steve buscemi – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

WEDNESDAY: Season 2 – Review by Susan Granger

August 28, 2026August 29, 2026 Susan Granger Alfred Gough, Catherine Zeta-Jones, emma myers, Isaac Ordonez, Jenny Ortega, Luis Guzman, Miles Millar, netflix, steve buscemi, Tim Burton, Wednesday: Season 2

With the Emmys approaching, attention must be paid to Wednesday: Season 2 with 12 nominations; it has become the second most-watched English language series in Netflix history – with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman as Morticia and Gomez with Isaac Ordonez as Pugsley. In the title role, Jenny Ortega’s nomination as Outstanding Comedy Series Lead Actress is a notable achievement in Latina representation since she’s the third and youngest Latina to receive this honor, following America Ferrera and Rita Moreno. Focusing on macabre horror, Wednesday re-visits the gothic world of the Addams family’s morbidly stoic daughter as she navigates teenage life at Nevermore Academy while sinister forces – both outside and inside the school -conspire against her.

Reviews

THE STUDIO – Review by Susan Granger

May 17, 2025 Susan Granger Anthony Mackie, bryan cranston, catherine ohara, charlize theron, Chase Sui Wonders, dave franco, Greta Lee, Ice Cube, Kathryn Hahn, martin scorsese, olivia wilde, ron howard, Sarah Polley, Seth Rogen, steve buscemi, The Studio, zac efron, Zoe Kravitz

Ever wanted to sneak behind-closed-doors and see what propels the Hollywood Dream Machine? That’s what happens in the cameo-cluttered, 10-episode satire The Studio, skewering the perennial Art-vs-Commerce dilemma. When delusional dreamer Matt Remick (co-creator Seth Rogen) becomes the head of Continental Studios , he’s told by CEO Griffin Mill (Bryan Cranston) that his job is to make IP-driven movies that will succeed at the box-office, not “artsy-fartsy films.” Problem is: pretentious cinephile Matt thinks he can do both

Reviews

THE DAY OF THE FIGHT – Review by April Neale

December 7, 2024December 13, 2024 April Neale Day of the Fight, Jack Huston, john magaro, Michael C. Pitt, Nicolette Robinson, Ron Perlman, steve buscemi

With stark and poignant imagery serving these themes of atonement and redemption, director Jack Huston’s first feature delivers a bittersweet cautionary tale. It shows how complex human transgressions are processed and how we can be seen as our true selves, not just the sum of our mistakes. Boxer “Irish” Mikey Flannigan was a world champion. He’s been in prison for years, and his career has dashed to the rocks. However, on the day the film takes place, Mikey will fight professionally after a decade of self-reflection and regret. His family and neighborhood pals who know his heart are in his corner.

Festivals Reviews

THE LISTENER (Tribeca 2023) – Review by Valerie Kalfrin

June 11, 2023June 12, 2023 Valerie Kalfrin Anka Malatynska, rebecca hall, steve buscemi, tessa thompson, The Listener

In the wee hours of the morning, a woman walks onto her porch, talking on the phone with someone she’s just met. The caller, a college professor freshly out of a job, has no close family or friends—and no rational argument against killing herself. She didn’t always think this way, she says, her voice calm, analytical. “Sometimes the energy to live exceeds the benefit.” What to say to someone like her? As the conversation unfolds over twenty-six minutes in the meditative drama The Listener, we’re riveted, a testament to the power of empathy and connection in a world often aching with loneliness.

Reviews

THE YEAR BETWEEN – Review by Nadine Whitney

February 13, 2023February 19, 2023 Nadine Whitney Alex Heller, bipolar disorder, Emily Robinson, J. Smith-Cameron, steve buscemi, The Year Between, Waltrudis Buck

For a debut film The Year Between is a gem, but beyond the fact it is Heller’s first feature, the movie stands on its own as an accomplished piece about how infuriating it can be to be mentally ill. The Year Between is witty, authentic, and ultimately kind to almost every character in Clemence’s orbit, including Clemence herself. Clemence may not feel like she has any dignity and often acts in a manner that actively undermines whatever dignity she may have, but Heller skilfully sees that sometimes just doing your best to make it through is good enough and that in that there is grace and, if you’re lucky, love.

Reviews

THE DEATH OF STALIN – Review by Martha P. Nochimson

November 1, 2018 Martha P. Nochimson (Archived Contributor) 0 Comments Andrea Riseborough, Armando ianucci, death of stalin, eye on media, Olga Kurylenko, rupert friend, steve buscemi

You can’t get a better deflector for these dark days in the United States than a serio-comic farce set in the now defunct Soviet Union in 1953, as the mammoth country was given an opportunity to emerge from the rigid structure of Stalin’s tyranny. The Death of Stalin (2017) directed by political satirist Armando Ianucci is such film, a comic tour de force about the anarchy hidden within despotism.