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Welcome to Trust Me, I Watch Everything<\/strong><\/a>, a weekly guide to all the new movies out each Friday and where to find them. This week\u2019s buzziest release is the first Star Wars <\/em>movie in nearly seven years: The Mandalorian and Grogu, <\/em>Disney\u2019s first-ever attempt to adapt a Disney+ series into a movie. But if space antics aren\u2019t your thing, the cheap thrills horror flick Passenger <\/em>delivers what it needs to.<\/p>\n If you\u2019d rather have a movie night at home, you can rent or buy Lee Cronin\u2019s The Mummy, <\/em>an upsetting and nasty horror film, or the tense prison drama Wasteman.<\/em><\/p>\n And on streaming services you’re likely already paying for, Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair <\/em>is now on Peacock after its theatrical run. It\u2019s director Quentin Tarantino\u2019s original vision, uniting both volumes into one epic film.<\/p>\n Intrigued? Let\u2019s get into it!<\/p>\n Why you should skip it: <\/strong>The Mandalorian and Grogu <\/em>is easily the worst Star Wars <\/em>movie, but even calling it a movie feels like giving it more credit than it deserves. It\u2019s a feature-length episode of streaming-era television, and boy, does it look and feel like it. It\u2019s uncinematic in pretty much every way, from the drab visuals to its repetitive structure that lacks the storytelling heft needed to make the jump from TV to film. Say what you will about The Rise of Skywalker <\/em>or the prequel trilogy; at least they\u2019re movies!<\/p>\n An extension of the Disney+ streaming series The Mandalorian<\/em>, The Mandalorian and Grogu <\/em>takes place between the original and sequel trilogies. Onscreen text, although not in the iconic crawl you may be expecting, indicates that the evil Empire has fallen, and Imperial warlords remain scattered throughout the galaxy. As the fledgling New Republic works to protect everything the Rebellion fought for, they have enlisted the help of legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin and his young apprentice Grogu.<\/p>\n The \u201cMandalorian\u201d distinction means that the lead character is masked, and Pedro Pascal\u2019s flat vocal performance doesn\u2019t do much to make up for that fact. And although his co-lead is a puppet, a great throwback to the way these kinds of movies used to be made, there are even more entirely-CGI creations throughout. This may be in the grand Lucasian tradition, but still not as effective as, say, a tall guy in a hairy dog suit. This movie\u2019s Chewbacca is some purple CGI guy!<\/p>\n There\u2019s no real work done to upgrade the material for the big screen, so it just plays like binge-watching a few episodes of the show, with no real driving narrative force to keep you engaged. One of the plots \u2014 it\u2019s not the <\/em>plot because, remember, this movie is really just TV \u2014 revolves around Jabba the Hutt\u2019s muscular outcast son, who actually utters something along the lines of, \u201cDo you know how hard it is to be Jabba the Hutt\u2019s son?\u201d and talks about how he\u2019s his own man in spite of his upbringing. The character is played by The Bear <\/em>star and current hunk of the moment, Jeremy Allen White. Who is this for? Instead of leaning into the Andor<\/em> direction that won praise, Lucasfilm has circled back to the safe space of \u201ccute puppet antics\u201d and nostalgic nudges.<\/p>\n Composer and three-time Oscar winner Ludwig Goransson is the only one to come out of this unscathed, as his terrific score does all the heavy lifting, giving the movie gravitas and energy at key moments when it otherwise has none.<\/p>\n When award-winning creatives like Steven Soderbergh and Damon Lindelof are openly discussing Star Wars <\/em>projects falling apart, and the actual output at Disney is The Mandalorian and Grogu, <\/em>a nothing movie with low stakes more concerned with selling plush dolls than appealing to newcomers or casual fans, something has gone wrong. What was once a can\u2019t-miss theatrical event every time, as recently as 11 years ago \u2014 The Force Awakens <\/em>is the highest-grossing movie ever <\/em>in this country to this day \u2014 is now debuting with a collective shrug.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t the way.<\/p>\n What other critics are saying: <\/strong>They\u2019re split right down the middle, although even the positive ones aren\u2019t super effusive or enthusiastic. Slate\u2019s Sam Adams<\/a> writes: \u201cIf The Mandalorian and Grogu<\/em> isn\u2019t the worst Star Wars<\/em> movie \u2014 and it might be \u2014 it\u2019s certainly the least: the least essential, the least engaging, the least necessary.\u201d Robert Abele at the Los Angeles Times<\/a> was kinder, writing: \u201cOne of the movie\u2019s strong points, absent its story deficiencies, is that, across its many wordless scenes, it\u2019s at heart a solidly rousing, delightfully icky creature feature, in the vein of a supercharged Ray Harryhausen-meets-Guillermo del Toro joint.\u201d<\/p>\n How to watch:<\/strong> Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu<\/em> is now playing in theaters nationwide<\/a>.<\/p>\n Get tickets<\/a><\/p>\n Why you should see it:\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s January in May with the release of Passenger, <\/em>an extremely silly horror movie that nevertheless does exactly what it says on the tin and delivers the scary goods.<\/p>\n After a young couple witnesses a gruesome highway accident, they soon realize they did not leave the crash scene alone. A demonic presence that won\u2019t stop until it claims them both turns their #VanLife adventure into a nightmare. In short, it\u2019s a haunted house movie, but set in a van.<\/p>\n The opening scene in particular is incredibly effective in setting the stage for what will follow; I was most impressed with how casually funny it was right off the bat, making you laugh immediately with characters you\u2019ve only just met. The scene that unfolds is tense, and the cut-to-title had the crowd I saw it with screaming with delight.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll be checking your watch, however, any time the movie slows down to let the characters talk about their inner lives. It\u2019s not the kind of movie that requires much relationship backstory, and whenever the boyfriend gets earnest about his ambitions for his van, it\u2019s hard not to laugh at their thinly drawn nature. But all the spooky set pieces are well-constructed enough and will make you jump, so it\u2019s worth enduring the boring bits.<\/p>\n Norwegian filmmaker Andr\u00e9 \u00d8vredal has yet to top his debut feature, The Autopsy of Jane Doe,\u00a0<\/em>but\u00a0Passenger\u00a0<\/em>is his most fun work since that truly great horror film, after the duds that were The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark <\/em>and Umma, <\/em>which nobody saw.<\/p>\n Passenger <\/em>is best experienced in a packed house with a game audience. You\u2019ll have a blast, but it\u2019s not something you\u2019ll still be thinking about on Monday. And there\u2019s nothing wrong with that.<\/p>\n What other critics are saying: <\/strong>Not everyone is as kind to genre flicks as I am, so it\u2019s more of a mixed bag. Alison Foreman at IndieWire<\/a> is on my side, however, writing that it \u201cmay lack the interpersonal and mythological complexities required of a proper, obsession-worthy classic. But \u00d8vredal is nevertheless skilled at trapping his audience inside a disorienting, semi-liminal space where anything can happen.\u201d The Guardian\u2019s Benjamin Lee<\/a> was not wowed, writing: \u201cWe\u2019re never really thrust onto the road with the film, occupying a seat alongside them. Instead, we\u2019re stuck half-watching from afar, dozing our way through a journey that takes us, and the horror genre at large, back rather than forward.\u201d<\/p>\n How to watch:<\/strong> Passenger <\/em>is now playing in theaters nationwide<\/a>.<\/p>\n Get tickets<\/a><\/p>\n But that\u2019s not all\u2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n\ud83c\udfa5 What to watch in theaters<\/h2>\n
The biggest release:<\/span> Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu<\/em><\/h3>\n
Another fun option<\/strong>: Passenger<\/em><\/h3>\n