Caught Stealing (2025) Dir. Darren Aronovsky Hank Thompson is a young man who works as a bartender in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Not that long ago, he had much bigger dreams: the chance at a real pro baseball career, upended due to a tragic car accident just before the MLB draft. Now the only consolation in life is the situationship he is in with Yvonne, a paramedic and his devoted fandom to the San Francisco Giants. A unwanted job catsitting his neighbor Russ's cat leads to trouble: during Russ' absence, a pair of Russian gangsters show up at Russ' door. Demanding to know where Russ is, Hank gets a savage beating from the men, after which he loses a kidney. The encounter pulls him into a dangerous entanglement with the Russian mob, a dirty cop and a pair of Hasidic hitmen, the Drucker brothers. A dangerous situation with no easy way out for him, since he has no idea where Russ is or indeed what kind of mess his neighbor got himself into. Dark comedy/action thriller with a good Austin Butler lead performance. Though the more noteworthy thing from my perspective is that this is a Darren Aronovsky film. If you had shown me this without any information about who helmed it and then asked me to guess afterwards, I would have said Steven Soderbergh. Had I gotten a second guess, it would have been David Fincher. Definitely not Aronovsky. It's hard to imagine the same guy who directed Pi also made this. It completely feels like he consciously decided to make a Soderbergh style film. It's fun, with especially the opening 45 minutes enjoyable. There is something about the Zoë Kravitz and Austin Butler on-screen pairing that works. The rest of the cast is a collection of colorful characters: Matt Smith as Russ, the drug-dealing neighbor with the spiky punk hairstyle, Bad Bunny as a Puerto Rican associate of the Russians called Colorado and especially Liev Schreiber and Vincent D'Onofrio as the Drucker brothers.
Haul out the Holly - 2022 (Hallmark) Emily's (Lacey Chabert) boyfriend dumps her shortly before Christmas and she returns home for the holidays just in time to find out that her parents were no longer running the neighborhood HOA and Christmas week festivities. She's not a fan of Christmas, but her childhood crush Jared (Wes Brown) is now the HOA president and running everything for Christmas. He gives her several citations, forcing her to help others in the neighborhood because she hasn't followed the HOA rules of setting out the required decorations at her parents house. Minor shenanigans ensue, with only the slightest of conflict, and everything ends the way it has to. Simple plot, solid script, and a surprisingly good job by the cast at playing it just over the top enough without going too far with it. Both leads play it just right. Stephen Tobolowsky is his usual brilliant self as the obsessed and quirky Ned, Melissa Peterman is really fun as the uptight and driven Pamela, and Ellen Travolta is a fun as Mary. I get why there was a sequel made and now there's a 3rd movie with the main cast returning for a Halloween film.
Haul out the Holly: Lit Up - 2023 (Hallmark) A celebrity Christmas couple with a reality show moves into the neighborhood and turn things upside down by ignoring all the rules and turning everyone against each other. Good concept but the couple, played by Seth Morris and Jennifer Aspen, are egregiously bad. When the returning cast is interacting with each other, it's still fun, but there's just too much of the terrible overacting from the "Jolly Johnsons." Hopefully the Halloween film is better.
Locked (2025) $475 isn't a whole lot of money unless you don't have it and former petty criminal Eddie doesn't have it. Without that money he can't fix his van and without the van he can't do his delivery job and without the job he can't pay child support for his daughter. Exhausting every option and desperate, he returns to crime. He checks the doors of parked cars which hopefully contain cash or something he can pawn. He finds the door to a very fancy Dolus SUV unlocked, so he checks inside. Besides a pair of dollar store sunglasses he finds nothing. Trying to get back out, he discovers all the doors locked and controls disabled. Worse, the car seems armored, the windows unbreakable, and no one outside can see or hear what goes on inside. Then he hears the ringing. Someone is calling the car and wants Eddie to pick up. The motivations of Eddie and the car owner are pretty much dime-a-dozen in movies, but it's pretty rare to see both given such equal weight. It hasn't really changed anything about how I think, but it points out how conflicting some of my ideas are as I don't think either side here is wrong. Besides the moral stuff there's the whole trying-to-escape-the-single-room angle which I admittedly have a thing for. Not the cleverest example, but far better than average. The cinematography was really something. Despite the cramped quarters the camera moved and flowed constantly - and I mean rigged, not a guy holding a phone. I don't know how they pulled it off.
