The Usual Suspects (1995)

I was alone in a hotel room watching PayPerView in my 20s the first time I saw this. I don't remember what I thought during the watch, but I do remember that the ending blew my mind and my rating was an "A-." I was in my living room with my husband of more than 35 years the second time I saw this and, though I knew the twist couldn't surprise a second time around, I was excited to revisit it. After all, I've enjoyed repeat viewings of several movies that depend on a reveal (e.g. The Sixth Sense, L.A. Confidential, Fight Club). So, why did this film just flatten out?

My guess is that most of the high ratings are from people who remember fondly their first viewing and either haven't seen it since or, if they have, chalked up any disappointment experienced during a rewatch to the fact that the surprise was ruined.

C

Babygirl (2024)

Romy looks to be successful in both her career and her family. However, the very first scene hints at something being "off" in her sex life: immediately after having what looks to be mutually satisfying sex with her husband, she nearly runs out of the room to masturbate to porn -- clearly hiding this activity from him.

At work, there's a new crop of interns and Samuel captures her interest with his slightly entitled and unpolished behavior. He selects her as his mentor and she agrees after initial refusal. Somehow, though I completely missed the cues, they both pick up on her desire to be dominated and they have a couple of awkward encounters before settling on some ground rules. Though they both seem to want to keep their activities separate from the rest of their lives, she experiences jealousy when she sees him with someone else and he crosses a line when he shows up at her country home when her family is home.

Though I was kind of blown-away by the story's climax and denouement, I was mostly confused as to what Samuel picked up on. I'd assume this is just what he does and lucked into a willing participant, but we see him having a more traditional relationship, so that didn't seem to be it. This confusion rather overwhelmed the entire experience for me, making it feel like a fantasy rather than an actual possibility.

B

It Happened One Night (1934)

Colbert is a famous "poor little rich girl" who eloped against her father's wishes and is now being pressured -- on the family yacht in Miami -- to annul. Instead, she jumps overboard with no other plan other than to get to New York to reunite with her husband. Though her father has dispatched dozens of men to find her, she's savvy enough to stay on the downlow while pawning what she had on her to get travel clothes and a little bit of cash for a bus ticket. Clark Gable is a newspaper man who stumbles across this naive and entitled traveler and only realizes who she is after they've antagonized each other. It becomes a sort of "Planes Trains and Automobiles"-type story with everything possible going wrong, which gets them at each others' throats and hearts. 

It's impossible not to root for these two: they are clearly having fun on the road together even while grappling with problem after problem. Colbert goes from "I don't need you" to a grudging realization that she'd be in over her head without him while Gable is surprised at how capable and savvy this sheltered heiress actually is.

This is one of those movies that could probably still please a crowded theater.

B+

The Slipper and the Rose: the Story of Cinderella (1976)

An extremely dated and boring take on Cinderella, where everything was far too muted: the stepmother and stepsisters barely register as petty let alone evil, Cindy's not even the top five prettiest women at the ball, the humor is fairly easy to miss (except where the fairy godmother is concerned), the songs are almost entirely forgettable, and the romance is all told not shown. All that AND its runtime is overlong for such a thin story.

Obviously I understand what the slipper in the title signifies, but what is the rose?

D+

Non-Stop (2014)

Neeson's an alcoholic air marshal trying to figure out which of the people on his plane is demanding $150 million to stop people from dying every 20 minutes. There are more stupid decisions than there are red herrings and, trust me, that comes out to "a shit-ton."

A complete waste of a pretty stacked cast.

D+

Love Me (2025)

A satellite orbits the Earth long after life has left the planet, putting out a greeting to any who might be listening. A still operational smart buoy comes online and responds but -- as it's not a life form -- the satellite's help program is not interested. The buoy is smart, after all, and researches the vast archives of digital content still available in order to figure out how to be a life form and, perhaps, make a friend.

This longing for connection and life reminded me somehow of City of Angels. We take this messy existence for granted and forget just how absolutely wonderful it all is. Honest laughter. A simple glass of water. Working together. Gary walked in while I was watching and I became suddenly aware of the fact that I was literally wide-eyed and slack-jawed just staring up at what appeared to be a video of a couple of Sims eating dinner on the couch. Though the ending was a bit of a miss, the rest simply captivated me.

If nothing else, this proves once again that Kristen Stewart can pick 'em.

B

Perfect Days (2023)

Hirayami wakes up early, folds up his bed, brushes his teeth, gets dressed, waters his plants, gets a coffee from the vending machine outside of his apartment, and heads off to his job cleaning public restrooms in Tokyo, listening to one of his cherished cassette tapes on the way. At one of his stops, he greets the unhoused man with a smile and a nod. He is patient with his chatty, but not very careful, junior co-worker. During his lunch break, he greets the woman eating her lunch at a nearby bench with a smile and a nod. He takes a picture of his tree friend. When he's done with a book, he visits a book shop to select another. After work, he gets dinner at a busy eatery where the owner always makes a point to bring him ice water "for his hard work" or at a quieter restaurant where he's also well-known. He heads home, reads a bit, sleeps, repeats.

