Starring: Russell Crowe, Franco Nero, Laurel Marsden, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney
Inspired by the actual files of Father Gabriele Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican (Russell Crowe), The Pope’s Exorcist follows Amorth as he investigates a young boy’s terrifying possession and ends up uncovering a centuries-old conspiracy the Vatican has desperately tried to keep hidden.
Starring: Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett, Cary Elwes, Bugzy Malone, Hugh Grant
Super spy Orson Fortune (Jason Statham) must track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology wielded by billionaire arms broker Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant). Reluctantly teamed with some of the world’s best operatives (Aubrey Plaza, Cary Elwes, Bugzy Malone), Fortune and his crew recruit Hollywood’s biggest movie star Danny Francesco (Josh Hartnett) to help them on their globe-trotting undercover mission to save the world.
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsgård, Brady Corbet
As a planet hurtles toward a collision course with Earth, two sisters (Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg) cope with the approaching doomsday in different ways.
Starring: Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Juliet Stevenson
Katherine Watson (Julia Roberts) is a recent UCLA graduate hired to teach art history at the prestigious all-female Wellesley College, in 1953. Determined to confront the outdated mores of society and the institution that embraces them, Katherine inspires her traditional students including Betty (Kirsten Dunst) and Joan (Julia Stiles) to challenge the lives they are expected to lead.
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Gregory Smith, Jay Mohr, Phil Hartman, Kevin Dunn, Denis Leary, Tommy Lee Jones, Frank Langella
When teenager Alan (Gregory Smith) buys a set of Commando Elite action figures, he’s unaware that they have been programmed with military technology. The toys, including leader Chip (Tommy Lee Jones), spring to life and start taking their directives seriously, beginning by “killing” their enemies, the toy Gorgonites. But Archer (Frank Langella) and the Gorgonites won’t go down without a fight. Alan gets caught in the middle of the war, as does his neighbor and crush, Christy (Kirsten Dunst).
Starring: Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Rose McGowan, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Tracie Thoms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Zoe Bell
Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) is a professional body double who likes to take unsuspecting women for deadly drives in his free time. He has doctored his car for maximum impact; when Mike purposely causes wrecks, the bodies pile up while he walks away with barely a scratch. The insane Mike may be in over his head, though, when he targets a tough group of female friends, including real-life stuntwoman Zoe Bell (who served as Uma Thurman’s double in Kill Bill), who plays herself.
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgård, Sean Bean
Deirdre (Natascha McElhone) puts together a team of experts that she tasks with stealing a valuable briefcase, the contents of which are a mystery. The international team includes Sam (Robert De Niro), an ex-intelligence officer, along with Vincent (Jean Reno), Gregor (Stellan Skarsgard) and others. As their operation gets underway, several team members are found to be untrustworthy, and everyone must complete the mission with a watchful eye on everyone else.
Starring: Keira Knightley, Mickey Rourke, Edgar Ramírez, Delroy Lindo, Lucy Liu, Christopher Walken
In this film loosely based on a true story, Domino Harvey (Keira Knightley), a former model, is now a bounty hunter who has been arrested for robbing an armored car. During interrogation, she claims innocence and tells her story. Harvey became a pupil of Ed Moseby (Mickey Rourke), who ran a course for aspiring bounty hunters. Along with Choco (Edgar Ramírez), the three of them became a successful team. But, when a bail bondsman (Delroy Lindo) offered a job, they faced a complicated frame-up.
Starring: Eric Stoltz, Daphne Zuniga, Lee Richardson, John Getz
Wasting no time with the adrenalin rush, The Fly II opens with a very dramatic birth. That’s Veronica Quaife (decidedly not Geena Davis) on a metal slab, painfully bringing her and Seth Brundle’s offspring into the world. It’s enough to kill her, but after some tissue removal there appears to be a healthy baby boy. Adopted by lab CEO Anton Bartok and named Martin, he is raised in a clinical environment under close study as he ages rapidly beyond his years, a genius mind picking up where his father left off with creating a teleportation device. Things go about as you’d expect when the father figure is more interested in Martin’s output than Martin the human being.
A sequel placed in the hands of the special effects master of the first (Chris Walas, who also created the Gremlins), The Fly II delivers in the practical effects department, with gooey mutants and oozing flesh galore, which nearly landed it an X rating. We are also awarding it the prize for Best Password Reveal.
Starring: Colin Burgess, Clare O’Kane, Anthony Oberbeck, Brian Fiddyment
NoBudge is happy to launch a new screening series of feature films by young and emerging filmmakers, and we couldn’t think of a better inaugural selection than Dad & Step-Dad, made by a team of NoBudge favorites
Dad & Step-Dad is a slow-burn, character-driven family comedy that follows Jim (Dad), Dave (Step-Dad) and Suzie (Mom), three lost souls who spend the weekend together at a cabin upstate in an effort to bond for the sake of their 13-year-old son, Branson. Tensions mount however as differing parenting techniques come to the fore. A symphony of passive aggressive quibbles delivered in hushed tones, furtive glances, and tense silence, the film plays like Frederick Wiseman directing an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Listed in Esquire as one of the “41 Most Anticipated Films of 2023,” Dad & Step-Dad was shot in 4 days during the summer of 2021 with a production budget of only $18,000 and is entirely improvised, based off of a robust outline and several rehearsals.
