Top Fifteen Films of 2025

1).  One Battle After Another  (2025) R  In One Battle After Another, a notorious enemy named Steve Lockjaw (Sean Penn) has resurfaced after 16 years, broken into Bob’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) home, and kidnapped his daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti). Bob, a civil rights activist, must team up with an anti-government group to locate and rescue his daughter from an alt-right white supremacist group. It's not often that a September movie rises to the top of the Oscar ranks, but Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another manages to do just that. This film combines the laid-back hippiness vibe of The Big Lebowski with the political satire of Dr. Strangelove, while featuring a villain reminiscent of those in '80s and '90s action films—although this character might be the funniest bad guy ever portrayed on screen. One Battle After Another is (I hesitate to tell you this because some of you may want to stay away) the fastest two-hour and forty-minute film you will ever see. The film is a joy to watch and keeps surprising you with both bouts of violence and humor that keep you off-kilter (in a good way), which keeps coming. This is a fast-moving and witty look at America and its political system, but it’s done in such a way that it’s brilliantly executed, and I suspect many won’t realize what hit them until the end. It is going to be fascinating to see if Leo gets an Oscar nod, because it’s such a brilliantly understated performance, one that few actors could do. This is one of those performances that is so expertly crafted that you almost underestimate how good Leo is in the role. Sean Penn is hilarious as the ultra-rigid Colonel, who has a huge flaw (which I won’t reveal) and feels that his place in the history of the world is set in stone. Teyana Taylor as Perfidia is a force of nature as Bob’s partner and the leader of the revolutionary group. Her performance and the essence of her character are brilliantly captured in a scene where she fiercely fires an AK-47 while heavily pregnant. Perfidia is all about the cause, and it consumes her entirely. While she loves Bob, her passion for the revolution takes precedence over everything else. I could go on and on about every performance in this film, but I would be remiss without mentioning how much fun it is to watch Benicio Del Toro as a partner in crime whose character is every bit as cool and laid-back as Leo’s Bob is a bag of nerves. The hero of the story isn’t Bob but his daughter Willa, played with poise and style by Chase Infiniti. Infiniti portrays Willa as a young woman who has had to live with the legacy of a mother who was a radical and a father who has spent most of her years as a paranoid pothead, but has instilled in her a willingness to survive and the guts not to back down. One Battle After Another is a film that puts its foot on the gas from almost the first frame and doesn’t let off until its hilarious and satisfying end. I had a blast watching this film, and it’s not very often that the hype matches the worthiness of a movie. Please see this in a theater with an audience on the largest screen you can find; it will be worth the price of admission. Any film that pays homage to one of my favorite films, Bullitt, is a film that I want to see again as soon as possible. And you will too. My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  One Battle After Another Website   The film is still in some theaters and is available to stream on HBOMAX and for rent on most streaming platforms

2).   Marty Supreme   (2025)  R   Marty Supreme is about Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet), a man in 1950s New York City who believes he is the world’s best ping-pong player. Marty is out to prove it and is willing to take on anybody to show he is the best. Timothée Chalamet gives a mesmerizing performance as a man who is convinced that table tennis is the next big sport to take the world by storm, and that he is the man to bring the sport the glory and attention it deserves. Because Marty believes he deserves it too. Marty is a character that you love to hate, but in the end, you also want him to succeed, in spite of himself. To say Marty is full of himself would be putting it mildly, as he is convinced he is not only great but that he deserves a lot more admiration and attention than he is getting. Chalamet gives us a man who has no humanity but is still, at his heart, has a humanity about him, that is there, you just have to dig a bit to find it, and Chalamet and filmmaker Josh Safdie allow us to see it, even if it is just a glance or two. This is a film that asks you to hold on to the coattails of Marty and hold on tight, because he is going to give you a ride that doesn’t seem to slow down or stop for anyone or anything. It’s a thrilling performance in a movie that makes you want to go to the theater. Marty Supreme is a ride that you won’t forget; you may need some oxygen by the end, and you will think back in wonder at what Mr. Chalamet and Mr. Safdie have created. My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  Marty Supreme Website  The film is currently in theaters

