THE SECRET AGENT 2025 – 2.5 STARS

SENTIMENTAL VALUE – 3.5 STARS

MARTY SUPREME – 2 STARS

BUGONIA – 4.5 STARS

F1: THE MOVIE – 3.5 STARS

TRAIN DREAMS – 3.5 STARS

SINNERS – 3.5 STARS

HAMNET – 4.5 STARS

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER – 3.0 STARS

TOP FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIES 2025 EDITION

KLAUS – 4.0 STARS

FRANKENSTEIN 2025 – 3.5 STARS

WICKED FOR GOOD – 5.0 STARS

ONCE – 3.0 STARS

Well, Once isn’t the typical love story. There’s definitely some feelings between Guy and Girl, some flirting. Guy asks her to spend the night right after they met, and Girl makes a quick reference to some hanky panky. Other than that, it’s really rather innocent. Guy says his girl cheated on him and broke his heart, and sings a rather angry song on the bus about how she hurt him, but the montage of their time together was quite sweet. Was he saying that just to win sympathy points with Girl? And her guy didn’t seem like a bad guy at all either.

HAPPY GILMORE 2 – 3.0 STARS

THE AMATEUR – 4.0 STARS

The Amateur opens with Charlie Heller (Rami Malek) going over parts to an old Cessna plane, a gift from his wife Sarah (Rachel Brosnahan). She is about to leave on a trip to London and invites him to join her. He says he can’t as he’s on to something at his job in the Decryption and Analysis division of the CIA. The loving couple exchange I love yous and goodbye’s as she leaves.

THE MONKEY – 4.5 STARS

The Monkey is based on Stephen King’s 1980 short story. It seems like Stephen King had a series of completely random, creative, bloody, awful ways of having people die and strung them all together via a drum-playing toy monkey. Forty-five years later, son of Anthony Perkins (star of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho), Osgood Perkins brought the short story to life . . . and death.

Seemingly random events transpiring in a specific order to result in the death of a character is not a new concept. Final Destination has an entire franchise of movies and books based on the idea. But only Stephen King’s warped and brilliant mind would use a toy monkey as the catalyst while also making the story and destruction uncomfortably humorous as well.

OSCAR WINNERS: 2025

Well, Anora took home the honors of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Original Screenplay, and Editing. Personally, I thought the celebration of this film was disappointing. I found it loud, unnecessarily raunchy with annoying and unambitious characters who had no redeeming qualities. I guess I was in the minority. Conan O’Brien was a great host, some of the acceptance speeches were very touching, and I did pretty well in my picks.

EMILIA PEREZ – 3.5 STARS

If I was just going off the preview for Emilia Perez, I would have absolutely no idea what I was getting into. I think it’s a fascinating story. A ruthless drug cartel transitions to a woman and then becomes an activist helping victims find their lost loved ones? That’s great. And a musical? I’m a sucker for musicals. This was unlike any musical I’ve ever seen before. Most of the time, the singing came out of nowhere. I know some may argue that’s a characteristic of nearly all musicals, and there have even been movies that poke fun at that fact. But many of the songs in Emilia Perez really came out of left field and weren’t so much songs as they were a few lines of dialogue that were sung . . . and many times sung not in tune. The shining star in that aspect was Zoe Saldana whose singing and dancing was really beautiful and strong and carried the musical aspect of the movie. And yet, this is really the first time we heard this type of performance from her.

DUNE: PART TWO – 4 STARS

Like the first installation of the Dune Trilogy (or more), Dune: Part Two had a lot going on with many characters, groups, planets, locations to keep track of. They do a great job of keeping the viewer engaged in what’s going on and where you are and who is who. It definitely helps to have watched the first movie. Dune: Part Two does not do a lot of recapping to let you know how you got to the opening scene. Which is fine. The movie is nearly three hours long as it is. We didn’t need a long recap. However, in spite of being so long, we find out that Part Two is not the end.

NICKEL BOYS – 3.5 STARS

I loved the filming choices made by RaMell Ross. Delivering so much of Nickel Boys from the vantage point of the speaker puts your right into the story. It’s a little disjointed at times. There’s not necessarily a smooth transition from one scene to the next at times. But, again, that’s often how we remember things. Moments. Events. Feelings. Emotions. Connections. Relationships. It was a powerful and authentic telling of these events.