The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025) Dir. Michael Chaves After a cold open in which we meet a young Ed and Lorraine Warren in 1964, during a case in which the entity they are investigating is so powerful it almost costs them their unborn child, Judy, we fast forward 22 years and the pair are now semi-retired. Ed's repeated heart attacks have made a life chasing ghosts and demonic entities too difficult, the pair now just give lectures about their old cases and still have a dream of writing a book about their experiences. In spite of that, their old friend and fellow traveler Father Gordon regularly contacts them when he has an especially challenging case of possession or haunting, though the Warrens always refuse to lend their help, not out of indifference, but out of fear of being dragged back into that life. Judy meanwhile is now grown up and in a serious relationship with Tony Spera, a young man who wants to marry the Warren's only child. Lorraine is accepting of their daughter growing up, Ed has a harder time letting go. As the Warrens are going through all these major life chances, another family, the Smurls, a working class couple in Pennsylvania, with four daughters and the husband's parents also part of the family unit that lives under the same roof, are starting to experience strange occurrences in their home, shortly after their second eldest daughter's Confirmation. None of them realize that the antique mirror the grandparents gifted their granddaughter for the occasion is the source of the haunting, an item that the Warrens themselves are familiar with from one of their earliest cases... Supposedly the last entry in the main Conjuring franchise (though I'm guessing not in terms of the spin-offs). Having said that, considering this movie once again did very well at the global box office ($467 million dollars to date), I can envision a scenario where they try to lure Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga back with a big payday for one more Ed and Lorraine Warren adventure. Objectively speaking, the entire extended universe produced one objective very good horror flick. James Wan's 2013's The Conjuring. Not that it was a timeless horror classic in the category of say Black Christmas, The Shining or Evil Dead, but it was a very solid genre exercise that was well acted and had a mostly coherent screenplay. Everything that followed was much more flawed to varying degrees. In spite of that I have seen most of these films and enjoyed many of them. Much of the enjoyment comes from the onscreen dynamic and chemistry of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga in the role of the Warrens. I have likened this series to The Thin Man before and just like the Thin Man, not every individual film is as great, but you still get some enjoyment from every one of them, courtesy of the Myrna Loy-William Powell dynamic. The Conjuring has the same quality with the on-screen pairing of Wilson & Farmiga. It is also why I much prefer the main films in the franchise to the spin-offs, who either don't have that pair at all, or only in minor cameo appearances. Speaking specifically about this one, it's not a terrible closing chapter (if that is indeed the case), though it does feel like a retread of many of the plot elements from the first film, transposed from a more rural environment to a more urban one.
A Wisconsin Christmas Pie - 2025 (Great American Family) Emma (Katie Leclerc) is a baker in Chicago who is coming home for Christmas in Wisconsin (somewhere near Lake Michigan) where she plans on trying to recreate her grandma's award winning cherry pie recipe to win the annual cherry pie baking contest (with special guest judge - former Green Bay Packer, Ahman Green). Along the way she finds out that her parents may have to sell their cherry orchard, that her old HS flame Mitch (Ryan Carnes) is back in town and is the father of a young boy who was the biological son of his late fiancee's first husband, and that she has been offered a job at some generically named French restaurant in New York City. There's a subplot of using cherry infused cheese for the pie crust that eats up a lot of run time. Katie Leclerc does a solid job in the lead and often acts more like a real human being that the vast majority of people in these cheesy movies. I had to check to confirm this, because I remember her playing deaf characters before, but she's got great timing for someone who is hard of hearing (Meniere's Disease). I would actually like to see the mechanics of how she functions on set without her hearing aids in. Ryan Carnes is like the worst elements of James Van Der Beek and Harry Connick Jr. combined, but that still results in a decent enough actor who looks like enough of a leading man for one of these movies. The supporting cast is fine, except for the "Midwest Magazine" writer, with Anna Zhang standing out as Emma's friend, Jen. Solid B- start to the year.
