FILM REVIEWS:
300 LETTERS (300 Cartas)(Argentina/UK/Germany 2025) ***
Directed by Lucas Sanata Ana
Who is cuter? Who is more f***d up?
Jero (Cristian Mariani) and Tom (Gastón Frías) are the young gay couple that everyone wants to be. On the day of the first anniversary of their meeting, Jero returns home to find that Tom has abandoned him, leaving him a box of 300 letters in pink envelopes in a pink box as his only explanation. Jero is to read each letter, written by Tom, and in order, not skipping any, to find the reason Tom has left him.
300 LETTERS is described as an anti-romantic comedy. The term refers to a film that subverts or rejects the usual conventions of a romantic comedy.
An anti–rom-com flips that formula by showing:
messy, realistic, or even cynical relations
flawed characters who may not end up together,
darker or bittersweet tones instead of cheerful ones,
and a critique of romantic clichés or societal expectations about love.
Examples of anti-romcoms are MARRIAGE STORY, THE LOBSTER, AND (500) DAYS OF SUMMER. Yes, these are really good films that hit the subject on target.
Gay romcoms are typically more daring than straight ones. Jero and Tom meet and they both cum from French kissing and jerking each other off in Jero’s courtyard. Then they enter the house to continue sex, where Tom rides Jero while kissing. These two scenes are not erotic enough, unless one is a straight person.
As the first letter, #001 is read by Jero, dressed to him as “Dear Jero”, Jero, as well as the audience, begins to learn about their relationship, one letter at a time, from Tom’s point of view. The first letter records their first encounter and meeting, full of sex. But as Tom says in the letter, the sex would lie on the list of his best sexual encounters, but it is all sex, and nothing else. The first letter takes 15 minutes of screen time while the following letters take much less time, of course, or this film will never end. The audience and Jero learn a different Tom than the one Jero knows. The thing that can be learnt about the relationship is that there is too much sex and not much else. At the film’s halfway mark, it is at letter number 41.
For a comedy, many lessons can be learned here about relationships, whether gay or straight. For one, great sex isn’t enough for a relationship to hold, though it helps immensely. More important is respect. The fact that Tom writes of Jero’s and his prose al emotions without Jero’s permission naturally pisses Jero off, as would most people in the same boat. In Jero and Tom’s relationship, neither is willing to sacrifice and do more for the other than himself.
300 Letters world premiered at the 2025 Roze Filmdagen Film Festival, held its US Premiere at Wicked Queer: Boston's LGBTQ+ Film Festival, and went on to hold a healthy festival life with screenings at Frameline San Francisco, Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs LGBTQ+ Film Festival, and FilmOut San Diego. The film is set to screen at Outshine LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Out Here Daytona Film Fest, and Way Out West Film Fest this Fall.
300 LETTERS opens on VOD, digital from Cinephobia Releasing on November 11.
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BARAMULLA (India 2025) ***
Directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale.
The new Indian mystery film is entitled BARAMULLA, which is also the name of the city in India where the story is set. Why Baramulla? There is an intriguing history of the city.
Baramulla lies in the Kashmir division of the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (shaded tan) in the disputed Kashmir region. Baramulla, also known as Varmul, is a City of the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. The city was earlier known as the gateway of Kashmir, serving as the major distribution centre for goods arriving in the Kashmir valley through the Jhelum valley cart road. The name Baramulla is derived from the Sanskrit Varāhamūla (वराहमूल), a combination of varāha (boar) and mūla (root or deep) meaning "boar's molar.” According to Hindu mythology, the Kashmir Valley was once a lake known as Satisaras (Parvati's Lake in Sanskrit). Ancient Hindu texts relate that the lake was occupied by the demon Jalodbhava (meaning "originated from water") until Lord Vishnu assumed the form of a boar and struck the mountain at Varahamula. This created an opening for the water to flow out of the lake. The setting of the film is the real character of the story. The film’s opening shot is a plant surviving a mountain snow-covered slope.
The story follows DSP Ridwaan Sayyed, who is transferred to the scenic yet tense valley of Baramulla in Kashmir. Shortly after his arrival, a young boy disappears under mysterious circumstances during a local magic show, which triggers a string of child disappearances across the town. The boy is the son of a member of the MLA in India, a nasty man to meet. A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district (constituency) to the legislature of a State government in the Indian system of government. Ridwaan, his wife Gulnaar (Bhasha Sumbli), and their children (son and daughter) move into a derelict old house, and strange supernatural phenomena begin to occur: footsteps at night, a dog smell when no dog is present, and the sense that something unseen is in the home and the valley. India
The film contains interspersed bouts of humour, that are actually quite funny. When a colleague questions Ridwaan about the removal of the picture of the prime suspect. The colleague asked: “Are you joking?” His answer: I only joke with my wife, and that occurs only once or twice a year. A few others are enough to bring laughs and lighten the mood of this otherwise serious story.
The (Indian) film is a rare blend of detective mystery of disappearing children with family drama and supernatural mystery. interspersed with some fine humour. The film explores the impact of fear on a person's ability to function.
BARAMULLA is a Netflix original film shot in Hindi and opens for streaming on Friday, November 7.
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CHRISTY (USA 2025) ***½
Directed by David Michôd
CHRISTY is a 2025 American biographical sports drama film about the professional boxer Christy Martin, played by Sydney Sweeney.
Christy Martin (Sydney Sweeney) is said to be “the most successful and prominent female boxer in the United States” and the person who “legitimized” women’s participation in the sport of boxing. The film follows her story as he began her career fighting in “Toughwoman” contests and won three consecutive titles. She then began training with boxing coach Jim Martin, who became her husband in 1991. Martin married her manager, James V. "Jim" Martin (Ben Foster), in 1991.
The film runs over 2 hours. It could be shortened, but it included a few distractions that lengthened Martin’s story. Whether the distractions are good or bad depends on the viewer.
The film, to its credit, contains strong character development and study, which, unfortunately, could also be discarded to shorten the film’s length. Martin’s mother is the story’s most interesting character, one of conflicting personalities that makes Christy difficult to read. The mother, Joyce Salters, brilliantly portrayed by Merritt Wever, was totally against Christy’s high school gay relationship with Sherry. The confrontation scene at the dinner table shows the mother’s forcefulness, which Christy screams out against. But still, it is the mother’s insistence that Christy stay to consult with the boxing promoter and trainer when Christy initially decides to give up due to the man’s attitude towards women. This is likely the reason Christy later confides her marital abuse to her mother, only to be given a slap on her face. The mother later makes her stand on authority when she forces Sherry to leave the hospital, when it was Sherry who had saved her. Christy’s father, John Saltesr (Ethan Embry) is another interesting personality, quite all the way at the dinner table during the mother/daughter argument when he suddenly, literally bangs the table with full force with his fist, stopping the argument. Christ’s brother supports his sister, but very quietly in doing so.
The fight scenes are necessarily bloody and violent as in any other boxing film, whether commercial like Sylvester Stallone’s ROCKY or biographical like Martin Scorsese’s RAGING BULL. But the greater violence is not found in the ring, but at home. Christy’s abusive husband, James V. Martin (Ben Foster), is one manipulative and violent monster that every audience would love to hate. In the story, as in real life, James uses cocaine to control Christy, who, at one point in the film, looks uncontrollable due to the drug.
Performances in the film are generally outstanding. Sydney Sweeney delivers a knock-out in the title role. She looks like a butch and fighter, totally different from the gorgeous bombshell that she is, in real-life photos. Ben Foster is also outstanding as the villain of the piece and of Christie’s life. In real life, the character Foster played was sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment and died in prison, a fate well deserved.
Christy did not publish any biography or book on herself, but she served as an advisor to the film. This is not the first film about Christy Martin. To note, in 2021, Netflix released Untold: Deal with the Devil, a documentary chronicling Martin’s career and personal life.
CHRIST had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and opens in theatres on November 7th.
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DIE MY LOVE (USA 2025) ****
Directed by Lynne Ramsay
Love.... a fate worse than death?
Lynne Ramsay's DIE MY LOVE arrives for theatrical release after its Cannes Premiere without it being picked up by their year’s Toronto International Film Festival, likely for its violent and raw emotional content.
The film is based on the Spanish 2012 novel set in rural France, (Matate amor) by Ariana Harwicz. The script is co-written by Ramsay with Enda Walsh and Alice Birch.
Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) and Jackson (Robert Pattinson), a young couple who move from New York City to Jackson’s rural childhood home in Montana, are in search of a quieter life. As they adjust to their new surroundings and become parents, Grace begins to struggle with feelings of isolation and psychological distress. Her deteriorating mental health gradually drives their marriage into unsettling and unpredictable territory.
The story unfolds in a non-linear chronological fashion, which can be a tad confusing. At the two-thirds mark of the film, Jackson asks Grace in the field: “Let’s get married.” This is followed by the wedding scene, where Grace exhibits bout os craziness while drinking too much. She is seen with the baby in the stroller, so one assumes that she had the baby before the wedding, which explains the probable cause of her madness.
There is the ultimate question of the cause of Grace’s madness. Among the present ones listed are PTSD, Anxiety, psychotic disorders, and eating disorders, among many. In one Monty Python skit, a Monty Python member joked: “Is plain mad not good enough for you?” In DIE FOR LOVE, the cause of Grace’s madness is hinted at in one party scene where she is warned of Postpartum depression (PPD), also called perinatal depression. This is a mood disorder that may be experienced by pregnant or postpartum women. Symptoms that Grace undergoes include extreme sadness, low energy, anxiety, crying episodes, irritability, and extreme changes in sleeping or eating patterns.
But it is not the cause of madness that writer/director Ramsay is interested in. In her best movie, the 2011 WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, Kevin's mother (Tilda Swinton) struggles to love her strange child (played as a grown-up, Ezra Miller) despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined, which is to shoot his classmates in the gym as the film comes to a close. In the very last scene, when the mother visits him, Kevin tells his mother he has finally realized the reason for the gym massacre. When asked the reason, Kevin replies: “I have forgotten.” In DIE FOR LOVE, the mad madness is displayed on screen with all its horror, destruction and damage, with no excuse for it.
Director Ramsay stylized visuals such as the burning of the woods, depicting Grace’s instability, which bookend the film, tend to distract more than make a point. Cinematography is great, though. Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey reunited with Ramsay after WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN.
DIE MY LOVE opens in theatres on November 7th.
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IN YOUR DREAMS (USA 2025) ****
Directed by Alex Woo
IN YOUR DREAMS is from Netflix Animation Studios, ready to take animation by storm. The animation feature is an upcoming American animated adventure fantasy comedy film directed by Alex Woo, and co-directed by Erik Benson from a script by Woo and Benson and a story by Woo, Benson, and Stanley Moore. The film stars Craig Robinson, Simu Liu, two most noted names among others. Robinson steals the show as the smart-mouthed toy, Baloney Tony, just as Eddie Murphy’s donkey did in the SHREK movies.
A girl named Stevie and her brother named Elliot, magically travel into the world of dreams to find The Sandman, who would grant their wish of saving their parents’ marriage.
There are no new original songs in the film, but a lot of popular top 40 hits are effectively picked for different segments in the film. The funniest is the one song by The Pussycat Dolls, “Don’t Cha? Don’t Cha?” with lyrics like “Don’t you wish your Pizza is as fresh as me?” (Don’t You Wish Your girlfriend was as hot as me? Don’t Cha? Don’t Cha?) when father takes the kids to their favourite pizza place. Other songs include the Sandman song, the one that asks him to grant a wish. Stevie’s wish is to have her family together as one, as she thinks mother and father are breaking up. Father is having songwriter’s block while mother gets an interview for a college teaching post in another city.
It is good to see a film succeed that does not require a villain to be subdued. The Sandman is only a harmless one, but with a bad motive. The story told from a female, the daughter’s point of view, also works to make a female slant film.
There are quite a few excellent set pieces, though a few might have been seen in some family film or other. One is a sweet scene in which Stevie’s very annoying brother suddenly discloses to her that he would miss her so much if she were to go missing. Stevie then understands the innocence of her little brother’s love. The segment of the two on the flying bed is also cute and funny. Flying beds or flying vehicles are a favourite means of transport in magical films like BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS and CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, and the script uses the tactic well. But do dreams come true? Again, the old age is to be careful of what you wish for.
IN YOUR DREAMS is huge on fun and wonder with magic and family values thrown in for good measure. The goofy humour is dished out for both kids and adults, and the family setting makes the film an excellent family outing at the cinema or at home on the Netflix streaming service. A winner for Netflix and one definite contender for the Best Animated features of the year! (Others in the running include SPACE CADETS and ZOOTOPIA 2.)
IN YOUR DREAMS is set for a limited theatrical release on November 7, 2025, before its release on Netflix on November 14, 2025.
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NUREMBERG (USA 2025) ****
Directed by James Vanderbilt
NUREMBERG is not the first film made about an international tribunal putting Nazi criminals on trial. The most noted is Stanley Kramer’s courtroom drama JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG starring Spencer Tracey. Set in Nuremberg, in the then American occupation zone in Germany, the film depicts a fictionalized version – with fictional characters – of the Judges' Trial of 1947, one of the twelve Nuremberg Military Tribunals conducted under the auspices of the U.S. military in the aftermath of World War II.
This Nuremberg is based on a true story, as the film informs the audience at the start of the film. It is already quite well known by many, but also good to know before watching NUREMBERG who Nazi criminal Göring (Russell Crowe) is. He was one of the wealthiest and most corrupt Nazi leaders. He looted art and property from occupied countries and from Jewish families targeted by the regime. He lived lavishly, collecting art, jewels, and estates while much of Germany suffered under wartime austerity.
After Germany’s defeat, the setting of the film, Göring was captured by Allied forces.
He stood trial at the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal (1945–46), accused of:
Crimes against peace
War crimes
Crimes against humanity
He was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to death by hanging.
The night before his scheduled execution, Göring committed suicide by swallowing cyanide in his prison cell.
NUREMBERG chronicles the true story of the eponymous trials held by the Allies against the defeated Nazi regime. Based on Jack El-Hai’s non-fiction book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, the story centres on U.S. Army psychiatrist Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek),
who is tasked with determining whether high-ranking Nazi officers are mentally fit to stand trial for their war crimes – including Hermann Göring, the notorious former Reichsmarschall and Hitler’s second in command. The film demonstrates that as Kelley gets to know his “patient,” he soon finds himself locked in a psychological duel with Göring, whose charisma and cunning reveal a sobering truth: that ordinary men can commit extraordinary evil.
The script contains lots of smart talk, sometimes too much, as everyone in the story appears able to give the best rebuttal. Example: Göring says, I will also show you a magic trick, how I am going to escape the hangman’s noose.” When asked by Col. Kelly how he was going to do that, his reply is: “If I were to tell you, then it would not be a trick.” But the small talk helps in the film’s entertainment, as smart talk is always entertaining to listen to. Other times, statements are also cleverly put out. “Just because a man is your ally does not mean he is on your side,” Göring advises Kelley at one point.
The strategies of both the Americans and the Nazi criminals for the trial are also on display here. This is where those in the area of law might find the film more interesting, as the script veers towards substance instead of just plain courtroom drama.
The first trial begins at the halfway mark of the 2-hour 28-minute film.
The big argument is that the war ends in the courtroom - an argument put forward quite convincingly at the one-third point in the film, and the purpose of the Göring trial.
The film, definitely worth a look, opens in theatres this week.
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PREDATOR: BADLANDS (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg
PREDATOR: BADLANDS is the umpteenth film of the Predator series. Predator is an American science fiction action anthology media franchise primarily centred on encounters between humans and a fictional species of extraterrestrial trophy hunters known as the Predators. Produced and distributed by 20th Century Studios, the series was initially conceived by screenwriters Jim and John Thomas. The series began with the film Predator (1987), directed by John McTiernan, and was followed by several sequels—Predator 2 (1990), Predators (2010), and then it went crazy now with this 2025 PREDATOR: BADLANDS. In truth, it is the sixth live-action film, seventh overall film, and ninth installment in the Predator franchise.
In the future, on a remote planet, a young Predator, Dek, outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Elle Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary. Kwei is Dek’s brother. Njohrr / Apex Predator, Dek and Kwei's father, and leader of the Clan, wants Dek's death. It is confusing which predator is which, as they are all creatures that resemble one another. It takes time to find out who Dek is, the brother and the father.
The action set pieces are well executed, despite the shortcomings of often having non-humans fighting one another. As a sci-fi movie, the setting on a desolate planet enables lots of colours and special landscapes to be put in. The film often draws from other films, such as the transformer films, when Thia’s sisters manipulate a transformer-like tractor transformer-looking machine in a fight with the predator. The filmmakers also claim inspiration from classics like the Clint Eastwood westerns and even the classic SHANE.
The computer-generated imagery, the cinematography, and the makeup all deserve mention. For a film with few humans and little opportunity for emotions. PREDATOR BADLANDS more than makes it up with silly by mind mind-boggling action.
The director Trachtenberg has stated he had three initial Predator films in mind to make after the success of Prey; depending on the success of Predator: Badlands, he plans to direct the third planned project
PREDATOR: BADLANDS opens in theatres on November 7th.
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TRAIN DREAMS (USA 2025) ***** Top 10
Directed by Clint Bentley
Once in a while comes a quiet little film that could be described to be about nothing, that surprises and becomes one of the most moving films of the year. TRAIN DREAMS is a 2025 American drama film directed by Clint Bentley, who co-wrote the screenplay with Greg Kwedar, based on the 2011 novella of the same name by Denis Johnson. The film stars Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, Clifton Collins Jr., Kerry Condon, and William H. Macy.
Logger Robert Grainier (Edgerton) works to develop the railroad across the United States, causing him to spend vast time away from his wife (Jones) and daughter, and he is struggling with his place in a changing world.
The story traces the life of Robert Grainier, an orphan raised in the forests of the Pacific Northwest in early 20th-century America. There is a discomforting scene when the audience sees the boy alone, travelling on a train across the country. He works as a logger and railroad-construction labourer, helping build tracks, clearing timber, and grappling with the forces of change around him. This is where Robert, the quiet man, meets his wife, Gladys, the woman who makes the first move. Robert was only surprised by the fact that she his attracted to him. He falls in love with her, and his whole life is changed. They build a home, have a daughter, but his work often takes him away, and his life is marked by separation, trauma, and the shifting world of industry and wilderness. Then fate rears its ugly head in terms of what audiences now experience because of global warming. Wild forest fires! Robert is separated from his wife as a result of working away when the fires happen. Distraught, he spends time and effort on each of his wife and daughter, the loss taking a raw and lasting emotional toll on the man.
The film explores how one “ordinary” life can be rich with meaning: its challenges, losses, connections, and the interplay between humanity and the natural world.
Edgerton delivers a controlled yet powerful performance that should not be overlooked for the character’s lack of dialogue.
TRAIN DREAMS is quietly melancholy, finding beauty in nature and fate that often humans never have any control over, a film about a man on his own, orphaned as a child, who dies returning to the dust of the Earth. He has not achieved milestones in his life, is not a hero (he observes a racist killing and does nothing), but is just an ordinary man living his life in an extraordinary film. TRAIN DREAMS is one of the year’s Top 10 films. Among its accolades, the film received nominations for Best Feature and Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2025 Gotham Film Awards.
TRAIN DREAMS had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2025, and is scheduled to be released in select cinemas in the United States and Canada on November 7, 2025, before its streaming debut on Netflix on November 21, 2025.
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