Director: Derek Cianfrance
Starring: Channing Tatum, Kirsten Dunst & Peter Dinklage 
Rated: R (language, nudity & brief sexuality) 
Runtime: 2 hours & 6 minutes

 
Director Derek Cianfrance’s “Roofman” is the incredible true tale of Jeffrey Manchester, a man who broke into McDonald’s in North Carolina via the roof in the late ‘90s, was caught, escaped from prison, and then hid out in a Toys “R” Us store.
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Jeffrey was a U.S. Army veteran struggling to get by with three kids and an ex-wife, and he turned to crime to get by and provide for his family.

As played by Channing Tatum in “Roofman,” Jeffrey comes off as a likable heroic figure just trying to survive tough times, which makes the character somewhat of a Robin Hood character to viewers. McDonald’s and Toys “R” Us as stand-ins for world leaders and billionaires in today’s country, throwing Gatsby parties while common folk lose their SNAP benefits.  

Tatum’s charm and everyman demeanor work perfectly for such a character, and we’ve seen Tatum pull this act off terrifically before in Steven Soderbergh’s underrated 2017 film “Logan Lucky.” “Roofman” is more of a dramatic tale of an individual pushed to steal through life’s downfalls, but Tatum once again knocks the role out of the park.

Hiding out at Toys “R” Us is where we truly get to see Jeffrey’s humanity, as he watches the employees do their jobs, including the hard-working, single mother Leigh (Kirsten Dunst), and how they’re treated by their uncaring boss, Mitch (Peter Dinklage). When Mitch refuses to donate toys to Leigh’s church toy drive, Jeffrey takes matters into his own hands, stealing a bag of toys and delivering them to the church himself – risking his safety in the process. At the church, he is introduced to Leigh, and the two quickly form a relationship, with Jeffrey taking over the alias of John Zorn, a government employee with classified status.

Tatum and Dunst have good chemistry that makes you root for their characters’ relationship, even though you know it could crumble at any moment. Jeffrey and Leigh are meant for each other, but ever since the days of Shakespeare, we know not all “meant to be” come to fruition.

“Roofman” has a talented supporting cast that includes LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple, Ben Mendelsohn and Uzo Aduba, but the main focus is on Jeffrey’s ordeal and his relationship with Leigh. Only Dinklage’s character really has a chance to stand out, outside of those two.

If you dig too much into the real-life story of Manchester, you’ll find out how this movie is going to end, as Cianfrance and co-writer Kirt Gunn stick to the real-life tale, when they easily could’ve taken creative liberties. I’d suggest watching the film and later reading up on the true story.

Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong & Stephen Graham
Rated: PG-13 (language, thematic material, smoking & some sexuality)
Runtime: 2 hours

​Bruce Springsteen is my idol.

So, there’s likely going to be bias on my part when it comes to a movie based on a portion of his life. I might like the movie more than some, but I’m also likely to be harsher on it if it doesn’t get things or the feeling right.

Director/writer Scott Cooper’s “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere,” based on Warren Zanes’ 2023 book Deliver Me from Nowhere, on the making of Springsteen’s stripped-down 1982 solo album Nebraska, impressed me in how it captured the struggle of an artist who might not know the ins-and-outs of why he wants his art to be the way it is but deep down feels it has to be that way.

As a longtime Springsteen fan, Nebraska frankly isn’t the album I’d have chosen to build a film around. I’d have preferred a film about the making of 1975’s Born to Run, the album that both saved and made Springsteen’s career, and happens to be my favorite album of all time. But I can understand why Nebraska is the album where a filmmaker can get to the core of what it means to be a true artist.

Some critics are writing “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” off as just another biopic of a famous person. The biopic genre, especially those about musicians, has become one of the most hated film genres among many, especially critics, over the last two decades.

But ‘Deliver Me from Nowhere’ isn’t your typical biopic. It’s more of a character study of a man who feels something strongly, fights for it and struggles to understand it – it just so happens to be one of the world’s most famous music makers and a true story.

Jeremy Allen White inhabits the role of Springsteen, which is something I never really doubted. White has shown, for multiple seasons on his terrific television series “The Bear,” that if there’s one thing he can completely knock out of the park as an actor, it’s the role of a tortured artist. White has captured Springsteen's mannerisms and performance style exquisitely in this film.

The casting of the main roles in ‘Deliver Me from Nowhere’ was terrific, with Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning Jeremy Strong as Springsteen’s loyal manager Jon Landau. A movie on the making of Born to Run would’ve done a good job at explaining the Springsteen/Landau relationship, but we’re asked just to believe it for this time period. White and Strong do a good job of bringing the two's' brotherhood to the screen, even without much to explain it in the script.

Stephen Graham, fresh off his Emmy Award-winning performance in the terrific Netflix miniseries “Adolescence,” was a terrific casting for the role of Springsteen’s father, Douglas, who dealt with demons throughout Springsteen’s childhood that the musician would fight himself as an adult, which were undiagnosed at the time, but have later become known to be depression.