3).   Sinners  (2025)  R  In Sinners, twin brothers Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan) are trying to leave their troubled past behind and return to their hometown to open a dance hall. They soon discover that their hometown has changed, and a great evil is waiting to welcome them back. Back in 2013, filmmaker Ryan Coogler hit us right between the eyes with the outstanding Fruitvale Station, starring an up-and-coming young actor named Michael B. Jordan. Since then, Coogler has given us Creed and the two Black Panther films. In what is his most original and best film to date, we now get a vampire thriller that has roots in everything from legendary blues singers, prohibition, and Jim Crow to even Irish folk music. With a huge nod to Robert Rodriquez and Quentin Tarantino’s 1996 film From Dusk Till Dawn, the film follows twins Smoke and Stack, played by the brilliant Michael B. Jordan, as they come back from spending time in Chicago, where they may have stolen a whole lot of money and booze from the mob.They are back to open a blues joint with some locals’ help. Along the way, they gather a cast of characters to make their endeavor a success, including a local blue legend in Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo), their cousin, Sammie (Miles Caton in his feature film debut), a budding blues singer/guitarist, and a couple of former flames of the twins in Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), a love of Stacks that ended badly, and Annie (Wunmi Mosaku), Smoke’s one true love. Both relationships with the twins have history and baggage that hangs over the two couples like a huge dark cloud. Coogler spends the first hour giving us a clear understanding of the history that follows each of the characters, giving us insight into how they function in this world of gambling, song, stolen whiskey, and even religion. The film’s second half is the opening of the juke joint, which is a rousing success, until a trio of white musicians want to join the party, and the twins tell them to find somewhere else to party. However, we already know that these musicians aren’t there to make music but are to turn everyone they can into vampires, and it’s up to the twins and a few of their friends to stop them. Coogler uses this backdrop to tackle everything from lost love to race in America while making an entertaining and bloody horror film where the odds of the twins and their friends surviving the night look pretty grim. Sinners is a film that explores the strength of family, religion, and music and how the monsters that show up in the middle of the night might be worse than you ever thought. The action sequences are fast, bloody, and sometimes humorous, as the body count keeps rising.  Something has to be said about the performance of Miles Caton as Sammie. His singing and blues guitar playing is joyful, brilliant and moving. When he plays and sings, he commands the screen and you can't take your eyes off of him. Don’t be afraid of the two-hour and seventeen-minute run length, as the film moves at such a fast pace and instantly puts you in the middle of the Twins world that you will be sorry that the film has ended as soon as it does. So grab a beer, sit down to listen to some great blues music, and maybe get up to dance a bit. But here’s a bit of advice: if anyone asks if they can come in to join you, maybe see if they like garlic or have trouble with holy water. Just a suggestion that might come in handy. Catch it on the biggest screen you can, and stay through all the credits, as there are a couple of bonus scenes worth staying for, including a tremendous cameo. My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  Sinners Website    The film is available to stream on Prime Video and HBOMAX  and is available to rent on most streaming platforms  

4).  Sentimental Value  (2025) R  In Sentimental Value, after the death of their mother Sissel, estranged sisters Nora (Renate Reinsve), an actress, and Agnes Borg (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), a housewife and mother, are compelled to confront their distant father Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård). Gustav, a once-famous but now almost forgotten film director who abandoned the family when the girls were still young, now wishes to produce a play based on his mother. He wants Nora to take on the lead role, something she vowed never to do. A lot of films that are made about actors, directors, and filmmakers feel just like that: actors portraying actors. I just reviewed a film that felt like that in Jay Kelly, where I knew it was George Clooney portraying a character. Then you get films like Sentimental Value, where the characters feel real, and while acting and filmmaking are part of the plot, they’re not what the film is about. Instead, Sentimental Value is about broken promises, childhood heartache, and making your profession more important than that of your family. Sentimental Value is about love, finding your passion, and how just because a house is called a home, it isn’t necessarily a home to everyone. This is a powerful film that follows four people on a journey to explore the past, how it affects them now, and if they can find and possibly handle the answers that they are searching for. Led by Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgård, the cast is brilliant, offering performances that are incredibly rich in depth and impressively revealing the pain and grief the past has dealt them and how it has driven each person to a breaking point. Sentimental Value is one of the best films of the year, moving, painful, and at times inspiring. Exactly what kind of film both Gustav and Nora would be proud to make.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  Sentimental Value Website  The film is in select theaters

5).  It Was Just an Accident  (2025)  PG-13   It Was Just an Accident is about Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi), who, after hitting a dog by accident with his car, encounters a man from his past, a past that quickly catches up with him. It Was Just an Accident is one of the best films of the year, and if politics doesn’t get in the way, it should be nominated for all the awards. The film is from Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi and deals with the aftermath of a group of friends who all met while being imprisoned by a brutal government. Panahi knows the subject matter well, having been thrown in jail charged with propaganda against the Iranian government. I won’t give away too much about this film, which is part thriller, part mystery, and has a bit of surprising comedy. It’s a film about justice, revenge, and how people’s lives are drastically changed by a system that continually puts its foot on the necks of those who even mildly resist. It Was Just an Accident is a film that will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end and is one of those films you will continue to talk about for months. This is a movie from a filmmaker who is at the top of his game and knows how to push every button to create a film that will hit you to your core.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  It Was Just an Accident Website  The film is available to rent on AppleTV and Amazon Prime

