The Testament of Ann Lee (2025)

The Testament of Ann Lee is a number of things at once. It is in many ways a traditional historical drama methodically telling the story of Ann Lee, early spiritual leader of the Shakers. Very much a costume period piece which labours to walk through the historical beats to tell a story that many modern audiences would not be familiar with. However at the same time it attempts to upend typical prestige cinema through genre bending flourishes such as ecstatic musical numbers and and experimental film making techniques. Despite the latter it errs on the former side, ending up a fairly standard historical drama telling the rather unique story of a unique woman whose influence is still felt today despite many not knowing of her. 

Ann Lee was seen by believers to be the second coming of Christ. As a Shaker, she lead group through charismatic mob reactions that earned them the name. They promoted equality of the sexes, celibacy, puritanism, and pacifism. The film explores these complications and leans into Ann's visions and chanting. The film is narrated to fill in plot blank spots and sometimes to highlight what is going on. 

The musical conceit should work. It's integrated well into the story of a religious group who focus on ritual and chants. Sometimes it works better than other times. I appreciated how it created a sense of otherness to the cult as it is often juxtaposed to the reaction of others to their singing and dancing. But other times it felt anachronistic. So much of the music is repetitive, with minimal refrains returned to over and over. The effect is jarring and doesn't engender the scenes to the audience. I was often relieved when the music was done. 

Seyfried has been praised for the role. I believe she is a talented actor who is always strong in what she does. But I don't think I see this role as giving her the opportunity to do her best work. Her character is an attention seeker, often acting out, so her performance often feels over the top and not in a way that feels original or outstanding. 

And the film is on the long side. I was ready for it to be over long before it was. While I felt this is a story that is interesting for a number of reasons, the film doesn't necessarily hold your interest well. It is a film that doesn't quite succeed which is likely why it missed out on getting many of the accolades some thought it should receive.

The Testament of Ann Lee

Starring: Amanda Seyfried, Lewis Pullman, Christopher Abbott, Tim Blake Nelson

Director: Mona Fastvold

Writers: Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold

Dhurandhar (2025)

Dhurandhar brought me back to the 80s. It is a Sylvester Stallone style action thriller which is almost comic in its over-the-top style action, and from what I understand, right wing political leanings. This is the sort of action film where the hero throws a lighter to blow up a building and walks away in slow motion as it blows up behind him. At almost three and a half hours it is epic in its scope and brutal in its violence. It is spectacle for sure and gripping throughout even if its messaging is rather suspect. 

Singh plays a cliche of an action hero. Stoic and muscly with flowing locks that put Jason Momoa to shame. He is undercover, embedded into Pakistani gangs to undermine them for India. While the film claims to be a work of fiction, I understand it is not only based on real events, but uses footage of actual violence from the conflict between Pakistan and India as part of its story. That might be unsettling enough as this isn't a dramatization of history but also due to the film's strong anti-islamic sentiment. There is not analysis of the complexities of the conflicts. This is very much a one-sided story framed in action movie glory. Perhaps American Sniper might be one of the closest American analogues but that film even had more self-consciousness of what it was doing. Maybe Top Gun is a better comparison.  

But I have to hand it to the film makers, Dhurandhar is extremely entertaining and watchable. Visually incredible with violent set pieces that are incredibly gripping. For a film this long, it is never boring, keeping the action an gore moving along at a kinetic pace. There are wonderfully filmed car chases, gun fights, explosions, all the things audiences into hyper-masculine films want without much moral ambiguity to get in the way. As a film, you could tear it apart for its lack of subtlety or nuance but you can't fault it for lack of entertainment value.  

Still, it's a film with limited views on heroism, no female characters that are developed or there to do anything but advance the mens' arcs, and some homophobic references. It is supportive of the Modi regime in India with only the slightest of veiling of that support. Set before his time, it implies a government like his is what India needs. It takes a lot of overlooking of (if we're being generous) problematic elements to truly enjoy Dhurandhar. 

Dhurandhar

Starring: Ranveer Singh

Writer/Director: Aditya Dhar

Pretty Lethal (2026)

Ballet is a brutal art form that takes an incredible amount of strength and toughness. It is also seen as hyper-feminine which isn't alway  associated with those qualities. The great conceit of this film is drawing those two polarities together and dismantling the myth of their incompatibility. That aspect of the film is truly interesting. But beyond that the film doesn't do much that doesn't feel paint-by-numbers. That doesn't stop it from being a fun watch even if it is a bit on the forgettable side. 

Pretty Lethal is filmed like a John Wick movie, one that leans into the humour and absurdity more than the Ballerina spin off that shares a lot with this film.  Where that film went in a more serious direction, Pretty Lethal keeps things light and breezy. The characters are archetypes and their arcs are rather predictable and expected. Little is going to surprise you watching this film. Again that isn't lethal to the film's enjoyment. Sure it could have risen to something more but it chooses instead to be just what one would expect and to run with that. 

And with that it does what it is trying to do well. It is a showcase for centring women characters into the sort of narrative that we are used to seeing male characters in. It doesn't do any of it any less than the endless plethora of films like this that feature men. Perhaps in that it manages to exceed expectations. It ends up being entertaining and it still manages to make its point about just how tough a ballerina needs to be be. 

Pretty Lethal

Starring: Uma Thurman, Iris Apatow, Lana Condor, Millicent Simmonds, Avantika, Maddie Ziegler

Director: Vicky Jewson

Writer: Kate Freund

Holy Days (2026)

Sometimes a movie is just so darn delightful that you watch it with a smile across your face the whole time. Holy Days is one of those movies, the story of three elderly nuns trying to save themselves and their convent from being sold to a developer all while helping a young boy who has suffered a lot of loss, find his way. So yeah, a big smile with maybe a few moments of sweet tears as well. 

Director Boltt brings a truly lovely energy to her film. The style she uses to tell her story is one that is infused with joy and visual beauty. I found her manner of film making truly brought out the emotions of the story. She also manages to film comedy extremely well which isn't always something many directors are good at. Holy Days had me laughing throughout with its very naturalistic humour that never felt forced or faked. 

The real prize here is seeing Davis, Margolyse, and Weaver play off each other. Each is such a true delight and really makes the most of their characters and story. Young Tamati has incredible screen presence too and is a great foil to his legendary castmates. 