White, Strong and Graham are all terrific at acting without words, letting their facial expressions and body language tell an audience all they need to know.

Any weaknesses within ‘Deliver Me from Nowhere’ come from Cooper not being able to bring forth the “why” as to why Springsteen feels the way he does about his work on Nebraska. But you get the feeling, watching the film, that Springsteen probably didn’t fully understand the “why” himself; it was just a feeling deep down in his soul. Something he felt and needed to get out into the world before it ate him up inside. Yes, it had something to do with his father, his upbringing, and a feeling of imposter syndrome, but maybe the script could’ve been a little clearer about this.

I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to see director Frank Capra’s 1934 classic “It Happened One Night.” I’ve long been a Capra fan with “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” being among my all-time favorite classic films.

I think I might have been scared off of “It Happened One Night” because of its accolades. It’s one of only three films to ever sweep the major Academy Award categories, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay (along with “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “The Silence of the Lambs”). It’s one of those things where, if you never watch it, you can’t argue with its place in history as an essential.

Well, now that I’ve seen it, I don’t have to worry about it not living up to its reputation, because it absolutely does.

“It Happened One Night” is a romantic comedy with elements of ‘30s screwball comedy thrown in, that tells the story of an heiress, Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert), who runs away from home after her rich father wants her recent wedding to an adventurous pilot annulled. While running away on a bus to New York City, where she’s to meet her husband, she comes across an out-of-work journalist, Peter Warne (Clark Gable), and this is where the typical, though likely not in 1934, rom-com storyline comes along. Are they going to fall in love? Or are they just using each other for their own personal gains?

The script, written by Robert Riskin, which he based on Samuel Hopkins Adams’ short story Night Bus in Cosmopolitan magazine, is a great mixture of humor, romance and adventure. Riskin’s script has some killer lines of dialogue, like when Ellie’s father asks Warne if he loves his daughter, “YES! But don’t hold that against me, I’m a little screwy myself!” Then, of course, there’s the classic hailing a car while hitchhiking scene, where Ellie shows a confident Peter how easy it can be when you have the right skills.  

Gable, who was loaned to Columbia Pictures from MGM for the project because he didn’t currently have anything in the works and was drawing a paycheck anyway, was born to play the role of Warne, a charming, wry, wisecracking working man, who plays off the pampered socialite of Colbert’s Ellie incredibly well. Gable and Colbert in “It Happened One Night” make for one of the great couples of any rom-com in cinema history.

Capra, one of my all-time favorite directors, had a run in the ‘30s that likely rivals any director in film history for “greatest director of a decade,” and “It Happened One Night” was the beginning of his hot streak that would also include “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” (1936), which would win him his second Best Director honor, “You Can’t Take It with You” (1938), which would win him his third Best Director honor” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939), which might actually be the best movie of his career.  

Director: Luca Guadagnino 
Starring: Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri & Andrew Garfield
Rated: R (language & some sexual content)
Runtime: 2 hours & 18 minutes

 
Luca Guadagnino has always seemed more interested in instigating than he has entertaining, whether that be via sexuality, cannibalism or even peaches - the filmmaker is intentional about forcing audiences to not only engage with his work but consider it, question it and debate it. “After the Hunt” might be his most pointedly provocative project thus far as it is a movie expressly made for the purposes of the conversations that will come afterward. The fact I'm spending enough time thinking about this movie to write a review aside, I’ve never felt so passionate about something that I would choose to die on any specific hill (spare me your own opinions). I say this (probably optimistically) because I like to imagine people come to their conclusions and form their points of view based on insight or experience that would garner them valid reason for feeling the way they do, so while it is easy to say I understand where everyone in “After the Hunt” is coming from the film more or less forces the viewer to pick a side, to draw their own conclusions and in light of the conclusions one draws, question what those positions say about you as a person. 
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As the common enemy of the evolution revolution - a cis, straight, white male - I found this film to almost be designed as something of a trap for those who fall into any of the above categories and/or relate to or simply like Michael Stuhlbarg's character the most. Guadagnino and screenwriter Nora Garrett are fans of nuance, sure, giving multiple facets to everyone included in this elitist, privileged club but more importantly, relaying reason to simultaneously believe and doubt each person involved for different reasons. The core question of what did or did not happen and whether a line was crossed or if there were several comes in second to Garrett's thesis though, which she shares with Ayo Edebiri's character, this regarding virtue ethics. The majority of those in positions of such privilege and power who purport to hold the moral high ground only do so for the appearance of being virtuous and not because their actions would remain the same regardless of the circumstances; a truth that holds strong no matter how much one might pad it with philosophical babble.

