One Battle After Another

I watched the film after it had cleaned up at the Oscars.   Would I agree with how the members of the Academy had voted? I was so impressed by Hamlet that I was unsure whether I could recast my vote for another film. Already halfway through, I sensed that this is the very best film of the year. [Read More]

Hamnet

Shakespeare and Hamlet are two names that you know. Maggie O’Farrell and Hamnet are two names you should know. Maggie O’Farrell is daring Shakespeare. She simply imagined the marital life of William Shakespeare and drew a connection between Shakespeare’s son, called Hamnet, and Shakespeare’s famous play Hamlet. For the first hour of this film, I grew [Read More]

Sinners

Sinners is one of the most creative films I’ve seen in a long time. It blends several genres at once: a 1920s period piece, Quentin Tarantino–style gangster violence, and—most surprisingly—a vampire film intertwined with a kind of documentary about how blues music traveled from the Deep South to Chicago.   One actor plays two characters simultaneously, and you find yourself [Read More]

Train Dreams

Train Dreams appeared on a mini top-10 list for 2025. I was enticed to see the film by its promise to show life in nature in the early 20th century. Train Dreams initially keeps its promise and captures beautiful scenes of the Pacific Northwest that provided me energy and joy.  But over time, the philosophical [Read More]