Premise - “A college professor finds herself at a personal and professional crossroad when a star student levels an accusation against one of her colleagues, threatening to expose a dark secret from her own past.”

Director - Luca Guadagnino

Writer - Nora Garrett

Noteworthy cast - Julia Robert, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Chloë Sevigny

My thoughts - Luca will always be one of my guys, but I’m sad to report that this isn’t him at his best. A chamber piece is already not ideal for his sensibilities, but that’s made worse by a weak script. He does what he can with what he’s got, but you can only do so much with a script that bad.

It starts out really solid, but the longer it goes the more tedious it becomes & the more it lectures. There is so much philosophical/intellectual talk that it made me want to gag. One seen in particular feels like people in rooms just saying smart words that don’t actually mean anything. Just very pretentious.

It felt weird how none of the cast really seemed interested in engaging in conversation during the Q&A. They almost shuddered every time a question about the subject of the film came up & then rambled about how much they loved the cast or loved Luca.

I really love what the film is going for & that it’s basically a noir. The idea of neither the older generation or the younger generation being medicated by the right thing (drugs/alcohol vs. therapy) is fascinating. No matter what you medicate with, most of us are still extremely flawed. It would be easier to just look in the mirror and admit that, but that’s not as fun as blaming others. Really cool idea for a movie, right? I think so too! Just a bummer we couldn’t have had someone like Sammy Burch write the screenplay.

All that said, I’m happy to report that Michael Stuhlbarg remains undefeated in Luca films! He steals the show here.

The excellent cast (minus Edebiri because I’m honestly not sure she can act) & the foundational ideas of the film are enough to make it watchable. Even if the screenplay keeps it from being great.

How did it do at the box office? - TBD

Will it win any Oscars? - Julia Roberts will potentially be nominated for Best Actress & then the film could be nominated for Best Picture

Where to watch - Will be released in theaters on October 17th

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Premise - “After an unexpected threesome with a crush, a young man and the two women are left to deal with the sobering real-world consequences.”

Director - Chad Hartigan

Writer - Ethan Ogilby

Noteworthy cast - Zoey Deutch, Jonah Hauer-King, & Ruby Cruz

My thoughts - Absolutely everything I want in a movie. An adult drama with a top notch screen play, compelling central performances, assured direction, & the messiness of the modern world as the backdrop. I was like a kid in a candy shop for 112 minutes. You couldn’t smack the smile off my face.

It’s so rare that we get these kinds of movies at all that I get giddy when we actually do.

Easily the best rom-com of the year & instantly a contender for best of the decade.

Hartigan does such a wonderful job of not only subverting your expectations for what the story will be but also the genre as a whole. Don’t let the title fool you into not watching because you are afraid that it will be raunchy romp because it is the complete opposite. The inciting incident happens almost immediately & from there it morphs into a deep & sincere character study. With a title like ‘The Threesome’ you are immediately thinking sexy, but this one is much more interested in being sweet & tender (and the film is much better served by it).

Really smart script that sees each of its characters as actual humans and not just plot devices. You feel so deeply for each of them that it hurts. Zoey Deutch is already my rom-com queen, but I’m now fully on board with Jonah Hauer-King (aka mini Ryan Gosling) as well.

More movies like this please!

How did it do at the box office? - Still in theaters

Did it win any Oscars? - TBD

Where to watch - Currently in theaters!

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Fall movies are finally back!!!!

After the blockbusters of the summer, the true cinephiles are ready to feast on the gourmet platter of films we have on deck this fall.

Starting on Wednesday, the fall film festival season once again gets underway.

Here is the schedule for the 4 major fall film festivals this year:

• Venice Film Festival - August 22nd through September 9th

• Telluride Film Festival - August 29th through September 1st

• Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) - September 4th through 14th

• New York Film Festival (NYFF) - September 26th through October 13th

• After these festivals, the regional film festivals (Chicago, London, Middleburg, Santa Barbara, Savannah, Virginia, etc.) play the best films from the “Big Four” fall festivals.

Over the next six weeks, instant classics will be born, Oscar frontrunners will emerge, and under the radar films will take center stage.

The festival ecosystem is a special place for launching, discovering, and nurturing new films, but can also an unforgiving one. There will be Oscar frontrunners that premiere to poor reception and are never heard from again. There will be films seeking distribution that never find it.

If everything goes right, it can be lightning in a bottle magic. If it doesn’t go well, you can lose momentum before the film even gets released.

High risk. High reward.

Nothing quite like it!

This year I will be at the New York Film Festival, Middleburg Film Festival, and the Virginia Film Festival, so I will report back on what I see up close and in person.

Before we get to my most anticipated films from the upcoming fall festival slate, make sure to catch up on our recent reviews from August!

10 Most Anticipated Films of the Fall Festivals

Before people start yelling at me in the comments for movies I left off, here were the parameters I set for myself when making this list:

• The movie has to be playing fall festivals. This removes films like Marty Supreme & One Battle After Another that I am stoked for, but aren’t playing fall festivals (that we know at this point).

• The movie can’t have appeared on my list of “25 Most Anticipated Films of 2025” from earlier in the year. The goal with this new list is to draw attention to films that I haven’t already talked about. This means that the following festival films that I am super pumped for won’t be on the list:

  • After The Hunt

  • Blue Moon

  • Wake Up Dead Man

  • Hamnet

  • Jay Kelly

  • The Smashing Machine

• It is okay if the film has already premiered at another festival earlier in the year (like Cannes or Sundance). It just has to be playing at least one fall festival to qualify for this list.

Alright, enough parameters! Let’s get to the list:

Honorable Mentions:

• Sirat

• Ballad of a Small Player

• Frankenstein

• The Mastermind

• The Secret Agent

• Deliver Me From Nowhere

• Roofman

• Sound of Falling

• Rental Family

• Father Mother Sister Brother

10. Late Fame

Premise - “Legendary New York poet Ed Saxberger's forgotten works captivate an eccentric group of young creatives, reigniting his artistic passion. Their intrigue intertwines with the bewitching presence of actress Gloria.”

Director - Kent Jones

Noteworthy Cast - Willem Dafoe & Greta Lee

World Premiere Festival & Date - Venice Film Festival on August 30th

Why I am excited - This one doesn’t seem to be getting much buzz ahead of it’s premiere, but I am wondering if it is going to surprise some people. The screenplay was written by Sammy Burch, who was Oscar nominated for her very first screenplay for May December (one of my favorites of 2023). Director Kent Jones has a solid track record. And stars Greta Lee & Willem Dafoe are two of my favorite working actors. Checks more boxes than most movies do!

Oscar Potential - Probably nothing, unless it surprises some people

Release Date - Unknown

9. Bugonia

Premise - “Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.”

Director - Yorgos Lanthimos

Noteworthy Cast - Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, and Alicia Silverstone

World Premiere Festival & Date - Venice Film Festival on August 28th

Why I am excited - Yorgos has been on of the greatest runs by any director this century. Many are describing this as his most commercial/accessible movie yet (which is not really something you would use to describe any of his previous films).

Between that, the premise, and the cast, I am sold!

Oscar Potential - Jesse Plemons is the favorite to win Best Actor & there is a chance that it could also get nominated for Best Director & Best Picture

Release Date - October 24th

8. Anemone

Premise - “Family bonds between fathers, sons, and brothers are explored as complex relationships unfold through personal journeys and generational conflicts.”

Director - Ronan Day-Lewis

Noteworthy Cast - Daniel Day-Lewis, Sean Bean, and Samantha Morton

World Premiere Festival & Date - New York Film Festival (Date Unknown)

Why I am excited - In 2017, Daniel Day-Lewis announced that he was retiring from acting. Late last year, after a 7 year hiatus, the legend himself announced that he was going to come out of retirement to star in his son’s directorial debut.

The Daniel Day-Lewis aspect alone is enough to get me excited about the film, but to be frank, I wasn’t really that jazzed to see another Nepo baby get their shot at making a movie.

That all changed the moment the trailer dropped because it seems that Ronan Day-Lewis has the stuff. And his dad is not just taking some nothing part, he seems to be the star.

This legitimately may be the last movie that one of the greatest actors of all time is in. Count me in!

Oscar Potential - Any time Daniel Day-Lewis is in a film, there is a chance that he gets nominated.

Release Date - October 3rd

7. No Other Choice

Premise - “After being unemployed for several years, a man devises a unique plan to secure a new job: eliminate his competition.”

Director - Park Chan-wook

World Premiere Festival & Date - Venice Film Festival on August 29th

Why I am excited - Any time one of the best living directors makes a movie, it is a big deal. While Chan-wook’s filmography is a pretty big blind spot for me, I can’t wait to explore it leading up to what looks to be another excellent film from the master.

Oscar Potential - Maybe Chan-wook gets in for director, but his films have not been very loved by the Academy as of late. It feels like that will change at some point with this new & more international academy, but it is anyone’s guess when that happens.

Release Date - Unknown

6. It Was Just An Accident

Premise - “A small mishap triggers a chain reaction of ever-growing problems.”

Director - Jafar Panahi

World Premiere Festival & Date - It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20th & is set to play TIFF, Telluride, and NYFF this fall.

Why I am excited - This was not on my radar prior to Cannes, but immediately was when it upset Sentimental Value to win the coveted Palme D'or (top prize at Cannes). Five of the past 6 Palme winners have gone on to win Best Picture at the Oscars & two of them went on to win Best Picture (Anora & Parasite). While I don’t expect this to win Best Picture, I would imagine like all Palme winners, it is going to be really really good.

Oscar Potential - It will almost certainly be nominated for Best International Feature & then has a shot to get nominated for Best Director and even Best Picture.

Release Date - October 15th

5. A House of Dynamite

Premise - “Centered on White House staffers grappling with an impending missile strike on America, this gripping drama unfolds in real-time as tensions escalate.”

Director - Kathryn Bigelow

Noteworthy Cast - Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Willa Fitzgerald, Anthony Ramos, Greta Lee, Tracy Letts, and Jonah Hauber-King

World Premiere Festival & Date - Venice Film Festival on September 2nd

Why I am excited - It has been eight years since the world has been blessed with a Kathryn Bigelow film. Any time the director of Point Break, The Hurt Locker, & Zero Dark Thirty makes a film, anticipation is high!

Oscar Potential - Has a chance to get nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, & Best Screenplay.

Release Date - October 24th on Netflix

4. The Testament of Ann Lee

Premise - “An epic fable about religious leader Ann Lee (Seyfried), who was proclaimed by her followers as the female Christ and went on to build one of the largest utopian societies.”

Director - Mona Fastvold

Noteworthy Cast - Amanda Seyfried, Christopher Abbott, Lewis Pullman, & Tim Blake Nelson

World Premiere Festival & Date - Venice Film Festival on September 1st

Why I am excited - If you are new around here, you may not know that I adore musicals. And one of the prominent stars of quite a few blockbuster musicals of the past decade is none other than my queen, Amanda Seyfried. Whether it is Mama Mia, Les Miserable, or Mama Mia 2, I am constantly captivated by her presence and raw talent on screen in musical films. I still think she should have been Glinda in Wicked, but that is besides the point.

Another person who has captured my attention recently is Mona Fastvold. She co-wrote last year’s The Brutalist with her husband, Brady Corbet, & took the film world by storm. Corbet was in the directors chair for the last film, but this time Fastvold is behind the camera for a screenplay that they wrote together.

Either of those things alone would be enough to end up on a list like this, but Amanda Seyfriend + Mona Fastvold + Musical = crazy anticipation for me.

This one is a wildcard. It could be bad, but my hopes are sure high!

Oscar Potential - Amanda Seyfried has a good chance to win Best Actress

Release Date - Unknown

3. Is This Thing On?

Premise - “As their marriage unravels, Alex faces middle age and divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene while wife Tess confronts the sacrifices she made for their family-forcing them to navigate co-parenting and identity.”

Director - Bradley Cooper

Noteworthy Cast - Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Bradley Cooper, Sean Hayes, Ciaran Hinds, & Payton Manning

World Premiere Festival & Date- New York Film Festival on October 10th

Why I am excited - Cooper’s version of A Star is Born is one of my favorite films of all time. His follow up to that, Maestro, was one of my favorite films of 2023.

Safe to say I was going to be excited about his next film.

I have heard that this one is tonally VERY different from his first two films and that it likely wasn’t going to be much of an awards player. Thus, my expectations were lowered. I guess even filmmakers need a palate cleanser occasionally as well. And that is what it felt like this whole film was.

But then the stills were released.. And then the logline was released..

And you better believe my anticipation shot right back up.

In Bradley we trust!

Oscar Potential - There is alot unknown at this point, but it probably is not an Oscar player this year. There is an outside chance it could pop up with nominations in Screenplay, Director, Acting awards, and even Best Picture.

Release Date - December 19th

2. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Premise - “With her life crashing down around her, Linda tries to navigate her daughter's mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist.”

Director - Mary Bronstein

Noteworthy Cast - Rose Byrne, Conan O’Brien, A$AP Rocky, & Christian Slater

World Premiere Festival & Date - It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24th. It then played the Berlin International Film Festival (where Byrne won the Silver Bear for best leading performance). It is expected to play at TIFF, Telluride, and NYFF this fall.

Why I am excited - To put it frankly, this looks like what everyone hoped Nightbitch would be last awards season. Those who have seen the film are describing it as a “female version of Uncut Gems”. That sounds like high praise to live up to, but when you realize that Josh Safdie is a producer, you realize it may actually be true. Sign me up for an anxiety filled ride!

Can’t wait for a Rose Byrne Oscar campaign!

Oscar Potential - Rose Byrne has a good chance to be nominated & potentially win Best Actress

Release Date - October 10, 2025

1. Sentimental Value

Premise - “An intimate exploration of family, memories, and the reconciliatory power of art.”

Director - Joachim Trier

Noteworthy Cast - Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning, & Cory Michael Smith

World Premiere Festival & Date - It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21st & is set to play TIFF, Telluride, and NYFF this fall.

Why I am excited - Back during the pandemic, Joachim Trier took the film world by storm with The Worst Person in the World. It ushered in a new generation of cinephiles & catapulted to one of the best films of the century. Safe to say, there was going to be massive anticipation for his next film. Then when it was announced that he would be running it back with Renate Reinsve (seen earlier this year in Armand), the anticipation grew even more.

All that said, the buzz around Sentimental Value since it premiered at Cannes has far exceeded even what I could have imagined. It has been out of this world. The buzz was so good coming out of the festival that it was actually a bit surprising that it didn’t win the top prize at Cannes. Nonetheless, this is not only one of the best reviewed films of the year, but has already cemented itself as a major player in the Oscar race this year.

Great director, great cast, compelling themes, excellent reviews, and a captivating trailer.

What more do you need to be excited?

Oscar Potential - This one is likely going to be a big Oscar player. Here is the current outlook:

• Likely to be nominated for Best Picture & could even win.

• Clear favorite to win Best International Feature.

• Stellen Skarsgård is a frontrunner to win Best Supporting Actor.

• Renate Reinsve has a strong chance to be nominated for Best Actress

• Elle Fanning has a chance to get nominated for Best Supporting Actress

• Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas has an outside chance to get nominate for Best Supporting Actress

• Joachim Trier has a good chance to be nominated for Best Director

• It has a strong chance to be nominated & win Original Screenplay

Release Date - November 7, 2025

I often only find myself excited about films in development when they are helmed by a director I trust. It’s really hard to get excited for a log line and not know what the quality will be. We have all fallen for a Netflix log line that sounded appealing but then you could tell instantly that it was going to be a tough.

I think it is partly why studios like A24 or Neon have become so successful. You know that when you see their logo, there will at least be some standard for quality.

Every now and then though, something comes along that changes all of that. There will be a logline and stars attached that get me hook line and sinker to the point that the director attached doesn’t even matter.

That happened a few weeks ago when I hear about Winter Games

Here is the log line for the film - “Set in the high-stakes arena of the Winter Olympics, the film follows a perpetually overlooked skier and a self-sabotaging hockey legend who collide at their breaking points. Their unexpected connection threatens her chance for a medal and his shot at a comeback as they navigate romance and redemption in the Olympic Village.”

Then I learned that Miles Teller is set to play the hockey legend & Hailee Steinfeld is set to play the skier.

SIGN ME UP!

I am not sure why, but a romance set inside the world of the Olympic village feels like a movie that should already exist. There is always something so intriguing and fascinating about that village world every time the Olympics rolls around.

I really hope they lean into all of the different dynamics that must exist in the Olympic village & amongst the athletes themselves. Whether it is the celebrations after a medal is one or the heartbreak of losing after you have dedicated years of your life to get to that point.

It just feels very high stakes, yet intimate set inside the village itself. I really hope it ends up being as good as it is inside my head.

Time will tell!

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To see past editions of Retro Recs, click here

That is all for now!

As always, enjoy some great films until next time,

Aaron Nolan

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Premise - “A flamboyant law firm secretary works tirelessly to gain justice for a small town wrecked by a utility company's pollution.”

Director - Joe Talbot

Writer - Joe Talbot & Rob Richert

Noteworthy cast - Jonathan Majors, Jimmie Falls, & Danny Glover

My thoughts - I remember one time I heard someone say (can’t remember who) that you knew you were watching a great movie when you could freeze the frame at any point & be okay with that frame being hung on your wall. Obviously it would be reductive to say that’s the only way to tell if you are watching a great film, but it’s no doubt a way to tell you are watching a gorgeous one.

I think there were about 400 frames throughout The Last Black Man in San Francisco that I would happily frame on my wall. So many draw dropping shots one after another that it makes you wonder how this all came from the mind of a first time director.

Genuinely one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. That score. The way it’s shot. The performances. The way it captures the heartbeat of a city. The fully crafted and lived in characters.

Only major bummer was being reminded of just how much talent Jonathan Majors had and tossed away with his life choices.

How did it do at the box office? - Grossed $4.63 million ($4.5 million domestically) on a $3 million budget

Did it win any Oscars? - In a stacked Oscar year, it didn’t even receive a nomination

Where to watch - Available to stream on Cinemax or for rent/purchase on VOD through platforms like Amazon or Apple

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Premise - “Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.”

Director - Martin Scorsese

Writer - Terrance Winter

Noteworthy cast - Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Favreau, Jon Bernthal, and Cristin Milioti

My thoughts - I think that many of Scorsese’s great works get better each time you watch them, but maybe none more than Wolf of Wall Street.

The first time you watch it you are mesmerized by the spectacle of it all. I mean how can you not be? It’s so easy to get caught up in the fun & games of the first half that you almost can’t wrap your head around the tonal shift towards the end. You get so swept up in this kid rising through the ranks of Wall Street & living out the American dream. You get swept up in the glitz & the glamor & the drugs & the partying & the beautiful women. Scorsese doesn’t even give you a second to catch your breath & question the ethics of everything happening, he’s just going at a breakneck speed.

It’s no mistake that the speed comes to a screeching halt towards the end of the film when Jordan’s world starts crashing in around him. We get moments where we have no choice but to be confronted head on about how scummy of a person he is - especially the last few scenes with Naomi. Scenes that are remarkably hard to watch when you know what’s coming. It’s Scorsese very clearly making you sit in this & not gloss over the heart of who Jordan is. It’s the same guy we’ve spent 3 hours with, but without the distraction of everything that we were fantasizing before. Just the raw version of Jordan and not only how he treats people, but what he really thinks about them.

It’s no mistake that Noami is the first of his victims that we actually see on screen. Imagine if Scorsese had devoted screen time to some of Jordan’s victims who invested their life savings into a worthless penny stock. It would be a completely different movie & not nearly as effective. Jordan’s treating Naomi no differently than he did every single person on the end of the phone, but she’s the first time we actually see him through someone else’s eyes & not through his own.

Like many, my first reaction when seeing this for the first time was “that second half was a real drag, but the first half was so much fun”. I am just as guilty as anyone of falling into the trap that Scorsese is setting - getting sucked into how cool Jordan looks in the first half & how much money he’s making.

Then, there is that legendary final shot - I mean talk about peak cinema! After having the real Jordan Belfort introduce Leo, he starts a seminar teaching people how to sell & get rich. Scorsese isn’t subtle about the fact that this seminar is PACKED. Then, the final shot of the movie pans to audience before it fades to black. We see the faces of those who packed a room to hear from a former “baller” and maybe just maybe learn how he did it so you can grab a piece of the pie for themselves.

We look at people like Jordan and long for the wealth they have (or had). We tell ourselves it’s the American dream when in reality he’s everything wrong with America. Yet, just like the audience, we can’t help but be transfixed as he teaches us how to sell the pen because we deep down want to be just like him. We forget everything else, we just remember the fun parts from the first half of the film.

The audience in the seminar sure forgets everything from the first half. Or maybe they don’t forget as much as they ignore it because they are in pursuit of wanting to be just like him.

So Scorsese leaves us with one simple question - are you going to fall for it? Are you going to chase what Jordan had like those in the audience? Are you going to buy into a system that prioritizes being wealthy over being a good person? Or have you already by spending three hours watching this monster’s life story?

How did it do at the box office? - $392 million worldwide ($116.9M domestic) on a $100M budget

Did it win any Oscars? - It was nominated for:

• Best Picture

• Adapted Screenplay

• Best Director (Martin Scorsese)

• Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio)

• Best Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill)

It unfortunately won none of them

Where to watch - Currently streaming on Paramount+, Tubi, and Pluto TV

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Premise - “When a powerful music mogul is targeted by a ransom plot, he is forced to fight for his family and legacy while jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma.”

Director - Spike Lee

Writer - Alan Fox (Adapted from Akira Kurosawa’s ‘High & Low’)

Noteworthy cast - Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, A$AP Rocky, Dean Winters, & Ice Spice

My thoughts - I’m pretty confused on the strategy with this one. Kind of weird that it is playing barely any theaters before being dumped on a streaming service that barely anyone subscribes to.

It doesn’t feel like a movie that would play well on streaming. I found the first act almost unwatchable. There is a non zero chance I would have just turned it if I was at home. It’s the one stretch of the film that feels like the most one-to-one remake of the source material. Not to mention the obnoxious score. It almost undercuts anything special happening on screen in the first act.

I’m so glad I was in a theater and was forced to stick with it though. Because despite my feelings about the first act, this isn’t a bad film at all. In fact, it’s a really really great one.

Once we get more of Spike being Spike and not Spike trying to do Kurasawa, the film starts to take a life of its own in the best way possible. It all kicks into gear during a lengthy scene on the subway. As the subway moves through the city, we experience the sights and sounds the greatest city in the world has to offer including Puerto Rican Day festivities & the subway becoming overrun by obnoxious Yankees fans.

While the subway scene pushes us in the right direction, the final hour includes two of my favorite scenes of the year. Both happen to be between Denzel and A$AP Rocky, who I would never have guessed was capable of going toe to toe with Denzel.

The way it takes the themes of the original film and expands on them to make them relevant to today is a stroke of genius. Exploring parasocial relationships, fame, and legacy in the way the it does is nothing short of brilliant.

I also just found the character of Yung Felon to be extremely compelling and well written. The only reason he isn’t successful is that he never got his lucky break. Spike doesn’t shy away from showing us how absurdly talented he is while also reminding us that even most talented people don’t always succeed in this world. In fact, they rarely do. Unless you are well connected, you need to get incredibly lucky. Even David knows that had he discovered this kids talent and given him a break, his life would have changed & things would have been so different. But he didn’t.

The haunting final act and the emotional ending scene are so moving in their own right that you can easily forgive the sins of act #1.

I guess it’s fitting that “Highest 2 Lowest” has the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.

How did it do at the box office? - Not really a box office play as the film will be available to stream on AppleTV+ starting on September 5th

Did it win any Oscars? - TBD

Where to watch - Currently in theaters & the streaming on AppleTV+ starting on September 5th

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Premise - “When all but one child from the same classroom mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.”

Director - Zach Cregger

Writer - Zach Cregger

Noteworthy cast - Julia Garner, Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, Austin Abrams, and Amy Madigan

My thoughts - On your first watch of Weapons, it is so easy to get caught up in the big mystery the movie poses. And how could you not? Especially after months and months of marketing material pushing the missing kids. Our brains are wired to want an answer. And not just any answer, a satisfying one.

Even if you didn’t come in looking for answers, you quickly become so entranced by the tension Cregger creates through individual scenes & the narrative structure that you too now want answers.

This hyper fixation on wanting a satisfying answer has left many disappointed by the film. And they aren’t necessarily wrong for that, they just aren’t viewing the story through the lens that Cregger is.

On a rewatch (when there is no more mystery) you so easily see the whole thing as the portrait of grief that Cregger intended. A sweeping tale about how we handle it as a society and the ways in which we try and cope with the unimaginable.

Sometimes people turn to alcohol

Sometimes people look for answers where they don’t exist

Sometimes people fixate on what they could have done or could have said

Sometimes people bully others

Sometimes people abuse power to give them the illusion of control

Sometimes people turn to sex

Sometimes people try to turn it into financial gain

Sometimes people simply try to normalize & continue life as if nothing happened

Sometimes people unknowingly enable it

Sometimes people can’t talk about it and have no choice but to keep it down

You see, Cregger didn’t sit down and write this movie with some crazy ending in mind. He sat down to write these characters and this story after he experienced unimaginable loss and grief himself. When he started writing the characters he just put everything he was thinking and feeling into them. When it got time for there to be an ending, he just wrote what felt right.

