The Menu (2022):

I can assure you that you have never seen a movie quite like this. I found it fascinating at every turn, from the opening scenes to the surprising final act, all built around unusual food, a group of eclectic dining-savvy patrons, and a superb turn by Ralph Fiennes as Chef Slowik, a man whose remote-island restaurant can have people waiting for months and years just for the opportunity to sample his superb cuisine. The movie opens a lot like an Agatha Christie murder mystery as we see the high-end group of diners on an equally high-end boat-that-is-almost-a-yacht leave for the island a few miles off the Georgia coast. As they disembark, we begin to learn a little about each, making us wonder why they were chosen to be here, and where they all fit. The focus is on a young man named Tyler (Nicolas Hoult, "Beast" from the "X-Men" movies) and his date Margot, played by "Queen's Gambit" star Anya Taylor-Joy. He is the ultimate foodie, and as they are seated, we learn that she is not his original date, which causes some confusion for the staff led with military precision by Elsa (Hong Chau), a superb character who gets better with each scene. When Chef Slowik shows up to introduce the first course, the staff, the numbers of which are equal to half the number of diners, snap to attention with boots clicking, and a resounding "Yes Chef!" We know that there is a movie star in the room (John Leguizamo), that there is a food critic who has been here before, and that there is an elderly woman at a corner table, alone, who will be more formally introduced later. When an event occurs that is shocking to the movie audience as well as to the diners, we realize that Chef isn't just a hardcore perfectionist - he may be a dangerous individual putting everyone on edge. Soon we see Chef doing and saying things that make Chef Gordon Ramsay in Hell's Kitchen look like Winnie the Pooh. The performances are superb at every level, and for a time, just like the diners, we think maybe the shocking events are all just theatre ... but soon enough we learn that the blood is real. Where this movie takes us is never obvious, and it's never predictable which makes The Menu a unique experience in cinema. Rated 14A.

Till (2022):

I found this a very difficult movie to watch in some places, but appreciated director Chinonye Chukwu's discretion in other places, as it could have been even more difficult had it not been for his understanding of both audience and subject matter. She is a Nigerian-born producer, director, and writer who co-wrote this script along with two writing partners and has chosen to tell this true story of racism at its worst in 1950s America. The movie tells the story of Mamie Till (Danielle Deadwyler), an African-American woman who was born in Mississippi in the 1920s, but in what was called "The Great Migration," was moved north by her mother and father to Chicago as part of a mass exodus of Black people from the Segregationist South where the separation of Blacks and Whites was written into law. The Till's had one child, a boy named Emmett, whom they called Bobo, his nickname. Mamie's husband went off to war in Italy and died overseas, never to return. When Mamie was set, a few years later, on visiting relatives in Nebraska, Emmett was set on visiting his great aunt and uncle in Mississippi, and in meeting his cousins. She did not want him to go, but at age 14, he made his point, and she put him on a southbound train, which was the last time she saw him alive. Witnesses later indicated that, in a small confectionary store owned by white people, Bobo allegedly made a comment to one of the ladies in the story, complimenting her on being pretty, and some said he whistled at her. Three days later he was abducted, beaten beyond recognition, and lynched. Mamie claimed his body, took it back to Chicago, and was determined to have an open-casket funeral so that all could see what racism was in America. Whoopi Goldberg is excellent in a supporting role, and Deadwyler is superb as Mamie. Not easy to watch, but a critical part of American history. Rated 14A.

Spin Me Around (2022):

Alison Brie is Amber, a young woman who is a restaurant manager in the States, but who wins a trip to Italy to attend what she is led to believe is special training at a culinary institute. When she arrives on site in Europe, things are not exactly as advertised, and she gets a very bad vibe from the man who is running the show there, but she doesn’t act on her concerns until it’s almost too late. People begin to disappear, and she soon finds that she is on that list and her life is in danger. Also stars Aubrey Plaza and Fred Armisen. Rated 14A.

That '90s Show (2023) (TV Series):

Two decades have passed since a teenaged Eric Forman (Topher Grace), living with his family, and enjoying a life of 8 track tapes, the music of Led Zeppelin, and Farrah Fawcett posters, was the perception many had of what those days were like. To help make the transition to the '90s, a much more grown-up Topher Grace reprises his role of Erik in the first episode of this new series, not to be seen for the balance of the episodes of season one. The actors who played his parents, Red and Kitty Forman (Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp) are back for the full 10 segments of this new show however. Wilmer Valderrama who played Fez in the original series also makes an appearance in the initial episode. The venue is still the State of Wisconsin, and it's 1995. Leia Forman, daughter of Eric and Donna (Laura Prepon) pays a summer visit to her grandparents and is introduced to a whole new generation of friends, not-so-friendly teens, and some that will become friends for life in the town of Point Place. Rated 14A.

Slumberland (2022):

A good cast shows up for this adventure story that will appeal to children 8 or 10 and up. Based on the comic book series "Little Nemo in Slumberland '' by Winston McClay, we follow the adventures of a tweenage girl named Nemo and her eccentric companion Flip (Jason Mamoa) who come together after Nemo's father Peter (Kyle Chandler goes missing at sea. Set in the Pacific Northwest, but shot in Toronto, we follow Nemo as she is sent to live with relatives in the big city, a place foreign to her after the coastline life she had been living. While struggling in a new school with new people all around her, Nemo finds a secret map which hooks her up with Flip, and begins a challenging journey through lands of dreams and nightmares that she believes will help reunite her with her lost father. Rated PG.