NYFF Review: Sprinsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (2025)

On the cusp of global superstardom, New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen struggles to reconcile the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past as he records the album “Nebraska” in the early 1980s.

New York Film Festival Review

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is directed by Scott Cooper director of Crazy Heart (2009), Out Of The Furnace (2013), Black Mass (2015), Hostiles (2017), Antlers (2021) and The Pale Blue Eye (2022).

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is very different from the usual music biopic, for one thing the film mainly focuses on the conception of Springsteen’s 1982 album Nebraska and the struggles he went through making it. There are some flashbacks to his childhood as well but those are more so sprinkled in between and help paint the picture of what the film is telling us. All of this combined with the feel of being in Springsteen’s mind, the excellent performances and the film tackling mental health helps the film feel incredibly striking.

First and foremost we have the performances that are all very well done. Jeremy Allen White completely disappears in the role of Bruce Springsteen, not only does he capture Bruce’s voice incredibly well but he delivers this vulnerable and balance performance of striking depth and power. The quiet moments of him just staring tell so much without uttering a word, he bounces off of the rest of the cast masterfully and with his performance truly paints this beautiful picture of Bruce and what he was going through during this period of time. Jeremy Allen White really shows how excellent he is as an actor here and goes all out with playing Springsteen, during the later half of the film we see the vulnerability and the pain he’s going through which easily brings the viewer into the film. With this, Jeremy Allen White gives one of the most raw and beautiful performances of the year.

Jeremy Strong as Jon Landau Bruce’s manager is just as fantastic, Strong really ties into the whole mental health part of the film where he is a honest friend to Bruce during his roughest moments. The conversations between the two not only show how incredible Jeremy Strong is as an actor, but shows some of the film’s most beautiful and honest moments. I would be lying if I said that some of these moments almost made me cry, they depict the action and feel of friends letting you know that they are always there and will do the best they possibly can to help you. That’s something Jeremy Strong’s performance truly gives off and it works so incredibly well, while yes he does typical manager stuff during some parts of the film. He still absolutely cares for Bruce and the bond between the two truly is one of the film’s strongest assets.

Paul Walter Hauser gives a solid comedic performance, the comedy does not overstay its welcome which is a smart move considering the themes the film tackles. Odessa Young is solid here, while she is not in the film all that much Bruce’s mental health does impact the two’s relationship and does tie into the whole theme of mental health. It’s one of those “your mind is destroying things you are most looking forward to” sort of moments that feel all to real for anyone who’s dealt with these sort of moments before. Finally there’s Stephen Graham who plays Bruce’s father, Bruce has a complicated relationship with him due to a number of factors and over the course of the film we see said reasons. But we also see that slowly but surely there’s some semblance of reconstructing a bond, Graham gives a very strong performance.

The writing is beautifully done, while it may feel a bit simple at times there truly is something powerful underneath it all. The film shows us the positives and negatives of being a music artist, while yes it’s wonderful it also comes with drawbacks such as the producers wanting what THEY think will be successful rather than letting said artist do what they want. This clearly upsets Springsteen as he wants the authentic version of his music, this is an issue in the music industry that is still quite present today especially with younger artists.

I have brought this up a lot of times now but the way the film tackles mental health is truly powerful, honest and quite beautiful. The film’s main theme here is sometimes you just need someone in your corner and to never be afraid to ask for help, seeing the scenes of Bruce being incredibly happy with Faye Romano (played by Odessa Young) one moment and then seeing their torn apart relationship due to Bruce’s struggles is heartbreaking and as I said before feels all to real. There’s one particular scene where Odessa Young’s dialogue is honest and truly captures a lot of the film’s themes incredibly well.

Luckily the film does end on a hopeful note, one that is an important message for many who struggle with these issues, it’s a truly beautiful film that shows the vulnerability of man and what he was going through at the time.

Overall Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is a fantastic film that you should check out whether you are a Bruce Springsteen fan, a music biopic fan or are interested in general! It’s a raw and beautiful watch.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere releases in theaters Friday.

9/10 A

The Apprentice (2024) Film Review

A young Donald Trump, eager to make his name as the hungry second son of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of cutthroat lawyer Roy Cohn. Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protege: someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win.