This was always about grief and never about how the story ends.

So are things hopeless? Is there anything we can do to stop grief in the first place?

Not entirely. Wickedness is inevitable in fallen this world. Parasites will always exist in society. And there isn’t always good reasons for why they do.

While we can’t stop grief entirely, we can fight it. We can stand up to it & go toe to toe with it (like Alex does) or we can lean on community & communicate with one another to fight it (Justine & Archer). Any approach outside of that may medicate you in the short term, but in the long run will inevitably lead to death.

Really liked this movie on the first watch. Loved it in a rewatch!

How did it do at the box office? - So far has grossed $108.3 million ($64 million domestic) on an estimated $38 million budget

Did it win any Oscars? - TBD

Where to watch - Currently in movie theaters

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Premise - “A world-renowned K-Pop girl group balance their lives in the spotlight with their secret identities as demon hunters.”

Director - Chris Appelhans & Maggie Kang

Writer - Maggie Kang, Danya Jimenez, and Hannah McMechan

Noteworthy cast - Liza Koshy & Ken Jeong

My thoughts - Textbook example of why social media platforms like Letterboxd now play such an important role in propelling cinema forward. If it weren’t for that app, I would never have even considered watching this (and boy would I have been worse off for it).

Day after day another person I followed on the platform gave it a positive review. Each one inched me closer & closer to watching it before I finally pulled the trigger.

KPop Demon Hunters feels like the closest thing we will ever get to a modern version of a Disney Renaissance musical (Disney musical from the 90s). Stunning animation. Songs that will stick in your brain for weeks on end. A compelling romance you are rooting for. Colors exploding off the screen. Well rounded characters you are immediately invested in. Real stakes. A genuinely sincere & moving story. Tonally knows what it is & commits to it. Unafraid to touch on sensitive themes. Songs that actually propel the story forward.

Never in a million years expected it to move me the way that it did. Even if you aren’t typically one to enjoy Kpop or anime style films, I would recommend that you give this one a shot. And don’t be surprised when it wins you over!

Without a doubt the surprise of the year!

How did it do at the box office? - Not released theatrically

Did it win any Oscars? - To be determined, but probably not

Where to watch - Streaming on Netflix

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Premise - “After rising through the ranks of her male-dominated profession, idealistic FBI agent Kate Macer receives a top assignment.”

Director - Denis Villeneuve

Writer - Taylor Sheridan

Noteworthy Cast - Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Daniel Kaluuya, Josh Brolin, and John Bernthal

My thoughts - You can really see certain shots throughout this where Denis is starting to get reps in for what he ultimately perfects in Dune Part 2.

There is so much I adore about him as a filmmaker, but the thing I keep coming back to is his understanding of tone. He never wastes any time making sure the audience is on the same page with him about the tone of the film.

In the Netflix-era of movies, the algorithms point to drawing in your audience in early in the movie or the audience will turn to their phone. For most movies that means some silly set piece to open. I love that Denis is much more interested in making you feel the tone rather than constantly needing to show you.

Just an absolute banger of a film from start to finish.

How did it do at the box office? - Grossed $84.8 million ($46.8 million domestically) on a $30 million budget

Did it win any Oscars? - It was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Editing. It won no Oscars.

Where to watch - Currently streaming on Netflix

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Premise - “In the late 1960s, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson stops touring, produces "Pet Sounds" and begins to lose his grip on reality. By the 1980s, Wilson (John Cusack, under the sway of a controlling therapist, finds a savior in Melinda Ledbetter.”

Director - Bill Pohlad

Writer - Oren Moverman & Michael A. Lerner

Noteworthy cast - John Cusack, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, & Elizabeth Banks

My thoughts - Bill Pohlad’s 2014 film Love & Mercy is a deeply human Brian Wilson biopic that goes well beyond the usual music movie formula.

Biopics are really hard to get right.

Music biopics are even tougher.

No matter the type, they often fail because they are hesitant to show their subjects as humans with flaws and real struggles, not just cinematic struggles that fit into the narrative structure of a film. “Love & Mercy” has no interest in being a conventional movie, it is only interested in telling Brian Wilson’s story. His whole story - the genius and the mental health struggles and the familial challenges he faced.

It is probably my favorite music biopic & not because it is a feel good move (it is very much the opposite) but because it feels authentically Brian.

The John Cusack & Paul Dano performances are so good that it reminds you just how many good movies used to come out. If this came out in the modern Oscar era, they would probably both easily be nominated. A shame that this one wasn’t more recognized in the awards race that year.

How did it do at the box office? - Grossed $28.6 million ($12.5 million domestically) on an estimated $10 million budget

Did it win any Oscars? - Somehow received no nominations

Where to watch - Currently streaming on Cinemax & available for rent or purchase on VOD

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Premise - “A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely seen younger brother returns to town.”

Director - Kenneth Lonergan

Writer - Kenneth Lonergan

Noteworthy cast - Laura Linney, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick, Amy Ryan, and Rory Culkin

My thoughts - Kenneth Lonergan’s 2000 indie drama You Can Count on Me is one of the most beautiful portrayals of the complicated & unconditional tough love dynamic between siblings.

Shared trauma, laughs, and years together can never be erased. But those shared childhoods will shape adulthood in very different ways.

Some will cling to the small town & others will mock those who stay in the small town.

Some will cling to the faith of their parents and others will disregard it entirely.

Some will allow childhood trauma to make them a control freak while others will let loose and live life as it comes.

Despite differences that will always exist, what will never change is the need for the other, even if you are too proud to admit it.

If you are in the mood for a slow, thoughtful drama that has a little bit of comedy sprinkled in, You Can Count on Me may be the answer.

How did it do at the box office? - Grossed $11.2 million ($9.4 million domestically) on a $1.2 million budget

Did it win any Oscars? - It was nominated for Best Original Screenplay & Laura Linney was nominated for Best Actress. Neither won.

Where to watch - Currently streaming on Pluto TV

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Premise - “A couple travel to Sweden to visit their friend's rural hometown for its fabled midsummer festival, but what begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.”

Director - Ari Aster

Writer - Ari Aster

Noteworthy cast - Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, & Will Poulter

My thoughts - At its core, Ari Aster’s 2019 horror film Midsommar may seem like a story portrayed many times on the big screen. You’ve seen it before. A person “comes of age” by shedding someone important from their life, discovering their found family, and maybe even finding themselves along the way.

In the simplest of terms, a breakup movie.

Yet, Ari Aster does what only Ari Aster could do. He decides to take a common story beat and set it to the backdrop of none other than a Swedish death cult. That’s right. A cliff jumping, field frolicking, love spell casting death cult. One that he meticulously researches & spends significant runtime exploring. You become so ultra fixated on the rules of the colony, how they operate, and how they fit into the broader world that it wouldn’t be hard to lose sight of the central play.

It’s that tension between portraying this pageantry of the colony & portraying the humanity of Dani that makes Midsommar so special. The tension between Scandinavian socialism and American capitalism. The tension between community and isolation. If Aster goes all in on scientific spectacle or human drama, it becomes a completely different movie.

There are so many details and so much craft behind what Aster puts on screen in Midsommar that it’s inevitably going to take a few watches for everything to stick. Repeat watches are not only rewarded, but required to see the whole thing for what it is.

This time around I was drawn to how similar the inciting incident in act one is to the one in act three. Both are traumatic experiences that will alter the course of Dani’s life (losing her family & catching her boyfriend cheating on her). Both are immediately followed by a scene of her weeping uncontrollably. And what’s fascinating is not the inevitable pain & grief that comes after moments like that, but the question of who is around you to hold you are in that state? Do they want to be there? Do they feel your pain so deeply that they can’t help but scream with you? Or are they simply holding you because they know they have to out of obligation?

It’s all handled so masterfully by Aster. Chills during the opening. Chills when the opening credits hit. Chills when the boisterous score is booming during the final act. Chills when we see Dani smile. Chills all around!

One of the defining characteristics of a great movie (for me, at least) is that once the credits roll you immediately want to seek out every interview the filmmaker has done about the film.

Midsommar made me do just that (and think & feel plenty more).

Loved this line from Aster in an interview: “For the men, this is a folk horror movie. For Danni, it is a perverse wish fulfillment fantasy. It quite literally is a fairytale for her.”

Whether it is your first of fifth watch of Midsommar, if you watch it through this lens, I promise you will enjoy it even more.

How did it do at the box office? - Grossed $47.8 million ($27.4 million domestic) on an estimated $9 million budget

Did it win any Oscars? - No

Where to watch - Currently available for rent or purchase on VOD

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Premise - “Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie find themselves at a crossroads when they move to the countryside, abandoning all that is familiar in their lives except each other. With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.”

Director - Michael Shanks

Writer - Michael Shanks

Noteworthy cast - Dave Franco & Allison Brie

My thoughts - Before I even sat down to watch the film, I was on board with the Allison Brie/Dave Franco of it all. As the film unfolded, I found myself drawn into the tense moments and jarring images that Shanks is creating on screen.

As great as all of those things are, there is one big problem with “Together”.

It just doesn’t have enough to say about what it’s depicting.

Don’t get me wrong, the whole codependency metaphor is visualized quite literally throughout the movie (and done very successfully). It just never feels any deeper than simply portraying it on screen. Which causes the whole thing to feel a bit gimmicky.

If you are going to tackle a topic like codependency, maybe ask how relationships get to this point? Or ask why they get to this point? Or ask how to save a relationship from going to the place?

Body horror is no doubt having a moment, so I understand if people are getting wrapped up & ultimately won over by the images they see on screen. There is no mistake that the film chose the midnight section of Sundance as its launching point. It is the perfect movie to “oooooohh and ahhhh” while you squirm in your seat with your friends & strangers around you.

I just wish this one was a bit more than that.

Not every movie has to give you enough to chew on, but it can frustrating when you have something so ripe for that, but it decides to not venture down that road.

Without spoiling anything, I will say that there is a scene that takes place in a bathroom stall (IYKYK) that is easily one of the best scenes of the year. It is the sort of scene that illustrates just how gnarly this movie is. I just wish it was as good at exploring the what and the why behind codependency as it is at portraying it in disturbing ways on the big screen.

How did it do at the box office? - Unknown yet

Did it win any Oscars? - TBD

Where to watch - Currently in theaters

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Premise - “Salvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors.”

Director - Spike Lee

Writer - Spike Lee

Noteworthy cast - Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, John Turturro, and Danny Aiello

My thoughts - Most movies are easily forgotten. Every once in a while though you watch something like “Do The Right Thing” & it sears into your memory. It reminds you why you love the medium so much. It becomes a part of who you are. It helps you interrogate how you see the world. It makes you feel all the things. It makes you ask more questions than it could possibly answer.

Some of the most vibrant & memorable characters I’ve ever seen in a film. They all have attributes that make them likable (well most of them do) yet they also have real flaws that make them human. This push and pull, set to the backdrop of a sweltering Brooklyn, not only brings the whole thing to life, but makes it all explode off the screen.

Everything about it is a masterpiece. It is somehow remarkably nuanced, yet not subtle at all. A throwback to a different era, yet still painfully relevant.

How did it do at the box office? - Grossed $37.2 million ($27.5 million domestic) on an estimated $6.5 million budget

Did it win any Oscars? - It was nominated for Best Original Screenplay & Danny Aiello was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Neither won.

Where to watch - Currently streaming on MGM+

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Most of them weren’t very good.

In fact, most of them aren’t even worth your time!

That shouldn’t be shocking for those who have been around here for quite some time. The summer is great at giving us fun, popcorn movies but not so great at giving us quality cinema.

Now, to be fair, there have been some good blockbusters this summer that we have already covered such as Thunderbolts, Friendship, F1, Materialists, and 28 Years Later.

But there is plenty that you should actively avoid such as:

• Fantastic Four: First Steps

• Lilo & Stitch

• Heads of State

• M3GAN 2.0

• Jurassic World Rebirth

• Elio

• Hurry Up Tomorrow

• Another Simple Favor

• Summer of 69

• Ballerina

Sooo yeah… that is a decent number of films to avoid.

Alright, enough pessimism! Let’s celebrate the great movies (or at least the movies that are interesting to talk about).

Eddington (Directed by Ari Aster)

Plot - “During the COVID-19 pandemic, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, N.M.”

Noteworthy Cast - Pedro Pascal, Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Austin Butler, and Luke Grimes

My thoughts - Everyone’s brains broke in 2020.

It set the USA on a new trajectory. One you can argue we were already heading towards, but the extreme isolation did nothing but pour gasoline on the fire.

