

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AWFJ Movie of the Week, October 3 – October 7: THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

Paula Hawkins’s runaway successful novel The Girl on the Train is part of a new genre called ‘Mom Noir’, along with Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and a number of other titles. The numbers are always touted when talking about such literary phenomena. What is less celebrated is the quality of the books themselves. Opening Oct. 7, AWFJ’s Movie of the Week is The Girl on the Train, Read on…

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