If this is "somewhere near Lake Michigan" and involves cherry pies, it is likely to be Door County. Door County is the peninsula across Green Bay from the rest of the state. Beautiful area. One of the favorite vacation spots for Chicagoans. Even my friends have a summer house there. Door County cherries are among the best anywhere.
Un métier sérieux (2023) Dir. Thomas Lilti Benjamin, a PhD student in need of money, becomes a substitute teacher in a Parisian high school, teaching math, and initially struggling through his inexperience. Through him we meet a small collection of other teachers and follow them through the quotidian of their lives inside and outside of the school, navigating both the routine of the day to day and the bigger and smaller dramas that occur at such an institution. This collection of educators includes fellow math teacher Mériem, who is popular with her students but struggles with the realities of co-parenting her young child with her ex. There is well-liked and gregarious English teacher Fouad, a man so married to his job that he is one of the few to use the on-campus housing for teachers, meaning that he almost never actually leaves the school. There is Sandrine, a science teacher who has issues both at school as at home: in the classroom she struggles to properly interact with and engage her students. At home, she can no longer communicate with her rebellious and angry 16 year old son. Sophie is a fellow new teacher of Benjamin's, who like him tries to find ideas and support to help hide her inexperience. Pierre is a veteran French teacher who is well-liked and respected by his younger colleagues but has become disillusioned with his work, feeling like he can no longer properly transfer his passion for the French language and especially literature to this new generation of students. And finally there are Sofiane and Alix, both gym teachers, the former having a not so secret crush on the latter, in spite of the latter being in a committed relationship. Essentially a slice of life in a Parisian high school, 100 minutes of simple drama, which starts slow but ends up becoming surprisingly compelling by the end. Helped by the all star cast - within the context of French cinema - that includes the likes of Vincent Lacoste, Adèle Exarchopoulos, François Cluzet and Louise Bourgoin (who is made to look more mousy and frumpy here than I can ever remember seeing her). Writer-director Thomas Lilti's regard is kind to both these well-meaning yet still flawed teachers and the occasionally difficult students they are confronted with. More of a dramedy than a pure drama and there is definitely some comedy churned from the principal & assistant principal duo. The director's use of handheld camera gives the feature something of a documentary feel.
C.H.U.D. 1984, watched on Tubi. Plot:A bizarre series of sudden disappearances on the streets of New York City seems to point toward something unsavory living in the sewers. 6.5/10 I liked this, it's a good B movie horror with plenty of recognizable actors. There's something to be said for 80s horror movies that aren't the classics like Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, and so on. My complaint though is the ending, it just felt like things weren't wrapped up but I think that's more of a common thing during the 80s. Anyway, not a bad movie to watch on a cool Sunday.
Never saw C.H.U.D., but the horror geeks among my friends loved that one when it came out. I would guess it’s a definitive 80s horror flick.