6).  Train Dreams  (2025)  PG-13  Train Dreams follows Robert (Joel Edgerton), a man who drifts from job to job in the early 20th-century Pacific Northwest until he meets Gladys (Felicity Jones), whom he quickly loses his heart to and marries. Robert immerses himself in his work on the land and explores nature's wonders, all while navigating the challenges of love and loss. Train Dreams needs to be seen in theaters as the scenery is not only crucial to the story but is one of the main characters. Joel Edgerton does a masterful job playing a man who didn’t want much in life, other than to be out in the woods, until he met Gladys, and then all he wanted was to share his life and his woods with her. This is a film with intense highs and lows, some of which Robert never recovers from. He is a man who wonders if his work is worth being away from his family and if what he is doing is hurting the very fabric of the place he deeply loves. Train Dreams is a haunting film that gets under your skin, so much so that you think you can smell the trees and feel the sawdust alongside Robert as he works to fell tree after tree. The supporting cast is outstanding, with Felicity Jones playing Gladys, a woman who saw Robert and knew he was the one; Alfred Hsing as a man who works alongside Robert; and William H. Macy as a demolition man who tells nonstop stories and gives advice at a moment's notice. Train Dreams is a moving and incredibly beautiful film that, like Robert’s dreams, will stay with you for a long time. My Rating: Full Price  Train Dreams Website The film is in select theaters and is available to stream on Netflix

7).  Weapons  (2025) R  Weapons begins one morning, when at 2:17 am, every child except one from Mrs. Gandy’s class woke up and left their homes, never to be seen again. What happened to the seventeen children, and how can a community discover their fate? Weapons is a horror film that is equally disturbing and funny. I was expecting far more scares (and there are still plenty), but I wasn’t expecting the humor, which took me for a ride. I saw the film with a packed audience, and one moment they were laughing and in the next they were shrieking from fear. I can’t give away too much of the plot because the reveals are so well thought out and brilliant that I don’t want to spoil it for you. From the first moments when we see the kids in the dead of night leaving their homes and running with their arms out behind them while George Harrison’s song “Beware of Darkness’ is playing, to the hectic and shocking ending, this is a masterful tale of horror, suspense, intrigue about a group of people in a small town trying to make sense of a mystery they can’t cope with. The film features remarkable performances, particularly from Josh Brolin, who portrays a father grappling with the disappearance of his son, and Julia Garner, who plays the troubled teacher of the classroom attended by the 17 missing students. Weapons is an exhilarating ride that keeps you on the edge of your seat, eagerly anticipating each reveal and shocked by the unexpected twists. It is a strong contender for horror film of the year and is a movie that will spark discussions not just in the parking lot, but for years to come.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again   Weapons Website  The film iss available to stream on HBOMax and rent on most streaming platforms

8).  Blue Moon  (2025)  R Blue Moon tells the story of songwriter Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke), who was at the top of the Broadway world alongside his writing partner, Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott). However, Rogers has left Hart to work on his new hit musical, Oklahoma!. Heartbroken and longing for a woman he secretly loves, Elizabeth (Margaret Qualley), Hart decides to attend the afterparty for Oklahoma! in an attempt to drown his sorrows. It’s going to be a night that few will forget. Ethan Hawke gives the performance of a lifetime as Lorenz Hart, who is described at the beginning of the movie as “the saddest man I ever knew.” Hawke portrays one of our greatest lyricist of all time as a man who has no hope with two of the most important people in his life, his former song-writing partner, Richard Rogers (played by Andrew Scott) and a college student, Elizabeth (played by Margaret Qualley), who Lorenz is madly in love with, even though she is over 25 years his junior. Hawke, who is sporting a horrible comb-over (Hawke shaved the top of his head for the role), and through camera and movie magic, has shrunken his height from 5’10 to a little under 5 feet tall for Hart’s appearance. It is a remarkable and commanding performance of a man who has burned too many personal and creative bridges and continues to believe, against all hope, that he has a chance with Elizabeth. It’s a moving performance that makes us root for a man who won’t win any battles, except one of wits. Margaret Qualley is perfect as the beautiful and smart Elizabeth, who sees Hart only as a friend and a way to get into the Broadway world. I loved Bobby Cannavale as the bartender who sees Lorenz not only as a good customer but also as a friend. Who wants to stop Hart from drinking but knows he will always give in to a man he can’t resist. The film is an hour and forty minutes long, but it makes sure we wait, like Hart, for the moments between Elizabeth and Lorenz until the last third of the film. It’s like watching a man who we know is about to be killed by a firing squad, but he thinks he is about to be pardoned. Hawke is a wonder to watch as he is in every scene as Hart weaves his way through story after story, while also figuring out a way to get drinks he shouldn’t be getting. Blue Moon is a film that you are dazzled by a performance of an actor who is playing a man who makes words become songs we will never forget, just as we will never forget this performance that Ethan Hawke has given us. My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  Blue Moon Website   The film is in select theaters and is available to rent on most streaming platforms

