One Battle After Another

My View:  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  Now playing in theaters, including IMAX

My View:  Eleanor the Great  (2025)  PG-13   In Eleanor the Great, Eleanor (June Squibb), after a devastating loss of her best friend Bessie, decides to move from Florida to New York City to live with her daughter and grandson. Feeling more alone than she imagined, Eleanor unexpectedly forms a friendship with a 19-year-old journalism student, Nina (Erin Kellyman). Unfortunately, through a misunderstanding, Nina believes Eleanor is a Holocaust survivor, but it’s Bessie’s story, not Eleanor’s. A lot of attention has been given to the fact that this is Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, and her direction is the weak link in this film, as it’s very bland and unimpressive. Johansson isn’t helped by a script that creates a character who seems to have no sense of shame or conflict. Luckily, Johansson is saved by an outstanding cast that can do the heavy lifting, making the film, despite its flaws, still enjoyable to watch. June Squibb, a long-time character actor with over 100 IMDB listings, has recently emerged as a leading actress, following her Oscar-nominated role as the feisty, swearing wife of Bruce Dern’s character in Nebraska. Squibb easily commands the screen with a laid-back grandmother approach that isn’t afraid to use her charm to get what she wants. Squibb is helped by an outstanding performance by Erin Kellyman, a student who befriends Eleanor to get her to tell her Holocaust story, and in return gets help from Eleanor dealing with the recent loss of her mother and a father (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who has checked out of parenting. Kellyman gives us just the right person for Eleanor to impart wisdom and support to. Some of the heavy emotional parts of the film are handled by Rita Zohar, who is the real heroine of the film that tells her story of the Holocaust. There are some powerful scenes between Squibb and Zohar that provide the background for why Eleanor wants to tell Bessie’s story. Unfortunately, those scenes are undercut by a script that gives Eleanor no moral compass or foresight, leaving her unaware that what she is doing is wrong. So watch Eleanor the Great for the performances, which more than outshine the plot and its direction.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee Eleanor the Great Website  Now playing in theaters nationwide. 

Indiefest:  The Summer Book  (2024)   The Summer Book tells the story of nine-year-old Sophia (Emily Matthews), who is spending the summer at her family’s seasonal home on a remote island in the Gulf of Finland. It’s the first summer without Sophia’s mother, and it will take the beauty of this special place and the nurturing support of Sophia’s grandmother (Glenn Close) to mend the grief that Sophia and her father (Anders Danielsen Lie) are experiencing. The Summer Book is a film that may be too slow and character-driven for some moviegoers to enjoy. However, if you love beautiful cinematography and leads that know how to fill a space without saying a word, then this film is for you. Glenn Close delivers another masterful performance as the grandmother who helps a lost child find her way back. The Summer Book a film about dealing with grief, finding a way to cope, and navigating the complexities of growing up and growing old. The Summer Book is about a time in a life that will be remembered not for what happened but for how much changed within. My Rating: Full Price  The Summer Book Website Now playing in select theaters. 

Indiefest: All of You  (2024) R  All of You is about Simon (Brett Goldstein) and Laura (Imogen Poots), who are best friends and have always joked about dating each other, but have never pursued a romantic relationship. Simon secretly believes that Laura is his one true love, but things change when Laura takes a test that identifies another man as “her one true love.” Will the two ever end up together after all the years of friendship? There is tremendous chemistry between Goldstein and Poots, and we feel the connection, love, and heat between the two characters every time they are on the screen. The repartee between the two makes the film enjoyable to watch, particularly in the first 30 minutes. However, no matter how much chemistry two stars give to each other, they can’t overcome a script that takes too long for there to be conflict, and then the consequences and the problems they cause seem too easily swept away. It’s a frustrating film that aspires to be a romance, but without ever getting to know the two people, other than the fact that they love each other’s company too much. Despite the strong start to the film, I became frustrated and sometimes bored by a script that prefers to give us slices of life instead of the whole pie.  My Rating: Bargain Matinee All of You Info  In select theaters and on Apple TV+.   