It isn't said to be dismissive, but more so to communicate awareness that the kind of high-minded debates and conversations that take place in the Yale Philosophy department where “After the Hunt” is largely set can get so far up their own asses they often times go from profound to weightless at the drop of a hat. That said, one of the film's most scathing aspects of its many investigations is when Stuhlbarg's Frederik - husband to Julia Roberts' Alma - interrogates (or intimidates) Edebiri's Maggie when she comes over to their house for dinner after having accused Alma's fellow professor, Hank (Andrew Garfield), of sexually assaulting her. The entire situation is obviously a sensitive one, but Garrett has layered each character with complications that muddy the waters further. Maggie is a Black, gay student accusing a white, male teacher. Hank is a known favorite of the students who clearly has some unspoken bond with Alma, but he's also made Maggie aware that he knows she plagiarized her most recent paper. No details of said accusation are ever stated aloud between two characters. Maggie's parents are notable, wealthy and apparently donate much of that wealth to the university every year. Alma is caught in the middle and, along with Hank, up for tenure. She doesn't want to ruffle feathers, yet she understands in the current climate that optics tend to matter more than substance. Most thorny is the fact Alma seems to surmise the truth of the matter as dialogue like, "Is she brilliant or does she just think you’re brilliant?" and “kowtowing to a mediocre student with rich parents,” are muttered one too many times to not usher viewers toward the line of thought that Maggie is, if not lying, at least embellishing in order to orchestrate a particular image and convey a specific tone. 

Ethan Hawke plays something of an insufferable academic in the 2015 film “Maggie’s Plan” where he has a line of dialogue that has stuck with me in the decade since seeing it (and is a movie I only saw once). As a professor of "ficto-critical anthropology" he tells his students to, "Avoid the word ‘like,’ stating that, "it’s a language condom." Substitute "interesting" for "like" in that quote and you have exactly what Stuhlbarg is zeroing in on when the Maggie of “After the Hunt” joins him and Alma for dinner. Frederik questions Maggie every time she uses the word "interesting," pushing for a deeper insight into her current thesis not because he has any real interest in the subject but solely for the reason of exposing that she is unable to keep up intellectually. Is this holding a standard or inflicting undeserved hurt, again - that's up to the viewer, but what these actions explicitly suggest is that Maggie's sole objective is to lock down a credible source to legitimize her story and Alma, given her relationship to both parties, is the prize. Guadagnino, and I assume Garrett as well, would say they want viewers to draw their own conclusions and maybe my skewed by nature instincts are what led me to my own answers, maybe it's my inherent prejudices against the coddled and the elite that cause it to feel like everyone in Maggie’s world is a little fed up with her bullshit, but it also feels like Guadagnino and Garrett are very conscious of the game they're configuring. 

The casting of Edebiri specifically, as a woman of color in a position where society has failed women and women of color time and time again, is especially calculated in what could be considered either genuinely provocative or completely tacky; a Julius Eastman musical selection during a particular scene could push one over the edge either way. The issue here is that provocation should have a point and it's not evident even after thoughtful consideration what exactly “After the Hunt” means to accomplish with all of the said nuance and calculation. Making this pill even harder to swallow is that Edebiri lacks the ethos, pathos and logos to convince viewers the case is more complicated than it appears - resulting in a think piece that reassures the exceptions rather than analyzing why the rules are largely ignored.

To this end, “After the Hunt” seeks to address a multitude of hot button, objectively offensive issues yet by the time we arrive at the half-hearted and largely confusing conclusion it simply feels as if the film is exploiting this “shallow cultural moment” all while preserving itself in the aesthetic of a west elm furnished home. The topics on which the film touch both simultaneously have zero interest in and are completely consumed with facade. The film is a story of people who believe they're the smartest person in any room they enter, who understand what their outward image indicates and craft it with purpose while pretending it all comes naturally. The film gives off the same energy. The visual assistance of a consistently rainy campus against Roberts' wardrobe of icy white fabrics and austere blonde hair through to the Woody Allen font is all so specific yet none of it feels especially fresh and none of it is as enticing or scandalous as it wants to be considered. Guadagnino utilizes multiple close-ups only of character's hands in the midst of conversations with what feels like no reason beyond seeing what justifications critics might associate the choice with later. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' score feels drenched in ‘Social Network’ throwaways whereas it would seem one scene in particular was written immediately after Garrett witnessed Cate Blanchett in “Tár.” That all sounds more harsh than it might be meant as Roberts is the anchor that pulls all of the films theoretical ideas around "what is right?" and all of Guadagnino's stylistic choices together, but despite the pedigree of the production and the high acumen of the conversations occurring it becomes more and more apparent that the film wishes to benefit from bringing light to difficult topics while undermining the kinds of cases that the #MeToo and cancel culture movements were built upon.

