Mike Schulz, Dave Levora, and Darren Pitra can’t get enough other, and their time away was pure agony. For the next fifteen minutes and change, that pain is forestalled. Incidentally, The Last Picture House is showing Oscar-nominated short films, both live-action and animated. Ohhhhhhh, boy.

Concerning the films:

• Lisa Frankenstein, written by Diablo Cody, directed by Zelda Williams, and starring Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano, Henry Eikenberry, Joe Chrest, and Carla Gugino. Cody has been the author of much “twee dialogue” back in her Naughts heyday, but it works fine here, with the story set in 1989. Sadly, director Williams, the daughter of the late Robin Williams, undermines the story with terrible camera shots and listless pacing. Best save for streaming, if you must.
  
• The American release of Out of Darkness. Released in the UK in October 2022 as The Origin, the film, described by director Andrew Cumming as “a paleolithic horror film,” stars Safia Oakley-Green, Chuku Modu, Kit Young, Iola Evans, Luna Mwezi, and Arno Luening and concerns how stone-agers deal with a mysterious, possibly unearthly antagonist. Schulz really liked this film, which did not reveal itself as set in a different time and/or planet — the ol’ M Night Shyamalan twisteroo. Streaming now; go find. Ooga ooga.
  
• The Teachers’ Lounge, directed by İlker Çatak and starring Leonie Benesch, Michael Klammer, Rafael Stachowiak, Anne-Kathrin Gummich, and Eva Löbau, Schulz was happy that this film was set in present-day Germany, and not another go-around with Nazis. Lounge is set up as “the inverse of every inspirational teacher movie you’ve ever seen,” a “nasty thriller” with an idealistic teacher continually being let down for two hours. Streaming now; macht schnell.
  

Regarding previews:

• Madame Webb, directed by S J Clarkson and starring Dakota Johnson in the title role, alongside Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced, Tahar Rahim, Mike Epps, Emma Roberts, and Adam Scott. Levora wants to see this film with Schulz, because he expects him to hate it most beautifully; currently, the film stands at 13% on Rotten Tomatoes.
  
• Bob Marley: One Love, directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and starring Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton, Tosin Cole, Aston Barrett Jr, Anthony Welsh, Sevana, Hector Lewis, Michael Gandolfini, Nadine Marshall, and Henry Douthwaite. It’s set in a narrow frame of time, which promises a tighter focus; but, given the Marley family’s participation in the production, one’s expectation as to serious baloney getting dropped is minimal.
  
• Land of Bad, directed by William Eubank and starring Liam Hemsworth, Russell Crowe, Luke Hemsworth, Ricky Whittle, and Milo Ventimiglia. Action thriller. Nothing known by Schulz about it, so he’ll be encountering this fresh.
  

“Lisa Frankenstein,” “Out of Darkness,” and “The Teachers’ Lounge”