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After a tragic run in with a tornado takes the lives of several school friends, budding meteorologist Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) opts for a desk job with the National Weather Service; but, when old classmate and friend, Javi (Anthony Ramos), shows up with a proposal to get Kate back out in the field, the prospect is enough to get her going again. As it turns out, staring down tornados is like riding a bike, but, now with newcomer and Youtube sensation Tyler Owens (Glen Powell) in the field, sussing out fortune hunters from do-gooders will take extra effort.Written by Mark L. Smith, Joseph Kosinski, and Michael Crichton and Directed by Lee Isaac Chung this summer blockbuster person vs. nature adventure is poised with big action, big destruction, and big budget flair delivering the goods in whirlwind fashion. And, while the overall plot and character outlines don’t challenge the expected, the end result is still fun to watch play out, and the ensemble sell the drama nicely. Meanwhile, for the meteorology buffs, nice surprise, the science behind the plot actually holds up for the most part. Bonus, With a concise runtime of one hour and 57 minutes not too much of your weekend will get sucked away. Worthy of the big screen for the rumble and terror Twisters is rated PG-13.

Following her love for cinema Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) finds herself in Hollywood, shy of her big dreams and working in porn; but, when a break comes as a starring role in Director Elizabeth Bender’s (Elizabeth Debicki) next film, it would seem her luck has changed. Meanwhile, the Hollywood Strangler has sights on Maxine and all of her friends. From hunted to hunter, Maxine is clearly a resourceful woman, and, given her dark past, who will survive the Hollywood grind is anyone’s guess. Written and Directed by Ti West, this is the third installment of the Maxine/Pearl trilogy, a series of highly stylized satirical, slasher, crime, drama pics centered around Mia Goth’s character. In this go round West and crew re-animate and embody the fun of the 80’s slasher flick with the formulaic panache, color, and nod to all slashers that have come before, in a word, it’s fun, and while perhaps not the zenith of the series as one might hope, for fans of the genre there’s plenty to chew on, squirm at, and laugh in disgust with, mission accomplished. The gods of Hollywood gore are clearly smiling upon this feature. With a brisk runtime of one hour and 44 minutes, MaXXXine makes sure to keep you wanting more. MaXXXine is rated R.

On her ride home from the airport to midtown New York city, a young woman (Dakota Johnson) finds herself in a taxi cab with a driver (Sean Penn) that has an interesting outlook on life. As their conversation weaves into life lessons and relationship talk, what transpires is a healing and deep conversation for both. For Johnson’s character, it’s the fatherly advice and guidance from this stranger that might just be the chicken soup for the soul she needs, and for Penn’s character it might be the absolution he needs in a world that’s changing all around him. Written and Directed by newcomer Christy Hall, the whole film uses the premise of the drive home as the carrier for what feels like an well developed One act, a piece that clearly has beats and break points, but explores each character’s flaws and victories to a faultless point and delivers a rich and incredibly thoughtful capture as two random strangers manage to bear their soul to each other in a very real way. And, while there are a few writing crutches or “tools” that Hall relies on to drive her narrative, such as score keeping in storytelling which never quite seems to land as genuine, this is a minor offense in relation to the overall performances which allow Penn and Johnson to generate some of the most heartfelt, relatable, and emotionally complex moments on screen to touch the viewer in a significant way. Bottom line, at one hour and forty one minutes of run time, the film sits as the perfect length for this duo to not overstay their welcome and deliver some knockout performances, smelling Oscar nods from here. Daddio is rated R.