Movies Up To Bat

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‘Wicked: For Good’ is for the Theatre Kids

Wicked: For Good closes its story without awards recognition but with clear creative conviction. The film’s reception reflects a mismatch between its intentions and critical expectations. Designed as the second half of a continuous narrative, it prioritizes character depth and long-term emotional payoff over accessibility. In doing so, For Good succeeds less as a crowd-pleaser and more as a film made for those already invested in the world of Wicked.

‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’ — Pandora Still Works, With an Asterisk

James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash delivers the franchise’s most emotionally layered story yet, deepening its characters and political tensions even as its climactic spectacle starts to repeat itself.

Vince Gilligan’s ‘Pluribus’ Is Impressive, if Exhaustingly Slow

Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus imagines a beautifully ordered world where loneliness, failure, and disagreement have been engineered away—and asks what that costs art, love, and autonomy. Starring Rhea Seehorn, it turns an alien apocalypse into a meditation on AI and authorship.