'The Last Showgirl' Reviews: Pamela Anderson Could Nab an Oscar Nod!

         On December 13, 2024, Roadside Attractions releases 'The Last Showgirl', which has earned predominantly positive reviews from critics and a score of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of this writing. In the film, "a glamorous showgirl who must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run." The ensemble cast includes Pamela Anderson, Dave Bautista, John Clofine, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Billie Lourd. Read the full review round-up below.

        Gregory Ellwood of The Playlist notes, "When Curtis walks onto a table in the middle of a casino and starts dancing to Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” throwing her job away as visitors barely notice, you know there is something special here. You just wish there was more of it" Concluding, "For most of the film, Anderson has played her role, for lack of a better description, as very demure, very mindful. It’s been mostly a quiet, confident performance. Shelly has her own set of street smarts but has almost lived her entire life in this Vegas strip bubble. When the bubble pops, Anderson unleashes an unforeseen wave of emotion encapsulating Shelly’s pain. Many may have recognized that Anderson was an underrated actress before “The Last Showgirl.” That being said, few believed she could project this from deep within her soul. Describing it as a revelation may be a stretch, but it’s damn close."

Photo Courtesy of Roadside Attractions

        Amber Wilkinson of Eye for Film says, "The script marks a step up from TV shows for Kate Gertsen (The Good Place, Mozart In The Jungle) and she brings a lot of verve to the dialogue, especially in early scenes where talk of the price of lemons mixes with costume snagging and general conversation as the dancers scramble about backstage, captured with grace by cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw. But while Gertsen proves sure-footed in the melee, her characterisations lack the detail in the film's more quiet moments to fully sell the emotional beats. Anderson, for her part, acquits herself well, bringing an edge of panic to the perpetually sunny-side-up Shelley as she finds the illusions she has carefully crafted for herself start to crumble. The supporting cast are uniformly strong, particularly Bautista, who brings a real soulfulness to his role and Jason Schwarzman (Coppola’s cousin), enjoying a sharply written cameo."

       Peter Debruge of Variety was less impressed, stating, "The Last Showgirl intends to reclaim the nobility of these women, to remind that they’re real people, with dreams and disappointments of their own. But a little more dimension would have gone a long way." Continuing, "Granted, there’s something poignant and vulnerable in Anderson’s decision to play a Las Vegas dancer who’s lost her sparkle. Shelly joined the “Razzle Dazzle” revue in 1987 (two years before “Baywatch” debuted on TV), sacrificing everything — including the traditional duties expected of parents — to live her dream of performing on the Strip. More than three decades later, she struggles to keep up with the younger girls, whom she treats like adopted daughters. While Jodie (Kiernan Shipka) and Marianne (Brenda Song) are flexible enough to get other jobs, Shelly is knocked sideways when she hears from stage manager/old flame Eddie (an uncharacteristically gentle Dave Bautista, doing his best Kris Kristofferson) that the show is closing."

Movies that Deserved Better: 'Haunted Mansion' (2023)

         On July 28, 2024, Walt Disney Pictures released 'Haunted Mansion', which received a mixed reception from critics, currently holding at 37% on Rotten Tomatoes. While I personally loved the film, critics were less impressed. In the film, "A woman and her son enlist a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts to help rid their home of supernatural squatters." The ensemble cast includes Jared Leto, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dan Levy, Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, and Danny DeVito. But what did the critics say? 