One small little extra thought I had about Un Métier Sérieux. I did admire the sheer amount of well-observed little moments in there. For instance, the French teacher asks a visibly bored student to stay after class to discuss his behavior. Said student then reveals the subject matter of said class - Zola's L'Assommoir - failed to compel him. French teacher then sarcastically asks if his student is perhaps more interested in video games and/or girls. Student reveals he actually does enjoy reading. The French teacher then inquires - clearly expecting the answer will be some young adult garbage - what it might be he is currently reading. I wish I could give François Cluzet some sort of award for the face he makes when the kid then reveals he is reading - and enjoying - Romain Gary's La Promesse de l'aube.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 (2025) Dir. Renny Harlin Following the events of the first film, Maya wakes up in a hospital, still in Venus Portland. She is still not out of the woods, at the mercy of the same townsfolk she does not fully trust, assuming that any of them could be one of the masked individuals who tormented her and her now murdered fiancee. Or indeed even merely someone who wants to protect said killers' identities, since the entire town seems rather hostile to outsiders. Her fears are confirmed when the masked murderers eventually show up at the hospital, killing anyone who gets in their way in their attempts to dispose of Maya too. Maya herself proves that her surviving the first ordeal was not dumb luck but largely due to her good survival instincts and hardiness. The second chapter in The Strangers reboot, not really much better than the first entry. I will say that Madelaine Petsch is a good horror lead, only the material here is so unoriginal and bland it doesn't really allow her to shine much. It's also one of those legacy sequels that tries to explain part of the mythology (including the origins of the "Is Tamara here?" line). And finds out in the process that providing context for these things usually makes them less instead of more interesting. This ends in a cliffhanger promising a third chapter, not sure if the ideas are strong enough to even support one film, let alone three.
Haul Out The Halloween - 2025 The same cast plus another set of "new" neighbors, one of which was played by Kimberley J. Brown who was in the Halloweentown movies 20 years ago. There's a little silliness around if the neighborhood can celebrate another holiday, there are a couple of subplots that are better than the two Christmas movies, and there's a fun musical number that actually works a bit. They also set up a 4th film with Wes Brown's character getting accepted into the Santa Academy in Norway.
A Christmas Prayer - 2025 (Great American Family) Caroline (Madeleine Cox) puts together a Christmas prayer list, instead of a letter asking Santa what she wants, which includes things like money for the mailman to take a trip to see his daughter and one of the neighbors to get a specific gift. Her widower dad, whatever his name was (Christopher Russell), bumps into children's book illustrator Natalie (Shae Robbins) at a coffee shop and she notices the prayer list after spilling coffee at his table, and gets the idea to both try and fulfill the list and use it as a new book series idea. Oof. The leads have some chemistry together, and there are a couple of okay moments, but a large chunk of the first half of the film is carried by the kid and she has almost no acting talent. Significantly worse than last week's film and honestly one that shouldn't have been made by this group.
Trust (2025) Dir. Carlson Young Lauren Lane, a former child star who has grown up on her popular TV sitcom ends up in the middle of a tabloid frenzy after a hacker posts a bunch of private pictures belonging to not just her, but other Hollywood celebs too. She gets much of the attention anyway because one of her snaps contains a positive pregnancy test. Lauren has her assistant book her into an out of the way AirBnB so she has a chance to isolate herself and deal with the fall-out of the situation. With only her dog Georgie to accompany her, she arrives at the place in question, only for uninvited visitors to arrive on her first night dare in the form of burglars. It soon turns out that the home invaders in question are only the start of her problems. This is the kind of dark comedy thriller that I might otherwise enjoy, only this specific example is rather mediocre, with an especially weak second act with a single location conceit that requires a tremendous amount of suspension of disbelief. The cast is pretty good and does their best, but can't really save this. Besides lead Sophie Turner, we have the likes of Billy Campbell, Peter Mensah and especially Katey Sagal in the most enjoyable supporting turn, as a good Samaritan dog lover.
Sisters. 1972 Watched on: Criterion Plot: A small-time reporter tries to convince the police that she saw a murder in the apartment across from hers. 7/10 I usually like De Palma, and this was his 3rd film. Margot Kidder is good. First thought it was going to be slow going but when I paused it to use the bathroom I didn't realize how much time had passed. Not a bad horror movie. Elements of Hitchcock but you can tell it's De Palma.