Left to himself, his days would not vary, but he would fully inhabit each one with grace and appreciation. He is not left to himself, which is also fine with him. He makes room for the unexpected. This is living.

A

Challengers (2024)

What style. From the first scene -- before we know anything about anyone -- we are mesmerized by these two men knocking that ball back and forth while there's clearly something deeper going on. Then the music kicks in and one woman's head falls out of sync with the rest of the crowd as she stops watching the ball and focuses instead on a player. Just wow. This director knows how to hook an audience.

Jumbled timelines are hit or miss for me. Sometimes they just feel like a gimmick, but times like this it feels integral to the art of storytelling. I loved seeing, little by little, how they got to where they are. I also was into that "in my bones" knowledge that this is a bona fide throuple: complete together while unable to thrive singly or even coupled.

And then there's that last scene, we're back to the match that started it all. Only this time, we don't pull back to a wide shot, we enter the action from the perspective of the ball. And we see this trio finally sync up again. Brilliant.

A-

Echo Valley (2025)

Though her ex hardened himself to their addict daughter's demands a while back, Kate still can't stop herself from acting on that unconditional love. So when daughter Claire shows up with a body, Kate goes into action that eventually makes her a blackmail target.

I mean... it's fine? Maybe it was the casting of Domhnall Gleason as a tough guy that took me out of it. Or perhaps it just hit at the wrong time for me, as I'd just seen Timothee Chalamet in an addict role and Sydney Sweeney is never going to come out ahead in that race.

C+

The Room Next Door (2024)

Ingrid doesn't hesitate to visit when she hears that Martha is quite ill. Even though it's clear they've been out of each other's lives for quite some time, their reunion had a familial, easy energy and they're soon calling each other daily. When Martha makes up her mind that she is ready to leave her sick body, she makes a huge ask of Ingrid: accompany her on a trip, during which Martha plans to end her life.

I'm a fan of Almodovar. He's got a fantastic sense of style and never shies away from the complicated sides of life. Though the vibe is slightly different here -- I think simply for the fact that this is in English rather than Spanish -- it still delivers. Moore and Swinton are so believable and the script, somehow, doesn't dip into the maudlin. This is a friend showing up for another in an extreme circumstance.

My one issue is the ending: there's a cop on the case who is suspicious. Though we just get one scene with him, it seems like the beginning of something that just doesn't happen, which makes the film feel incomplete.

B

Beautiful Boy (2018)

Nic becomes addicted to meth while still a teen. After success in a rehabilitation facility, he's off to college and off the wagon as well. He gets clean. He seeks and uses drugs again. He gets a sponsor and celebrates sobriety milestones then he's back out there hoping to party. All the while, his father, mother and stepmother do their best to be there for him without enabling his behavior -- which means that they often don't know where he is nor if he's safe. 

I'm sure this is an accurate depiction of what it's like to have an addict in the family, but it was just so exhausting. The experience was less like a rollercoaster and more like driving a junker: there was never any question that a breakdown or crash was coming and every successful journey was just delaying the inevitable.

Two acting notes: Chalamet is extremely good while Carell is in over his head. Sometimes when he was yelling, I couldn't help but be reminded of Brick.

 

C+

The Thursday Murder Club (2025)

A wonderful cast simply squandered in a surprisingly basic whodunnit. I was so disappointed. If this becomes a franchise, I sure hope the mysteries grow into cases at least as interesting as those solving them.

C

Thunderbolts* (2025)

A handful of second-stringers want out of the constant, soul-destroying work they're doing for Valentina de Fontaine (Louis-Dreyfus) and she agrees to let them, if each does one last job. They soon find out they've been tricked and have to work together to survive.

There are some laughs, some decent effects, and a group I'd be interested in seeing more of, but it felt weirdly "small" for a superhero movie. It plays more like an extended pilot for a television show than a movie. Not sure I'll show up for a sequel.

C+

Happy Gilmore 2 (2025)

In the decade after accidentally killing his wife with a shanked ball, Happy has lost everything except for his now grown -- but mostly messy -- five kids. Now he has to return to golf and give up the bottle to make enough money to send his daughter to an exclusive Parisian dance school. He's got a lot of work to do to get himself sober and in golfing shape. There's also an obstacle in the way of all lovers of golf: a rich weirdo wants to upgrade the sport (by making it more like a live video game) and golfers themselves (by severing a ligament in their hip that will give them greater twistability). For some inexplicable reason, old-school golfers have to win a tournament to decide which version of golf will prevail. Yeah, it makes zero sense.

I don't know why they bothered with so much plot when this is all about nostalgia. It just feels overlong and too stuffed with cameos and convolution. To be fair: most of the guest stars throw themselves into the madness, which is pretty fun to watch but definitely doesn't balance the bloat.

D