Roberts is still a movie star and “After the Hunt” features what is some of her best, most interesting work in some time and it is her line about the difference between restorative justice and vengeance that speaks to the film's relationship with its broad topic in a way that doesn't necessarily make everything it offers more comprehensive but at least seems to clarify a key point. Guadagnino and Garrett's intentions might be for audiences to make up their own minds about who these characters truly are and what course of action they might take were they in their shoes and to their credit, a large part of the tone would suggest the filmmaker and screenwriter are mocking each of the individuals, their hypocrisy, and their egos - “Everything about this feels like a fuckin’ cliche!” - yet the instinct to exact retribution on the victim, no matter who a viewer places in that role, rather than seek to line the films dry humor with an authenticity about how badly the slanders against these movements need to be repaired feels morally irresponsible - especially when it concludes as it does. This is an entirely different discussion that ventures not into critiquing the film that was made but rather how it should have been made, so we won't travel that road. It does feel vital to note, however, that virtue ethics is labeled as such because it resists the attempt to define virtues in terms of some other concept that is taken to be more fundamental a la rules or consequences. “After the Hunt” understands the shades of variation and knowingly highlights this philosophy to emphasize the ease with which people will compromise their character while doing the same the moment it made the decision to muffle its own voice. I understand the film wasn't made to make us feel comfortable, but it might have at least alluded to something a little bolder.    

​Director Justin Tipping’s “Him” is a neat, niche premise that is rendered nearly nonsensical by the time we reach an anticlimactic fourth quarter, which holds about as much tension as a Browns-Dolphins game. It’s a collection of metaphorical imagery too ornate to be ignored yet too shallow and/or not bold enough to explore its full implications. “Him” seeks to equate the NFL and its deep traditions, aristocratic owners, cultish fanbases and lesser-than leeches waiting in the wings with their microphones to get a handful of meaningless words from the chosen few on the field to, well ... an actual demonic cult. It's an idea ripe with possibilities that can't get past its own ego, rendering it ineffective in both the sports and horror genres. 

For one reason or another, I expected “The Conjuring: Last Rites” to be a far richer send-off than what it ultimately turns out to be. Probably because they billed this as the case that forced the Warrens into retirement, but it turns out that this is due more to Ed’s health issues than anything strikingly unique about the case itself. Granted, these films have never had much of a strong narrative backbone. Even James Wan’s installments were more “this happens, then this happens” with nothing propelling us forward beyond the promise of the formula. Wan’s films, at least, had a certain degree of care for the human drama within the case files of Ed and Lorraine Warren, though, transcending the genre's tropes to make it all feel as personal as possible. Michael Chaves did this to less effect in 2021’s “The Devil Made Me Do It” and does so to even less success here; his main objective this time around being to establish the Warren’s daughter, Judy (Mia Tomlinson), and her fiancé, Tony (Ben Hardy), as the new generation of “ghostbusters”. 

Kogonada has crafted a romantic drama of yesteryear with arguably two of the most photogenic people on the planet, and yet, it is confounding how episodic, somewhat charming, yet completely devoid of genuine emotion, the final picture actually is.
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“A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” romanticizes romance to the point that Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie are essentially blank canvases, people with nothing to lose and no discernible personality, whose relationship immediately feels like a foregone conclusion. The twist is that Seth Reiss' screenplay is willing to call out the sham love can often feel like when such romanticisms are expected without the necessary hard work having been put in to make it real. As a result, these characters are so persistent in their belief that they'll never be in a successful relationship, we not only believe them but kind of don't care whether they end up in one or not.

What I did latch onto here was Farrell's arc as a man who grew up being told how special he was, being set up to wholly believe in his ambition, only for it to give way to a massive hole in his life and an inescapable disappointment when said ambitions don't become reality, giving way to a lifetime of feeling like a failure. As if constantly being told “no one’s good enough for you” actually has the inverse effect on one’s beliefs both about themselves and the world.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn & Benicio del Toro 
Rated: R (language, violence, sexual content & drug use)
Runtime: 2 hours & 41 minutes

 
There is a moment in Paul Thomas Anderson’s tenth feature film, “One Battle After Another,” where Leonardo DiCaprio’s retired revolutionary Bob Ferguson is on the run in search of his daughter, Chase Infiniti’s Willa Ferguson. Bob is having a difficult time finding an electrical outlet where he can charge his phone so that he might make a call, allowing him to obtain the necessary information concerning a rendezvous point where he will hopefully be reunited with Willa. Thanks to Benicio del Toro’s Sensei Sergio, Bob finally finds a working outlet and proclaims multiple times, “I have power!” It’s a simple sentiment that, in the context of the scene, is celebratory and speaking specifically to Bob getting one step closer to finding his child, but because DiCaprio chooses to repeat the words more than once they inherently bear a significance that gives way to consideration of what these words sound like on their own, without the context in which they’re spoken. Without context, it is easy to assume that a statement such as “I have power” is more a proclamation than something meant to express happiness, which is Anderson's point: the noise is a distraction from the intent. 
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“One Battle After Another,” based loosely on Thomas Pynchon’s 1990 novel Vineland, is a movie all about how power works; about how much of civilization is built on the whims and desires of power-hungry men who both seek to shape the world in accordance with their own concepts of truth as well as eradicate any reminders of their own shame. This is true for characters on both sides of history in Anderson’s film, and the writer/director, despite making it clear who he believes are the good guys and who are the villains, does not let any one character off the hook. “One Battle After Another” could just as easily be seen as a cynical takedown of those in power as it can a hopeful rallying cry for change in a world gone awry but whatever lens one chooses to view it through, there’s no denying the big, broad, bombastic and most importantly - bizarrely beguiling - entertainment value Anderson is able to deliver alongside his countless ideas.

