By John Corrado

New releases for the week of September 20th, 2024.

Theatrical Releases:

The Substance (Wide Release): Director Coralie Fargeat’s brilliant body horror The Substance opens today, fresh off of winning the Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award at TIFF. I’ve seen it twice now with different audiences (first at a press screening, and again at Midnight Madness), and it’s an absolute blast, building to a demented and bloody last act. It features a pair of great performances from Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, guided by Fargeat’s visionary direction.  It’s great to see so many people discovering it, and I have a feeling the word of mouth on this will be very strong. (TIFF 2024 Review)

My Old Ass (Limited Release): A young woman (Maisy Stella) takes a mushroom trip on her 18th birthday that introduces her to her future self (played by Aubrey Plaza) in this wonderful coming-of-age film from Canadian writer-director Megan Park. It features engaging work from Stella and Plaza, with Park taking this absurd comic premise and using it to deliver something genuinely poignant. It’s a small gem that I haven’t stopped thinking about since seeing it earlier this year. (Inside Out 2024 Review)

Transformers One (Wide Release): This latest in the Transformers franchise sets itself apart by being both fully animated and a prequel, exploring how Optimus Prime and Megatron went from friends to enemies, back when they were still worker bots Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworht) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry). It’s a mostly fun origin story that features some nice animation and a good voice cast. It still has some of the shortcomings of a Transformers movie and can feel overstuffed, but it’s one of the better entries in the series, and Henry delivers a surprisingly strong vocal performance. (Full Review)

More Releases: Never Let Go (Wide), Wolfs (Limited), Will & Harper (Limited), Whiplash – 10th Anniversary (Limited)

Streaming Releases:

His Three Daughters (Netflix), The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal (Prime Video), Agatha All Along (Disney+)