       Douglas Davidson of Elements of Madness says, "In truth, it’s Ben who is our way in as the grieving widower who keeps looking for evidence of ghosts simply to reconnect with his wife who passed away some time prior to the start of the film. Thus, the film is about Ben recognizing that the time with his wife was valuable and that he’s spending his time in a way that both hurts him and wouldn’t be what he wife would want. To do this, his path connects with Gabbie and Travis, two characters who moved down to New Orleans in order to start fresh from their own loss. The script doesn’t flat-out say this until the last moment, but anyone who’s paying attention to the wordplay can tell that Gabbie’s husband passed, spurring both their move and Travis’s extra fearfulness. Therefore, the Hatbox Ghost, a.k.a. Alistair Crump (Jared Leto), is given two potential victims to use to gain him his freedom. In order for the characters’ arcs to feel complete by the end of the film, the narrative needs to explore their respective plights, however, doing so, especially when Tiffany Haddish’s Harriet (the medium), Owen Wilson’s con-man Kent, and Danny DeVito’s Professor Bruce Davis each need their own mini-arcs to make their involvement more than just support thereby slowing down the momentum just enough to be noticeable. Each performer does get a moment to make their involvement entertaining and none overstay their welcome, but there’s just so much that requires exploring — the characters, the house mythos, the themes — that it can start to feel a little much after some time. We’d do well to keep our eyes on Dixon because his scene in the basement between Ben and Crump is a powerful one, making one forgive the obviousness of the plot and believing in the pain, anguish, and loneliness that this child feels absent his father."

       Valerie Complex of Deadline Hollywood Daily notes, "Disney’s Haunted Mansion is a fair enough choice for a family night in, experienced from the comfort of your couch, where the flaws are less glaring and the price of admission for Disney+ is cheaper."

Image Courtesy of ©Disney

       David Griffiths of Subculture Entertainment writes, "With some amazing special effects and a story a lot darker than I expected I found Haunted Mansion to be a film that certainly captures the vibe of the attraction. It really surprised me with its tone but that is what made me fall in love with it the most." Adding, "The arc is familiar, but it's comforting, just as a trip to Disneyland is meant to be. My only real quibble is that, as the movie stretches from its middle third to its final third, the energy flags as Simien (Dear White People, Bad Hair) struggles to tie together the various threads, like wrestling an octopus. At one point, I was ready for things to get a move-on. But an adorable coda set on Halloween sent me out with a smile. I loved the easy repartee among the entire cast; the casting director that assembled them is a genius. Wilson and Stanfield both have a laid-back style, Wilson's self-deprecating to Stanfield's quiet cool, and no one (except Leto) goes very big. Even Haddish, who is becoming a better and better performer with every film, tones down her usual style to fit the mood and her co-stars. Plus, they look cool. The costumes are snappy and stylish, in the best way. Indeed, I wouldn't mind getting dressed up with them and hanging out at this Mansion again someday."

Third Season of 'The Bear' Establishes Itself as an Early Awards Season Contender for 2025

         On June 26, 2024, Hulu released the third season of the awards season darling 'The Bear', which has received predominantly positive reviews from critics, holding at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes alongside a Critics Consensus that reads, "Having set an exceedingly high standard of excellence for itself, The Bear spends its third season simmering, stewing, and giving off an aroma that whets the appetite." For those new to the series, it focuses on the title restaurant and its staff. The ensemble cast includes Jeremy Allen White, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edebiri, Abby Elliott, Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, and John Cena. But what exactly did the critics say?

       David Bianculli of NPR says, "It's the best food-oriented TV series since Julia Child's "The French Chef." And Christopher Storer and his other writers and directors present montages of food preparation that are beautiful, exotic and mesmerizing all at once."

Photo by Odiseo Castrejon on Unsplash

        Abe Friedtanzer of Awards Buzz notes, "This show knows its characters and its world and is certainly capable of taking them on more grand, highly watchable misadventures." Adding, "Surely there are many fans of the series who have finished the entire third season in just over the time that it’s taken to read these few paragraphs, this reviewer opted to go a different direction and leave most of the season left to enjoy in bite-sized pieces over the next few weeks. Given that each roughly half-hour episode often feels like a true ordeal (in the best possible way), it’s an approach that enables certain supporting players, like Elliott and Oliver Platt, to shine in memorable scenes that will surely fade in prominence when looked at in the context of ten installments."