The Apprentice is directed by Ali Abbasi director of Shelley (2016), Border (2018) and Holy Spider (2022). The Apprentice explores Donald Trump’s career as a real estate businessman in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s. It also explores his relationship with attorney Roy Cohn.

For a movie that is about Donald Trump, Roy Cohn ends up being the more interesting person. Maybe it’s because everything that has been said about Trump has already been said, maybe it’s because everything that is shown and said has been known about for years at this point.

The performances are hands down the best part of this movie and the major reason why you would want to watch it. Sebastian Stan does an excellent job as Trump, Stan focuses on giving an actual great performance rather than an impersonation of Trump. Something we have seen countless times over the years and each one is hardly different from one another, Stan captures Trump’s mannerisms and speech quite well that really does make the movie at the very least stand on its legs. Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn is just as fascinating, the best moments are the ones of Stan and Strong going back and forth between the dialogue it’s truly captivating to see the two completely capture the actions, speech and body language of their respective parts.

I quite like the cinematography from Kasper Tuxen it gives the movie this 70s and 80s sound at times which kind of brings you the viewer into the time period, it’s especially effective during those moments of Stan and Strong going back forth that I mentioned earlier. It’s moments like these that are the true highlight of the movie, I also do like the decline of Roy Cohn, it’s another one of the movie’s best moments and Strong’s performance (who I really think should get at least an Oscar nomination) only makes the whole part that much more investing.

The rest of the movie is very standard biopic fluff, as I said before every single thing that’s in this movie is common knowledge. Anyone who had a general good idea of who Trump was (pre 2016 election) could probably tell you the events explored in the movie and you would get the exact same impact.

The Apprentice is overall quite forgettable when it comes to retelling the events of it, but the performances do leave an impression on the viewer. If you are going to watch this movie (completely understandable if you don’t I get it) watch it for the performances that’s the main thing you will walk away remembering most.

The Apprentice is available on all VOD platforms.

5/10 C

Lee (2024) Film Review

The story of photographer Elizabeth `Lee’ Miller, a fashion model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II.

Lee is directed by Ellen Kuras which is directorial debut. Lee is a biopic about Lee Miller a photographer who went on to chronicle the events of World War II for Vogue Magazine.

I have to give respect whenever a passion project is able to be released, this movie took 8 years to make its a film that Kate Winslet had wanted to make for a long time and I’m glad it was able to release. Having that said Lee falls into the trap of being a very middle of the road war biopic.

By far the best part about Lee is Kate Winslet’s performance, it’s undeniable how excellent she really is as Lee Miller. She shows so much talent and really shows why she’s one of the best actresses of her generation, even if the script is on the weaker side of things during the first two acts and plays out like a very traditional war biopic. Winslet is able to turn certain moments into something special due to just how committed she really is to the role, the rest of the performances are very whatever. Andy Sandberg gives somewhat of an interesting performance that you can absolutely make an argument that it’s solid, but Winslet just completely dances circles around everyone else that it doesn’t matter.

The third act is when the movie actually gets quite great, there’s so many hard hitting moments during the final moments of the movie. It’s crushing in a lot of ways that does leave the viewer with an impression and makes you really want to know even more about Lee Miller. When the movie focuses on how these events affected Lee Miller it shines and really brings the viewer closer into Lee’s mind and what she’s thinking.

The first two acts as I said before is very middle of the road war biopic stuff, it’s very textbook like and really doesn’t say anything new about Lee Miller. The only thing really keeping the first two acts from completely collapsing is Winslet’s performance, there isn’t necessarily anything terrible just a lot of very typical biopic elements that kind of show that director Ellen Kuras didn’t know what direction to take Lee Miller’s story until the last act.

Overall there really isn’t much else to say, Lee is a movie that had the potential to be far better told as Lee Miller is a very interesting war photographer and deserves her story to be told in a much more focused and powerful way.

Lee is available on all VOD Platforms.

5/10 C

Shirley (2024) Film Review

In 1972, the first-ever Black congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm, launched a trailblazing campaign to become the president of the United States.

Shirley is directed by John Ridley who has directed Cold Around the Heart (1997), Jimi: All Is by My Side (2013) and Needle in a Timestack (2021).

Shirley tells the story of Shirley Chisholm an American politician who became the first Black woman to be elected into the United States Congress in 1968. She also became the first Black candidate for a major party nomination for President of the United States. The film documents the 1972 presidential run of Shirley Chisholm.

