Category Archives: 2025 Movie Reviews

Blue Moon

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December usually brings a series of potential Oscar contenders out, whether it be in the theaters or on streaming. I had heard about a performance by Ethan Hawke in a film called Blue Moon, where he played Lorenz Hart, a popular lyricist who worked with Richard Rodgers. It was available for rental on Fandango At Home so I gave it a shot.

The film is set in one location, Sardi’s restaurant on the night of the Broadway opening of Oklahoma!, a musical written by Hart’s longtime writing partner Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Hart was jealous, regretful and melancholy over the new musical, and spoke to the others

Hawke was astonishing in the performance because he had such a monumental amount of dialogue. This entire movie was built around the words being said by Lorenz Hart and the others in the restaurant. The monologues were extremely noticeable and stood out as some of the best writing of the year.

I absolutely can see this being nominated for an Academy Award for Best original Screenplay. The words of the film was as much of the star of this film as any of the actors.

There were a few notable actors in the cast along with Ethan Hawke. That included Margaret Qualley, Andrew Scott, Bobby Cannavale, Simon Delaney and Jonah Lee.

Robert Linklater directed Blue Moon, providing the pathway for the actors to deliver the lines of the script. It was an impressive accomplishment. The film had a Broadway play feel to it, as there were very few sets involved.

3.9 stars

Old Guard 2

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I really enjoyed the first Old Guard movie. It was based on a cool comic book series that I also loved. I was excited about a sequel coming on Netflix. I am afraid that there was a reason that Old Guard 2, which debuted on the streamer at the beginning of July, was a film that I did not watch until December.

This was terrible. Such a gigantic step back from the exciting and original Old Guard film that it felt like a totally different franchise. I hadn’t even known this had come out until I was researching superhero movies for this year.

According to IMDB, “Andy and her team of immortal warriors continue their mission to protect humanity. This time, they have to face off against a formidable new foe who threatens the very fabric of the Old Guard, while also dealing with the return of an immortal who was thought to be long lost.”

The movie was slow, dull, and featured a group of actors just going through the motions. There was some interesting action at times, but most of them just blended together and became background noise.

The plot is weak. I am not sure what matters here. The film does not have much heart, especially when compared to the first one. It felt like it was nothing more than a place card for the next movie in the franchise, which would shock me if it ever got made.

1 star

Jay Kelly

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This movie popped up on Netflix recently and I added it my queue. I was able to watch it this morning.

I have never been a huge George Clooney fan, but I can’t say that his presence has ever kept me from watching a movie. I can say that about his co-star Adam Sandler, who has a bunch of movies that I never watched because he was the lead. I went into this with the knowledge that Sandler has had some Oscar buzz about him so I hoped this would be more like Uncut Gems and less like Billy Madison.

According to IMDB, “Famous movie actor Jay Kelly embarks on a journey of self-discovery, confronting his past and present with his devoted manager Ron.”

I really liked this movie. I thought George Clooney did a sensational job of playing this iconic action movie star who was going through an existential crisis, and I was very impressed with the work of Adam Sandler in this film. He still was able to provide some of the best comedic lines without sacrificing character or intelligence.

Director Noah Baumbach provided a sharp satirical look at Hollywood and how the life of a movie star can be a lonely one. A couple of times, Jay Kelly’s daughter said that he was “never alone” but the film does a great job of showing how he absolutely could be, even while surrounded by his entourage. It showed, as well, the lack of understanding Jay Kelly had on his daughter’s lives.

There were some solid supporting appearances in Jay Kelly. Laura Dern, Stacy Keach, Jim Broadbent, Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson, Riley Keough, and Grace Edwards.

It does feel a touch long, but I don’t know what I would remove. There are scenes that focus in on Adam Sandler and his life and background that really develops his character that I would not remove at all.

Clooney really does make this role feel like it is something that he has lived through. I believed every thought and feeling jay had during the course of the movie. The film had some neat sequences where something was shot in a way that was original. For example, there was a scene with Jay and his daughter where they were on the phone, but the film shot it as if they were walking beside one another.