9).  The Life of Chuck  (2024) R  The Life of Chuck explores the life and adventures of Charles Krantz, a man who is experiencing the end of his life while being celebrated by his friends and family. The Life of Chuck is one of those films that’s hard to review because its structure is complicated, and I don’t want to give away any of the surprises (and there are a few). One clue to this film is that it is based on a Stephen King novella, although more in the vein of The Shawshank Redemption or Stand by Me, rather than horror films like The Shining or It. The film is told in three parts and unfolds in reverse to tell us the story of Chuck. I will warn you that the first part is a little off-the-wall strange, and while Chuck makes an appearance, that part of the film is about two exes (Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan) who are trying to cope with a world gone off the rails and find support in re-connecting. Part two is about Chuck as an adult (played by ever-charismatic Tom Hiddleston), and part three is about Chuck as a teen (played by Jacob Tremblay) and as a kid (played by the adorable Benjamin Pajak). Along the way, there are some fantastic performances by Carl Lumbly, Mia Sara, and Mark Hamill (which I think is so good it could get him an Oscar nod). While not a musical, the film features some incredible and exciting dance numbers, with Hiddleston performing a thrilling and moving dance alongside the delightful Annalise Basso. The Life of Chuck is a film that slowly reveals its secrets, and while it throws you into a world that doesn’t make much sense at first, it becomes a joyful and life-affirming film that makes you feel glad you experienced the life of a man named Chuck.   My Rating: I Would Pay to See It Again   The Life of Chuck Website The film is avaialbe to stream on Hulu and rent on most streaming platforms

10).  Black Bag  (2025) R  In Black Bag, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) and her husband, George (Michael Fassbender), have a perfect marriage. Except for the fact that they are both intelligence agents that can’t talk about their jobs. When Kathryn is suspected of betraying her nation, George faces the ultimate test: loyalty to his loving wife or his country. Steven Soderbergh gives us a spy caper that lets two extraordinary actors perform at their finest. Black Bag is not your ordinary spy film, full of action sequences, but a film filled with smaller moments that are clever and exquisitely done, keeping you guessing on just who is guilty and who is innocent. It’s a game of cat and mouse, reminiscent of the great spy novels of Le Carre and Herron. Blanchett and Fassbender work together so well on screen that you believe that these two spies could save the world just by their charisma and wit. Black Bag is a polished, almost silky smooth spy caper where you don’t know who to trust or who to even suspect; you just know that George will figure it out. The only question is whether George’s love for his wife means that he will have to betray his country. The great thing about Black Bag is that you will find out in the end and thoroughly enjoy the mystery all along the way to that end. Black Bag is one of the best spy films of the past ten years, and anyone who loves watching a spy film that isn’t easy to figure out will love this film as much as I did.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again   Black Bag Website  The film is available to stream on Prime Video and rent on most streaming platforms

11).  A Little Prayer  (2023)   R   A Little Prayer is about Bill (David Strathairn) and his wife Venida (Celia Weston), who live and work in Winston-Salem. His son David (Will Pullen) works at Bill’s business and lives out back with his wife Tammy (Jane Levy). Bill is concerned that his son is drinking too much, and then learns that David is having an affair with a co-worker. Can Bill help mend the troubled marriage between David and Tammy? A Little Prayer is anchored by the subtle and moving performances of David Strathairn and Jane Levy. Strathairn as the father who struggles to keep his family together, while Levy as the put-upon wife of David, who puts on a brave and positive face, but inside is being destroyed little by little. Strathaim plays Bill as a man who has made mistakes in the past and is trying his best to make amends by being the peacemaker in the family. Unfortunately, his family keeps falling apart, tearing itself from the inside, and there isn’t much that Bill can do. All Bill can do is what he thinks is best, even if it means that things might get even worse. Levy is moving as the woman who always puts on a show of being happy when we see her in moments alone, where the pain and hurt are evident on her face or in her actions, such as wandering off into the backyard alone or being awake in bed while her drunk husband sleeps it off next to her. A Little Prayer is a film about people who have scars that have never healed. These wounds won’t mend until drastic changes are made, and not everyone is capable of making those changes.  My Rating: Full Price  A Little Prayer Website  The film is available to rent on Apple TV and Amazon Prime