There is absolutely no denying what Shirley Chisholm did broke many barriers and was truly inspiring, a lot of that is felt throughout the film, sadly however the movie does have a flaws that hold it back. The main one being this is yet another incredibly safe biopic that goes about as deep as a Wikipedia page, this is sadly a common trend among a lot of biopics and Shirley is no different.

Having that said there are positives which mostly comes from the performances. Regina King plays Shirley Chisholm and as usual knocks it out of the park, even with a lacking script Regina King is able to really turn a lot of the movie around and make certain scenes genuinely powerful. She nails down the accent, actions and mannerisms of Shirley Chisholm which truly is fascinating. Her commanding the screen at any moment she’s given is truly powerful and once again fascinating to watch.

Lucas Hedges returns (his last film performance was in 2020) he plays Robert Gottlieb which while he doesn’t have a whole lot of screentime, Regina King and Lucas Hedges work incredibly well together and actually deliver some charming moments. Hedges also really nails down his portrayal of Gottlieb quite well. The late Lance Reddick plays Wesley McDonald Holder (one of his last performances, there’s still three more film performances after this) does an excellent job and again shows how incredible he was as an actor. He works incredibly well with the rest of the cast and much like Regina King, he’s able to take a lacking script and turn into something really fascinating.

As I said before unfortunately Shirley is a very by the numbers biopic, the directing style is played very safe and falls in line with a lot of other biopics. Which is a shame because Shirley Chisholm’s story is very fascinating and deserves to be told with so much more power.

Shirley is available on Netflix.

5/10 C

The Iron Claw (2023) Film Review.

The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who make history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports

The Iron Claw is directed by Sean Durkin director of The Nest (2020) and Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011). The film is based on the life of wrestler Kevin Von Erich and the Von Erich family.

I’ve said this before but I’m not a wrestling fan, but reading about the story of Kevin and his family is incredibly sad stuff. Between 1984 and 1993 3 of the five brothers Mike, Chris and Kerry died by suicide and another of the five David died of acute enteritis although this is heavily debated. There was another brother Jack Jr. who died in 1959 by drowning after an electrical shock long before the other brothers deaths. I bring Jack Jr. up because when people talk about the Von Erich deaths they are mostly talking about Mike, Chris, Kerry and David so I figured it’s worth pointing out.

The film itself mentions Jack Jr. In one scene which I thought was sweet and is admittedly one of the film’s very emotional moments. The film doesn’t include one of the brothers Chris, the reason given by Durkin is he was worried the film would be way too depressing and would never get made. To make up for Chris’s absence he incorporates his death with Mike who in real life Chris looked up to and ended his life because of Mike’s death effecting him so much. Some people might not like Chris’s absence and that’s completely understandable, I do think the film makes up for it with large amount of emotion capturing the absolute tragedy of this story.

The performances are all incredibly top notch nobody here gives a bad performance, Zac Efron plays Kevin Von Erich and gives one of the most touching performances I’ve seen from a film this year. It’s a devastating performance that captures the incredibly sad story of Kevin Von Erich, there’s so many moments here where you can absolutely feel the pain in his voice and body language. There’s another scene where Kevin Von Erich is having such a good time being married and dancing with his wife Pam Adikisson (played by Lily James) and his brothers Kerry (played by Jeremy Allen White), Mike (played by Stanley Simons and David (played by Harris Dickinson) this scene in particular is the finale of the happy moments of the film. And the way Zac Efron is able to capture both these times where Kevin is living a much happier life and when he’s surrounded by tragedy which he even goes as far as to consider that the “Von Erich curse” is real (which you really can’t blame him for that) is absolutely incredible and truly shows Efron’s talent as an actor.

Jeremy Allen White, Harrison Dickinson, Stanley Simons, Holt McCallany and Lily James are all fantastic here. White, Dickson and Simons do a phenomenal job of capturing the pain and tragedy of the brothers. They all bounce of each other well making this incredibly more sad to watch as the bond all the brothers have here is incredibly grounded. Holt McCallany plays Fritz Von Erich which again much like everyone else here he does such a fantastic job, although the film is much more focused on the brothers and less on the abuse Fritz caused on the brothers. It’s still very much implied through the brother’s facial expressions of clearly not wanting to do something but they want to make their father proud so they do it. Although Lily James isn’t a huge focus, she is still quite incredibly here and naturally fits incredibly well with the cast.

