NEW MOVIES: April 17-23, 2025, “Sinners,” “Sneaks,” “The Wedding Banquet,” “Evicted!”

SINNERS

SINNERS

Sinners is an upcoming American period supernatural horror film written, produced, and directed by Ryan Coogler. Set in the 1930s in the Southern United States, the film stars Michael B. Jordan in a dual role as twin brothers who return to their hometown but face greater evil.  [4]The film also features Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O’ConnellWunmi MosakuJayme LawsonOmar MillerLi Jun Li, and Delroy Lindo.

By January 2024, when Jordan was cast, Coogler began developing the genre film through his production company, Proximity Media. Warner Bros. Pictures acquired distribution rights the next month following a bidding war, and casting for additional roles took place in April, before filming that month. Filming wrapped in July 2024.

Sinners is scheduled to be released in the United States on April 18, 2025.[5]

Premise

Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.[6]

— Warner Bros. Pictures

Cast

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SNEAKS

SNEAKS

Sneaks is a 2025 animated sports comedy film directed by Rob Edwards and Chris Jenkins from a script by Edwards. It is Edwards’ feature directorial debut.[2][3][4]

The film features an ensemble cast, including the voices of Anthony MackieMartin LawrenceSwae LeeChloe BaileyMacy GrayElla MaiMustardRoddy RicchQuavoYoung Miko, Amirah Hall, Kiana LedéBobbito GarciaSam JaySky BrownRayssa LealRico RodriguezKeith DavidChris Paul, and Laurence Fishburne.

The film was released on Sky Cinema in the United Kingdom on March 28, 2025, and will be released theatrically in the United States on April 18.

Plot

Sneaks follows the adventures of Ty, a misguided designer sneaker who does not know life outside the comforts of his velvet-lined shoe box. After a shady collector steals his sister, Ty must venture into New York City to find and rescue her. In his adventure, Ty meets a ragtag group of footwear friends from all walks of life who help him find the courage to step outside his shoe box and find his “sole-mate.” [citation needed]

Voice cast

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THE WEDDING BANQUET

THE WEDDING BANQUET

The Wedding Banquet[3] is a 1993 romantic comedy film directed, produced and co-written by Ang Lee. The story concerns a bisexual Taiwanese immigrant man (Winston Chao, in his film debut) who marries a mainland Chinese woman (May Chin) to placate his parents (Gua Ah-leh and Lung Sihung) and get her a green card. His plan backfires when his parents arrive in the United States to plan his wedding banquet, and he has to hide the truth about his gay partner (Mitchell Lichtenstein). It was a co-production of Lee’s Good Machine production company and the Taiwanese Central Motion Picture Corporation.

Lee’s second feature film and his first to get a theatrical release in the United States, The Wedding Banquet, premiered at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Bear. It was both a critical and commercial success, winning five Golden Horse Awards, including Best Film and Best Director. It received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Foreign-Language Film, as well as six Independent Spirit Award nominations.

Together with Pushing Hands (1991) and Eat Drink Man Woman (1994), all showing the Confucian family at risk and all starring the Taiwanese actor Lung Sihung, The Wedding Banquet forms what has been called Lee’s “Father Knows Best” trilogy.[4]

In 2023, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Plot

Gao Wai-Tung is a bisexual Taiwanese immigrant happily living in Manhattan with his gay Jewish partner, Simon. He has not come out to his traditionally minded parents, who live back in Taiwan, and, as he’s in his late 20s, they’ve become eager to see him get married and have a child to continue the family line. When his parents hire a dating service, Wai-Tung and Simon stall for time by inventing numerous impossible demands. They demand an opera singer while requesting that she be 5’9″, have two PhDs, and speak five languages. To their shock, the service locates a 5’8″ Chinese woman who meets all but one of their qualifications, having only a single PhD instead of two. She is very gracious when Wai-Tung explains his dilemma, as she, too, is hiding a relationship with a white man from her parents.

At Simon’s insistence, Wai-Tung decides to marry one of his tenants, Wei-Wei, a penniless artist from mainland China needing a green card. Besides helping Wei-Wei, the couple hopes this will placate Wai-Tung’s parents. To complicate matters, Mr. and Mrs. Gao announce they will visit. Before the parents arrive, Simon tells Wei-Wei everything she needs to know about Wai-Tung’s habits, body, and lifestyle, and the three hastily take down all gay imagery and décor from the house and hang Mandarin calligraphy scrolls in its place.

Mr. and Mrs. Gao arrive bringing gifts and US$30,000 to hold an extravagant wedding for their son, believing he has a wealthy fiancée. Wai-Tung dares not tell his parents the truth because his father (a retired army officer) has just recovered from a stroke. As a part of the lie, Wai-Tung introduces Simon as his landlord.

The day after his parents arrive, Wai-Tung announces that he and Wei-Wei plan to be married by a Justice of the Peace. However, the heartbreak his mother experiences at the courthouse wedding, both at the arrangement and at the discovery of the low social class of Wei-Wei, moves Wai-Tung to make up for the ‘disgraceful’ wedding by accepting the offer of a magnificent wedding banquet from Mr. Gao’s former batman, who now owns a restaurant and reception hall. After the lavish banquet, a huge party of relatives and friends barges into the bridal suite for an after-party and demands that the newlyweds get in bed naked before they leave. This leads to Wei-Wei’s pregnancy. Simon is extremely upset when he finds out, provoking an argument between them and Wei-Wei, and his relationship with Wai-Tung deteriorates.

Mr. Gao suffers another stroke, and in a moment of anger after the fight, Wai-Tung admits the truth to his mother. She is shocked and insists that he not tell his father. However, the perceptive Mr. Gao has seen more than he lets on. He tells Simon that he knows about their relationship and considers Simon his son, appreciating his considerable sacrifices to be together with Wai-Tung. Mr. Gao gives Simon a hongbao, a symbolic admission of their relationship. Still, Simon promises not to let on to the others that he knows the truth, saying that without the sham marriage, he’d never have a grandchild. While en route to an appointment for an abortion, Wei-Wei decides to keep the baby and asks Simon to stay together with Wai-Tung and be the baby’s father, too.

At the airport, before the Gaos’ flight home, Mr. Gao accepts Simon and warmly shakes his hand. Mrs. Gao bids Wei-Wei a fond farewell before they board their plane, leaving the unconventional new family to figure themselves out.

Cast

 

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EVICTED!

EVICTED!

With an impending eviction hanging over their heads, freshly unemployed Maggie, gig-economy worker Will, and feuding couple Isabelle and May embark on a seemingly futile hunt for an affordable shared house. Along the way, they encounter unsanitary toilets, attic kitchens, and an alleged haunting. As Will forms an unlikely friendship with a war veteran, Isabelle hits it off with her local barista, and endless mishaps, coincidences, and hookups go awry.

The Story Mill is a fresh, new production studio crafting unique stories through visual mediums. Whether through narrative features or documentaries, we always know how to leave an impression.

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4/15/2025 #Sinners #Sneaks #TheWeddingBanquet #Evicted!

 

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