Lots of new Netflix originals open this week. The excellent TRAIN DREAMS also opens on Netflix aftyer its limited two week theatrical run.
FILM REVIEWS;
THE CARMAN FAMILY DEATHS
Directed by Yon Motskin
A fishing trip ends in tragedy when Linda Carman vanishes at sea, leaving her son Nathan adrift for days. His rescue stirs up questions about his grandfather's murder and ignites a battle over inheritance that leads to shocking revelations.
THE CARMAN FAMILY MURDERS is a Netflix true crime drama. True crime dramas - either love it to hate it! Two different schools! The doc is a Netflix original true crime drama, which Netflix is famous for. Netflix makes biopic docs and true crime docs, with new ones appearing weekly.
Coincidentally, Netflix’s two new docs opening this week are about family. One is the biopic SELENA Y LOS DINOS about a famous Mexican performing family, and the second is this one, where the first line of the doc is “Family is everything”. Family was everything till things started to shake up after Nathan, an autistic son, was born.
Fresh from the headlines - ABC News. Newly obtained investigative files provide fresh insight into one of New England's most notorious murder mysteries, which unfolded after Nathan Carman and his mother, Linda Carman, took a fateful fishing trip on Sept. 17, 2016.
Nathan said the boat took on water and suddenly sank. The 22-year-old survived and was rescued at sea, but Linda was nowhere to be found and presumed dead. As officials investigated Nathan's story, they began to doubt his account of the events that unfolded at sea. They suspected he may have purposefully sunk the boat and killed his mother, whose body was never recovered. Nathan denied the allegations, insisting the sinking was an accident. The doc takes the story from here and moves forward.
The documentary first examines the 2016 disappearance of Linda Carman and the rescue of her son, Nathan, at sea; it then follows the widening investigation that looked at Nathan’s relationship to the unsolved 2013 murder of his grandfather, millionaire real estate developer John Chakalos. Through interviews, footage from the family archive, and expert testimony, the film examines the competing narratives around Nathan’s actions and his possible accountability in the deaths of his mother and grandfather. Tracing the family rifts that followed, the film also confronts the high-stakes questions of motive and money that ultimately closed in around Nathan.
The film can be divided into these different parts:
- The Disappearance at Sea in (2016):
- the Suspicious Behaviour & Contradictions:
After his rescue, Nathan gives a story about how the boat malfunctioned and capsized.
- A Family Mystery — A Murder From Before:
The film also plays like a cat-and-mouse game between the investigators (police and prosecuting attorney) and the defendant. Director plays the film more as a missing-persons story: his film becomes a full-blown murder mystery involving a rich (Greek) family and a potential motive tied to money and inheritance. It works. For those not familiar with Nathan’s story, there is a shock ending.
THE CARMAN FAMILY DEATHS opens for streaming on Netflix this week.
Trailer:
CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS (USA 2025) **
Directed by Mark Steven Johnson
CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS is a Netflix romantic comedy. A significant advantage is that it features a Christmas setting in Paris, often referred to as the city of love. Unfortunately, the rom-com is filled not only with predictability but with one cliche after another.
As far as romantic comedies go, this one also, is female female-oriented with a tough female protagonist. She is Sydney Price (Minka Kelly), a career-driven American executive dealing in acquisitions. When her boss, known as Marvin, suddenly assigns her to go to Paris to win a takeover over other competitors, she immediately packs her bags for Paris. She is to specifically go to the Champagne region, around Christmas, to try to acquire a prestigious Champagne house called Château Cassell. But her younger sister makes her do a pinky promise to spend at least one night on her own - no business at all, in Paris.
Arriving in Paris, she goes to a bookstore, Les Etoiles, to buy a gift for her sister, only to meet, by chance, Henri Cassell (Tom Wozniczka), a charming local whom she feels a connection with. As in all Hollywood French-set movies, all the French speak English with a French accent. Tom Wozniczka is of French nationality.
The twist: Henri is actually the son of the founder of the champagne house she’s trying to buy. The meeting takes place at the film’s 10-minute mark, followed by the usual small talk, which one has heard so many times in one form or another in repeatedly silly romantic comedies. One just cannot wait thill they have a big argument, probably, as it does not take a genius to guess, because of the secret that she is to take over the Chateau Cassell.
The film starts off with the fuss over champagne, blah-blah-blah, all supposed to be good and Christmassy, with a brief history on the founding of the drink by a monk mixing yeast and sugar into the wine, turning the sugar into a bubbly. Who really cares if this fact is true, or more truthfully, who really cares? Is the monk really called Dom Perignon? Apparently, this is true. In 1668, Dom Pierre Pérignon, a Benedictine monk, was appointed procurator at the Abbey of Hautvillers. At a time when everything was guided by empirical methods, Dom Pierre Pérignon developed revolutionary techniques for viticulture and winemaking based on precise rules.