I couldn't recommend Holy Days more. It really is just a joy of a film. 

Holy Days

Starring: Judy Davis, Miriam Margolyes, Elijah Tamati, Jacki Weaver 

Writer/Director: Nat Boltt

Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice (2026)

This movie is a lot of fun. Does it feel like there were corner cut in the screenplay/production? Maybe a bit. There are a lot of really entertaining set pieces. Maybe not all the emotional payoff is earned by the end due to some assumed character development. But overall M&N&N&A is an entertaining film that is worth a watch. 

The film mixes the smart-ass crime genre popularized by Tarantino with time-travel comedy which seems to be becoming its own genre. No it doesn't reach the heights of a Kill Bill or an Everything Everywhere All at Once. It never quite gets enough of a chance to breathe to be either. But as a smaller, more intimate piece it works. Its B-movie leanings (including its budget casting choices) don't take away from the fact that as a story its solid and even ends on a promise of something perhaps even better. For me it was solid enough and showed promise of something greater. 

I'm a big believer in cinemas but also that not every movie is destined for the big screen. I think this is a great example of how a film can work for streaming in a way that it may not have in a movie theatre. The script is smart enough to be satisfying, the cast talented enough to put on a good show, and the story is a strong one, so the whole thing is a really good time. 

Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice

Starring: Vince Vaughn, James Marsden, Eiza González, Keith David, Emily Hampshire, Auturo Castro, Jimmy Tatro, Ben Schwartz, Stephen Root, Dolf Lundgren

Writer/Director: BenDavid Grabinski

I Wish You All the Best (2026)

Perhaps the first mainstream non-binary coming of age film, I Wish You All the Best does follow typical queer film coming of age tropes but manages to do so in a way that doesn't feel tired or rote. Perhaps it is the sincerity which film maker Tommy Dorfman and lead actor Corey Fogelmanis bring to the film. 

The plot isn't surprising. Teen comes out, is thrown out of their home by religious parents, and has to navigate finding themselves with the support of a supportive group of friends and an off the wall art teacher. I know when I describe it I Wish You All the Best sounds cliche but the film's earnestness elevates it and it's hard not to watch without it getting you emotionally. The story might cut a few corners but its focus on the messiness of coming out, of growing up, and figuring things out is refreshing. So many mistakes are made on these journeys and the comfort with that that Dorfman has in telling it makes it feel real. 

Also Fogelmanis is wonderul, giving a really breakout performances as the main character and finding a real human inside the character. So despite some of the limits of the film everyone steps up and makes it a really watchable, really affecting movie.

I Wish You All the Best

Starring: Corey Fogelmanis, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Lena Dunham, Alexandra Daddario, Cole Sprouse, Amy Landecker, Brian Michael Smith

Writer/Director: Tommy Dorfman 

Project Hail Mary (2026)

Sometimes a movie comes along that is just a simple crowdpleaser yet captures something, just right for the moment and becomes destined to be a classic film loved for the ages. It doesn't necessarily need to be complex or perfect or without flaws. It just needs to be truly entertaining and accessible for almost anyone. Project Hail Mary is that sort of a movie and I'll be surprised if it doesn't become a big hit.  

I could get into why the film's plot cuts some corners and perhaps jumps from set piece to set piece conveniently wrapping each up with a little bow. I could discuss how the film is a little on the emotionally manipulative side. But I'd be a party-pooper so instead I'll just talk about why I enjoyed the film so much regardless of its imperfections. 

Project Hail Mary is an aggressively optimistic movie. As I said, it manages to solve each of its cataclysmic problems, usually rather quickly. Its central character is likeable with a capital LIKE and never lets the immense pressure of the plot bring him down. When you think about it the film's story goes to some very dark places. Very dark. Yet the film doesn't dwell there, instead finding the bright spots in the almost pure darkness and coming out shining. I think this is a big part of the appeal. Perhaps it is the film audiences need in 2026. 

Gosling is a big part of this. He is extremely charming and relatable and just appealing. It is hard to think of another A-lister who could have pulled this off. His charisma carries the film and truly makes it all work. He'll have you at hello and his delivery of the film's relentlessly cheerful humour is the secret sauce that brings Project Hail Mary to life. 

Lord and Miller have made a lot of rather happy movies and find a real joy in their storytelling. This may be a bit of a magnum opus for them, the sort of film that might define who they are as film makers. And that's not something they should be upset about. 

So yeah there were things I could focus on to pick apart about this movie but I just don't want to cause I had a good time and I want to sit with that. Project Hail Mary and its star won me over. 

Project Hail Mary

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung, Milana Vayntrub, Priya Kansara, Orion Lee, James Ortiz

Directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller

Writer: Drew Goddard

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man (2026)

When a TV series continues with a movie, it is best when it can do two things at once, be a satisfying return to the story and characters of the show for the fans, and a stand alone story for newcomers. I've never watched Peaky Blinders so I cannot speak to the former, but on the latter I can say The Immortal Man succeeds. For the uninitiated like me The Immortal Man clearly sets out its premise and who the characters are sufficiently to be able to tell its story and draw us in, offering an engaging wartime gangster story that packs an emotional punch. 

This is a story about reckoning. A man with a past filled with evil is forced to face his ghosts, sometimes quite literally. He has failed himself and many in his life, including a son, and that consequences of that spiral out for him personally, for his larger community, all the way to the fate of a world war. Like most crime stories it is a cautionary tale, the costs of making deals with the devil. So what we're seeing here may not be that new. It is the way the story rolls out that makes it interesting. 

The cast here in one of its strengths. From the returning cast of the series to new additions Barry Keoghan and Rebeccca Ferguson, there is a high quality to the performances here. The story is operatic in its scope and takes many dramatic liberties so to make it work the performances need to be on point. Director Harper brings just the right mix of flare and emotional substance to the story keeping the film rather cinematic for a movie that continues the story of a TV series. 

From what I understand the film continues the series' focus on how the marginalization of populations contributes to the rise in organized crime. A society that doesn't offer anything to huge parts of its population but subjugation is inviting their retaliation. This film's story does that while also drawing the parallel on the personal level, the reckoning of the father and the son he abandons. The Immortal Man gives us the opportunity to wrestle with these struggles while telling its melodramatic story.

Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Rebecca Ferguson, Tim Roth, Sophie Rundle, Barry Keoghan, Stephen Graham, Packy Lee 

Director: Tom Harper

Writer: Steven Knight

Father Mother Sister Brother (2026)

Father Mother Sister Brother is the sort of film that I loved more and move the longer it went on. It is an anthology film, featuring 3 separate yet related stories set one after the other; Father, Mother, then Sister Brother. Each revolves around "family" and explores the lack of connection within those familial connections. As Father began I was only half into it, but as that reached its conclusion, and we began to move into Mother I began to understand more about what was going on and appreciate the journey. As we finally got to Sister Brother I was enraptured. By the end I wanted to start again. 

Each short in this film is a separate story that does not even imply it is in the same story/universe as the others. But the tales echo each other. The characters have discussions on similar small-talk subjects. They each reference certain objects. But mostly it is the theme of knowing each other in families. The film is both warm in its politeness and cold in how it keeps its characters distant. It is masterful how it balances a lot of the issues with staying close to family. 

Jarmush's films tend to be on the quiet and reflective side and this is no exception. His cast is incredible and delivers the sort of performances needed to go on this journey. The introspection asked of the audience is palpable while the film shows us, like in the famous meme, the tip of the iceberg while implying the large body of ice underneath. It is a masterclass. And it had me bringing up a lot of feelings that I wasn't expecting. Father Mother Sister Brother is unassuming yet powerful. 

Father Mother Sister Brother

Starring: Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Sarah Greene, Indya Moore, Luka Sabbat 

Writer/Director: Jim Jarmush

Undertone (2026)

There are things about Undertone that impressed me but in the end I found it rather unsatisfying. On the one hand the director does a really good job of utilizing space and lighting to create a real sense of unease and discomfort, almost a claustrophobia. But on the other, his underlying themes are so muddled, and the plot is just incoherent enough to take the power of out the story. I'm usually all in for ambiguity, especially in horror, but there is a line where it no longer becomes scary when it isn't suggesting that anything is even happening. 

The gimmick here is clever. We are watching a podcaster record her show and she is listening to audio clips sent to her. Her co-host is recording in another location so we only get his voice as well. The idea is that all we get is the sounds and being denied the visible aspects of the story makes it more disquieting and unsettling. And it does, for the beginning. But the film sort of gives up on this part way through and falls into horror movie cliches such as creepy childish drawings and power surges (maybe?) that make the lights flicker. Instead of sticking to the idea that the visual world is normal but the what we are hearing is off, the film loses some of its power. 

But I might have been able to roll with this if the film had built a cohesive sense of story and or dread. But the film isn't clear on what its story is about. By the end there is just chaotic sounds that aren't connected enough to truly instil any real fear. There are a lot of cliches (childhood songs, backwards music, speaking in tongues, screams/jump-scares) but nothing that suggests what the threat is. 

I also found its meta-narrative sort of questionable. The main character discovers she is pregnant and at one point makes an appointment for a "clinic" and the recordings and other information presented seems to suggest there is a horror that is making mothers kill their babies. What is the film saying?

But the worst sin was that it just wasn't scary in the end. It was a muddle that started out strong but didn't stick any sort of landing. 

Undertone

Starring: Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco

Writer/Director: Ian Tuason

 

2026 Oscar Nominated Shorts (2026)

This year's crop of films is more optimistic than other recent years. I have remembered years where coming out of watching them you'd be filled with sadness and dread. But this group provides a lot to smile about. I found myself laughing often during these films. There is some pain and loss expressed here, and they give us a lot to think about, but there is also hope in these films.  

Animated

Butterfly

Painted like a watercolour, Butterfly is a holocaust story, and a story of loss and survival. The story is sparse in it's telling, letting the emotion and visuals drive home its message. It is easily the most gorgeous of the group nominated this year.

Forevergreen

Forevergreen is animated to have the feel of stop motion. The story, reminiscent of The Giving Tree is about maturing and and sacrifice. It is, for me, perhaps the slightest of the five nominated films, but it is still charming in its way.  

The Girl Who Cried Pearls 

Pearls is actually stop motion and its set design and puppetry are intricately amazing. The story is clever with some twists and very adult themes about what is truly valuable. It presents perhaps the most complicated of the narratives of the five nominated films. 

Retirement Plan

Clever and sharp, Retirement Plan is the shortest of this crop of five films. Domhnall Gleeson narrates the thoughts/wishes of a middle aged man looking towards retirement. It is funny and impactful in its brief run time and might be my favourite in the end, maybe because it feels the closest to home for me. 

The Three Sisters

Visually original with its hand drawn animation the film follows three sisters (twist!) who live on a small island when a sailor arrives and uproots their existence. It is quite humorous but also sweet and a lovely little bit of cinema. 

Documentary

All The Empty Rooms

Following a journalist and photographer who take pictures of the bedrooms of children who've been killed in school shootings, this film is a powerful testament to the humans these children were and the families they have left behind. 

Armed With Only a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud

This is the story of photojournalist Brent Renaud, who survived many war zones to bring the story of war to those unaffected, only to finally give the ultimate sacrifice while covering the war in Ukraine. The film highlights the dangerous but important work photojournalists do. 

Children No More: Were and Are Gone

This powerful story of Israelis who protest their country's war in Palestine by holding silent vigils for the children killed in the way by the Israeli army. They face the verbal harassment and threats of physical violence of their fellow citizens yet stand firm in their commitment to ending genocide being committed in their name. 

The Devil is Busy

This film is a day in the life of an abortion clinic in Atlanta. We get a personal look at the people who work there and their dedication to providing this service despite hateful protests outside and discriminatory laws that limit their ability to help those coming to them. 

Perfectly a Strangeness

The most oddball of the this group of five films, and perhaps the only one that isn't struggling with how horrible the world is, Perfectly a Strangeness follows three donkeys who come across an observatory and, well... that's a good question. It is rather strange film that doesn't wear its point on its sleeve but is beautiful in a quiet way and does bring into question the definition of what a documentary can be. 

Live Action

Butcher's Stain

The most grounded of the group. this short film takes a fairly straight forward problem that may be not be as familiar to western audiences, and sets it out for us in a way that makes complete sense. It is powerful in its transparency. 