Indiefest:  Adulthood  (2025) R  Adulthood is about adult siblings Megan (Kaya Scodelario) and Noah (Josh Gad) who, when their mother is sick in the hospital, discover a dead body in the basement of their family home. That discovery will send the two down a rabbit hole of crime and murder that they may never recover from. Not harsh enough to be a black comedy and not funny enough to be a farce, Adulthood doesn’t know what it is, and that is the problem. The idea is that when the two siblings try to cover up that their mother may have killed a neighbor, that cover-up gets out of control, and bodies start piling up. However, the film never finds its footing, and what could have been funny is never delivered. Instead, we get two actors who have no chemistry together, and the story starts to bog down almost from the start. Scenes that are meant to shock us aren’t staged very well and lack the punch they need to hit the mark. The film has a lot of wasted space that slows down the story. I kept saying as it was playing, ‘Pick up the pace.’ Sadly, it never did.  My Rating: Cable Adulthood Website  Now playing in select theaters and available on Digital. 

Indiefest:  Dead of Winter  (2025)  R  Dead of Winter is set in northern Minnesota, where Barb (Emma Thompson) is fulfilling a last wish of spreading the ashes of her late husband on an isolated lake in the middle of nowhere. While there, she witnesses the kidnapping of a teenage girl (Laurel Marsden) and realizes, with no phone service and too far to get help, she is the girl’s only hope. I have always loved Emma Thompson, and once again, she delivers a remarkable performance as a character that is right out of a particular Coen Brothers movie, also set in Minnesota. Channeling a bit of Bruce Willis or Liam Neeson, Thompson portrays a grieving widow who has to outsmart and outfight a husband-and-wife team (Marc Menchaca and Judy Greer) who, for some nefarious reason, have kidnapped a young woman. I had a great time watching Thompson clop around in the snow in oversized winter overalls, muttering things like ‘oomph’ and ‘geez’ while doing some clever tricks that would make MacGyver proud. Although the film is set in northern Minnesota, it but actually filmed in Finland. Take a sweater to the theater, because I was cold just watching the characters as they dealt with the ice and snow. Dead of Winter is an entertaining thriller with an unconventional hero that you can root for from the start, and hate the bad guys as soon as they appear on the screen. Afterall, who doesn’t want to see Judy Greer and Emma Thompson fight in the snow, wrestling over a rifle? Just don’t mess with Barb, don’t cha know.  My Rating: Full Price  Dead of Winter Website  Now playing in theaters 

Forgotten Film:   The Hot Rock (1972) PG Robert Redford plays Dortmunder, a convicted thief who, upon his release from prison, is convinced by his brother-in-law (George Segal) to go on one last big score and steal a precious diamond from a museum. They hire a crew to do the job and plan an elaborate scheme to make the diamond heist. However, things don’t go as planned and become very complicated very quickly. The Hot Rock is a hilarious film with lots of twists and turns that have hilarious results, and Redford is perfect as the thief who, as things get more complicated, masterminds a break into not one, but two prisons.  My Rating: Full Price (Reprinted from March 2012 to honor the late Robert Redford). The Hot Rock Info Available to rent/buy on Amazon.

Weird Credits:  From the credits of One Battle After Another:  Dishwasher

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  Anemone  (2025) R   Anemone centers on a man (Sean Bean) who ventures into the isolated woodlands of Northern England to find his estranged brother (Daniel Day-Lewis). They haven’t seen each other in 20 years, and the brother has been living alone in the forest. As they reconnect, they will confront the personal and political traumas that have long been buried between them. This is Daniel Day-Lewis’s return to acting after announcing his retirement in 2017. Anemone Website  In limited release on Friday, October 3, 2025, and wide release on Friday, October 10, 2025.

Until Next Time!

