A vanity project from The Weeknd, who has little to be vain about. Very disappointed to see talented director Trey Edward Shults involved in this, but I guess a guy's gotta eat. The Weeknd plays himself, essentially, a pop star who's stressed and exhausted, who is visited by a fan (Jenna Ortega) who messes him up further. It's a 20-minute story stretched into 100 minutes, padded with songs by The Weeknd (including a scene where Jenna Ortega listens to them…

I hadn't seen this since Sundance 2002, where it was a big hit, and where Roger Ebert famously shouted down an audience member who, during the Q&A, scolded Lin for making a movie about Asian-Americans that didn't show them in a wholly positive light. Ebert was NOT HAVING IT. I wish I had been at that screening (and then for some reason ignored common sense and stayed for the Q&A).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSzP9YV3jbc

It's a very confident debut film (solo debut; Justin…

Two lady LDS missionaries are tormented psychologically and spiritually by Hugh Grant. This is very well crafted, suspenseful, and intelligent. Grant is fantastic, and the girls whose names I don't know hold their own against him.

As a Mormon myself, I was naturally curious to see if the movie would reflect my own experience of being harassed by Hugh Grant. No, I wondered if it would be exploitative or inaccurate. It's neither!
The questions the guy raises are ones that…