A Friend of Dorothy

This one was easily my favourite of the bunch with a delightful yet sensitive performance by Miriam Margolyes. The story is incredibly simple yet it is done so effectively it feels fresh. You will smile all the through.

Jane Austin Period Drama

This feels like an elevated SNL skit. Parodying the sort of films the title references with its sharp and truly hilarious script, the film plays with words and our cultural assumptions about menstruation in fun and nonthreatening ways for a light but very entertaining time. 

The Singers

The Singers is a surprisingly touching upending of masculine tropes. It may be the only film I felt was cut off too short. 

Two People Exchanging Saliva

The darkest of the group, this French film's critique is not explicit yet it feels more visceral. It presents a world slightly different yet tied to our own discomfort with sexuality. It remains somewhat ambiguous yet still makes a point that is fascinating to think about. 

Hoppers (2026)

I love it when a film surprises us and turns out to be something more than what it was sold as. In this case Hoppers appears from the trailers and marketing to be a film about a young woman being "transformed" (the how and why don't matter) into a beaver and interacting with the adorable woodland creatures of the glade. But it ends up being about so much more. This is a complex and nuanced lesson on world peace that is so effectively and entertainingly told that both the young and old alike can understand it. And it's all wrapped up in a wonderfully funny and moving story. 

I'll say first that Hoppers is one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. Its humour is organic and very joyful. This isn't biting satire, it is about finding the sort of exuberance that leads to honest, heartfelt laughter. It is also the sort of humour that transcends age. Both kids and adults will find it hilarious. 

And the film tells a truly engaging adventure story. There are real stakes (in fact some of the youngest audience members might be disturbed by some of the events) and real characters and there is edge of your seat action. Hoppers is for sure an entertaining film. 

But the genius here is how they work into the story a quite profound exploration of the interconnectedness of civilization and how to resolve conflict in pluralistic societies. I used the phrase "world peace" as an oversimplification earlier. What truly impressed me was how intelligent and sincere the film's attempt to wrestle with complex political issues is. And, as I said, it is done it a way that the younger audiences who watch it can understand and internalize it while also speaking to the adult in the room. Hoppers is quite a remarkable achievement. 

Fun movie? Check! Will keep you guessing and laughing? Check! Has something interesting and intelligent to say? Double check! Hoppers is a real winner. 

Hoppers

Starring: Piper Curda, Bobby Moynihan, Jon Hamm, Kathy Najimy, Dave Franco, Eduardo Franco, Sam Richardson, Meryl Streep

Director: Daniel Chong

Writer: Jesse Andrews

The Bride! (2026)

I've heard quite a bit about what a so-called "mess" Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! is but that didn't pan out when I watched what was a brilliant fever dream reimagining that is both wildly bold and biting while also being tragically sensitive. Yeah The Bride! is a dark carnival ride but I was along for it entirely. The film is demanding you listen to it. It is about finding a voice and using it and I get that for many they won't want that voice heard. For many the won't want to hear it. I say scream it out Maggie. 

The character of the Bride is one that has such a rich history in film and originally literature. From Shelley's original creation (in 1818 of all times) which is one of the most effective critiques of maleness created. She hints at the "monster" wanting a bride, a companion, yet her narrative denies him this while suggesting the idea of this potential female creation which may be even more threatening to the status quo than the first Frankenstein creation. Then this was brought to life in the queer camp masterpiece that is James Whale's Bride of Frankenstein film in 1935 which doesn't give her a voice but gives her the agency to reject what the men think is her purpose. I'd argue Kill Bill's Bride is a variation on the theme of a woman molded into what a man wants who again fights back against her designated role leaving devastation in her wake. 

Gyllenhaal takes all of this and makes it explicit. Perhaps wearing it on her sleeve is a reason so many are having a hard time with this film. She starts with Shelley herself and her desire for a voice. Gyllenhaal's Shelley says things like "mother fucking" and laughs at us from beyond the grave. There is no apology here for stepping out of the lines our culture has set out. This is a story, and a story allows for a lot of leeway, and Gyllenhaal runs with that freedom. She mixes elements from Whale's film with Bonnie and Clyde, Busby Berkeley musicals, and pulp fiction crime novels to weave her tale of a woman pursuing her own destiny. It is often audacious and rarely subtle. But anything that is messy here is intentional and... well the point. 

Order is often a male imposition while feminine power invites a visceral, organic griminess that challenges the neatness being imposed. Male desire is focused on hierarchy and black lines of right and wrong while there is more fluidity in femininity. Often is it "mess" which is used to shame women and keep them in line. From the word hysterical itself to the denigration of being "emotional" the openness of messiness is a threat to the stoic order. Gyllenhaal even hints at queerness in moments, another sort of messiness which opposes the "cleanliness" desired by the patriarchy. There are fluids here (literally), emotional outbursts, variability, all the things we are taught to see as unclean and... well, feminine. So much of the reaction to this film is proving the film's point. 

Buckley is a revelation creating an original character. The Bride herself is so complex and volatile yet she creates such a rounded and full character that we can't help feeling for and perhaps even seeing ourselves reflected. She isn't alone as Bale and the rest of the cast are also strong, but she is the titular Bride and all rests on her. She triumphs, creating an iconic version of an icon that is surprising, vulnerable, and I believe will be enduring. 

Is The Bride! a lot? Damn right it is. And I'm here for it. It is movies like this that wreck normal movies for me. I know they can't all function like this, especially since normie audiences won't be able to handle them, but when they do come along I am thankful. The best part was coming out of this knowing The Bride! doesn't need our approval.

The Bride!

Starring: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal, Penélope Cruz, Julianne Hough, John Magaro, Matthew Maher, Zlatko Burić, Jeannie Berlin 

Writer/Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal

 

Youngblood (2026)

Rarely do remakes improve on the original but Youngblood might be one of the examples. This beautifully filmed drama skates a thin line between the sports movie cliches inherent in the genre and its refusal to completely give in to them. Strong performances from James, Doyle, and Underwood really cement this as a solid watch. 

Youngblood is an exploration of the toxic masculinity in sport, with a particularity for hockey. It is about taking responsibility for yourself and your actions. It's about the ways men process pain, both the good and the bad. 