12).  Come See Me in the Good Light  (2025)  TV-MA   Come See Me in the Good Light is a documentary that spends a year following Colorado’s Poet Laureate, Andrea Gibson, and their partner, Megan Falley, during Gibson’s fight against cancer. It’s hard to say that a documentary about someone fighting terminal cancer is uplifting, but this remarkable film is. At the heart of the film is a love story, not only between two people who seemed destined to find each other, but also about loving life. Andrea Gibson is a magical person you just want to be around. That magic is evident when she is on stage performing her poems or when she is alone with Megan, just talking about everything from cancer results to laughing about silly phone messages. Gibson has learned to live every day as if it’s her last, and her life story is one of ups/downs and self-doubt about who Andrea was and her place in the world. Come See Me in the Good Light is a documentary full of passion, love, and tears. Mostly though, it is about how to live a life full of love.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again   Come See Me in the Good Light Website  The film is available in select theaters and to stream on AppleTV

13).  No Other Choice  (2025)  R  In No Other Choice, Man-su (Lee Brung-hun) is doing well as a long-time employee of a paper company, living with his wife and child in a beautiful home. When his company is bought by a competitor, Man-us loses his job and is about to lose his house when he comes up for another job. His only problem is that there are some men who are more qualified than he is for the job. His solution: eliminate them. This is a very dark comedy where every scene is carefully crafted to have an impact, whether immediately or later on in the film. One moment you are laughing about a man who is trying to decide what flower pot to throw down on a person to kill them, and then another moment when you realize that this person is intent on actually killing someone. Lee Brung-hun is masterful at showing such a wide range of emotions, giving us a hero we have to quickly decide whether to root for or want to see fail. Director Park Chan-wook gives a film that shows the desperation of the times, how reason and humanity can go by the wayside just to keep up with what the next household has. The question at the end of the film is, Are you happy with the outcome? It’s a question that Park Chan-wook would love to hear your answer to. My Rating:  I Would Pay to See it Again  No Other Choice Website  The film is playing in select theaters

14).  If I Had Legs I'd Kick You  (2025)  R   If I Had Legs I Kick Youfocuses on Linda (Rose Byrne), who is increasingly troubled by the burden of all that life has dumped on her. Between her sick daughter, a house that is falling apart, a husband who is always away, and a very hostile relationship with her therapist, Linda is barely holding on. At the center of the film is a gutsy and magical performance by Rose Byrne, about a character that you want to root for but can’t always because she keeps pushing the boundaries of common sense, while we wait for her world to finally crash down around her. This isn’t a film for everyone, as Linda keeps putting herself in situations that you think are not only bad ideas but could get her in major trouble. Linda is a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown with a husband who manages her life from a phone, a daughter who she has to monitor 24 hours a day because of an illness and a therapist who treats her like she isn’t worth his time (kudos to Conan O’Brien for a taking a role that not only isn’t funny but is our right hate-able). Byrne skillfully portrays Linda, a character who, in the hands of less talented actors, could easily become unlikable or a caricature. Instead, she makes Linda someone we want to root for and care about, hoping she receives the help—both physical and emotional—she needs before she collapses under the weight of responsibility, guilt, and motherhood. If I Had Legs I'd Kick You is a fantastic film that combines suspense, black comedy, and heart to tell a story about a woman who is trying to jump through all the hoops and keep in the air all the balls that life has given her but it’s just too much effort to do both simultaneously and Linda in her heart knows it. My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  If I Had Legs I'd Kick You Website    The film is available to rent on most streaming platforms

15).   The Perfect Neighbor  (2025) R  The Perfect Neighbor is a documentary that tells the story of a minor disagreement between neighbors in Florida that escalated to repeated calls to the police and a horrifying, fatal turn that shocked a neighborhood and a nation. This is a film where you are a fly on the wall as this story unfolds because all the footage is from the perspective of the police body cams as they answer calls to the neighborhood. We see the constant buildup to the incident as the sheriff’s department interviews an older woman who is the source of the calls, complaining about the neighborhood kids going onto her property and harassing her. However, this isn’t your normal Fox Cops show; this is a horror film that we see unfold to us over months that lead up to the killing of a mother who was trying to confront a woman who had constantly called the police on both the adults and the children in the neighborhood. What makes this documentary different is that there isn’t a voice-over, only a day and time stamp. We see this sad story play out, knowing that something bad is going to happen, and there isn’t anything that can be done to stop it. It’s a harrowing watch that builds the tension as tempers rise on each call. Unlike the Cop episodes that we all watched on Saturday night, which tended to make instant heroes out of every cop they profiled, in this documentary, the police aren’t vindicated, nor are they at fault. It’s up to you, the viewer, to decide if the incident that happened was justified, brought on by a law, or if it was a criminal act. This is a film that will stick with you for a long time, and some images will haunt me. The Perfect Neighbor is a brilliant piece of filmmaking that is terrifying, moving, and brings about feelings of both anger and frustration. It is a powerful film that will inspire and infuriate.  My Rating: Full Price    The Perfect Neighbor Website  The film is available on the Netflix platform

