BE REEL

Jacob Elordi (left) and Oscar Isaac on the set of  Frankenstein (Source:  The Scotsman )   The following is a culmination of what I was able to see in theatres (or otherwise noted) in the year 2025.  Before I get into my main list, I want to take a moment to commend Warner Bros for, this year, giving skilled filmmakers the kind of creative freedom that’s rarely seen in big studio productions. That, despite said releases being hard R-rated entries. These include Ryan Coogler’s genre-bending, period music-vampire crossover Sinners (which features Michael B. Jordan in convincing dual roles), Zach Cregger’s chilling mystery thriller Weapons (co-starring a seriously creepy Amy Madigan), and Paul Thomas Anderson’s dark political comedy One Battle After Another . For the latter, Leonardo DiCaprio leads what may be the most phenomenal cast of 2025 (including a standout Benicio Del Toro, in one of my favorite screen roles this year) in, of all things, a plaid bathrobe and ...

(Source: IMDb )   WRITER’S NOTE: As of this post, I didn’t get to see this film in theaters. I watched it on Netflix at home. Even so, it still really affected me.   As a writer and acting veteran, one of my fascinations and interests is the difference between reality and role playing. It’s one thing to play a part in film or TV. But it’s another thing to do it in real-life—except it’s apparently on a whole other level, almost like being yourself is a burden. (According to some, like Sylvia Plath, apparently.)  Jay Kelly tells the story of a Hollywood movie star who begins to have an identity crisis late in his career—and on the cusp of receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award. Played by George Clooney, Jay’s life has been defined by the movies and the roles he’s played in them. Until he decides to get away and take a vacation to Paris, with his entourage in tow.  Filmmaker Noah Baumbach (who co-wrote the script with actress Emily Mortimer) populates this story with a...

(Source: Avoca Beach Theatre )   Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2025, director Clint Bentley and and co-writer Greg Kwedar (the same team behind  Sing Sing ) adapted for the screen Denis Johnson’s 2011 novella about a logger in early-20th Century America. Evident from trailers and then some, it’s a very evocative story about a man who isn’t much compared to some, and yet plays a role in the span of time he lives through.  Train Dreams is the kind of film that Terrence Malick or Kelly Reichardt could have made. It’s very poetic, quiet, melodic, meditative, impressionistic, beautiful to look at, and sweeping. Its bold and immersive scope and imagery is framed at a 1.33:1 Academy aspect ratio, with details in nature and lighting, including striking moments shot at the magic hour. Plus, an exceptional cast includes Joel Edgerton (as Robert Grainier), Felicity Jones (as his wife Gladys), William H. Macy (as one of the men that Grainier works with), and Ke...

(Source: IMDb )  Like his brother Benny , Josh Safdie made a solo directorial effort last year with a loosely-based adaptation of the life of table tennis prodigy and hustler Marty Reisman in the 1950s. Co-written and edited by Safdie (along with Ronald Bronstein), Timothée Chalamet commands the screen with the fictionalized Marty Mauser, relentlessly pursuing the American Dream in the 1950s. Right off the bat (er, paddle), this two-and-a-half-hour intense drama a la Uncut Gems ( but reportedly more so ) is the kind of cinematic experience that will easily give you high anxiety.  Set primarily in New York City in the 1950s, before ping pong apparently became a big thing in the United States, Marty Supreme was shot on Kodak film, which utilizes Jack Fisk’s period production design to create an immersive world and time period. The phenomenal cast includes diverse performers like Gwyneth Paltrow, Fran Drescher,  Shark Tank  host Kevin O'Leary, and Odessa A’zion. And a...