It is filmed with an eye towards a kinetic energy. The hockey is breathtaking even though there is less of it than you might expect. But director Davis brings this energy to all the scenes. It is an exciting film to watch. Some of this means perhaps it cuts some corners and doesn't develop everything as much as I might have liked to keep its tight runtime and story telling momentum.

Youngblood is a strong film from Davis who has focused on hockey and black players in previous films (documentaries). This fiction film shows strong promise. 

Youngblood

Starring: Ashton James, Blair Underwood, Shawn Doyle, Henri Richer-Picard, Tamara Podemski, Oluniké Adeliyi

Director: Hubert Davis

Writers: Charles Officer, Josh Epstein, Kyle Rideout, Seneca Aaron 

Scream 7 (2025)

What I like about a good Scream movie is: (1) the mystery, I like how they make you guess who the killer is which isn't common in slasher films, (2) the meta-commentary, I enjoy it when the films reference the horror genre explicitly, (3) the humour, more than most slasher franchises Scream movies are generally funny, and (4) the cold open (more on that later). The first film nailed this and that's why it is a classic. The rest have all balanced these to better or worse effect, and whether or not they work is quite tied to how well they pull off this formula. 

Scream 7 leans into the nostalgia heavily. Sidney is back and now she has a daughter who is her age when the first movie's plot happened. And the killer is Stu Macher from the first film, or someone pretending to be him. The series has attempted to dip into the well of the first one before but this one is the most all in on that. For some continuity it brings back my favourite of the newer films' cast, Gooding and Brown as the hilarious twins who also happen to be the nephlings of original film star Randy. 

For me the nostalgia felt forced. We've seen Sidney process her trauma and these slasher movies being about that just feels a bit dated at this point. Even the generational aspect doesn't feel fresh. Didn't the Halloween series just do that? Also the way they bring back previous killers wasn't as interesting as I had hoped. There is an attempt at an emotional ending that just didn't land for me. 

But did it meet my Scream test? The mystery was kinda so so. The end reveal feels like a let down. I think it works best when the killer is revealed to be someone important. The first film set the bar high and the series has been having a hard time keeping up with this. Lately the final killers are often characters I don't care about and the audience doesn't care about. I don't think this film solved that problem even with what they attempt to do. 

The meta-commentary was... okay. The film appears to address in the dialogue issues with the film series' production over the past few instalments. At one point someone says Sidney is "past her prime" which I believe was famously levelled at Campbell. There are mentions of events that sort of tie into the actors' own trajectories through the productions of these movies. Some of that was interesting but not overly satisfying. 

Finally the humour. I think that is Scream 7's strength.  The script's humour is pretty decent. The script takes some plot short cuts that feel a bit, not well thought through, but the story is rather tight and once it gets going it goes well right up to the end. Sure the plot is a bit shaky but for entertainment value and a fun time it's not bad. Some of the deaths are creatively funny in the way this series tries to do. Despite this one not being as memorable as others I still had a good time. 

And for the cold open. I'm not sure it amounts to much. It attempts to blend the nostalgia with the humour and the meta-commentary in a way that signals where the movie is going but its a bit on the dull side compared to the movie itself. 

So Scream 7 is a mixed bag for me... as are most of the sequels. Perhaps that's just the fate of this series. They are good enough to keep making them and watching them but always a bit of a let down from what they could be.  

Scream 7

Starring: Neve Campbell, Isabel May, Jasmin Savoy Brown. Mason Gooding, Anna Camp, David Arquette, Michelle Randolph, Jimmy Tatro, Mckenna Grace, Asa Germann, Celeste O'Connor, Sam Rechner, Mark Consuelos, Tim Simons, Matthew Lillard, Joel McHale, Courteney Cox, Ethan Embry, Roger L. Jackson, Mark Consuelos, Laurie Metcalf, Scott Foley

Director: Kevin Williamson

Writers: Guy Busick, Kevin Williamson 

In the Blink of an Eye (2026)

When a film is around 90 minutes, especially one that hasn't received the best reviews, I am often suspicious there is another film here, a longer one, that the producers didn't have faith in, so it was edited down to something short and digestible in the hopes it will somehow pass. In the Blink of an Eye gives off these vibes strongly. I found it remarkably moving and interesting while also quite entertaining, yet it is being dismissed as sleight and disappointing. While it may be a flawed but noble attempt, I was not disappointed in it. 

Do I feel like it sometimes is on the straightforward side? Sure. Again I wonder if there is a longer cut with more nuance and character development. But even without that I felt myself getting drawn into each story emotionally. The film follows three interrelated (sort of) stories, one in the prehistoric past, one today, and one in the far off future. It is a story of interconnectedness and ambitiously tries to comment on the meaning of life. Is it fully successful? Perhaps not entirely. But does that mean it doesn't work? Not at all. 

I was into it from the get go and its relentless optimism was handled in a way that was refreshing without feeling pedantic. Overall I was happy with it although I did wish some of it was more fleshed out. But even as it is, In the Blink of an Eye is a film I enjoyed and have been thinking about since watching it.

In the Blink of an Eye

Starring: Kate McKinnon, Rashida Jones, Daveed Diggs, Rona Rees, Jorge Vargas, Skywalker Hughes, Andrea Bang, Aria Kim, Luc Roderique,

Director: Andrew Stanton

Writer: Colby Day

Firebreak (2026)

This Spanish thriller has caught on like... well, wildfire. Yes it errs on the side of melodramatic and is eager to play with expectations but it does so quite deftly, and exploits the audiences fears and distrusts. In the end the film is about how our assumptions can turn us into what we don't want to be, or perhaps be seen as. The film's plot may be a bit of guilty pleasure but what is interesting in Firebreak is the way it gets under our skin and says something uncomfortable about us. 

The film goes a little heavy handed into it's suspicious elements and manipulates the audience to react certain ways. Then its ending throws some of that back in the audience's face a bit. The end result is actually to get us to reflect on how we felt and why we reacted the way we did. Do I think the film handles this brilliantly? Not really. But it is effective. Also it a fun watch with its melodramatic approach. The cast is strong and its filmed very effectively. 

Plus the fire subplot in the background is interesting. At first the film feels like it's going to be a disaster movie style film but that's not really where this goes. Still the fire is like a constant reminder of impending danger which acts like a pressure cooker and heightens the tension of the main plot. In that way the film ends up offering a tense watch that then leads to some interesting reflection at the end. So while not perfect Firebreak is a bit of a pleasant surprise. 