THE SUBSTANCE – 2.5 STARS

I really enjoyed about 85% of The Substance. It was heartbreaking to watch Elisabeth, still absolutely stunningly beautiful, look at herself and see ugliness. It was infuriating to watch Harvey treat her so dismissively in his gluttonous, slimy way. Demi Moore was fantastic, authentic, sincere, relatable. Dennis Quaid was perfectly despicable. He really gave off Coriolanus Snow vibes from The Hunger Games. And Margaret Qualley was wonderful as the perfect beauty queen everyone wants to see while also harboring a dark, sadistic side.

THE BRUTALIST – 2.5 STARS

From the preview, it’s not exactly clear what the drama in The Brutalist would be. We’re given no indications of the heroin addiction or sexual trauma between Laszlo and his wife, between Harry and Zsofia, and between Harrison and Laszlo. It seems almost as though Laszlo is intentionally selected not for his architectural acumen, but rather because of his Jewish and foreign heritage. It seems it may be a type of “Dinner For Schmucks” scenario, though obviously not a comedy. The preview hints that perhaps the Toths are there simply for the amusement, derision, and abuse of the rich who have nothing better to do.

ANORA – 1 STAR

Anora was not cute. It was not funny. It was not romantic. It was not tragic. Neither of these characters had any redeeming qualities about them. Ani wasn’t ambitious that we were made aware of. We’re never told why she’s working where she’s working or what she’s working towards. Ivan is a child who enjoys video games, sex, and partying. He is not charming, he is not clever, he is not sweet, he is not romantic. He is the son of rich parents. That’s it. And neither of them grow or develop or evolve through this annoying movie.

CONCLAVE – 3.5 STARS

Conclave is slow and intentional. There’s a real dichotomy throughout. There is an urgency to find out the truth about various Cardinals who will potentially become the next Pope, and this must be done with haste as the proceedings are already underway. But there’s also a hesitancy from Thomas torn between duty to God and just getting the Conclave over with and put all the controversy behind. He doesn’t want to know the truth, but he must. And it’s a race against the clock, but the clock is slow moving as they adhere to the voting traditions that take days or longer to execute. This is not a film to have casually playing in the background.

WICKED PART I – 5 STARS

Wicked Part I was such an amazing movie adaptation of the Broadway Musical. My biggest concern was the use of CGI. The temptation would be to go overboard since you basically have a magical world that doesn’t exist to create with only your imagination as your limit. Director Jon M. Chu used it perfectly. One scene in particular is the mechanical train that takes Elphaba and Glinda to Oz. While you’re watching, you have no idea how much of that is an actual set piece and how much was digitally created. So you don’t even think about it while you’re watching. You just accept that it’s really there. And that is how CGI should be used. Imperceptibly. And it was magical and perfect throughout the movie.

BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE REVIEW – 3 STARS

Like many fans of the original, I was excited to finally see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The preview doesn’t really give you much of a plot reveal. The preview itself would have to be ten minutes long just to try to fit in all the odd things going on they tried to squeeze in. The nice thing about the 1988 film was its simplicity. Barbara and Adam Maitland bought a house in Connecticut. They were a simple, loving couple who died tragically in a car accident. They must try to figure out their place in the realm of the unliving while dealing with the new tenants of their beloved home, the Deetz’s. Beetlejuice gets in the mix and chaos ensues. There were really two or three sub plots in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice that I could have done without. And the flashback sequences were just . . . weird. They didn’t fit and there were much better ways that those events could have been explained.

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE REVIEW – 4 STARS

It was everything Deadpool has set us up for in the first two movies, it delivered exactly what we’d expect, it repeated the same formula ad nauseum for over two hours, and it never got old. It was hilarious and entertaining without being clever or original. And not many other films than Deadpool or actors other than Reynolds could have pulled that off.