This rom-com clearly lacks any imagination, despite being a French festive setting, but also lacks any bubbly humour or any authentic drama.
The Chemistry between the two leads are ok at best; at least there is no cross-racial romance to be poetically correct, which is now so cliched in films, especially with countless films with at least one white and black couple in the story.
CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS is the typical problematic holiday romance comedy with a tired, unglamorous, business-meets-love twist. And the Americans still incorrectly pronounce the city ‘Ibiza ‘with a ‘z’ instead of a ‘th' as Europeans do.
CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS opens for streaming on Netflix this week.
Trailer:
ETERNITY (USA 2025) **½
Directed by David Freyne
ETERNITY is a 2025 American fantasy romantic comedy film directed by David Freyne, which he co-wrote the film with Pat Cunnane.
The ETERNITY premise has a lot of loopholes. If Joan picks her eternity, are the people in her eternity all forced to spend their eternities as she wishes? What happens to their eternities? That is not really eternity; that is fair for everyone. What about Larry’s children? Are they forced into Larry and Joan’s eternity without their own? Of course, a fantasy film like this one omits all the problems that might arise from such a premise. All this stated, this is actually Joan’s choice of a dream eternity, while her loves Larry and Luke face a nightmare of eternity.
There have been many films about the afterlife, from classics like HEAVEN CAN WAIT, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE, and the minor masterpiece AFTER LIFE by Hirokazu Koreeda, a film that has been acclaimed as one of the best pieces on the subject. Tackling this subject obviously makes a feel-good film, and ETERNITY succeeds as a female feel-good fantasy. Just imagine that one has the two greatest and most loyal lovers to choose which one to spend ETERNITY with.
After death, everybody gets one week to choose where to spend eternity. The film imagines an afterlife with a very specific rule: once you die, you arrive in a kind of liminal space and have one week to decide where — and with whom — you will spend eternity. For Joan (Elizabeth Olson), Larry (Miles Teller), and Luke (Callum Turner), it's really a question of with whom to spend it. Joan must choose between her first love, who died in a war, and the man she has built her life with.
Larry (Miles Teller) — the man she spent her life with (her later spouse). Luke (Callum Turner) — her first love, who died young in a war and has been waiting in the afterlife.
The afterlife setting is not just “heaven or hell”: souls can pick different destinations (various “eternities”), and the emotional stakes centre around Joan’s decision, which relationship (and thus which eternity) she will commit to.
The film leads to its inevitable conclusion with few surprises. One can easily predict which man Joan will choose. The option for the happy ending in which Joan ‘gets away with it’ is also predictable, even though it is impossible to achieve in this scenario.
At best, the film shifts from the whimsical premise to something more serious - the subject of what love really means what sacrifice is. A love relationship is not all happiness, but also hardship and arguments. Though this subject has been examined in many romantic dramas before, it is still dealt with seriousness and emotion.
The three main leads are all excellent, giving credibility in a script that could have offered them more. Turner is indeed the dreamy lover that one would easily pick to send ETERNITY with, while TURNER is the more down-to-earth one. The question is, if you were in Joan’s shoes, who would you pick?
Given what the film is supposed to be, it succeeds as a fantasy romcom for the undemanding viewer,
ETERNITY premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and opens in theatres this week, Friday, November 26th.
Trailer:
THE FOLLIES (Las Locus) (Mexico 2025) ***½
Directed by Rodrigo Garcia
The movie, Las Locuras in Spanish, follows Renata, who is under house arrest and on the brink of a manic episode. Her interactions with her family, lovers, and friends will take the audience on a tour of lives (forming the film’s anthology,) crumbling under maddening pressure on a stormy day in Mexico City. The characters share the common ailment of ‘madness’,
The film is an anthology, broken up into 6 parts.
1. Crime and Punishment
The story of impulsive and loud Renata, on house arrest awaiting her trial. During a visit from her therapist, who called the episode a crisis, Renata corrects her to say that it was a fleeting emotion. But Renata is one case of madness, which she denies is bipolarity. The audience sees her in her room, a big bed, an exercise bike, a mirror, a chest of drawers, all reflecting some kind of imprisonment,
2. La Bella Durmiente (Sleeping Beauty)
In the first story, Renata meets a stranger, Penny, by her window, to use her cellphone. After Renata’s story, the next in the anthology follows Penny, a vet who euthanizes dogs for a living. She spends much of the day comforting people who are saying goodbye to their dogs. But she has crises, too, and fears of her lover, who also works with her.
3. Sentimental Education
“I can’t take it anymore.’ This is what an older woman says after her cataract eye surgery as she is driven in a cab with her daughter, who she drives almost crazy. But who is the crazy one? Mother or daughter?. The daughter visits Renata, her gay lover, thus connecting the 3 stories.
4. Journey Back to the Source
Irlanda is a psychiatrist, the one who has Renata as a patient, which is interesting: she’s in the field of mental health, but she faces her own vulnerabilities. She deals with family dynamics, especially in relation to Renata’s situation. Her story is about how professional expertise doesn’t shield her from deeply personal, emotional, and familial challenges. At a family reunion, skeletons come out of the closet, while she discovers herself by exposing others.
5 The Sound and the Fury
This segment involves Soledad, who is an actress. She grapples with the boundary between her acting roles and her real self . Her emotional journey touches on identity, performance, and what it means to “live” authentically vs. as a performance. During a performance exercise, she freaks out when sexual movements are made on her by her partner. Confronted, she says she was afraid of not being in control of herself, to be dominated by someone else, and then enjoying it.
6. The Tempest
A minor story involving the buyer of Renata’s family house,
The 6 stores are all intriguing, and they touch different aspects of ‘madness’ and the means of discovering oneself. The pace intensifies as the film heads towards its conclusion, though the last vignette lacks bite and proper closure to the stories.
The film anthology plays like a psychological experiment, but one that is meticulously thought out and performed by a variety of actors who give their all in their performances.
Trailer:
HAMNET (UK/USA 2025) ****
Directed by Chloé Zhao
Academy Award–winning director Chloé Zhao (NOMADLAND) helms this lush and tender drama about William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his family, as seen through the eyes of his thoughtful wife Agnes (Jessie Buckley). Even though the audience already knows that the male is actually the Bard, the name William Shakespeare is not used till near the end of the film.
Based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet’s main character isn’t The Bard — played here by an impressive Paul Mescal — or even the child who gives the film its name. Hamnet belongs to Agnes (Jessie Buckley), Shakespeare’s thoughtful wife, who bathes the film in her warmth, drama and grief.
This is the story of Agnes and Will. She is a healer, he is a writer. It is also the story of their children: Susanna, their firstborn, and their twins, Judith and Hamnet. It's also the story of their small village, in 16th-century England. More to the point, it's a story of the lives, and especially the deaths, from plague, in their times. The story is told from the viewpoint of Agnes, and therein lies its power.
The narrative follows the courtship of Agnes with all the initial problems as they grow into a family with children. Then follows the husband’s trauma. Agnes allows her husband to travel to London to satisfy his hunger to write, which he succeeds at the expense of the family. The death of their son HAMNET, with his absence, fills Agnes with such grief that it overtakes and almost destroys the whole family. The grief is masterfully played, and the audience can really feel the trauma and torment of Agnes. This leads the film to its climax, and it is also what makes this film so emotional, raw, and unforgettable.
The film is graced with two great performances. One is from Irish actress Jessie Buckley, who scores in her title role of the troubled wife, her exasperation reaching a climax after she experiences the death of her son in her hands. Buckley has been nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress in THE LOST DAUGHTER and has also recently been seen in the comedy WICKED LITTLE LETTERS. The husband, Shakespeare, displayed by the recent rapid rise-to-fame of the actor, also Irish, also nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award in AFTERSUN, and also recently seen in ALL OF US STRANGERS. An excellent pairing here by casting genius Nina Gold. It is these two performances that lift HAMNET to one of the Top 10 Films of the year.
The sets and stage of this film are nothing short of remarkable and stunning. The scene of how a play was staged in those days as in Stratford-on-Avon, where HAMLET was played, is beautifully re-created in all its splendour and authenticity. The audience fills into the stand with hands that can reach out onto the stage. It should be noted that in William Shakespeare’s day, the names Hamlet and Hamnet were interchangeable.
Early scenes of Agnes and William’s courtship are naturalistic, rendered through lush cinematography by 2023 TIFF Variety Artisan Award winner Łukasz Żal (COLD WAR, THE ZONE OF INTEREST).
HAMNET opens at the TIFF Lightbox, Toronto, November 26th.
The film also won the Toronto International Film Festival's most honoured People’s Choice Award. Director Zhao’s NOMADLAND also won the same award back in 2020.
