© Watermelon Pictures
"Who Killed Alex Odeah" (2026)
A photo of Alex Odeh with his family featured in "Who Killed Alex Odeh" (2026).
Beware Boiuna
(Opens in Milwaukee Theaters Oct. 2)
The long extinct titanoboa snake reached up to 47-feet in length, weighing in at up to 2,500 pounds. In Beware Boiuna, this gigantic snake has survived in the backwaters of the Amazon. On a mission to help the local tribes, medical students Alli (Jessica Rothe) and Callum (Will Close) are led by Dr. Miguel Villanueva (Juan Pablo Shuk). Their boat is competently crewed by Raul (Jaime Newball) and Lena (Kiana Madeira), but they soon run afoul of mining surveyor Brennan (Logan Marshall-Green), and his nasty brother, Shawn (Jackson Bews).
When a violent altercation ensues, the enormous snake Boiuna is activated. For a time, the miners’ vengeful pursuit takes center stage, but there’s no contest once Boiuna slithers on-screen. She is fast, deadly and makes short work of those deserving her wrath, along with some who do not. Director Mike P. Nelson manages to outdo Anaconda, delivering sufficient scares to earn this one its creature-feature bona fides. (Lisa Miller)
Verity
(In Theaters Oct. 2)
Usually things are as they seem, but in Verity, adapted from the thriller by Colleen Hoover, they may not be. Exhibit one is Verity Crawford (Anne Hathaway), a non-speaking, paralyzed author, who may be moving when no one is looking. Exhibit two is Verity’s bereaved husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett), who appears to long for his wife, but who may be showing an inappropriate interest in Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson), the struggling writer he’s hired to ghostwrite the final novel in Verity’s series. Exhibit three is Lowen. She appears genuinely concerned for all involved, including Jeremy and Verity’s teen son Crew (Brady Wagner), but she also imagines herself capable of stepping into every facet of Verity’s life. What originally appears to be black and white reveals a virtual grey-scape. Working from a screenplay by Nick Antosca, director Michael Showalter paints an R-rated portrait of dissatisfaction that seems wasted on the wealthy, while casting its spell over those who come into their orbit. The twisty plot does its work by keeping us guessing and then guessing some more. (Lisa Miller)
Who Killed Alex Odeh
(4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4, Oriental Theatre)
In 1985 a bomb tore through the Santa Ana, CA office of the American Arab Anti-Defamation Committee, killing its regional director, Alex Odeh. It was the fourth such bombing linked to the militant Jewish Defense League (JDL). No arrests were made.
Jason Osder and William Lafi Youmans’ documentary begins with Odeh’s story and fans out across larger geopolitics. Studying in Cairo during the 1967 war, the Palestinian Christian was not allowed to return to the newly occupied West Bank Odeh came to America, became an immigrant success story, a husband and father. Struggling against Hollywood’s insipid Arab stereotypes, he became the guy California’s media called after every Palestinian terrorist attack. His thoughtful 45-minute interviews were chopped into six-second out of context soundbites. The media helped turn him into a target.
Working with interviews and archival footage, including Congressional testimony, the film reveals that the FBI had three suspects in mind. Those men fled to Israel and lived hidden in plain sight; one was eventually extradited to the U.S. and sentenced to life for another murder. They belonged to the JDL, founded by Meir Kahane, a malignant, undisguised racist. His advocacy of ethnic cleansing only metastasized since his 1990 assassination. His followers are key coalition partners of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The FBI let the Odeh case go cold. However, Israeli journalist David Sheen took up the investigation and connected the dots. He eventually located a retired Santa Ana police detective who recalls the State Department told the FBI as well the local cops to let the suspects slip away. Who Killed Alex Odeh’s shameful story screens as part of this year’s Milwaukee Muslim Film Festival. (David Luhrssen)