Honorable Mention:  Hamnet, Predators, 28 Years Later The Long Walk, Sorry, Baby, Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk, Deaf President Now!, Warfare, Left-Handed Girl, The Voice of Hind Rajab, Splitsville, 2000 Meters to Andriivka, Twinless,  Cover-Up, The Baltimorons,  Natchez, Secret Mall Apartment

The Electric State

 My View:  The Electric State  (2025)  PG-13  The Electric State takes place after a robot uprising. Following their defeat, robots were sent to a fenced-in area known as The Electric State in the American West. Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) is determined to find her long-lost brother in The Electric State and is helped by a low-rent smuggler (Chris Pratt) and a wisecracking robot named Herman (Anthony Mackie). The duo are about to discover that maybe the world was mistaken about the robots. This film might have half-way worked on the big screen, with all the robots milling around, either in a mall or in the big, what was meant to be a big, spectacular battle scene at the end. However, as a streaming movie, it fails because we don’t care about any of the characters, including the robots. Ok, maybe I cared a little about Mr. Peanut (yep, that one), the leader of the robots, who is voiced by an almost unrecognizable Woody Harrelson. The Electric State is an alternate past movie, where Walt Disney created robots for Disneyland, which became a thing where the robots started doing all our grunt work, got fed up, and rebelled. This two-hour and eight-minute film directed by the Russo Brothers (Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: End Game) shows what happens when you get an unlimited budget where none of the money went into making the script or the characters work. The three main human characters are all such one-dimensional cartoon characters that we never get to know them; only they are full of quips that don’t work and a storyline that expects us to understand their relationships without giving us a way to do that. Pratt looks ridiculous, and his character is such a throwback to his Guardians character that he must have gotten whiplash. Brown is asked to carry the emotional aspect of the film, first with her long lost younger brother, who she tearfully remembers at almost every moment, so much so we want to shake her to snap her out of it. Then there is the evil scientist/Musk-like character played by Stanley Tucci, who is right out of a DC comic book from the 50s; so wooden and way too easy to figure out that he is evil and behind everything. Oh, and the message of the film? Robots are people, too. Boy, they spent a lot of money to get over that notion. Regrettably, it wasn't spent on the script.  My Rating: Cable  The Electric State Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform. 

My View:  Black Bag  (2025) R  In Black Bag, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett) and her husband, George (Michael Fassbender), have a perfect marriage. Except for the fact that they are both intelligence agents that can’t talk about their jobs. When Kathryn is suspected of betraying her nation, George faces the ultimate test: loyalty to his loving wife or his country. Steven Soderbergh gives us a spy caper that lets two extraordinary actors perform at their finest. Black Bag is not your ordinary spy film, full of action sequences, but a film filled with smaller moments that are clever and exquisitely done, keeping you guessing on just who is guilty and who is innocent. It’s a game of cat and mouse, reminiscent of the great spy novels of Le Carre and Herron. Blanchett and Fassbender work together so well on screen that you believe that these two spies could save the world just by their charisma and wit. Black Bag is a polished, almost silky smooth spy caper where you don’t know who to trust or who to even suspect; you just know that George will figure it out. The only question is whether George’s love for his wife means that he will have to betray his country. The great thing about Black Bag is that you will find out in the end and thoroughly enjoy the mystery all along the way to that end. Black Bag is one of the best spy films of the past ten years, and anyone who loves watching a spy film that isn’t easy to figure out will love this film as much as I did.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again Black Bag Website Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  Novocaine  (2025)  R  Novocaine is about Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid), who has finally found the courage to ask Sherry (Amber Midthunder) out, and their date was incredible. Now, right in front of Nathan’s eyes, the bank that she works at is held up, and she is taken hostage. What’s a guy to do but go to her rescue? What her kidnappers don’t know is that Nathan has a condition where he is incapable of feeling pain. To bring her back, he will need it. I want to warn you that this film is filled with broken bones, blood splatters, gunshot wounds, and people getting hurt in horrible and also amusing ways. And most of those things happen to our hero, Nathan. I had so much fun watching this film, though I will admit I had to look away a few times because of the savage and cruel ways that Nathan gets the crap beat, shot, stabbed out of him. Jack Quaid is perfect as the everyman who isn’t quite one because he can’t feel pain. That means Nathan has to be careful, even confining himself to a liquid diet because just about anything could be deadly, including biting his own tongue. There is a great running gag that his watch alarm goes off every 3 hours to remind him to pee, because he can’t feel the pain that we all feel when we have to go. I loved the chemistry between Quaid and Amber Midthunder, and the film sets up why Nathan is so quick to go to her rescue, even though he knows he could get hurt. Now I will admit the story does paint Nathan and Sherry into a corner that it doesn’t quite figure out how to get out of, but the film has a great time putting Nathan into situations where he can get really hurt and still survive to keep going on the chase. So get ready to advert your eyes a few times and go on adventure with Nathan as he slowly, surely falls apart as his body takes a beating and a few, ok, a lot of broken bones, to save the girl of his dreams.  My Rating: Full Price  Novocaine Website  Now playing in theaters. 