Trailer:
SANGRE DEL TORO (Blood of Del Toro) (UK/France 2025) ***
Directed by Yves Montmayeur
A documentary is often as interesting as its subject, and the new doc SANGRE DEL TORO boasts one of the most intriguing filmmakers of Mexican horror.
Guillermo Del Toro seamlessly merges his Mexican roots with cultural elements from Hollywood, Paris, and Guadalajara in his creative work.
In the words of Guillermo del Toro, director of PAN’S LABYRINTH, his best film, A labyrinth, unlike a maze, leads one towards destiny. It is eating, drinking and dreaming while getting from here to there. The introduction to the Netflix original documentary on Guillermo del Toro begins with an image of the creature, Pan from the film, an imaginative yet creepy creature, that holds its eyes in the palm of its hands. As a filmmaker, he says, you make a movie not only from the answers but from your doubts.
Just like a biopic, the doc then goes into Del Toro’s childhood, introducing this segment by saying how fascinating it is to watch horror through the eyes of a child. He goes on to say that childhood was the worst time of is life. filled with nightmares and fears.
SANGRE DEL TORO is a fascinating doc that lets its subject speak freely of his childhood, inspirations, fears and dreams. It also explores the origins of his genius, particularly in childhood memories from Mexico, featuring numerous clips from Del Toro’s horror movies, including PAN’S LABYRINTH, CRONOS, and THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE. These clips are understandably a pleasure to watch, and the images are both inspirational and unsettling.
SANGRE DEL TORO is a Netflix original documentary that opens this week, November 21st, for streaming on Netflix.
Trailer:
SELENA Y LOS DINOS (Selena and the Dinos) (Mexico 2025) ***
Directed by Isabel Castro
SELENA Y LOS DINOS (Selena and the Dinos) was an American Tejano band formed in 1981 by Tejano singer Selena and her father Abraham Quintanilla. The band remained together until the murder of Selena in 1995, which caused the dissolution of the band in the same year. When Selena was signed with EMI Latin, EMI president José Behar told Selena that "the world wanted Selena, not Selena y Los Dinos." Smelena then began releasing her solo studio albums under her name and her own logo title, Selena, instead of Selena y Los Dinos. Before Selena was signed with EMI, the band had sold more than 80,000 copies in the state of Texas.
SELENA Y LOS DINOS is a Netflix original documentary about Selena. What stands out in this doc, or why watch it? There are many reasons. For one, she brought new music to America. She fought the stigma of Latinos being a minority, not getting into the mainstream. Her biography also details how her family formed the band “Los Dinos” and how she became its lead singer, telling the importance and influence of family life. It was a family affair. Her brother was the leader, her sister a drummer, and her father the manager.
The doc tells the story of Selena’s origins. Selena speaks to the camera about how she first performed at the age of 6 and a half in front of her family. Family children were forced to perform in front of family gatherings.
The documentary is made using never-before-seen footage (home videos, personal photos, archive material) from the Quintanilla family. Through interviews with her closest family and band members — parents Abraham and Marcella, sister Suzette, brother A.B., husband Chris — the film shows the more private, intimate side of Selena: not just the superstar, but the sister, daughter, wife, and friend. It tracks her meteoric rise in the Tejano music scene, starting from performances at family dinners (in their Tex-Mex restaurant) to achieving mainstream recognition. Despite Selena’s tragic murder, the film does not focus on the incident but looks at the brighter side, emphasizing her legacy, cultural impact, and the joy and power of her life, making the doc more relevant and watchable for a Netflix audience. Selena is also a bubbling personality, making her a pleasure to watch.
SELENA Y LOS DINOS had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2025, where the film won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Archival Storytelling. In February 2025, Netflix was in the lead to acquire distribution rights to the film with a $6–7 million offer, amidst a bidding war. In May 2025, Netflix officially acquired the film. It also screened at South by Southwest in March 2025. It opens for streaming this week on Netflix.
Trailer:
WICKED: FOR GOOD (USA 2025) ***½
Directed by Jon M. Chu
It would be more entertaining if one recalls the first of the two WICKED films, the first being WICKED, released in 2024. The basic premise of he two films can be explained as this: In the Land of Oz, Glinda the Good joins the citizens of Munchkinland as they celebrate the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. When a child asks her why wickedness happens, Glinda deliberates the question by reflecting on the Witch's backstory — born from an affair between the wife of then-Governor Thropp, Melena, and a mysterious traveling salesman, the Witch was ostracized from birth due to her unnaturally green skin (a result of the green elixir the salesman intoxicated Melena with) and impulsive telekinetic powers ("No One Mourns the Wicked"). When asked if she and the Witch were friends, Glinda admits that they knew each other and explains their past. This scene is seen in both films.
Years after the events of Wicked (2024), Elphaba Thropp, now known as the Wicked Witch of the West, continues her fight for Animal rights while living as a fugitive. Meanwhile, Glinda Upland, now recognized as Glinda the Good, is a public figure watched over by the Wizard and Madame Morrible. As they face the consequences of their actions, their relationship is put to the test by a series of events—including the surprise arrival of Dorothy Gale with her three friends from Kansas—that will change the Land of Oz forever.
For musical lovers, WICKED: FOR GOOD, just as WICKED will not disappoint. The film has no shortage of lavish sets, lively songs, and choreographed numbers. From the colours of the yellow brick road to the rows of coloured fields of flowers, the sets and art-direction are very impressive - yes, one might describe it as the stuff dreams are made of. But WICKED 2, as the film is also called, has its dark moments. The second half of the film is much darker than the first as Elphaba exacts revenge for the imprisoned animals. Darker also becomes darker as the screen is filled with darker colours and shadows. The A-rated sex scene with the Prince showing his top half of his body, and Elphaba looks more uncomfortable for a fairy tale. Daring is what one might describe the scene as, but it could be omitted without much fanfare.
Ariana Grande plays Glinda Upland, Cynthia Erivo plays Elphaba Thropp, and Jonathan Bailey plays Fiyero Tigelaar, a Winkie prince who is now Captain of the Wizard's Guard. He is later transformed into the Scarecrow by Elphaba. One question in the film is whether Dorothy is seen travelling to see the wizard with her friends, which should include the scarecrow, but this has yet to be.
All the actors in the first film are in the sequel, including heavyweights like Oscar Winner Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morribl and Jeff Goldblum as the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Director Jon M. Chu has proved himself apt in musicals, as he did in the first WICKED and other minor musicals. But he likely believes that there can never be too much of a good thing, as he splashes every scene with either colour of blackness.
WiCKED: FOR GOOD cost a whopping $150 million to make, but should make it back. The film opens in theatres on November 21st.
Trailer:
ZODIAC KILLER PROJECT (UK/USA 2025) ***
Directed by Charlie Shackleton
True crime dramas are intriguing fare as they provide mystery and thrills. True crime documentaries are able to draw an audience into it….as the narrative of the ZODIAC KILLER says, at one point. Netflix has cornered the market with countless true crime dramas, both solved and unsolved. The latest true crime drama is one involving one of the highest profiled serial killed, dubbed the Zodiac Killer. His identity was never discovered, and he was never caught.
The Zodiac Killer is the pseudonym of an unidentified serial killer who murdered five known victims in the San Francisco Bay Area between December 1968 and October 1969. The case has been described as "arguably the most famous unsolved murder case in American history," and has become both a fixture of popular culture and a focus for efforts by amateur detectives.
The Zodiac's known attacks took place in Benicia, Vallejo, unincorporated Napa County, and the City and County of San Francisco proper. He attacked three young couples and a lone male cab driver. Two of these victims survived. The Zodiac coined his name in a series of taunting messages that he mailed to regional newspapers, in which he threatened killing sprees and bombings if they were not printed. He also said that he was collecting his victims as slaves for the afterlife. He included four cryptograms or ciphers in his correspondence; two were decrypted in 1969 and 2020, and two are generally considered to be unsolved. But investigators agree on four confirmed attacks by the Zodiac Killer in California. Five victims were killed during these attacks, and two survived
Against the backdrop of deserted spaces, a filmmaker (Shackleton) explores his abandoned Zodiac Killer documentary, delving into the true crime genre's inner workings at a saturation point. For example, at he start of the doc, he films an open car park space narrating that in the doc, a car would move into the space and he describes the car. He says that the cop driving the car is Lyndon, in what he says would likely be a reenactment in the documentary. He goes on to describe another car that pulls in beside the car, and the audience then sees a man, presumably Shackleton, walking into the empty parking spaces. This is the location where it is presumed cop Lyndon first meets who he thinks is the killer, judging from the memory of a sketch he has pinned at the back of his car's sun visor. The one positive fact about Shackleton is that he, at least, is very familiar with the true crime drama genre, which makes this weird doc all the more compelling. ZODIAC KILLER PROJECT is an interesting novelty piece, and the magic question is whether Shackleton can keep his audience attentive throughout the film’s 92-minute length.
ZODIAC KILLER PROJECT had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 27, 2025, where it won the NEXT Innovator Award. It has a special advance seal preview in Toronto on Thursday, October 8th at the TIFF Lightbox, where director Charlie Shackleton will be present for a Q&A. The film opens on November 21st.
Trailer:
