I’m still playing catch up from spending nearly two weeks in Europe, so I did a triple up of movie reviews on this past Friday’s KVNU For The People Movie Show. Here’s the rundown:

WICKED: FOR GOOD
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. There’s nothing wrong with this finale so much as there’s nothing new. It’s a greatest-hits victory lap that spends the entire runtime doing the Leonardo DiCaprio whistle-and-point meme—spot the callback, applaud the reference, rinse, repeat. The craft is polished and the box office is printing money (clearly people are thrilled to be back), but the familiarity left me more weary than wowed. If this really is the “last” one (sure, Jan), it’s a professionally mounted encore that plays the notes without rediscovering the song.

THE PLAGUE
This one gets under your skin and stays there. Think LORD OF THE FLIES by way of water-polo camp: tight script, sharp direction, and a moral terrarium where status, fear, and cruelty breed fast. Set in 2003, it still hits nerves that transcend the date stamp—peer pressure, pack dynamics, the way bullying metastasizes when adults look away. Performances feel lived-in, the tension is cleanly wound, and the final stretch lingers like a bruise you keep pressing. I flashed straight back to sixth grade. Oof.

ONE BATTLE AFTER THE OTHER
I’m still processing this film—in the best way. It never lets up: a propulsive, pressure-cooker spiral that keeps shifting your sympathies while the screws tighten scene by scene. Stylistically and rhythmically, fans of Paul Thomas Anderson should move this to must-see status; it’s got that nervy, immersive thrum where character choices feel volatile but inevitable. The filmmaking is confident, the mood is electric, and the center of gravity is undeniable—once it grabs you, it doesn’t let go.

Check out the podcast from this past Friday’s KVNU For The People Movie Show, and check out the trailers for these films below.