The Bikeriders

My View:  The Bikeriders  (2023) R  In The Bikeriders, it’s the mid-1960s, and after a chance encounter at a local bar, Kathy (Jodie Comer) becomes involved with Benny (Austin Butler), the newest member of a biker club named The Vandals. The biker club is led by Johnny (Tom Hardy), and under his leadership, the club is starting to change. It’s a change that will force Benny to choose whether to stay with Kathy or The Vandals. I was excited when I heard about this film because you have three Oscar nominees in the cast: Austin Butler (Elvis), Tom Hardy (The Revenant), and Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road, Nocturnal Animals). However, they are all let down by a script that goes nowhere and dominated by a performance by Jodie Comer, who makes this film watchable. Comer is brilliant and captivating as the girlfriend/wife of Benny, a woman who speaks her mind, is in love with her man (from first sight), and is the storyteller of this tale as she is interviewed by a reporter/photographer (Mike Faist) who documents the early days of the biker gang. While Hardy, going full brood, is dominated as the biker gang leader who seems to make the rules up as he goes along, the performance of Austin Butler is a letdown. Butler seems to believe that his character's look is too cool for him to do anything else. Of the three main characters, Benny, the focus of much of the film, is the most uninteresting character in the bunch. Kathy's presence made this film enjoyable and entertaining, even with the subject matter of a violent, rebel-rousing biker gang. My Rating: Bargain Matinee  The Bikeriders Website  Now playing in theaters.

My View:  Thelma  (2024) PG-13  Thelma is about 93-year-old Thelma Post (June Squibb), who gets duped into giving away 10,000 dollars in a phone scam. With the help of a few friends, Thelma decides to go on a treacherous quest across the city to get her money back. This is one of those rare films that is precisely what you think it is: an enjoyable film with some fun performances and a story that isn’t going to win any Oscars but is going to delight a lot of people. Thelma is June Squibb’s first headlining film in her long career. We fell in love with Squibb in her Oscar-nominated performance as Kate, the feisty mom in Nebraska. While Thelma isn’t going to speak her mind like Kate, she is a strong-willed woman, still living on her own, and is determined to confront the people who stole her money. Squibb is aided by an outstanding supporting cast. Parker Posey and Clark Gregg play a married couple, with Fred Hechinger portraying their son Daniel, Thelma's 20-something grandson. Posey and Clark's overreaction to any information about Thelma and her journey is hilarious. I loved how the film portrays Daniel, who loves his grandmother and is on her side (his parents are on the verge of putting Thelma in a home), even when she escapes from his care. The movie features Richard Roundtree's final performance, and it's a delight to watch him on screen with June Squibb. Roundtree is perfect in the role of Thelma’s friend, who provides Thelma with his scooter, but only if he can come along so she won’t get in trouble. And here’s where the fun begins with Squibb going on a road trip (of sorts) that will involve breaking and entering, gunplay, and maybe an explosion or two. So maybe drink a nutritional supplement, put on your best tennis shoes, and get ready to ride with Thelma as she tracks down the bastards who stole her money. And by the way, June Squibb did almost all her own stunts.   My Rating: Full Price  Thelma Website  Now playing in theaters.

Indiefest:  Ghostlight  (2024)  R   Ghostlight is about Dan (Keith Kupferer), a construction worker struggling to deal with life after a family tragedy. He is not talking to his wife, Sharon (Tara Mallen), and has no idea how to relate to his troubled daughter, Daisy (Katherine Mallen Kupferer). Dan finds comfort and community after he stumbles upon a misfit company of amateur actors rehearsing Romeo and Juliet. When Dan joins the company, he realizes that confronting his buried emotions is crucial to becoming the actor he aspires to be. As a former theater kid, I always enjoy watching films that showcase the behind-the-scenes stories of putting on plays, particularly when it's a local production. That’s what we get in Ghostlight, a film that follows Dan, a father who isn’t dealing well with a traumatic event that has affected him and his family. Dan is having trouble sleeping and isn’t communicating well with his wife. Almost every time he tries to connect with his daughter, Daisy, she becomes hostile. Things change a bit when Dan stumbles upon a local community theater group, and they convince him to join their group. What makes this film work so well is the performances of Keith Kupferer and his real-life wife Tara Mallen and daughter Katherine Mallen Kupferer. The performances are outstanding and feel so touching, as all three characters are trying to deal with the tragedy in their own ways. Even when Dan's daughter Daisy tries to bring him into her therapy sessions, he has chosen not to talk about it. Daisy is always angry, and Sharon is just trying to keep the family going while also trying to keep a lawsuit the family has filed on track. Ghostlight is a heartfelt and moving story that lets the cast take us on a journey of discovering and healing, as Dan learns to get in touch with his emotions through his work as an actor. Ghostlight is a film that examines the power of art to aid in healing and comprehending our emotions and feelings. So, study your lines and help Dan and his family put things back together, maybe in time for a performance of Romeo and Juliet.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  Ghostlight Website  Now playing in theaters.

My View:  Black Barbie: A Documentary  (2023)  Black Barbie: A Documentary chronicles the journey of three former Mattel workers who questioned why Barbie didn’t look like them and then made it happen. This is the personal journey of filmmaker Lagueria Davis, whose Beulah Mae Mitchell was one of the first Black employees at Mattel and was there when Black Barbie was first released. The film gives us a history of not only how and when black Barbie dolls were introduced but also how those dolls impacted the lives of kids around the world. The film features an interview with Kitty Black Perkins, the creator of Black Barbie, and the individuals who followed her at Mattel. We also receive personal stories from Gabourey Sidibe, Shonda Rhimes, and Misty Copeland about Barbie's influence on their childhood. I loved the behind-the-scenes footage and the fascinating history of the Barbie doll. The movie reveals that Mattel still needs to work on bringing Black Barbie from the shadows to the spotlight she deserves.   My Rating: Bargain Matinee  Black Barbie Website Now playing on the Netflix platform.

My View:  The Exorcism (2024) R   A troubled actor, Anthony Miller (Russel Crowe), is known for his past addictions. When he exhibits disruptive behavior on the set of a horror film, his estranged daughter (Ryan Simpkins) wonders if he has slipped again or if something more sinister is at play. This film marks the return of Russell Crowe to his I've Met the Devil phase of his career, following the release of The Pope's Exorcist in 2023. At least The Pope’s Exorcist had a bit of fun with Russell as a scooter-riding Father sending The Devil packing. In this film, Russell is an actor who plays a priest. Apparently, Tony has ruined his career and his relationship with his daughter by drowning his sorrows in liquor and drugs after his wife's death to cancer. Now, Tony has returned from rehab and is trying to mend fences. He is given the lead role in a film called The Georgetown Project, a knockoff remake of the classic 1973 horror film The Exorcist. Despite its promising beginning, the movie quickly goes off the rails with a plot that is downright silly. The film uses only jump scares coming from the dark because the budget couldn’t afford more than one light at a time. An unbelievable sequence occurs about an hour into the film that brings the film to a crashing halt. I guess we are to think that everyone on the Georgetown film crew thinks that what they see is just something that happens to actors from time to time. At that point, I thought about leaving, but I wanted to see how it ended and if David Hyde Pierce, playing a Priest/psychologist, would say the words “The Power of Christ compels you!” Unfortunately, he doesn’t. Can Russell Crowe please put down the priest collars and make a sequel to The Nice Guys instead?   My Rating: You Would Have to Pay Me to See it Again  The Exorcism Website  Now playing in theaters. 

Forgotten Film:  Road to Perdition  (2002)  R  The story of two men, Mike Sullivan (Tom Hanks) and Connor Rooney (Connor Rooney), who are henchmen for mob boss John Rooney (Paul Newman). Even though Mike is not flesh and blood related to John Rooney, John sees Mike more as his son than the volatile Connor. After Mike’s young son (Tyler Hoechlin) witnesses a botched killing by the two men, Mike realizes that he and his son must go on the run to escape the mob. However, they won’t be able to escape the past. Road to Perdition is a film with incredible performances and Oscar-winning cinematography but it has been forgotten because Tom Hanks plays a hitman who kills for a living. There is a great supporting cast that includes Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stanley Tucci, and Ciaran Hinds. If you are a fan of gangster films and film noir, this is a film for you.  My Rating: I Would Pay to See it Again  Road to Perdition Info    The film is available for rent/buy on Apple TV+ and Amazon. 

Weird Credits:  From the credits of The Bikeriders: Principal Fitter

Coming Soon to a Screen Near You:  Didi (2024)  R  In 2008, during the last month of summer before he starts high school, Chris (Izaac Wang), a thirteen-year-old at the horror of his mother (Joan Chen), is constantly shooting videos and trying to make friends, instead of studying. He is a typical American boy, learning to be a teen while trying not to disappoint his Taiwanese family. The film won two awards at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for three awards at the Seattle International Film Festival.  Didi Website  The film will be in theaters in late July.  

Until Next Time!