By John Corrado

New releases for the week of September 1st, 2023.

Theatrical Release:

Bottoms (Limited Release): Bottoms, director Emma Seligman’s follow up to her debut film Shiva Baby, is a high school comedy following socially awkward best friends PJ (Shiva Baby breakout Rachel Sennott) and Josie (Ayo Edibiri), who start a female fight club to hook up with popular girls. This is a much more sprawling film than the contained pressure cooker that was Shiva Baby, but Seligman has different ambitions this time around, aiming to make a campy, cult classic teen movie. The whole thing takes place in a sort of heightened reality, with a post-ironic, anything goes brand of humour, including Sennott and Edibiri’s constant, improvisational banter (Marshawn Lynch also steals the show as their teacher). I personally found it a bit uneven, especially compared to Seligman’s mostly stellar debut (the humour can feel overly winky and self-aware, some of the ideas are half-formed, and it’s structurally a little messy), but Bottoms does have fun moments if you can get on its very specific, purposefully over-the-top wavelength. While I’m not quite as high on it as others have been, I can see why a lot of people are having a blast with it (I also watched it on a screener, so I’m sure it plays better with a crowd).

The Equalizer 3 (Wide Release): This is the third film in director Antoine Fuqua’s Equalizer series, once again starring Denzel Washington as highly trained assassin Robert McCall, who has now gone into retirement but inevitably gets pulled back into action. I remember enjoying the first and second ones, so I’ll definitely check this one out at some point. Even if it sounds like a bit of a formulaic action flick, Washington no doubt elevates it with his megawatt charisma and star-power.

More Releases: R.L. Stine’s Zombie Town (Wide), Don’t Look Away (Limited), Kangdaniel: My Parade (Limited)

Streaming Release:

Choose Love (Netflix), One Piece (Netflix), A Day and a Half (Netflix)