The way the story is told here combined with the acting is what really makes this film, it’s told in such a focused and emotional way that quickly grabs the viewer’s heart. Right from the beginning there’s little subtle hints as to what’s going to happen, even if you haven’t heard the story of the Von Erichs you still have this feeling something is going to really hit you like a truck and that’s absolutely the case. Durkin does such as great job of making this as grounded as possible, which is important since this is based off of a true story. With a sad story like this you want to tell it in the most grounded way possibly and luckily that’s the case here.

The wrestling scenes are quite powerful and whether this was intentional or not in some ways really fit together with the tragedy of the story. The wrestling scenes have this extra gut punch where you can really feel and hear the impact, in a lot of other wrestling movies you can tell they are just action scenes. But here you really feel the brutality of it all it’s so well directed and the sound is incredibly sharp.

The final moments of the film is what absolutely got me to cry, I’m not going to spoil what’s said because it’s something you must hear for yourself to get the full impact. But the moments really sum up this film and really wrap up the film in such a beautiful and touching way. The ending is on the hopeful side with the film mentioning Kevin Von Erich having grandchildren and they constantly meet up, it’s truly touching and moments like this that really bring the viewer to tears.

The Iron Claw is available in theaters.

10/10 A+

Cassandro is a disappointing biopic.

Saúl Armendáriz, a homosexual amateur wrestler from El Paso, Texas, rises to international stardom when he creates the character Cassandro, the `Liberace of Lucha Libre.’ He upends not just the macho wrestling world, but also his own life.

Biopics in recent years have become far more frequent, in some ways it’s a positive since audiences are introduced to people who they might have never heard of. On the other hand biopics being pushed out the door leaves room for some studios to really skim through said person’s story. Unfortunately that’s what happened here with Cassandro.

Cassandro is a biopic about Saúl Armendáriz who became a wrestler and used the stage name Cassandro, he is a former NWA World Welterweight and UWA World Lightweight Champion.

Reading Armendáriz’s story it’s a very interesting one, a gay amateur wrestler slowly but surely climbs his way to international stardom, who along the way has a journey of expressing his sexual identity, going through loss, poverty and such. It’s an aspiring story that really deserves to be told in great detail but sadly that’s not the case here unfortunately.

Cassandro is told as if someone was skimming a book they have to study for a test and declares that’s enough to pass, but in reality you are missing a lot of key details that are important. I will say that the performances all around are quite great the standout being Gael García Bernal who plays Cassandro, there’s a few moments where the movie clearly has it’s heart in the right place and has a few emotional moments that really do shine. Bernal’s performance is incredibly charming and really keeps you rooting for him throughout the film. The filming and score are also quite decent as well, they fit the tone for what the movie is going for especially towards the end.

The main issue here is we really don’t get to see Cassandro overcome obstacles in a lot of detail, heck by the second fight he’s already a runaway star which really leaves the viewer puzzled as there is so much to his story not being told very well or just flat out missing. The movie takes the form of less then a biopic and more of a traditional underdog story that plays incredibly safe. I’m not saying the movie needed to include every single thing about Cassandro’s life but at the very least give more details and don’t leave out parts that could make this movie impactful.

Cassandro is available on Amazon Prime Video.

5/10 C

She Said is a respectful film that tackles sexual assault and harassment.

The New York Times journalists Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor publish a report that exposes sexual abuse allegations against powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. The shocking story also serves as a launching pad for the #MeToo movement, shattering decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault and harassment.

