SCREEN TIME/ OPINION
Scary season continues this week as “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” a PG-13 horror comedy with its roots in a popular video game series opens in theaters and begins streaming on Peacock. It stars Josh Hutcherson of “The Hunger Games” as Mike, a down-on-hisluck security guard who takes an after-hours job at a Chuck E. Cheese-style old family entertainment center called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, where the animatronic mascots become murderous after midnight. (Oscar gold, no doubt.)
Anyway it’s another Blumhouse Production so we might expect a certain panache to the production — and probably one or two sequels.
We’ve also got the John Cena action comedy “Freelance” opening this week, about a former Special Forces operator (Cena) who hires on as a bodyguard for a takes a job providing security for a journalist (Alison Brie) on assignment in the fictional South American country of Paldonia when a military coup breaks out.
“After Death” is faith-based documentary written and directed by Stephen Gray and Chris Radtke that chronicles the stories of various near-death experience survivors, and features analysis of these events by authors and scientists as they try to determine what happens after we die.
“Dicks: The Musical,” directed by “Borat” helmer Larry Charles, is the first musical ever produced by A24, and it’s based on the twoman off-Broadway show “F***ing Identical Twins” by Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson, who also starred. A cult classic waiting to happen, the original musical has been seriously opened up with Sharp and Jackson reprising their roles while being joined by the likes of Megan Thee Stallion, Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally and Bowen Yang. Finally, “Inspector Sun and the
Curse of the Black Widow,” a 2022 Spanish computer-animated mystery thriller gets its release today. It’s set in a seaplane flying from Shanghai to San Francisco in 1934, and involves an anthropomorphic spider called Inspector Sun and his nemesis, the Red Locust.
On other screens:
“Baby, Don’t Cry” (not rated, 1 hour, 30 minutes, On Demand) A 2021 rough-hewn crime thriller (with some romance thrown in) that starts out steeped in realism then turns awkwardly absurd concerns Baby, a withdrawn 17-yearold Chinese immigrant from a troubled home in the outskirts of Seattle, who meets a 20-yearold delinquent named Fox; the take on a convoluted journey to escape what they perceive to be their seemingly hopeless futures. With Zita Bai, Vasily Provatakis; directed by Jesse Dvorak.
“Freestyle 101: Hip Hop History” (not rated, 1 hour, 42 minutes, On Demand) This tightly focused documentary explores the music genre’s early days through the lens of freestyle rap. Narrated by Chuck D of Public Enemy, it features legendary artists such as Ice-T, Cypress Hill, Wu-Tang Clan and many more discussing the history and intricacies of freestyle rapping and performing; directed by Frank Meyer.
“Pain Hustlers” (R, 2 hours, 2 minutes, Netflix) A first-rate cast, led by Emily Blunt, Chris Evans and Andy Garcia can’t raise this well-intentioned movie about a pharmaceutical startup, Insys Therapeutics, and the atrocities it commits in getting their addictive oral fentanyl spray to market above mediocrity. Directed by David Yates.
“Women in the Front Seat” (not rated, 1 hour, 14 minutes, Amazon Prime Video, Tubi, Google Play) An unexpectedly and intensely profound documentary that captures the growing movement of female cross-country motorcycle riders; among them is its writer/director/cinematographer Maninder K. Saini, who undertook a transformative solo cross-country quest on her Indian Scout motorcycle, challenging her fears, facing harsh
weather, and exhaustion to discover who these women are, one fascinating personal story after another. “Robert Irwin: A Desert of
Pure Feeling” (not rated, 1 hour, 33 minutes, On Demand) The career of radical experimental artist Robert Irwin, who developed a new way of working that made perception itself the subject, is shared in this mannered documentary via interviews with the artist and his colleagues, archival materials, and new immersive footage of his works. Written and directed by Jennifer Lane.
“What Doesn’t Float” (not rated, 1 hour, 9 minutes, On Demand) This is a good-looking, well structured darkly comedic anthology of New Yorkers who, like many of us, are at their wit’s end. With Pauline Chalamet, Larry Fessenden, Roger Howarth, Alexandra Templer, Lily Sondik, Mirlande Amazan, Annie Pisapia, Keith Poulson, Declan Eells, Joel Nagle, Keren Lugo, Cindy De La Cruz, Amir Royale, Tiffany Rothman. Directed, edited and scored by Luca Balser.