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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 11 January 2026

FILM REVIEWS:

 

28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE (UK/USA 2026) ***
Directed by Nia DaCosta

 

28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE is a close sequel to the previous 28 YEARS LATER that Danny Boyle directed.  This latest film, not directed by Boyle but by  Mia DaCosta, fails to bring in the details of the first film that would make this sequel more sense.

Taking place after the events of the previous film, Spike (Alfie Williams)is inducted into Sir Jimmy Crystal's (Jack O’Donnell) gang of acrobatic killers in a post-apocalyptic Britain ravaged by the Rage Virus.  Meanwhile, Dr Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes) forms a new relationship with potentially world-changing consequences.

The film shifts among three main characters.  One is Spike, renamed Jimmy, and how he copes with the horrors around him.  Then there is the villain of the piece, Jimmy Crystal, whom Spike attempts but cannot escape from.  Then there is the good doctor, Dr. Kelson wh finds his comfortable, or rather, settled lifestyle is being threatened and he finds himself in survival mode.  The three are brought together with disastrous consequences resulting.

THE BONE TEMPLE fails to detail where Spike comes from. It also just mentions the origin of Jimmy Crystal, his introduction to the devil in a church with an inverted cross given to him by his dad, and fails to detail anything more.   And where did Dr Ian Kelson come from?  All the characters in THE BONE TEMPLE are present for no reason and interact without much expansion.  All the explanations are done away with for the sake of a no-nonsense horror thriller, which will satisfy many fond of the horror genre, but the lack of a narrative is noticeable.

The great director Alfred Hitchcock said that he places segments in his movie tat has nothing to do with the film’s plot, sometimes just to give the audience a breather.  This technique aids in a film’s pacing, which is noticeably absent in THE BOEN TEMPLE.  Director DaCOST ups the ante at a constant madcap pace with no breather, resulting in an extremely intense film, with one horror occurring after another.  This is not aided by Ralph Fiennes' manic performance, especially in his Satanic dance, which he goes all out in one of the film’s key scenes.

The first film shows, and this film should explain too, but does not, that in 2002, during the initial outbreak of the Rage virus,  a young boy, Jimmy Crystal, flees his house in the Scottish Highlands as his family is attacked by the infected. He takes refuge in the local church with his father, a minister, but finds him praying in ecstasy because he interprets the virus as a harbinger of the end times. Jimmy's father bequeaths him a cross necklace and helps him to safety before submitting to the infected as they break in.

THE BONE TEMPLE also fails to reveal the film setting of the film, assuming that the audience knows it is in the U.K., and nothing is said of the virus’s spread in Europe.  (The movie was filmed across northern England locations—such as North Yorkshire, Cumbria, and Northumberland).  But as a lean, mean horror machine, director DaCost delivers her blood-soaked flesh gore fest with relentless pacing and conviction.

28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE opens widely in theatres January 16th.

Trailer: 

 

 

CHARLIE THE WONDERDOG (Canada 2025/2026) ***
Directed by Shea Wageman

Cineplex Pictures has partnered with ICON Creative Studios to bring audiences Charlie the Wonderdog, a heartwarming new family adventure starring Owen Wilson, opening in theatres nationwide on January 16, 2026.  When Danny’s family dog (voiced by Owen Wilson) discovers he has superpowers, Charlie sets out to fulfil his destiny and protect the people he loves — only to learn that real heroism comes from courage, kindness, and believing in yourself.

The story centres on Charlie, a beloved family dog who suddenly gains superpowers after being abducted by aliens and then returning home with abilities beyond a normal pup.

The story is simple and goes like this:  Danny, a boy, receives a dog he names Charlie for his birthday.  They become more like pals than master and dog.  But as Charlie shows his age, Danny feels sad for him.  But Charlie is abducted by aliens and attains superpowers.  The villain is the cat next door, Puddy, who tries his best to destroy the Wonderdog.

When Danny tells his mum, “Charlie is really slowing down tonight.  He can not make it up the stairs.”  This truly is a dog movie.  For those who own a dog, many scenes will pull at one’s heartstrings, no matter how corny they are.  When Danny first sees Charles as a gift for his birthday, the dog, Charlie, responds by licking Danny all over his face.  His response is to give the dog a big hug.  Giving a dog a big hug is crucial to the love a human can show to a canine.  (This reviewer knows, as he owns a dog himself, that hugging her countless times a day.)

The film is charming enough with occasional welcome bouts of humour and goodwill.  The film begins to lag during the second half once Charlie starts saving human lives with his superpowers, while delegating audiences mainly at the film’s beginning, before Charlie grows younger and attains his superpowers.  Corny as it sounds, at its heart, the film explores themes of courage, kindness, loyalty, and believing in yourself, delivering a family-friendly adventure with comedy, action, and heart.

The film strikes a good balance between the male and female genders.  The hero is the boy and Charlie, but Danny’s mother also comes into the picture at the end, helping out as a kind of ‘super-mum’, as Danny’s mother is reputed to be able to fix anything.

You know this film works in that after watching it, you want to go home and hug your best caninefriend.  Yes, and the film ends with Danny giving his dog, Charlie, a huge hug and saying: “It is just you and me, Charlie!”

Animation-wise, CHARLIE cannot be compared to the Disney or Pixar Studio animation, but the animation holds its own, with colours matching the alien promise with concentration on the details of the characters’ faces that highlight the emotions of the story.

CHARLIE THE WONDERDOG opens in theatres January 16th.

Trailer: 

L’ETRANGER (THE STRANGER )(France 2025)N ****
Directed by Francois Ozon

L’ETRANGER (The Stranger) is touted as based on the novel of the same name by Albert Camus.  For those unfamiliar with Camus, here is some important background on the French author.  Albert Camus was a French philosopher, novelist, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the second-youngest recipient in the history of the award. His works include The Stranger (which is adapted into the film reviewed here), The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus, The Fall, and The Rebel.

Director Francois Ozon, world-renowned French director of hits such as his latest QUAND VIENT L’AUTOMNE, and others like SITCOM, CRIMINAL LOVERS, 8 FEMMES, SWIMMING TOO and FRANTZ, to name a few.  His films often contain a gay subtext, except for L’ETRANGER which is based on the celebrated, clearly heterosexual author Camus.  Like many of Ozon’s other films, the main actor portraying the protagonist is a good-looking male.

Camus novel is a complex one that is filled with metaphorical themes such as survival in an absurdist conventional world, and where the protagonist lives out a life in which he is totally disinterested in.

The film follows the same pacing of Camus’ book, with the halfway mark of the film coinciding with the same mark in the book.  The film begins with Meursault being led into prison and asked by fellow prisoners what he did.  “I killed an Arab,”  is his reply.

Meursault learns of the death of his mother, also at the start of the film, as the film flashesback (without the titles like ‘several weeks earlier’) to the incidents that got him arrested, who has been living in an old age home in the country.  He takes time off from work to attend her funeral, but seems to show no signs of grief or mourning to the people around him. When asked if he wishes to view her body, he declines, and he smokes and drinks regular (white) coffee—not the obligatory black coffee—at the vigil held by the coffin the night before the burial with the caretaker.  The day after the funeral, Meursault returns to Algiers and encounters Marie, a former secretary of his firm. The two become re-acquainted, swim together, and that evening watch a comedy film and begin to have an intimate relationship.  Over the next few days, Meursault helps Raymond Sintès—a neighbour and friend who is rumoured to be a pimp, but says he works in a warehouse—to get revenge on a Moorish mistress, a task that leads to Meursault’s killing of the Arab.

Director Ozon moves his film at a pace that allows his audience to ponder over Camus’s story.  Meursault finds peace by fully accepting the absurd nature of existence and the inevitability of death.  Meursault is obviously “a stranger” to the society of French Algiers, but also to its societal values.  His detachment reveals how social norms often prioritise appearance, sentimentality, and conformity over honesty.  The film demonstrates that dignity, and especially freedom, come from honesty, confronting this fact rather than escaping it through false beliefs or social performance.

The film had its world premiere in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on 2 September 2025, where it was nominated for the Golden Lion.  It was theatrically released in France by Gaumont on 29 October.  It opens in Toronto this Friday, January 16th.

Trailer: 

MALDOROR (France 2024) ****

Directed by Fabrice de Welz

 

Arriving early 2026, and the best film of 2026 so far, MALDOROR is based on the notorious Marc Dutroux case that shook Belgium in the 1990s. The film follows a young police recruit who becomes involved in a special task force called “Maldoror,” created to track a suspected child predator.

The title of the film, MALDOROR, primarily refers to the villainous, evil protagonist in the influential 19th-century French prose poem Les Chants de Maldoror (The Songs of Maldoror) by Comte de Lautréamont, representing pure evil and defiance against God and humanity, with the name possibly meaning "Evil of Dawn" or "Bad Gift". The term is also used for a 2024 Belgian film, with a villain so evil that he depicts the description of MALDOROR.

Belgium, 1995. The shocking disappearance of two young girls leads to the formation of a secret police operation known as Maldoror.  Newly recruited officer Paul Chartier is tasked with monitoring a dangerous suspect but soon finds himself in a losing battle against bureaucracy and systemic dysfunction.  As official efforts collapse and the case is closed, still unsolved, Paul spirals into obsession, pushing him beyond legal and moral boundaries in a relentless pursuit of justice.

There are three threads in the narrative that propel the story along in the search for the child abductor.  One is the conflict between three branches of the police, one the judiciary, the other the local, and the other the federal.  Another thread is the relationship problems that arise from Paul’s obsession with his case.  His newlywed wife is expecting a baby, and he is too involved to spend time with his family.  When things reach a boiling point, the wife leaves him.  At another confrontational segment, Paul blames his wife for the two kidnapped girls being murdered.  The audience sees both sides of the argument, and while one feels sympathetic towards Paul, Paul is not always right.  The third part of the story is the hunt for the kidnapper while uncovering a hidden network of human trafficking.  Incredibly, all the events are based on a true crime that happened in Belgium.

Anthony Bajon is nothing short of excellent in the role of the obsessed gendarme.  He is not Mr Handsome, but suits the role of a small-time gendarme.  Alexis Manenti is also very good as Luis, Paul’s partner.  Manenti was in LES MISÉRABLES in 2019, where he played a racist cop. 

The brilliant, well-acted film of an obsessed small-time gendarme hunting down a child kidnapper, combining the themes of systemic police corruption and indifference, the personal toll of pursuing evil, and the topic of vigilante justice,e all add up to make MADOROR a film to be reckoned with.

The film has won accolades at international film festivals, including:

Sitges-Catalonian International Film Festival (2024) | Nominee, Best Film

Lisbon Film Festival (2024) | Nominee, Best Film

Ghent International Film Festival (2024) | Nominee, Best Film

Festival Européen du Film Fantastique de Strasbourg (2024) | Winner, Crossovers Competition

Fantasy Filmfest (2024) | Nominee, Jury Prize

The film premiered on 3 September 2024 at the 81st Venice International Film Festival. It was theatrically released in France on 15 January 2025 and in Belgium on 22 January 2025.  For the U.S. and Canada, MALDOROR arrives on VOD/Digital Platforms on 1/16 from Film Movement.

Trailer: 

THE RIP (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Joe Carnahan

 

January marks the end of the Quality Award movies every year.  What follows every year, then, are expensive or mid-range budget horror or action films to lure audiences to the cinema.  As for action, there are already 28 YEARS LATER: THE BONE TEMPLE and PRIMATE.  Now come the action films like the upcoming Chris Pratt sci-fi flick MERCY and Jason Statham in SHELTER.  Also on the radar is a Netflix film to be seen on the big home screen, another high-octane action film starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck in a crooked cop movie based on true events, entitled THE RIP.  Directed by Joe Carnahan, who directed in 2006 one of my favourite fucked up films called SMOKIN’ ACES that I adored, but most other critics hated.  The RIP puts Cagayan again in the action good books.  Director Carnahan delivers what is expected, an expensive action flick with enough action set-pieces, with a crime story to boot, that should satisfy action fans who do not demand too much from their film-going.

What is a RIP?  It does not mean Rest in peace but a modern use of the word related to crime.  According to the Oxford dictionary, rip means to tear or pull (something) quickly or forcibly away from something or someone.  In the film, rip refers to the stash of money discovered in a stash house.

The story follows a team of Miami police officers who, during a narcotics operation, discover a huge stash of money—far more than expected—hidden in a rundown stash house. 

When they find millions in cash (around $20 million), the situation quickly escalates. The officers must count and secure the money on site, as required by law, while trust begins to break down among the team.  As outside forces (including other law-enforcement agencies and criminal elements) learn about the massive seizure, the cops start to question loyalties, motives, and even each other, raising the central theme of corruption vs. integrity in law enforcement. 

The film has a fast-paced, gritty, tense crime thriller with action and moral ambiguity, with dead seriousness replacing comedy that is noticeably absent in the film. The dark and moody atmosphere, with most of the action taking place at night, enhances the mood of the film.

The film only reveals halfway through the film whether the cops are crooked or not, with the notion that some cops are more crooked than others. The story then moves into an all for oneself and screw whoever else.

THE RIP should attract lots of viewers on Netflix with star names like Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Steven Yuen (from MINARI and MICKEY 17) also stars as a fellow cop.  It is also the most expensive film directed by Carnahan, who has done a decent job on the action flick.

THE RIP opens for streaming on Netflix Friday, January 16th, and should have the number 1 film watched on the streaming service this weekend.

THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE (USA/UK 2025) ***
Directed by Mona Fastvold

 

The film THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE is about Ann Lee, the founding leader of the Shaker Movement, with certain liberties taken by writer/director Mona Fastvold (THE BRUTALISTS).  Ann  Lee has been proclaimed as the female Christ by her followers.  The film depicts her establishment of a utopian society and the Shakers' worship through song and dance, based on real events.

Ann Lee, commonly known as Mother Ann Lee, was the founding leader of the Shakers, later changed to United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, following her death. She was born during a time of the Evangelical revival in England and became a figure who greatly influenced religion at this time, especially in the Americas.

The film follows the start of the Shakers.  In 1774, after nearly two decades of participation in a religious movement that became the Shakers, Ann Lee and a small group of her followers emigrated from England to New York.   After several years, they gathered at Niskayuna, shown in the second half of the film, renting land from the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, Albany County, New York (the area now called Colonie). They worshipped by ecstatic dancing or "shaking", which resulted in their being dubbed the Shakers. Ann Lee preached to the public and led the Shaker church at a time when few women were religious leaders.  She was often referred to and considered the female representation of God.

The ecstatic dancing with arms flailing together, with their shouting and what is called ‘singing’, all looks quite weird, not only for the non-followers but also for the audience of the film. 

Ann Lee is also known as, as is also the film’s alternative title, THE WOMAN CLOTHED BY THE SUN WITH THE MOON UNDER HER FEET.

The film opens in the 18th century in Manchester, when Ann was a child, shown with her brother William.  Lots of voiceover.  The voiceover aids in putting the story in perspective, especially when dialogue cannot always tell the whole story or emotions accurately.

The film can be divided into two parts: the first set in Manchester and the second in America, where Mother Ann travels with her followers to spread her beliefs.

Composer Daniel Blumberg (collaborating the second time with the director) researched the many, many Shaker hymns and wrote three original songs for the film.  Film editor Sofía Subercaseaux worked closely with the music edits to put the dances and musical numbers together.  One can also see from the editing that the tone in the second half is tighter and more contained than raw compared to the first half.

THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE is a film about faith, the Christian faith with a difference. Though one might call hot a cult, Ann Lee preaches God as in Jesus, and so refutes a lot of her persecutors’ accusations.   The shakers were never ridiculed in the film, but more humanised.  Opening originally at Christmas, this ‘Christian’ film is not the typical type, and thus been rescheduled for an opening this week.

Trailer: 

 

Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 07 January 2026

 

KIDNAPPED: ELIZABETH SMART (USA 2026) ***
Director:  Benedict Sanderson

 

Before the film title KIDNAPPED: ELIZABETH SMART appears on the screen, director Sanderson injects enough information to whet the appetite of viewers who have just come in to watch the film’s first 5 minutes.  First, it is declared that the abduction of a 14-year old girl in her bedroom in an affluent community is extremely rare.  It is no surprise that the police think the parents are somehow responsible.  But the father interviewed says on camera that he does not trust the cops and will do his best to find his kidnapped daughter.  When Elizabeth’s younger 9-year old sister, Mary, is asked how she dealt with the kidnapping, she sobs, saying that she is still dealing with it.  The adult Elizabeth says to the camera that she would do anything to escape her kidnapping.  Enough fodder sown to whet audiences appetite?  Definitely.  The kidnapping is based on a true story of a kidnapping in Utah.

Elizabeth has been rescued.  Currently, Elizabeth Ann Gilmour (born November 3) is an American child safety activist and commentator for ABC News.   She gained national attention at age 14 when she was abducted from her home in Salt Lake City by Brian David Mitchell.   It is a Mormon affluent community.  Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, held Smart captive for nine months until she was rescued by police officers on a street in Sandy, Utah.  Smart has since gone on to work as an activist and advocate for missing persons and speaking out against abstinence-only education. Her life and abduction have been the subject of numerous non-fiction books and films.

Among those interviewed in the doc are Elizabeth herself, her father, her uncle, the police captain in charge of the case, a TV journalist, and Elizabeth’s 9-year old sister, Mary.  Mary was the most witness in the case, as the police captain says.  As Mary is the only witness to the kidnapping, she is the key to solving the case.  When questioned, Mary says he heard the voice of the kidnapper, a familiar one, telling Elizabeth that she would be killed unless she remained silent; then no harm would come to her.  Mary cannot recall who the voice comes from, except that it is a familiar one.  This fact prompts the police to interview all the members of the Smart family and their extended family.

The doc plays like a murder whodunit rather than a kidnapping mystery.  Director Sanderson places a few red herrings.  The suspects were first Elizabeth’s parents, then Richard Ricci, a previous violent felon who had worked as a contractor on the family's house.  Ricci died while in prison leading the police to lose their prime suspect, and whatever secrets he kept with him.  The mystery suspense pacing is excellent right up to the very end, where the doc starts lagging with the doc trying to offer some messages about life.

The doc is the most disturbing and creepy when Elizabeth, as a grown-up, recounts to the camera the abuse she endured and how she attempted to escape.

The true crime doc KIDNAPPED: ELIZABETH SMART, a worthy suspense and mystery, opens on the streaming service Netflix on Wednesday, January 21st.

Trailer: 

MERCY (USA 2026) **

Directed by Timur Bekmambetov

 

This week’s Hollywood blockbuster (estimated at a non-disclosed $60 million) opening is a sci-fi, futuristic thriller drama (with some action).  It contains a timely AI premise, AI being the rage of the future.

MERCY is a near-future action thriller set in a world where artificial intelligence controls law enforcement and the justice system.  As the film introduces, MERCY is the name of the court system consisting of an AI-generated judge, jury, and executioner.

The story follows a former U.S. Army operative, detective Chris Raven (Chris Pratt), who suddenly wakes up, after a drunken night, arrested and accused of the violent crime of murdering his wife,e he insists he did not commit.  With the odds stacked against him—including an AI-driven policing system that assumes guilt over innocence—he goes on the run to prove his innocence, protect his family, and expose the dangerous flaws in a justice system that has surrendered human judgment to machines.  Raven is strapped in a chair in the MERCY court building throughout the movies. He attempts to prove his innocence in a totally unbelievable scenario that includes so many twists in the plot that make the story even more silly, not to say confusing.

Written by Marco van Belle and directed by Russian Timur Bekmambetov, the latter famous for box-office successful Russian action films like DAY WATCH and NIGHT WATCH, the film contains both lots of flaws and a few positives.  In terms of pace and tension, director Bekmambetov delivers an absorbing edge-of-the-seat thriller, despite the credibility factor.  His incorporation of layered, superimposed images, showing closed-captioned text and dates across the screen as a scene unfolds, gives the film a futuristic look suitable to its premise.  He succeeds in establishing the credibility of an AI-controlled justice system in the film.  Placing a human face to the AI, Rebecca Ferguson as Judge Maddox, an AI who is part of the Mercy program. For example, it creates credibility.  The ticking away of time as Chris Raven tries to prove his innocence aids the film’s intensity.  Van Belle’s script contains the plot twists that is normally required in action thrillers, but he carries it a bit too far.  The script has multiple twists and too many twists, so that the final villain revealed serves to confuse matters rather than create a better story. ,

MERCY is a sufficiently satisfying thriller that pushes its credibility promise at the end to detrimental results, creating a silly twist for the sake of just creating one.  The incorporation of AI into the promise is a timely and important one.  As expected, the moral dilemma of an AI with a human court justice system comes into the equation.  The debate is not carried out that intelligently and ends up with some really corny dialogue.   An example is Raven trying to convince the AI robot of what a hunch is.  For the undemanding action-seeking audience, MERCY should or might satisfy.  Others looking for something more should best turn away,

MERCY opens in theatres on  January 23rd.

 Trailer: 

 

MOTHER OF FLIES (USA 2025) **

Directed by the Adams Family

 

In dreams, reflections glimmer, and death grows again. I do not pray as it shows a lack of faith, that one does not take what fate brings.  These contemplations, from the start of the film abounds throughout the film.  Not much happens in this terribly slow-burning film with a narrative that is as weak as its premise.   The visuals and sound, in contrast, are detailed and impressive, if one can sit through the tedium.

Something is not right with Mickey (Zelda Adams), the young teen protagonist of the movie.  The College student has dark circles and a pale complexion as she taps at the communal piano in her dorm, and a friend tentatively enquires if  “it is back.”  The audience learns from her father, Jake (John Adams), that Mickey has cancer; that her (admittedly stylish) short hair has only recently grown in; and that she has exhausted all of the conventional medical options.

That leaves them with the witch in the woods - the MOTHER OF FLIES.  This is The Adams Family meets the Mother of Flies, with flies and maggots filling the screen at the film’s start.

  The Mother of Flies, Solveig (Toby Poser), is introduced first in the film, revealing her naked body, covered in blood, and caressing a rotting corpse in the woods. The grotesque, evocative imagery is contrasted by the witch’s beautifully philosophical voice-over about life and death, which is a recurring motif throughout the film.

Mickey embraces death.  Yet contradicting herself (in fact, many of the poetic voiceovers do the same), she says she will do everything in her mother-fucking opera to procrastinate death.  Yes, the voiceover is also not share pf foul language,

Mickey sees Solveig, also known as the witch in the woods, with her accompanying father, with whom she does not get along.  But when things get weirder and stranger, he opts out.  Despite Jake’s concern, Mickey has elected to stay with Solveig for three days of intensive treatment. En route, however, the red flags begin to pop up: it was Solveig who reached out to Mickey, and she’s not charging the girl anything. When father and daughter pull up at the witch’s forest house, they discover it is literally built out of a tree and features an enormous rock pile/totem in the front yard. The set-up bears all of the hallmarks of a fairy tale crone who lures the heroine to her doom.  All the hype and build-up do not warrant the anti-climactic ending

MOTHER OF FLIES can be described as a folk-horror/occult thriller from the U.S. filmmaking trio John Adams, Zelda Adams, and Toby Poser (often referred to as the Adams Family), known for indie horror works like Hellbender.  It premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival 2025 and won the festival’s top prize (the Cheval Noir Award for Best Film).

The film was acquired by Shudder and is set to stream on Shudder, the horror streaming service, beginning January 23, 2026.

Trailer:

 

A PRIVATE LIFE (Vie privee)(France 2025) ***
Directed by Rebecca Zlotowski

 

Lilian (Foster), an American psychoanalyst in Paris, is devastated to learn that her client Paula (Virginie Efira) has taken her own life. Or has she? Visits from Paula's furious widower, Simon (Mathieu Amalric) and taciturn daughter Valérie (Luàna Bajrami), along with the discovery that files have been stolen from Lilian's office, suggest that Paula may have fallen victim to foul play.  Assisted by her ex-husband Gabriel (Daniel Auteuil), Lilian undertakes some amateur sleuthing.  Academy Award winner Jodie Foster stars in this strange murder mystery black comedy, playing an American psychiatrist working in France.  Foster speaks perfect French and it is strange but wonderful to watch her totally inhabit the role.  She works with French veterans Daniel Auteul, who plays her ex, and Matthieu Amaric, in an angry, deranged encounter among others.  The script contains a lot of crazed characters, Jodie’s psychiatrist being one of them, with her conspiracy theories of murder and her past life.  It all turns out well at the end with a happy ending, though a bit too far-fetched for the film’s own good.

Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 06 January 2026

This article will be updated as more shorts become available.

LA JEUNE FILLE QUI PLEURAIT DES PERLES (The Girl Who Cried Pearls)(Canada 2025) ****

Directed by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski

 

Stop-motion animation, time-consuming but worth every moment, is animation art in its purest form.  In this endearing tale from Montreal, Canada, at the dawn of the 20th century, a poor boy falls in love with a girl whose sorrow is transformed into pearls.  He sells them to a ruthless pawnbroker, who hungers for more.  Tempted by greed, the boy must choose between love and fortune.  The choice could damn his soul. From the Oscar-nominated team of Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (Madame Tutli-Putli), this meticulously crafted film is a testament to the craft mentioned with handmade puppets, mesmerizing narration by Canadian actor Colm Feore, and a haunting score by Patrick Watson. The Girl Who Cried Pearls is a timeless parable of desire, deception, and the price of innocence.   It helps that one can identify with a young, innocent boy down on his luck, without fate having dealt him a bad hand.  Watching this cautionary moral taleufold is pure delight!

 

 

THE EXTREMIST (Latvia/USA 2025) ****
Directed by Aleksandr Molochnikov

 

A 17-minute short based on a true story from The New Yorker!  On November 16, 2023, Sasha Skochilenko, a thirty-three-year-old artist, poet, and musician, stood in court to give what is known in the Russian judicial system as the “last word”—final remarks of the accused before the judge delivers a verdict.  The final remarks form the epic conclusion of this drama.  Extremist was written and directed by Aleksandr Molochnikov as a Columbia University student film project, and it won the BAFTA student film award.  The film dramatizes the real-life case of Aleksandra Skochilenko and follows a young artist (portrayed by Viktoriya Miroshnichenko) whose act of protest, in which she replaces supermarket price tags with anti-war messages, leads to her arrest and prosecution.  Sasha is also shown to be in an open lesbian relationship, with her relationship problems also surfacing because of her activism.  Still, her partner vouches and carries on her work, despite arguing at one point that Sasha never consults her on her actions.

Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 01 January 2026

FILM REVIEWS:

 

THE CHORAL (UK/USA 2025) ****
Directed by Nicholas Hytner

 

A choral society's male members enlist in World War I, leaving the demanding Dr Guthrie (Academy Award Nominee Ralph Fiennes from CONCLAVE) to recruit teenagers.  Together, they experience the joy of singing while the young boys grapple with their impending conscription into the army.

If the film about forming and survival of a choral (choir) during WWI sounds boring or uneventful, this film, THE CHORAL, written by Alan Bennett and directed by Nicholas Hytner (THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE), serves to prove otherwise.  The importance of music is clearly established at the start of the film, through the more elderly population.  Music transcends everything, including war.  The choral master worked in Germany for several years and therefore faces prejudice against his hiring for the task.

The film is set in a fictional town in Yorkshire.  It is all very English, and if one loves a good English film with story and morals included, THE CHORAL is the one to watch.  From the beginning scenes, the sight of two lads on their bicycles riding down the winding lanes in the country is simply stunning English beauty.

Director Hytner and writer Bennett capture emotions in key scenes as well as simple ones.  At the film’s start, a postman delivers telegrams to soldiers who have died in action. As he delivers one to a mother, with the words: “I’m sorry, missus,”  the mother holds the postman’s head, giving him a kiss on the forehead with tears rolling down her face.  It is a key moment illustrating the power of emotion that radiates from the work of these two artists, which is also observable in other parts of the film.

Every part of a choir is shown in all its glory and importance.  When auditioning for the new choral master, the choral master says: Everyone is to audition.  "But we are in the committee, and I’m not prepared to argue one," says one.  “The scales will do,” replies the choral master.  As different auditions are heard, the audience will be mesmerised by the expressions and songs chosen.  This is my favourite segment in the film.

German composers such as Bach, Beethoven and Handel being unacceptable, Dr Guthrie proposes to stage a radical new production of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, its theme of death reflecting the current pains of war.  He gets permission from Elgar (played with gusto by Simon Russell Beale) himself for this performance, though not until his daringly interpretive new variations are discovered by the angry Elgar.

The film contains a few excellent quotes, such as: Artists are like that. (referring to one knowing another’s talent)  They know each other. The film also contains excellent scenes.  The best of it is the choral master’s pep talk with Clyde (Jacob Dudman), a young soldier returning from the war prematurely for loss of his right arm.  Clyde can sing but does not want to be in the choral.  Life has dealt him a consolation prize - his voice, but otherwise, the loss of a limb and heartbrokenness (his girl now feels differently towards him).  It is an excellent written scene, full of raw emotion and openness, and delivered with great effect, demonstrating the oneness between theatre and cinema.

THE CHORAL screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and opens on January 9th.  Absolute delight!

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THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER (USA 2025 ) ***

Directed by Kristen Stewart

THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER is a biographical psychological drama film and the feature directorial debut of Kristen Stewart, adapted from Lidia Yuknavitch’s acclaimed 2011 memoir of the same name.

At the addiction meetings, Lidia (Imogene Poots)  is told to talk about it and that that will help.  “I am not talking,” she tells the group leader.  Then, there are the scenes of overdose, when she lies on the floor, and the medics are trying to revive her.  Her arm and veins are shown as she is about to perform an injection.  Her sweaty face, bad complexion, and all are shown in close-ups.  If there is any consolation from these disturbing scenes, they are occasionally accompanied by uplifting music.  While her parents claim that she is doing so well, director Stewart flashes back to her vomiting into the toilet bowl.  (Is the vomiting due to the drug taking or her pregnancy?)

Her indecisiveness is no help either.  She punches her boyfriend because he is not nice and does nothing.  She does not know what to do.  She talks to herself.

The sexual abuse by her father is shown in horrible ways.   The way he fucks her is shown in a lengthy and disturbing segment that one can only wish they could turn away from.  The father alternates between a few moments of tenderness and screaming at her at the top of his voice.

Director Stewart’s film is a difficult watch.  It is no easy watch to experience the trauma of an abused individual,l whether the abuse comes from within or from the outside.  From Stewart’s fragmentation use of editing, for example, the audience sees a scene and the next edit with the same scene but occurring a few seconds before, she creates the effect of how Lidia feels and acts as she is bipolar and high.  But there is redemption, which slowly emerges during the second half of the film.

A young woman finds her voice through the written word and her salvation as a swimmer, ultimately becoming a triumphant teacher, mother, and singular modern writer.

The term chronology means the arrangement of events or dates in the order of their occurrence.  The film does not evolve in the same way as the meaning of the word, in relation to water.  It is, in fact, a raw, nonlinear life story of Lidia Yuknavitch—from her traumatic childhood and escape into competitive swimming, to fractured relationships, addiction, sexuality, the loss of a child, and ultimately finding her voice as a writer. Rather than following a straightforward narrative, the film uses a fluid, memory-like structure to evoke how trauma, loss, and memory intermingle, transforming suffering into art.

The film mirrors the memoir’s style, with memories and experiences overlapping like waves—showing life as fragmented yet connected. Water (especially her life as a swimmer) functions as a powerful motif for escape, transformation, and emotional depth throughout the film.

But director Stewart’s artsy style can be overpowering at times, to the point that one wonders what all the fuss is about.  Yet, one has to give Stewart credit for trying,

Kristen Stewart has an active and successful career in show business since an early age.  This film marks her impressive directorial debut.  THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2025. The film received positive reviews from critics.  It opens in theatres on January 7th, 2026

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FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER (USA 2025) ***

Directed by Jim Jarmusch

 

FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER is a 2025 comedy-drama anthology film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch.  Starring an ensemble cast that includes Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Sarah Greene, Indya Moore, and Luka Sabbat, it follows three estranged family relationships in three different countries around the world.  The anthology stories are told one after another, not intercut.  Intercutting stories often disrupts continuity and destroys whatever has been built up in a segment before switching to the next story. Jarmusch is a filmmaker with a certain style, an odd one like panning a row of residences as a car drives by, for example.  Though his films are never the best of the year, they are still an event to look forward to.  I will never miss a Jim Jarmusch film.  And FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER is one that Jarmusch fans should not miss.

The three stories are all equally interesting, but the last one is the least engaging for one reason: the actors are less proficient than the stars who perform in the first two stories, like John Waits and Adam Driver in the first, and Cate Blanchett.  The decision to have the stories set in different cities around the world is an excellent one, giving the film variation and change.

The three stories are called FATHER, the first, MOTHER, the second, and SISTER BROTHER, the final.  The best is the second, primarily for the reason that it has Charlotte Rampling as Mother, Cate Blanchett as Timothea, and Vicky Krieps as the other sister.  The stores are set in different countries, from the United States to Dublin to Paris, respectively.

Somewhere in a countryside town in the United States, Jeff and Emily drive on a snowy road to a reunion with their estranged and reclusive father. While Emily has no idea how he has enough money to survive without social security following the passing of their mother, Jeff appears to be secretly supporting his father. Further concerned with his loneliness, Jeff brings a box full of expensive groceries. The father appears to hide his real financial state, displaying an old car in the house entrance and messing up the house on purpose, until Emily spots a Rolex, although he pretends it's a fake replica. Seeming not to care about their lives, he forgets about Jeff's recent divorce. After their departure, the father cleans the house and drives in his actual functional car to meet a friend nearby.

Somewhere in Dublin, an elderly, famous writer awaits her annual tea gathering with her two daughters, Timothea and Lilith. The reunion marks the only day in the year they actually see each other, although they all live in Dublin. Timothea's car malfunctions on the way, and in despair, she tries to contact the insurance, but drives to her mother's home to avoid being late. Lilith asks her friend, Jeanette, to pretend she is an Uber driver, avoiding further explanations of her financial state to her mother and sister. During the tea, the mother inquires about their lives, and after some hesitation Timothea announces that she has been promoted to a new position on the city's council for preservation of historic buildings, but is interrupted by Lilith, who announces she also has good news about the new "influencers" of her community, although neither her mother or her sister appears to know what an influencer is. Lilith is spotted with a Rolex, but insists it's a fake replica. In the bathroom, Timothea appears to be overwhelmed by emotion. As the tea ends, Lilith asks her mother to call an uber and the trio waits for the car in silence by the front door.

Somewhere in Paris, Skye and her brother Billy reunite following the passing of their parents in a plane crash in the Azores, and, while driving to their old home, they try to reconnect through memories. At the now-empty apartment, Billy shares with Skye old photos, drawings of their childhood, and an old Rolex of their father's, as well as multiple fake IDs and a fake marriage certificate. The landlord, Madame Gautier, interrupts them, revealing that she personally prevented the insurance company from seizing their parents' belongings, even though they died owing three months of rent. Driving through Paris once again, they head to a warehouse, taking a final look at their parents' old furniture.

FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER had its world premiere in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on August 31, 2025, where it won the Golden Lion.  It was theatrically released in the United States by Mubi on December 24.  The film opens in Canadian cinemas on January 9, 2026 (English-language release widely across Canada).

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HOMEGROWN (USA 2024) ***

Directed by Michael Premo

 

It is timely with the doc HOMEGROWN being released in North America on the 5th Anniversary of the insurgent attack on the U.S. Capitol— on January 6, 2026 

HOMEGROWN  brings raw intimacy and unprecedented access to a political moment still unfolding. Shot across battleground communities and key flashpoints of national tension, the documentary reveals the lived experiences of people whose determination to turn their beliefs into action places them on the front lines of America’s political divide.

The film follows three conservative activists—a newly politicized father-to-be in New Jersey, an Air Force veteran organizing conservatives in New York City, and an activist from Texas—crisscrossing the country in the summer of 2020, campaigning for Donald Trump. When they become convinced that the election is stolen, they take their fight to the streets. The result is a chilling portrait of the growing unrest pushing American democracy to the brink.

How bad, ill-informed and moronic are the true Trump supporters?  This doc focuses of three such supporters, a doc that would surely shock, if not anger, those who have seen the American democracy crumble and manipulated under President Donald Trump.  Michael Premo, director of the documentary Homegrown, spent years embedded with people who later participated in January 6 and has continued to follow how they interpret that day—and its aftermath—over time. His work offers firsthand insight into how pardons are understood not just as legal relief, but as political validation, narrative reinforcement, and in some cases, fuel for continued grievance.

The first featured is Chris Quaglin, 38.  Chris was a husband and father-to-be from New Jersey who became deeply involved in the movement.  He joined the mob of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol.  He injured a police officer when he choked and tackled him to the ground. Quaglin assaulted other officers with stolen police shields, metal bike racks and pepper spray as he clashed with police for roughly three hours. “What an outrage. What a disgrace,” the judge said. who sentenced him to 12 years in prison,  Trump pardoned the menace when he became President.

The second subject is  Randy Ireland, a  U.S. Air Force veteran who served between the two Gulf Wars and later became involved in organizing right-wing activism.  The leader within the Proud Boys movement in New York, he appears on-camera as a proud, self-described former leader (the Proud Boys are a far-right group known for political violence and involvement in the January 6 Capitol attack).  A Brooklyn, New York resident whom the director describes as someone the film portrays as not personally racist, despite his involvement with far-right activism and debates within that milieu.

The third is the most interesting.  Thad Cisneros is the most ideologically complex of the three Latino, Navy veteran, paleoconservative, associated with Proud Boys–aligned activism, but openly critical of parts of the movement.  Different from the other two, he expresses sympathy for Black Lives Matter and often engages in dialogue with political opponents. Motivated more by anti-establishment and anti-interventionist beliefs than racial grievance, he often questions authority, policing, and U.S. foreign wars.  In the doc, he is portrayed as contradictory, searching, and willing to cross ideological lines.

HOMEGROWN, the timely doc concentrating on three Trump over zealous right-wing activists, with intimate access and never-before-seen footage of events, including scenes around the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capito,l is as disturbing as any doc, showing how citizens can be radicalized through misinformation, conspiracy theories and their individual motivations resilient in the chaos the U.S. is facing today.  The one conclusion that can be drawn is how fucked up Americans really are.

HOMEGROWN is a very timely, disturbing and unforgettable documentary that captures key candid moments of the insurrection on Capitol Hill.  A definite must-see for Trump supporters to see how they are perceived.

Here is how to watch HOMEGROWN in Canada.  Beginning January 6, Homegrown will be available to rent via the Direct To Audience℠ (DTA) platform GATHR. Audiences can head before Jan 6th,  to Homegrown.film to preorder the film and learn more.

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THE MOTHER AND THE BEAR (Canada/Chile 2024) **½

Directed by Johnny Ma

 

Winnipeg appears to be a favourite setting and site for Canadian films lately.  Late years entry for the Canadian entry for the Academy Award for best International feature (though it did not make the shortlist), but the Winner won the Toronto Film Critics’ Association Best Canadian Feature, UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE and this film, THE MOTHER AND THE BEAR are both shot in Winnepg/

Two Canadian films will be released close to each other, b both of which share similar themes with a difference.  The films referred to are THE MOTHER AND THE BEAR, th film reviewed in this article and MONTREAL, MA BELLE.   The identical themes in both films are the mother-daughter estranged relationship.  Also, one is gay and hidden, making the telaStionship even more troublesome.  In MONTREAL MY BALLE, it is the mother, played by Joan Chen, who is gay, and in THE MOTHER AND THE BEAR, it is the daughter who hides her same sex orientation.

The beginning of THE MOTHER AND THE BEAR is the most original segment in the whole movie.  The daughter sees a bear near a huge dumpster in the dead of winter, screams and slips.  She is inn hospital.  Was she attacked by the bear, or did she just slip on the ice?  The girl is in a coma.  As it turns out, director Johnny is the subject of the daughter to the mother.

Sara (Kim Ho-jung), a woman from South Korea, travels to Canada after her daughter Sumi (Leere Park), who had emigrated to Winnipeg some years earlier, is injured in a fall that leaves her comatose. Upon arrival, Sara discovers how little she truly knew about her daughter's life.

Sara despairs about her daughter’s single status, so she immediately starts catfishing the pleasant Min (Jonathan Kim) to be Sumi’s boyfriend — once she wakes up, of course — and also gets unwittingly entangled with Min’s estranged father, Sam (Won-Jae Lee), who runs a Korean restaurant in the city. As Sam and the widowed Sara connect over their mutual melancholies, a chance meeting with Sumi’s co-worker Amaya (Amara Pedroso Saquel) leads Sara to learn more about the life from which her daughter has chosen to exclude her.

Despite the common theme the film has with MONTREAL, MA BELLE, the themes of a meddling mother, a mother visiting Canada for the first time, and matchmaking are not new ideas.  The audience can also find it difficult to sympathise with a bumbling, meddling mother who does harm, m like destroy another relationship, and lie her way around.  Director Ma’s film is a quiet, pleasant one, but nothing fresh is0one display and watching the film plod along is a rather boring experience.  One word, ‘meh’, can be used to describe the film.  There is also a little tour of Winnipeg, of its budding, snowy and wintry streets that makes the film more like an advertisement for the Manitoba Tourist Board.

Performances are ok, and Kim’s performance seems like director Ma is directing it.

At Cinéfest, THE MOTHER AND THE BEAR won the award for Outstanding Canadian Feature.  The film is scheduled for a **general theatrical release in Canada on January 9, 2026.

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PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION (USA 2025) **
Directed by Brett Haley

 

Rom coms are the least of my favourite movie genres.  Typically, they are too predictable.  The two first meet under unlikely circumstances, then fall into a possible romantic relationship.  Then there is the obstacle, often concerning the past or some misunderstandigthat causes the two to argue and rift apart.  But only to come together for a happy ending that often involves something ridiculous, like chasing the other before the plane takes off.  But the Rock Hudson Doris Day matchup here is always a delight, with films like PILLOW TALK being a minor classic.  This new rom-com from Netflix is based on People We Meet on Vacation, a romance novel by Emily Henry, published May 11, 2021, by Berkley Books, known as You and Me on Vacation in the UK and Australia. The book is a New York Times bestseller, and it would be interesting to see how the story is adapted for film.

People We Meet on Vacation is told in a nonlinear narrative (both novel and film), interspersing its protagonist's present vacation with flashbacks from past trips. It follows Poppy Wright (Emily Bader) and Alex Nilsen (Tom Blyth), two best friends who are opposites in every way.  When the two first meet, they share a road trip, and he has a girlfriend.  She is an outgoing, wanderlust-filled wild child, while he is mild-mannered and introverted.  From the car/road trip, Poppy is shown to be terribly annoying, while Alex grins and bears it.  Poppy spills food all over in the car, listens to loud and annoying music and chatters nonstop about nonsense.  No one in their right mind would want a car companion like Poppy.  Every summer, they come together for a week-long vacation, until a trip to Croatia causes them to stop speaking for two years.  One can immediately predict that these two, Alex and Poppy, will live happily ever after, despite their initial hiccups. 

Linfield is not the more famous Irish town, but a small town in Ohio, US, where Poppy and Alex are originally from.

How does PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION compare to say, the Rock Hudson Doris Day romantic comedies?  For one, the latter are much funnier. Doris Day always plays the prude female, which is always so funny, with her expressions like “Ooooooo,” when she gets into an embarrassing situation.  Everyone knows Rock Hudson is gay, which makes their films funnier.  In PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION, the jokes are not funny and the jokes that Poppy cracks are more annoying to both Alex and the audience.  And the film is already too predictable anyway.  It does not help that the supporting characters, like Jameela Jamil with her plastic surgery, huge lips playing Poppy’s boss, Swapna Bakshi-Highsmith, are just as annoying, if not more.

 The story is a variation of the old rom-com with Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn, SAME TIME NEXT YEAR (1978), directed byRobert Mulligan, showing how their love develops.  Only trouble is that the journey there is laddled with unfunny jokes and boring encounters.

PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION, the rom com has so far, obtained n the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 88% of 17 critics' reviews are positive.  So, despite my bias against rom coms, this might be an entertaining bet for many.  The film opens for streaming on Netflix on January 9th.

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PRIMATE (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Johannes Roberts

A tropical vacation goes awry when Ben, a family's adopted chimpanzee, is bitten by a rabid animal and suddenly becomes violent.

PRIMATE begins with a description of rabies and what rabies can inflict.  It is a way filmmakers attempt to create credibility in a horror movie.

Rabies is a viral disease that causes encephalitis in humans and other mammals, such as chimpanzees, as seen in the film. It was historically referred to as hydrophobia ("fear of water") because its victims panic when offered liquids to drink.  The characters in the story escape from the rabies chimp by treading water in the middle of the i house swimming pool, making the fact that th chimp cannot swim and is also afraid of water.  So, this part is true.   

Early symptoms can include fever and abnormal sensations at the site of exposure, which are followed by nausea, vomiting, violent movements, uncontrolled excitement, fear of water, an inability to move parts of the body, confusion, and/or loss of consciousness.   All the symptoms except for the fear of water are used in the film.  The time period between contracting the disease and the start of symptoms is usually one to three months, but can vary from less than one week to more than one year. The effect is immediate in the movie, with Ben experiencing the symptoms right after being bitten by an infected mongoose.

The film depicts a stunning Hawaii, where some of the characters are vacationing and where Lucy, the protagonist, is returning other poem, to see her deaf mute father and younger sister.

The deaf mute father injects a bit of variation into the movie.  The handicap is used for both antipationa nd also for a bit of humour, judging from the laughs coming from the audience at the promoscreenong.  Kucy is screaming when attacked by the chimp, while the father is oblivious to the occurrence, unable to hear anything.

The film succeeds in satisfying action-horror fans with formulaic action set pieces and a standard storyline, complete with an ending that is ripe for a sequel.  PRIMATE is essentially an expensive Hollywood B-movie with the terrorising beast being a chimp with a severe case of rabies.  Whether a rabid monkey is able to go through the lengths shown in the film at terrorising its human victims, or whether the monkey has sufficient strength, is immaterial, so long as jump scares abound and audiences are on the edge of their seats. 

Johannes Roberts is an English filmmaker, best known for directing the horror films including Other Side of the Door (2016), 47 Meters Down (2017), The Strangers: Prey at Night (2018), Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) and PRIMATE in 2025.  At best, director Roberts can be credited for delivering one lean, mean, no-nonsense effective chiller.

January is the perfect month to open horror flicks.  PRIMATE from Paramount opens widely in theatres on January 9th.

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Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 20 December 2025

FILM REVIEWS:

 

 

CACTUS PEARS (original Marathi title: Sabar Bonda) (India/Canada/UK 2025) ***
Directed by Rohan Parashuram Kanawade

 

CACTUS PEARS is a 2025 Indian drama/romance film that tells a tender, character-driven story about love, identity, and cultural expectations.  The film is directed and written by  Rohan Parashuram Kanawade and stars Bhushaan Manoj (Anand), Suraaj Suman (Balya), and Jayshri Jagtap.

There are not many gay films from India, a place where homosexuality is often met with disgust and violence.  This gay film, from India, offers the world a look at how being gay is treated in rural India.

Urban areas (Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai) tend to be more accepting, with Pride events, LGBTQ+ organizations, and media visibility.  Rural and conservative regions often remain hostile.  In the film where Amand gets back to his village for his father’s funeral,  there is talk of his non-marriage status.   He is told to tell the villagers that the girl cheated on him and married someone else.   It can be seen the same problems many LGBTQ+ people face:  family pressure to marry heterosexually.  The occasional harassment or violence is absent, but can be noticed to be inherent in the atmosphere. Same-sex marriage is still not legal in India.

The protagonist is Anand, a 30-something call-centre worker from Mumbai.   After the death of his father, he returns to his ancestral village for a 10-day mourning period with his mother. Once there, as tradition dictates, lengthy funeral rites are being prepared. Going back is not easy for a man who fled rural life for the city in order to live his homosexuality more freely. It doesn't take long, despite the tragic circumstances, for everyone to start asking intrusive questions and wondering whether Anand is thinking about marrying a woman soon... Fortunately, he can count on his mother's kindness, as she loves him just as he is.  Anand reconnects with his childhood friend Balya, a local farmer who is also navigating his own pressures around marriage and expectations.  Over the course of the mourning period, the two men spend time together, rediscover their bond, and grow closer emotionally and physically.

The story’s time span is the 10 days that Anand sends for his father's death ritual.  When he rekindles an affair with Balya, the tenth day approaches, and Anand has to make his decision.  Balya wishes to move to Mumbai with Anand.  But Anand’s family says the house is too small, and Anand’s uncle is against it.  There, it turns out, that Anand has come out to his father and mother and not to the others who do not know that Anand is gay.

The film is called CACTUS PEARS because the sweet pear with its red flesh resembles the forbidden fruit of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  Balya gives Amand a cactus pear, and he peels away the flesh and eats the fruit, enjoying its sweetness, thus entering into the temptation of the flesh.

The film, unlike many other queer films from the west, though a very slow burn, but is to be praised for its sensitive portrayal of queer life in a society with traditional expectations.  There is no sex scene but a mild frottage scene between the two men.

The film won the Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema – Dramatic) at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, marking a historic moment as the first Marathi-language film to compete there.  The film opens in theatreson  January 2nd, 2026.

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DJ AHMET (North Macedonia, Czech Republic/Serbia, Croatia 2025) ***
Directed by Georgi M. Unkovski

 

DJ AHMET (North Macedonia, Czech Republic/Serbia, Croatia 2025) ***
Directed by Georgi M. Unkovski

 

Ahmet, a 15-year-old boy from a remote Yuruk village in North Macedonia, finds refuge in music while navigating his father’s expectations, a conservative community, and his first experience with love — a girl already promised to someone else.

In the classic Taviani Brothers 1977 film PADRE, PADRONE, there is the unforgettable scene in which the father removes his son Gavino from the classroom to force him to work as a shepherd.  The act is driven by the father’s authoritarian control and belief that education is useless for their rural, traditional life in Sardinia.

In the film DJ AHMET, the protagonist faces the same dilemma; even though the father does not physically remove his son from the classroom, there is a message to Ahmet that his father is there to fetch him.  His father later tells him that he has spoken to the headmaster to stop his schooling,

In the same way as in PADRE PADRONE, where the father needs Gavino’s labour and wants to assert dominance, cutting him off from schooling so he will grow up obedient and bound to the land.  Ahmet is also to tend sheep as well as to look after his younger brother, who is unable to speak. This moment is crucial in the film because it marks the beginning of Ahmet’s isolation, illiteracy, and psychological oppression, which the story later contrasts with his struggle for independence in the area of music.

All things considered, the film is a coming-of-age drama that centres on Ahmet, a 15-year-old boy living in a remote Yörük/Turkic village in rural North Macedonia.  Caught between his family duties, conservative community expectations, and personal dreams, Ahmet finds refuge and identity in music, particularly electronic beats, which offer him an escape from the strict, tradition-bound world he’s grown up in.  At its core, the story explores youthful rebellion, cultural tradition vs modernity, and first love. Ahmet dreams of being a DJ while tending sheep and helping his family, and his passion for music deepens when he falls for Aya, a girl who shares his love of rhythm but is already promised to someone else. Their connection and Ahmet’s pursuit of music become a symbol of self-expression and liberation amidst societal pressures

The comedy in the film is sincere and honest in form, as seen when Ahemt tastes his girl’s baklava for the first time, and they both giggle; she tells him that he does not know how to lie.

In DJ AHMET, director Unkovski explores the delicate balance between tradition and self-expression, particularly within a small, close-knit community. The tension that ariseswhen individual desires clash with the expectations of the collective. is captured.   There is also a nod to Mike Nichols’ THE GRADUATE in the way Ahmet hicks Aya’s arranged wedding.  Though the two films are highly different, the scene of the bus pulling away reminds the film of the ending of THE GRADUATE.  But there are twists in the plot regarding the father’s change of heart, which makes a nice conclusion to the film.

Trailer: 

THE DUTCHMAN (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Andre Holland

 

The psychological horror thriller begins with a voiceover claiming the two personas that inhabit a black man, Clay, the subject of the movie.

