(ASBURY PARK, NJ) -- Director Evan Goodchild of Goodchild Media will screen his feature-length directorial debut, The Painted Life of Gregory Gillespie, at The ShowRoom Cinema on Friday, March 20, 2026 in what marks the films New Jersey premiere, and a homecoming for the late artist who grew up in Roselle Park, NJ.
Writer/director John Patton Ford's 2022 feature debut Emily the Criminal proved one of the more interesting crime thrillers of recent years. In that movie, Aubrey Plaza gave a career best performance as a struggling young woman who desperately turns to crime only to discover she has a knack for it. Ford's second movie, How to Make a Killing, features a similar anti-hero, but here the crime is murder.
(LONG BEACH ISLAND, NJ) -- The Lighthouse International Film Festival (LIFF) presents a rare five-day acting masterclass led by acclaimed actor and director Jason Alexander, taking place June 7–11, 2026 on Long Beach Island, New Jersey, just prior to the opening of the Festival's 18th edition, which runs June 10–14.
Following Hamnet and "Wuthering Heights", Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! is the latest in a line of awful movies inspired by the work of great English writers. It's Mary Shelley here of course, but Gyllenhaal also plucks from James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein. Whale cast Elsa Lanchester in the dual roles of Shelley and the titular monster, and Gyllenhaal pulls the same trick here with Jessie Buckley. That's where the similarities end however, as The Bride! has more in common with '70s exploitation flicks and '90s horror comedies than either Shelley's novel or the Universal monster movies it inspired.
(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- State Theatre New Jersey presents Dirty Dancing in Concert on Wednesday, March 18, 2026 at 7:30pm. Get ready to have the time of your life and immerse yourself in the romance of this beloved classic with an unforgettable evening!
Writer/director John Patton Ford's 2022 feature debut Emily the Criminal proved one of the more interesting crime thrillers of recent years. In that movie, Aubrey Plaza gave a career best performance as a struggling young woman who desperately turns to crime only to discover she has a knack for it. Ford's second movie, How to Make a Killing, features a similar anti-hero, but here the crime is murder.
Following Hamnet and "Wuthering Heights", Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! is the latest in a line of awful movies inspired by the work of great English writers. It's Mary Shelley here of course, but Gyllenhaal also plucks from James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein. Whale cast Elsa Lanchester in the dual roles of Shelley and the titular monster, and Gyllenhaal pulls the same trick here with Jessie Buckley. That's where the similarities end however, as The Bride! has more in common with '70s exploitation flicks and '90s horror comedies than either Shelley's novel or the Universal monster movies it inspired.
In its 1960s peak, the Hagsploitation (or psycho-biddy) sub-genre gave a second act to classic Hollywood stars like Joan Crawford, Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland, who found themselves cast as aging psychopaths. It wasn't without controversy, drawing accusations of ageism and misogyny from critics. It's a surprise that our current age of sensitivity has seen a mini-revival of the form with movies like X and The Visit using senility as a cheap, albeit effective way to explain their villains' actions.
I'm not going to suggest that Scream 7 is a return to form for the critically ailing yet commercially triumphant slasher franchise (I don't believe it had much form to begin with), but it's certainly a baby step up from the awfulness of the previous two instalments. That's a bit like saying a soccer team is showing signs of improvement because they only lost 3-0 against their local rivals as opposed to the 5-0 drubbing they suffered the previous season. But I'm a Spurs fan, so I'll take whatever crumb of comfort I can, and the crumb tossed to fans here is the return of Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, along with series creator Kevin Williamson, directing for the first time since 1999's Teaching Mrs Tingle, and co-writing with Guy Busick (with a story contribution by Zodiac scribe James Vanderbilt).
Blockbuster screenwriter David Koepp adapts his own 2019 novel Cold Storage for the screen. Koepp's involvement can surely be the only reason the movie has attracted actors of the calibre of Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville and Vanessa Redgrave, as it's a rather uninspired throwback to '80s b-movies, one sorely lacking the raucousness and innovative practical effects work that made those flicks so popular.
