Priscilla (in theaters) 

Sometimes, fairy tales don’t have happy endings. Other times, the happier ending isn’t the one you thought it was going to be at the start. 

That’s the case with Priscilla Presley, whose 1985 autobiography was adapted into the new movie “Priscilla.” The Sofia Coppola-helmed film chronicles Priscilla’s life from when she first meets Elvis to when she leaves him decades later, taking a bittersweet, almost dreamlike approach that makes it all feel like a fairy tale. Not a happy one, necessarily, but definitely one with trapped princesses, monsters to slay, and true love that stays strong even if it doesn’t quite make it to ever after. 

The movie is a surprisingly faithful adaptation of the biography, though it makes an odd choice of keeping the plot largely episodic. Priscilla first met Elvis when she was 14 years old, when both her father and Elvis were stationed overseas in Germany. Though her parents initially opposed the age gap, Elvis quickly charmed them and the two got married when Priscilla was 19. That was when she was moved to Graceland, entering a world of drugs, fame, and mercurial tempers she wasn’t prepared for. 

A source of a lot of that mercurial temper was Elvis himself, who is played here by Jacob Elordi. It’s a far less sympathetic portrayal than we saw from Austin Butler in Baz Luhrman’s 2022 biopic, but Elordi does capture something of Elvis’s dangerous charisma. More importantly, he and the phenomenal young actress Cailee Spaeny also show a believable bond between Priscilla and Elvis, one that makes it understandable why she stayed as long as she did. 

Grade: Three stars

Five Nights at Freddy’s (in theaters and on Peacock) 

I don’t know if “Five Nights at Freddy’s” is a good movie, but I enjoyed watching it.

The movie takes the complicated lore from the popular game series and ties it together into a mostly coherent plot, clearly written with a deep love for the games themselves. It’s full of Easter eggs for fans, and while non-fans might be baffled by certain unanswered questions there’s also a surprisingly engaging story at the heart of all of it. There is blood spatter, and while I wouldn’t call it scary there’s just a little creepiness in all the right places. 

The story starts with a traumatized young man who is desperate for work as a security guard so he can take care of his orphaned sister. This leads him to Freddy’s, an old kids’ pizza place that has been closed for years due to its dark past. When he goes to work, he uncovers dark secrets and soon has to fight for not only his own life but those of the people he cares about most. 

If you’re not familiar with the games, the Freddy’s universe gives a dark backstory to animatronic figures clearly based off the old Chucky Cheese-style performers. Neither the games or the movie explain why them being haunted makes them come alive, or the rules for their interaction, but beyond that the show is careful to sort out a lot of the series’ lore. It also has both some sweet moments and a few nice jump scares, treats for a wide range of the movie’s potential audience. 

Grade: Two and a half stars

Jenniffer Wardell is an award-winning movie critic and member of the Utah Film Critics Association. Find her on Twitter at @wardellwriter or drop her a line at [email protected].