Scouring the layers and tremendous thought clearly implemented in both Anderson’s adaptation as well as his collaborative execution, what bubbles to the top is the complicated (to say the least) dynamic between Bob and his daughter. It’s not only that Infiniti’s Willa has hit her teen years, complete with independent thought and a more extensive understanding of how the world around her works, but mostly that these developments contradict Bob’s constant state of paranoia. Bob, who, in his own youth, was a revolutionary, is seen participating in the freeing of migrants from detention facilities and actively blowing up power grids for the underground organization known as the French 75. He has more or less checked out of society since going into hiding with Willa. Sixteen years have passed, and Bob freely admits to having fried his brain on drugs and booze as DiCaprio’s surprisingly tender (given the circumstances) performance seems to indicate Bob’s awareness that Willa is at her breaking point; no longer viewing him as a father who cares about her above anything but more as the sole reason she isn’t allowed to do anything. This moment in time is also easily viewed as a breaking point because the film sets in motion Sean Penn’s Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw tracking down Bob and Willa after he was both involved with and duped by Bob’s girlfriend and Willa’s mother, Perfidia Beverly Hills (a looming and luminous Teyana Taylor).

They say youth is wasted on the young, this idea that while young people are full of energy and ideals, they often lack the wisdom and perspective to use these traits effectively, while conversely, by the time wisdom and perspective set in, the energy to champion such ideals has been all but drained. Incorporating an extreme example, such as a group of revolutionaries, emphasizes the idea that this aphorism is not only true but also serves as a compelling reason why each generation seems to fail the next. Yes, Bob is a self-proclaimed bum who barely remembers the call signs of his cohorts much less his original motivations for placing his life on the course it’s taken, but he’s not a man without admirable priorities and Willa being at the top of that list - he was smitten with her from the beginning - has given him, if not doubts, at least reasons to consider said incentives as each obstacle he bumbles his way through in order to try and save her opens his eyes all the more to not only how much his mission failed, but how much worse it’s made life for what’s become his sole reason for living.

It is this level of introspection, combined with the broad genre spaces the film inhabits, while sprinkling in countless details that are uniquely funny and memorable, that makes “One Battle After Another” so accessible yet still wholly a Paul Thomas Anderson film. The character—and the details surrounding and within it—that symbolize and summarize this best is that of Penn’s Lockjaw. In broad strokes, he’s the villain of the piece yet when we get into his sexual quirks, sense of style (or lack thereof), and general posture we are served the specifics that make both the character and Penn’s performance monumental in their fields, while it is his aspirations of joining what is hilariously named the “Christmas Adventurer’s Club” made up of good sports like Tony Goldwyn, James Downey, Kevin Tighe, D.W. Moffett and John Hoogenakker that put this squarely in the realm of an Anderson film. The first half hour to 40 minutes of the film offers a foreword of sorts that is far more solemn than what remains in the final two hours, but it is the tone Anderson establishes in his introduction that paints both the sincerity and despair of DiCaprio's pre-Bob Pat and Perfidia's situation as contrasted by the shameless vulgarity on which Lockjaw operates and further, will prey upon them with. This is a difficult scale to balance, despite life often mirroring such drastic turns in spirit and attitude. Movies must oftentimes remain consistent across style, theme and temper to feel cohesive in their drive towards accomplishing an objective, but what makes each of Anderson's films so defiantly his own is how he lives in the unclean moments of life. 

In the third act of the film, there is a point at which Willa is being set up for execution. The viewer can infer what is happening, Willa is more than aware her clock is running out, and the bounty hunter (Eric Schweig), whom Lockjaw has requested deliver her to his merciless gang of mercenaries, understands he is leading a lamb to the slaughter. At the collision of these three entities, Anderson doesn't easily cut together a clean escape in which Willa and Schweig's Avanti combine forces to overcome the actual bad guys, no, he instead lets the camera rest on Willa's panicked face as she is initially left for dead by Avanti only to be given a window of time to escape because, unlike the mercenaries, his ethics haven't gone completely out the window due to his compensation. The audience experiences this scenario almost explicitly from Willa's vantage point - both physically and emotionally - meaning not only is there tension because of what is at stake, but because we must sit in moments of unease in the unknown. Such authenticity is often difficult to capture in a highly constructed and planned medium like film; yet, there are countless examples of these seemingly unpredictable, unclean moments throughout the film's entirety. From the sequence in which Sensei Sergio guides Bob through his "underground railroad situation" to Lockjaw's interrogation of Willa in an isolated convent, Anderson almost amplifies these moments in such a fashion so as to ensure this idea that there is some kind of divine plan that will ensure good always swings around in time to balance evil might only hold true if there are those who continue to show up out of love. One does not have to lead the revolution to enact change; presence is a kind of heroism all its own.

This, maybe oversimplified, conclusion makes it sound as if “One Battle After Another” can be boiled down to a single thesis statement which isn't necessarily true given the breadth of ideas the screenplay renders, but in this imagining of what revolution might look like in a present society as applied to the action genre while centering on a story about a father trying to get back to his daughter it is, once more, these themes that resonate most. Elevating said storytelling is the specificity and idiosyncrasies of the details in the world and characters Anderson employs, along with, of course, the previously noted style in which the film is captured. Aside from the portion of the conversation that could detail Anderson shooting on and having his film projected in VistaVision 35MM film, there is just something about kids skateboarding across rooftops, doing tricks while flares light up the sky behind them as World War III begins in the streets below all set to a Jonny Greenwood score that speaks to audiences on a deeper, more primal level. Like the story, the look is specific but timeless, it is energetic without being overwhelming - it too is unclean. 

This thread also applies to the performances, although my single complaint with the film is that a collaboration between Anderson and Regina Hall might have yielded more. Hall, known for her comedic chops, is almost completely mute here, and though her performance as a surrogate mother to the lost and confused Willa is heartfelt, one cannot help but hope this is only the beginning of a long relationship between filmmaker and actor. Otherwise, from DiCaprio's Lebowski-like aloofness (and wardrobe) that gives way to some of the funniest stuff the movie star has done to Infiniti's more grounded debut through to every single one of the smaller, supporting players - Wood Harris, Alana Haim, Shayna McHayle, Paul Grimstad, James Raterman, and countless others - each somehow find ways to stand out in remarkable fashion. Sensei Sergio's arrival in the movie signals a shift in energy altogether that allows the film to go from the aforementioned perspective of superiority and cynicism that sees Lockjaw and his ICE-like organization invent reasons to invade small towns like the fictional Baktan Cross (“Activate Eddie Van Halen!") to that of a more hopeful, optimistic perspective that shows people helping people out of nothing more than the humility that fascists would call humiliating. If it is Bob and Willa's relationship that dominates the emotional heft of the narrative, it is the equally enthralling dynamic between Penn and del Toro's supporting performances of two men who have no idea the other exists that highlights the competing ideologies of how this reality, not so far removed from our own, can manage to feel both critical and cathartic.

One Battle After Another
Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” his first film since 2021’s “Licorice Pizza,” is being hailed by some critics as the best film of 2025, and it seems like one of the likely Oscar front-runners heading into award season. “One Battle After Another,” a nearly three-hour comedy-adventure, stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Bob, a washed-up revolutionary living off the grid who’s forced back into the game when an old enemy, played by Sean Penn, kidnaps his daughter. The supporting cast includes Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti. “One Battle After Another” opens in theaters on September 26. 

Anemone
There’s only one real reason “Anemone” is on this list … and that it has brought Daniel Day-Lewis, the only man to ever win the Oscar for Best Actor three times, out of retirement. What brought him out of retirement? A film director by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis, which the two wrote together. The psychological drama centers on the relationships within a family when a soldier, played by the elder Day-Lewis, returns home and reunites with his brother after decades of living in isolation in the woods of Northern England. Day-Lewis, the director, may be unproven, but with his father in front of the camera, it’s going to be a must-watch. “Anemone” premieres October 3. 

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
I recently watched the trailer for director Mary Bronstein’s psychological comedy-drama “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” and it was quite a lot. This may be one of the most stress-inducing films of the year, but there are two things making me want to see it. One) Rose Byrne is said to give one of the year’s best performances in the lead role as a woman trying to navigate life with a sick daughter, absent husband and a hostile therapist. Two) Conan O’Brien, one of my favorite celebrities who has never really given acting a try, plays the therapist, and I just want to see how he does in a serious performance. “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” premieres October 10. 

Roofman
“Roofman,” directed by Derek Cianfrance, is about the crazy true story of criminal Jeffrey Manchester, a former U.S. Army Reserve officer who robbed nearly 50 McDonald’s by sneaking in through their roof, escaped from prison and evaded police for half a year by living inside a Toys “R” Us store. Channing Tatum stars as Manchester, and he seems built for such a role in a comedy-drama. “Roofman” features an outstanding supporting cast featuring Kirsten Dunst, LaKeith Stanfield, Ben Mendelsohn, Peter Dinklage, Juno Temple and Uzo Aduba. “Roofman” premieres on October 10. 

“Bugonia”
I must admit I haven’t seen either of the previous efforts between director Yorgos Lanthimos and actress Emma Stone, even though the first of those features, “Poor Things,” won the actress her second Oscar. The plotline of their latest work, “Bugonia,” frankly seems a bit more accessible than their other collaborations. In “Bugonia,” Stone portrays a CEO who is kidnapped by two conspiracy-obsessed young men, played by Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis, because they believe she’s an alien determined to destroy Earth. “Bugonia” is said to be an absurdist satire, and that feels like something we could use right now. “Bugonia” premieres on October 24. 