Jay Kelly was a engaging movie with some really well developed characters. I was very impressed by the film overall.

4 stars

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2

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I was not a huge fan of the first Five Night’s at Freddy’s movie from a few years ago, but it was not the worst thing I had ever seen. Unfortunately, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 took a step back.

According to IMDB, “One year has passed since the supernatural nightmare at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The stories about what transpired there have been twisted into a campy local legend, inspiring the town’s first ever Fazfest. Former security guard Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and police officer Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail) have kept the truth from Mike’s 11-year-old sister, Abby (Piper Rubio), concerning the fate of her animatronic friends. But when Abby sneaks out to reconnect with Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy, it will set into motion a terrifying series of events, revealing dark secrets about the true origin of Freddy’s, and unleashing a long-forgotten horror hidden away for decades.”

I did not like this one at all. It felt so forced. The story was weak. The inclusion of the animatronics was silly. The ending was poor. I just did not like much of anything about this movie.

I do have one thing that I thought looked cool and that was the look of The Marionette when combined with Charlotte. It was a really cool design and I did like that part of the film. However, all of the other robotic characters were just a waste.

I also hate when a movie provides a teacher who would just not be around in today’s world and Wayne Knight played one here. There was so much about this that did not work for me.

1.5 stars

Hamnet

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I actually did not know that this was a story featuring William Shakespeare until about 2/3rd through the movie. I knew Hamnet sounded like Hamlet, but I did not know how it was connected. In fact, as I walked into the theater, I thought to myself that I had no idea what this movie was about.

We meet Agnes and Will, who fall in love and get married. Agnes was initially believed to be the daughter of a forest witch, but that never felt like it was addressed. Agnes gets pregnant. They have a daughter and then have twins later, one of which seemed to be born dead, but survived.

As I mentioned, I had no idea this was meant to be Shakespeare and I also did not know that he had a son named Hamnet who died when he was 11, supposedly from the plague. That was believed to be one of the influences for Shakespeare to write his best tragedies, including Hamlet.

I was extremely bored through the first half of this movie. I was not enjoying it at all. However, there were two amazing performances in the heart of this film. Paul Mescal played Will and he did a great job, but the stand out performance in the film belonged to Jessie Buckley as Agnes. Even at the times when I was feeling bored with the story and the script, Jessie Buckley was bringing it hard.

I had heard that this was an Oscar possible nominated film and I was ready to rip that idea apart. There was an amazing scene with Buckley and Jacobi Jupe, who was playing Hamnet, but it still had not swayed my opinion.

Then, the ending happened. The ending was unbelievable! It absolutely took the rest of this movie and elevated it to a level that I could not believe. I came out of the film with serious feels. Most of the time, the example is the ending is bad and damaged the memory of a film. This time, I have a much more positive thought of the film because of the finale.

If Jessie Buckley does not win the Academy Award for this performance, they should just stop giving out Best Actress Awards. Jessie Buckley is sensational and totally carries the film on her back. I would have totally checked out from this had it not been for Jessie Buckley.

Oscar winner Chloe Zhao does a great job with the direction of this film. I loved the ending of this.

3.5 stars

Stitch Head

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I had intended on renting and watching Stitch Head, the animated movie in the style of 3D CG animation, during this past weekend’s post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend, but it kind of got lost in the shuffle. I did not think about Stitch Head until I was filling in the list of films and I saw the character of Stitch Head on the banner. Oops. So I rented it from Fandango at Home and planned on watching it this week.

The time was tonight and I watched the film.

According to IMDB, “Follows Stitch Head, a small creature awoken by a Mad Professor in a castle to protect the professor’s other creations from the townspeople of Grubbers Nubbin.”

My first thought was that this, particularly the character designs, reminded me of the old Rankin/Bass animated shows like Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The colors of Stitch Head also made me think about the old Christmas shows. That was all good things.

The story was cute with the monsters that were being created by the mad Professor were all scared of humans, expecting the angry mob to burst through the door of their castle at any minute. Stitch Head, the first monster created by Professor, was the one who could keep the monsters calm.