Firebreak

Starring: Belen Cuesta, Joaquin Furriel, Enric Auquer

Director: David Victori

Writers: Javier Echániz, Asier Guerricaechebarría, Jon Iriarte, David Victori 

The Bluff (2026)

For films on a smaller budget, perhaps intentionally aimed at streaming, a good rule of thumb is KISS, keep it simple stupid. The Bluff is a great example of this. A straight forward pirate story, limited locations, and set pieces that don't break the bank but remain effective, and you have a fun little movie that delivers some action and good characters. I enjoyed The Bluff and wouldn't be sad if the tales of "Bloody Mary" continue on into new adventures. 

I didn't have Priyanka Chopra becoming action star on my bingo card but she nails this. Her former pirate turned family woman is tough (as nails) and smart and pulls off being able to fight off a hoard of nasty pirates. Urban might be playing to type but he make a compelling rival to Chopra and their little battle of wills, while as I said straight forward, ends up being damn entertaining. 

Sure you can see they cut corners. On the big screen this might have been bigger names (I hear Zoe Saldana was originally eyed for the role) and some of the effects seem designed for a smaller screen at home. As I said, the script cleverly keeps its action intimate so that large set pieces, crowds, big special effects, can be avoided and produced more cost effectively. Therefore the script needed to make interesting characters and a compelling conflict. It mostly achieves this. I found The Bluff entertaining throughout. While I may not have paid to see this on the big screen, I was enjoying it enough to watch at home. 

And that's all I really need from a film. A good time. Sure when a film can surprise me, blow my mind, take me somewhere I haven't been before, I love that even more. But I can appreciate an old fashioned adventure that doesn't talk down to me, doesn't bore me. The Bluff walks that line and gives us just enough that I wouldn't mind seeing more of this story in the future. 

The Bluff

Starring: Priyanka Chopra, Karl Urban, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Safia Oakley-Green, Temuera Morrison 

Director: Frank E. Flowers

Writers: Joe Ballarini, Frank E. Flowers

Honey Bunch (2026)

I love a great old fashioned horror film that leans into creepy and disturbing over gore and jump-scares. Honey Bunch has a simple presence that evokes classic horror tropes; a husband brings his wife to a remote trauma centre after her accident to help her recovery but things are off and she begins to suspect something foul. There is a lot of potential here and Honey Bunch mostly exploits that to great effect, creating an eerie and unsettling rumination on relationships. 

Created by a real life couple in writer/director team Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli and starring a real life couple, Grace Glowicki and Ben Petrie, Honey Bunch has a meta feel to its disconcerting comments on marriage and relationships. 

The film's biggest strength is its sense of nostalgia for a different era of horror film making which it pay loving homage to while also telling a compelling and rewarding story that manages to stick the landing with an ending that lives up to the promise of its concept. Honey Bunch gives us a complicated perspective on relationships, neither a reinforcement of norms not a condemning critique, but a rather unnerving reflection. 

Honey Bunch

Starring: Grace Glowicki, Ben Petrie, Jason Isaacs, Kate Dickie, India Brown, Patricia Tulasne, Julian Richings

Writers/Directors: Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli

Kokuho (2025)

Gorgeous and epic, Kokuho is set in the world of Kabuki and the film makers revel in the pagentry and spectacle of it. Within that is the story of ambition and loss as we follow the life of a performer, Kikuo, as he moves from ingenue to celebrity to inheritor to disgrace to redemption and come back. It is a grand life story and operatic in style. 

Its runtime is as grand as well but Kokuho manages to keep every moment vibrant so the time passes quickly. As a westerner I was worried about long Kabuki sequences but the director makes them riveting and powerful. It often felt like the opera scenes in a Godfather movie. It is no wonder why the films design, costumes, and make-up have received international attention. 

The film's style is dramatic and emotional which sometimes felt a bit heavy handed. Yet it fits for this story so it's hard to fault it for that. It is about actors and their drama so the fact that they are overtly melodramatic felt authentic even if its not my preferred narrative style. 

Kokuho, despite its runtime, begs to be seen on the big screen and it worth the time spent. 

Kokuho

Starring: Ryo Yoshizawa, Ken Watanabe

Director: Lee Sang-il

Writer: Satoko Okudera

How to Make a Killing (2026)

Great premise. Wonderful cast. Snoozer of a movie. At one point I was even asking myself how it was possible to screw this up. All the pieces seemed to be there but the film amounts to little to nothing. It really feels like it comes down to not finding any style. When you watch it you can imagine a director with a more flashy style taking this and really turning it into something amazing... all while you are realizing how not amazing this film is. 

The plot of How to Make a Killing is cinematic gold (it's loosely based on the 1949 classic Kind Hearts and Coronets) but it is a bit on the, let's be generous, over-the-top side and requires a bit of suspension of disbelief. But so are many of cinema's greatest films. The film needed to find a sense of style, storytelling, which would bring us into this world and get us on board. But the characters are all cardboard cutouts, the circumstances of the movie rather unbelievable most of the way through. It never finds anything solid for the audience to feel connected to or even care about. 

I could imagine a different version of this movie where each character's backstory is fleshed out, each given some fascinating bio to build up to their ultimate demise (which all could have been more fun BTW), all while the tension builds as to whether or not he's going to get away with it. But instead How to Make a Killing seems more interested in racing through each plot point so fast we blink and miss em which does nothing for the suspension of disbelief problem. The central character didn't even get a fair shake. I never once felt his relationship had any chemistry but if the film had found a way to parallel building his love story with the string of deaths, perhaps the film could have found a groove to build to an ending we could be on the edge of our seats for. The film's framing sequence spoils more than it helps and the final "twist" is just not as cool or bleak as the film thinks it is. I really wish the film had gone with what it hints at all along, that Qualley's character is a figment of Powell's imagination, but *spoiler* it doesn't and has a much more average ending that feels like its trying to be a gotcha instead of actually having something to say about our world. It can't even commit to it, leaving Powell to seem ambiguous about how things turned out. 

How to Make a Killing may not be as much the director's fault as the editor's. It does feel like it's been hacked to death like the villain in an episode of Dexter. Maybe the original vision was for this to be a more robust and richer story, but maybe the studio didn't have the confidence and went with cutting everything out until there are only 105 minutes left. Whatever the reasons How to Make a Killing just doesn't...

How to Make a Killing

Starring: Glen Powell, Margaret Qualley, Jessica Henwick, Bill Camp, Zach Woods, Topher Grace, Ed Harris, Raff Law, Motsi Tekateka

Writer/Director: John Patton Ford

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2026)

When a movie can keep me guessing, doesn't do what I think it's going to, and manages to completely entertain me, I can be all in. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die is its own beast and will take you on an adventure that you aren't expecting, even up to the ending (is it an ending?). This is just a thoroughly good time, despite having some extremely profound themes and some dark twists, the film manages to remain optimistic in spite of...*gestures everywhere* It is a bleak film about how horrible humanity and the world is that is extremely funny and down right hopeful. Verbinski has pulled off a little miracle with this film. 

If I had to compare it to anything, I'd say it has Everything Everywhere All At Once Vibes, but it's a completely different experience. What it shares with that film is a high concept, mind bending plot devices, and an unpredictability that makes watching it a joy (I mean for those of us who don't want to feel safe watching a story pretty much knowing what is going to happen next). But the ideas its explores, its tone, and its point of view are completely different. It's the sort of film I would normally say "just go see it knowing as little as possible about it." Then after you see it you'll want to see it again to make more sense of it... or less. 

This cast rocks. Rockwell is always a joy in pretty much every movie he's in and Temple plays against type in surprisingly rewarding ways. I could go through everyone cause they each earn their keep but for it was Richardson, who I think truly shines here. Many are saying that this is a return to form for director Verbinbski but my hot take is that this film maker has shown a lot of potential but never really made a film I felt lived up to that potential... until now! This is pretty much the best thing he's ever done and he manages it with both style and restraint. The film, despite its wild swings, is grounded in a reality that gives it more pathos that you might expect. 

But the real star is writer Robinson who has dreamt up this nightmare and we are all lucky to get to go along for the ride. His ideas just keep tumbling out in the least predictable ways. Despite him foreshadowing so much, he always keeps us on our toes and rarely do we understand something before he needs us to. 

It isn't very often a film comes along that catches me off guard as much as this one does and I love it when it does!

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die

Starring: Sam Rockwell, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, Asim Chaudhry, Juno Temple, Tom Taylor, Riccardo Drayton, Dino Fetscher, Anna Acton 

Director: Gore Verbinski

Writer: Matthew Robinson

Crime 101 (2026)

Documentary director Layton makes his narrative debut with this tight and rather intelligent caper drama. The cast is strong and Layton impresses with his film making style. He finds wonderful little flourishes which remain on the subtle side but add to the power of his story telling. Sometimes the script has a few weak moments but all together this is an impressive debut that makes me hope he'll do more fiction films in the future. 

The cast all do well even if they are all playing exactly to type. Hemsworth is the loveable anti-hero, Keoghan is reigned in psychopath, Berry is the career woman being passed over for her gender and age, and Ruffalo is the beaten down cop with integrity. They all do what they can with the roles but the main weakness of the film is how archetypal each are. Still the cast brings a power to their scenes together. Barbaro is a scene stealer, proving that her Oscar nomination wasn't a fluke.  

What impressed me most was Layton's ability to toggle between his well filmed and gripping action sequences and the emotional punch of his dramatic scenes. His set pieces are well thought through, and they keep you on the edge of your seat while also grounding you in the moment and the impact the incidents are having on the characters. And when he transitions into the personal moments you feel like it is cohesive so we don't feel the adrenaline is a distraction. 

Layton paints LA as rather dystopian, never pushing this idea into our faces too hard but making it clear there is something rotten in paradise. He is commenting on the American dream and its failures without wearing these ideas on his sleeve. So while the story may not have completely held together Crime 101 is a very watchable and moving film and the promise of a film maker with something to say and a beautiful way to say it. 

PS. perhaps if you are going to cast Jennifer Jason Leigh and Nick Nolte you should them more to do. 

Crime 101

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte, Tate Donovan, Devon Bostick, Payman Maadi

Writer/Director: Bart Layton

"Wuthering Heights" (2026)

I often really appreciate adaptations that take big swings. I love Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, Cuaron's Great Expectations, Branagh's Hamlet, so "Wuthering Heights", a film so liberally adapted for the screen it has quotations around the title, is right up my ally, especially from a film maker as bold and self-assured as Fennell. Admittedly she has taken the bare bones of Bronte's novel (taking out many characters) to focus on the doomed and rather toxic love between Heathcliff and Cathy.

Often a modern adaptation of a period novel must take liberties for the story to have the emotional impact the original would have had in its time. What would have been laced with scandal for an 1850s audience might seem quaint to today's crowd. Fennell understands this and injects her story with modern indelicacies designed to resonate in the way Bronte's dark tale might have then. Fennell makes it romantic in that dark and twisted way Bronte's novel reads with a historic lens. Her Cathy and Heathcliff are damaged, emotionally stunted individuals whose flailings at love and sexuality do more harm than good. Her Isabella is looking to be dominated. Her Edgar is less bothered by his cuckolding than protecting his line. These aren't Bronte's versions of these characters, they are Fennell's and she is mixing a smutty fanfic vibe with a class analysis in a similar naughty and subversive style to her film Saltburn. 

There are interesting ideas going on here. In her (at this time) rather short filmography, Fennell shows she is rather deft at subverting our expectations and in so critiquing her subjects effectively. The film starts with a black screen and what we assume are the sounds of sex, only to have it revealed it is the sound of a public hanging and how the crowd enters an almost ecstatic state upon the condemned's death. She is telling us that she is using this story to explore western culture's intersections between cruelty, sex, death, love, and oppression. This isn't a heartwarming love story.  

Much has been made about the casting of Elordi who doesn't fit the "Lascar" description in the book. Maybe this is a mistake. Perhaps this has to do with the film focusing more on the class constructions than the racial ones... at least in the Healthcliff/Cathy relationship. She instead focuses her lens on racism on the character of Nelly, played with wonderful subtlety by Hong Chau. In another change from the book, Nelly's class isn't the issue but her birth as both a "bastard" and a racial minority which sets her in the role of servant to the rest. Her actions are deliciously ambiguous in terms of her motivations and she appears both sympathetic and rightfully resentful of Cathy as well as the Earnshaws and Lintons in general. Often read as a villain from the novel, Chau and Fennell don't allow Nelly to be that simple as she is often one of the most relatable characters in the film. She is quite often portrayed as reading, again a subtle signal to the audience. 