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Bruce Springsteen is my all-time favorite musician, so “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere,” a biopic that focuses on the creation of his early ‘80s stripped-down classic album, Nebraska, has been my personal most anticipated film all year. “Deliver Me from Nowhere” is directed by Scott Cooper, who directed one of my all-time favorite music dramas in 2009’s “Crazy Heart.” “Deliver Me From Nowhere” stars multiple-time Emmy Award-winner Jeremy Allen White as Springsteen, and Emmy-winner Jeremy Strong as Springsteen’s manager and record producer Jon Landau. Many have been expecting an Oscar-nominated performance from White from the moment he was announced as the lead. “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” premieres on October 24. 

Jay Kelly
The thing about director Noah Baumbach’s latest film, “Jay Kelly,” that has piqued my interest the most is that it might earn Adam Sandler an Oscar nomination. Sandler, one of the film's most criticized actors over the years, has shown that he can actually act on occasion throughout his career, but as of yet, he has never been nominated for an Oscar. In “Jay Kelly,” he plays the manager/friend of a movie star, played by George Clooney, as they travel throughout Europe and reflect on life together. “Jay Kelly” will premiere in select theaters on November 14, before premiering globally on Netflix on December 5.  

Hamnet
If you’re looking for a dramatic film that is absolutely going to make you cry, look no further than director Chloe Zhao’s “Hamnet,” which tells the story of how the relationship and lives of playwright William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, were impacted by the death of their 11-year-old son Hamnet. Oscar nominees Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley play William and Agnes, respectively, and Buckley is said to be one of the favorites for Best Actress. It’s nice to see Zhao, who won the Oscar for both Best Picture and Best Director for 2020’s “Nomadland,” back doing serious features after a sojourn into comic book superhero land. 

Is This Thing On
Bradley Cooper has been hit or miss for me as a director. I loved his 2008 directorial debut “A Star Is Born,” but was nearly bored to tears with his 2023 biopic of Leonard Bernstein, “Maestro.” With “Is This Thing On,” Cooper is more in line with my personal interests, in telling the story of a couple, played by Will Arnett and Laura Dern, who break up after years or marriage, and Arnett’s Alex Novak embarks on life as a stand-up comedian. Cooper co-wrote the script with Arnett and Mark Chappell, and this will be his first directorial effort in which he isn’t also the lead, though he does have a role in the picture. It’ll also be interesting to see Arnett as the lead in a major film. “Is This Thing On” premieres on December 19. 

Marty Supreme
You know director Josh Safdie’s “Marty Supreme” is supposed to be one of the big films of award season simply based on its Christmas Day premiere. It’s an interesting topic … the titular Marty, played by Timothee Chalamet, is a professional ping-pong player in the 1950s, determined to popularize the game into a spectator sport. It feels like it should be satire, but the teaser trailer also seems fairly serious. “Marty Supreme” co-stars Gwyneth Paltrow, a name I haven’t seen in a serious film in a long time. 

It’s been more than 20 years since I fell in love with the art form of film, especially classic films. I can chalk it up to a slow summer during high school and Turner Classic Movies being on my television at home. But despite my love of classic films, there have still been some major blind spots in my film-watching resume—and one of the most unbelievable ones is that, after all these years, I had never seen a single Bette Davis movie. Yes, the Bette Davis that the American Film Institute had ranked as the second greatest Hollywood actress ever.

I knew I would be correcting that mistake this year when I set out to watch the 10 highest films on the AFI’s 100 Greatest American Films list, because perhaps Davis’s most famous performance ever as Margo Channing in writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s “All About Eve” would be on my to-watch list.

“All About Eve” was ranked No. 16 on the AFI’s original list in 1998 and somehow fell a dozen spots to No. 28 on its 2007 list.

I’m not sure if “All About Eve” was the first of the “young ingénue attempts to take the star's spot” story, but it’s likely the greatest there has ever been or ever will be.

What’s unique about “All About Eve,” at least from my perspective as a classic film viewer who has mostly seen classics as led by men, is how great Mankiewicz was at writing female characters as Davis, Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter (to a lesser extent in a lesser role the film kind of forgets about) are all incredible, and all were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances.

Baxter plays the young ingénue, Eve Harrington, who makes both Margo and the audience believe that she genuinely loves Margo’s performances so much that she wants to help out in any way possible. Only Ritter’s Birdie, Margo’s maid, sees through this charade. The way Baxter plays the role so sweetly before eventually going full villain was truly fun to watch, as was Davis’s turn when she finally begins to catch on to what Eve is doing – especially her drunken party antics.

Davis and Baxter truly were both leads of the film and rightfully both nominated for Best Actress for the Oscars, which likely split the vote, leading to Judy Holliday winning for “Born Yesterday,” though Gloria Swanson, another nominee for “Sunset Boulevard,” not winning is a head-scratcher to me all these years later.

Another great aspect of “All About Eve,” probably due to Mankiewicz’s smart and snappy dialogue, is that it doesn’t feel as dated as many films of its era. It’s pleasant to watch, and all of the performers are at the top of their game. 

