ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

nicole kidman

Reviews 

PRACTICAL MAGIC 2 – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger , , , , , , , , ,

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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News 

WEEK IN WOMEN: Fanning, Pfeiffer & Kidman land MARGO’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES at Apple TV – Brandy McDonnell reports

Brandy McDonnell , , , , , ,

Starring and executive produced by Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee Elle Fanning and Academy Award and Emmy nominee Michelle Pfeiffer, the highly anticipated series Margo’s Got Money Troubles, is coming to Apple TV in April. Margo’s Got Money Troubles is billed as a bold, heartwarming and comedic family drama following recent college dropout and aspiring writer, Margo (Fanning), the daughter of an ex-Hooter’s waitress (Pfeiffer) and ex-pro wrestler (Offerman), as she’s forced to make her way with a new baby, a mounting pile of bills and a dwindling amount of ways to pay them.

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Festivals Reviews 

MARGO’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES (SXSW 2026) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

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After immersing in intrigue with Nine Perfect Strangers and courtroom mystery with Presumed Innocent and The Lincoln Lawyer, prolific showrunner David E. Kelley dives into dramedy with Margo’s Got Money Troubles. Yet despite its all-star cast, this Apple TV series about a pregnant college dropout who turns to OnlyFans skates along the surface, with broad strokes instead of satisfying character development. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Rufi Thorpe, Margo’s Got Money Troubles might follow the tone of its source material, but the end result feels like an online profile, revealing only so much instead of proving more introspective.

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Reviews 

HOLLAND – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

Valerie Kalfrin , , , , , ,

Nicole Kidman has, of late, become known for playing women whose meticulous life hides secrets, from 2024’s Babygirl to the TV series The Perfect Couple, the Amazon Prime film Holland again explores what’s below the surface but in a way that’s more half-baked than satisfying. Set circa the early 1990s in Holland, Michigan )a real-life town with a proud Dutch heritage, authentic windmill, tulip festival, and Klompen dancing), the film teases a lot before tipping its hand, sometimes in frustrating fashion. While it builds some tension, by the closing credits, it feels like a field of tulips before spring: waiting for something to bloom.

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Reviews 

BABYGIRL – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger , , , ,

I really don’t know how to review Babygirl, a senseless study of a woman who –- after 19 years of marriage – has never admitted to her husband that she cannot orgasm without kinky S&M role-playing, which is odd since he’s a theater director. Reminiscent of erotic thrillers like 9 ½ Weeks, Fifty Shade of Gray and Basic Instinct, Babygirl is all about sex and power. As controlling tech C.E.O. Romy Mathis (Nicole Kidman) is walking to work in Manhattan one morning, she’s sexually aroused by the sight of a young man calming a ferocious dog, which is obviously a metaphor about the wild, untamed beast within us.

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Reviews 

BABYGIRL – Review by Diane Carson

Diane Carson , , , ,

As she proves again in writer/director Halina Reijn’s Babygirl, Nicole Kidman throws herself convincingly and impressively into her performances. Indeed, she has already won awards for this role and has received additional nominations. However, those wanting satisfying, analytical psychological insight will have to look elsewhere, for Babygirl wallows in soft-porn preoccupation from the first image to the last. The story is simple. Strong-willed, straight-talking CEO of the New York robotic firm Tensile, Romy (Kidman) feels an irresistible attraction to a new, twentyish intern Samuel. Romy’s husband (Antonio Banderas in a one-dimensional role) loves Romy but, unbeknownst to him and despite his efforts, cannot satisfy her sexually.

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News 

WEEK IN WOMEN: Rita Moreno honored at Academy Museum Gala – Brandy McDonnell reports

Brandy McDonnell , , , , , , , , ,

Rita Moreno will be honored at the fourth annual Academy Museum Gala Oct. 19 in Los Angeles. The Icon Award, to be presented to Moreno, celebrates an artist whose career has had a significant global cultural impact. During her more than 80-year career, she has won all four of the most prestigious awards in show business: an Oscar, a Tony, two Emmys, and a Grammy. In 2019, Moreno became the Peabody Career Achievement Award, making her the first Latina to achieve PEGOT status .The event will help raise vital funds to support museum exhibitions, education initiatives and public programming, including screenings, school programs and access initiatives in service of the public and the local community of Los Angeles.

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Festivals Reviews 

BABYGIRL (TIFF 2024) – Review by Liz Braun

Liz Braun , , , , ,

Babygirl opens and closes with scenes of Nicole Kidman having sex. As for that and everything else in between: Not buying it. Kidman stars in Babygirl as Romy, the tightly-wound CEO of a company that has something to do with robotics. The opening sex scene with her husband (Antonio Banderas, quietly impressive here) — orgasmic noises notwithstanding — winds up with Romy leaving the room to finish in private with the help of porn and her computer.

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Reviews 

THE PERFECT COUPLE – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger , , , , , , , , ,

A murder mystery really works when you have no idea whodunit until the final episode…and that’s how Netflix’s The Perfect Couple remains compelling. Opening with the entire cast dancing to Meghan Trainor’s Criminals, the surreal story quickly focuses on extravagant preparations for an extravagant wedding at a magnificent $40 million oceanfront estate on picturesque Nantucket Island.

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Reviews 

A FAMILY AFFAIR – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger , , , , , , , ,

A Family Affair is a Hallmark movie – only it’s on Netflix. Shallowly concocted by debuting screenwriter Carrie Solomon, it’s clumsily directed by Richard La Gravensese, who desperately tries to breathe life into a mundane romantic fantasy that’s filled with beautiful, privileged people wearing stunning ‘designer’ clothes, cavorting on lavish sets.

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