The Mastermind (2025)

At first Reichardt's heist movie is a fascinating anti-heist movie heist movie. Her slow cinema style that was so engaging in First Cow (for example) works well in the first half of the Mastermind, deconstructing what we expect in a heist film. But by the second act I was taken out of the film that seemed to really struggle with what it was trying to do. 

I appreciated the everyday-ness of how she sets up the heist in the opening of the film. There was a lot of just obviousness to it, a lack of extraorindariness to what we are used to seeing as the exact opposite. To make it feel so work-a-day just felt quite remarkable. As the plot started to fall apart it was both tragic and comic. The more characters commented on how our "hero" didn't "think this through", the more it became clear just how poorly planned this was. As a film genre, this is usually where we see how brilliantly the plan comes together and this was the stark contrast to that. 

But by the end Reichart's attention to minuscule detail starts to loose its appeal and takes away from the power of the story. She pulls the story back around with what is a beautifully ironic ending and a sad commentary on futility of progress. But by then I had lost some of my passion for where this was going. 

I found O'Connor to be strong, along with a few of the cameos who appear here. But some of the rest of the cast were too weak to bring what was needed to keep this story engaging. 

The Mastermind

Starring: Josh O'Connor, Alana Haim, Hope Davis, John Magaro, Gaby Hoffmann, Bill Camp, Matthew Maher

Writer/Director: Kelly Reichardt

Nouvelle Vague (2025)

In 2025 Linklater released two films about pivotal moments of 20th century pop culture, Blue Moon about the opening night of Oklahoma! and Nouvelle Vague about the making of Breathless. Both feel like love letters to great artists but the latter feels a little more whimsical and slight although it remains a lovely watch. 

In Linklater's telling the filming of what has come to be regarded as one of cinema's greatest accomplishments was a rather haphazard and clumsy bit of playing around. Godard is portrayed as a visionary iconoclast but loveable and delightful and his cast, producers, and crew, while often frustrated by his idiosyncrasies, adore him and have a lovely time making the film despite all the absurdities and costs. It is very rose coloured glasses and never feels like it has stakes. It's hard to take Nouvelle Vague very seriously in all this kumbaya.  Even Deutch's cute frustrations as Seberg seem more like minor annoyances than reflections of reactions to potentially abusive behavior. 

But the film remains very watchable because if there is one thing Linklater does well, it's having us watch people sit around talking. It's true in Blue Moon. It's true in his other famous works. And it's true here. So even if Nouvelle Vague feels a bit like revisionist history, it is one we might be on board with. 

Nouvelle Vague

Starring: Guillaume Marbeck, Zoey Deutch, Aubry Dullin 

Director: Richard Linklater

Writers: Holly Gent, Vincent Palmo

Kiss of the Spider Woman (2025)

Director Condon is good at musicals as proven by his Dreamgirls film and his screenplay for his other Kander/Ebb musical adaptation, the Oscar winning Chicago. I feel he's done it again, bringing Kander and Ebb's musical version of Kiss of the Spider Woman to the big technicolor screen with pizzaz and pathos. 

Jennifer Lopez, as the title character is the marquee name, and she shines here in a scene stealing role that sets her as queen of the silver screen, a title she lives up to and more. But this is Tonatiuh's film. His performance as Molina (the role that won William Hurt his Oscar) is easily one of the best performances of the year. He is mesmerizing and captivating in every moment, bringing an authenticity and creativity to the role. He made the film for me. Poor Diego Luna, who gives a strong performance, but is completely eclipsed by his co-star in his breakout role. 

Condon's approach, similar to his work in Chicago, is to use the musical numbers in the fantasy world, keeping the prison moments grounded in reality and the imagined world of an old fashioned movie musical is the escape and liberation. His staging is pure 50 musical magic, from the costumes to the art direction, to the melodrama. It's all delicious and rich. Condon has taken the musical, incorporated elements from the novel and the 80s film adaptation, to create something truly lovely and what might be my favourite of the tellings of this tale. 

My only real critique is that the music isn't Kander and Ebb's best work. There is nothing near a Cell Block Tango or a Willkommen, very few of the songs stick with you or capture your heart. Still, Tonatiuh and Lopez are both outstanding as they perform the musical numbers which papers over the weakness of the source music. 

Still Kiss of the Spider Woman is gorgeous, tragic, spectical and I am here for it. It is also a showcase for an incredible new talent in Tonatiuh and perhaps the role Jennifer Lopez was born to play. 

Kiss of the Spider Woman

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Diego Luna, Tonatiuh, Bruno Bichir, Tony Dovolani, Aline Mayagoitia

Writer/Director: Bill Condon

 

It Was Just an Accident (2025)

The story behind It Was Just An Accident is as compelling as its rich and engaging story. Filmed in secret, breaking all sorts of Iranian laws, this movie is part thriller, part comedy, part morality play, and Panahi finds just the right balance in tone between all of it. It is compelling from start to finish... and man what a finish. 

The strong cast juggles the transitions from dark humour to powerful pathos. There is an authenticity in every scene brought together by the actors and the guerrilla film making style. But at the heart of this is just a damn good story filled with well rounded characters, and a smart/funny/moving script. It's the whole package. 

The film never gives away its secrets. It will keep you guessing until the end. There are fascinating questions woven throughout, the kinds that don't have easy answers and dive deep into our emotions, our reason, our humanity. It culminates in a moment of catharsis, a resolution that a feeling of peace to it. But then it goes just a bit further and leaves you with even more questions than you had before. It is just wonderful cinema. 

It Was Just an Accident 

Starring: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr

Writer/Director: Jafar Panahi

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025)

The biggest problem with this Big Bold Beautiful Journey is that it really isn't any of those things. The film feels remarkably small, takes little to no risks, and is filmed in a rather pedantic fashion that keeps it from being very cinematic. My previous experiences with Kogonada's work have gorgeous films that, while a little plodding, were incredibly to look at and reached into some deep beautiful metaphors. So it is surprising to see this feel so simplistic and cliched. 

Farrell and Robbie don't find any chemistry here. There "meet cute" is anything but. It's awkward and doesn't feel real. They are the kinds of characters that speak what they are thinking instead of how humans might translate their inner thoughts into filtered conversations. So their interactions feel constructed or wooden. And the journey's they go through, revisiting formative moments in their past, all feel like text book ideas of what makes us who we are. There seems to be little to no insight into the human condition. It's like Chat GPT tried to find pathos in the stories of regular lives. 

And the film most often visually falls flat. There are moments the film has its characters tell us that what we are watching is beautiful scenery but neither part feels like it really is. The rain looks like rain machines. There is even a moment when the film gives up trying to even be on sets and just puts our characters on a sound stage for no reason. None of it came together or made it that watchable. 

But I think it's the films less than bold story lines that were the most disappointing. The ideas of parent issues or relationship issues just felt so 101 they didn't feel honest. It all amounts to a rather small, plain, trip and not what the title of this film promises at all. 

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey

Starring: Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, Kevin Kline, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Jodie Turner Smith, Billy Magnussen, Sarah Gadon, Hamish Linklater

Director: Kogonada

Writer: Seth Reiss

Him (2025)

I have to push back at the negative reception Him has received upon its release. While not perfect, Tipping doesn't quite stick the landing, Him is a bold vision that takes risks and, in my opinion, mostly scores. It was fascinating to watch this visionary deconstruction of western ideas of masculinity and it's the sign of a powerful new cinematic voice in new director Tipping. 

Him is a fever dream, a purging of all the masculine images celebrated in our culture, that challenges our notions of the possibilities of goodness and manliness. It doesn't shy away from tying its condemnations religious imagery, specifically Christianity (just look at the poster), taking down God and Country and our western patriarchy. Him attacks our idolatry of athletes and sport while working in as much Americana and religion into the toxic mix. No wonder people are falling all over themselves to condemn this film. It holds a funhouse mirror up to our straight male culture to show what it really does. People don't want that. 

Like Challengers before it, Him isn't afraid to highlight the homoerotic nature of straight masculinity; its obsession with male bodies, male romance. There are lines in the script that specifically reference straight men desiring each other. Make no mistake, this isn't an attempt to claim the characters are gay. It's to show just how much straght men worship and desire each other. Audiences are going to be extremely uncomfortable with that and I think that's good. Him should make straight American male audiences extremely uncomfortable, especially those that love to warp themselves in the flag and the church.

As I mentioned in the beginning, Tipping doesn't make the end work. Likely one could have ended Him five minutes early and it would have been great. The ambiguity of wondering if Cam was going to "sign" at the end would have been a master stroke. Just but to black as he stands there contemplating. Instead the film's bloody climax, one that still fits with the violent nature of the story til then, doesn't end up delivering on the promise Him delivers. This is a Faustian tale that equates western masculinity with a deal with the devil and the almost heroic ending takes away some from that. But while it didn't quite get into the endzone, Him is still heralding the arrival of an exciting new film maker. 

Him
Starring: Marlon Wayans, Tyriq Withers, Julia Fox 

Director: Justin Tipping

Writers: Skip Bronkie, Zack Akers, Justin Tipping

Blue Moon (2025)

I am a sucker for "talky" movies. Sit me down and let me watch actors banter back and forth with a witty and cerebral script and I'm in heaven. I know this isn't for everyone but it's my jam. Linklater is good at this sort of thing and Blue Moon, with its theatre lover-bait premise and its cinemaphile cast, is just the sort of film I like to lose myself in for a little while. 

Set on the opening night of Richard Rogers' legendary smash hit Oklahoma!, Rogers' former writing partner, Lorenz Hart, spends the night at Sardis chatting with the bartender, a woman he is obsessed with, and the attendees of the premier's afterparty including his former colleague himself. We know they aren't going to write another show together and that Rogers is going on to work with his new collaborator to write South Pacific, The King and I, and the goddamned Sound of Music of all things. It is a beautiful moment of pathos and loss.

Hawke is Hart and he dissolves into the character in a way that is delightful. He is a talker and the film is mostly him speaking at muzzle velocity, covering over all his wounds and thankfully never having that dramatic breakdown moment one would expect if the film had gone more in the cliche direction. What we witness instead is a man acknowledging a world that has given him so much to squander and offering his own rational for his journey without blaming. He flounders a little but mostly holds himself together and it's a beautiful and complicated little dance he is doing. The film has a lovely sympathy for him without taking pity. 

By being set almost all the action in a bar next to a piano, Blue Moon gets to be serenaded throughout with a beautiful piano medley of the standards, ending with the song Blue Moon itself, which the film posits is not Harts' favourite of his compositions. Yet it is clearly a thing of true beauty; he had written something timeless and gorgeous. 

Blue Moon

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, Andrew Scott 

Director: Richard Linklater

Writer: Robert Kaplow