Directors: Maggie Kang & Chris Appelhans
Starring: Arden Cho, May Hong & Ji-young Yoo
Rated: PG (action/violence, scary images, thematic elements, some suggestive material & brief language)
Runtime: 1 hour & 35 minutes

 
My experience with the global phenomenon "KPOP Demon Hunters" began the same way that my experience with "The Greatest Showman" did way back in 2017. It came out and was beloved by many people I loved, who encouraged me to watch it as soon as possible. I had watched the trailers for both, though, and just felt it wasn't going to be a film that I would enjoy. We also live in the day and age when movie trailers almost spell out the whole movie for you, too. You can definitely get a good sense of whether or not you'll enjoy a movie since you're seeing most of it. After about a month and a half of multiple people encouraging me to, I finally watched "KPOP Demon Hunters" and fell completely in love with it, particularly its amazing soundtrack. "The Greatest Showman," likewise, had a stellar soundtrack that still gets in rotation on my Spotify eight years later. Both times, I felt that I should have given in and watched the movie sooner than I did.
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"KPOP Demon Hunters" is an animated film that tells the story of Rumi, Mira, and Zoey, who are members of the K-pop girl group Huntr/x. They are also covert demon hunters who carry on a long tradition of trios that use their voices to create a magical barrier called the Honmoon that seals the demons away from preying on humans. After centuries, they are very close to turning the Honmoon gold, which will seal the demons away from humans permanently. Fearing that the end is coming, the ruler of the demons, Gwi-Ma sends a former human named Jinu to form a K-pop boy band called the Saja Boys with the goal of stealing Huntr/x's fans and weaken the Honmoon. Additionally, Rumi, the leader, is concealing the fact that she is actually the daughter of a hunter and a demon. 

The main thing that "KPOP Demon Hunters" has going for it is the amazing soundtrack. There is not a weak one in the bunch. However, arguably, the most popular song is "Golden." "Golden" has managed to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and is considered a contender for a nomination for Best Original Song at the Oscars. Netflix has also announced that they will be campaigning the film for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. A nomination seems extremely likely, with a win definitely in the realm of possibility.

While the music for the film is remarkable, it also features a great script by Maggie Kang, Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan and Chris Appelhans. The film manages to tell a story that, while familiar, still feels original, fresh and new. The animation is visually beautiful and truly makes the film even more of a spectacle.

The film has managed to connect with audiences worldwide and has become Netflix's most-watched film in its history. If you are one of the few who haven't given in, it is time. Do not wait any longer! You will not regret it!

This year, I decided to watch the 12 highest-rated films I hadn’t previously seen on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest American movies ever as part of my annual 12 Movie Challenge. I understood that there would be one or two films that I probably wasn’t looking forward to watching. I realized they were all likely to be great films – but some, due to their subject matter, wouldn’t be enjoyable to watch.

Steven Spielberg’s 1993 war classic, “Schindler’s List,” No. 8 on the AFI list, was the film at the forefront of my mind. I knew it was going to be horrific. How could a realistic film about the Holocaust not be horrific?

The majority of the film will rip your heart out – and often anger you because you know these events actually took place (and if you’re one of those who doesn’t think that, go fuck yourself). I can’t believe nearly 90 years later, we still have people who idolize and even want to be Nazis.

Ultimately, “Schindler’s List” is an important film. Spielberg has directed more American classics than any other director who has ever lived, and he’s on record as saying, “It’s the best movie I’ve ever made.” It’s certainly the most important film he’s ever made.

There are far too many devastating and horrific moments to recount – the use of Jewish POWs as target practice, the looting of Jewish suitcases, the train accidentally taking members of the list to Auschwitz, and certainly the girl in the red coat. But there are also uplifting moments, which I suppose is why such a tragic film also wound up on AFI’s list of the “Most Inspiring American Films,” like the tenacity and strength of the Jewish people and the fact that Oskar Schindler would stick his neck on the line to save as many people as he could.

Who knew Liam Neeson could act? That scene at the end, when he’s breaking down over being disappointed he couldn’t save more lives, is one of the most heart-wrenching moments of a film filled with them, and undoubtedly the singular moment that garnered Neeson the only Academy Award nomination of his career.   

One of the great aspects of Spielberg’s film, Neeson’s performance and Steven Zaillian’s script is that you never really know if this was Schindler’s plan all along or if he was just a shrewd businessman who, as the war went on, grew to view the Nazi’s atrocities as something too disgraceful for the world and set out to do his part to combat them. There’s reason to believe he may have just been a shrewd businessman until seeing firsthand the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto.

Few have ever portrayed evil as well as Ralph Fiennes as SS officer Amon Göth, but after watching the performance and knowing Göth was a real person, he must’ve been one of the evilest folks to have ever lived. Or potentially, he was just your average Nazi.

“Schindler’s List” is undoubtedly one of the hardest films emotionally I’ve ever seen, but it’s one I think should be seen by everyone, especially with how the world is today, with so many countries turning nationalistic and against “others.” It could potentially go a long way in changing some minds.