       Eddie Harrison of film-authority.com was less impressed, stating, "Series 1 and 2 of The Bear was a great achievement in tv/streaming history, but nurturing a show is a difficult job, and the parsimonious amounts of half-cooked drama served at The Bear makes it look well nigh impossible. In the final seconds, we get to see snippets of the review The Bear restaurant finally gets, and ‘sloppy’ and ‘confusing’ are words featured; they could just as easily be applied to the new, wayward direction of this once impeccable show which just went off-the-boil big time." Adding, "There’s some scattered vestiges of the kind of high end-writing that made The Bear such a sensation; Richie’s confrontation with his ex-wife’s new husband (Josh Hartnett) lands, as does Carmy’s show-down with NYC nemesis (Joel McHale), and a few salty lines of dialogue about ‘taking a flying f&ck to a rolling donut’ and ‘never not being f&cked’. But instead of a strong, dramatic meal, The Bear serves up a 19 course degustation dinner, then seems to drop more than half of the food on the floor."

        Leila Latif of Total Film praises the series, stating, "As The Rolling Stones once said, "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might just get what you need." That’s solid advice that has steered many a heartbroken or disappointed soul through some tough times, but in Season 3 of The Bear, we see our central trio face an even more challenging conundrum. What happens if you get what you want and it's absolutely not what you need?"

'Borderlands' Bombs with the Critics

         On August 9, 2024, Lionsgate released 'Borderlands', which is the highly anticipated film adaption of the video game franchise of the same name. Unfortunately, the wait may have been for naught as the film has received predominantly negative reviews, holding rotten at 7% on Rotten Tomatoes, alongside a Critics Consensus that reads, "Glitching out in every department, Borderlands is balderdash." In the film a bounty hunter returning to her home planet for a mission reluctantly creates a team in order to save the universe. The ensemble cast includes Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Black, Florian Munteanu, and Edgar Ramírez. But what did the critics say?

        Donald Clarke of Irish Times notes, "Console junkies will find themselves involuntarily hammering an imagined X button in the hope of getting back to the gameplay. No good. You’re stuck with this wacko BS." Adding, "When Blanchett actually says “I’m getting too old for this shit” it doesn’t play like a gag at the expense of all the superannuated action stars who have said it before her. Unfortunately, the longer the thing goes on the less it ceases to be good honest rubbish and the more it expects us to care about the stupid, stupid plot."

        Carla Hay of Culture Mix says, "Borderlands" should be called Bored and Bland to describe this slipshod movie adaptation of the video game. It's just a mishmash of mindless action scenes, annoying characters, and shameless ripoffs of Star Wars and Mad Max movies."

       Tatiana Hullender of Screen Rant was more impressed, stating, "Borderlands rushes through too many plot points for its own good, but it's saved by its likable cast and willingness to lean into video game moments." Continuing, "In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Jamie Lee Curtis explained that Cate Blanchett was the number one reason she agreed to be in Borderlands, and the proof is in the final product. From her opening narration to the final sequence of triumph, Blanchett commands the screen and demands my respect and attention. There have been instances where a respected actor can turn out to be too good for the popcorn movie they're in, accidentally weighing down the work instead of elevating it, but that is far from being the case here."

       Benjamin Lee of Guardian writes, "Blanchett, outfitted in sparkly gear and a swoop of bright red hair, deserves credit for not shrinking from a task so far beneath her." Adding, "With its juvenile humor, fast pace and shaky handle on grownup feelings, Borderlands winds up resembling nothing so much as a children’s film that’s too violent for children to actually watch. It’s not the severity of the violence so much as the aesthetic drabness; strange, really, that gorehound Roth bungles a few horror-tinged sequences into a hail of machine-gun fire. (Blame the PG-13 if you must, but CG blood wouldn’t improve matters.) If the recent Dune movies are self-serious Star Wars, and Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon series are bozo-level Dune, then Borderlands is Rebel Moon dumbed further down until it hits a dead end. There can be something freeing about a shameless genre ripoff, whether game-based or not; just look at Resident Evil, Pitch Black or The Fast and the Furious. (Maybe Vin Diesel is the secret sauce.) Borderlands doesn’t seem to quite realize that there’s an art to the steal."

Photo by Felipe Bustillo on Unsplash