Making a film about sexual harassment and abuse is a very hard task, it’s a very heavy subject that you have to really nail down to get right and luckily She Said nails it. From the trailers it did seem like another case of Hollywood patting themselves on the back despite sexual abuse and harassment still being a huge ongoing problem in the industry. She Said tells the events of Harvey Weinstein one of the biggest Hollywood producers being finally exposed for his disgusting crimes, I do want to note that She Said is not just about Harvey Weinstein it’s about Sexual harassment and assault happening in the workplace being covered up in general. The cast is very strong here particularly Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan who truly deliver some powerful and honest performances that really bring a lot to the film, both of which play real journalists which only add to the power of their performances. The film is also claustrophobic and quite disturbing at times which it accomplishes that by never showing any of the sexual assault or harassment instead it uses it’s atmosphere combined with it’s writing to put the viewer into the victims shoes. It might be a bit disturbing yet the film is empathetic and approaches the heavy topic with a lot of respect and that has a lot to do with Maria Schrader’s direction who really nails down a huge issue that is still going on in Hollywood, she makes some very strong decisions such as letting survivors tell their stories and show tons of emotion while talking to the journalists. It creates a brutally honest experience that is very real, combined that with Kazan and Mulligan blending incredibly well together with their two very different personalities and you have a honest film that approaches a heavy subject with tons of respect.

She Said is currently in theaters.

8/10 B+

Charlotte is decent but could have been more.

An account of German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon living in the south of France between 1941 and 1943.

Charlotte definitely has the right ingredients to b a really strong movie, there’s just many parts about it that hold it back from doing so. The voice acting is quite great particularly Keira Knightly who really tries the best she can with the script she’s given, the story itself is interesting and tells the true story of German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon during World War II. The film itself is quite dark particularly the ending which is very sad and is very effective, there’s footage at the end of a small interview of Salomon’s parents it’s incredibly touching and quite powerful as well. The problems with the movie are the script being way too weak and the animation, the animation isn’t something I would call terrible. But it really doesn’t capture the life of Charlotte Salomon and what she was going through very well, the script lacked powerful moments which is something a film like this needs. There’s the ending yes but a lot of the movie’s script was very undercooked and was very rushed as well. Charlotte isn’t a bad movie just one that could have went a lot deeper than it did.

Charlotte is available on all VOD Platforms.

6/10 C+

The Eyes Of Tammy Faye Turns Jessica Chastain into Tammy Faye!

An intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker.

The Eyes Of Tammy Faye is interesting and sort of surprising, right from the beginning it gives this bizarre style to it that I had no idea what to make of it. There are very standard biopic bits during the first half that aren’t too exciting but not anything really bad, Jessica Chastain gives one of her best performances here and is more than likely going to get nominated when the award shows start. And as she should she becomes Tammy Faye, she nails every single thing about her from how she acted and spoke to her style of singing. Speaking of which the songs were very great, despite Christian music certainly not being my type of music I still found myself singing along and have actually listened to a few of the songs since I saw the film. Andrew Garfield is also pretty great as well, while he isn’t as good as Jessica Chastain he still delivers a fantastic performance and was very believable as Jim Bakker. There are moments when he even becomes Jim Bakker it gets pretty scary, Cherry Jones who plays Rachel LaValley deserves to be talked about more for her performance. She’s hilarious, she gives this sarcastic yet loving performance that really makes you smile. The major flaw with The Eyes Of Tammy Faye is skimming over certain subjects. Especially with her connection to the LGBT community sure it’s shown in the film a few times and it does show she genuinely cares about the community, however it doesn’t feel like it’s discussed very much. I would have also loved to see the film dive a bit deeper on the shadiness of televangelist, but for what the movie did talk about it did a solid job. The writing definitely improves as it goes on, it starts out good enough but just very strange for the sake of feeling strange, but as the movie reaches its 30 minute mark it improves quite well. Overall The Eyes Of Tammy Faye is quite great, it does feel like a very standard biopic at times but there is a lot to like about this one, I recommend watching this one solely because of the performances!

The Eyes Of Tammy Faye is available in theaters!

7/10 B

Worth is both interesting and emotional when it comes to interview scenes!

An attorney in Washington D.C. battles against cynicism, bureaucracy and politics to help the victims of 9/11.

Worth is a pretty solid movie that tells the true story of lawyer Kenneth Feinberg who battles a ton of obstacles to help the victims of 9/11. Michael Keaton and Stanley Tucci both give very solid performances, Worth is at it’s best when it focuses on the victims of 9/11 particularly the interview scenes. It has a lot of human interaction during those scenes and has a huge sense of rawness to it as well, that ultimately make this movie an emotional ride at times. I do wish the writing could have been a bit stronger in some areas, particularly the first act that does take a bit to get going. Worth is overall a solid enough movie that is quite interesting and delivers the emotional moments quite well.

Worth is now available on Netflix!

7/10 B