Wicked: Part I

♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Born green out of her mother’s infidelity, Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) grows up an outcast but overprotective of her paraplegic sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode). Accompanying her sister to her first day of university at Shiz, Elphaba unexpectedly unleashes a telekinetic blast out of anger and is instantly noticed by headmistress and sorceress Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), who convinces her to enroll as well so she can harness her powers via private seminars with her. She is roomed with society gal Galinda (Ariana Grande-Butera) who is an aspiring sorceress herself, but not as gifted. The two roommates begin an unlikely friendship tested by the arrival of a troublemaker prince named Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) and in the midst of suppression of Animal rights in all of Oz. As Elphaba’s powers grow, she gets an official invitation to meet the Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) at his castle in the Emerald City. However, Elphaba is in for a rude awakening as her lifetime idol doesn’t turn out to be who she expects him to be.

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

A lot has happened before Dorothy dropped in. A child born green and with sharp teeth grows into adolescence and attends the prestigious Shiz University where she is roomed with Galinda, a blonde social climber who has lofty ambitions. Elphaba couldn’t care less about social standing and preoccupies herself mostly with concerns that have socio-political relevance. Take for example the recent edict from the wizard stripping Animals of their rights to function in society, a cause that Goat professor Doctor Dillamond is passionate about. The untimely death of Galinda’s chaperone means the arrival of Elphie’s nanny as replacement, and along comes Elphaba’s armless sister Nessarose. New student Fiyero, an Arjiki prince, also arrives, and a friendship is formed among the group. However, Elphaba will soon learn that she will be better off as an agent of change outside the university, and so she drops out and takes her chances as an antigovernmental rebel.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Country lass Dorothy Gale lives a rather simple life in Kansas with her pup Toto. She has been taken in by her Uncle Henry and Auntie Em and treated as their own. One thing of importance highlighted in the household is preparedness for tornadoes. The house is equipped with a basement bunker for such an event. When the dreaded tornado finally comes about, Dorothy does not make it underground in time and is blown away along with the house. Later on she is surprised to find out that the house has landed safely in an unknown land, specifically on a Munchkin called the Wicked Witch of the East who is killed instantly by the crash. Confused as to where she is and how to go back to Kansas, she is blessed by the Good Witch of the North and accompanied by a tin man, a scarecrow, and a cowardly lion on the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City where they believe the Wonderful Wizard of Oz could grant their wishes.

Emilia Pérez

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Born in the Dominican Republic and moving to Mexico for university studies where she eventually ends up as a lawyer, Rita Mora Castro (Zoe Saldaña) laments how her latest case turns out, being ruled as a suicide despite clearly being a
murder after the key witness refuses to testify. On her way out of the courtroom she receives a lucrative offer via an anonymous phone call asking her to wait in front of a newsstand, which she obediently does before being kidnapped by two armed men. In an armored van she comes face to face with Juan “Manitas” del Monte (Karla Sofía Gascón), a notorious drug lord who promises her 2 million if she helps him fake his death so he can fully transition into a woman and live a peaceful life, flashing her his breasts as a sign that she already began hormone therapy. Doing what she is told, Rita gets his wife Jessi (Selena Gomez) and his two sons to Lausanne as a safe haven before carrying out the rest of the plan. Four years later, Rita meets enigmatic philanthropist Emilia Pérez (Karla Sofía Gascón) at a party in London, realizing that her past has finally come back to haunt her.

Hello, Love, Again

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Joy (Kathryn Bernardo) follows through with her plan to move to Canada where she takes on several odd jobs to survive. Maintaining a long distance relationship with Ethan (Alden Richards) on the other side of the world is difficult, so he decides to apply for a Canadian visa and try his luck there with her by his side. Things go smoothly in the beginning until the COVID pandemic strikes. Not ready for menial jobs he finds to be beneath him, Ethan is distraught, and his anguish takes a turn for the worse when his father gets infected and passes away before he can make it back home to Hong Kong. The two call it quits and go their separate ways. Fast forward four years later, Ethan is back in Calgary. Having lost everything including his bar, he gives Canada another go not particularly to win Joy back but rather to fix his own life.

We Live in Time

♣♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Tobias Durand (Andrew Garfield) works as a representative for breakfast cereal Weetabix and is about to sign his divorce papers when his pen runs out of ink mid-signing. He heads to a convenience store in his bathrobe to purchase four pens and a box of cookies, dropping one on the way back, leaning over to pick it up, and getting run over by a car in the process. Former figure skater turned chef Almut Brühl (Florence Pugh) takes him to the hospital and apologizes for the mishap, offering a free dinner at the restaurant where she works, for him and his wife. After disclosing the truth about his divorce, the two hit it off, end up in a relationship, and eventually welcome a daughter. Everything seems happy until she is diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer and given several options for treatment, none of which, unfortunately, guaranteeing a positive outcome.

Venom: The Last Dance

♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Knull (Andy Serkis) the creator of symbiotes has been imprisoned in his own lair by the very creatures he spawned. Hell bent on revenge, he vows to slice worlds after killing his children, but first he has to break free. In order to escape, he needs the power of a codex which will serve as the key out of his prison. A codex is formed when a symbiote’s host dies and it fully bonds with him or her for revival. To date, only one symbiote/host tandem has achieved such a feat. Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is still on the run as a fugitive after his bloodbath against Carnage. Seeking refuge in Mexico, he gets the idea of sneaking into New York, where he knows a judge that he could blackmail so he can have his life back. As Venom takes over from time to time, Knull’s henchmen find it easier to locate him.

Anora

♣♣♣♣/♣♣♣♣♣

Third generation immigrant Anora Mikheeva (Mikey Madison) resides in Brighton Bridge and relies on sex work to get by. She is popular at the club where she works, with a steady stream of clients that guarantee a stable income. Being the only girl who can speak Russian, she is assigned one night to Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), the spoiled brat son of a Russian oligarch who is in America to study, even though he spends most of his time and daddy’s money on drugs and sex. The two form a professional relationship where she is invited to his mansion to be a fixture at his parties, reserving late nights for a few rounds of sex. And then he proposes something that strikes her as life-changing: Marriage. Drunk and high, the couple flies to Vegas with friends and gets married there. And they lived happily ever after… NOT. When the parents find out, they fly in from Russia for damage control, and this is where the fun begins.