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Upon receiving the title to his estranged father’s estate in the remote mountains of Oregon, Blake (Christopher Abbott) brings his wife and daughter (Julia Garner and Matilda Firth) out to the family farm to pack up things up and shut the place down. But, upon their arrival and the sun setting, the creatures of the forest take note, it isn’t long before the family finds themselves hunted by something that can’t completely be identified. Now seeking shelter in the farmhouse it would appear Blake may in fact be transitioning into something part man and part wolf, if that’s so, how will the rest of the family fare? Written by Leigh Whannell and Corbett Tuck, and Directed by Whannell this creature feature throwback to the monster of the week era makes an attempt to add new perspective to this age old werewolf tale, but, faces tonality challenges out of the gate making it hard for the audience to empathize or care about the leads; as chaos ensues there’s little investment in their well being, an unfortunate miss. Meanwhile, credits to the creature design of the Wolf Man conceptually, sadly, it would appear budgeting for the practical makeup effects was a bit thin and thus plastic-y in its overall look, visually this miss deters from the creature’s overall impact and terror level. Fully on the positive, sound design and score work effectively in tandem to keep the creep factor alive, while the rest of the film wains in it’s overall impact. Maybe a rental later for fans of the genre, just keep expectations low. Running an hour and forty three minutes, Wolf Man is rated R.

Detailing the career of British pop star Robbie Williams, his meteoric rise, catastrophic fall, and miraculous recovery, Better Man is the biopic analysis that aims to educate and entertain as only the Robster can. Directed by Michael Gracey who comes with a pedigree of rock and roll and pizazz with titles such as The Greatest Showman and Pink: All I Know So Far in his pocket, Better Man is in good hands to conceptualize and execute intricate cinematography, choreography, and visual effects in order to also effectively tell Williams’ story in an interesting way beyond the average VH1 behind the music documentary style. And, while the answer to why Williams is portrayed by a CGI monkey ala Planet of the Apes is never spoken, the fact that Williams has often described his feelings about his own career as a dancing monkey, part of this question is put to rest, meanwhile, from a production standpoint, the move makes casting for the film considerably easier, and as Williams wrestles with his own inner demons in his darkest hour this makes even more sense. That’s a long way to say, visually the film is a treat, and musically the film checks the boxes for fans of the artist’s songs, some of which have been re-recorded for dramatic styling, yet story wise there aren’t dramatic bombshells to get into salacious or cutting details of Williams’ life, if you’re looking for that, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Instead, we have a paint by numbers tortured pop star tale on our hands, but even then, as Williams points out with the right cheeky attitude, sometimes that’s all that’s required to put on a show. Fun for the fans, and even those who want some counter programing to the January dregs. Better Man runs two hours and fourteen minutes and is rated R.

A creative woman and Gallery Director (Amy Adams) gives up her career to start a family with her husband (Scoot McNairy) who’s often away on business. Before long, life as a stay at home mom begins to lose its shine, now with a two year old who refuses to sleep in his own bed (Emmett and Arleigh Snowden), a strange calling from within seems to have a message that refuses to be ignored. Could this be a call of the wild to liberate the domesticated and suburbanized mother, only one way to find out. Written by Marielle Heller and Rachel Yoder and Directed by Heller this Kafkaesque horror of a woman losing herself in her prime and making the ultimate sacrifice of self for her children is familiar theme to many couples, and, while layered with metaphor and humor, the truths revealed are also somewhat blatant in their delivery just the same. To that end, kudos to Heller and team for taking on this project, but repetition, and lack of clarity between folklore, what’s real, and what’s imagined becomes hard to discern and ultimately leaves us questioning all of the parallel concepts and narratives. A slower pulse to the film’s overall pace makes its already brief hour and thirty eight minute runtime also feel longer than necessary. End result, a deep sigh, a maxed out volume of empathy capable, and frustration. Nightbitch is rated R.