When I first saw a trailer for this movie, I thought to myself, “This is like the Hand that Rocked the Cradle.” I said this to a friend of mine and she said that it was not anything like that. She mentioned that it was originally in a novel by Freida McFadden, which I did not know. I decided that I would give this a chance. My friend was right, this was not in that subgenre of horror film where the babysitter tries to do crazy things for reasons.
According to IMDB, “A struggling young woman is relieved by the chance for a fresh start as a maid for a wealthy couple. Soon, she discovers that the family’s secrets are far more dangerous than her own.”
This one has its ups and downs for me. I am not sure how I feel about it. I think the three main cast members, Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar, do a fantastic job with what the story asks of them. They have great chemistry with each other and are very believable in everything that they do.
One of my problems though is I hate it when people do stupid things in a thriller. There are several things that Sweeney’s character Millie does that makes me want to yell at the screen. Couldn’t she see this coming? Maybe at first, but as the film moved on, why are you not recognizing what is going on? I hate it when the characters do really stupid things.
The end of the movie was fun, but I did see it coming. There was something that, when mentioned in the beginning of the film, I knew was going to come back around as a major piece later in the film, and sure enough, I was right.
There was also a section near the beginning of the third act of the film where suddenly we were doing a ton of exposition, explaining what had gone down. I thought this was a weak point of the movie.
The Housemaid feels like Hollywood camp, but in a glorious way. It feels as if everyone involved understands the assignment in this story and are ready to give it their all. There are weaknesses in the film, but I think I came out of it more positive than negative.
Back in 1997, a horror film about a giant snake appeared. Anaconda, starring Ice Cube, J-Lo, and Jon Voight, was a terrible movie, but it survived the years and became an iconic cult classic film. In 2025, we now got a meta-sequel to the film starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd which debuted this weekend.
According to IMDB, “Four childhood friends are going through a midlife crisis so they decide to remake their favorite horror movie from the 1990s in the Amazon Forest When a real giant anaconda shows up, they get more than what they bargain for and their comically chaotic movie making turns into a life-or-death situation. The movie that they’re dying to remake? It might just kill them, literally.“
I heard some negative things about the new film before I went into it, which made me nervous because I had thought the trailers looked good and I was excited to see it. The negative comments made me feel much more tentative about the movie.
I can understand why some people might not have been a fan of this, but I enjoyed it a lot. I found this funny, the characters likable and entertaining, and the meta qualities of the film worked so well.
I thought there was a lot of clever writing involved in this movie. The humor is solid. There were a couple of jokes that I usually do not like, but, for me, even those worked well.
No spoiler here, but there was a great cameo in the film too.
There are some negatives to the film too though. I do think it started fairly slowly and the film really took off when the characters get on their boat. I do think that I wish the trailer hadn’t spoiled some of the best laughs in the film because I think it would have been so much better.
I am happy that I liked this movie more than what some were saying. I found it funny and engaging. I do enjoy a film with as many meta jokes and Anaconda falls right into that.
This was another great year in horror. Not perfect, of course. There is a nice balance between good films and bad ones.
Again, we have not been keeping track of the “Worst” film, but the “Best” is in the records:
Best Horror Movie
Previous Winners: A Quiet Place, It, Don’t Breathe, It Follows, The Conjuring, As Above So Below, Cabin in the Woods, Doctor Sleep, Black Box, Fear Street trilogy, The Menu, A Haunting in Venice, Nosferatu
Runners-Up: Final Destination: Bloodlines was a surprise for me. At this point, I had never seen any of the Final Destination movies (I saw the first one in the October 13), and I loved this new one. The new Conjuring movie, Conjuring: Last Rites, put that franchise to bed (or so we are told). Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein is a stylish, engaging new version on Netflix. A film I did not expect to like was Dangerous Animals, but it was extremely awesome. It was a shark movie that did not make the shark the villain. So it came down to two choices… and the one that did not make it was Weapons. I loved that movie, but I think it was a little less of a horror movie than the one that turned out to be the winner.
Best Horror Movie
Sinners
Michael B. Jordan starred in this Ryan Coogler directed film. Coogler wanted to do his vampire film and what he did was Sinners. This was a fantastic film and it was something we hadn’t seen before. Jordan played dual roles and he did it so well.
