There’s an energy—an intoxicating and exhausting fix—to hitchhiking on this downward spiral. However, when it’s all said and done in this male-dominated affair, you’re back to scrounging for or justifying the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of Lesson #3 and the fact that this is, once again, a tizzy made for ping pong.
Read MoreYet, here’s Max Walker-Silverman, following up the well-received A Love Song, with a drama that emphasizes true familial roots before anything else. When done right, those basics are bigger than any flashy extras. Instead of only “home is where your heart is,” Rebuilding asserts that home is where you are welcome, and, even after everything, Dusty says it like it is: “I don’t like anywhere better.”
Read MoreVenturing into this version of the admittedly terrifying and therapeutic unknown, Is This Thing On? asks incredible and intelligent questions that actually get chewed on with civility and dignity, ignoring the urge to shout hot drops of dialogue to the rhetorical rafters solely meant to let an actor show off. The intimate immediacy of these stellar conversations lets loose stern answers and bold examinations about relationships.
Read MoreHamnet postulates that the epic tragedy of Hamlet was William’s deeply personal response to the death of his son. Now, that crescendo of catharsis is merely the final third of Farrell’s novel and Chloe Zhao’s masterful film. A reaction-inducing climax and conclusion like that could only come from an equally important effort to establish the beautiful and challenging humanity of the people going through their ordeal.
Read MoreMake a movie or show about a real-life serial killer with an actual body count of documented victims that used to live among us, and you’re frosting spines, locking your doors, and doom-scrolling the true story. Make a sly, stylish, spooky, or quirky movie of imaginary people getting slain in grandiose fashion, and you’re popping extra popcorn, smiling with delight, and relaxing anxiety-free on your couch. What a funny and fascinating development that is!
Read MoreTo fully accept the societal and emotional terrains of Hikari’s outstanding dramedy Rental Family, one is required not so much to make an enormous leap into a lurid scenario, but rather, let’s say, a long step. You will need a stretched lunge forward that closes the typical arm’s length of observational distance from something you don’t entirely know or accept. That gingerly-taken step merges you into a different comfort zone than your own
Read MoreMatching the changing weather and seasons happening in much of the world during the time of its illustrious release, Wicked For Good requires more than one firm temperature check, if you will. This bookend finale asks a great deal of its audience with a decidedly different mood, as the plot leaps five years ahead in time from the events of last year’s Wicked. Much of the bright, sunny, and friendly school-aged singing and dancing has evolved to power ballads that emote the traumatic heft of current circumstances.
Read MoreJay Kelly muses on the celebrity lifestyle without preening as a glorified vanity project solely existing to shower bouquets on George Clooney and give him a fun co-star he can shoot hoops with in between trailers on a lavish European shoot. Because of its striking amplification of the titular legend’s insecurities and the people affected by them, Baumbach’s film finds refreshing drama amid all the comedic frolic of watching a famous person navigate a little bit of the public wild to better define a work-life balance.
Read MoreUnlike Stanley Kramer’s much-lauded Judgment at Nuremberg from 1961, which took a more fictional/composite direction, this film uses as many real figures as possible. Even so, there’s plenty of pendulum space for a courtroom drama of this subject matter to veer somewhere between respectful and exasperating. James Vanderbilt had a choice, and he, as an experienced and successful screenwriter known best for his gaudy action flicks, perked up Nuremberg with a little pump and pomp.
Read MoreWhat strengthens this viewing experience is the unyielding performance from Rose Byrne. Her expressive interpretation of both physical and mental fatigue is beyond anything she’s ever done and is one of the best acting displays of 2025. Her fully-formed comedic timing as a seasoned actress of that genre stirs the dark and uncomfortable humor that bubbles within If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.
Read MoreRichard Linklater, through thick and thin over the years, has never sunk as low as where Lorenz Hart finished his life and career, partially because he, too, has the same inextinguishable zest to challenge and create, and puts it on screen every chance he gets. Keep going, Richard. We’re here for it.
Read MoreThrough it all, Truth and Treason means to call on more dissenters in this world. Either in the actual moment or in hindsight later, when people learn of or reflect on time periods of war and tyranny, they raise the question of where the dissenters were. Too often, the evil majority dominates the headlines and narratives of the given political or social conflict. In those times, conscientious objectors, protesters, or flat-out opponents of resistance were needed more than ever.
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