Familyfaire:  The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie  (2024) PG   In The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, who does Earth turn to when there is an alien invasion? Porky Pig and Daffy Duck, of course. Looney Tunes cartoons have always been a favorite of mine, having grown up watching them. While I feel that The Day the Earth Blew Up isn’t up to the standard of the cartoons of the past, it still is better than many of the weak animated films of the past few years. I kept waiting for a few other characters to show up from the Warner Brothers vault, but it’s solely the pig and the ducks’ picture, with some help from Petunia Pig. The plot is fun, with a couple of cool scenes that were right out of the old Superman animated films of the 40s, and the film moves along with the two getting into lots of trouble. I had a good time and laughed out loud a few times, but I felt like I needed more sight gags and jokes that had some wit. Still, kids will have fun, and adults will enjoy seeing a couple of old friends to go down memory lane with.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee  The Day the Earth Blew Up Website  Now playing in theaters.

Indiefest:  Opus  (2025)  R  Opus is about Ariel (Ayo Edebiri), who has been picked to attend the first concert by iconic musician Alfred Moretti (John Malkovich), who is going to perform for the first time in thirty years. The only problem: Ariel may have to join Alfred’s cult before he will perform. Opus is worth a bargain matinee ticket to see John Malkovich have so much fun in the part, playing a whacked-out musician. Unfortunately, the rest of the film isn’t worth even that price after a fun 30-minute start, as the film never feels scary, and the plot starts advancing at a too-quick pace, leaving us gasping for breath that never comes. Opus is one of those films where you question whether you have seen a movie with a plot like this or even the movie itself. About halfway through the hour and forty-three-minute runtime, I felt trapped just like Ariel does. And Opus has an ending that feels just too smug, but then again I guess Alfred Moretti was too.  My Rating: Cable  Opus Website  Now playing in theaters. 

My View:  The Parenting  (2025) R   In The Parenting, Rohan (Nik Dodani) and Josh (Brandon Flynn) are hosting their respective parents in a weekend country house rental. Things go downhill quickly when they discover the presence of a 400-year-old evil entity. The Parenting doesn’t know what it wants to be: a horror film that’s a comedy or a comedy that’s a horror film. Either way, it doesn't work, which is too bad with a cast that includes Brian Cox, Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, Dean Norris, and the always amazing Parker Posey. The movie seems like a bad Saturday Night Live skit, which is not unusual given that the screenwriter is a long-time writer of the late-night show. The Parenting never finds its way unless you think prolonged vomiting is funny or a dog being crushed by a cabinet is hilarious. Along the way, there are horrible jokes about parenting, slurs about homosexuality, and an ending that feels like the writer decided to take an easy way out of a plot that wasn’t working. So, along the way, you won’t laugh at the comic bits, and you won’t get scared by the horror bits. So what do you have left? A movie that fails from the outset. My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again    The Parenting Website  Now playing on the Max format.

My View:  Control Freak  (2025)   Control Freak revolves around Val (Kelly Marie Tran), a motivational speaker whose TED talks have become legendary for inspiring thousands to take control of their lives. Val’s fans are unaware that she is a tangled mess of anxiety that has caused her scalp to itch constantly. What Val at first chalks up to stress, the constant itching becomes something evil, an evil that will take Val onto the edge of madness. Val is a woman who, on the surface, appears to be in control but is actually losing control on the inside. I liked Kelly Marie Tran’s performance, but the film takes too long to establish that there are possible forces other than stress that are getting a hold of Val. It’s hard to tell from the storyline if all of this is in Val’s head or if there really is an evil force that has been living inside of Val since her birth. The film starts with an interesting idea of a woman who tells the world how to fix their problems by taking charge of them but can’t/won’t take charge of her own problems. However, the film goes too far into the horror aspect and blames everything on that evil being. By the end of the film, I just wanted it to be done with, but even with the film’s last shot, we see it will continue. I am just glad that it didn’t.  My Rating: Cable  Control Freak Info  Now playing on the Hulu platform.