Fennell takes quite a few liberties with the story and characters and narrows the focus of what is a dense and complicated novel. For me she was quite successful in telling the story she wanted to tell about self destructive people (and honestly people with a somewhat repressed desire to destroy others) who were never taught how to love trying to love. It is bold and vivacious filled with innuendo and sexuality, humour and operatic tragedy. "Wuthering Heights" is gorgeous, decorated with incredible art direction and costumes so that the whole film feels light a heightened (pun intended) historical reality, like a dream or a nightmare. It is audacious in its visuals, sexuality, and dialogue, but layered with suggestion and nuance with its more critical themes. While this may not be to many's tastes, it worked for me and I couldn't look away. 

Audiences who wanted to see the novel adapted more religiously may be disappointed as this film goes off on the side quests it wants to, leaving much of the novel behind. But if you can wrap your expectations around a dirty little love tragedy featuring terrible/beautiful people you just want to shelter from their own wretchedness while screaming at them to grow up, then Fennell's adaptation is something truly rich to enjoy. 

"Wuthering Heights"

Starring: Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Hong Chau, Owen Cooper, Charlotte Mellington, Chazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes, Ewan Mitchell

Writer/Director: Emerald Fennell

 

Eternity (2025)

Did a movie's ending ever piss you off so much it ruins the movie for you generally? That's kinda what happened for me with Eternity a movie I was generally enjoying up to the last 20 minutes. 

The premise, in the afterlife you get to pick an eternity, but only one, that you get to spend... well, eternity in. When a woman dies she finds that both her first husband (who died in a war long ago) and her second husband, who she lived with for decades until both their deaths, are in the afterlife both waiting to spend eternity with her. 

The movie does a really great job of setting up its central problem; that she has to pick which of them to spend eternity with. It sets out very well that her love for both of them is very real and that each is different but both fully love. The film's plot even gets the husbands, who begin the story seeing each other as competitors for some sort of prize, to the point where they understand what the other meant to her and begin to feel grateful to the other for the role they played in the life of the woman they loved. 

So far so good. In addition the script is rather funny and clever, Early and Randolph are more than delightful, and the three leads bring just the right mix of humour and pathos to their roles. There was an awkward pedophilia joke in there that should ended up on the cutting room floor but mostly the script is tight. I really appreciated how well the script makes the complications of this set up feel so real and nuanced. Untill...

*Spoilers*

Eternity, up until it's third act seems to be making the case that the problem is the having to choose, but the final act switches this kinda out of no where. After spending most of its runtime showing us exactly why both her relationships were meaningful and had worth, at the end she very quickly decides that the one (her first husband) just didn't cut the mustard and that she has to choose the second husband. There is no build up to this. Nothing in the character development does anything to imply that her first love wasn't as rich and meaningful as the second. Yet the film just feels fine throwing all that away so that there can be a "winner" and a "loser" or at least a resolution that is comfortable. The final moments play out like a prototypical rom-com with the whole running against time to catch the leaving lover before it's too late shtick instead of the clever quirky film it had been attempting to be up til then. 

Maybe I had hoped too much from a Hollywood comedy. I had hoped the film would present that she, as a fully realized human being, could have a complicated set of emotions and, since it is effin eternity, the time to pursue and explore all the love that she has with the men she loves. But no. I had aimed too high for this sort of thing. 

So yeah, what was originally a fun film with an interesting idea and a great cast that I would recommend to people for a smart and funny watch, ended up being enough of a disappointment I would likely tell people to skip it altogether. 

Eternity

Starring: Miles Teller, Elizabeth Olsen, Callum Turner, John Early, Olga Merediz, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Betty Buckley, Barry Primus

Director: David Freyne

Writer: Pat Cunnane, David Freyne 

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (2025)

For me animation is a way to tell stories in ways that can't be told through live action. In the west we think of these films a being for children but so often they are so much more than that. Little Amelie is a wonderful example of how a film can be so much more because it is animated. It is a wonderfully original and deeply personal exploration of connection, likely through nerodivergency, and simply a gorgeous movie to watch. 

Little Amelie is a movie that would be accessible for children, although it is the sort of movie the is rich in meaning and emotion for people of all ages. It is told through the perspective a a 3 year old, but we experience her world so fully and see perhaps even beyond what she understands. Her story is unique and yet so utterly relatable. 

The visuals are gorgeous. I am so glad hand drawn animation is having such a resurgence in international film making. The world of this child couldn't be captured in live action. Not like this. The film connects the girl to the rain emotionally and etymologically as her French name contains the Japanese word for rain. 

I loved the way the film handled the spaces between cultures (Belgium and Japan, the west and the east) the way it dealt with war, loss, family, and being on the outside of what is considered normal. There is so much beauty to be experienced in this film and I highly recommend you find it and meet Little Amelie on her terms. 

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain

Directors: Liane-Cho Han, Maïlys Vallade

Writers: Liane-Cho Han, Aude Py, Maïlys Vallade, Eddine Noël 

The Smashing Machine (2025)

Sports movies, especially those based on real life stories, aren't usually my bag. They follow a formula I find tiresome and they glorify the subject who is usually involved in the making of the film. The Smashing Machine does somewhat fall into these traps a bit but manages to avoid most of the pitfalls by sticking to its story rather tightly and employing a rather straightforward narrative that cuts down on the glory. 

Johnson is really solid in this film and shows us he can handle a dramatic role as well as he does the action comedy. He's a showman for sure but he does restrained work here keeping up with co-star Blunt (who is always strong). 

The Safdies may have gone their separate ways but Bennie's work here, restrained and quietly powerful, is thoughtful, allowing his stars to play out their roles effectively and just tell the damn story. While I will never understand the passion for this sport (watching people fight is not my bag) I could understand where these damaged people were coming from and appreciated seeing them reach some level of personal success in their lives, outside of the sport.

The Smashing Machine

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt 

Writer/Director: Bennie Safdie