House, 1977. Watched on: Criterion. Plot: A young girl and her friends visit a relative to get away from her new stepmother. They encounter unusual forces. First off, I felt like I needed to be on something, like a super strong edible because the entire time, I kept saying, "What, the ******** am I seeing?!" There's horror elements, some of it good, some of it cheesy. Then there's stereotypical 70s cheese that you recognize right away. Especially in some songs. And honestly? I liked it. Even though I was in disbelief half the time. 7/10.
A Royal Montana Christmas - 2025 (Hallmark) Princess Victoria of Zelarnia (Fiona Gubelmann) is stressed about assuming more of the royal duties and decides to visit the ranch in Montana that her late father took her to as a child. There she meets the ranch owners and has a few run ins with their son Huntley (Warren Christie). We get some fish out of water moments, especially with the effeminate royal assistant, some country charm, and a few minor misunderstandings that don't really add up to any real tension. Solid entry that filled the 90ish minutes well enough.
A Christmas Angel Match - 2025 (Hallmark) Monica (Meghan Ory) is a veteran angel in the division that solely exists to match humans together in relations during the Christmas season. Michael (Benjamin Ayres) is an upstart new angel who doesn't follow the rule book at all, and has just won his second award for how many matches he made in a year. They become the first angels ever paired up to try and make a match, and their personalities clash the entire time. Mirabelle (Amanda Jordan) pops in occasionally to help them and sing a song or two. The people they're supposed to match are so uninteresting that one of them doesn't even show up on the IMDB page yet, but the chemistry among the leads carries an otherwise mediocre plot and script. The opening 20-25 minutes are really good. It tails off after that, but it's never actually bad.
Wrony (1994) Dir. Dorota Kedzierzawska We meet Wrona, a lonely ten year old girl who divides her time between a home life where her mother neglects her, a school life where she is an outcast and hours of wandering the streets of the city on her own. When she grows tired of her mother's apparent lack of interest in her, she runs away from home. On a whim, she 'kidnaps' a toddler from a home's front garden, a girl she had noticed on one of her earlier wanderings. She is going to become the girls new mother and for a while the pair go exploring together. For a time at least, adult realities do not pierce through their child-like experiences of the world. A slice of life, seen through the eyes of a young girl, whose regard for the world has calcified underneath its apparent lack of interest in her or her well-being. The younger girl in her care, who seems to come from a much happier home life than she does, is the subject on which she projects her desires to do better. A desire dulled by her unresolved anger and understandable immaturity. Beautifully shot film, very nice opening section, which does a good job in portraying Wrona's isolation without the need for much dialogue. I was mostly interested in this because I have seen some liken it to Céline Sciamma's Petite Maman, a film I have yet to see but am very curious to check out. Though far from perfectly equivalent to, it is a feature that feels at least related to films like Le gamin au vélo and Le Ballon Rouge. A short feature at around 106 minutes, it doesn't need any more minutes to tell its simple story. I wish more film makers had the courage to ignore the modern day western cinema notion in which a feature film is only taken seriously when it is at least 90 minutes long.
My Man Godfrey (1936) The social set of Manhattan is having a scavenger hunt and the only thing Cornelia Bullock needs is a "lost man". Well, it's the middle of the Great Depression and there are plenty around. At the waterfront there is a scrap dump where dozens live in shacks scrounging what they can. Cornelia picks one and offers the princely sum of $5 to come with her. Still retaining some dignity, Godfrey Smith instead badgers the spoiled woman. This quite pleases Cornelia's sister, Irene, and she offers Godfrey a job as the butler to the Bullock household. The position is open because the Bullocks constantly drive away the help as the combination of drink and separation from the real world has pushed the family to the limits of eccentricity. However, the destitute Godfrey knows a surprising amount about how a butler is supposed to conduct themselves. Funny and enjoyable with a strong social message about the worth of society's outcasts and the nobility of labor that I really took to because I'm living it. I'm always a fan of this era's rapier-sharp dialogue and there isn't anyone that did it better than William Powell. It's only the ending that put me off. For all My Man Godfrey's words about the redemption of the beaten down man, the last joke felt very no-good-deed-goes-unpunished to me.