Worst Horror
Runners-Up: Until Dawn was such a bad movie. It was a disappointment as it had a decent premise. Lots of people loved Together, but I hated it. I hated it so much. Fear Street: Prom Queen was such a downgrade from the awesome trilogy from a few years ago.
“Winner”:
That film is not from Jordan Peele, no matter how much the movie wanted it to be true. This football film is truly one of the worst MOVIES of the year… not just horror.
It’s not Christmas for me until I watch Muppet Christmas Carol. Of all the Christmas traditions, this is the one that I look forward to the most.
Among the dozens of adaptations, this is my ABSOLUTE favorite version of A Christmas Carol.
Michael Caine is the perfect Ebenezer Scrooge. He accomplished this feat by playing this completely straight. He played Scrooge, as he said, “like I’m working with the Royal Shakespeare Company” and not dancing, singing Muppets. Line delivery was spot on and the facial expressions brought Scrooge to life.
Another reason he is great in this film is that we see Scrooge’s humanity right off the bat. As soon as the Marley Brothers (preformed by Statler and Waldorf) showed up, you could see Scrooge begin to change. I have never liked the versions of Scrooge that feels as if he does not change until he sees his tombstone in the future. That feels insincere. Michael Caine’s work is just fantastic.
The movie is also a surprisingly accurate translation of Charles Dickins’ work. Many lines are exactly as they appear in the novel. I mean, of course, there are plenty of changes and adjustments to the film. It is narrated by a rat and a … whatever… in Gonzo the Great and Rizzo the Rat.
The design of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come are brilliant. The Ghost of Christmas Past is just a child Muppet, but it is, arguably, the creepiest of the three. This Muppet had the perfect touch of the uncanny valley to make her frightening. I love the Ghost of Christmas Present. He always reminded me of Santa Claus. Yet to Come is the classic Grim Reaper version and looked remarkable. The Jim Henson Company was at its best with this puppetry.
I am not ashamed to say that the scene where Kermit and Miss Piggy talk about the death of Tiny Tim breaks me every time I watch it. There is just something about Kermit and Miss Piggy grieving that is just unnatural.
There are some great songs in the film. The “Scrooge” anthem that started the film off is fabulous as is the “One Sleep ’til Christmas” sung by Kermit. Above all of them though, my favorite is the song sung by the Ghost of Christmas Present called “”It Feels Like Christmas.”
I am grateful that I can watch this at any time on Disney +.
It really feels as if Pluribus has only just started its season. It’s hard to believe that the show is already up to its first season finale already, but that is the case. Apple TV + dropped the finale a couple of days early (before Christmas).
And what a finale this was. In some ways, it was smaller, quieter than I might have expected. But then again…
There was an A-Bomb!
Carol and Manousos come face to face in this episode and some of the early scenes between these two were truly hilarious. I loved the use of the umbrella to block out the chance of the drones spying on them, reading their lips.
The mistrust between Carol and Manousos was on display as they tried to communicate via cell phone translation programs. There was some high comedy with that translation program as well. When the phone was in the sewer, but still translating, well, that was the height of funny.
Carol seemed to believe that Manousos had taken it too far with his “experimentation” on the Others. Carol’s close relationship with Zosia was coloring her perspective and she joined Zosia on another isolation attempt. This time, however, it seemed clear that Manousos was not going to fold like Carol did. He seemed like a type of guy who does not mind some isolation.
Carol never really understood the relationship she shared with Zosia. Carol looked at it like it was a typical, normal relationship, but that was not the case. Carol looked to be in denial about a lot of what was going down. When Carol learned that The Others had her frozen eggs (that Carol and Helen had decided to harvest years ago) and that they could change that into stem cells, the same stem cells the Others needed to turn Carol into another member of the hivemind, things crashed around her. Carol had Zosia return her to her home and decided to join with Manousos after all.
And the atomic bomb reveal at the end was insane. Maybe it was not literally an A-bomb… though Carol had asked about it earlier in the season…
Pluribus’s first season was sensational. I know the series has been renewed for a second season. I hope we do not have to wait three years to get the next episodes.
Happy Christmas Eve to everyone. With the year coming to a close soon, there are a few more in theater movies to watch. The first of the few remaining theater films today was Timothée Chalamet’s new film, Marty Supreme.
I was really surprised with this movie. It was not what I was expecting. Apparently, this is slightly based on a real person, but in a fictional story with fictional things happening. The main character of this movie, Marty Mauser, is based on Marty Reisman, an American table tennis player, and it is directed by Josh Safdie.
What surprised me about this movie was how unlikable the character of Marty Mauser was. He was such a jerk to everyone. Selfish. Rotten. Mean-spirited. Obnoxious. Marty is a con man who will do some rotten things to try an accomplish what he wanted to do. During the first half of the film, I was thinking about how Marty was so rotten, yet how I found myself rooting for him. That, surprisingly, did not stay as I was rooting for the other guy in the final act.
Timothée Chalamet was excellent in the role of Marty. He disappeared into the role and I never was thinking about him as the actor that he was. It was a great performance and will probably earn him an Academy Award nomination.
It is a risk having a protagonist as unlikable as Marty Mauser because you take the chance of alienating the audience. However, there is such great writing involved and Marty is such a complex character that you can understand why he is doing the terrible things that he is doing.
The film is a little long, and there was a spot where I thought the movie might be ending (and I feel as if maybe it should have). I can’t go into details without spoiling it.
I expected Marty Supreme to be a good time, feel good story. It is not that. It is challenging and dark. It is a great film.
The Batman and Robins are the awards we give out every year for the worst of the worst. The awards for rottenness are given out to stuff that just did not work.
Worst Movie: To be revealed at the Least Favorite Movies list.
Worst Actor: Ice Cube (War of the Worlds). Ice Cube is a talented performer who gave a horrible performance in a horrible movie.
Worst Actress: Gal Gadot (Disney’s Snow White). She was miscast as the Evil Queen and nothing that happened in Snow White showed that she could not elevate the material.
Worst Director: Justin Tipping (HIM). One of the worst films of the year. It’s so bad that they needed to pretend that Jordan Peele had something to do with it.
Worst Sequel: Fear Street: Prom Queen. The first Fear Street trilogy was so good and a lot of fun. This was the antithesis of that.
Worst CGI: Star Trek: Section 31. Not much was good about this one.
Favorite Rotten Movie: Captain America: Brave New World. There is a lot of hate for this movie, but I enjoyed it a lot. It could have been better, but it does not deserve as much hatred as it got.
Worst Movie That I Did Not See: The Smurfs
Cashing a Paycheck: Richard Dreyfuss (Into the Deep). Dreyfuss was one of the reasons why I watched this shark movie. That was a mistake.
Worst Reboot/Remake: I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Most Successful Bad Movie: A Minecraft Movie
Worst Movie Based on TV/Video Game: Smurfs
Worst Superhero Movie: Old Guard 2
Worst Trailer: A Minecraft Movie. This trailer showed me how terrible this was going to be
WTF: 2073. It was from HBO Max, but it was a bizarre mixture of doc and horrific film.
Worst Performance by Oscar Winner: Michelle Yeoh (Stra Trek: Section 31)
Worst TV Show I Watched: Alien: Earth. Started great, but fell off quickly. Too boring for an alien show.
Worst Product Placement: Amazon Prime in War of the Worlds. It played more like an advertisement for Amazon Prime.
There were so many great TV shows on streaming and TV. We split them into four categories: Drama, Comedy, Genre and Animated.
Starting with Animation:
#5. Eyes of Wakanda(Disney +). Good show with four episodes dropped all on one day. Second half of those episodes were considerably better.
#4. Win or Lose(Disney +). Pixar show on Disney + that I watched during the Sunday Morning Sidewalk. Highly entertaining and well written.
#3. Marvel Zombies(Disney +). This one turned out way better than I ever thought it would. Another one day drop by Marvel on Disney +.
#2. Hazbin Hotel (Amazon Prime). Second season of the Hell musical was awesome. Wonderful music and amazing voice acting.
#1. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (Disney +). One of the best animated Spider-Man series in quite a long time. Great characterization, not only for Peter, but also for Lonnie (Tombstone). I loved the adjusted origin and the tie ins to the MCU was clever.
Comedy
#4. Poker Face (Peacock). Always entertaining. Natasha Lyonne is great as Charlie. Every time is seemed like the show made an adjustment. And that was the truth.
#3. Stick (Apple TV +). Owen Wilson starred as a former golf pro who finds a skilled kid who he wanted to help become a pro. Funny and clever.
#2. The Studio (Apple TV +). Insider story starring Seth Rogan as a movie studio exec and his struggles to get his films out. Hilarious writing and a ton of brilliant cameos.
#1. Only Murders in the Building (Hulu). The fifth season of this venerable series was remarkably entertaining and funny. There has been some great seasons of this show, and the fifth one worked so well.
Drama
#10. The White Lotus (HBO Max). This was my least favorite of the three seasons of White Lotus. I was only really interested in one of the stories, and I was unhappy with the resolution.
#9. Squid Game Season 3 (Netflix). Squid Game was really great, but was tainted by the finale, which left way too much undone and unsolved. The end hurt this badly.
#8. The Bear (Hulu). A much better season than the previous one. The Bear felt like it got back to the success from the early seasons. This is in a drama because it is NOT a comedy.
#7. Duster (HBO Max). This was a fun series with Josh Holloway and a duster car. This sadly did not get a second season, but it was much better than it got credit for.
#6. The Pitt (HBO Max). This one might be higher if I had watched the entire series. I am currently at episode 7. Great medical show with Noah Wylie.
#5. Pluribus (Apple TV +). Another one that might be higher on this list if it is finished. There is only one more episode left, but it is really great.
#4. Yellowjackets (Paramount +). The third season continues to show the weirdness of the forest. The story of the mysterious events are still exceptional.
#3. Adolescence (Netflix). Four episode mini series from Netflix with a teenage boy who is charged with murder. Brilliant performances from Stephen Graham and Owen Cooper.
#2. Dexter: Resurrection(Showtime). After the up and down nature of Dexter: Original Sin, I did not expect much out of Resurrection. However, this was a sensational series with Dexter taking up residence in New York. This was so fabulous.
#1. Paradise (Hulu). One of the best new series of the year. The mystery behind the death of the President and what was going on with the story. Paradise was so wonderful. I did not expect it to be this good.
Genre
#15. Alien: Earth (FX). This started great, but it fell off quick. I actually never finished this series.
#14. Fallout (Amazon Prime). I have only seen one episode of season two so far, which is why this is as low as it is. It might be on the 2026 list too.
#13. Silo (Apple TV +). The ending part of the season came into 2025 and it was a very strong season.
#12. Perry Jackson and the Olympians (Disney +). Another show that would be higher on the list had there been more episodes released by now. I do like the mythologically based show.
#11. The Last of Us (HBO Max). The second season of The Last of Us was a step down from the first season.. mainly because of the results of Joel’s fate. It was brutal and damaged the show.
#10. Wednesday(Netflix). The second season of this show was good, but maybe not as great as season one. Still solid and it had some great new characters.
#9. Doctor Who (Disney +). I am sad that Ncuti Gatwa was gone from the role by the end of the season. I loved him as The Doctor. This was a great season with some excellent episodes.
#8. Ironheart (Disney +). Ironheart was better than I expected and… MEPHISTO CONFIRMED!!!
#7. Gen V (Amazon Prime). Gen V does a great job setting up for the end of the Boys in 2026. The characters are excellent and the story was awesome. Brutal as always.
#6. Murderbot (Apple TV +). Surprise series with a robot that becomes sentient. A fun sci-fi series with a wonderful group of characters that are easy to root for.
#5. Strangers Things 5 (Netflix). The first part of the final season of Stranger Things was so great, especially the ending of episode 4 with Will.
#4. Andor (Disney +). The second and final season of Andor is amazing. You knew what the fate of these characters would be, yet the drama of this series was never lacking.
#3. Peacemaker (HBO Max). John Cena’s second season dealt with the multiverse and Peacemaker has to confront so many of his personal demons. A great season for this show… and another brilliant opening credits.
#2. Daredevil: Born Again (Disney +). Daredevil returned and brought Kingpin with him. Shocking death in the first ten minutes set the tone for the season. I wish they had done more with Muse, but it had a great episode in a bank.
#1. It: Welcome to Derry (HBO Max). The prequel to the movie series was so great. The first episode introduced us to a group of kids, made us love them, and then killed them off. Then, we meet another group of kids who had to struggle against Pennywise. Bill Skarsgård was amazing as Pennywise, scary and sinister. A satisfying conclusion with one of the best finale of the year.
It was a big year for the child actors. There have been some truly powerful performances in the world of entertainment in 2025. The days of kid actors getting cast because they were the niece of the director is probably over (at least, unless that niece is incredibly talented).
Previous winners:
I See Kid Actor Award
Previous Winners: Emjay Anthony (Chef), Jacob Trembley (Room), Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things), Dafne Keen (Logan), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Noah Jupe (Honey Boy), McKenna Grace (Troop Zero), Jeremy T. Thomas (Antlers), Alisha Weir (Matilda the Musical, Abigail), Madeleine Yuna Voyles (The Creator)
Runners-Up: Last year, I speculated that our only two-time winner of the I See Kid Actor Award, Alisha Weir, was rumored to be up for Dorothy in Wicked: For Good and that she might be a threepeat. She was not cast in the role and will need to wait for awhile to gain that third award. Cary Christopher carried a lot of weight in the hit film Weapons as the one boy who did not disappear. His scenes were very powerful. Christian Convey has been a runner up for this award multiple times from his past work as Sweet Tooth, Cocaine Bear, and Oliver in Invincible. He is back in the runner-up column for his role in The Monkey.Maia Kealoha had a huge job stepping into the live action role of Lilo in Lilo & Stitch. The young girl did a fantastic job. The Gomer Award winner this year, Sketch, had a group of kids who were at the center of the story and did a tremendous job including Bianca Belle, Kue Lawrence, and Kalm Cox. Group of kids fighting monsters has been a popular trope lately. Stranger Things 5 has returned with a couple of new kids to go with the rapidly aging kids from past seasons. Nell Fisher became Holly, sister of Mike, and Jake Connelly, who stole the show in episode 4 as “Dipshit Derek.” Then, It: Welcome to Derry had two groups of kids. The first group Pennywise murdered including Matty, played by Miles Ekhardt. Teddy and Phil, played respectfully by Mikkal Karim-Fidler and Jack Molloy Legault, also died in the first episode, shocking us all. However, the next group of kids really became the focal point of the show, especially Will, played by Blake Cameron James, Lilly, played by Clara Stack, Marge, played by Matilda Lawler, and everyone’s favorite hero Rich, played by Arian S. Cartaya. I would have considered Cartaya for this award because of the impact that character had on the show, if the award winner wasn’t so obvious. Alfie Williams was one of the lead actors in 28 Years Later, and he did a great job in a very difficult role. Other actors included Helena Zengel (The Legend of Ochi), Sara Wong (Bring Her Back) and Patrick Scott McDermott (Rust).
The winner of the I See Kid Actors Award for 2025 is…
Owen Cooper (Adolescence)
I knew this winner back when I watched Adolescence on Netflix in March/April. Owen Cooper played Jamie Miller, the young boy accused of murder in the four episode miniseries.
Cooper was absolutely staggering in the role. He carried off the character with the professionalism of a long time actor. This was his first major role. He wound up receiving an Emmy Award for his performance.
Specifically episode three of the show, which was a continual one shot (as all of the show was) between Jamie and clinical psychologist Briony, played by Erin Doherty. The performance was chilling as the show dived deeply into the mind of the damaged boy.
I knew he would get this award and, despite some heavy competition above, Owen Cooper is the I See Kid Actor Award winner for 2025.
The flip side of the Gomer, The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year is the film that I had expected big things from, but it came up short. I might have liked a film that gets this award (this year is an example), but I found more problems than I expected.
The Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year
Previous Winners: In the Heart of the Sea, The Snowman, Amazing Spider-Man 2, After Earth, Dark Knight Rises, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Batman v. Superman, Christopher Robin, IT: Chapter Two, Tenet, Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, Halloween Ends, Next Goal Wins, Gladiator II
This year’s runners-up: There was a film from Netflix this year that starred Chris Pratt called Electric State. It was a sci-fi movie that should have been fantastic, but it was far from it. A film that had Jordan Peele’s name on the advertising was called HIM. This had no right to be as bad as it was. M3GAN, the original, was a Gomer runner up, but the sequel to it, M3GAN 2.0 was just dumb and took the worst parts of the original and expended on it. Many people think this will win the Oscar this year for Best Picture, but I was disappointed with One Battle After Another. It was fine. I just expected more than what I saw. I love Ke Huy Quan, but Love Hurts hurt when I had to watch it. Another two movies that I heard positives about, but hated was Friendship and Together. Both big on Rotten Tomatoes, but not at EYG.
And this year’s Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year was…
Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning
I did like this movie. I gave it a fresh rating. It got like 3.5 stars from me.
And yet, it is getting the Spider-Man 3 Disappointment of the Year.
The final film in the Mission Impossible franchise should have been one of the best films of the year. The first hour or so of this movie was just too dull and repetitive. The ending was great, but I just did not like getting there. The film was too long and could not be totally saved by the great last hour. Then the final shot of the film was disappointing too.
This is a good movie that should have been mind-blowing.
So this was a series that I have wanted to watch for awhile now. The time was just never right, but with Christmas break upon me, plus the second season debuting in January on HBO Max, I thought I would give The Pitt a try.
See, I am a hypochondriac… well, sort of. Medical shows have bothered me in the past. I am bothered by things that can go wrong in the human body. While it does not make me feel as if I am having the same symptoms, it does bother me. That being said, the idea of each episode being an hour at a time in an emergency room made me think of 24 and I was intrigued.
I almost stopped at the first episode. A couple of scenes in that first show nearly finished me off. I was in on some of the storylines though so I decided to stick with it. After four episodes, I am fully in and will hopefully not have any further issues.
The storylines were coming hard and fast in the first four episodes. I was working on the EYG Comic Cavalcade as I was watching so the number of episodes just kept rolling as I worked. Perhaps I shouldn’t work as I watched, because I was being distracted by the show.
Noah Wylie led this cast of actors that I mostly did not recognize. Yet, they all did a great job with their roles. The short term stories with the patients were all very engaging and ranged from deadly serious to a good laugh.
One that especially caught my attention was a mother who faked an illness to get some help with her son. She found a list of girls to eliminate in his room, causing some serious tension of the story. That one is still percolating away. There was one that seemed to fly by faster with a brother and sister who desperately tried to keep their father alive, despite his wishes not to be on life-saving equipment. That story felt like it played out over a longer time than what it actually did, since the four episodes were designed to be only four hours total.
There were also a bunch of deaths in that four hour period. It truly showed the anguish the doctors and nurses have to deal with in their daily job.
The characters are introduced really well as there is not a ton of time to spend with them. Their minutes on screen are maximized extremely effectively.
I was not sure I was going to continue to watch this during episode one because of my own issues, but I am glad I pushed on. This is a strong series so far and my goal is to finish season one before the arrival of season two in January.
It Was Just An Accident was an international film which was a co-production between Iran, France, and Luxembourg. I had heard positives about the film on FYC and I had a chance to rent it off Fandango at Home.
According to IMDB, “An unassuming mechanic is reminded of his time in an Iranian prison when he encounters a man he suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor. Panicked, he rounds up a few of his fellow ex-prisoners to confirm the man’s identity.”
Powerful storytelling as we follow this group of people who had had their lives touched by this tormenter from an Iranian prison. Each person had to reassess their own choices and moral line as they attempt to confirm that this man is who they believe him to be.
There are enough doubts tossed around by the script that you as viewer are never quite sure which way the story will go. Is this the cruel torturer or is it a man who had a similar injury? The tormentor had a prosthetic leg and was dubbed the nickname “Peg Leg.” The man had the same prosthetic, but since the victims were always blindfolded, they could not specifically identify him, and the man had a seemingly cohesive story to cover the possible truth. I will admit that I was never 100% sure during the movie is he was Peg Leg or not.
Without spoilers, I loved the ending of the film. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I really found it to be refreshing.
The performances from the actors were top line. Vahid Mobasseri played Vahid, the mechanic who first discovered the possible Peg Leg, played by Ebrahim Azizi. Mariam Afshari was Shiva, a photographer who Vahid tried to get confirmation from. Other cast members included Majid Panahi,Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohammad Ali Elyasmehr, Delnaz Najafi and Georges Hashemzadeh.
I really enjoyed this international film. It was extremely well written with some exceptional performances.
The third film in the remarkably successful franchise of Avatar was released this weekend with the film Avatar: Fire and Ash. I have had an up and down reaction to the franchise over the years. When I first saw the original Avatar, I was not a fan. Before the second one came out, I rewatched the original film and liked it better. When I saw the next film, I enjoyed it more. I was not sure what all that meant when it came to Avatar: Fire and Ash.
According to IMDB, “Jake and Neytiri’s family grapples with grief after Neteyam’s death, encountering a new, aggressive Na’vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang, as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges.“
Avatar: Fire and Ash, once again, is amazing to look at. I saw the film in 3D and it was spectacular looking, especially with the setting and background. I will say that there were some moments where some of the characters looked weird to me. It was not consistent, but there were enough times where it jump out at me. Otherwise, the technical aspects of the movie are marvels.
I have to say, I was bored with most of the first two acts of this movie. It is painfully long and I do not think that it needed to be as long as it was. It felt as if it could have been trimmed down, at least, a half hour. Having said that, the third act was much more compelling and full of action. I will say that, during some of the scenes in the third act, this movie fell victim to something that always bugged me about Transformers movies, which was it was difficult at times to tell who was who in the big battle.
I also feel that lot of this story is a basic retread of the other films, especially the second film. There were a bunch of things that seemed to be the same beats we already have seen.
I am sure that Avatar: Fire and Ash will make a ton of money at the box office this weekend and during the holiday season, I am not sure that it will reach the same levels as the first two did. I could be wrong, but this feels like an inferior version of those films. While it is spectacular to look at, there is not something new and amazing in the special effects. It is amazing, yes, but I do not think we can say this is considerably better than other films in the area of effects.
I was working on the third 2025 Year in Review: In Memoriam Part 3 last night, and I thought to myself that I would only have one In Memoriam left. I thought that it would be fine because what are the chances that there would be any other big stars pass away before the year ended.
Oh my god.
I woke up in the middle of the night and saw on TikTok a horrible story that I never would have believed. Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle had been allegedly killed by their son Nick. I felt crushed by this news. I was a fan of Rob Reiner, especially as a director.
Then, I got home from school and I was on X and I saw tweets that kicked me in the gut. Anthony Geary, who played Luke Spencer on General Hospital for decades, had died.
I could not believe it.
Luke Spencer was one of my favorite characters on TV, period. Not just soap characters… but all characters. He was one of the best actors in Daytime, winning multiple Emmy Awards.
Rob Reiner directed some of my favorite movies of all time. The Princess Bride, This is Spinal Tap, A Few Good Men, Stand By Me, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, Misery, The American President, and When Harry Met Sally.
Luke Spencer, along with his on-screen love Laura, became an icon in television. Their GH wedding was watched by 30 million viewers. They were on the cover of Time Magazine.
The Princess Bride is my favorite movie of all time (well, it is 1B to Endgame’s 1A).
Anthony Geary was a prime reason why General Hospital had been such an influential show for me as a youth. Luke was my idol. As a child, I watched all summer long and had my mom tell me everything on days I was at school.
Two men who were absolute icons for me, both gone within a few hours of each other. Both men some of the most influential actors of my life.
Okay. I am not sure what I can say about this one.
According to IMDB, “A couple’s vacation at a secluded estate is upended when they’re forced to share the mansion with a mysterious couple. A dream getaway spirals into a nightmarish maze of sex, lies, and manipulation, triggering a battle for survival.”
This movie started out with a scene of two naked people running through the woods. It was just a terrible season and ended in a ridiculous way and I thought to myself, “What did I get myself into.” Then, it switched from the scene and it was a story being told by a boyfriend Diego (Marco Pigossi) to his girlfriend Sage (Maddie Hasson). It was meant to show that Diego was not a very good writer, even though he had recently quit his teaching job to write a novel. So I forgave that terrible scene because it was meant to show characterization of Diego.
The premise itself was common and things were really slow and dull in the first act and a half or so. Some dumb things were happening as it seemed that it was typical type of movie like this.
A little over a half way through the film, the story suddenly went totally batshit crazy. Then, I didn’t know what was happening and, honestly, the film had my attention more than it had before.
Is it a plausible movie? No, it is not. The stuff that goes down is ridiculous. It is also very different than the beginning of the film. It does do some interesting theorizing on couples, but when the chainsaws come out… well, there is only so much time for theorizing.
I am not sure how to feel about this. I was entertained at times while at other times I found myself feeling stupider having watched it. It felt like it was meant to be a satire at times, but I do not think that was the intent. I am torn on Bone Lake.
EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 