My View:  Chaos: The Manson Murders  (2025) The documentary Chaos: The Manson Murders is a look into alternative theories surrounding one of the world’s most famous murder cases. Could there be unexpected connections to government agencies involving mind control experiments or a major coverup? The film is from Earl Morris, who won the 2004 Academy Award for his documentary The Fog of War, and is based on CHAOS: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties, a 2019 nonfiction book written by Tom O’Neill. This is a documentary that throws out a lot of theories against the wall of true-crime, hoping some of them will stick long enough for you to think that they might be true. The film is mostly O’Neill being interviewed by Morris, with one theory after another being presented in front of us. The most significant theory of the film is that Manson was part of the CIA mind control experiments and that he was allowed to carry on because he either knew too much or was part of their continuing experiment. What Morris gives us are just guesses and very flimsy ideas, which O'Neill presents to us as facts. At no time does anyone say that Manson wasn’t behind the killings, and in fact, a few of the facts show he was behind even more. Are you going to learn more about Manson and the reason for the murders? It will depend on whether you want to go down a deep, very sketchy rabbit hole of even sketchier facts or just go with the fact that Manson was a deeply troubled person who was able to brainwash young men and women with lots of drugs and paranoia. You choose. My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Chaos: The Manson Murders Website  Now playing on the Netflix platform. 

My View:  Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna  (2025)   Last Take is a documentary that looks at what happened on that fatal day when Alex Baldwin accidentally shot and killed celebrated indie cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film Rust in 2021. Last Take is a thoughtful and touching tribute to an up-and-coming cinematographer who had not only a promising career but a family, both of her own and of the people she worked with. Sadly, all was lost on that film set that day, and while the film doesn’t give you all the answers you want, it shows how talented Halyna was and how much she was loved. Last Take shows just how badly mistakes were made and kept being made up to the shooting, things that could have been prevented, including disharmony on the film set. We see that the accident didn’t have to happen, but most of the camera crew left the shoot short-handed after they voiced concerns about safety and working conditions. The film does an excellent job with behind-the-scenes photos, footage, and interviews with all except Baldwin and the armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed. The movie they planned to make was doomed from the beginning, including the fact that Gutierrez-Reed was a last-minute choice after two more experienced armorers refused the job. Last Take does an excellent job of letting us see what it is like working on an Indie film, where everyone is overworked, sometimes having to do two or three jobs at once, and always worried about costs and if the money will hold out. While part of the title is ‘the Story of Halyna’, I wanted more about the woman and a little less about the movie she was making. I wanted it to be more of a tribute to someone who didn’t deserve to die because of negligence. The film doesn’t give answers to why live ammunition was on the set or why the gun went off, things we may never know, and that’s a frustrating part of this film. However, maybe that’s the point. We don't always get the answers we want, and even if we did, it wouldn't change a life that was lost. My Rating: Bargain Matinee Last Take Website  Now playing on the Hulu platform.

Forgotten Film:  Hunger  (2008)  The story of the Irish republican inmates of a prison in Northern Island who go on a hunger strike to protest the conditions and the belief that they are political prisoners, not criminals. The strike is led by Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender), who believes that the only way he can get the world to pay attention is to die from hunger. This was the first feature film from filmmaker Steve McQueen, who has since created an incredible body of work, including the Oscar-winning film 12 Years a Slave. Hunger is the film that put both McQueen and Fassbender in the spotlight, as Fassbender gives a stellar and moving performance of a man whose body and mind are pushed to the limits. Sands, along with nine other prisoners, died for the cause, and we are given an inside look at how horrible life was in the prison both before and during the hunger strike. Hunger is an unforgettable film that will stay with you long after the last scene. My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  Hunger Info The film is available on BluRay/DVD disc. 

Weird Credits:  From the credits of Novocaine:  Breakdown Trainees

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  A Working Man  (2025)  R  Levon Cade (Jason Statham) is a man who left his profession to work a simple construction job and take care of his daughter. But when his boss’s teenage daughter vanishes, Levon uses his skills as a former legendary figure in the world of black ops to go on the hunt. Levon soon learns that his search for the missing college student will take him deep into a sinister criminal conspiracy. The film is directed by David Ayer, who also directed Statham in the fun and bold 2024 film The Beekeeper.  A Working Man Website  The film will be in theaters on Friday, March 28, 2025. 

Until Next Time!