BEVERLY HILLS COP: AXEL F REVIEW – 3.5 STARS

There’s nothing magical about Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. It’s just been 30 years, the first 3 were very successful (well, the first 2 at least). So why not squeeze another drop by duplicating the formula? Lots of franchises do it. Die Hard featured a wise-cracking New York cop who had to take out terrorists . . . repeatedly. John Wick was desperately trying to get out of the “family”, but they kept finding ways for him to shoot hundreds of bad guys. Bad Boys with Mike and Marcus also cracking jokes as they destroy everything in sight to get the bad guys. And, like those movies, there’s not much to figure out with the Beverly Hills movies. In each one, we knew pretty early on who the bad guys are. And the bad guys know right away that Foley is on to them. So it’s really just about getting evidence and destroying things as he does it with a bit of humor sprinkled in the mix.

HIT MAN REVIEW – 3 STARS

I didn’t expect much from Hit Man, and it delivered what was expected. As far as hit man comedies go, I prefer Mr. Right with Anna Kendrick and Sam Rockwell. But it was fun to see Glen Powell take center stage and put on a wide array of fun characters. He’s always been the number 2 in movies like Hidden Figures and Top Gun: Maverick. He’s got a Captain America look and I could easily see him joining a super hero franchise. He also plays a cocky, confident, snarky role quite well, so perhaps that super hero is not unlike Deadpool. I thought it was a very interesting scenario, a decently-written script, a couple obvious twists and turns. But it was the reactions to those turns that was not-so-obvious.

GHOSTBUSTERS FROZEN EMPIRE REVIEW – 4 STARS

In 1984, comedy writing, directing, and acting geniuses put together an iconic sci-fi ghost movie that became in instant and long-running classic. As with most successful movies like this, they all came back for a sequel in 1989. Unlike many sequels, this one lived up to expectations. So the formula should work, right?

For the most part, it did. 

THE HOLDOVERS REVIEW – 3 STARS

I really wanted to like The Holdovers more than I did. I found it to be slow, tough to stay engaged. There were some moments, but not enough to hold the 2 hour 13 minute film. And I didn’t get it. Paul Hunham (Giamatti) is described in reviews and portrayed in the preview as this hated, bitter, cranky teacher. But really, he had a very soft spot for Mary Lamb (Randolph), for Angus Tully (Sessa), for Miss Lydia Crane (Preston). He was sentimental, he was a good listener, he was passionate about his profession and the subject of history. For some reason, he took delight in the demise of the students at Barton Academy he felt were entitled, who didn’t care, who didn’t appreciate what they had. But we never understand why.

BARBIE 2023 REVIEW – 4 STARS

I really enjoyed Barbie a lot. The writing and casting were perfect. I found myself laughing out loud, cringing at our own lack of progress in equality, and being touched by the performances and writing around an iconic character who by design is ridiculously impossibly perfect. It was brilliant.

MATILDA THE MUSICAL REVIEW – 4 STARS

Even though this is a musical, this version of Roald Dahl’s book, Matilda the Musical, is much darker and tragic than the 1996 movie with Mara Wilson. In this version, there is no older brother. In the movie, her older dimwitted brother was the primary instigator in the Wormwood house. This actually helped to soften the tormenting from Matilda’s parents who were more confused than anything else. They didn’t understand her. She was a genius and wanted to read and learn more, something her family deemed useless. They didn’t know how to raise her and had no bond with her. In this version, they just truly despise her. They don’t even know her well enough to recognize that they don’t understand her. They simply don’t want her. 

THE LITTLE MERMAID 2023 REVIEW – 5 STARS

Disney has struck gold with another masterful re-imagining of one of their all-time classic animated movies, The Little Mermaid. As with each animation the Disney team attempts to bring to life with actual humans and realistic CGI, some difficult choices must be made. Of course animals can’t talk like in Lion King or Jungle Book, of course dressers and tea cups can’t come to life like in Beauty and the Beast, of course there’s no such thing as a magic flying carpet and blue Genie like in Aladdin, of course elephants can’t fly like in Dumbo. But in a cartoon, anything is achievable. The trick is making those cartoons come to life in the most realistic way possible. In each movie, while they have all stayed true to their original story, some scenes and some lyrics have been changed for a modern remake. And save one slightly out of place ballad from Prince Eric, The Little Mermaid made perfect choices.