When circus ringmaster, Fulbert Freakfinder, came across Stitch Head, he knew that bringing Stitch Head to his circus would make a lot of money. He manipulated Stitch Head to agree to leave the castle and join his circus.

The voice cast was led by Asa Butterfield as Stitch Head. There was also Joel Fry, Tia Bannon, Seth Usdenov, Rob Brydon, Alison Steadman, Fern Brady, Jamali Maddix, Sway Clarke and Paul Tylak.

Stitch Head was simple in a lot of ways. It was weird as a couple of times, the film seemed like it was about to burst into songs, but they ended about as quickly as they started. The animation was great, bringing me back to those old Rankin/Bass shows and it was fun.

Character design was quirky and creative. Yes, there may not have been anything groundbreaking about this animated movie, but it was solid and enjoyable.

3.75 stars

Jingle Bell Heist

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The only reason I decided to watch this Netflix film, Jingle Bell Heist, was I needed to have a Christmas movie for the Year in Review.

Who would have guessed, but I really liked this movie.

According to IMDB, “At the height of the holiday season, two strangers team up to rob one of London’s most famous department stores while accidentally falling in love.“

I found this charming and fun. However, more than that, I found this one to be written extremely well. There were a couple of twists that happened in the film that I did not see coming and that was unexpected.

Olivia Holt played Sophia and Connor Swindells played Nick. The had chemistry with one another and, even though they were always going to be the pair that falls in love in this Christmas rom-com, they were quirky enough to stand out from the typical couple in these Christmas movies.

The film moved well, flowing from one scene to the next. It did not overstay its welcome and I would think this is an exceptional film to watch during the holiday season.

Peter Serafinowicz played the rich and crooked Maxwell Sterling. As a villain, Serafinowicz was basically one note, but there was enough from him to help us understand how rotten a person he was. Lucy Punch played Sterling’s wife, Cynthia, in a fun, albeit small, part. Though it was small, it was very impactful.

I was pleased that the first Christmas film I watched for the Year in Review turned out to be a extremely solid one. If this turns out to be the only Christmas movie I get to see this year, it is nice to know that I have seen a good one.

3.8 stars

Wildcat

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I was watching a video on YouTube today of the Kristian Harloff Show. This was the day of the week where Roxy Striar appeared. I always enjoy her TV picks for the week so I played it for awhile. They were speaking about a new movie that Roxy was in, which starred Kate Beckinsale, called Wildcat. Looking at the info for the film, I saw it was rentable on Prime.

It was an action movie, directed by James Nunn, who has a reputation for action.

Sadly, the story was fairly convoluted and messy.

Beckinsale played a former black ops operative named Ada. She had a relationship with another operative named Roman (Lewis Tan). Ada wanted to leave the life and settle down, but Roman was not interested.

Several years later, Ada and her daughter Charlotte (Isabelle Moxley) ran into Roman and they had dinner. They were going to remain friends. Later that night, Charlotte was kidnapped because Ada’s brother Edward (Rasmus Hardiker) owed money to mobsters and had spoke about his sister the former black op.

Ada reunited with her former team in an attempt to pull of a heist to get the money to pay off the mobster.

This had some possibilities, storywise, but it felt that these plot points got too lost among the rest of the pieces tossed into the movie.

I hated the character of Edward. He made every scene worse, with the exception of the very final one.

The action was pretty decent, but there was a bit too much gunfire for my taste. I did like the connection between Ada and Roman. They worked well together.

The final was silly. I am not sure what they were doing.

I did love seeing Roxy in the film. She did great in her small role, and I am so happy that she has gotten the opportunity.

This just is not my type of movie.

2.5 stars

Splitsville

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Another film from Fandango at Home that I have been eyeballing for quite awhile was a comedy called Splitsville. I had seen trailers for this film in the theaters, but it never came around my area. So I knew it would be one I watched eventually. This weekend turned out to be the perfect opportunity.

According to IMDB, “When Ashley asks for a divorce, the good-natured Carey runs to his friends, Julie and Paul, for support. Their secret to happiness is an open marriage; that is, until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos.”

The ensemble of this film was solid with Dakota Johnson, Kyle Marvin, Adria Arjona and Michael Angelo Covino leading the way. These four actors were very solid and had some really good comedic timing. The fight between Marvin and Covino, as shown in the trailer, was extremely well laid out and escalated to a funny pitch.

I was into the story as the film was moving along, but I have to say, without spoiling anything, that I was not fond of where the story went and the final act of the film, while still funny, lost me. I just did not believe what happened would have happened, and it spoiled the first two thirds of the film that I was really enjoying.

Admittedly, it did not totally wreck the film. I am still going to give it a positive review, but the way this wrapped up definitely dragged the score down quite a bit.

3.1 stars

Twinless

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The snow continues here and so does the EYG post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend with another film I rented off Fandango at Home called Twinless.

Roman (Dylan O’Brian) had just lost his twin brother in a car accident and he was struggling through the grief and pain. He went to a support group for others who lost a twin. In this group he met Dennis (James Sweeney) and they bonded over their mutual loss. They became unlikely friends. However, there was a secret that threatened to destroy their friendship.

I had in my head what this film was going to be, but I was surprised by the way this story developed. There was a darkness to this comedy that I was not expecting.

Dylan O’ Brian did a great job as Rocky and there was chemistry between him and James Sweeney’s Dennis. Still, one of the characters was not as likable as you would think.

I don’t want to spoil anything, so it is going to be tough to go into specifics about most of this movie.

This was solid and engaging. There were great performances in the film, especially our two lead protagonists. It is a solid movie.

3.75 stars

Eleanor the Great

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As we have the second film of the 2025 post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend, there is actually snow on the ground. It has been snowing all morning though it does feel as if it is not as much as was forecast.

Still, nowhere to go this afternoon so I rented Eleanor the Great off Fandango At Home (aka Vudu) starring June Squibb.

After the death of her friend and longtime roommate, 94-year old Eleanor Morgenstein (June Squibb) was lonely and grieving. By fate, she wound up in a support group for Holocaust survivors. Not sure what to do, but craving the human attention, Eleanor, not a Holocaust survivor, began telling the stories of her recently passed roommate, who did survive, as her own. From these tales, she met a bright young journalism student, Nina (Erin Kellyman), who had suffered her own recent loss.

This was the feature directorial debut by Scarlett Johansson, and she did a fine job with a story that placed the delightful June Squibb front and center. I am not sure there is a more impressive actress working today than the nonagenarian. She brought an energy to the film that would not have been there without her.

The story was good, but Squibb elevated it into a much higher level. It was a typical “lies get revealed” type story, but Squibb made this more than just a typical tale. You could feel her passion for the film in every moment she was on screen.

The relationship between Eleanor and Nina was another positive of the movie. They had a bond that you could feel on screen. When Nina discovered that Eleanor was not what she had represented herself as, the pain and betrayal cut deep.

It may have wrapped up too neatly in the end, but it did give us an ending that provided hope for the future of the characters.

3.5 stars

In Your Dreams

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No snowflakes around here yet, but this is officially the first film of the 2025 post-Thanksgiving, Snowpocalypse Weekend. In Your Dreams is an animated film currently streaming on Netflix after a short week length release in theaters.

According to IMDB, “Stevie and her little brother Elliot journey into the wildly absurd landscape of their own dreams to ask the Sandman to grant them the perfect family.”

The film has some very deep and potentially troublesome themes that could trigger some. However, the brightness and colorful animation makes even the hardest topics palatable.

The voice over cast included Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Elias Janssen, Craig Robinson, Simu Liu, Cristin Milioti, Gia Carides, Omid Djalili, and SungWon Cho.

I thought this was a pretty decent animated movie. It had some fun and some drama, with a serious topic that the characters dealt with in the story.

I thought that the music was really solid in the film. I loved the use of some of the well known Sandman songs.

The character designs are well done and the dream world was creative and clever.

In Your Dreams was a nice animated movie for a snowy day (or soon to be snowy day).

3.5 stars

Train Dreams

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Based on a 2011 novella, Train Dreams is a drama directed by Clint Bentley and starring Joel Edgerton. The film just started streaming on Netflix.

According to IMDB, “…Train Dreams is the moving portrait of Robert Grainier, a logger and railroad worker who leads a life of unexpected depth and beauty in the rapidly-changing America of the early 20th Century.“

The film featured a stunning performance from Joel Edgerton, while ripping the heart out of the viewer’s chest with some of the most painful scenes of the year.

It is an emotional tale of Robert Grainier’s life and the losses that tugged at his soul. The pain of his loss was tempered by his consistent search for life. There are some scenes that are just remarkably rough for the character, yet one of the final scenes of the film brings about a feeling of joyous freedom.

Great performances littered this movie. Add to Edgerton the strong work from Felicity Jones, Clifton Collins Jr., Kerry Condon and William H. Macy.

The cinematography of the land is fantastic and the film is a beautiful one to watch.

I found this to be a lovely film that was difficult to watch with the emotional moments being powerful. It is available on Netflix.

3.6 stars

Zootopia 2

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Zootopia was a giant surprise hit in 2016 when it broke one billion dollars worldwide. With that much box office success, one would wonder why it took nearly ten years to have a sequel.

Zootopia 2 is an excellent new animated movie that does a great job of providing a new story and continuing the awesome partnership between Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde.

According to IMDB, “Brave rabbit cop Judy Hopps and her friend, the fox Nick Wilde, team up again to crack a new case, the most perilous and intricate of their careers.“

Ginnifer Godwin and Jason Bateman are the voices of Judy and Nick respectfully. They do a fantastic job with these characters and their voice work is part of the reason this pair is so good together. They are also written well as any friendship you’ll find in the movies.

There is a great voice cast along with Godwin and Bateman. This included Ke Huy Quan, Fortune Feimster, Andy Samberg, Dasvid Strathairn, Idris Elba, Shakira, Patrick Warburton, Danny Trejo, Quinta Brunson, and Bonnie Hunt. In a fun bit of casting, the Zebros were voiced by pro wrestlers, Joe Anoa’i (aka Roman Reigns) and Phil Brooks (aka C.M. Punk).

I liked the story of the film as well. It was nicely developed without succumbing to the sequel-itis where the sequel tried to do way too much, cramming it in. However, this felt very well constructed and worked well. I was worried at first that there would be too much here and make the story feel convoluted, but it came together nicely as it progressed.

The character design is amazing, and the creativity is off the charts. The animation looked fantastic and you could tell that they were having a lot of fun with the film as it translated to the screen.

It had real emotion and some wonderful character moments. It was also hilarious and filled with some great animated action. It was worth the wait to see a sequel.

4.2 stars

After the Hunt

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The film, After the Hunt was a film that I missed out on while it was in the theaters earlier this year, but with it coming available on Amazon Prime, I was able to watch it this weekend. I have to say that I found this to be extremely disappointing and mostly a mess.

According to IMZDB, “A college professor finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.”

Thing is, this synopsis from IMDB is much more concise than this film is. I’m not sure what the overall story as meant to be, and it felt as if these characters were jumping back and forth in so many different manners that it muddied the waters of the narrative.

There are great actors in the film. Julia Roberts,  Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny all had important roles in the film and they all can really act. There just was too much chaos in the script to allow any of them to elevate the material. Certainly, Julia Roberts had the strongest performance, but there was just so much going on that was needlessly convoluted that it sapped any semblance of her performance.

The score was constantly in the way. I have never been as distracted by the music in a movie as I was with this movie. The score was nonsensical at times and really caused disruptions.

The narrative was scattered around and did not have a comprehensive idea of where it wanted to go. This was compounded by the different characters and what they brought to the story. Some things were brought in for reasons that I am not sure have a purpose.

I found this to be overly long, messy, and wasteful of some strong performances. After the Hunt never really knew what it wanted to be, and that is hat it became.

2 stars