We lost the ability to feel empathy for others. We lost the ability to see others as human beings and not avatars on a screen. It changed the way young people make friends. It changed the way people get their news. We got really good at yelling at each other about our problems without trying to fix them.

While we spend all of our time arguing about things that don’t matter, we miss the big & obvious threats to our society. Threats that sink their teeth deeper into us every passing year. Threats that are so good at distracting us, making us hate one another, & spurring violence that we don’t even think to address the root of the problem.

I mean why care about a data center being built when the culture wars are right in front of you, right?

I have a hunch that this one is going to age extremely well decades from now. In fact, this may go down as one of the definitive movies of the 2020s

Rating - 4/5

How to watch - Currently in movie theaters

Superman (Directed by James Gunn)

Plot - “When Superman gets drawn into conflicts at home and abroad, his actions are questioned, giving tech billionaire Lex Luthor the opportunity to get the Man of Steel out of the way for good.”

Noteworthy Cast - David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced and Bradley Cooper

My thoughts - “A two hour Saturday morning cartoon” is probably the best characterization I’ve heard so far of the film. The Gunn humor may seem like a bug to someone like me who isn’t a fan of it, but it’s very much a feature of what kind of movie Gunn is going for here.

Loved how this version brings Superman up to modern times with his relationship to emotions & his standing in the world. I think the best part about this though is that it allows Louis to feel more like a real person. She spends most of her time being helpful here and not helpless. In fact, she has it more together than Superman does.

The film is at its best when it is the most grounded. The Metropolis stuff is great & feels like a real place. Every moment between Corenswet & Brosnahan is electric. The few quiet moments they get alone are the best of the film. The chemistry is there & it’s in that chemistry that their humanity shines through.

The problem is that James Gunn can only stay grounded for so long before we start venturing into a CGI mess of a “pocket universe” in act 2. If the whole thing felt as grounded as act 1, there could have been something really specially here.

It also leans way too much in trying to set up future DC projects that it detracts from the magic that is happening between Superman, Lane, & Luther. We didn’t need all these extra heroes that pop up throughout & ultimately take you out of the “Superman” of it all. This is a Superman movie after all! When did a contained movie become such a bad thing?

Finally, Krypto being in the movie was fun, but it led to some incredibly lazy screenwriting by Gunn. Almost every time Superman was in a pickle that you weren’t sure he would get out of, he would whistle & Krypto would come in and save the day. That may be cool once, but doing it three or four times was just really lazy writing.

As many quips as I have, the casting of Corenswet, Brosnahan, and Hoult was far too perfect to not make parts of this really great. Even if it’s far from perfect, there is enough to applaud. Just as you would when a Saturday morning cartoon ended. Then you would go about your day and never think about it again.

Rating - 3/5

How to watch - Currently in movie theaters

Happy Gilmore 2 (Directed by Kyle Newacheck)

Plot - “Gilmore returns to the sport of golf since his retirement after winning his first Tour Championship, to finance his daughter's ballet classes.”

Noteworthy Cast - Adam Sandler, Bad Bunny, Margaret Qualley, Christopher McDonald, and Ben Stiller

My thoughts - Not sure that I’ve ever seen a sequel include so much footage from the original movie. They really went out of their way to make sure everyone recognized each minor callback, which got old pretty quick.

Also why was the first act was so melodramatic? And why was the third act so zany? The second act was pretty great though. It felt the most like the original film. I just wish more of the film had that tone.

All that said, the constant cameos are enough to put a smile on anyone’s face. Casting Will Zalatoris as Gilmore’s grown up caddy from the first film is legendary stuff. Especially after golf Twitter has joked for years about how much Zalatoris looks like the kid from the original film. Plus, I’m always a sucker for a good Scottie Scheffler prison joke or a Rickie Fowler cameo.

Was this good? Not at all. But honestly, this could have been much much worse & I’m really glad it’s not.

I may forget about it the second I finish typing this, but at least it was a sort of entertaining two hours.

Rating - 2.5/5

How to watch - Streaming on Netflix

Anytime Luca Guadagnino releases a new movie, it is a big deal around here at Wild About Film. His 2024 tennis romance “Challengers” was the #3 film on my best of 2024 list & his 2022 film “Bones & All” was the #5 film on my best of 2022 list.

Not to even mention that his forthcoming “After the Hunt” is one of my most anticipated films for the remainder of the year.

Well, we finally know what Luca will be directing next & it is not only a buzzy cast but also a buzzy subject matter.

The movie is titled “Artificial” and is being described as a comedy-drama about the few days between Sam Altman’s firing and re-hiring as OpenAI’s CEO in November 2023.

Andrew Garfield is attached to play Sam Altman, Yura Borisov (last seen in “Anora”) is set to play OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, and Ike Barinholtz (recently seen in The Studio) is rumored to be playing Elon Musk. Monica Barbaro (recently seen in “A Complete Unknown”) is also set to star in the film.

The film is set to shoot later this year & release in 2026.

Look, you are probably thinking what I am thinking.

1. We are already making a movie about this?

2. Is this even worthy of getting a whole movie?

As much as those questions are dominating my thinking about the film, Luca Guadagnino’s track record suggests we should give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.

I guess best case maybe this can be “The Social Network” for Artificial Intelligence? I mean Andrew Garfield is in this too!

Maybe my hopes are too high, but with the loaded cast & talented director at the helm, I am intrigued!

See all previous Retro Recommendations here.

Do The Right Thing (Directed by Spike Lee)

Premise - “Salvatore "Sal" Fragione is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors.

Noteworthy cast - Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, John Turturro, and Danny Aiello

My thoughts - Most movies are easily forgotten. Every once in a while though you watch something like “Do The Right Thing” & it sears into your memory. It reminds you why you love the medium so much. It becomes a part of who you are. It helps you interrogate how you see the world. It makes you feel all the things. It makes you ask more questions than it could possibly answer.

Some of the most vibrant & memorable characters I’ve ever seen in a film. They all have attributes that make them likable (well most of them do) yet they also have real flaws that make them human. This push and pull, set to the backdrop of a sweltering Brooklyn, not only brings the whole thing to life, but makes it all explode off the screen.

Everything about it is a masterpiece. It is somehow remarkably nuanced, yet not subtle at all. A throwback to a different era, yet still painfully relevant.

Rating - 5/5

How did it do at the box office? - Grossed $37.2 million ($27.5 million domestic) on an estimated $6.5 million budget

Did it win any Oscars? - It was nominated for Best Original Screenplay & Danny Aiello was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Neither won.

Where to watch - Currently streaming on Amazon Prime

That is all for now! I will be back soon to look ahead to the most wonderful time of the year in the movie release calendar - fall film festivals.

The best movies of the year are right around the corner!!

As always, enjoy some great films until next time,

Aaron Nolan

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The end of June means one thing & one thing only around here - taking inventory on the best films released in the first half of the year!

I have watched 135 films so far in 2025 & 75 films that were 2025 releases.

As always, my goal is to help make sure you spend your time watching the new releases that are worth your time!

So how has this year has stacked up so far?

It has honestly been par for the course with what you would anticipate from the first 6 months of the movie calendar year. A few really high highs, some really low lows, and lots of mediocre stuff in between.

Not to worry though! This has a tendency of happening each year as the Oscar contending movies don’t get released until the fall festivals later in the year.

Speaking of festivals, this top 25 list does not include the films I have already seen at festivals & are scheduled to be released later in the year. This list only includes the films that have already been theatrically or digitally released to the public.

Although I must admit, a few films I saw back at Sundance earlier this year would have made this list, had they been eligible.

Enough talk! Let’s get to the movies!

25. Deep Cover (Directed by Tom Kingsley)

Plot - “An improv teacher and two of her students infiltrate the London underworld by impersonating dangerous criminals.”

Noteworthy Cast - Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, & Nick Mohammed

My thoughts - For a straight to streaming comedy, this was surprisingly good. Somehow the ridiculousness of it all plus the cast’s chemistry gives you a really fun & silly movie.

Glad to once again see Bryce Dallas Howard & Orlando Bloom in something that isn’t slop!

Rating - 3/5

How to watch - Streaming on Prime Video

24. On Swift Horses (Directed by Daniel Minahan)

Plot - “Muriel and her husband Lee are about to begin a bright new life, which is upended by the arrival of Lee's brother. Muriel embarks on a secret life, gambling on racehorses and discovering a love she never thought possible.”

Noteworthy Cast- Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter, & Diego Calva

My thoughts - It is the slowest of slow burns & the pacing is no doubt going to be an issue for most, but I found the whole thing achingly beautiful. It so perfectly encapsulates the struggles of a lost soul & how they navigate the many paths towards living their life authentically.

Both Julius and Muriel want the same thing but go about it in completely different way. Julius decides to live his life on the fringes of society so that he can be his true self, yet in doing so he can never plant roots and have meaningful stability or safety. Meanwhile, Muriel so clearly prioritizes stability and safety that she uses a conventional relationship to get her those things, even though she is doing nothing but hurting herself and her husband in the process.

The film shines in the brief moments where Julius and Muriel get to communicate their feelings on the path the other has chosen. In most instances, this happens without a sing word being spoken. It is almost as if they are two sides of the same coin. Each admires things about the other, yet they also remain completely terrified of living life the way the other has chosen to.

Still not fully sold on Jacob Elordi as an actor, but I could not be more convinced that Daisy Edgar-Jones will be on the big screen for a long long time!

Rating - 3/5

How to watch - Available for rent on VOD

23. One of Them Days (Directed by Lawrence Lamont)

Plot - “When her boyfriend takes her rent money, Alyssa and her roommate race against the clock to avoid eviction and keep their friendship intact.”

Noteworthy Cast - Keke Palmer & SZA

My thoughts - Some great gags, a reminder of how remarkably talented Keke Palmer is, and a really excellent original story.

Can’t take those for granted these days!

Rating - 3/5

How to watch - Currently streaming on Netflix

22. Hell of a Summer (Directed by Billy Bryk & Finn Wolfhard)

Plot - “The counselors of a summer camp are terrorized by a masked killer.”

Noteworthy Cast - Finn Wolfhard, Fred Hechinger, & Billy Bryk

My thoughts - You would never guess that the directorial debut from a 22 year old and 25 year old would be this assured. A loving homage to the camp slasher genre. It may not add anything particularly new to the genre, but it is a modern take that Gen Z & horror fans alike will enjoy.

Rating - 3/5

How to watch - Available for rent/purchase on VOD

21. Deaf President Now! (Directed by Nyle DiMarco & Davis Guggenheim)

Plot - “The story of the great civil rights movement most people have never heard about. During eight tumultuous days in 1988 at the world's only Deaf university, four students must find a way to lead a revolution and change the course of history.”

My thoughts - I knew legitimately nothing about this event or much of the history surrounding deaf culture, so this played really well for me & was fascinating to learn about.

The whole film is much more cinematic than you would think a documentary about this would end up being. Their is a chairman of the board that is almost like a villain straight out of a Disney movie! Then there is a new (at least to me) look at Alexander Graham Bell that is so dark, it will make you squirm.

Loved how the documentary plays with the sound throughout the film.

Pretty solid doc!

Rating - 3/5

How to watch - Currently streaming on Apple TV+

20. Armand (Directed by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel)

Plot - “When Elisabeth gets called to a parent-teacher conference, she's presented with scathing allegations that trigger a tangled web of accusations between parents and faculty.”

Noteworthy Cast - Renate Reinsve

My thoughts - An absolute masterclass in how to reveal information throughout a film. The slow trickle of information gives you just enough to chew on while also ensuring you aren’t handed all of the intricacies in the first 15 minutes. It all quietly builds until the final act of the film when it all comes together. In fact, it builds up so nicely that you could argue the conclusion/climax feels a bit sudden.

Renate Reinsve gives a jaw dropping performance as Elizabeth. I still think that her performance in “The Worst Person in the World” is one of the best performances of the decade, yet her performance in Armand may be even greater than that. The physicality in this performance is unlike anything I’ve ever seen from her.

There is one scene in particular where she looses her marbles in a stretch of laughter that feels like it lasts for five minutes straight. Someday, this will inevitably be included on a reel showcasing her life’s work.

She’s going to be around for a long time & I can’t wait for future generations to discover “Armand” when they watch through her filmography decades down the road.

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - Currently streaming on AMC+ or available for rent/purchase on VOD

19. The Phoenician Scheme (Directed by Wes Anderson)

Plot - “Wealthy businessman, Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins.”

Noteworthy Cast - Benicio del Toro, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Cera, Bill Murray, Tom Hanks, Benedict Cumberbatch, Willem Dafoe, Bryan Cranston, and Jeffrey Wright

My thoughts - The more I see of Wes Anderson’s filmography, the more I realize that he doesn’t really have any huge misses. Sure, there is still a wide range of quality throughout his works - you’ve got the certified masterpieces all the way to the films that don’t fully work. Heck, even the ones that don’t fully work for me aren’t even bad films per se, they are simply mediocre & find themselves in the bottom tier of his overall filmography.

It feels weird to criticize someone whose worst movies are simply mediocre, but the Phoenician Scheme has me wondering if it should in fact be a criticism of Wes. Bad films in your filmography mean you are taking swings, trying new things, and risks are being taken. Sure, occasionally Wes will still find that lightning in a bottle magic to make something special, but when he doesn’t the films just feel really redundant.

Would swinging and missing on something new would be better than settling for the same thing time and time again?

This is all a windup to say the Phoenician Scheme is a totally fine movie. Nothing more nothing less. Most of his films since Grand Budapest Hotel have been lesser Wes films in my book (minus my beloved Asteroid City) & this one is no different.

Plenty of hilarious gags throughout along with that signature Wes Anderson flair. Mia Threapleton & Michael Cera are perfect additions to his usual acting crew. Hope we see more of Mia going forward. She has such a demanding & striking presence, not all that different from her mom.

Rating - 3/5

How to watch - Currently in theaters

18. The Wedding Banquet (Directed by Andrew Ahn)

Plot - “Hoping to stay in the country, a gay man proposes a green card marriage to a female friend in exchange for paying for her IVF treatment. However, things soon get complicated when his grandmother surprises them with plans for an extravagant Korean wedding banquet.”

Noteworthy Cast - Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, and Kelly Marie Tran

My thoughts - The biggest thing working against the film is that the couples don’t have very believable chemistry. For the film to truly work, you can’t have better chemistry between friends than you do between people in a 5+ year relationship.

Once Youn Yuh-jung shows up though, everything changes for the better. There are a lot of noisy moments with the whole friend group throughout the film, but it’s the quiet one-on-one moments where the script and Andrew Ahn‘s patient direction really shine.

Rating - 3/5

How to watch - Available for rent/purchase on VOD

17. Inheritance (Directed by Neil Burger)

Plot - “When Maya learns that her father was once a spy, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an international conspiracy. In her quest for answers, she must travel the globe, mastering her father's skills and unraveling the mysteries of his past.”

Noteworthy Cast - Phoebe Dynevor & Rhys Ifans

My thoughts - A really great examination of parental relationships. What do we owe our parents? How far should we go for them? How much disappointment from them is okay to withstand & put up with? You go so much of your life chasing their love & approval that you don’t even realize you are enabling their manipulation. It makes you think that they hold all the leverage in the relationship.

When you are younger, they almost certainly do, but at some point comes a glorious day when you wake up to the fact that you not only have leverage, but possibly even more than they do. That realization though comes with the reminder of how it felt being on the other side & you’ve got to make a conscious decision around how you are going to wield it. It’s a scary moment, but a beautiful one as well.

All that to say, it kind of caught me off guard just how much I loved “Inheritance”. The thriller aspects aren’t the most engaging, but the familial drama, tension, and character study at the heart of the film make it more than worth seeking out.

The movie being shot on an iPhone seems to be the only thing that people are talking about, which seems weird since films like “Tangerine” & “High Flying Bird” did the same thing years ago. Anyways, there should be more talk about how they actually filmed on location & how Phoebe Dynevor is a star in the making.

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - Currently streaming on AMC+ or available for rent/purchase on VOD

16. Thunderbolts (Directed by Jake Schreier)

Plot - “Ensnared in a death trap, an unconventional team of antiheroes embark on a dangerous mission that forces them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.”

Noteworthy Cast - Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, & Wyatt Russell

My thoughts - This marks the first Marvel movie I have actually enjoyed since 2019. A breath of fresh air for not only the MCU, but also superhero movies.

Loved the tonal shift of this film, especially the change of pace from the typical MCU third act structure. This one had some serious weight to it. It felt like group therapy in the best way possible. Much prefer these stories be rooted in real world issues than just “Battle giant CGI monster or evil man”. I get they are still comic book movies at the end of the day, but I think a bit of both are necessary for these films to have a lasting place in the culture.

Never in a million years expected to like this as much as I did.

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - Available on VOD starting July 1st

15. Heart Eyes (Directed by Josh Ruben)

Plot - “A masked maniac with glowing, red eyes returns every Valentine's Day to slaughter unsuspecting couples.”

Noteworthy Cast - Olivia Holt & Mason Gooding

My thoughts - Committing so hard to the cheesiness of a 2000s rom coms in a slasher movie is just genius.

I was expecting a rom com inside of a slasher, but what a treat to get a slasher inside of a rom com.

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - Currently streaming on Netflix

14. Mickey 17 (Directed by Bong Joon Ho)

Plot - “A disposable employee is sent on a human expedition to colonize the ice world Niflheim. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact.”

Noteworthy Cast - Robert Pattison, Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette, and Steven Yeun

My thoughts - We all know that Bong Joon Ho isn’t the most subtle filmmaker out there & Mickey 17 is no different, but boy is it fun. Pattinson is excellent & Ruffalo is a riot.

There are no shortage of ideas to take away from the film, even if he does once again opt for a sledgehammer to hit the nail. There is the angle of how corporations or governments don’t see those it oversees as actually humans (and quite literally expendable). There are angles of environmentalism & colonialism. There is the angle of fascism. But one of my favorite (more subtle) angles is just how romantic of a film it is. The idea of having someone out there who loves every version of you, even the versions you wish you could strangle is really unique. Makes me think about how well this will play on a rewatch. There is so much baked in and happening that you probably can’t even appreciate it all on the first watch.

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - Currently streaming on HBO Max

13. Friendship (Directed by Andrew DeYoung)

Plot - “Suburban dad Craig falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor, but his attempts to make an adult male friend soon threatens to ruin both of their lives.”

Noteworthy Cast - Tim Robinson, Paul Rudd, & Kate Mara

My thoughts - There is nothing quite like sitting in a packed theater & laughing for an hour & a half. If you are a fan of “I Think You Should Leave” or his comedic style, this was made for you.

Andrew DeYoung so perfectly understands the brilliance of Robinson’s comedic timing/line delivery & you can tell throughout that this part was quite literally written for him. He has always been so good at making even a normal sentence hilarious.

Paul Rudd also gives a great supporting performance, but Kate Mara was the silent MVP for me. Never knew she had comedy in her like that!

Who says they don’t make good comedies anymore?

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - Available for rent/purchase on VOD

12. Bridget Jones: Made About the Boy (Directed by Michael Morris)

Plot - “Bridget Jones finally has some luck in her life; she has a great job as a screenwriter, her family and a new boyfriend; the fact that he is over twenty years younger than her isn't the only thing that is causing problems.”

Noteworthy Cast - Renee Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Isla Fisher, Nico Parker, and Leo Woodall

My thoughts - As someone who isn’t really a fan of the first film, I never in a million years expected for this to be as good as it was. Sat down expecting another eye rolling romance movie & boy I couldn’t have been more wrong.

A sincere & poignant examination of grief & how to move on from tragedy wrapped inside the fun that one expects from a Bridget Jones movie.

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - Currently streaming on Peacock

11. The Shrouds (Directed by David Cronenberg)

Plot - Karsh, an innovative businessman and grieving widower, builds a device to connect with the dead inside a burial shroud.”

Noteworthy Cast - Vincent Cassel, Guy Pearce, and Diane Kruger

My thoughts - There is a coldness in “The Shrouds” that is pretty hard to shake. Whether it is the stilted dialogue, the intentionally stiff performances, or the subject matter itself - Cronenberg seems quite okay with keeping the audience at a distance. So far of a distance that it feels like football field away at times. Which is hilarious for a director who has made a career at keeping the audience an arms length away from his work.

Despite this absurdity from one of the most absurd filmmakers to ever walk the planet, I still found the whole thing ultimately endearing & even sweet? Just think about how many films you have seen about a spouse grieving the loss of a loved one. Now how many have you seen with the spouse grieving the physical body of a loved one? Probably none. It’s something so singular that only Cronenberg could relate to following the passing of his wife & his relationship with the body that has been well documented throughout his filmography.

Sure, you can easily articulate the emotional connection you develop with a loved one or the intermingling of two souls knit together. But what about your relationship to their physical body? The thing that you have held and hugged and kissed and had next to you for decades. What happens when that one day just suddenly disappears along with the person inhabiting it.

The idea itself feels almost as cold as the wrapper the film comes in.

The Shrouds is ultimately a great example for me that film is best consumed when you truly understand a filmmakers whole body of work & don’t just consume one film in a vacuum. Certainly not some revolutionary idea, just one I have personally been feeling lately.

It’s really cool to read the juxtaposition of reviews from those who have clearly never seen a Cronenberg film to those who have spent much of their lives consuming his art. That’s not to say that one can only consume art from those whom you have seen their previous works, it’s just to say that you often have a deeper affinity & connection to the later works.

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - On VOD starting July 8th

10. F1 The Movie (Directed by Joseph Kosinsksi)

Plot - “A Formula One driver comes out of retirement to mentor and team up with a younger driver.”

Noteworthy Cast - Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Kerry Condon, and Damson Idris

My thoughts - Do you ever think about how lucky we are to be alive at the exact moment in history that both IMAX & Kerry Condon exist?

Just a fun time at the movies. Stuffed my face full of popcorn for two hours as I bopped my head up and down to the pulsating Zimmer score. No other way I would rather spend an evening!

Is it formulaic? Sure. Is it corny at times? Sure. But who cares that it has flaws when it’s this fun.

Long live the summer blockbuster!!

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - Currently in theaters

9. 28 Years Later (Directed by Danny Boyle)

Plot - “A group of survivors of the rage virus live on a small island. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission into the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors.”

Noteworthy Cast - Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Ralph Fiennes, & Jack O’Connell

My thoughts - 28 Years Later has the zombie elements that you come to expect from the franchise, but this one is a character driven story first. It’s an art house film with sincere ideas on death, isolation, & how society processes it (that just happens to exist inside of a zombie movie). Not a zombie movie that tries to force a human story onto the edges.

The most emotionally powerful film of the franchise & easily my favorite. I know those are probably fighting words for those who have a deep relationship with the original film, but that’s not me :)

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - Currently in theaters

8. The Life of Chuck (Directed by Mike Flanagan)

Plot - “Charles "Chuck" Krantz experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all of us.”

Noteworthy Cast - Tom Hiddleston, Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Nick Offerman, Mia Sara, & Jacob Tremblay

My thoughts - Probably 99% of movies on a wavelength similar to “The Life of Chuck” would cause me to roll my eyes at how saccharine they are. Yet, there is something miraculous about how the “Life of Chuck” actually earns the right to wear its heart on its sleeve.

I almost can’t even explain it. It’s so authentic, tender, and earnest that you easily move past just how cheesy it may be. It grabs hold of you and takes you on the wild journey of this thing called life - the highs, the lows, the moments where you stop to dance, the waiting, and even the end destination. It will make you feel the warmth of a long embrace from a loved one & may even remind you of the beauty of life.

It’s flawed, yet remarkably effective.

There is a dance sequence in act #2 will easily go down as one of my favorite scenes of the year.

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - Currently in theaters

7. The Ballad of Wallis Island (Directed by James Griffiths)

Plot - “Old tensions resurface when former bandmates who were former lovers reunite for a private show at the island home of an eccentric millionaire.”

Noteworthy Cast - Carey Mulligan

My thoughts - Incredibly sweet and tender. It has a warmth about it that you couldn’t escape, even if you wanted to. Characters you instantly care about & a script that makes you smile.

There is so much bad in the world that sometimes an escape is the most important service a movie can provide. Sitting down to spend 100 minutes rooted in this world was beyond delightful.

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - Currently streaming on Peacock

6. Presence (Directed by Steven Soderbergh)

Plot - “A family becomes convinced they are not alone after moving into their new home in the suburbs.”

Noteworthy Cast - Lucy Liu & Julia Fox

My thoughts - Shot completely from the perspective of a ghost, I went into the film thinking it would be a horror film, but it ends up playing more like a family drama (in the best way possible).

I think many have missed how the whole movie is essentially about control. So many characters are obsessed with it & trying to seize it in different ways (as most humans do).

Those themes would work in most family dramas, but when the audience is seeing things through the eyes of a ghost roaming the house, it just makes it even more laughable how much control that we as humans think we have vs. how much we actually have. Oh you think you have control? Guess what? There is a presence that could literally end you at any time standing right behind you.

It’s obvious that’s why Soderbergh wanted to tell this story in this way & I’ve got to say, it really works.

I also love that we actually never see the presence itself. It allows us as the audience to make it whatever we want. As a religious person, I kept thinking about watching all of this essentially through the eyes of God. Which really puts into perspective the wrangling for control that’s always happening between characters and how little control we actually have. But the movie works because you can make the presence whatever you want & it still plays - ghost, spirit of someone who passed away, demon, guardian angel, etc. They all work & add layers to what Soderbergh is doing here.

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - Currently streaming on Hulu

5. Warefare (Directed by Ray Mendoza & Alex Garland)

Plot - “A surveillance mission goes wrong for a platoon of American Navy SEALs in insurgent territory in Iraq.”

Noteworthy Cast - Will Poulter, Joseph Quinn, Charles Melton, Kit Connor, Cosmo Jarvis, Noah Centineo

My thoughts - There are certain movies where the filmmaking team behind the movie is almost just as interesting to me as the movie itself. Warfare is certainly one of those – you have a first-time director who served in the military (Mendoza) paired with one of the best screenwriters/directors of the last decade (Garland) who also happens to be staunchly anti-war.

What is so cool about this team all coming together to make this movie for different reasons & from differing views is that the film really works for each of their individual goals. It works as a way for those involved to remember the details of that day, but it also works as a portrait for why war shouldn’t be a first resort – both for the invading nation and the nation being invaded.

Since both directors are approaching it from such technical angles, it is a film much more focused on the “what” of war than the “why”, which seems to have many people flustered (just like they got flustered of Civil War). The irony about people saying this is military propaganda is that if you truly portray the “what” of war accurately, honestly, and without narrative compromise (like done in Warfare) you get a pretty good picture of why war shouldn’t exist. That is exactly what Warfare is doing. Anyone who says this glamorizes war hasn’t actually seen the movie. Anyone who says this makes the military out to be heroes hasn’t seen the moments where they try to use the translators as bait. The answer shouldn’t be no depiction, it should be proper depiction. Which is exactly what Warfare does.

One of the best moments of the film is when Will Poulter’s character is confronted inside the local house the US military took over. A screaming mother aggressively yells “Why” over and over. There is never an answer given because there isn’t one. At least not a good one. The pointlessness of the whole conflict is on display throughout the whole film in small moments like that. After the soldiers leave, we are left with the family & what remains of their house, their neighborhood, and their city. Maybe if the film were a short 30 second Tik Tok clip our society would actually have the attention span to get what the film is about instead of yelling propaganda because someone told them to.

Rating - 4/5

How to watch - Currently available on VOD

4. Black Bag (Directed by Steven Soderbergh)

Plot - “When his beloved wife, Kathryn, is suspected of betraying the nation, intelligence agent George Woodhouse faces the ultimate test -- loyalty to his marriage or his country.”

Noteworthy Cast - Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Marisa Abela, Pierce Brosnan, Rege-Jean Page, & Naomie Harris

My thoughts - The kind of film where you leave the theater buzzing with excitement. Give me a taut, sexy thriller from Soderberg every year!

Can’t think of a better date night movie - there is a little bit there for everyone & no one will leave satisfied. As always, some great performances by Michael Fassbender & Cate Blanchett, but it was up and comer Marisa Abela that stole the show for me.

Rating - 4/5

How to watch - Currently streaming on Peacock

3. Materialists (Directed by Celine Song)

Plot - “A young New York City matchmaker's lucrative business gets complicated as she finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.”

Noteworthy Cast - Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, & Chris Evans

My thoughts - Materialists is a throwback in a lot of ways to the great romance films of yesteryear, yet still remarkably relevant to our time & acutely aware of the pitfalls of the modern dating scene. It’s commercial with the central romance yet wicked smart in how it comments on checklist dating culture. The best of both worlds.

The star of the show is once again Song’s script. There are few people who can bring to life such authentic & lived in characters who you truly get to know the ins & outs of in under two hours. The characters even take conflict head on & work through their problems with dialogue throughout instead of resolving things off screen or in their head. It’s a rarity these days for anything in this genre to be so rich.

My favorite thing about Song’s directing style is how patient she is & how much restraint she shows. There are plenty scenes to point out, but my favorite example in this film would be a long hallway shot as two characters go into the bedroom & the camera slowly zooms in on a cellphone left in the hallway. Also love the wide shot in the scene before this one as two characters have dinner together & the camera slowly pushes in closer as the conversation becomes more intimate between the characters.

Song smartly uses matchmaking as a stand in for the dating apps and algorithms that shape modern dating. People are refined to metrics that can be filtered and boxes to be checked. The person themselves doesn’t even matter as much as how many boxes they check.

For more of my thoughts on Materialists, check out my full review.

Rating - 4/5

How to watch - Currently in theaters

2. Sorry, Baby (Directed by Eva Victor)

Plot - “Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on - for everyone around her, at least.”

Noteworthy Cast - Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, and Lucas Hedges

My thoughts - What Eva Victor accomplishes in her directorial debut is nothing short of a movie miracle. Her voice as a writer is so singular & fresh. Her handle of tone will make veteran filmmakers jealous. Her human first approach to filmmaking so intricately highlights moments big & small where we forget the humanity of those around us. Her lively screenplay feels authentically human in the best way possible. Heck, she even finds the perfect balance tonal balance between tragedy & comedy.

There are lots of things that Eva Victor does remarkably well throughout her assured directorial debut. Most importantly though, she makes you contemplate what kind of person you are & what kind of person you ultimately want to be in this scary world.

Rating - 4/5

Future of the film - Currently in theaters

1. Sinners (Directed by Ryan Coogler)

Plot - “Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their Mississippi hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.”

Noteworthy Cast - Michael B. Jordan, Delroy Lindo, Hailee Steinfeld, & Wunmi Mosaku

My thoughts - The film feels alive. It feels sexy. There is blues music that will rattle your bones. There is violence. There is Irish music that makes you want to get up and dance. There is temptation. There is longing. There is a sequence that makes you want to stand up and clap. There is the allure of the other side. There is culture. There is blood. There is a sex scene that will make you blush. There is a score that will leave you speechless. There is brotherly love. There is rekindled love. There is lost love. There is young love. There is community. There is family. It is gritty. It is bold. It is soulful. Oh and did I mention, there are even vampires!

There is just about everything here.

It’s remarkably deep & fully realized, yet at the same time is still SO much fun.

This is why we go to the cinema!

Rating - 4.5/5

How to watch - Available on HBO Max on July 4th

That is all for now! I have a strong feeling there will be even more to celebrate in the back half of the year since 20 of my 25 most anticipated films of 2025 are yet to be released this year.

Lots to get excited about! Fall festival season is right around the corner : )

What was your favorite new release film of 2025 so far? Let me know in the comments below.

Until next time, enjoy some great films!

Aaron Nolan

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Materialists (Directed by Celine Song)

Plot - “A young New York City matchmaker's lucrative business gets complicated as she finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.”

Noteworthy Cast - Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, & Chris Evans

My thoughts - If you have been around here for some time, you know that “Past Lives” was not only my favorite film of 2023, but probably my favorite movie of the decade (so far).

Needless to say, it was firmly cemented in the #1 slot on my “Most Anticipated Films of 2025” list.

After seeing the film twice over the weekend, I am happy to declare that Celine Song is here to stay for a long long time & I couldn’t be more happy!!!

Materialists is a throwback in a lot of ways to the great romance films of yesteryear, yet still remarkably relevant to our time & acutely aware of the pitfalls of the modern dating scene. It’s commercial with the central romance yet wicked smart in how it comments on checklist dating culture. The best of both worlds.

The star of the show is once again Song’s script. There are few people who can bring to life such authentic & lived in characters who you truly get to know the ins & outs of in under two hours. The characters even take conflict head on & work through their problems with dialogue throughout instead of resolving things off screen or in their head. It’s a rarity these days for anything in this genre to be so rich.

My favorite thing about Song’s directing style is how patient she is & how much restraint she shows. There are plenty scenes to point out, but my favorite example in this film would be a long hallway shot as two characters go into the bedroom & the camera slowly zooms in on a cellphone left in the hallway. Also love the wide shot in the scene before this one as two characters have dinner together & the camera slowly pushes in closer as the conversation becomes more intimate between the characters.

She’s remarkable behind the camera.

I also want to give due credit to the production design & the score. Both are subtle when they need to be and overwhelm when they need their presence to be felt more. Masterful additions to a great film.

I’ve been a bit bummed watching the online discourse around this over the past few days. Some criticisms are doing nothing but furthering the whole point of the film.

It’s no mistake that Song opens Materialists with images of what she imagines the first marriage looked like. In a world where survival was the primary focus & marriage didn’t even exist - the first people probably got together because genuinely loved on another.

Sure, it was partially a business deal to help with survival, but love was on the table & likely the whole reason they even chose to be together.

Throughout the rest of the film, characters remind us what marriage ultimately progressed towards as society marched forward. Marriage was used to unite kingdoms or a large dowry was involved.

In other words, marriage quickly became more of a business deal with little to no love on the table.

If you think about what happened after that, there was a whole wave of empowerment that shifted marriage from being about a business deal to marriage being about love. In fact, a whole wave of romance films through the years portrayed this very idea.

It all of a sudden wasn’t cool to marry for anything but love.

As technology has progressed and society has shifted, we are now at the point where we have come all the way back around to marrying purely for business. Sure, it doesn’t look as antiquated as a dowry or uniting kingdoms, but it really isn’t that different.

Song smartly uses matchmaking as a stand in for the dating apps and algorithms that shape modern dating. People are refined to metrics that can be filtered and boxes to be checked. The person themselves doesn’t even matter as much as how many boxes they check.

Marrying for status, money, and image is the new business deal where love is often not only off the table, but rarely even a consideration.

Which is why it’s so funny to be that people are pointing out that Pedro and Dakota have no chemistry in the film, that is entirely the point! Or that people are calling it poor man propaganda. Or that people are calling it a rom-com.

Sure there are some funny moments, but all of the laugh lines are outside of our three main characters because nothing about their lives or situations are funny.

It’s actually tragic for most of the movie.

The film is almost more of an anti-rom com than an actual rom-com. Not every movie is for everyone, but it’s bizarre to see so many incoherent takes on a genuinely great film!

Anyways, welcome to the romance film cannon, Materialists! Or at least my romance film cannon!

Rating - 4/5

How to watch - Currently in theaters

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When you think about the great Actor/Director relationships currently going in Hollywood there are a few that come to mind - Martin Scorsese + De Niro, Quinten Tarantino + Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Coogler + Michael B. Jordan, Spike Lee + Denzel Washington, or Martin Scorsese + Leonardo DiCaprio.

But it may be about time to add another duo to that list - Robert Eggers + William Dafoe. They are hot off the success of last year’s “Nosferatu” & have also previously collaborated on “The Northman” & “The Lighthouse”, but their most noteworthy collaboration may be just around the corner.

It was recently reported that Robert Eggers is set to write and direct a new adaption of “A Christmas Carol” for Warner Brothers & that William Dafoe is being eyed to star as Ebenezer Scrooge.

I can’t really say that I was clamoring for a remake of this classic story that has been adapted over 20 times for the big screen over the years, BUT this duo is perfect and makes me excited for it.

“A Christmas Story” is perfect for Eggers sensibilities as a director, his obsession with period-specific accuracy, and is draw towards darker/eerie stories. As for Dafoe, I genuinely can’t think of another actor I would rather see get their shot at the legendary Scrooge.

Pretty cool that someone who I would consider more of an arthouse director has broken into the mainstream & has become a “butts in seats” filmmaker!

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See all previous Retro Recommendations here.

Love and Mercy (2014) (Directed by Bill Pohlad)

Premise - “In the late 1960s, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson stops touring, produces "Pet Sounds" and begins to lose his grip on reality. By the 1980s, Wilson (John Cusack, under the sway of a controlling therapist, finds a savior in Melinda Ledbetter.”

Noteworthy cast - John Cusack, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, & Elizabeth Banks

My thoughts - With the recent passing of Brian Wilson, I figured there was no other choice for the next “Retro Rec” than his 2014 biopic.

Music biopics are really hard to get right but that is because they often fail to show their subjects as humans with flaws and real struggles, not just cinematic struggles that fit into the narrative structure of a film. “Love & Mercy” has no interest in being a conventional movie, it is only interesting in telling Brian’s story. His whole story - the genius and the mental health struggles and the familial challenges he faced.

It is probably my favorite music biopic & not because it is a feel good move (it is very much the opposite) but because it feels authentically Brian.

The performances from Dano and Cusack are so good that it reminds you just how many good movies used to come out. If this came out in the modern Oscar era, they would probably both easily be nominated. A shame that this one wasn’t more recognized in the awards race that year.

Rating - 4/5

How did it do at the box office? - Grossed $28.6 million ($12.5 million domestically) on an estimated $10 million budget

Did it win any Oscars? - Somehow received no nominations

Where to watch - Currently streaming on Cinemax & available for rent or purchase on VOD

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That is all for now! Big few weeks coming up for movies. We’ve got a new Pixar movie & “28 Years Later” hitting theaters in a few days followed by Brad Pitt’s F1 movie the following week (my #22 most anticipated film of 2025)

Until next time, enjoy some great films!

Aaron Nolan

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It’s an odd mix of films to pair together (to say the least), but we have the release calendar to thank for that.

As always, my goal is to help you discern what’s worth your time and what you can safely skip!

Let’s get into it:

The Life of Chuck (Directed by Mike Flanagan)

Plot - “Charles "Chuck" Krantz experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all of us.”

My thoughts - Last year at the Toronto International Film Festival, this film won the prestigious audience award. The last 12 TIFF audience award winners were all nominated for Best Picture & three of them even went on to win Best Picture (Nomadland, Green Book, and 12 Years a Slave).

Needless to say, expectations were high going into this one. Albeit a little muted since Neon waited to release it in 2025 instead of riding the 2024 momentum off of the TIFF win.

Probably 99% of movies on a wavelength similar to “The Life of Chuck” would cause me to roll my eyes at how saccharine they are. Yet, there is something miraculous about how the “Life of Chuck” actually earns the right to wear its heart on its sleeve.

I almost can’t even explain it. It’s so authentic, tender, and earnest that you easily move past just how cheesy it may be. It grabs hold of you and takes you on the wild journey of this thing called life - the highs, the lows, the moments where you stop to dance, the waiting, and even the end destination. It will make you feel the warmth of a long embrace from a loved one & may even remind you of the beauty of life.

It’s flawed, yet remarkably effective.

There is a dance sequence in act #2 will easily go down as one of my favorite scenes of the year.

It will probably break the TIFF Audience Award streak for Best Picture nominations, but I hope this still finds its audience out there.

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - In limited theatrical release now. Goes wide across the US on 6/13

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The Phoenician Scheme (Directed by Wes Anderson)

Plot - “Wealthy businessman, Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins.”

My thoughts - The more I see of Wes Anderson’s filmography, the more I realize that he doesn’t really have any huge misses. Sure, there is still a wide range of quality throughout his works - you’ve got the certified masterpieces all the way to the films that don’t fully work. Heck, even the ones that don’t fully work for me aren’t even bad films per se, they are simply mediocre & find themselves in the bottom tier of his overall filmography.

No real “bad” films is a testament to just how gifted he is behind the camera, his eye for production design, and his knack for getting exceptional performances out of his actors.

It feels weird to criticize someone whose worst movies are simply mediocre, but the Phoenician Scheme has me wondering if it should in fact be a criticism of Wes. Bad films in your filmography mean you are taking swings, trying new things, and risks are being taken. Sure, occasionally Wes will still find that lightning in a bottle magic to make something special, but when he doesn’t the films just feel really redundant.

Would swinging and missing on something new would be better than settling for the same thing time and time again?

I know there has been a whole discourse around this film where many are complaining that Wes should do something different visually to change things up. I’m not even commenting at all on that. He can keep his same pallet and style, but how about he just takes a swing on something really out there? Maybe something tonally different or a subject matter that differs from anything he has remotely done before.

This is all a windup to say the Phoenician Scheme is a totally fine movie. Nothing more nothing less. Most of his films since Grand Budapest Hotel have been lesser Wes films in my book (minus my beloved Asteroid City) & this one is no different.

I wasn’t a fan of vignettes in the French Dispatch & I really was bummed when a story I didn’t think would use that framing device (based on the marketing) heavily relied on the structure once again. Just feels like overall the film is missing a real heart & soul to invigorate the audience and propel the story forward. The plot also seems unnecessary complex and convoluted, even for a Wes Anderson movie,

My problem with vignettes will forever be that certain moments you never want to end actually do end about 2 minutes later. While the moments you wish never happened stay on screen for far too long. The easy example here is the scene with Cranston & Hanks playing basketball. I would have taken a whole movie centered around them.

Again, the film itself is perfectly fine and has plenty of hilarious gags throughout along with that signature Wes Anderson flair. Mia Threapleton & Michael Cera are perfect additions to his usual acting crew. Hope we see more of Mia going forward. She has such a demanding & striking presence, not all that different from her mom.

Rating - 3/5

How to watch - Currently in theaters

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Mountainhead (Directed by Jesse Armstrong)

Plot - “A group of billionaire friends get together against the backdrop of a rolling international crisis.”

My thoughts - When it was first announced that the creator of “Succession” had written and directed a film for HBO on the heels of the successful show ending, I was one of millions that was excited to see the film.

I since have seen it & I am sad to report that it is a major bummer. Starts off pretty promising but goes off the rails in more ways than one pretty quickly. Almost feels too on the nose with all of it.

Not much more to say, I would not waste your time on this.

Still super excited to watch Cory Michael Smith’s career going forward. He seems to have the stuff and chooses exciting projects on paper, even when they don’t turn out the best (like this one).

Rating - 2/5

How to watch - Streaming on HBO Max

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Friendship (Directed by Andrew DeYoung)

Plot - “Suburban dad Craig falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor, but his attempts to make an adult male friend soon threatens to ruin both of their lives.”

My thoughts - There is nothing quite like sitting in a packed theater & laughing for an hour & a half. If you are a fan of “I Think You Should Leave” or his comedic style, this was made for you.

Andrew DeYoung so perfectly understands the brilliance of Robinson’s comedic timing/line delivery & you can tell throughout that this part was quite literally written for him. He has always been so good at making even a normal sentence hilarious.

Paul Rudd also gives a great supporting performance, but Kate Mara was the silent MVP for me. Never knew she had comedy in her like that!

Who says they don’t make good comedies anymore?

Rating - 3.5/5

How to watch - In theaters now

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After months & months of speculation around how Mikey Madison would follow up her Oscar winning performance in “Anora”, we may finally have our answer!

The Hollywood Reporter recently reported that Madison is in talks with A24 to star in a darkly comedic take on Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. The short story by Poe follows a prince who attempts to avoid a dangerous plague (known as the Red Death) by hiding in his abbey.

Sydney Sweeney was originally set to star in this role, but had to back out due to a scheduling conflict.

I love love love Madison’s playbook since winning her Oscar. She is isn’t rushing into the wrong type of project & she isn’t setting her sights on a large blockbuster like most ingénue best actress winners fall into (she even recently declined a role in Shawn Levy’s upcoming Star Wars movie).

She seems focused on staring in meaningful films with visionary directors, which is such a breath of fresh air. Hope that means she is shooting for the Emma Stone movie star playbook.

That is all for now! Big week coming up for Wild About Film as my #1 most anticipated film of 2025 hits theaters on Thursday. I am sure I will be back soon to discuss it.

Let me know in the comments what you are excited about coming out this summer or if you have caught any of the films highlighted today.

Until next time, enjoy some great films!

Aaron Nolan

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Memorial Day weekend has arrived to usher in another Summer Blockbuster season! In fact, this weekend will break the record for the highest grossing box office over a Memorial Day weekend EVER domestically (primarily thanks to the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch). Not too bad!

There are a few movies contributing to this record breaking weekend, but today we are focused on all things Mission Impossible.

The Mission Impossible franchise will always hold a special place in my heart because it’s the first time I realized the difference between good action movies and bad ones. Action movies have never been my favorite genre and before watching the Mission Impossible films, I often wondered if I just didn’t like the genre. Turns out, I didn’t hate all action movies, I just hated bad ones!

The quality in most of these films is A+ stuff. From the top notch performances to the stunt design to the clever scripts, the franchise is often running circles around most modern action movies.

Thus, I was quite excited to sit down and watch how they decided to end this beloved franchise.

I will start with my thoughts on the film (all spoiler free, so no worries if you haven’t seen it) & then give a full ranking of all 8 films in the franchise from worst to best (including the new film)!

Mission: Impossible Final Reckoning Review (Directed by Christopher McQuarrie)

Plot - “Ethan Hunt and the IMF team race against time to find the Entity, a rogue artificial intelligence that can destroy mankind.”

My thoughts - The franchise has always been at its best when it fully leans into the absurd action sequences & at its worst when it resorts to dialogue dumping to move the story forward.

Final Reckoning does much more of the latter than the former. It is carrying the burden of not only moving the story forward, but also trying to unnecessarily tie up every loose end in the whole franchise.

One of my favorite parts about Mission Impossible is how sparsely connected most of the movies are outside of a few recurring characters or villains. This franchise has never been the MCU where you have to do homework to understand what is happening or enjoy the movies. Yet, Final Reckoning tries so hard to tie a neat bow around everything that it abandons this core idea & in doing so, weighs down the entire film.

Almost the entire first hour of the film is spent rehashing the plot of Dead Reckoning & you can feel so clearly that these films should have been one long movie. It is a bit baffling to pander to those who haven’t seen Dead Reckoning inside of the exact same movie where you are doing small & random callbacks to many other previous films in the franchise. I don’t understand the choice at all. It was almost like they knew they were backed into a corner and felt the need to reintroduce a whole new set of stakes. There is more filler and fluff in Final Reckoning than maybe every other Mission Impossible film combined.

That said, there are two action set pieces that I would put up there as two of the best in the franchise. The biplane sequence that has been touted in the trailer plus a sunken submarine set piece are action filmmaking at its finest. Tramell Tillman also makes a 10 minute appearance in the film that reminds you of the energy newcomers used to bring to the franchise when they were introduced. A spark that feels lost with most of the other new additions to the film.

Aside from those two twenty minute action sequences, the movie really didn’t work for me. It’s a bad movie that ultimately gets labeled mediocre because of the two great action sequences that save the day. The amount of time spent on characters explaining the convoluted plot or rehashing old plot is enough to make your head explode. It felt like an entire 2 hours of the runtime was spent solely on dialogue.

Did they have to do less because Tom is just simply older & can’t do as many big stunts as he once did? Were they just that confident in this mess of a script & hoped the dialogue would make up for it? I’m not sure, but either way it’s a tough note to end the franchise on.

Dead Reckoning and Final Reckoning are going to have interesting legacies because they have great sequences in them but really aren’t great movies. The whole franchise has been nothing but diminishing returns since Fallout.

Guess it’s easier said than done to go out on top! Great run by all involved, but I really hope this is actually the last one with this regime.

Rating - 3/5 (I have a strong feeling this will drop to a 2.5/5 if I ever watch it at home)

Should you see it in theaters? - If you have a deep relationship with the franchise, I think it is worth the trip to the theater. If you have no relationship to the franchise or even a surface level one, I would easily skip this one.

Mission Impossible Films Ranked

Ranking the Mission Impossible films almost feels like an impossible task (pun very much intended). While there are varying degrees of quality throughout the franchise, almost everyone has their personal favorites. Plus, there is really only one truly bad film in the franchise (some would have you believe there are none though & they would be wrong).

There aren’t too many lists where #1 through #5 could be mixed in any order & the ranking would be totally justified, so it makes this exercise a fun one. Just speaks to the power of these films and their enduring presence in the culture.

Without further ado, here is my ranking:

8. Mission: Impossible 2 (2000) (Directed by John Woo)

Thoughts - If you didn’t already know, this is the only bad film in the franchise that I referenced above. John Woo has a very signature style that he brings to the world of Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible 2 & while there are those out there who love it, I am not one of those.

I am convinced that the film could be half an hour shorter if there was no slow motion used constantly throughout. Baffled at how bad this one is compared to the rest of the franchise.

Rating - 1.5/5

7. Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning (2025) (Directed by Christopher McQuarrie)

Thoughts - As I noted in my full review above, this is a really weak script that is propped up by two genuinely great action sequences. If this were a ranking of best set pieces in the franchise, the biplane and the submarine would be near the top. However, since this is a overall movie rankings, it is towards the bottom.

Maybe time is more favorable to this one, but for now it feels pretty locked into the #7 slot.

Rating - 3/5

6. Mission: Impossible 3 (2006)

Thoughts - The highs are really high. Like how remarkably upsetting Phillip Seymour Hoffman is as the villain (He essentially makes this movie for me). Plus all of the Ethan & Julia’s relationship stuff really works for me. It’s not perfect, but it’s the first time you see Ethan’s humanity & sets up the future films in the franchise nicely.

The lows however are pretty low. Like how confounding the editing is throughout. There are multiple times where you have no idea what’s going on because of how disjointed the cutting is. Plus the whole thing looks like a generic TV movie. Oh & not to mention how frustrating it is that we literally never learn what the rabbits foot is. It’s a symbol of a major problem throughout the screenplay - there are far too many characters/moments that serve no purpose other than simply moving the story forward.

Still better than a lot of other action movies, but not Mission Impossible movies

Rating - 3/5

5. Mission: Impossible (1996) (Directed by Brian De Palma)

Thoughts - I am convinced that your relationship to the original Mission Impossible film depends solely on when you saw it for the first time. If you saw it at 14 in the theaters upon its release, this may be your favorite of the franchise. If you weren’t alive when the film came out & watched it almost 30 years later for the first time (me), it is a fun, yet flawed movie.

Great introduction to the world but doesn’t hold up near as well as those who feel in love as teenagers would have you believe.

Rating - 3.5/5

4. Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning (2023) (Directed by Christopher McQuarrie)

Thoughts - The only film in the franchise that seemed worse on a rewatch than it did on the first. The others seems to get better with each rewatch while this one moves in the opposite direction.

It feels like this is where the franchise starts declining. It still is better than most action movies made today, but you feel the seams on this one more than the previous McQuarrie films. The villain especially is weak. Maybe it isn’t even the villain being AI that I have a problem with as much as I think Gabriel is a really poor physical manifestation of the entity (compared to Lane for the Syndicate).

Still think the Rome car chase is an all timer & love the Venice stuff (even if they do my girl Rebecca Ferguson dirty). It felt like in-between set pieces this one is missing something to draw you in that other films had, can’t quite put my finger on it.

Rating - 3.5/5

3. Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011) (Directed by Brad Bird)

Thoughts - This is the film that supercharges the franchise in the right direction for me. The jump in quality from MI3 to this one feels quite jarring at times.

Cruise climbing the Burj Khalifa is the often noted set piece from this film, but it’s the sequence after the climb that is breathtaking for me. The scrambling to copy the codes while on two separate floors is a masterpiece in tension & action filmmaking that you grow to expect from the franchise. I also adore the Kremlin break in scene. The moving screen to conceal the break-in is the kind of creativity that sets the bar high in the franchise (which somehow gets continuously topped going forward).

The whole film gives the franchise a look & feel that sets it up for success going forward. The McQuarrie films probably don’t happen without this solid foundation - this one is almost a palette cleanser.

Rating - 4/5

2. Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation (2015) (Directed by Christopher McQuarrie)

Thoughts - If Ghost Protocol is the film that supercharges the creativity & action filmmaking of the franchise, Rogue Nation is the film that supercharges the casting of the franchise.

Ferguson feels like the first person who brings the same energy & charisma to the franchise that Cruise does (and no, I’m not counting Hoffman in MI3 because he was a poorly written villain only opposite Cruise on screen for a few minutes). It takes a special person to go toe to toe with Cruise during action sequences & it’s something they finally get right with Ferguson. Léa Seydoux gets them on the right track in Ghost Protocol, but Ferguson is a home run.

We also get the best villain of the franchise in Solomon Lane. Hoffman gives the best performance as a villain in MI3, but Solomon Lane feels much more fully realized & authentic. Terrifyingly authentic. He’s a much better physical representation of the syndicate than Gabriel is of the entity.

It also finds a way to build on the action filmmaking & creativity of Ghost Protocol with possibly my favorite set piece in the franchise, the opera fight. A legendary sequence that is impeccably edited. That scene & the closing motorcycle chase automatically make it better than 95% of action films.

Rating - 4.5/5

1. Mission: Impossible Fallout (2018)(Directed by Christopher McQuarrie)

Thoughts - The film in the franchise where everything comes together. It somehow takes everything individually great about the previous installments & blends it together. As if that isn’t enough, it somehow finds a way to dial it up a few notches in every single area.

It takes casting to new heights with the additions of Vanessa Kirby & Henry Cavil. These new additions to the foundation of Cruise & Ferguson is *chefs kiss* in casting. The way Kirby holds the screen when she’s opposite Cruise is remarkably captivating & sexy. And of course Cavil giving the best performance of his movie career.

It also does the impossible & one ups the action filmmaking of Rogue Nation with essentially banger sequence after banger sequence for 2.5 hours. From the Halo jump to the bathroom fight to the Vanessa Kirby meetup/nightclub shootout to the Lane extraction to the helicopter battle it is all so so good.

Little did we know at the time that this would be the apex mountain of the franchise! In fact, it doesn’t just take the franchise to new heights, but also action filmmaking.

Rating - 4.5/5

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That is all for now. Enjoy the holiday weekend!

Let me know in the comments what your ranking of the films would be.

Until next time, enjoy some great films!

Aaron Nolan

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Oh how the tides can quickly turn in Hollywood!

A few weeks ago I wrote about how bleak things were in the movie world during the first quarter.

While I wrote in that piece about many of the factors contributing to the poor start to 2025, there is only one that really matters to what this newsletter is all about - the quality of new release films.

And lets just say that things weren’t great from January through March.

Just look at my rating breakdown for new releases:

• Bad movies (.5, 1, 1.5, or 2 star films) - 11 films

• Mediocre movies (2.5 or 3 star films) - 11 films

• Good movies (3.5 star films) - 6 films

• Great movies (4 star films) - 1 film

• Exceptional movies (4.5 star films) - 0 films

• Perfect movies (5 star films) - 0 films

Like you can see, pretty bottom heavy with Black Bag being the only great film of the year.

Well folks, that changed pretty drastically over the past two weeks! We got our first exceptional movie of the year, another great movie to join “Black Bag”, and even a fun mediocre movie.

Lets dive into those movies!

Sinners (Directed by Ryan Coogler)

Plot - “Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their Mississippi hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.”

My thoughts - I never quite understood why many grouped Ryan Coogler into the same young director tier as Gerwig, Chazelle, Peele, Eggers, Aster, or the Safdies. After seeing Sinners I would like to formally apologize to Coogler because he is now firmly cemented in that group.

The film feels alive. It feels sexy. There is blues music that will rattle your bones. There is violence. There is Irish music that makes you want to get up and dance. There is temptation. There is longing. There is a sequence that makes you want to stand up and clap. There is the allure of the other side. There is culture. There is blood. There is a sex scene that will make you blush. There is a score that will leave you speechless. There is brotherly love. There is rekindled love. There is lost love. There is young love. There is community. There is family. It is gritty. It is bold. It is soulful. Oh and did I mention, there are even vampires!

There is just about everything here.

It’s remarkably deep & fully realized, yet at the same time is still SO much fun.

This is why we go to the cinema. In fact, if you don’t bother to go & see this one in the theaters, I don’t want to hear your thoughts on the film if you wait to see it at home.

The second watch in theaters confirmed for me that the film will be in our lives for a long time, but I still can’t wait to see it a third and maybe even a fourth time in theaters during its run.

Rating - 4.5/5

How to watch - SEE IT ON THE BIGGEST SCREEN POSSIBLE

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Warefare (Directed by Ray Mendoza & Alex Garland)

Plot - “A surveillance mission goes wrong for a platoon of American Navy SEALs in insurgent territory in Iraq.”

My thoughts - There are certain movies where the filmmaking team behind the movie is almost just as interesting to me as the movie itself. Warfare is certainly one of those – you have a first-time director who served in the military (Mendoza) paired with one of the best screenwriters/directors of the last decade (Garland) who also happens to be staunchly anti-war. It is really neat listening to these guys talk about the film on the press tour because it is so clear that they are making the movie for completely different reasons.

Mendoza is doing it as an exercise to help his military brothers remember everything they experienced that day while Garland is doing it as a technical exercise in filmmaking & accurately depicting the horrors of modern war on screen. Mendoza isn’t concerned at all about whether the film is anti-war or not, in fact he has gone so far to almost suggest that it isn’t (because he is so laser focused on helping his friend remember everything he forgot about that day). While Garland has almost exclusively agreed to do the project because he sees the film as an anti-war movie. Same with actor Will Poulter who was beyond excited about getting a call because he wanted to work with Garland for years. That changed when he learned it was a war film. As a pacifist, he had no interest in portraying a war on screen. At least until he met with Garland and heard the pitch of the film & what it was going for.

What is so cool about this team all coming together to make this movie for different reasons & from differing views is that the film really works for each of their individual goals. It works as a way for those involved to remember the details of that day, but it also works as a portrait for why war shouldn’t be a first resort – both for the invading nation and the nation being invaded.

Since both directors are approaching it from such technical angles, it is a film much more focused on the “what” of war than the “why”, which seems to have many people flustered (just like they got flustered of Civil War). The irony about people saying this is military propaganda is that if you truly portray the “what” of war accurately, honestly, and without narrative compromise (like done in Warfare) you get a pretty good picture of why war shouldn’t exist. That is exactly what Warfare is doing. Anyone who says this glamorizes war hasn’t actually seen the movie. Anyone who says this makes the military out to be heroes hasn’t seen the moments where they try to use the translators as bait. The answer shouldn’t be no depiction, it should be proper depiction. Which is exactly what Warfare does.

One of the best moments of the film is when Will Poulter’s character is confronted inside the local house the US military took over. The screaming mother aggressively yells “Why” over and over. There is never an answer given because there isn’t one. At least not a good one. The pointlessness of the whole conflict is on display throughout the whole film in small moments like that. After the soldiers leave, we are left with the family & what remains of their house, their neighborhood, and their city. Maybe if the film were a short 30 second Tik Tok clip our society would actually have the attention span to get what the film is about instead of yelling propaganda because someone told them to.

On a technical level the film is astonishing from top to bottom. The sound design is rightfully getting high praise from many throughout Hollywood & I would love to see that praise carry all the way to an Oscar nomination. I am going to go back and see it again in theaters this weekend because it is so impressive technically that I am not sure I will be able to watch it again at home without the full experience.

Go see this movie in theaters. Give yourself over to this piece of art for an hour and a half & I promise you will feel things. It isn’t a fun watch, but it is important. And if you are one of the few people left who can make it 90 minutes without letting your phone distract you, heck, you may even have a new perspective on war itself.

Rating - 4/5

How to watch - Current in theaters!

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Drop (Directed by Christopher Landon)

Plot - “A widowed mother's first date in years takes a terrifying turn when she's bombarded with anonymous threatening messages on her phone during their upscale dinner, leaving her questioning if her charming date is behind the harassment.”

My thoughts - It’s about time we have a serious discussion about how movies are marketed. I understand that studios feel as though they almost have to show more material in trailers to even get people out to the theater, but we’ve officially gone too far. I basically had already seen the first 2/3 of this movie just from trailers! And I am even someone who specifically goes out of my way to avoid trailers. I get that marketing a movie is tricky in a world where attention is the new currency, but we have to find a better way.

For Drop specifically, trailers are partially to blame but so is pacing. The slow moving first two acts may work if someone goes into the movie completely blind, but not when the "I want you to kill your date" text was prominently featured in the trailers. The film almost builds to that moment deep into the runtime as this demented twist to play for shock value, but in reality everyone went in already knowing that. Maybe that works when the characters are interesting enough to distract from that, but that really isn't the case here.

Once you finally get past the moments that were spoiled from trailers (essentially everything before the third act), the film is a lot of fun. In fact, it is so fun that the third act is pretty great. If only the first two had more moments like that & less time spent with the annoying waiter meant to be the comedic relief.

One final thought, in this era of cellphones, we have to find better ways to show text messages than flashing the text on screen. It looks terrible and is a horrific use of the cinematic medium.

All in all, a fun, but flawed movie!

Rating - 4/5

How to watch - Currently in theaters

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See all previous Retro Recommendations here.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019) (Directed by Joe Talbot)

Premise - “A flamboyant law firm secretary works tirelessly to gain justice for a small town wrecked by a utility company's pollution.”

Noteworthy cast - Jonathan Majors, Jimmie Falls, & Danny Glover

My thoughts - I remember one time I heard someone say (can’t remember who) that you knew you were watching a great movie when you could freeze the frame at any point & be okay with that frame being hung on your wall. Obviously it would be reductive to say that’s the only way to tell if you are watching a great film, but it’s no doubt a way to tell you are watching a gorgeous one.

I think there were about 400 frames throughout The Last Black Man in San Francisco that I would happily frame on my wall. So many draw dropping shots one after another that it makes you wonder how this all came from the mind of a first time director.

Genuinely one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. That score. The way it’s shot. The performances. The way it captures the heartbeat of a city. The fully crafted characters.

Only major bummer was being reminded of just how much talent Jonathan Majors had and tossed away.

Rating - 4.5/5

How did it do at the box office? - Grossed $4.63 million ($4.5 million domestically) on a $3 million budget

Did it win any Oscars? - In a stacked Oscar year, it didn’t even receive a nomination

Where to watch - Rent or buy on Amazon

That is all for now! Let’s hope that “Sinners” is the first of many exceptional films to come in 2025.

Until next time, enjoy some great films!

Aaron Nolan

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