THE DUTCHMAN is based on the play of the same name, but the film takes the play out into the open on location, so that the staginess is removed.  The movie plays like a variation of the film FATAL ATTRACTION.  Clay meets a psycho femme fatale who blackmails him into taking her to a fundraising party in which he is delivering a speech.  She blackmails him by keeping his sperm in a condom so that she can claim that he had raped her.  To make matters worse, Clay’s estranged wife is attending the party.

Clay (André Holland), a successful but troubled black businessman, attends therapy sessions with his wife, Kaya, in an attempt to salvage their marriage. But their mysterious therapist (Stephen McKinley Henderson)  is not all that he seems, and begins to unexpectedly appear to Clay outside of their sessions. On a New York subway train, Clay encounters Lula (Kate Mara), a seductive but sinister white stranger who slowly begins to unravel his life.  Clay must discover the truth behind this encounter to get back to his wife (Zazie Beetz), heal his fractured soul, and survive the night. In this psychological thriller - a modern adaptation of the 1964 Obie Award-winning play - The Dutchman brings a contemporary edge to the original, exploring themes of race and identity in America.

Director Holland makes his film at a steady and solid pace, keeping the tension always at a high, and makes his film an engrossing one.  His Clay is a vulnerable one that the audience can root for, despite his human flaws and failings.

The question is, why is the film called THE DUTCHMAN?  The film The Dutchman takes its title from the legend of the Flying Dutchman, a ghost ship condemned to sail endlessly and never make port.  In the context of the film, the title is metaphorical rather than literal: The Flying Dutchman myth represents eternal wandering, punishment, and being trapped in a

In the film, the central character, Clay, is similarly adrift—emotionally, morally, and psychologically—unable to escape the consequences of past actions. The title underscores themes of isolation, fate, and inescapability, suggesting a person condemned to move forward without resolution or redemption.

  As the film veers towards its conclusion, one looks at the question of whether Clay can work and earn redemption.  Clay realizes the error of his ways, and finally admits the error of his ways to his wife, but then has to deal with Lula.  The film also steers towards surrealism (there is Sa alvador Dali postern the train) so that one wonders if all his torment is real or in his mind.

Nevertheless. THE DUTCHMAN is a n intriguiging enoigh film, as the play it is based on also is, with a nuanced and excellent performance by director Andre Holland, who plays Cla,y as well as an unforgettable performance by character actor Stephen McKinley Henderson as Dr. Amiri.

THE DUTCHMAN premiered at the 2025 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival in March and is scheduled to open in theatres on January 2, 2026.

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THE PLAGUE (USA/Romania 2025) ***½

Directed by Charlie Polinger

THE PLAGUE made a splash when it premiered at Cannes in 2025, but obviously not enough for TIFF to pick it up.  But the film finally gets a release, ironically at the TIFF Lightbox on January 2nd.  It is the first feature from the director, championed by star Joel Edgerton.  The film can best be described as a horror-thriller genre film with LORD OF THE FLIES overtones.  What is immediately noticeable at the film’s start is the sound/music mixing and the fluid camerawork that sets the film out, despite it being a rather slow burn, and with a violent conclusion, not to be revealed in this review.

THE PLAGUE could be considered to be too harsh a title for this film, as the illness is seen as a bad rash on the screen that does not cause death.  But for the real definition of a plague, it is a serious infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, spread by infected fleas from rodents or direct contact, with three forms: bubonic (swollen lymph nodes), pneumonic (lungs), and septicemic (blood), often fatal if untreated but curable with prompt antibiotics, infamous for past pandemics like the Black Death, and still occurring today in parts of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. But the film title should be sufficient to arouse possible audience interest, which, in actuality, is not a bad film at all and a worthy debut from a first-time director.

The film is a psychological drama thriller that focuses on a socially anxious 12-year-old boy who is pulled into a cruel tradition at an all-boys water polo camp.  The subject is Ben, played byEverett Blunck,   Edgerton, who plays the camp coach who is aware of the bullying that is going on, and can only do so much to contain the impending disaster that occurs from the situation.   The audience can only watch and pray,

Ben is initiallyteased by not being able to pronounce certain words.  But the main victim is another kid who has developed a severe rash over his body. No other polo team member wants to be close to him for fear of catching it.  But the kid is also a bit of an anomaly and a very weird one at that.  Ben befriends him with disastrous results.

It is good to note that initially, when Joel Edgerton received the script from Charlie Polinger, he wanted to direct the film.  However, Polinger wanted to, with Edgerton instead offering to help get it made.  In the press notes, it is said that Polinger set out to "capture a social dread and vulnerability of your body and something you don't see as much with boys because it requires a certain vulnerability to be an object of terror in that way, and cites The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, and Beau Travail as primary sources of inspiration.

THE PLAGUE had its world premiere at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on May 16, 2025, and is scheduled to be given a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 24, 2025, expanding nationwide, including the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto, on January 2, 2026.

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Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 15 December 2025

FILM REVIEWS:

 

10DANCE (Japan 2025) **

Directed by Keishi Otomo 

                 

The recent 2025 film KOKUBO directed by Lee Sang-il is a gripping tale of friendship and rivalry in the world of Kamigata kabuki.  The film 10DANCE bears a close resemblance to the film. The story of KOKUBO opens in Nagasaki in 1964, when kabuki is so controlled that all the female roles are played by males.  As such, the two male actors are extremely good-looking, with the film bearing lots of homo-eroticism.   The film bears a close resemblance to the film 10Dance as it also features two good-looking Japanese actors, this time set in the world of dance (ballroom and Latino) where homo-eroticism runs high.

Netflix’s new 10DANCE is about two talented but very different dancers who push each other to become better on and off the dance floor — ultimately discovering a deep emotional and romantic bond through their shared pursuit of excellence.

The two males include Shinya Suzuki, who is Japan’s Latin dance champion, known for his fiery competitiveness. The other is Shinya Sugiki, a top Standard ballroom dancer, precise and composed — and often compared to Suzuki because their names are so similar, which irritates Suzuki.

Sugiki proposes they team up to compete in the 10-Dance Competition, a prestigious contest where dancers must master five Latin and five Standard ballroom styles. Metacritic

Suzuki initially refuses, but Sugiki’s provocative challenge sparks his competitive spirit, and he reluctantly agrees to train together.  As they practice intensely, their opposite personalities and styles lead to clashes, but over time, they develop mutual respect, understanding, and emotional intimacy.

The homo-eroticism is first observed when the two males dance together.  Shinya pulls away coming that Sugiki has rubbed his coach against his.  But after, when he shows the other the Latino moves, he pulls off his shirt and puts Sugiki’s hands on his toned and muscled body.

The two films share the common trait of the disciple who goes into the art.  But 10DANCE plus too much with the love connection between the two males - a case of too much teasing and too little to show for it.  The film, though displaying a lot of cool dance moves, does not really succeed as a dance movie either

10DANCE is adapted from a popular Boys’ Love (BL) manga by Satō Inoue. It is a Netflix original film opening for streaming this week.

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ANACONDA (USA 2025) 
Directed by Tom Gormiocan

ANACONDA was a 1997 action-adventure horror film directed by Luis Llosa and written by Chris Broodryk.  The film starred Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz, Jonathan Hyde, and Owen Wilson. An international co-production between the United States and Brazil, the film focused on a documentary film crew in the Amazon rainforest that is led by a snake hunter who is hunting down a giant, legendary green anaconda.  The film was a box-office success, spawning several sequels, a fact that this latest 2025 ANACONDA film fails to admit.

This 2025 ANACONDA  is an upcoming American action comedy film serving as a meta-reboot of the 1997 film Anaconda.  It is directed by Tom Gormican, and written by Gormican and Kevin Etten. The film stars Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Steve Zahn, Thandiwe Newton, Daniela Melchior, and Selton Mello.

Doug (Jack Black) and Griff (Paul Rudd), seeking to recapture their youth, travel to the Amazon to film an amateur remake of the 1997 film Anaconda. Their project, involving two others, unravels when a real giant anaconda emerges, turning the light-hearted shoot into a perilous fight to stay alive.

The film is filled with rubbish, some good and some not so good.  One is the notion that a human’s urine is an antidote for a tarantula’s sting, as Jack Black’s Doug gets stung by one.  Tarantulas are venomous, not poisonous (venom is injected; poison is ingested).  Most tarantula bites are mild, comparable to a bee sting. The idea of the urine comes from old folk remedies (similar myths exist for jellyfish stings), but it is not supported by science.  Human urine is ineffective and potentially harmful as a treatment.  The idea is put forward in the film to start a running joke regarding Zahn’s character being unable to urinate in public or stand up.   The joke generates light humour though.

Another bit of rubbish comes from the comedic setup of Jack Black being set as bait for the anaconda.  He is thought to be deceased.  A dead squirrel is stuffed into his mouth, and an unconscious boar is tied piggybacked to him with its head above his.  When the anaconda strikes, Black revives, as does the boar.  Black runs for his life, screaming, “What the hell!” spitting out the dead squirrel from his mouth.  Despite this silliness, the setup is actually so stupid it is just plain laugh-out-loud hilarious.  This one works enough to forgive the idiotic whole comedic idea.

ANACONDA parodies the original film that starred Ice Cube and Je-Lo.  There are parodies of other films and of indie films breaking into film festivals.  The parodies are funny enough, though there are a little too many of them for comfort.  The film contains a solid and excellent surprise twist at the end, which should satisfy audiences and have them forgive the film for its flaws, including the film’s slow beginning.

ANACONDA is a good enough silly comedy horror for Christmas that should satisfy horror fans, and as for family, there are lots of swear words that the little ones should not be hearing.

ANACONDA opens Christmas Day.

 

 

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AVATAR FIRE AND ASH (USA 2025) ***
Directed by James Cameron

 

The third film in the AVATAR film franchise, this 3-hour and 15-minute saga is quite a chore to sit through for reasons of pure length, despite some awesome visuals, courtesy of the James Cameron crew.  AVATAR FIRE AND ASH is meant to be a standalone film, though it would be useful to at least know a bit of the background of the blue creatures on display.

What is more important is just the history as shown in the first AVATAR film released in 2009.  The story focuses on an epic conflict on Pandora, an inhabited Earth-sized moon of Polyphemus, one of three gas giants orbiting Alpha Centauri A. On Pandora, human colonists and the sentient humanoid indigenous inhabitants of Pandora, the Na'vi, engage in a war over the planet's resources (such as unobtanium) and the latter's continued existence.  The film's title refers to the remotely controlled, genetically engineered human-Na'vi bodies used by the film's human characters to interact with the natives.  The protagonist, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is a paraplegic young man who travels to Pandora from Earth. Assisting the corporate monolith known as the Resources Development Administration (RDA), he is given an avatar which he uses to interact with the story's heroine, Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña, as well as her clan, known as the Omatikaya.

In FIRE AND ASH, it is a year after settling in with the Metkayina lan, Jake and Neytiri's family grapples with grief after Neteyam's death.  (This occurs in the second film and is mentioned in this one.)  They encounter a new, aggressive Na'vi tribe, the Mangkwan clan, also called the Ash People, led by the fiery tribe leader, Varang, who has allied with Jake's enemy, Quaritch, as the conflict on Pandora escalates to devastating consequences.

The AVATAR franchise is the most expensive of all the Hollywood film franchises, and so far, more than $1 billion has been spent.  But the first holds the record of the highest-grossing film of all time, and the films have more than made their costs in terms of profit.

The film should be seen in 3D iMax, which is how this reviewer saw the film.  The film takes a half hour to re-familiarize the audience with the Na'vi tribe, as the audience is spared no less wonder than to glide through the waters and air of the tribe, often riding different forms of creatures.  Jack Sully is seen with his family, and nothing much else happens.  The first action set piece occurs only at the half-hour mark of the film when the tribe is attacked.  Director Cameron resorts to old-fashioned action, with an ending involving a one-on-one climactic fight to the death between the main hero and villain, which is between Jake and Quaritch.  There is a twist in the ending, which is neat. creating a spin to the normal climactic fight.   Other than that, there is nothing particularly new in terms of action and emotions of family conflict and bonding.

AVATAR FIRE AND ASH is the weakest of the three films, though it is still quite an amazing science fiction flick in terms of visuals and special effects.  Future films?  Avatar 4 (2029): The fourth film. and Avatar 5 (2031): The fifth and final one.

AVATAR FIRE AND ASH is a Christmas movie opening on the 19th.

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THE GREAT FLOOD (South Korea 2925) ***
Directed by Kim Byung-woo

 

In the new sci-fi disaster Korean film THE GREAT FLOOD, it is the end of the world that arrives as a great flood.  The question in movies like this is whether credibility can be held.

Firstly get floods have been believed as in the Bible as in Noah and the ark that God cleansed the world with a big flood with a rainbow promising that He will never do that again,  A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primeval cosmic ocean, which appears in certain creation myths, as the flood waters are described as a measure for the cleansing of humanity, for example, in preparation for rebirth.

In THE GREAT FLOOD, the premise is an asteroid that hits Antarctica, causing massive flooding. 

A great flood engulfs the world. In the midst of a massive catastrophe, water rises inside an apartment building. With no hope in sight, the one person, An-na, needed to enact a plan to help the remnants of humanity evolve and return to Earth, but instead fights desperately to save her child from the rising waters.   Amid the chaos and shrinking hope for survival, An-na faces a dilemma: she is also uniquely linked to a crucial mission that might hold the key to humanity’s future, forcing her to choose between saving her child and fulfilling a larger purpose.  Though the film can be described as an action, drama, science fiction, and disaster storytelling, it is this theme that stretches the film towards some emotional storytelling.  Whether this tactic works is up to the individual viewer, as some might find the dream takes away the spectacle that is on display.  But the special effects of the flood distaste is very impressive, nonetheless, which makes the movie, despite some flaws.

Co-written and directed by Kim Byung-woo and starring Kim Da-mi and Park Hae-soo, the film depicts and thus concentrates on the desperate struggle of those who have pinned their hopes on humanity's last days in a flooded apartment building.

THE GREAT FLOOD had its world premiere at the 30th Busan International Film Festival in the Korean Cinema Today - Special Premiere section on September 18, 2025. The film will be available for global streaming on Netflix on December 19, 2025, following its festival release.

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GOODBYE JUNE (UK/USA 2025) ***

 

Directed by Kate Winslet

 

 

GOODBYE JUNE is a family drama dealing with grief, reconciliation and yes, love, in a Christmas setting (the mother, June, is inhospitable two weeks before Christmas) as family members gather together to evaluate the situation,

One would have very high expectations for Kate Winslet’s directorial debut, given the actress's collaborations with major directors.  Winslet has worked with directors like Peter Jackson (in HEAVENLY BODIES), James Cameron (in TITANIC and AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER),  Michel Gondry in ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND) and Sam Mendes (REVOLUTIONARY ROAD), among others.

Winslet’s directorial debut is a layered family drama set in a British Christmas setting, though flawed by melodrama and sentimentality, it boasts an impressive cast of actors delivering performances worth watching.

The impressive cast includes:

Toni Collette as Helen, June & Bernie's first daughter.  Collette’s Helen is similar to the cult leader villain she plays in the recent Netflix series WAYWARD

Johnny Flynn as Connor, June & Bernie's son

Andrea Riseborough as Molly, June & Bernie's third daughter.  Molly is the most annoying character and sibling, swearing and blaming others for everything that goes wrong.

Timothy Spall as Bernie, June's husband.  Spall is again an excellent actor, and he plays the frail husband who still manages to annoy everyone,

Kate Winslet as Julia, June & Bernie's second daughter.  Julia is the one who, it seems, tries to hold the family members together. I guess Winstel gave herself the best character to play.

Helen Mirren as June, Bernie's wife and the mother of their children.  Mirren delivers a brave performance as the dying mother, looking old, frail, but respectful

It should be noted that Winslet selected several department heads who were newcomers, including composer Ben Harlan, production designer Alison Harvey, and costume designer Grace Clark, reflecting her desire to give opportunities to emerging talent. Winslet also adopted unconventional filming methods, such as using small microphones on actors instead of traditional boom equipment, to create a more intimate atmosphere on set.

GOODBYE JUNE was released in select cinemas in the United Kingdom and the United States on 12 December 2025, and had its streaming on Netflix from 24 December.

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THE HOUSEMAID (USA 2025) ****
Directed by Paul Feig

 

Lionsgate has been the underdog movie studio for a long time.  Not since the TWILIGHT, DIVERGENCE, and the HUNGER GAMES franchises has it come close to elevating the now depressed $7 a share from its high of over $30 a share way back when.  The NOW YOU SEE HIM, NOW YOU DON’T made a decent sum, though Lionsgate gave film critics no press screenings.  Be that as it may, Lionsgate has tried hard, and the Christmas delivery of the female thriller THE HOUSEMAID is one decent entry that is worth seeing.  It is good to note that Lionsgate is attempting a comeback with a new version of THE HUNGER GAMES later this 2026.  The trailer is played when THE HOUSEMAID is screened.

There are significant changes between the book THE HOUSEMAID and the film directed by Paul Feig.  Films have a need to dramatize and have incidents more flashy, while books can contemplate moods, thought and emotions more effectively than films.  As expected, the psychological drama that the main subject feels, and the incidents, imagined or real, are blurred, most of which is shortened in the film.  The disposal of the villain in the film (not to be revealed in this review) is also more dramatic than in the book, where the villain dies a slow death compared to a sudden, tragic one in the film.

That being said, Paul Feig’s film appears a bit cheesy, occasionally, though on ene say that Feig moves his film at a solid pace, with never a dull moment.  Impressive is the way this female strong film (Feig has proven himself apt at this kind of films as evident in BRIDESMAIDS) that even males will also enjoy THE HOUSEMAID (including the two males I saw the film with).

At best, the film plays with the premise of who the victim in the story is.  Is the victim really is?  Is the villain the housemaid?  The story blurs the line as the film unfolds.  It is safe to say that director Feig keeps the real twist in the plot till thevery end of the film.

The huge house that is the story’s setting is also one of the story’s characters.  The audience is given a grand tour of the house at the beginning of the film, from exterior to interior.  One would be surprised that there is only one gardener and one maid to take care of the entire property.

Sydney Sweeney is superb as the main protagonist, abused and threatened,  again playing a similar role in her boxing movie CHRIST, in which Christy endured tremendous psychological and physical abuse from her husband, played by Ben Foster.  The two female roles, the other played by Seyfrie,d are strong while sympathetic,c and the male lead is surely a pleasant sight for the female gender.  The film is a female revenge thriller that females should adore.

THE HOUSEMAID made a decent $20.6 million (Lionsgate executives should be pleased) in its opening weekend and should continue to do well, it being the only psychological thriller and a female one at that, through the festive season.

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IS THIS THING ON? (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Bradley Cooper

 

IS THIS THING ON? plays like the opposite kind of romance, a kind of story of a falling out of love, as Bradley Cooper’s most successful hit, A STAR IS BORN, which starred the director opposite Lady Gaga.  IS THIS THING ON? The phrase often used by comics on stage, wondering if the microphone is switched on so that he or she can be heard, looks like, even from the trailer, like a comedy, but the film is more a relationship drama with a few bouts of humour dished in.

The film is impressive in its creation of atmosphere, especially in the way stand-up comics hang out, react and basically interact with each other.  There is more camaraderie than competition, as they all share the same fear of being on stage performing, especially if, even worse, they have a bad day, and the audience does not laugh.  It is the New York City scene and the standups are all real stand-ups, according to actor Will Arnett who was present at the Q&A after the promo screening of the film in Toronto, Ontario.

Will Arnett and Laura Dern are both excellent in their performances as the troubled couple.  Arnett looks hassled, tired and stressed most of the time, just like one who suffered from a marriage breakdown.  When the film opens, Alex Kovacs is already separated from his wife, Tess.  He lives in a different residence, in his own apartment, sharing custody with his two sons, Irish twins, from his wife.  ("Irish twins" is a term for two siblings born to the same mother within 12 months of each other. The phrase originated in the 1800s as a derogatory stereotype of large Irish Catholic families but has become a more casual term for siblings with a very close age gap, even though they are from separate pregnancies and not actual twins.)  They share the same group of friends, one of which is played by a bearded, almost unrecognisable Bradley Cooper. Alex happens upon an open mike at a local bar, and because he does not wish to pay the $15 cover, he signs on as a performer.  And loves the gig.  All he does is add a bit of humour as he talks about his problems in marriage.

The film is meticulous in its details.  One can see Alex as he grows more interested in stand-up comedy.  Alex starts to prepare material and even looks more nervous than usual.  He keeps the stand-up acts secret from his wife.  The standup routines work to help Alex rebuild and process his pain.  In the meantime, Tess has not gotten over what she has given up in sacrifice for her marriage,

All hell breaks loose when his wife shows up unannounced and unknowingly at one bar where Alex is performing. She is aghast that their personal life is on display in Alex’s material, though some sensitive parts move her.  This is the point where the film gets more serious, and one realises that what has occurred before is just the set-up.

The unexpected arrival of the wife at Alex’s performance is cliched territory in relationship films.  But according to Arnett, this actually happened, though it seems so unlikely.  Arnett also talked about how he pursued the material for the film that was finally made.

The couple needs to figure out how to live apart, raise their two boys, and maintain friendships and identities.

IS THIS THING ON? is marked as a Christmas movie that opens in theatres on December 19th.

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MARTY SUPREME (USA 2025) ***** Top 10

Directed by Josh Safdie

 

A table tennis (aka ping pong) drama set in New York City during the 1950s, where table tennis star Marty goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.

MARTY SUPREME looks and feels like a biopic of a real sports champion.  But the film is touted as a fictionalised original.  But the real reason the film feels like a documentary biopic is that the script, written by director Safdie and Ronald Bronstein, is based on professional table tennis player Marty Reisman.   For that obvious reason, the film has the name MARTY in the title.

The film feels very real and gritty.  Director Safdie knows his material for the main reason that he was a table tennis fanatic in his youth.  Safdie's interest in table tennis began in his youth, as his grandparents often had "eccentric Jewish immigrant Lower East Side characters", playing the sport at their house.  The film project began this way.  In 2018, his wife and executive producer on the film, Sara Rossein, bought a copy of Marty Reisman's 1974 autobiography The Money Player, thinking Safdie would enjoy it.  Safdie was in conversation with Timothée Chalamet at the time, as they had recently become friends, and presented him with the project by focusing on Reisman's physical similarities to the actor.  Chalamet accepted the role and began taking ping pong lessons that same year.

The film’s Marty is the kind of character that it's all mouth, promising the world to himself and his girl, but running into shit trouble most of the time.  Marty can be considered a loser with dreams too high to achieve, but not for want of trying.  His character is also ‘kind of’ disgusting, getting his already married to someone else, girl pregnant, and not admitting to her that the baby is his, while sweet-talking his best friend to lend him money to help him on.  He also woos a famous theatrical actress, Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow), into sex, while conning her husband, Rockwell (Kevin O’Leary), to sponsor his table tennis.  This is one rare film where the director succeeds in getting the audience to dislike the protagonist and then root for him after.

Three main factors propel this film to the top 10 best films list of 2025.  These are: the excitement of the table tennis matches, the expert casting of its characters, and the impressive build-up of momentum and pacing of the film, which includes two climaxes in the film at the end.

Chamalet took ping pong lessons, and it shows.  The matches are well executed and totally believable, not to say exciting to watch.  The casting of Kevin O’Leary as Rockwell is nothing more than inspirational casting, as is director Abel Fererra as the mobster who owns the black dog.  But the casting of the Indian actor (could not find his name even using AI) playing the British ping pong organiser who looks like an exact replica of French actor Louis De Funes (the Jacob Rabbi and FANTOMAS) movies is phenomenal.  De Funes always plays characters who are pompous, full of themselves, but nothing less than a bumbling idiot.  The two climaxes are the ping pong showdown at the end and the action set piece where the mobster and Marty close down on the kidnapper of the black dog.

MARTY SUPREME opens on Christmas Day.

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NO OTHER CHOICE )South Korea 2025) ***½

Directed by Park Chan-wook

The film starts with a family group hug, and Man-soo has it all: a loving wife, two talented children, and two happy dogs.  He even bought the beautiful forest-enclosed house where he grew up.  Then, after 25 years of dedicated work for Solar Paper — where he was awarded Pulp Man of the Year in 2019 — Man-soo is suddenly given the axe.  Soon, he is falling behind on his mortgage payments, and his wife Mi-ri insists they put the house up for sale.  Man-soo is desperate to scoop a coveted position with Moon Paper, but he knows other job seekers match his pedigree. So he hatches a plan: invent a phoney paper company, reach out to each of his rivals, lure them into a meeting… and, one by one, dispatch the competition.  It is a wicked and occasionally hilarious satire based on the novel THE AX by Donald Werstlake. Director Chan’s film takes its time to establish the plot, but it is all worth it in this deliciously wicked thriller.

REBUILDING (USA 2025) ****

Directed by Max Walker-Silverman

 

After a wildfire, Dusty (a sombre Josh O’Connor), a reserved divorced rancher, is relocated to a temporary trailer park alongside other displaced locals. Through his daughter’s determined optimism and a newfound sense of community, Dusty learns to accept help and open up to the possibility of starting over.  REBUILDING is about rebuilding,

Rebuilding is a 2025 American drama film written and directed by Max Walker-Silverman, starring Josh O’Connor as Dusty, Callie Rose LaTorre as the daughter, CallienRose, Meghann Fahy, Kali Reis and Amy Madigan as the grandmother.

After wildfires take his ranch, cowboy Dusty winds up in a FEMA camp, finding community with others who lost homes, after reuniting with his daughter and ex-wife.

The film illustrates that not only are performances crucial to a film telling its story, but the director’s camera captures the most appropriate moments, like Callie Rose’s quiet smile, or the grandmother plucking a kiss on Callie Rose’s forehead.

It is the little things that matter most.  When the two old lady neighbours are required to fill out forms online, they tell Dusty, “But we don’t have a computer.  Dusty looks at her daughter, Callie Rose, who is computer savvy.  The silence and quiet say it all.  It is a very emotional moment created with much thought and cue, without much shouting or dialogue.  This is what makes REBUILDING such an endearing and emotional film.

REBUILDING had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2025, and will be released at the TIFF Lightbox in Toronto, Canada December 19th.

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SERIOUS PEOPLE (USA 2025) **
Directed by Pasqual Gutierrez anBen Mullinkosson

 

SERIOUS PEOPLE, the new indie film opening just before the Christmas movies and going straight to VOD (hard to compete with the major films and studios) is a satirical film about a busy music video director, Pasqual, who is expecting his first child and hires a lookalike named Miguel to stand in for him at work to manage his work-life balance, leading to chaos as Miguel's inexperience clashes with the demanding industry, exploring themes of identity, parenthood, and the absurdities of LA culture.

The film follows a group of emotionally guarded, intellectually driven adults whose carefully constructed lives begin to unravel when personal crises force them to confront feelings they’ve long suppressed.  The film centres on characters who pride themselves on being rational, successful, and “put-together,” yet struggle with intimacy, vulnerability, and moral compromise.   It takes a while for the audience to connect with these people, if they ever do.. As their relationships intersect—through work, friendship, or family—their sense of control is tested by unexpected events that expose insecurity, regret, and longing beneath their serious façades.

It is supposed to be a faux-documentary, "fly-on-the-wall" comedy that pokes fun at creative egos and the struggle to be present in both personal and professional lives, featuring a cast playing exaggerated versions of themselves. 

The film is a very personal one and perhaps too personal for everyone’s tastes.  It looks in detail at Pasqual’s life.  He assumes that his audience will take to and understand all his problems and difficulties, but this may very much not be the case.  If one is not connected to the filming industry, all that takes place may all seem too far-fetched, irrelevant, and an utter bore.  Would one really care if an unknown filmmaker’s shooting schedule clashes with the delivery ofnhis first born.  Let him sort out his own problems, and let the audience be the other way.

The film’s restrained and introspective tone, focusing more on psychological depth and subtle tension than on plot twists or spectacle, caters to the more indie art-house than the commercial crowd.

SERIOUS PEOPLE has a VOD releaseon  December 12th.

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SONG SUNG BLUE (USA 2025) ***½
Directed by Craig Brewer

 

SONG SUNG BLUE is the beloved Neil Diamond song that everyone knows the tune of.  Song Sung Blue is also a 2025 American biographical musical drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Craig Brewer. It is based on the 2008 documentary film of the same name by Greg Kohs. The film stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson (nominated for a deserved Golden Globe nomination this year) as Mike and Claire Sardina, who performed as the Neil Diamond tribute band Lightning & Thunder.

This is a film about the Neil Diamond tribute husband and wife duo who call themselves Lightning and Thunder.  They performed to great acclaim until they had to take a break owing to unforeseen circumstances, which the film mainly highlights. On the afternoon of May 10, 1999, the then-37-year-old was gardening in front of her South Side home when, out of nowhere, a car bulldozed into her, pinned her up against her house, and severed her left foot.  Lighting & Thunder's performance schedule is finally heating up again after years of suffering from the accident that took Thunder's leg and the devastation of September 11, which greatly reduced bookings. Luckily, it was only a matter of time before fans said "Hello Again" to this quirky, talented twosome.   But Lightning passed away from a head injury in 2006, which forms the conclusion of the film.

“I believe in you, Mike.  I always have,” says his dentist and manager.

The down following the accident is shown in all its intensity.  Claire does not want to continue the duo.  “What is the duo supposed to do if the other one doesn’t want to sing?” says Mike.  Claire is all drugged up, grouchy, and refuses to go for her therapy. She makes jokes like “….. to get back on your feet,” etc. The frustration reached its peak in one heated argument between Claire and Mike in the living room, a scene that will bring tears to one’s eyes.

“People don’t get it.  I love her, and I am losing her,” Mike confidentially talks to his daughter, who is watching to ensure her father stays off the wagon.

The film contains a scene directly lifted out of Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece. LIMELIGHT  It is the one in which Claire Bloom, crippled suddenly,y gets up from her wheelchair and, for the first time, walks towards Charles Chaplin, both facing the camera.  In this movie, Kate Hudson gets up from her chair and walks with Jackson, both facing the camera.  It is still a touching one and also a great homage paid to Chaplin.  Both women are offering encouraging words to their distraught companion.

SONG SUNG BLUE is a first-class Hollywood dramatisation of the duo’s story.   It allows audiences to see and feel as the documentary can only achieve so much. Performances are extraordinary, from both Jackson and Hudson.  The film shows both the highs (the performances of the Neil Diamond songs) and the lows (coming to terms with the hardships fate dealt them).

SONG SUNG BLUE had its premiere at the AFI Film Festival on October 26, 2025, and will be released in the United States and Canada by Focus Features on Christmas Day.

Trailer: 

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Derek Drymon

 

The SpongeBob SquarePants franchise is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon.  They are a household name in countries the world over.  Their new Christmas movie is bound to be a great hit, so hopes are very high.

It should be noted that SpongeBob SquarePants received widespread critical acclaim in its early years, with praise given to its characters, surreal humour, writing, visuals, animation, and Hawaiian-influenced soundtrack, with the show's first three seasons often referred to as its "golden era".  However, the series has also received criticism for a perceived decline in quality, particularly after Hillenburg departed from the series starting with its fourth season onward.  Since its debut, the series has also had five theatrical feature films (starting with The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie in 2004), two feature films for streaming, a Broadway musical, a comic book series, and numerous video games.

The premise of this film, not that it matters, since all the audience likely wants is a goofy laugh-out loud good time, goes like this: Desperate to become a "big guy", SpongeBob (Tom Kenny), SpongeBob, setting out to prove his bravery to Mr. Krabs (veteran Clancy Brown), travels to the deepest depths of the ocean to follow the Flying Dutchman (voiced by STAR WARS Mark Hamill).

The film was written by Pam Brady and Matt Lieberman, from a story by Brady and series creatives Marc Ceccarelli and Kaz. It was first developed as a direct-to-streaming film, but the project was retooled into a theatrical feature by February 2022.  The rest is history,

Determined to find him, SpongeBob teams up with Patrick Star and ventures far beyond Bikini Bottom into strange and dangerous new realms. Along the way, the journey tests SpongeBob’s courage and optimism, forcing him to confront his fears while proving how deep his loyalty and love for Gary truly run.

The film blends the franchise’s trademark absurd humour, colourful visuals, and musical energy with a heartfelt story about friendship, responsibility, and growing up, making it accessible to longtime fans and newcomers alike.  The need for SpongeBob to be recognised as ‘big’ as many smack kids obviously also wish, is funny.  The main reason is actually thistle can actually be tall enough to ride his desired roller coaster.  He grows up taller and makes the mark, but discovers he does not have what it takes to ride the roller coaster.  In the film’s climax, he has to revisit the roller-coaster fear.

The humour is extremely goofy, so goofy that it often makes no sense, but the kids at the promo screening seem to love it.

It should be noted that the film will be accompanied by an animated short film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Chrome Alone 2 – Lost in New Jersey. That short was previously scheduled for May 23, 2025.  The short tries too hard to prove itself and comes off as a misfire.  This paves the way for an improvement, which means the main feature stands a better chance by comparison.

THE SPONGEBOB MOPVIE: SEARCH FOR SQUAREPANTS is a Christmas movie opening a week earlier on December 19th.

Trailer: 

 

THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB (Palestine 2025) ***
Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania.

 

This review contains certain spoilers, which are necessary to understand and provide some insight into the making of this film.  The spoilers are indicated in just one paragraph in bold italics, so the paragraph may be skipped.

THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB (described as a doc-drama) tells the real story of Hind Rajab, a very young Palestinian girl (5 or 6 years old, depending on the source) who was trapped in a car during a military attack in Gaza.  During this ordeal, she makes a long phone call to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (the Red Crescent rescue service).  The film uses the actual audio recordings of her call — her voice pleading, frightened, begging for help. Alongside that real audio, the film dramatises what was going on in the Red Crescent dispatch centre: rescuers coordinating, trying to get an ambulance in, waiting for permission, in a very tense and bureaucratic setting.

The film is set as recently as January 29, 2024.  The Israeli army orders the evacuation of the Tel Al-Hawa Palestinian neighbourhood.  The setting is at the Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency Call Centre in the West Bank, 52 miles outside Gaza.  A call involving the film’s title involves Ramallah and Nesreen.

At the start of the film, titles indicate that what is about to be seen is based on true events, with dramatisation of the events with real call recordings.  Unfortunately, the dramatisation seems too manipulative.  The little girl in the car with the tea family around her is talking to the call centre, as the car was shot by tanks.   The conflict between Ramallah and his boss is heightened, he telling him that the rescue has first toe coordinated to ensure a safe route to the girl.  The two argue.  While on the phone with the girl, the call centre asked her a few irrelevant questions like what her name is, who else is in the car, their names and their relations.  These prolong the film’s call with the girl, stretching both credibility and patience.  One scene has a caller talking to the girl, the caller with a wavering voice and tears in her eyes, a bit of all too obvious over-dramatisation.   The caller later says that if she has a daughter, she would call her Hannod.  Really???

The overuse of the oscilloscope display to depict voice signals is noticeable.  The voice signals also display the film’s opening credits.

Tragically, Hind and the rescue workers who went out for her were later found dead.

The director has said she made the film to make Hind’s voice “resonate across borders” and to ensure her story is not forgotten.  Some critics have raised ethical questions about using a child's real trauma in a film, but Ben Hania defends it — she says Hind’s mother supported the project, and that giving her voice a lasting presence was important.

Despite the film’s good intentions of making world audiences aware of the urgency of the situation in the Gaza Strip, the film cannot hide its lack of narrative and material, which is insufficient to hold interest for a mere 90 minutes.

The film premiered at the 82nd Venice Film Festival in September 2025 and was met with a historic 23-minute standing ovation.

Trailer: 

Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 10 December 2025

BEST 10 FILMS 2025

 

In order:

 

1. ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

The film that is on everyone’s Top 10 list.  Great action comedy in which the protagonist is not an action fighter but someone hiding and running away for half the movie.  Director PT Anderson’s best and most successful box-office hit,

 

 

2. MARTY SUPREME

A remarkable ping pong film with excellent ping pong matches on screen.  The detailed script, which is a period piece, is excellent, capturing the politics of ping pong among the Asin countries like Japan.

 

 

3. THE SECRET AGENT

A black comedy that is fresh and unpredictable in what can be described as a disciplined script. Lots of parodying, especially of the 1970s JAWS and Jean-Paul Belmondo, THAT MAN IN RIO films. 

 

 

4. WEAPONS

The most fucked up film of the year, which consists of a script that not only shows the different points of view of the different characters, but also how each plays a part in the story. Totally fun and yes, fucked up!

 

 

 

5, TRAIN DREAMS

A melancholic, quiet, and pensive film with an endearing performance from Joel Edgerton.  The story of loss, grief, and coping with a raw emotion that hits the heart,

 

6. MISERICORDA

A brilliant gay film from the director of STRANGER BY THE LAKE.  A gay man returns to his village for a funeral and creates havoc after being unable to control his sexual emotions.  He is not the only gay man in the village, and the other one saves him from the cops.

 

 

7. SIRAT

(photo to be posted)

A roller coaster ride following a man in search of his daughter in the deserts of Morocco.  The suspense scenes are reminiscent of Henri Georges Clozot’s LE SALAIRE DE LA PEUR and the mines segment of the Danish film THIS LAND OF MINE.

 

 

8. A POET

A film that features the weirdest hero yet.  A diminutive loser of a man champions a young poet while everyone else accuses him of sexual abuse.  Fresh, weird, uncomfortable, but extremely well done movie.

 

9. BUGOVIA

Another weird one from Yorgos Lanthimos with his protege Emma Stone and another new protege.   Jesse Plemons who has lost a whole bunch of weight in this role.  Nothing is what it seems in this movie, which can be said to apply to any Lanthimos movie.

 

 

10. HAMNET

More of a performance film than anything else, but the period atmosphere and sets must be highlighted in what is an exceptionally staged film

 

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 07 December 2025

The clear winner is ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, in three categories.

See nominations below with the Winners in Bold:

TFCA Awards 

 

Annually in December, the Toronto Film Critics Association votes for the best of the best in film, meticulously arguing to select their choices.

 

Here is the complete list of nominees and the winners in bold:

 

Best Picture      

      

Hamnet

One Battle After Another

Sinners

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another

Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Oliver Laxe, Sirāt

Original Screenplay

Marty Supreme – Josh Safdie, Ronald Bronstein

Sentimental Value – Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt

Sinners – Ryan Coogler

Adapted Screenplay

Hamnet – Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell

No Other Choice - Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, Jayhe Lee

One Battle After Another – Paul Thomas Anderson

Outstanding Lead Performance

Jessie Buckley, Hamnet

Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another

Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon

Michael B. Jordan, Sinners

Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

Outstanding Supporting Performance

Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another

Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein

Nina Hoss, Hedda

Amy Madigan, Weapons

Sean Penn, One Battle After Another

Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value

Breakthrough Performance

Miles Caton, Sinners

Chase Infinti, One Battle After Another

Abou Sangaré, Souleymane’s Story

Outstanding Lead Performance in a Canadian Film

Deragh Campbell, Measures for a Funeral

Vincent Cassel, The Shrouds

Joan Chen, Montreal, My Beautiful

Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Canadian Film

Charlotte Aubin, Montreal, My Beautiful

Troy Kotsur, In Cold Light

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Sweet Angel Baby

Allan King Documentary Award

Come See Me in the Good Light

Orwell: 2+2=5

The Tale of Silyan

Animated Feature

Endless Cookie

KPop Demon Hunters

Space Cadet

International Feature

It Was Just an Accident

The Secret Agent

Sirāt

First Feature

Blue Heron

Eephus

Sorry Baby

 

Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 01 December 2025

COVER-UP (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus

 

This is a doc about a brave and risk-taking reporter nicknamed Sy who exposes the deeds of the wicked.  “It’s complicated to know who to trust. I barely trust you guys,” says Seymour Hersh. He’s speaking to the directors, Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, about his career as an investigative reporter.   The film goes back and forth with Hersh’s interview.  He is shown with all candidness, displaying eagerness, energy, anger, and anger as the director pushes his boundaries.  Time after time, Hersh has exposed brutal realities that governments and corporations wanted to cover up.  He shares behind-the-scenes details of how he reported the My Lai massacre, Watergate, the operation of CIA spying on Americans, and the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, to name a few of his major headlines.   Every step of the way, he faced fierce pushback from powerful interests.  President Nixon is heard on tape saying, “This fellow Hersh is a son of a bitch.”  As they say, Hersch might be a son of a bitch, but he is our son of a bitch.   One often hears about the cover-ups, but this doc combines news of cover-ups with the man behind them.

I WISH YOU HAD TOLD ME (Sana Sinai Mo) (Philippines 2025) **
Directed by Shaira Advincula

 

When a young missionary uncovers his late father's long-held secret, he travels from the Philippines to Spain in search of his dad's forbidden love.

The film begins with hen young missionary attending his father’s funeral service, where praise is bestowed upon him before a lady makes her appearance, accusing the dead man of having nuked more cocks than anyone else.  Despite this fast beginning, the rest of the film is a surprising slow burn as his son discovers secrets about his after and comes to terms with the secret.

The missionary ends up in Portugal but makes a trip to Spain to meet his late father’s pen pal.  This is where the story heads.  But not really surprises, really.

I WISH YOU HAD TOLD ME is a well-intentioned Filipino LGBTQ+ drama about family secrets and intimate emotions that, like many Filipino tearjerkers, end up too melodramatic for their own good.  There is no real ash material here - discovering one’s father is gay is a premise that has been seen in a few other American films before.  The film is well performed, in one can be described as a decent though mediocre drama.

The film deals with emotion, grief, and acceptance, and can hardly be described as a feel-good movie.

I WISH YOU HAD TOLD ME premieres on Netflix this week.  A Ok watch!

Trailer:  

LOVE + WINE (South Africa 20225) ***
Directed by Amanda Lane

 

California is known for its Californian wines and its Hollywood romantic comedies.  But how about South Africa?  The country has a solid fair share of romantic comedies, mostly commissioned by Netflix, and it also has a bustling wine industry.  Netflix’s rom-com LOVE + WINE (the title says it all) demonstrates both.  The film is a rom-com set in the scenic vineyards and wine-estate region of the Cape Winelands, South Africa, including real locations like the estate Quoin Rock Wine Estate and coastal areas around Cape Town.

There are actually two romances going on in the film’s premise of role switching.  They involve he rich heir of the billionaire wine estate owner Ovee and the other, his childhood friend, Nathi, who is his driver.  The film’s premise involves a bet on getting girls leads them to swap identities, but then things get too complicated.  If the idea sounds familiar, it has just been done in the Seth Rogen film, GOOD FORTUNE, which was just so-so.  LOVE + WINE is also just so-so.  The not-too ingenious plot is at least helped by some South African flair, though the film leads to the typical Hollywood ending.

The film plays on the familiar romantic-comedy tropes of mistaken identity, social class differences, and the “rich person pretending to be common” plot — but even though it is charming in a feel-good way, the film is too forced and cliched.

LOVE + WINE premieres for streaming this week on Netflix.  There are two other rom-com originals this week on Netflix, both with a Christmas setting  - JINGLE BELL HEIST and MY SECRET SANTA, with the former being the best of the three.

 

Trailer: 

MY SECRET SANTA (USA 2025) **

Directed by Mike Rohl

 

Some films are subtle, and others are right out in the face.  In the case of MY SECRET SANTA, the title says it all; the film belongs to the second category.  First, it is right in one’s face that this is a female film.  It is a single mother and her teen daughter who are the focus of the story.  No mention of the husband.  It is a Christmas film, as evident by the Christmassy song heard at the opening credits and the Christmas decorations shown all around.  The mother is fired during Christmas as the store is downsizing its Christmas cookies.

The centres on Taylor, a struggling single mom whose daughter gets accepted into an exclusive snowboarding program at a ski resort.  To afford the tuition, Taylor — desperate for a job — secretly disguises herself as an elderly man named “Hugh” and takes a seasonal job as Santa Claus at a resort.  While working as “Santa,” she meets Matthew, the resort owner’s son. As she and Matthew start to develop feelings, the deception — her secret identity — threatens to unravel everything.

The movie is a holiday-themed romantic comedy — mixing festive charm, humour (including the disguise/gender-swap comedy), family stakes, and romance.

As this is a rom-com movie, the first thing is how the couple (Taylor and Matthew) will meet.  The random meeting at a record store is quite a lame one, even though she reveals that it was one of the band members (Screaming Kittens) in a record that he really liked.

Then the couple has to dislike each other. He is filthy rich, and she is as poor as a church mouse.  Taylor gets a job as Santa in his hotel store, the Sun Peaks Ski resort.  So he does not recognise her as Santa, and she is also speaking in a very low voice.  This is also the school that the daughter, Zoey, wishes to attend.

A few side jokes.  The landlady (remember that this is a female slanted film) has a thing for Taylor’s Santa, who she believes is her father.  Ryan Eggold, who plays Matthew, looks like a poor man’s version of Jake Gyllenhaal.  Alexandra Breckenridge does her best despite the rather lame script.  Both actors have a history of winning acting awards, primarily in short films.

As far as Christmas rom coms go, Netflix had another one that opened last week, an American one set and filmed in London (Shh…  Don’t let Trump know) that is fresher, funnier, and more endearing.  MY SECRET SANTA is too predictable, gearing towards its obvious happy ending, despite the festive setting.   Taylor is also dating averse.    The humour is too slight to be funny, and there is hardly any laugh-out-loud dialogue either.  The romance is gentle but not especially deep.  The disguise premise occasionally feels stretched.

The only good thing about the film (besides it being short at 90 minutes) is that it gave a good chance to the two budding actors, Eggold and Breckenridge, to show their wares.  But there is little opportunity to shine in the film.

MY SECRET SANTA is a Netflix original film that opens for streaming this week.

Trailer: 

THE NEW YORKER AT 100 (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Marshall Curry

 

THE NEW YORKER AT 100 is a 2025 American documentary film that explores the history of The New Yorker magazine, which celebrated its 100th year of publication in 2025.  premiered at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival in August 2025.

The film’s introduction to the magazine explains it as an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry.  It was founded on February 21, 1925, (as shown in the doc with the magazine cover) by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for The New York Times. 

The film celebrates the 100-year history of The New Yorker magazine, exploring its evolution from its founding in 1925 to the present.  It offers unprecedented access to the magazine’s inner workings: its editors, writers, fact-checkers, cartoonists, and other contributors as they work toward producing the special 100th-anniversary issue. 

At best, viewers get a glimpse of the intense process of fact-checking, editing, cartoon selection — the labor and thoughtfulness that go into producing each issue.  Through archival materials and interviews with longtime contributors, the film traces the magazine’s history — while also capturing the concerns and dedication of current staff navigating journalism in the modern era.

Director Curry intercuts the film’s history with its current workings, showing the amount of diligence and detailed scrutiny that goes into a successful magazine. 

The cover needs to speak for the moment as well as to be a piece of art, says the art director of The New Yorker, as the cover of the 100th anniversary of The New Yorker is contemplated.  The cover would set the personality of the issue.

The immediate question trailing this doc is whether the doc is a marketing instrument for the magazine or it is a reflexive and critical piece of the magazine.  The doc does not stop at any praise for the magazine from the ideas put forward by its talented team of writers (first wooden satellite?  for example) to the scrutiny of factual accuracy (the name of three cats? for example).  But at least director Curry keeps the film entertaining despite its marketing bias.  The New Yorker has survived as a publication where too many others have failed due to the cu

rrrent times of the internet and free news.  The mag has a niche, as declared at the start of the film, its humour and wealthy clientele. 

THE NEW YORKER AT 100 premiered at the 52nd Telluride Film Festival in August 2025 and opens for streaming on Netflix this week on Friday, December 5th.

 

Trailer:  

THE SECRET AGENT (O AGENT SCRETO) (Brazil/France/Germany 2025) ***** Top 10

Directed by  Kleber Mendonça Filho

 

Brazil, 1977. Marcelo, a technology expert in his early 40s, is on the run. He arrives in Recife ( seaside town in Brazil) during carnival week, hoping to reunite with his son, but soon realises that the city is far from being the non-violent refuge he seeks.  Marcelo is told by the police chief that perhaps 100 people will die during the carnival, a joke that carries on throughout the movie.  Marcelo’s past is catching up with him, but he hopes to bring his life to a close with the satisfaction of spending the rest of his life with his son.  His son is presently staying with Marcelo’s parents, who care very much about the boy.

Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho, who also wrote the script for the film, is a familiar name to many cinephiles and film critics, making his name in his 2012 multiple award-winning NEIGHBOURING SOUNDS, also set in his birthplace of Recife in North East Brazil and also his recent 2023 documentary PORTRAITS OF GHOSTS.  THE SECRET AGENT is a film the director reportedly wanted to make for years, and it is not only an excellent film but one of the best to hit screens at both TIFF and in theatres.

The film pays homage to several films of the 70s when the film is set (actually 1977).  Most noticeable is the 1975 Steven Spielberg’s JAWS.  Recife is also a seaside town.  Other films that can be noticed in Filho’s film include actor Jean-Paul Belmondo, most likely in Philippe De Broca’s 1964 film THAT MAN IN RIO.

The film suffers from a rather overlong epilogue with a conversation taking place between two individuals in a hospital, a bit of a let-down after a spy-like chase through the streets.

Trailer: 

THE WAILING (El Llanto) (Argentina/Spain/France 2024) ***
Directed by Pedro Martín-Calero

 

THE WAILING is a slow-burning movie, but by no means boring. of a psychological horror thriller, with a premise somewhat similar to the horror cult IT FOLLOWS.  A group of young people inadvertently resurrects a seemingly invisible evil.  The story spans different times, places, and victims.

The film begins with Andrea.  Andrea, a university student in present-day Madrid, lives a seemingly normal life until one day when her boyfriend is killed in a shocking act of violence. She soon begins to notice a mysterious entity that follows her no matter where she turns. Twenty years prior, Marie, a woman in Buenos Aires, suffered the same fate.  Camila, a documentarian, learns of the threat these women faced, but no one will believe her.  Across time and space, these three unconnected women are bound together by an inescapable terror in Martin-Calero’s feature film debut, for which he was nominated for a Best New Director Goya Award in 2025.

The film begins with as stated:

Andrea, 2022, Madrid

Andrea is presumed to be followed by some entity that no one, including herself, knows anything about.  For those who watched the 2015 horror flick IT FOLLOWS, an identical premise is found, though in IT FOLLOWS, the purpose of the entity following is there, to seek a vessel.  In THE WAILING, a figure, the entity is only seen in videos or in photos taken by the camera of a cell phone. The entry follows Andrea in Madrid but somehow gets to Sydney (how?  No one knows.  Perhaps some superpower the entity possesses?) to kill Andrea’s boyfriend while they are speaking on the cell phone.  An additional subplot was added, that which Andrea discovers she had been adopted and that her mother, recently released from prison for murder, has died in an apartment.

 

The film shifts to:

Camilla, La Plata 1988

 

Camilla is a film student who films Marie, unknown to her, a woman with many problems.  Marie is a free spirit who suspects that she is being controlled by an unknown force.  The two finally meet with disastrous results.

 

The film has played and won accolades across many international film festivals.  These include:

Goya Awards (2025) | Nominee, Best New Director

San Sebastian International Film Festival (2024) |Winner, Silver Seashell, Best Director, Nominee, Golden Seashell, Best Film

Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards (2024) | Nominated, Best Film in Co-production with Argentina

Sitges Film Festival (2024) | Official Selection

BFI London Film Festival (2024) | Official Selection

Tokyo International Film Festival (2024) | Official Selection

The story shifts to Marie, as seen at the start of the film.

THE WAILING is a better film than the one (IT FLLOWS) it followed, as THE WAILING skips the traditional happy ending normally inserted for good measure, but it still has a twisty shock ending.

A totally female horror film all the way and a solid one at that.  Well-written, well-directed, and aptly performed by the three main leads, THE WAILING, shot mainly in Spanish and French, is definitely worth seeing, especially for horror fans.

 

THE WAILING, the Spanish horror premieres on VOD and Digital on December 5th, 2025.

Trailer: