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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 23 November 2025

 

JINGLE BELL HEIST (USA 2025) ***1/2
Directed by Michael Fimognarit

 

One good thing about CHRISTMAS DAY HESIT is that the film is set in London, the world’s renowned Christmas city.  Note that to give a more modern look, there's a shot of the more newly built Overground train instead of the Underground train moving along the railway tracks in London.  Written by Amy Reed and Abby McDonald, the film has a female slant, concentrating on one of the robbers, Sophie.

The story follows Sophia (played by Olivia Holt) — a resourceful retail worker struggling to make ends meet — and Nick O'Connor (played by Connor Swindells) — a down-on-his-luck repairman-turned-ex-security-consultant. Both are financially desperate when the Christmas season hits. With nothing to lose, the two independently plan to rob a luxurious London department store on Christmas Eve, each seeing it as their chance to escape hardship.

At the height of the holiday season, two strangers team up to rob one of London's most famous department stores while accidentally falling in love.  The “department-store” in Jingle Bell Heist was — at least for filming purposes — represented by Loughborough Hotel in Brixton, London.  The film’s production team dressed the hotel’s façade and ground-floor spaces to look like the fictional “Sterlings London Department Store.So while the story depicts a large, posh department store, the “store” in reality was a converted historic building — not a functioning retail department store.

The jokes are pleasant, not overtly funny, but still can manage a chuckle or two.  Example in the huge departmental store, with a layout similar to Harrods,  Sophie, who works there, encounters an irate customer who remarks: This place gets worse every day, to which a store clerk replies: Or the people.  Sophie replies: Or is it that they were always terrible?  The store manager who stands on he balcony overlooking the shoppers remarks:  Shopping and spending!  That is what Christmas is all about.

The filming locations are in the U.K., the film’s country of origin is the United States, which is obvious from the captioning spelling of the short form ‘mom’ instead of ‘mum’.  At least the script uses the correct British terms like ‘last orders’ for ‘last call’, and ‘tube’ for ‘subway’.  (Hey, I have spent over 2 dozen visits to London, even spending a number of Christmases there)  Unfortunately, in the film every everyone at the Sterlings store wishes each other Merry Christmas.  In London, everyone greets with Happy Christmas, not like in the United States.

For a Netflix Christmas movie, JINGLE BELL HEIST hits all the right notes.  Do not dismiss this film as the typical Christmas nonsense that new films are usually released at this time of year.  Though not the almost perfect Christmas film, it comes entertainingly close, and it does succeed as a romantic comedy, a heist job, and with a few messages put in for good measure.  There are a few good twists in the plot that should satisfy even the more demanding moviegoer.  The movie blends lighthearted romance and holiday spirit with suspense and moral complexity — the desperation of the protagonists makes their plan feel sympathetic rather than purely criminal.

JINGLE BELL HEIST opens for streaming this week on Netflix and makes an excellent festive fare.

Trailer: 

MEADOWLARKS (Canada 2025) **
Directed by Tasha Hubbard

 

 

MEADOWLARKS is based on director Hubbard’s  2017 documentary Birth of a Family.  Director Hubbard’s Meadowlarks is an emotional, fictionalised true drama that follows four siblings, separated by the Sixties Scoop, as they come together over a week.  Sixties Scoop refers to the term given for the then-common practice of removing Indigenous children from their families, often without consent, and placing them with the child welfare system.  There are no fewer than 3 Canadian films dealing with his topic at TIFF this year.  Instead of dealing of issues like how the siblings got to each other and reunite, how they got taken away, director Hubbard concentrates more on awkward small talk, gifts, and forced bonding events, the one brother and three sisters do their best to get to know one another after decades apart, their interactions, and how they come to terms with one another.  Unfortunately, Hubbard stays on melodrama and emotional theatrics to tell her story, resulting in forced sentiment and overlong hugging and screaming sessions that go on with dysfunctional families that one has already seen too much of.  The audience is also forced to sit through one of the siblings, Justine’s full rendition of her ‘throat singing’.

 

SAVAGE HUNT (USA 2025) **
Directed by Roel Reiné

 

SAVAGE HUNT is a savage man versus beast thriller (touted as a survival thriller) from celebrated Dutch action filmmaker Roel Reiné, who also did the music of the film.

Driven by what the press notes call edge-of-your-seat suspense, tension, and primal stakes, SAVAGE HUNT follows a vengeful tracker who is brought in to hunt down a large grizzly bear that had begun attacking humans when a new local resort is being built. 

The film’s touted to include scenes with a real grizzly bear.  But the bear is not in all the scenes, with some computer-generated or animated, and the attacks often look quite tacky.  In Hitchcock’s thriller, THE BIRDS, and in Spielberg’s JAWS, the first scene of a bird and of the shark only appears halfway through the movies, thus generating much audience anticipation.  In SAVAGE HUNT, the bear is seen in the first scene and again in too many scenes that the bear looks too cartoonish in parts.  But worse of all is the film’s continuity, not helped by the editing, which is really bad.  Often, the audience sees the bear attacking a human on the ground and then sees it standing upright, roaring, and then rolling again on the ground.  The bear attack scenes are shot with different camera angles of attack, which look disjointed.

The story takes place in the Montana wilderness, where the construction of a new resort and logging operations disrupt the natural habitat.  There are some beautiful shots of the Montana landscape, including the rivers, mountains, and wilderness, making Montana look like a tourist spot to visit.  But as modernization comes to the wild, the film’s premise proposes that the wild animals have nowhere to survive and therefore move closer to the towns.  Such is the main grizzly bear in the film, which is described as the grizzly of grizzlies.  If you think that this kind of bear that would eat scraps out of trash cans, this one would eat these grizzlies.  T segments of the bear mauling her victims are not that frightening, and in fact, it looks kind of fake, though the aftermath of the mauling is shown in nasty detail to make the film’s point.

The film’s main character is Joe Regan, a hardened tracker and skillful hunter with a troubled past, who hunts down the bear.  He has lost his son and his marriage as a result.  Other characters include a resort construction chief with his estranged ex-wife and daughter, whom he is trying to communicate with.  All these characters are essentially time fillers in a film with a thin narrative.

The film suffers from poorly executed action set pieces, though touted that a real grizzly was brought into the filming.  The continuity is much worse, and coupled with a cliched story of relationship-troubled characters, SAVAGE HUNT fails to entertain in more ways than one.

SAVAGE HUNT arrives on digital download and on-demand December 2, 2025, from Shout! Studios, a Radial Entertainment Company. 

Trailer: 

THE STRINGER: The Man who Took the Photo (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Bao Nguyen

 

This Netflix doc concerns one of the most famous war photographs taken of all time.  The photo shows a Vietnamese girl running naked from a napalm bomb, her skin peeling from her body as she ran.  Phan Thị Kim Phúc OOnt, referred to informally as the girl in the picture and the napalm girl, is a South Vietnamese-born Canadian woman best known as the child depicted in the Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph, titled The Terror of War, taken at Trảng Bàng during the Vietnam War on June 8, 1972.  The photo won Nick Ut the Pulitzer Prize, and the photo bore the reputation of peace, stopping the war.

But did Ut take the photo?

A stringer is a freelance reporter or photographer who contributes stories, photos, or videos to a news organization and is paid per piece rather than being on staff.

The Associated Press (AP) editor at the time claimed that it was his boss, Horst, who made him list the name Nick Ut as credit.   The film is that story.

The central premise of the film investigates whether the famous Vietnam War photograph known as The Terror of War — more commonly called “Napalm Girl” — was actually taken by Nguyễn Thành Nghệ, a Vietnamese freelance photographer (stringer), rather than by Nick Ut, the person long credited with it. The film follows a two-year investigative effort led by conflict photographer Gary Knight and a team of journalists, starting from a confession by a former Saigon photo editor. That editor — after more than 50 years — claimed he was haunted by the knowledge that the photo might have been miscredited.

The issue of photo/film credit might seem trivial to some.  But the film demonstrates otherwise.  Beyond authorship, the documentary argues this revelation raises questions about how war photography — and those who risked their lives to capture it — have been credited, especially local and freelance journalists whose contributions may have been overlooked or erased.

The feel of the film is gripping and urgent, making the doc an absorbing piece of investigative journalism.  The film challenges decades of established journalistic history by claiming that journalism for the photo may have been wrongly assigned.

But the truth is still up for debate.  Not everyone is convinced: The Associated Press (AP) — which long credited Nick Ut — has strongly rebutted the documentary’s claims. Multiple sources from 1972, including colleagues and witnesses, continue to support Ut’s authorship. AP’s stance: without conclusive new evidence, they believe Ut remains the rightful credit.

The question then is, when a stringer sells a photo, does he sell his rights as well?  If the rights are not mentioned, it could be argued that the rights had been sold as well.

`The film also raises broader, systemic questions about how local and freelance journalists — often working under dangerous, exploitative conditions — have been marginalized, their contributions erased or miscredited.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2025 and has since been acquired by Netflix.  The film is currently streaming beginning this week on Netflix.

Trailer: 

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 14 November 2025

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: 

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 14 November 2025

Capsule Reviews of Select Feature Films:

The Best of Canadian Horror returns in November with the annual Blood in the Snow Film Festival.

 

For tickets, click on the link to get to the official website:

https://www.bloodinthesnow.ca/

(copy and paste the link if clicking does not work)

FOREIGNER (Canada 2025) ***

Directed by Ava Maria Safai

 

Everyone wants to fit in - especially foreigners relocating to a new country.  As the teen girl protagonist leaves Iran for Canada, British Columbia, from the looks of it, she looks desperately to fit in.  She tries her utmost to improve her English by imitating the dialogue from the TV, much to the chagrin of her grandmother and slightly over-possessive father, both of whom want her to take pride in her Iranian heritage.  Worse still, at school, she meets three white mean girls, and she is pressured even more to be accepted into the group.  The ultimate moment comes when she decides to dye her hair blonde in order to look Canadian.  Granny and Dad are shocked.  The act unleashes some demon of some sort.  The film blends two different genres as a Mean Girls-type movie and the horror genre, which unfortunately does not work that well.  It all looks as if there are two separate movies here.  But the film is still quite engrossing, as audiences should be able to relate to the pressure of fitting into any society or group, whatever the circumstances.

 

 

SON OF SARA (Son of Sara: Volume 1) (Canada 2025) ***

Directed by Hunter Bone

 

Pregnant mothers make a good premise for horror movies.  SON OF SARA begins with a distraught mother tied up, screaming,” Please don’t kill my baby.”  After her baby is killed, the mother’s throat is slit.  A ghastly introduction to the horror movie, in which the film continues, soon after, with Sara (a different woman), as she describes herself, violently pregnant.   She begins to be haunted by strange urges.  Sara lives with her girlfriend Carol (this is an LGBT+ film) in their apartment.  At some point, Sara encounters her ex-boyfriend, Troy, the one who got her pregnant, and agrees to join him for dinner.  What starts out as a dinner invitation spirals into a bloody, demented nightmare. A bloody enough film, with not much of a storyline, but with psychological and supernatural elements.  The cast, which includes Chloe Van Landschoot as Sara, Tymika Tafari as Carol, and Garrett Hnatiuk as Troy, delivers credible performances.  Is there a Volume 2 coming soon?

 

VIOLENCE (Canada 2025) **
Directed by Connor Marsden

The film setting is the 1980s, where cellphones are noticeably absent in the film, with a protagonist called Henry VIOLENCE who has to navigate two cartel wars in order to survive.  Not only does Henry need to navigate, but also he audience who has to figure out who is who and what is going on, in a messy setup.  Henry also wants to save a hooker girl he cares for.  The narrative is somewhat of a mess, and the acting is satisfactory at best, with hardly a star or character anyone would care for.  The only good thing about the film is the visuals of the alternative 80s setting in an unnamed country.  The film is shot in Sudbury in Ontario.  The film has played in other festivals and has no distribution dates yet.

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 07 November 2025

FILM REVIEWS:

BEING EDDIE (USA 2025) ***

Directed by Angus Wall

 

BEING EDDIE is the Eddie Murphy everyone loves to laugh with.  Murphy is indeed one funny man whom everyone can agree on.  Looking at him will just make you laugh, often without him having to utter any words.  BEING EDDIE is a frank look at the man and his personal life, with lots of cameos by celebrities who are also his friends.

Edward Regan Murphy, now in his 50s,  is an American actor, comedian, and singer.   He had his breakthrough as a stand-up comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognised as one of the greatest comedians of all time.  He has received several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, and an Emmy Award, as well as nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. He was honoured with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humour in 2015 and the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2023.

Murphy shot to fame on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984 and broke out as a movie star in the 1980s films 48 Hrs., TRADING PLACES and BEVERLY HILLS COP.

The doc has Murphy talking to the screen a majority of the time, talking about his acts and his life.  This adds to the authenticity of the doc as well as the humour, as Murphy is a very funny guy.  An easy-going doc with clips from the comedian’s funny moments that should keep audiences entertained.

Trailer: 

Quite a bit of his life is also mentioned on screen.  His life with his brother, Charles, who was in the Service and later hired by Eddie as chief security.

Murphy is depicted as a good guy, staying away from drugs and smoking, etc.  He mentions how he turned down an after-party that Jim Belushi and Robin Williams invited him to.  He also turned down one by Yul Brynner and his pretty young wife.

BEING EDDIE opens for streaming this week on Netflix.

JAY KELLY (USA 2025) ****
Directed by Noah Baumbach

 

Noah Baumbach’s movies are solid filmmaking material, and his new film is something definitely to look forward to.  And JAY KELLY does not disappoint. Baumbach is known for making light comedies set in New York City, and his works are inspired by filmmakers such as Woody Allen and Whit Stillman.  His recent films have exceeded expectations.  (He has received award nominations for four Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards._ Baumbach directs and co-writes the film with Emily Mortimer, who also plays a role ninth film.

Baumbach’s last best movie is A MARRIAGE STORY, about a crumbling marriage, more drama than comedy, which starred Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson.  JAY KELLY, his new film, takes the name of its lead character and protagonist, Jay Kelly, portrayed by George Clooney.  It is a story of how Jay comes to terms with his two daughters and the people close to him, like his manager and publicist.  His elder daughter, Jessica (Riley Keough), resents him for not being with her and she now works in a city far away and seldom sees her dad.  The younger, Daisy (Grace Edwards), is taking a European holiday with friends while the father wants to spend his week break after completing his last movie with her.  She takes off with friends to Europe, and her father hijacks her holiday by meeting her on the train.   An alternative title to the film could be A FAMILY STORY, as it is a story about Jay Kell and his relationship with his family.  The wife is noticeably absent in the film, and the wife is never mentioned at all in the story.

The story centres on the character, Jay Kelly (played by George Clooney), a world-famous actor whose polished celebrity persona masks deeper questions of identity, purpose, and relationships. As the words inform at the start of the film, words that are repeated later on in the movie.  Jay Kelly has more problems playing himself than playing other personalities on the screen.

After the death of a director (Jim Broadbent) who once took a chance on him, Jay finds himself disconnected from his girls (his daughters).  He grows increasingly estranged from the realness of his own life, despite being surrounded by red carpets and adoration.  He embarks on a journey through Europe along with his longtime manager, Ron (Adam Sandler), in which both men examine their decisions, sacrifices, and what legacy they'll leave behind.

There are also other interesting stories that go hand-in-hand with the main plot.  One is the marriage of the manager Ron with his wife, played by the director’s wife, Greta Gerwig.  These other stories are less distracting as they are all connected to Jay Kelly’s story.

There is an impressive ensemble cast, the best of whom includes Stacy Keach playing Jay’s father, Patrick Wilson as Ben Alcock and Laura Dern as Liz, Jay’s publicist.  George Clooney could be playing his real self on screen or a similar personality.  Clooney blends humour and drama very well.

Another hit from Baumbach, JAY KELLY demonstrates how one can be lost with not only family but with oneself.

JAY KELLY opens in theatres this week before streaming on Netflix.

Trailer: 

LEFT-HANDED GIRL (Taiwan/US/UK/France 2025) ****
Directed by Shih-Ching Tsou

 

A single mother and her two daughters return to Taipei after several years of living in the countryside to open a stand at a buzzing night market.  Each in their own way will have to adapt to this new environment to make ends meet and maintain the family unity. But when their traditional grandfather forbids his youngest left-handed granddaughter from using her "devil hand," generations of family secrets begin to unravel.

The film emphasizes the use of the right hand vs. the left hand.  Why are people mostly right-handed?  Are they born that way?  The film proposes, rightly so, I believe, that children are often corrected to use their right instead of the left to promote conformity and more easy in life easier.  Most gadgets are designed for right-handed use.  For example, the hot empty cartridges fired from a rifle come out on the side away from the face of a right-handed firer.  So, a left-handed soldier firing a rifle would often have his cheek burned by a hot cartridge. In the film, it is for this reason that the grandfather is appalled by the fact that his granddaughter, I-Jing, is suing her left instead of her right, scaring the girl into believing it is the devil’s hand.

LEFT-HANDED GIRL has a fair portion of the story told from the girl’s point of view.  As such, director Tsou often has her camera fixed at a girl’s eye level or even below.  The film also projects an innocence of Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, where the film is set.  The camera often follows I-Jing through the busy street among the night hawkers as the action takes place.  Taipei is seen as an exotic as well as a dangerous place, with its own share of shady businesses.  Sean Baker, who wrote the script with director Tsou, is an expert on stories of marginal people working in the sex industry.  His films include THE FLORIDA PROJECT and  ANORA.

The family's noodle stall is located in the Tonghua (Linjiang) night market in Da'an district, Taipei City.  Like Sean Baker's Tangerine (2015), the movie was entirely filmed on an iPhone, during the 2022 summer in Taipei, Taiwan.

One of the stars of the film is the muskrat pet that I-Jing keeps as a pet, which absolutely steals the show with its cuteness and agility.  The animal also plays a large part in the story.

The story also contains the disturbing fact that the elder daughter works in a partly sex industry that causes he to be impregnated by her boss.  There is also the possibility of child abuse in the story.  It is never revealed who the real father of I-Jing is, though there is a hint of child abuse due to this fact.

Director Shih moves her film at a solid pace, which results in what one might deem as near a dull moment, aided by colourful characters in a colourful setting of Taipei, aided by fine performances all around.

LEFT-HANDED GIRL from Netflix is the Official submission of Taiwan for the 'Best International Feature Film' category of the 98th Academy Awards in 2026. The film opens in select theatres on November 14th and on Netflix for streaming on November 28th.

Trailer: 

SALLYWOOD (USA 2025) ***½

Directed by Xaque Gruber

 

The film is about Sally Kirkland.  Kirkland garnered widespread critical acclaim for her eponymous performance as a former popular actress in the independent comedy-drama Anna (1987), which earned her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film.

She is not to be confused with MASH's hot lips, Sally Kellerman.  In this movie, the mix-up is joked about.

Sally Kirkland, who plays herself in the movie after being shunned at the Academy Awards red carpet by a reporter: “I don’t remember, (referring to perfume), it must have been far off then.”  Sally then says on camera, “I was famous then.  I am not sure, now.  I could get men from all over.”  This film is about Ally Kirkland and the fan who hero-worships her, ever since he saw her in her Golden Globe Award-winning and Oscar-nominated Best Actress performance in the film ANNA.  Well, it was way back when in 1987.  Kirkland has the starring role and her lead name in this movie.

Movies are often about chasing one’s dreams and dreams coming true.  The film SALLYWOOD ( a word coined from Sayy Kirkland and Hollywood) is all about that.

Based on the true story of a 20-something writer from rural Maine. Inspired by actress SALLY KIRKLAND’s performance in the sleeper hit, ANNA (Oscar nominee, Independent Spirit Award, and 1988 Golden Globe winner), Zack leaps to pursue his ambitions of a Hollywood Career.  “You will never meet her, Zach’s mother tells him, while his father tells him otherwise, to follow his dreams.  After driving cross-country, in a chance encounter, he meets his lifelong idol, the week he arrived. Sally hires him on the spot to be her assistant, where he quickly learns her career is a shambles. He dedicates himself to finding a way to land her back on the red carpet where she belongs.  

You gotta love it when a film captures a magic moment.  This occurs early in the film when Zach sees his idol, Sally Kirkland, in person for the first time in a parking lot.  He runs after her to the song “It Had to be You”, by Isham Jones and Gus Kahn, sung no less than by Frank Sinatra.

Besides Kirkland, the film stars many of the famous stars of the past, including Kay Lenz, Eric Roberts, Michael Lerner, Jennifer Tilly, and Keith Carradine.

The film is not without cheesy, though funny lines.  Example?  Quote: Alan Watts: “Defining yourself is like biting your own teeth.”

The film features songs by Rufus Wainwright, Toni Basil & Smokey Miles.

Sally Kirkland plays herself, a once-famous actress nominated for the Best Actress Oscar that year, together with stars Glenn Close and Faye Dunaway. But now, largely forgotten, perhaps SALLYWOOD would regain her fame.  If not, SALLYWOOD still proves to be a very endearing and solid film and would be a solid boost to Sally Kirkland’s career.

SALLYWOOD opens on digital platforms November 14th, 2026

Trailer: 

TATSUMI (Japan 2023) ***
Directed by Yoishio Shoji

 

A return to the 70s Japanese gangster mode, TATSUMI is a nitty-gritty, violent Yakuza film that reminds one of the 70s.  Tatsumi, an unassuming fisherman, makes his real livelihood by cleaning up dead bodies for local yakuza gangs.  A job is just a job, and the yakuza gangs treat him that way, too, as a low-class lowlife.  When criminal intrigue leads to the vicious murder of his ex-girlfriend by one of the gangsters, it thrusts her hot-headed teenage sister Aoi (a tour de force by ingénue Kokoro Morita) onto an unbridled path of vengeance.  Tatsumi cannot stand her initially, but eventually softens his feelings for her - the kind of love-hate relationship commonly found in buddy films.  With his own personal motives in tow, Tatsumi vows to mentor and protect Aoi to the bitter end of her blood-soaked crusade.

Aoi is a hot-headed young car mechanic, and one can tell that this skill will help them fight the gangsters later on in the film.  A good change is that the female is a fighter and not the typical damsel in distress.

The film is impressive in using the backdrop to reflect the seizable and bleak lives of the two protagonists.  The coastal town is isolated and drab, and there seems to be no way out of the rut.

Director Shoji keeps his film in focus, keeping the atmosphere constantly tense with some violent (arguably more violent than necessary) action scenes, though there are a few slow spots in the film.  It is basically a tough and uncompromising revenge gangster film.

TATSUMI has won accolades at international film festivals:

Bucheon Int’l Fantastic Film Festival (2024) | Nominated, Best Feature Film

Fantasia International Film Festival (2024)

Tokyo International Film Festival (2023) | Nominated, Best Film

TATSUMI opens on VOD & Digital Platforms on November 14th, 2026.

Trailer: 

TEE YAI: BORN TO BE BAD (Thailand 2025) ***
Directed by Nonzee Nimibutr

 

Apparently, the outlaw Tee Yai is a famous Thai outlaw.  The film offers a warm look at Tee Yai.

Two outlaws (Tee Yai and his best buddy from young) whose relationship is put to the test by a detective (named Jakarat, depicted as a no-nonsense Clint Eastwood-styled cop) while tracking down an infamous gang of robbers in 1980s Bangkok.

Tee Yai is known for his magical powers of disappearance, which are attributed to an amulet.  The police are baffled when he escaped from a train after one captured.  Tee Yai’s name appears in the newspapers every day and is a household name, and the audience told, more famous than the Prime Minister of Thailand. This is when the cop Jakarta is given 30 days to capture Tee Yai and help the police save face.

The film is a pleasing enough action vehicle, with lots of sights of Thailand from the countryside and mountains to the busy streets of the city (like Bangkok).  Director Nimibutr sits cop vs robber with the cop being cast as the villain and Tee as the hero.

This is a drama/crime action film, with heists, outlaw lifestyle, loyalty, and betrayal. At best, the creation of the Bangkok of the 70s/80s, the underworld, street scenes, and retro style. is impressive.  Director Nimibutr dispenses with the myths and concentrates more on the realistic aspects of the story, such as the emotional conflict between friendship, ambition, love, and moral lines.  The story also reflects a social context: poverty, corruption, the margins of society, and how someone becomes an outlaw in such an environment.

Running a long at almost 2 hours, TEE YAI: BORN TO BE BAD is okay as an escapism action flick with sufficient action set pieces and high jinks.  The film opens for streaming on Netflix this week.

Trailer: 

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 04 November 2025

Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival 2025

 

The Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival · 2025 lineup features 17 features and 45 shorts from filmmakers across Asia and the diaspora.

 

The festival runs from Nov 5–15 in Toronto, with select films online Nov 10–23.

 

Nov 5 opening film is SPACE CADETS.

Members can grab tickets early, starting now! Public sales open Saturday, Oct 11

 

CAPSULE REVIEWS of Select Films:

 

AKASHI (Canada 2025) ***

Directed by Mayumi Yoshida 

 

Mayumi Yoshida directs, also writing the screenplay and starring as the main character.   Kana is a young girl, the youngest daughter, living in Canada (BC), who travels back to Tokyo, Japan, for her grandmother’s funeral.  Her family teases her, Kana from Kana-da.  The film is a personal and charming tribute to the culture and identity of what it means to be Japanese and Canadian.  Kana’s reflection of life and re-connection to her past, as in the re-connection to her old boyfriend, Hiro, in Japan, all make sense in her visit. The film shows love in different forms, familial love, romantic love, love for one’s country, and so on.  The film is also shot both in black-and-white and in colour to differentiate the past from the present.  A worthy first feature for Yoshida, the film is in both Japanese and English.  (It is a personal film — and it does move with a slow pace that might be too slow for some, as well as too personal to interest others.  Yoshida has stated that the story grew out of a conversation with her grandmother about her grandfather’s “first love” and the nature of their marriage.)

 

BURY US IN A LONE DESERT (Vietnam 2025) **

Directed by Nguyễn Lê Hoàng Phúc

 

Written and directed by Nguyễn Lê Hoàng Phúc, the film begins with a young burglar breaking into the home of an elderly man.  The burglar discovers a plaster statue of the man’s deceased wife.  Instead of turning him in, the old man proposes a strange deal: to take the deceased wife’s remains (within the statue or as part of the ritual) on a journey into the desert so that he can be buried beside her. The burglar and the old man form an unlikely bond and embark on this final trip through a Vietnamese desert landscape.  The action is seen through a circular lens, as if through the iris of an eye, a tactic that feels forced than having any meaningful effect.  Though the film attempts to examine issues like grief, despair, companionship, the reality of the premise makes everything all too unbelievable.   Despite the film’s short running time of just over an hour, the film’s slow pace does not help either.

FINCH & MIDLAND (Canada 2025) ***½

Directed by Timothy Yeung

 

Finch and L+Midland refers to Finch Avenue and Midland Avenue, two roads that intersect in Scarborough in Ontario, Canada, a neighbourhood rich with Hong Kong immigrants.  It is the setting of an anthology of 4 immigrant stories intercut together about middle-aged immigrants trying to make good, if not attaining the Canadian dream.  The characters each face mid-life struggles: a former singer trying to reconnect with his daughter; a woman searching for love while caring for her elderly mother; a single mother working in a massage parlour while studying for a real estate licence; and a factory worker confronted with job loss and shifting identity.  Through simplicity, humour, and charm, the film effectively explores themes of belonging, identity, sacrifice, cultural displacement, and the cost of chasing the “better life” in a new country.  Each story is equally interesting, and Director Yeung connects his audience well with his characters.

SPACE CADETS (Canada 2025) 

Directed by Kid Koala

I have npt seen this opening night film, an animated feature with no dialogue, but word has it that the film is one of the best animated features this year.  The following excerpt is retrieved from TIFF 2025:  Based on acclaimed Canadian musician and deejay Kid Koala’s award-winning graphic novel of the same name, Space Cadet is a dialogue-free animated film that portrays the tender story of a young girl, Celeste, and the first-generation Guardianbot she loves.  Celeste is in an astronaut academy and, while her mom is in space, Robot takes care of her. They form a familial bond. When Celeste grows older and is able to go on her own adventure, she leaves Robot behind. As we see Celeste find samples of life on the planet she’s on, and the joy she gets in outer space, Robot is struggling with loneliness. He revisits all of his memories with Celeste, but his technical systems begin to shut down.

 

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 22 October 2025

CINEFRANCO 2025

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Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 20 October 2025

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.

Trailer: 

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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Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 19 October 2025

FILM REVIEWS:

AILEEN: QUEEN OF THE SERIAL KILLERS  (USA 2025) ***

Directed by Emily Turner

 

Aileen Carol Wuornos was an American serial killer.  Between 1989 and 1990, while engaging in street prostitution along highways in Florida, Wuornos shot and robbed seven of her male clients. She claimed that her victims had either raped or attempted to rape her, and that the homicides were committed in self-defence.  Wuornos was sentenced to death for six of the murders and was executed in 2002 after spending more than ten years on Florida's death row. This is not the first movie made about Aileen,

In the feature film MONSTER (2003), Wuornos' story is described from her first murder until her execution; for her portrayal of Wuornos, Charlize Theron won the Academy Award for Best Actress.  The second movie, Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, is a 1992 documentary film about Aileen Wuornos, made by Nick Broomfield.  It documents Broomfield's attempts to interview Wuornos, which involves a long process of mediation through her adoptive mother, Arlene Pralle, and her lawyer, Steve Glazer.  The film was used by the defence in the Wuornos trial in 2001 to highlight the incompetence of Wuornos' original lawyer.  It was through this process that Broomfield decided to make another film, Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer.  Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer is a 2003 feature-length documentary film about Aileen Wuornos, made by Nick Broomfield as a follow-up to his 1992 film Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer.  The film focuses on Wuornos' declining mental state and the questionable judgment to execute her despite her being of unsound mind.

Now streaming on Netflix, the documentary Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers, directed by Emily Turner, reexamines Wuornos’ life and crimes nearly 40 years after they occurred.   Produced by the BBC Studios Documentary Unit in collaboration with NBC News Studios, the documentary features powerful audio interviews with those who knew her best, along with archival footage from former Dateline correspondent Michele Gillen. It also includes prison interviews with Wuornos herself, offering new insights into her crimes.

The film begins with a nasty introduction of Aileen, the seal killer queen.  She is described by voiceover as vile and ugly, someone you would not want to meet in a dark alley.  The voiceover then informs that she is gay, a hitchhiker, and a killer of white men.

But when the audience first sees her, in her first appearance to the audience as she is taken out of her cell to meet her interviewers, Aileen is quite pretty to look at, with a hubby personality.  She tells them that they will make millions.  She intends to tell the truth, the story of her life, to make it good with God, she says.  And so this true crime documentary will tell Aileen's story.

Seven men were killed in a period of 12 months.  The rage of the killer can be seen as increasing.  The truck and the victim far often far apart.  All the victims were white, middle-aged men.  There was blonde hair and condoms found at the crime scenes.

Different from Nick Broomfeld’s two docs and Charles Theron’s MONSTER, this one is a more sympathetic look at Aileen, giving her more say while probing her so-called corrupted trial, while also emphasizing her claim of innocence while being a born-again Christian.

AILEEN: QUEEN OF THE SERIAL KILLERS opens for streaming this week on Netflix.

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I REALLY LOVE MY HUSBAND (USA 2025) **
Directed by GG Hawkins

 

I REALLY LOVE MY HUSBAND is a couples relationship sex comedy, the type that used to flood theatres in the 60’s and 70’s.  A few of the best ones include BLUME IN LOVE, THE HEARTBREAK KID,  BONB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE, A NEW LEAF, just to name a few.

The premise of I REALLY LOVE MY HUSBAND involves the couple Teresa (Madison Lanesey) and her trophy husband, Drew (TravisQuentin Young).  Teresa tells everyone she meets that she really loves her husband.  She even tells her ex this on her cell phone during her wedding day.  But does she?  Saying and meaning it are two different things, as the film examines.  Just as women can get really weird in relationships, as Jeannie Berlin did in THE HEARTBREAK KID, he makes curly wurlies with the hair on her new husband’s chest during sex on their wedding day,  Teresa has her own set of idiosyncrasies. Her behavior takes a turn when she suggests a threesome at the Bocas Del Toro resort in Panama during their honeymoon.  Paz (Arta Gee) is Teresa’s non-binary pick, which means Paz would be attractive to either of them.

But this is as far as the success of the film goes.

Teresa and Drew turn out to be a terribly annoying couple - the couple one would typically avoid when on vacation.  All they do is think and talk about themselves.  Teresa is also wishy-washy, talking all the time with weird mannerisms, though a few of these are quite funny.  Few is over-nice and accommodating, not too believable as a husband until he finally freaks out at her.

The refreshing premise of a non-binary third-party threesome is largely wasted in a film that is not funny enough and does not have enough jokes poking at the couple's relationship.  It does not help that the script does not attempt to make the couple more likeable for the audience to feel more sympathetic towards them.

On the positive side, I REALLY LOVE MY HUSBAND has an unexpected ending that almost saves he picture.  Director GG Hawkins’ film shows promise in parts, and one should give him a chance to do better in his next project.  The film is available; able on Digital and VOD on November 4th.

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INDERA (Malaysia 2024) ****

Directed by Woo Ming Jin

 

Merging horror with Malaysian culture, tradition, and politics, INDERA is set against the backdrop of a real-life standoff between the government's police forces and villagers deep in rural Malaysia, where spirits and demons are as dangerous as guns and knives. 

There is much to enjoy in watching the Malaysian folk horror INDERA.  Especially if one has knowledge or lives in or close to Malaysia.  The film makes use of folklore, natural surroundings, and political climate to effect a realistic and engrossing tale of family.

The family on display is Joe (Shaheizy Sam), a handyman doing his best to raise his young, non-verbal daughter Sofia (Samara Kenzo) in the wake of his wife’s tragic death.  Penniless and evicted, he takes on the position of caretaker for an older Javanese woman (Ruminah Sidek), who claims she can help Sophia speak again.  But as her unorthodox treatment progresses, Joe and Sophia begin experiencing terrifying visions that threaten their grip on reality. 

For a film from Malaysia, director Woo (Malaysia has a population consisting of a majority Malays with Chinese concentrated in the towns and cities), the film boasts strong Hitchcock undertones in terms of audience participation and the use of shots and camera techniques to invoke suspense and mystery.  At best, it is a searing vision of folk horror rich in traditions and culture.

Sofia is told and warned of the two rules of staying at the Javanese woman’s.  No one must get close to the old hole, a well that used to be the latrine of the Javanese.  The other is to ignore and not turn back when she hears her name being called..

The film’s setting is 1985 in the Lenggong Valley.  At the start of the film, Joe is questioned by the local police and admonished about the current curfew.  In 1985, there was a curfew in parts of West Malaysia, but it wasn’t nationwide.  The curfew is due to clashes between the government and Islamic forces.  This clash refers to the Memali Incident (1985), a deadly confrontation between Malaysian police and followers of an Islamic cleric, Ibrahim Libya, in Kedah. It exposed deep political and religious tensions in Malaysia and remains a controversial chapter in the nation’s history.  The government wanted to prevent a similar Jalan Perijuk in Indonesia, an incident heard on the radio in the film, a major religious clash there.  The Lenggong Valley setting of the film is in northern Perak, West Malaysia — a small rural town famous for its prehistoric archaeology and scenic valley.

Despite all the political and geographical relevance, the film builds the relationship between the mute daughter and her father, a strong point in engaging the audience's attention in the film.   Director Woo builds the suspense and misery at an excellent pace.  Though one might describe the film as a slow burn, the sense of anticipation makes the film totally engrossing, and there is never a dull moment.  One also feels for Joe.  He promises his dead wife that he will take care of their daughter, but he is broke and has to take work from the Javanese woman, much to the detriment of his daughter, Sofia.

INDERA is the best Halloween film this year and opens on October 31st on VOD and Digital.

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KOLN ’75 (Germany/Poland/Belgium 2025) ****

Directed by Ido Fluk

 

The film follows Vera Brandes, who, in 1975 and at the age of 18, staged the famous Köln Concert by jazz musician Keith Jarrett.  Köln is Cologne in German.

At its best, the film shows two sides of staging a concert, from the performer’s and the promoter’s points of view.  The anguish, trauma of staging a grand performance, even if one might be talented as Keith Garrett is on full display.  Garret is in depression, suffers from physical conditions like a bad back, and is unable to sleep before the concert.  In full view are also his mood swings, refusing to play except on the Grand Imperial piano.   A big positive of the film, which is seldom seen in concert films, is the hard work a promoter has to go through in order to stage a big event.  This is emphasized by the fact that the promoter, Vera Blande’s is of the age of 17.  She is disowned by her parents.  At one point, the father slaps her so hard across the face that she bled.

This occurs in the film’s most dramatic segment when the parents read firsthand in the newspapers of their daughter being classified as a jazz bunny promoting jazz.  In the confrontation scene, she asks her father: ‘Is this the wrong moment to ask for a 100,000 DM loan to stage the concert?’    There is also an impressive staged segment when Vera’s brother tells her that he will help her only because he hates his father more than he hates her.

Director Fluk ditches conventional filmmaking in his storytelling.  He has a renegade reporter, Michael Watts (Michael Chernus), at many points in the film talking directly to the camera.  He is the only character in the film who does so, serving to replace what could have been done as a voiceover.  This tactic works as it jolts the audience into thinking of the film at a different level, and what Watts says to the audience is also funny, not to say it makes sense.  Director Fluk also shifts focus from one character to another, for example, from Watts and then to Vera Blandes, with the effect that the story can be seen from two different views.

The film’s main flaw is the age disparity between the lead actress, who plays a 17-year-old, and the character she portrays.  The lead actress, Mala Emde, does not look at all below 20, and when checked, her age is 29.  Worst still, is the fact that the dialogue emphasizes not once but so many times how young this jazz promoter is.  The age is also crucial in the story as the storyteller is supposed to show how this young jazz burner at the age of 17 accomplished the amazing feat of organizing the opera house concert for  Keith Garrett.  Ignoring this flaw, KOLN 75 would have been on my Top 10 list for 2025 Best Feature Films.  But given the age limitation of actress Mala Erode, she delivers a remarkable performance.

KOLN 75 opens in theatres on Friday, October 31st.

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THE RATS: A WITCHER TALE (USA 2025) **

Directed by Mairzee Almas

 

The Witcher is a fantasy drama television series created by Lauren Schmidt Hissrich for Netflix. It is based on the book series[a] by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. Set on a fictional, medieval-inspired landmass known as the Continent, The Witcher explores the legend of Geralt of Rivia, Yennefer of Vengerberg, and Princess Ciri. It stars Henry Cavill, Liam Hemsworth, Anya Chalotra, and Freya Allan.

There have been 4 series, with number 4 recently released on Netflix.  But there is a failed spinoff, now released as a movie, just after series 4 was dropped. 

THE RATS: A WITCHER TALE stars Dolph Lundgren as a Witcher known as Brehen alongside the group of street-smart criminals known as The Rats, first introduced in The Witcher season 3. The 80-minute movie acts as both a prequel to The Witcher season 4 as well as briefly covering what happens next for Ciri.  Cavill and Hemsworth are not in this one.

In the film, the rats plan to pull off a daring heist.  This gang of misfit outlaws will have to do something they’ve never done before: trust each other — and a washed-up Witcher.  Because of the nature of the vault/arena involved, they need the help of a witcher (monster-hunter) — one who is no longer at his prime.  The film attempts to explore which it partly succeeds, of their backstories and relationships, especially the dynamic between the Rats and the witcher they enlist. 

The film is a poor man’s Robin Hood set in a medieval fantasy land in which the gang largely keeps its spoils to itself.  The film is strictly for fans of the series.  The blend of harmless action-adventure comes with some bouts of violence.

THE RATS: A WITCHER TALE opens for streaming this week on Netflix.

URCHIN (UK 2025) ****

Directed by Harris Dickinson

 

URCHIN is the impressive directorial debut of British actor, the handsome Harris Dickinson (star of TRIANGLE OF SADNESS, BEACH RATS, and WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING) that premiered at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard Section.

The URCHIN in the title is the modern-day definition of an urchin, usually referring  to a poor, ragged, or mischievous child, often seen wandering the streets, like a “street urchin.”  But the urchin in the story is 39-year-old Mike (Frank Dillane), a school dropout who goes about life like a child.  When the film opens, Mike is living on the streets of London, hiding his entire belongings in a backpack behind a rubbish dumpster.

As fate has it, he is desperate for money to buy food and robs and assaults a good Samaritan passerby, resulting in his arrest and imprisonment for 8 months.  A bit too much to pay for a stolen watch, he muses.  When released, he meets a disinterested welfare worker who offers him a less than a year stay in a hostel, warning him that he is likely on his own after that, as he is neither disabled nor in the special need category, and would be low in priority for help.  At this stage, the film looks like a Ken Loach film about social services criticism, but the film heads towards a different direction.  It shows the perils, temptations, and trials that a street person with only just so much help goes through.  It is a well-thought-out work written and directed by Dickinson, aided by a superb performance by Dillane, making URCHIN a superb first feature.  Dillane trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (R.A.D.A.), graduating in 2013.   As a child, he played Christopher Henderson in 'Welcome to Sarajevo' (Channel 4/Miramax/Dragon Pictures) directed by Michael Winterbottom. Aged sixteen, Frank played Tom Riddle in 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince,' directed by David Yates.

The premise of the film reads: A young addict, Mike (Dillane), living on the streets of London, is given a shot at redemption, but his road to recovery soon curdles into a strange odyssey from which he may never escape.  Mike is sober when the film opens, but falls into drugs again, beginning with trying ‘K’ for the first time.

Director Dickson gets his audience to both sympathize and then feel the complete opposite. disgust for Mike -  a rare feat that he accomplishes, turning the tables a few times during the film, with credit also going to actor Dillane.  The film shows that the man needs guidance, as is revealed several times in the film.   Even the character confesses:  “I like to be told what to do.”   Even his dreams of being a manager of a chauffeur company sound not only far-fetched but an impossible goal to reach.  His self-destructive nature, leading to a fallout with his romantic, short-lived relationship, also shows his childish nature.  Part of the reason can be seen as a lack of fundamental education and the lack of a father figure.

Director Dickson also uses surreal images with saturated colour to depict Mike’s mental state, and once again at the film’s end.

URCHIN deservedly won the Dickinson Cannes Fipresci Prize in the United States Certain Regard Section at Cannes this year.  The film opens on October 31st at the TIFF Lightbox.

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THE WHITE HOUSE EFFECT (USA 2024) ***
Directed by Bonni Cohen, Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk

 

The magic question debated at the start of the film is whether the then drought and record hot weather of the 80’s is due to global warming, which is caused by the Greenhouse effect.  It is good to know, as the doc explains, the greenhouse effect.

The greenhouse effect is the natural process by which certain gases in the Earth’s atmosphere trap heat, keeping the planet warm enough to support life.

Here’s how it works step by step:

The Sun’s energy reaches Earth in the form of sunlight.

Some of this energy is absorbed by the Earth’s surface, warming it.

The Earth then releases heat (in the form of infrared radiation) back into space.

Greenhouse gases—such as carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), water vapour (H₂O), and nitrous oxide (N₂O)—trap some of this heat and prevent it from escaping.

This trapped heat keeps the Earth’s surface warmer than it would be if all the heat escaped into space.  Without the greenhouse effect, Earth’s average temperature would be about –18°C (0°F) instead of the comfortable +15°C (59°F) we have now.  But now more harm had evolved.

“Dummies, Better listen!  This is the greenhouse effect,”  says an expert on TV in the first 15 minutes of the doc.  If only that idiot dummy orange face one would listen, instead of cancelling the global warming bill.  President George Bush said it.  “It is simple.  We can do it

The doc goes across different presidencies.

It begins with Jimmy Carter in Part 1: entitled “What sacrifices can we make?”

Part 2:  “Which George Bush are we looking at?”  Well, Bush won the election in 1988, as he promised to do something about the environment.

Part 3:  "Is science for sale? "

Once agin, the doc proves the fallacy and hypocrisy of the White House  While the doc offers a good summary of all the events that have taken place in the past regarding the issue, including the catastrophic Exxon oil spill an the company’s coverup of its devastation effects, the tension could be stronger or more focused around fewer key characters/events. (such as the fight between Bill Reilly and John Sununu. The villain of the piece is clearly Sununu , and the hero is Reilly.

Reilly says at one point in the film, a point that hits the nail on its head: "This is all very depressing!"  as the United States White House has failed to do anything about it, all initially spurred by Sununu.

THE WHITE HOUSE EFFECT opens for streaming on October 31st on Netflix.

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Details

Written by: Gilbert Seah

Parent Category: Articles

Category: Movie Reviews

Published: 18 October 2025

FILM REVIEWS:

ANNIVERSARY (USA 2025) **
Directed by Jan Komasa

 

Lionsgate gets serious with three serious productions this month.  One is ANNIVERSARY, and the others are the recent KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN and GOOD FORTUNE.  Lionsgate breaks the mold of their typical action and horror flicks.

ANNIVERSARY sees a family, parents, three daughters, and their son meet over several gatherings beginning with an anniversary, followed by Thanksgiving, then the father’s birthday, and at the end, another anniversary.  Events evolve, causing drifts in political views, and the family faces problems trying to stay together as a whole.

The strong political leaning of the film is apparent from the very beginning, where the audience sees Ellen (Diane Lane, who also co-produced the film) giving a speech on how she is neither liberal nor conservative and prefers not to be inhibited by her work.  “Sounds like America? “ she adds.

ANNIVERSARY blends two genres together - political thriller/drama and family drama.

In this film, aimed at being a gripping thriller, a close-knit family is caught in the turmoil of a controversial rising movement known as “The Change.”  Ellen and Paul (Diane Lane and Kyle Chandler) witness their lives fall apart when Ellen’s former student, Liz (Phoebe Dynevor), reappears and starts dating their son, Josh (Dylan O’Brien).  As Liz becomes a part of the Taylor family, tensions rise and loyalties are tested.  Liz was a former student of Ellen in University where their ideas clashed.  Liz now has a written book called “The Change’  signifying no more political parties but one America.  Americans are frazzled and angry. Americans take sides.  Liz is pro-change, while the family is anti-change.  Ellen accuses Liz of using Josh and her family to further her cause.  At one crucial moment in the film, Ellen threatens Liz with a kitchen knife, saying that she will kill her if she influences another one of her family. Liz’s role in “The Change” brings simmering conflicts to the surface, unraveling the fabric of the family just as the nation itself stands on edge during an alarming and challenging time of uncertainty.

Despite the high aims of the movie tackling political issues, the way in which the approach is taken feels manipulative and cheesy.  The blending of the family drama and divisions enhances the cheesiness.  The setup has echoes of “infiltration” narratives—someone from the past re-enters a seemingly stable family with hidden motives.

The main problem of the film is the balance of the family’s personal emotional stakes at hand and broader ideological themes that have been brought up.  The drama seems overdone and the action setups manipulative, an imbalance leading to parts feeling didactic or emotionally hollow.

One feels sorry for the cast who try so hard to make the project work.  The ensemble cast is led by Diane Lane, followed by Kyle Chandler, Zoey Deutch, Phoebe Dynevor, Dylan O’Brien, and McKenna Grace, doing their best the project credibility.  Standing out is actor Dylan O’Brien playing Josh, the chief asshole who gets his comeuppance at the end/

ANNIVERSARY opens in theatres across Canada on Wednesday, October 29th.

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BLUE MOON (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Richard Linklater

 

BLUE MOON is the famous song written by Lorenz Hart, the subject of the new Richard Linklater film  BLUE MOON.  The film takes its title from the song by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart.  “Blue moon, you saw me standing alone…”

“He was alert and dynamic and fun to be around,” stated Oscar Hammerstein II.

“He was the saddest man I ever knew,”  said Mable Mercer. (an English-born cabaret singer who performed in the United States, Britain, and Europe with the greats in jazz and cabaret.)

  Lorenz Hart (died Nov. 22, 1943, New York City) was a U.S. song lyricist whose commercial popular songs incorporated the careful techniques and verbal refinements of serious poetry.  His 25-year collaboration with composer Richard Rodgers resulted in approximately 1,000 songs, ranging from the simple exuberance of “With a Song in My Heart” (1929) to the glib sophistication of “The Lady Is a Tramp” (1937).  The film opens with his leaving Sardi’s and collapsing on the street, uttering the word” Fuck” before passing out.  The film then flashes back months earlier.

  The setting is March 31, 1943.  It is the opening night of the Broadway musical Oklahoma! – the first collaboration between Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott) and his new lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delaney), following Rodgers’ split with Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) after 24 years together.  Rodgers and Hammerstein made the Best musical duo in musical history, including hits like THE SOUND OF MUSIC and SOUTH PACIFIC.

In BLUE MOON, director Richard Linklater crafts a riveting chamber piece set in real time at Sardi’s on the historic night in 1943 of Richard Rodgers’ (Andrew Scott) greatest triumph: the premiere of Oklahoma!  There is the closing number of the musical with the hit song ‘Oklahoma!” also featured at the start of the film.  Richard Linklater directs from Robert Kaplow’s script, based on Hart and Weiland’s letters.  Ethan Hawke delivers a charming, lived-in performance as the troubled Rodgers’ former collaborator, lyricist Lorenz Hart, an alcoholic and marginally closeted raconteur grappling with the fact that Rodgers’ biggest success now belongs to a new partnership with Oscar Hammerstein.

As flowers and accolades pour into the restaurant, heralding a new era of American musicals, Hart holds court at the bar, regaling a plainspoken bartender (Bobby Cannavale) and a young, aspiring composer and military officer with stories. His current fixation is a 20-year-old Yale student, Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley), whom he reveres with a fervour that drifts between romantic longing and aesthetic worship.

The film is punctuated with many of Hart’s compositions, many played by the pianists at Sardi’s.  The songs include, of course, “Blue Moon” and other recognizable songs.

Andrew Scott won the Best Supporting Performance at Berlin 2025.  But the acting by Ethan Hawke deserves mention for his outstanding performance that should win him an Oscar nod.  But the emphasis of Hart’s height is a bit too pronounced. His reactions after taking a shot at the bar are priceless.  BLUE MOON marks another successful collaboration of Hawke with director Linklater.

BLUE MOON had its Toronto premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, and opens in theatres on October 24th.

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BUGONIA (UK/USA/Canada/Ireland 2025) ***

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos

 

This review contains spoilers, in the paragraph that is highlighted and in italics.  Please skip the paragraph if you intend to watch the film.

The premise of BUGONIA has two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.

The two conspiracy-obsessed young men are Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and Donny (Aidan Delbis), who believe that Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), the CEO of a large pharmaceutical company, is actually an alien from the Andromeda species who intends to destroy Earth.

Because of these beliefs, they kidnap her, the two of them masked and assault her outside her elaborate residence.  They shave her head, believing that her hair is somehow meant to communicate with the mothership.  If all this sounds outrageous, it is, and it is never explained how they came to such beliefs.  Fuller plays along in order to escape, and her transportation, as she tells them, is thought to be a locked closet seems all too silly to be true.  But Teddy Believes.

The film blends science fiction, dark comedy, thriller, and satire — exploring themes of conspiracy, grief, corporate power, the environmental crisis, alienation, and what happens when belief or paranoia becomes extreme. Roge

BUGONIA, a Yorgos Lanthimos film, is as weird and f**ked up as most of his early films like THE LOSBTSR, THE KILLING OF A SCARED DEER (his best film), and KINDS OF KINDNESS.  Strictly for Lanthimos fans, as those unfamiliar with his work will be just too overwhelmed to make head or tail of all that is going on.  

Lanthimos knows the film is not to be taken too seriously, though he goes all serious during the first half.  He goes all put with ridiculous alien costumes (big oversized furry baggy attire) with odd colours and sets.  Even the locked closet being the transportation of the alien, turns out to be true in a twist of the plot.  Now thing one can say about a Lanthimos film, it is never boring, though the film is a bit of a slow burn at the start.

The excellent Jesse Plemons plays the main character, Teddy, in the film, after having lost a whole bunch of weight, though he is still recognizable.  He was in KINDS OF KINDNESS, as in this one.  He seems to have taken over Lanthimos’ favourite actor, Collin Farrell.  Plemons plays his character straight to counteract the outrageous plot and character Lanthimos has built around Teddy.

BUGONIA is actually a remake/adaptation of the 2003 Korean film Save the Green Planet! by Jang Joon-hwan.  It'd be more than interesting to watch the original Korean film to see how Lanthimos’ film compares. The Korean director Jang was originally slotted to direct this film before Lanthimos came on board.

At the end, one would be too mesmerized by this absurdist film to decide whether it was good or not, or whether one was entertained by it or not.

BULGONIA opens with a special limited engagement on October 24th, ahead of a wide expansion on October 31st.

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DRACULA (Romania/Austria/Luxembourg/Brazil 2025) ***
Directed by Radu Jude

 

Romanian director known for hosting excesses and vulgarity, known for his hits THE LUCKIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD  and BAD LUCK BANGING OR LOONY PORN, comes up with his latest version and interpretation of the DRACULA myth.  This is a very Romanian look at the myth, linked to folklore and absurdity.

Dracula is a 2025 satirical comedy-drama film written and directed by Radu Jude. The film title is inspired by Bram Stoker's Gothic horror novel, Dracula. Set in contemporary Transylvania, it explores the legend of Dracula through Romanian lenses.

Radu Jude’s DRACULA is not the typical DRACULA film.  The use of AI as both theme and tool is timely, provocative, and innovative, though the non-linearity of the film (in every aspect) can be quite overwhelming to the average viewer. 

The main narrative thread involves a creatively blocked director who turns to a (fake) AI chatbot to help him craft his next film, which is about Dracula.  What follows is a sequence of 14-15 vignettes of varying tone and absurdity — some vampire horror, some absurd comedy, some commentary — all referencing Dracula myth, film, folklore, kitsch, and AI.

The setting includes Transylvanian landscapes and medieval locations (e.g., Sighişoara, Bethlen Castle, Bucharest’s Griviţa Roşie district) and uses them for both real footage and AI-generated image montages.

One vignette has a truck driver in the country giving a ride to a young lass. A couple of times! When he confesses that he has been married for two years, she jumps out of the truck. AI-generated images show her landing in front of the truck,k which stops abruptly. The driver discovers a stake through her out, pushes her back in the truck, and drives her around. Another has Uncle Sandu and Vampire, two restaurant performers escaping through the city streets while his dinner guests hunt them down.

It is a rocky roller-coaster ride, to say the least, and whether one comes off it entertained is questionable.  A lot of nudity, crude language, images of penises and bare breasts - what is morally present and can be expected in a Radu Jude’s film.

If Radu Jude’s DRACULA is your cup of tea, then Radu Jude’s next film, FRANKENSTEIN IN ROMANIA, should be worth a look.

The film had its world premiere in the main competition of the 78th Locarno Film Festival on 10 August 2025, where it was nominated for Golden Leopard.  The film has a one-day-only special screening this coming Wednesday, 29th October at the TIFF Lightbox.

Trailer: 

THE ELIXIR (Indonesia 2025) **
Directed by Kimo Stamboel

 

THE ELIXER is an Indonesian zombie movie, set in Indonesia, a country famous for its folklore horror movies.  THE ELIXER is set in the countryside outside Jakarta.

For centuries, the elixir primarily meant an ingredient used in alchemy, either referring to a liquid which purportedly converts lead to gold, or a substance or liquid which is believed to cure all ills and give eternal life.  That which would indefinitely prolong life (more fully elixir vitae, "elixir of life") was considered to be closely related to, or even identical with, the substance for transmuting metals.  

The film begins with a runaway car crashing into a circumcision ceremony, injuring many of the guests, before the driver is discovered to be a blood sucking zombie attacking the guest who opened the crashed car door to confront the driver.  The film moves back in time to explain the series of events leading to this crash, the story of the film, which goes on after a third of the film’s 2-hour running time.

For a movie running at 2 hours, it is surprising that this fast-moving film is quite boring.  Despite huge, energetic action set pieces and elaborate family interactions, no one really cares what happens.  It is also strange that the family seems to be the only ones that survive the zombies the longest, whereas everyone else perishes in an instant.

The story kicks off when the patriarch of a herbal‐medicine company tries to innovate a new “youth elixir” (a potion promising eternal youth) and inadvertently triggers a zombie outbreak.  Sadimin: The father of the family and also the company head drinks the experimental elixir and transforms into a zombie monster. Once he bites a victim, the victim becomes a zombie, and a chain reaction occurs, leading to a whole load of villagers turning into flesh-eating zombies in mere minutes.  The desire to remain young while turning into a monster at the start of the film is reminiscent of he excellent film THE SUBSTANCE, but the similarity ends there.  THE ELIXIR turns into the run-of-the-mill zombie movie with all the usual cliches.  In this zombie movie, rain seems to stop the creatures from attacking their victims.

The story adds some family conflicts into the equation.,  The father’s wife is his daughter’s best friend in school, and the daughter, Karin, despises Kenes as a result.  But, as cliches go, their differences have to be put aside to survive the zombie apocalypse.  Karina has a son, who does not seem to be able to walk or run on his ow,n even though he is a big boy, and is carried by his father or mother whenever zombies attack.

The only positive point about the move is the zombie flick set in an Indonesian non-Western setting.  Despite the poor acting and silly storyline, the individual action set pieces are effectively staged.  The film also shows that eternal youth and sexual performance are very much desired in any setting.

THE ELIXIR is a Netflix original horror film and opens for streaming this Thursday on Netflix.

Trailer: 

LAST STOP: ROCAFORT STATION (Estación Rocafort)(Spain 2024) ***½

Directed by Luis Prieto

 

In LAST STOP: ROCAFORT ST., the darkest legend of Barcelona emerges like the wind from the metro entrance and chases you through the city, the scenario of a horror story that no one will want to believe when they hear it.

The horror film begins with a family held hostage by the Yellow Line serial killer in the underground tunnel.  The station is Rocafort Station in Barcelona.  A cop, Roman, wrestles the killer to the ground after the killer has shot the father and mother.  The gun goes off, and the daughter is shot, while the killer is arrested and presently in prison, Roman is now off the force and heavily drinks to forget the past.  The film moves forward to Laura, a Metro employee assigned to Rocafort Station.   There, she witnesses a suicide.  Right after that, she witnesses hallucinations and cannot tell reality from her nightmares.  She wants to be re-assigned to another station, but her supervisor refuses.  Apparently, no one wants to work at this reputed haunted station.

A haunted station is almost the perfect setting for a horror movie.  One wonders the reason it has not been done before.  The labyrinth of tunnels is spooky and eerie.  There are plenty of opportunities for jump scares, which director Prieto uses a few times.

In case one is wondering about Rocafort station, there is such a station in Barcelona.  It was opened in 1926 and has had a reputation of being haunted ever since.

During the work week in Barcelona, 1.3 million passengers a day travel along the 76 miles of the metro, on which 161 trains run at rush hour along the 8 lines that comprise it. Throughout the metro network, there are 161 stations open to the public. Of all those people, some never see the light of day again, and the rest don’t want to know….

The station is an urban legend  The perception of Rocafort Station as a cursed place has deeply rooted itself in Barcelona.  Workers from Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) avoid being assigned to this station due to legends that speak of mysterious voices in the tunnels around midnight.  The station, with its flickering lights and dimly lit corridors, has been the perfect setting for local horror stories like the one in this film..  According to these legends, Rocafort has a malevolent influence that lures the desperate to their end. This reputation has generated numerous urban tales, consolidating the station’s image as a place surrounded by mystery and fear.

Newly assigned to work at Rocafort St., one of Barcelona’s quietest subway stops, Laura quickly realizes something is deeply wrong beneath the tracks. Whispers of an urban legend swirl sinisterly around the station, and she soon finds herself haunted by a string of unexplained deaths all pointing to Rocafort. When she enlists a disgraced ex-cop to help uncover the truth, the mystery turns deadly. Whatever evil lurks inside the labyrinth of tunnels preys unrelentingly on fear – and now, it’s coming for her. 

Director Prieto makes full use of the mystery, menace, and history of the reputed haunted Rocafort Station to enhance a story of ghosts and murder.  One complaint audiences might have is that the film ends after all the mystery is explained, but not with a happy ending.

LAST STOP: ROCAFORT STATION (Estación Rocafort) premieres on VOD and Digital Platforms on October 24th.

Trailer:

QUEENS OF THE DEAD (2025) ***
Directed by Tina Romero

 

The film’s beginning follows a drag queen as she enters a church to pray, offer tithes, and see a customer, before she is bitten by a zombie.  She is totally camp, playing it out as one total bitch, but one who is fun to observe and laugh at and with.

 This is when a zombie apocalypse breaks out in Brooklyn.  Brooklyn, where the drag queens rule.  The film does not explain how these zombies came to be, nor does it matter anyhow, as any reason would have sufficed anyway.

Meanwhile, in the world of drag queens, it is the night of a giant warehouse party, where an eclectic group of drag queens, club kids, and frenemies must put aside their drama and use their unique skills to fight against the brain-thirsty, scrolling undead.  When the first killing occurs in the club, the queens try to call 9-1-1, but an Amber Alert is on.

Is the film terrifying?  It is, if you dread watching drag queen stuttering around like peacocks with their limp wrists and effeminate ways.  But they are as camp as they are entertaining, if one likes this sort of thing.  QUEENS OF THE DEAD is a horror film not to be taken lightly, but with humour and lots of camp.

The drag queens need to escape the zombies.  How?  The answer lies in the 28 DAYS LATER zombie movies with the same solution: there is a boat to be caught to take these assorted queens to a safe place, and they must get to the boat, as instructed by the Margaret Cho character playing a lesbian bitch fighter.

If the name Tina Romero sounds familiar because of the director’s last name, it's because Tina is the daughter of George Romero, the horror director who basically invented the zombie, not to say zombie movies.  In real life, Tina Romero is a filmmaker, writer, and DJ living in New York City. After earning her BA in Cinema Studies at Wellesley College, she attended the NYU Tisch Graduate Film program, where she won the Warner Bros. Film Award for her accomplishments in filmmaking. Tina’s greatest influence, in film and in life, is her father, George A. Romero.

QUEENS OF THE DEAD premieres on Shudder on October 24th, the week of Halloween and serves as an alternative to the normal horror flick.

Trailer: 

REGRETTING YOU (USA 2025) **
Directed by Josh Boone

 

Regretting You is a 2025 romantic drama film directed by Josh Boone (romcom expert who directed romance films like THE FAULT IN OUR STARS and STUCK IN LOVE) from a screenplay by Susan McMartin. It is based on the 2019 novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover.

The following paragraph is a summary of the story, and it contains spoilers.  The paragraph is in italics, so skip it if you do not wish to learn of the plot.

At the core of Regretting You is Morgan Grant, who becomes pregnant as a teenager, putting aside her own dreams to raise her daughter, Clara. Now, at 34, she’s lived a life molded by responsibility and sacrifice, constantly striving to protect Clara from making similar mistakes. Her husband, Chris, serves as the family’s calming influence, but when Chris dies in a sudden car accident, everything unravels.  Chris wasn’t alone in the car—he was with Jenny, Morgan’s sister, and that’s where the real emotional quake starts. Not only is Jenny dead, but it comes to light that she and Chris were having an affair—a revelation that shakes Morgan to her core. Morgan, grappling with both grief and betrayal, is forced to keep this devastating secret from Clara, adding more strain to an already difficult mother-daughter relationship. Meanwhile, Clara, dealing with the loss of her father and believing her mother is keeping secrets, finds solace in her own budding romance with a boy named Miller Adams, much to Morgan’s disapproval. The novel shifts between Morgan’s and Clara’s points of view, each grappling with their own versions of pain and growth. Clara’s struggles are those of a teenager—angst, first love, rebellion—while Morgan’s are those of a woman whose world has been turned upside down by betrayal and loss. Their paths, though entwined, diverge as they both seek ways to heal, only to find more secrets buried beneath the surface.

Despite attempts at twists and turns in the story, it still comes across as manipulative, especially towards the privileged white female.  Why does everything good and all dreams come true for this spoiled teen?  Also, what happened to baby Eli during the last half hour when all hell broke loose?

The treatment of the male gender is fully at the whim and fancies of their counterpart, the female, in this strongly female-slanted story.  The story is told from two female points of view, from mother Morgan and her daughter Clara, nicknamed Clara Bear.  Though Chris is supposed to have influence on the family, Scott Eastwood has little screen time, except to show off his muscular build, obviously for female pleasure.  Cutie pie Dave Franco, playing Uncle Jonah, also plays for the female eye, as does the young actor Mason Thames (HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON), portraying Miller Adams, Clara’s romance.

REGRETTING YOU is a female slanted romantic drama dealing with grief, regret, and love, the kind of stuck general audiences love to loop up.  The film, which opens in theatres this weekend, should do well at the box office.

 

Trailer: 

SHELBY OAKS (USA 2024) **
Directed by Chris Stuckmann

 

It was twelve years back when a YouTube paranormal investigation team called the Paranormal Paranoids disappeared while filming in the abandoned ghost-town of Shelby Oaks, Ohio.  Their leader, Riley Brennan (Sarah Durn), is missing, and the case remains unsolved.

Riley’s sister Mia (Camille Sullivan), the main subject, has still not given up hope of finding her sister and solving the mystery.. She becomes involved in a documentary/investigation of her own to find out what happened to Riley.

As Mia digs deeper, she uncovers disturbing footage, a dark legacy, and realizes that the “imaginary demon” or supernatural entity she and Riley believed in as kids may have been real.

The film blends documentary/found-footage style segments (early on, as in THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) with more traditional narrative horror sequences.  The supernatural threat becomes more overt as the story progresses towards the second third.

In the Q&A following the film’s promo screenings, director/writer Stuckmann makes the bold comment that he believes every new director would come from the YouTube / TikTok generation.  This is a very sweeping statement based on his own, likely limited experience.  During the Q&A, Stuckmann can hardly speak proper sentences without the excess use of the word ‘like’, giving off the impression that he cannot write in good English prose and perhaps not too intelligently.  His film reflects the flaw of lacking a strong narrative, though Stuckmann does well with individual segments.

The best thing about Stuckmann’s film is his creation of the hut in the woods, similar to Hansel and Greta’s witch’s shack in the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale.  Mia soon discovers that the old woman in the hut has imprisoned Riley, who is now not the same Riley that Mia knew.  This is perfectly creepy and scary,y Grimm’s fairy tale territory.  Director Stuckmann also evokes some funny comedy during this segment.

 

SHELBY OAKS is an occasionally impressive first feature with some genuine scares, but it suffers from inconsistency (should supernatural forces exist or not?) and the lack of a strong narrative.  SHELBY OAKS opens in Theatres this week.

Trailer: 

SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE (USA 2025) ***
Directed by Scott Cooper

 

SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE is a 2025 American biographical musical drama film starring Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen. Written and directed by Scott Cooper, and based on the 2023 book Deliver Me from Nowhere by Warren Zanes, it chronicles Springsteen's personal and professional struggles during the conception of his 1982 album Nebraska. 

The film’s main subject is Springsteen and his 1982 album Nebraska, as well as what he, his manager, and band went through to get it made.  Springsteen lost his romance and went into depression while fighting for what he wanted for the album, which took a major toll on his emotional balance.   There is no talk on drugs or alcohol, so one must give The Boss credit for that.  He insisted on no singles, no press, and no tour for the album.  The album had difficulty being made by the record label, but his manager fought for him.  It did become Number 3 on the charts in the United States when released.

Retrospectively, critics regard Nebraska as a timeless record and one of Springsteen's finest works. The album has appeared on numerous lists of the greatest albums of all time. It is recognized as one of the first do-it-yourself (DIY) home recordings by a major artist and has had a significant influence on the indie rock and underground music scenes. 

On its original release, the critical reception to Nebraska was mostly positive. It was hailed by critics for its boldness and individuality, being called an unexpected,  brave, and artistically daring record. Its stylistic departure from Springsteen's previous works came as a shock to some critics

The best performance in the film belongs to English actor Stephen Graham, who recently won an Emmy for the Netflix series ADOLESCENCE and will be seen in the upcoming GOOD BOY, where he plays a geeky, troubled kidnapper.  Graham ditches his English accent and plays the complex and troubled American father perfectly.  Jeremy Allen White, who looks like Dustin Hoffman in several segments due to the camera angles, also deserves praise for playing Springsteen.

One thing to note is that this is not the typical biopic like the recent ones on Elvis Presley and Elton John.  This is a dramatic portrayal of Bruce Springsteen as an artist fighting his personal demons, which include his depression, outbursts, and failed romances.  There is little seen of the Boss performing on stage, though there is emphasis on the songs he had written, in which one can appreciate his hard-to-recognize talent.

SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE is not the kind of film his fans would expect, but it is not that bad a movie anyway.  It has a hefty $55 million budget and this film, though not bad has a possibility of being a dud judging form recent duds like Dwayne Johnson’s arguablybest dramatic movie, the recent THE SMASHING MACHONE that no one went to see as well as Jennifer Lopez’s musical KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN with great performances and choreography that made less that $1 million domestically in the U.S. opening weekend.

SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE opens everywhere in theatres this week, October 20th.

Trailer: