On this episode, JD and Brendan are joined by the great Jay Ledbetter to discuss Josh Safdie’s new film Marty Supreme, starring a phenomenal Timothรฉe Chalamet! Safdie has already proven himself with Good Time and Uncut Gems, but now he’s solidified himself as one of the best filmmakers working right now. Marty Supreme comes as advertised and Chalamet is maybe on his way to an Oscar.
Director: Paul Feig Writers: Rebecca Sonnenshine, Freida McFadden Stars: Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried, Brandon Sklenar
Synopsis: A struggling woman is happy to start over as a housemaid for an affluent, elite couple.
If you recall Paul Feigโs straight to streaming sequel Another Simple Favor this year (and Iโm hoping you donโt because it represents in my mind his nadir) youโre probably aware that โfemale empowermentโ in his more recent work seems to be two women possibly poised to do one another damage. Because as long as the outfits, the husbands, and the houses are impressive women putting other women in danger is a girl boss move.
Paul Feig isnโt entirely to blame for the ludicrous and shabby The Housemaid as itโs an adaptation in the first of a series written by (or perhaps not entirely, but thatโs a different story) Freida McFadden and originally published as an e-book in 2022. The publisher, Bookoutre, is owned by a former Harlequin and Mills & Boon marketing executive. The model is volume output which acts as a lucrative testing ground for titles to go viral and then theyโre sold or licensed to paperback publishers and some also get studio options. A similar low-risk, high-payout of the Colleen Hoover self-publishing model. Iโve โreadโ The Housemaid and itโs twisty (if you arenโt paying attention) and mostly repellent trash that begs you to suspend disbelief somewhere so high that lack of oxygen impedes brain function; which is also where you need to be for the movie to make a lick of sense.
The screenplay adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine at the very least ditches most of Millieโs (Sydney Sweeney) caustic narration and doesnโt fat and age shame Nina Winchester (played by Amanda Seyfried as thin and young) the โmad mommyโ of Long Island who employs the desperate Millie as her live-in housekeeper/babysitter/cook. Nina is married to Andrew (Brendan Skelnar), a generationally wealthy tech business owner who spends a lot of time in a white singlet, just because heโs shaped like Brandon Skelnar.
Millie was living in her car and desperately needs to keep her job in the Winchester home regardless of whatever increasingly bizarre gaslighting game Nina seems to be playing and the general coldness of Cecelia (Indiana Elle), Ninaโs ballet obsessed seven-year-old. Millie will put up with her tiny attic room with an outside lock and locked window. She will put up being treated like sheโs another species by the PTA mommies who also donโt much care for Nina because she doesnโt โdeserveโ Hot Saint Andrew, who charitably and calmly puts up with Ninaโs diagnosed psychotic behavior and is a great dad to a child that isnโt biologically his.ย
Of course, there are dark secrets on both Millie and the Winchesterโs sides. Very little is as it seems which Millie finds out at a punishing (for the audience) slow pace. Ninaโs behavior gets more unhinged and cruel which pushes Millie and Andrew into each otherโs trรฉs sexy arms (yes, there is Sweeney boob for those who want to know, which I guess will be the majority of the straight male audience and to even things out a little there is Sklenar butt). Millie also seems unable to follow basic โdress codeโ for a housekeeper as Andrewโs cold and withholding mother (Elizabeth Perkins) scolds Nina about. Evelyn Winchester also reminds her son that not wearing a tie on the weekend is not quite up to standard.ย
However, as three poorly reviewed movie releases proved this year, Sydney Sweeney and box office dress code includes low cut tops and peek-a-boo belly button. Iโm not at all a prude and the very tame titillation The Housemaid offers is mostly objectionable because its erotic value is aggressively ordinary but somehow, itโs sold as very naughty indeed.
Standards are very important to the Winchester family. Standards and appearances are important to all the monied Long Islanders which is why Andrew is the perfect gentleman on all occasions, and knows what makes a tasteful house, table, wife. Itโs trad-wife territory, dressed in varying shades of cream, ivory, and ironclad pre-nups. A wonderland thatโs so impressive that it could be a dollโs house (not a reference to Ibsen, sadly) and Andrew has ensured it is in play size for CeCe.
The Housemaid is a throwback to a simpler time when thrillers tended to include Michael Douglas getting tangled up with some โdisturbedโ but sexually available woman who tended to prove that โbitches be crazyโ and maybe feminism was a bad idea. Despite the movie playing the trope out in a different way, it spends far too much time using it and eventually gets to the โbitches be, and cause, crazyโ conclusion despite it thinking itโs subverting it.
One aspect of the movie at least does deliver in terms of the more viscerally unsettling, and I guess there could be a cathartic experience for some audience members to get to the โgood for her,โ bit. For my part, by that stage, I was wondering about light fixtures clashing with wallpaper and considering that maybe what the movie was missing was a surprise twin or triplet to put the camp into a movie that decided Elizabeth Perkinsโ ice toned hairstyle was an important behavioural clue.
The most positive compliment I can give The Housemaid is that itโs not designed to be a โsecond screenโ movie. Itโs heavy handed (Millie and Andrew watch old episodes of Family Feud, tickets are booked for a musical titled Showdown), and it expends too much time on the set-up, but it drops a lot of clues that come into play later down the line, despite the โthatโs oddly convenient that this person is related to someone mentioned earlier and they just happen to be precisely where they need to be despite never being around for the previous four years.โ
Paul Feig has made worse movies, the non-starter that was the YA novel adaptation The School for Good and Evil (I vaguely remember Cate Blanchett possibly playing a quill), last yearโs action/comedy Jackpot!, my camp radar meltdown, Another Simple Favor Heโs also made the classic comedy favorites fronted by women such as Bridesmaids and Spy (thank you, Rose Byrne). Housemaid proves he still gets the gist of trash-tastic, but he requires a guiding hand (and fabulous costume designer) to ensure heโs winking at the audience. Housemaid is neither serious enough, nor frivolous enough to solve its numerous issues with tone. Housemaid commits to little, but at least everyone working on the movie were committed to keeping a rogue boom mic appearing at least three times in a scene. So, big ups there, team.
Itโs time for the Jay annual top performances list. Itโs a habit that I am keen on preserving as years go by, even though some years are more difficult than others. In 2025, there has been a cacophony of good performances. Actors and actresses of all races, ages, cultures, backgrounds, and varying levels of fame have delivered excellent performances across the films they starred in. There has been the subtle decay of Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs Iโd Kick You, Teyana Taylorโs wild energy in One Battle After Another, Joaquin Phoenixโs broken masculinity in Eddington, Emma Stoneโs continuation of playing hot freaks in Bugonia, and Paul Mescalโs tormented genius in Hamnet. But it will always be my habit to pick only 10 performances that left me breathless, enamored, or aroused. My picks vary from pure acting genius to movie star rizz on the big screen, and I try to include as many overlooked performances as possible.
Josh OโConnor – History of Sound
Unfortunately, this swan song of a WWI American ballad failed to attract the attention of critics and audiences, which is highly unfair. Oliver Hermanusโs yearning piece of music, masculinity, and latent desires has captured two powerful performances from two of the best actors of this generation in Hollywood, Paul Mescal and Josh OโConnor. But I donโt consider a performances list complete unless I add OโConnor in particular to it, because his acting choices are director-oriented and brave. He challenges everything, even his peersโ relentless seeking of the spotlight and the most coveted projects. And, as David, he is cocky, flirty, slightly arrogant, and harboring a deep sadness that seeps through his skin as he blows cigarette smoke in Mescalโs face. OโConnor may not be the chameleonic actor of the generation, he brings out his OโConnorness into every role he plays, but with his shy personality, and his turn as characters that are dangerously delicious and completely different from his subdued truth, he captures the attention in every role he plays.
Joel Edgerton – Train Dreams
Thereโs something about the fractured masculinity that Joel Edgerton portrays in Train Dreams that is both sweet and heartbreaking. Itโs an elegy to the faรงade of the American dream and the futility of the manโs burden. Edgerton plays Robert Grainier, a railroad construction worker struggling to understand the meaning of life after a personal tragedy that shakes him to his core, yet he never finds that elusive truth. Edgerton captures that existential core of a tormented character, a simple man with a head full of questions, but, expertly, director Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar (Sing Sing will forever hold a special place in my heart) donโt offer easy answers or resolutions to his turmoil. Edgerton, as Grainier, immerses himself in the skin of a man so complex that his layers are like an onion, yet as invisible as an alien skin Thereโs a scene where Grainier loses hope of finding his wife and child, breaking down as every muscle, pore, and molecule inside Edgerton begins to shake with the catastrophic realization. A performance nothing short of brilliant.
Jacob Elordi – Frankenstein
Jacob Elordi is the surprise of this award season. His poetic performance as The Creature in Guillermo del Toroโs tale of absent fathers and abandoned children, a.k.a the latest Frankenstein adaptation, Elordi proves that he has mastered the craft. He separates his physicality from his inner child, creating a strange domineering figure of brokenness and fragility, a role that no one would be meant to play but him. Yes, he played a brilliant dark Elvis in Sofia Coppolaโs Priscilla, and a sultry seductive rich playboy in Saltburn. But nothing couldโve prepared audiences for what he delivers here. He is a poet among his peers. A galvanizing giant of an energy receptor. His tenderness and his rage are both contained within a precise thermometer, and this is why his performance deserves all the awards and accolades that it will receive. The young Australian heartthrob is also ready to give his take on the tormented, begrudging Heathcliff in Emerald Fennellโs Wuthering Heights, and after his genius interpretation of The Creature, every role he plays will command attention and fuel anticipation.
Ana Sophia Heger – She Rides Shotgun
It is always tricky with child actors. There have been multiple great performances from children this year in film. Jacobi Jupe in Hamnet, and Nina Ye in Left-Handed Girl delivered performances that blew everyone away and deserve all kinds of award recognition. But itโs Ana Sophia Heger that delivered the best child acting in this turbulent, hectic season. And strangely itโs in a small, low-budget American thriller titled She Rides Shotgun. Nick Rowland directs this adrenaline-fueled action thriller, and while itโs not an Oscar-deserving masterpiece, the performances are top-tier. Whether Taron Egerton, Heger, or Odessa A’zion in a small but scene-stealing performance. But without Heger, and the complex array of emotions that show on her face, altogether at once, or one after the other, this movie wouldnโt have stuck in my memory the way it does. Heger plays Polly with every trick up her sleeve. Her childish haunted eyes, and her attempts to put on her big girl shoes and bury her trauma leave me heartbroken and rooting for her survival against all odds.
Jessie Buckley – Hamnet
This yearโs top performances list canโt be complete without the Queen of this yearโs performances. Jessie Buckley portrays a complex side of femininity, the witchy kindness of the feminine spirit. The soul of the earth, the mother, the lover, and the griever. Her performance is a mosaic, a constellation of feelings. She portrays grief with the same mastery she showcases passion. The scenes when she is giving birth, or immersing her fingers in the dirt with her children, are as powerful as the scenes when she holds her babies for the first time, or going through all the monstrous stages of grief over losing a child. It is obvious that Buckley will be reaping all the awards as Agnes, and deservedly so. I have a thing for Lawrenceโs wild and unhinged performance as Grace in Die My Love, but Buckley is a planet eater, she devours while Lawrence claws her way through the wall. Both are talented actresses playing complex and vibrant women, but Buckleyโs Agnes is equally as kind as she is rapturous. That, in itself, is acting genius, purified.
Olivia Taylor Dudley – Abigail Before Beatrice
The most difficult performances are those with heartbreak at their core, and Olivia Taylor Dudleyโs Maddie/Beatrice is fractured, sad, wounded, shaken at her core, and messy. To play a character with a stolen identity, a cult survivor in all her scary gaslit vulnerability and delusion is no easy task, even for veteran actors of the finest caliber. Itโs no easy task to portray humiliation, sexual submission, and lack of sense of self on screen, Dudley perfectly portrayed a lost woman, who easily uses sex to gain approval and admiration from others after being brainwashed in a cult by a heinous predator to use herself as a fabric for others to sew and shape into whatever form they please. Whatโs even more interesting about this film is the tragic sapphic relationship that was born in captivity between Maddie/Beatrice and Sarah/Abigail (Riley Dandy). The scenes between both of them are magical, and they wouldnโt have worked without Dudleyโs eyes shining with mad devotion and infatuation, both with Dandy and their cult leader.
Delroy Lindo – Sinners
No one in the entire film industry does it like Lindo. Heโs massively talented, combining bitterness, rage, and the demonic claws of addiction as he plays Delta Slim, drinking himself to exhaustion and decay, playing his harmonica and bantering with the Smokestack twins. Itโs a performance that shines out in a film with a massively talented and impressive cast, and with the opulent tricks up every actorโs sleeve in this epic about music, vampirism, obsession, and survival in 1930s Clarksdale, Mississippi, itโs an impossible task to pick a favorite performance out of the wonderful characters that Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, and Wunmi Mosaku play. Despite him getting almost zero award recognition, something inside me reveres what Lindo has done here. Itโs not easy gaining sympathy when heโs a sweaty, drunkard, foul-mouthed old man who wastes his musical talent, just to get a few coins to spend on booze. But Lindo gives dimensions to the character. He is not just a thief and a drunk, but a rebel against oppressive systems and societies which are -of course- predominantly white.
Jennifer Lawrence – Die My Love
I donโt think I loved a movie as much as I loved Die My Love this year. Thereโs a case for crazy women unraveling onscreen that makes a movie immediately more desirable in my eyes. When it comes to crazy women, Jennifer Lawrence plays them best. She unravels like a ball of yarn, layer by layer, her deadpanned stare, her fits of rage, her outbursts of violence and self-harm, all of her wild chaotic energy revealed in one scene after the other. J-Law doesnโt slow down. She is merciless with herself and her spectators. She subjects herself and the audience to all kinds of emotional and psychological horrors, and sheโs not even starring in horror movies. Her dramatic roles are chaotic, panic-striking, and self-indulgent. Lynne Ramsayโs toxic romantic drama has Lawrence playing everyoneโs least favorite woman on screen. She is the moral opposite of Agnes in Hamnet, sheโs not sacrificial, sheโs greedy, sloppy, lacks that encompassing maternal side, and displays a lack of affection for everyone in her wake except her child, whom she loves in her wild, feral way, not what is expected of her. To be all of those traits and still beloved -at least by me- is a testament to Lawrenceโs excellence as an actress.
Austin Butler – Caught Stealing
He may be the dreamiest, most handsome of the generation, but he has shown more than once that his acting is top-notch, and his choices are far from what his looks may dictate. Butler has once again proven in Caught Stealing that he was born for the Hollywood leading man game. While his career has taken a turn for the big-budget, Hollywood flashy projects with a list of upcoming action films, it is obvious that Butler is paving the road for dominating Tinseltown. On screen, he is always dangerous and smoldering. As Hank Thompson, Butler gets down and dirty, looking like he always smells of barf, booze, and unwashed hair. He perfects the performance of a vulnerable, broken, hunted man, a deer in headlights caught in the throes of murderous bloodsucking criminals of New York’s underbelly. He has another interesting portrayal this year in Ari Asterโs Eddington, a supporting role that Butler again makes unforgettable, but as Thompson, Butler gets a chance to showcase his rich emotional inventory in its full potential.
Cosmo Jarvis – Inside
Cosmo Jarvis is the rare actor that doesnโt have his public persona outshine his performances. Thatโs why I walk into every film heโs in blindly, expecting nothing, and he never fails to surprise me. The Charles Williamsโs directed prison drama, Inside, is a claustrophobic, dramatic masterclass in acting, writing, and reenacting an oppressive environment like prisons. In it, Jarvis plays Mark Shepard, a character hard to describe. Mark is by every means awful, horrible, despicable, but heartbreakingly mad. A convicted sexual predator, he is truly kind to Mel, who is surprisingly within the context of the prison walls, the person I felt was the bad guy of the story for betraying someone who has taken him under his wing. Itโs a complex situation but Jarvis is an excellent actor, and thatโs why he creates that conflict within his character, making him both repulsive but also sympathetic. Itโs one of those rare moments where the humanity of despicable people shows on screen, and itโs very well-made that one canโt argue with the reasoning behind a sympathetic portrayal of a detestable human being like Shepard. In his religious rants, Shepard both quotes the Bible and speaks in gibberish and the scene is both ridiculous and tragic.
Director: Craig Brewer Writer: Craig Brewer Stars: Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson, Michael Imperioli
Synopsis:Based on a true story, two down-on-their-luck musicians form a joyous Neil Diamond tribute band, proving it’s never too late to find love and follow your dreams.
The unjustified mocking of the trailers for Craig Brewerโs Song Sung Blue revealed that audiences werenโt interested in viewing Greg Kohsโ 2008 documentary of the same name, which acts as the basis of the feature film adaptation of the life of Mike and Claire Sardina (played by Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson), aspiring musicians with a simple desire to entertain. Kohsโ film is available to watch for free on YouTube, and hasnโt been part of the discussion surrounding this film, whose criticism honestly seemed mean-spirited when not knowing how genuinely impassioned these unknown musical figures were. Yes, both Mike and Claire Sardina were part of a Neil Diamond tribute band nicknamed โLightning & Thunder.โ Of course, itโs part of their identity as โartists,โ but the documentary barely focuses on this. Instead, it draws a tragic portrait of two real charactersโข who, once their entertainer faรงadesare peeled back, reveal their darkest truths in often harrowing ways.
In contrast, Brewerโs Song Sung Blue is never interested in the part that makes their story worth telling. Oh, sure, it recounts many of the horrific parts of both Mike and Claireโs lives, but it’s like a Wikipedia summary of their time as โLighting & Thunder,โ rather than an understanding of who these people are as flawed human beings. For instance, Brewer opens with Mike celebrating his 20th sober birthday, as an ex-alcoholic who traded the bottle for a guitar, singing Neil Diamondโs โSong Sung Blueโ every year at AA meetings. If he canโt make it, he will record it so the video can be played to his group. Mike attempted to numb himself from the horrors he saw as a Vietnam veteran through alcohol, but it only brought him more pain and health issues. After giving it up, he now tries to shield that pain via the persona he wants to adopt as a Neil Diamond โinterpreter,โ with an insatiable desire to entertain and enthrall not just Wisconsin, but the world.
Kohs makes the associations between Vietnam and the persona of โLightningโ through a testimony from his brother (Mike refuses to talk about his experience in the war, and justifiably so), which makes us understand, more than anything, why heโs so convinced that his purpose in the world is to entertain people, alongside Claire, the love of his life. Unfortunately, Brewer is only interested in the โsurfaceโ of his details, as a former alcoholic who now wants to sing. Thatโs it. Vietnam is mentioned only once, through his daughter, Angelina (King Princess), as she recounts his personal struggles to Claireโs daughter, Rachel (Ella Anderson), upon their first meeting.
Our understanding of the character (and, by extension, Claire) is limited because it focuses primarily on the musical aspects of their careers, when this is the least interesting part of their lives, and the one where we donโt see the humans behind what they put in front of audiences on stage. Youโll get extended sequences where both Lighting and Thunder perform Neil Diamond tunes such as โSoolaimon,โ โCherry, Cherry,โ โHolly Holy,โ and, of course, โSweet Caroline,โ which is repeated more than once in this movie to, of course, further commercialize his most popular song, but features no actual moments where we sit with them and realize who they are as humans, even through their darkest period.
The endless musical numbers obviously extend what couldโve been a tight, emotionally impactful 100-minute dramedy into an overlong, dreary 131-minute slog that never knows when to end or what to extract from these people. The film paints them as empty shells who lived an occasionally uplifting (but frequently punishing) life, whilst the documentary makes us aware of โLightning & Thunderโ not as a mere Neil Diamond cover band, but as people who lived and breathed entertainment and showmanship. However, external factors (including a tragic car accident) sadly never led them to experience any form of success beyond opening for Pearl Jam and singing โForever in Blue Jeansโ with its lead singer, Eddie Vedder.
It was the biggest crowd they’d ever performed for, though at the time they didnโt know it would also be their last. Iโll give Brewer credit for wanting to make Song Sung Blue more inspirational in tracking the emotional journeys of both Mike and Claire. Yet, he does so by altering key tragic events into purely manipulative crap. While itโs understandable that details are changed when crafting a biography to fit feature-film considerations, this romanticization dilutes the storyโs emotional impact. It plays with the audienceโs feelings as if they canโt earn them on their own. For anyone who doesnโt know the tragic end of โLightning & Thunder,โ Iโll keep the details vague, but itโs absolutely in no way similar to what actually occurred when Neil Diamond arrived in Milwaukee to perform in front of a sold-out crowd.
The only time weโll experience some interiority is when Brewer and cinematographer Amy Vincent put us in Claireโs mind, after the accident, experiencing what a doctor refers to as โPhantom Pain,โ and losing her sense of self due to the medications she takes, but it never goes as deep as it should. Itโs presented as a minor problem that will easily be fixed once Mike sends her to rehab, rather than one of many cataclysmic events that sadly ended their careers at โLighting & Thunderโ before it even had the chance to blossom.
I might have appreciated the changes, particularly near the movieโs denouement, if it had been simply a construct of Mike or Claireโs imagination, which wouldโve made it feel less manipulative and more direct, with the audience realizing that their biggest dreams will sadly not be realized. Itโd be a different way to discuss the most challenging part of Mike and Claireโs stories, but it wouldโve fit the mandate of filmically transposing the documentary for a broad audience. That said, Brewer doesnโt do this and instead transforms this dark, but necessary story into one of ridicule, with Jackman and Hudson failing to capture what drove both of these people to never give up on their dreams, despite many painful strikes of lightning on their individual (and collective) paths.
Only Ella Anderson, King Princess, and Mustafa Shakir give this film some much-needed vigor, while director of photography Vincent (who also shot Brewerโs best movie, 2004โs Hustle & Flow) represents this story with enough lively colors and formal dynamism to at least keep audiences moderately engaged. The final number is somewhat show-stopping, but the repurposing it offers for Mike Sardinaโs story leaves a more questionable taste in the mouth than an inspiring one, especially when Brewer uses Diamond’s presence as a mystical, unseen deity that no one will get to meet, and a ticking time bomb we can push buttons on.
Itโs safe to say that, after the horrendous The Son and Deadpool & Wolverine, Hugh Jackman has entered his flopsweat era. Heโs a great performer โ and actor โ but his talents are not worthy of starring in films that donโt benefit from what he can bring to the screen. Thereโs hope that Michael Sarnoskiโs The Death of Robin Hood will bring him back to his glory days. Unfortunately, since Avengers: Reddit is right around the corner (heโs definitely in it, or in Reddit 2, coming out in 2027), his potential comeback through Sarnoskiโs film may be dead on arrival. In any event, Mike and Claire Sardina deserved so much better than a film that ridicules them instead of celebrating their enduring resilience as simple human beings who only wanted to entertain and had to go through a literal and figurative Hell to simply prove themselves to the world. The saddest part is that they were never able to reap any rewards and have been largely forgotten todayโฆ
I spoke to Mary Bronstein in person after the Melbourne International Film Festival showing of If I Had Legs Iโd Kick You, and her focus repeatedly returned to Rose Byrne not only as an actor but as a person who spent weeks at Maryโs kitchen table digging in to exactly what the film would be communicating. Mary mentioned that Rose had been shocked that anyone would send her a script like Maryโs because she only tends to be sent purely comedic roles; many lacking a spin on how comedy is also a weapon to explore the darker recesses of behavior.ย
Rose speaks about humor and her respect for, and collaboration with, Mary Bronstein.
Rose Byrne: I am naturally a person who will laugh in a dreadful situation. Not at a truly dreadful situation, but at times of tension. I mean, I’m Australian, so we definitely have a disposition of humor about crises or about struggling with moments in your life.
With the performance as Julie, I always felt from the screenplay there was such humor. Mary Bronstein has a great sense of humor. We immediately understood each other’s sense of humor. And it felt like there were opportunities within there to absolutely ride that tightrope of the humor and the darkness because if it’s one way it becomes too ridiculous and you’re not going to believe it if it’s just a purely slapstick kind of effort. To then if it becomes too maudlin and there’s no sort of air, it’s like a machine that’s going along and there’s no air kind of let out of the gas, then you get let out of the tank, you can’t breathe and you can’t. The audience won’t go with you is how Mary sort of has always explained it to people and I felt very in tune with that machine when we were shooting it.
So, it’s really a testament to us and our relationship and her tight, brilliant screenplay. Mary is not providing answers [to gendered responsibilities, mental health issues] I think it’s just questions. It’s questioning how far can you push a character and how far will an audience go with the character?ย
It’s not palatable. You know, people particularly don’t enjoy women doing that stuff [abnegating responsibility, open displays of anger, and regressing to rebellion against the consistently capable and present mother, wife, professional]. It’s so inherent and ingrained in people. Mary just pushing the limits with that and commenting on it in a way that’s subtle, I think, too.ย Maryโs not standing on a soapbox, but she is making a creative expression. Afterwards you do think about those things: which I think is what art can do when it’s most successful. We broke the character of Julie down to its bare, bare bones and kind of reverse engineered how she got here. And for me, it was the opportunity of a lifetime to bring Julie to life.
On this episode, JD and Brendan discuss James Cameron’s latest adventure in Pandora with Avatar: Fire and Ash! This is a film that we were deeply looking forward to after Cameron completely reinvigorated our interest in this franchise with Avatar: The Way of Water, a film so good that JD has even contemplated it being his favorite Cameron film. Avatar: Fire and Ash may not reach the same heights as The Way of Water, but there’s still plenty to like here.
Review:Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron Writers: James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver Stars: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaรฑa, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang
It’s tough to want to give an honest recounting of where I found excitement at the theater this year. I feel like this year more than in most years past I’ve slipped into a sort of contrarian opinion. I’m not going to claim a film that is universally derided is good, but I’m definitely going to get side-eye about a few of my choices. Yet, these are my choices.
Out of the dozens of films I saw this year, these ten are most representative of where I found deep comfort, elegant sadness, and unbridled joy with strangers in the dark. They reflect some personal and professional upheavals as well as a reminder to keep working on myself and the things I want to change.
A single film isn’t supposed to be everything for everyone no matter what the Hollywood money managers and marketing teams want you to believe. A single film will always sing differently from one heart to another. What affects me deeply is personal to me. I can understand logically the arguments one may make against a film’s merit, but you can’t argue with how it made me feel. These ten films made me feel, want, yearn, and crave the most.
10. Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
I don’t know much about Bruce Springsteen’s life. I don’t know much of his music more than the hits I’ve heard in passing. What I do know about is feeling that creative drive to try and understand why you act and hurt the way you do. The scene that left me in tatters, wasn’t the truly beautiful scene between Bruce (Jeremy Allen White) and Jon (Jeremy Strong), but it was the scene where Bruce was unable to tell Faye (Odessa Young) what he was feeling. He speeds off in his car and screams into the void. I saw a lot of who I was and a lot of who I still am in this film and it made me feel like I could bring myself out of the dark some day. Maybe I won’t always walk the streets alone.
9. Superman
I love comic books. I love the color, the dynamism, and the storytelling. I’ve never been a Superman reader or that much enamored with the DC pantheon, but what this film did for me was to create a superhero film that wasn’t embarrassed to be a superhero film. It’s vibrant, hilarious, hopeful, joyous, and emotional in ways I would never have suspected. This film isn’t just a superhero film that will connect with other superhero films, but a film that embraces the audacious, complicated, and complex storytelling of the decades of comics that came before it.
8. It Was Just an Accident
From its first frame to its last, this film gripped me. I love a story that grapples with complex topics and the ethical questions raised within this film are some of the most complex any human could face. The way the story is structured leaves us guessing with every step the characters take. Not only that, but in spite of its serious subject, the film is often outright funny. It’s an incredible journey and one that demands to be seen and thought about.
7. Splitsville
Relationships are complicated. This film shows how ridiculously complicated they can get when the idea of an open marriage is broached, but not fully understood by both parties. It’s hilarious in so many of the relationship foibles and it takes us on a journey that doesn’t come out the way you expect. It has two superlatives that I dare you to top with any other movie this year. It has the most outrageously funny scene as Carey (Kyle Marvin) attempts to hold onto the half dozen plastic baggies of goldfish won at the carnival while riding a twisting and turning roller coaster and it has the best fight sequence with Carey and Paul (Michael Angelo Covino) going at it. The curveballs thrown during the fight are as glorious as the fight itself.
6. The Mastermind
This film is a gorgeous slow burn. It’s perfectly cast with actors that never outshine each other, but enhance each other’s performances. The strangeness and beauty of it is in the chaos that the heist causes. In any other film these setbacks would have been the whole of the plot, but here they’re another roadblock to the success J.B. (Josh O’Connor) has always envisioned for himself. It’s not typical or expected. This is Kelly Reichardt at her most meticulous. The details of the opening scene are nearly perfect and the ending is the punchline on a joke you didn’t expect in the telling of the story.
5. Familiar Touch
You don’t think about how much a sense of touch can affect a person until you see it like this. This film is not like other films where the protagonist is struggling with memory loss. It isn’t designed to give you tears because the circumstances are tragic. It’s designed to show you how one sense informs the others and that memory isn’t linear. It shows that a simple gesture is a tremendous gift. The cast is impeccable and I will never get that scene of Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant) in the pool out of my mind. The peace and the calm of that scene are beautiful.
4. Boys Go to Jupiter
It often takes a bizarre, whimsical film to reflect a deeper truth about yourself and your place in the capitalistic pecking order of the world. This is a film full of dreamers, most of whom are dreaming about a future that is never going to happen, but some of whom dream that impossible dream where contentment and real happiness are well within reach. The songs seep into my soul and the animation beautifully fills the screen with the odd shapes and movements only animation can create.
3. Materialists
Celine Song has a way of making films that change shape and evolve into a perfect alchemy of the things left unsaid and the things that need to be said. She understands the modern practicalities of life in your thirties better than many other filmmakers have. The scene between Lucy (Dakota Johnson) and John (Chris Evans) where they dance at the wedding destroys me. There’s a heft to their silence, to the strained nature of their past and the odd circumstances of their present that will affect their future. Much of this film is steeped in these very heavy moments that are terrifically played and shown.
2. Black Bag
A spy thriller is only as good as its cast and this is one of the most capable and complementary casts ever assembled. The film is the most high stakes game of Clue that’s ever been played. The way that Steven Soderbergh shoots it is like a kitchen sink drama of the black ops world. The editing is so good that a beat is never missed even as your heart beats out of your chest. The scenes with each suspect attached to the lie detector test are alternately funny, thrilling, and very steamy with the intimacies it uncovers. I could watch a whole movie of Clarissa (Marisa Abela) trying and failing to seduce George (Michael Fassbender), who then goes home and works out his sexual frustrations with his wife, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett).
1. Sentimental Value
This is a film of subtlety, of listening to everything in between the words the characters say. It’s a film about two people, Nora (Renate Reinsve) and Gustav (Stellan Skarsgรฅrd), who don’t fully understand themselves and can’t communicate with each other, but somehow see each other better than anyone else. There are so many funny and beautiful moments amid the clashing of personalities. Each actor gets their showcase and each actor compliments the other three in the main ensemble. A line that will forever stick with me from this film is, “Praying isn’t really talking to God, it’s acknowledging the despair.” This film isn’t about despair, but acknowledging that we can’t ever get through it alone.
Ethan Hawke says his journey with filmmaker Richard Linklater has led to the โrole of a lifetimeโ playing Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon. The two have been collaborating for years. Audiences got to watch Jesse (Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) fall in love and then realize the reality of staying with a โsoul mateโ in the Before Trilogy. Hawke reprised his role as Jesse in the mixed media animation, Waking Life. He spent twelve years filming Boyhood. Hawke is in two of Linklaterโs lesser-known works: The Newton Boys and Tape.ย
Nadine Whitney spoke with Ethan about the decades long collaboration.
Nadine Whitney: You’ve spent a lot of time with Richard. He’s a genre chameleon in a similar manner to you and your choice of roles. Are you ever surprised by his ideas?ย
Ethan Hawke: Yeah. I mean, it was so fun when I sat and watched an early cut of Nouvelle Vague. Iโve known this guy for 30 years. It was just the two of us. I watched it. I literally looked at him and thought โWho are you?โ I had no idea that movie was inside of him. He continues to surprise me. Hitman is such an interesting work.
I mean, there’s a certain style, you know, the Before Trilogy and Boyhood are kind of one lane. But then there’s something else. I remember when I went to go see School of Rock, I was like, well, you just made a classic movie. Like, what? His career is so fascinating to me. If you know him well, none of it is really surprising except making a movie in black and white in French, because his French is terrible!ย
I feel so proud of watching him evolve. I knew, I knew after seeing Slacker that his was one of the great voices of my generation. I just I felt it walking out of the movie theater. I was like, who is this person? I hadn’t met him yet. You know, but to get to grow up with him and watch him evolve into where he is now. Heโs a great teacher, too. I love his knowledge of cinema and the way that he puts its force into the world.
I love the way he thinks, I love how humble he is. I love how hard working he is. You know, a little bit like Sidney Lumet or something. He doesn’t sign his name to the bottom of everything. Every movie has its own identity and own personality. I mean, thereโs a certain continuity to what makes a Linklater film, itโs very warm.
I just really enjoy working with him, and I like, I like the subjects that interest him. So, we’re very simpatico that way.
This week on Women InSession, we discuss the state of the industry and how it’s affected our passions for film and covering film. As everything continues to evolve, while there are some things to be excited about, there’s also plenty that feels bleak. This may not be the most hopeful conversation, but it was a bit cathartic as this is a topic that means a lot to us at this moment in time.
Panel: Kristin Battestella, Megan Kearns, Jaylan Salah
On that note, check out this week’s show and let us know what you think in the comment section. Thanks for listening and for supporting the InSession Film Podcast!
This week on the InSession Film Podcast, we remember the late-great Rob Reiner and the all-time classics he made early in his career. We also give our thoughts on the Oscar shortlists and then dive into the Warner Bros. debacle as they look to settle with their bid with Netflix.
Check out this weekโs show and let us know what you think in the comment section. Thanks for listening and for supporting the InSession Film Podcast!
– Remembering Rob Reiner (2:07) We begin the show this week by talking about the late-great Rob Reiner and his incredible career behind-the-camera and his memorable performances on-screen. His early career as a filmmaking is nothing short of astounding. His output from the early 80s through the early 90s is simply an hall-of-fame run. Some all-time classics in that crop of films. What happened to Reiner is absolutely tragic and heartbreaking, but we wanted to celebrate his remarkable legacy.
– Clooney Draft Results / Stingray / Oscar Shortlists (20:11) After a hard right turn, we then give the results of our George Clooney draft, and it was quite funny how it turned out. JD provides us with another Stingray Movie Music update, and it’s one of the most passionate turn of events that we’ve seen yet. And finally we dig into the Oscar shortlists and talk about some of the most baffling titles/names to be considered. There’s a lot to love in some categories, but we especially talk about how uneven the music categories are this year.ย
– Warner Bros/Netflix (1:15:15) We’ve waited awhile to dive into this topic, but now that it seems like Netflix has won the bid, we decided now is a great time to talk about the Hollywood Devil (it’s Episode 666 after all). No matter how you spin, or whoever won the bid, this is a bad thing for movies. Netflix says they’re going to keep Warner Bros separated and still put their movies in theaters. We’ll see if they hold to their word, but it’s easy to be dubious.ย
If you want to help support us, there are several ways you can help us and we’d absolutely appreciate it. Every penny goes directly back into supporting the show and we are truly honored and grateful. Thanks for your support and for listening to the InSession Film Podcast!
The Star Wars sequel trilogy is a weird subject to tackle. It has become a toxic battlefield amongst the fanbase, never failing to spark outrage and debate. Of course, much of that is rooted in Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, but JJ Abram’s The Force Awakens is far from being impervious to criticism and the discourse. It often gets maligned for narratively regurgitating familiar plot beats from A New Hope, and is mostly talked about as a middling Star Wars movie. And, personally, I just can’t fathom that when you look past its superficial veneer. In fact, as we celebrate its 10th anniversary, I would argue that it’s the best of the three.
I know I’m going to lose some of you with that previous statement, but if you follow me for a moment, there’s a lot more going on with The Force Awakens beyond simple plot mechanics. It might not be J.J. Abrams’ modus operandi, like it is for Rian Johnson, so I understand why it gets lost in translation. However, The Force Awakens is way more subversive than it gets credit for, particularly with how Abrams taps into lore to question mythos and memory. It’s a film that goes out of its way to completely flip the coin with familiar ideas and tropes, while embracing the fundamental nature of what makes it so appealing. So, yeah, on the surface is a story that harkens back to the original. A purposeful move that allows the film’s subversions to glisten all the more as it upends what we know about our characters and the idea of the Force.
For example, Han Solo is no longer the scoundrel we knew and loved. When we are first re-introduced to Han, gangs are seeking to settle debtsย with him, highlighting the facade that he is the same ole trouble maker who’s up to no good. But it doesn’t take long for that facade to dissipate. His belief in the Force has altered. “The Jedi were real!?” Rey questions and exclaims simultaneously at one point (much more on this later). To which Han replies, with “I used to wonder about that myself, thought it was much of mumbo jumbo, a magical power holding together good and evil, the dark and the light.” An astonishing moment that ends with him saying “the crazy thing is, it’s true. The Force. The Jedi. All of it. It’s all true.” None of this is Han from the original trilogy. But that makes sense. He’s thirty years older after all. And people change over time (I will forever argue thatย The Force Awakensย andย The Last Jediย are way more closely linked than people think because thatย sounds a bit familiar eh? Anyway, I digress). It’s not just his views on the Force, though. It’s, of course, much more personal and emotional. We come to find out later in the film that the real reason Han appears to be a scoundrel when we first meet him is because he’s running from something. Much like his friend Luke. The reality, however, is that Han is less so a scoundrel and more so a grieving father. Ben has fallen to the Dark Side, and after some encouragement from his wife (oh, you know, the great General Leia), he becomes a desperate father trying to save his son throughout the rest of the movie. A nice juxtapositionย from the Luke/Vader dynamic, and once again, a very different Han Solo. Not a single person on this planet ever saw that coming. If they claim they did, you’re being lied to. Han might still have the same scowl and rugged exterior, but underneath is a completely subverted character from previous installments.
Speaking of Ben, and earlier I had mentioned Rey, let’s talk about the new characters (at the time, obviously) and howย The Force Awakensย uses them as a cipher for lore and to question mythos and memory. We see it throughout the trilogy, and it’s well established in this film, that Kylo Ren and Rey are operating in parallel to each other. They’re on a similarย trajectory, operating from the same plane, but from opposite sides of the Force. They have been molded by myth and the stories that have been told over the years. Kylo has come to worship Darth Vader (the symbolism behind this is quite scary in 2025) and wants to be a mirror image of him. All the way down to his mask/outfit. Rey isn’t beholden to one person, but she clearly loves the stories. “This is the millennium falcon, and you’re Han Solo” is her reaction to seeing Han for the first time. She knows all about the legends (even if she says 14 parsecs instead of 12). As I noted earlier, she is enamored to learn that the Jedi were real. This context is key to her survival later on in the film when she tries the mind trick. The film doesn’t hold your hand or explain overtly how Rey would know that. She doesn’t. But she’s heard all the stories. She’s heard theย legends; the Jedi mind trick being one of those legends that are passed down.ย
This also explains why Kylo and Rey are raw in the Force. Rey clearly has no idea what she’s doing, but she’s very smart and intuitive. This allows for her to put the pieces together when she realizes that Jedi lore is real. That it isn’t all just fantasy stories you hear as a kid. Kylo has had some training, but as evidenced in the film, he is no Vader. His attire is just a facade. Scene after scene,ย The Force Awakensย intentionally takes the familiar to flip the coin to the other side, demonstrating the deep effects of memory and legend.
This is what makes J.J.’s script so remarkably underrated. It’s easy to dismiss something because of nostalgia, but J.J. uses the familiar to subvert mythos and legend to recontextualize who these new characters are at this place in the timeline and why they make the choices they do. The idea that war heroes and legends only exist in stories, almost in a fantastical kind of way. But what happens when myth and reality merge?
I find that filmmaking ethos as clever and thought-provoking as anything we’ve seen in Star Wars. We’ve all played with lightsabers and pretended to use the Force when walking into grocery stores. But what if we wake up tomorrow, stumble onto the Millenium Falcon and find out that the Jedi do exist and it wasn’t just a series of movies about them? I love what J.J. does here with that thematic nucleus.
Of course, that’s just one piece of the pie. As if that’s not enough,ย The Force Awakensย is the most emotionally affecting of the trilogy for me. Granted, in 2015, I was a brand new father and I’m willing to admit that perhaps adds a bias. But on its own terms, the emotional underbelly of a father desperatelyย trying to save his son is affecting. And the fact that it’s Han Solo makes it even more engrossing to me. Han and Leia’s conversations in this film shatter me every time I hear them. The way Han approaches Ben on the platform. His plea to his son. Kylo’s betrayal. Slays me. And again, I love how it’s the inverse toย Return of the Jedi. As much as we all love Luke’s final moment with Anakin and saving his father, a moment that invokes an emotional high, Han’s death at the hands of his own son is just gut-wrenching.ย
I haven’t talked about them as much here, but Poe Damron and Finn are also great additions to the franchise. There’s been a lot of talk/meme’ingย with those two characters, and perhaps that dynamic is a missed opportunity later on in the trilogy, butย The Force Awakensย establishes those characters wonderfully. They’re really fun together, and there’s no denying the chemistry between Oscar Isaac and John Boyega. One scene that geeks me out, and admittedly this is very much a “me” thing, is the moment of Finn losing his mind as Poe dogfights in the sky above and just obliterating the enemy. The camera circles around as Finn as he looks in wonder, never cutting and we all witness as Poe becomes his own legend. I love it deeply, especially as someone who grew up wanting to be a fighter pilot. But it also works because of how the film navigates those characters and that particular friendship.ย
Then there’s Finn and Rey. Again, say what you will about how the rest of the trilogy (namely The Rise of Skywalker) treats this relationship, but similarlyย there’s a great rapport established inย The Force Awakens,ย complementing the film’s emotional underbelly as they cement a bond through mutual survival and shared experiences. In the spirit of the film’s narrative approach, it also avoids conventional romanticizing. The platonic, yet lovable duo, mirror each other’s longing for identity and acceptance, giving their relationship an intimacyย despite its subversions. Something that gives credence to Finn’s fierce determination to rescueย Rey from Starkiller base and their cathartic farewell in the final scenes. The connection between the two feels earned and deeply human, tapping into the franchises’ overarching theme of hope and togetherness as they now forge a new path against a new empire.ย
Which is to say, I really don’t care how familiar the superficial plot beats are toย A New Hope. It’s a lazy criticism. The evidence of Abrams purposefullyย utilizing certain tropes to actively undermine them (in all of these various ways) is overwhelming. Whether it be emotionally speaking, thematically, or relationally. Or even blurring the lines between mythos, legend, and reality. There is a lot happening here aside from how the moves from point A to Point B, weaponizing nostalgia to do something incredibly poignant and thematically riveting. Simply, I think Abrams set the foundation perfectly for the new trilogy (something that, at least in my opinion, Rian Johnson *complements* inย The Last Jedi).
A lot of words and I have yet to utter the name John Williams. For as iconic as his Star Wars score has become, it’s astounding to me that he would render new themes for The Force Awakens, and they’re as captivating as anything else he’s scored for this franchise. The Rey theme is just absurd. The Kylo cue is brilliant. Like the film itself, it’s an impeccable concoction of the old and the new. He’s the GOAT for a reason.
Disney has (rightfully) taken a fair amount of abuse for what they’ve done with Star Wars. The reaction to The Last Jedi has derailed everything completely. They’ve announced, and then cancelled, no less than a dozen projects (that we know of). LucasFilm has mostly focused on the TV side of things, and that’s been extremely hit or miss. And the sad thing is, it didn’t have to become this. It’s clear that the Kathleen Kennedy/LucasFilm/Disney group did not have a streamlined plan from the beginning. They let Abrams do his thing. They let Johnson do his thing. And I will forever die on the hill that bothย The Force Awakensย andย The Last Jediย are excellent companion pieces. All they had to do was continue the trajectory.ย The Rise of Skywalkerย is the only film in that trilogy that missed the mark (and boy did it miss).
At any rate, happy 10 years toย The Force Awakens. A film that I love rewatching and get more out of each time I see it.ย
On this episode of Chasing the Gold, Shadan is joined by Luis A. Mendez to discuss their reactions to the 2026 Oscar shortlists that were recently released! Most of what we got this year was expected, but there were a few significant misses and some eyebrow raising surprises. We have a lot of fun breaking it all down and talking about the categories we’re most excited about.
Check out this week’s show and let us know what you think in the comment section. Thanks for listening and for supporting the InSession Film Podcast!
The Academy announced shortlists for 12 categories. The 98thย Oscars will take place on March 15, 2026.
See the full list below and visit ourย Oscar Predictionsย page for the most up-to-date rankings.
ANIMATED SHORT FILM Autokar Butterfly Cardboard รiru Forevergreen The Girl Who Cried Pearls Hurikรกn I Died in Irpin The Night Boots Playing God The Quintaโs Ghost Retirement Plan The Shyness of Trees Snow Bear The Three Sisters
CASTING Frankenstein Hamnet Marty Supreme One Battle after Another The Secret Agent Sentimental Value Sinners Sirรขt Weapons Wicked: For Good
CINEMATOGRAPHY Ballad of a Small Player Bugonia Die My Love F1 Frankenstein Hamnet Marty Supreme Nouvelle Vague One Battle after Another Sentimental Value Sinners Sirรขt Song Sung Blue Sound of Falling Train Dreams Wicked: For Good
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM The Alabama Solution Apocalypse in the Tropics Coexistence, My Ass! Come See Me in the Good Light Cover-Up Cutting through Rocks Folktales Holding Liat Mr. Nobody against Putin Mistress Dispeller My Undesirable Friends: Part 1 โ Last Air in Moscow The Perfect Neighbor Seeds 2000 Meters to Andriivka Yanuni
DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM All the Empty Rooms All the Walls Came Down Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud Bad Hostage Cashing Out Chasing Time Children No More: Were and Are Gone Classroom 4 The Devil Is Busy Heartbeat Last Days on Lake Trinity On Healing Land, Birds Perch Perfectly a Strangeness Rovinaโs Choice We Were the Scenery
INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM Argentina, Belรฉn Brazil, The Secret Agent France, It Was Just an Accident Germany, Sound of Falling India, Homebound Iraq, The Presidentโs Cake Japan, Kokuho Jordan, All Thatโs Left of You Norway, Sentimental Value Palestine, Palestine 36 South Korea, No Other Choice Spain, Sirรขt Switzerland, Late Shift Taiwan, Left-Handed Girl Tunisia, The Voice of Hind Rajab
LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM Ado Amarela Beyond Silence The Boy with White Skin Butcherโs Stain Butterfly on a Wheel Dadโs Not Home Extremist A Friend of Dorothy Jane Austenโs Period Drama Pantyhose The Pearl Comb Rock, Paper, Scissors The Singers Two People Exchanging Saliva
MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING The Alto Knights Frankenstein Kokuho Marty Supreme Nuremberg One Battle after Another Sinners The Smashing Machine The Ugly Stepsister Wicked: For Good
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE) Avatar: Fire and Ash Bugonia Captain America: Brave New World Diane Warren: Relentless F1 Frankenstein Hamnet Hedda A House of Dynamite Jay Kelly Marty Supreme Nuremberg One Battle after Another Sinners Sirรขt Train Dreams Tron: Ares Truth and Treason Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery Wicked: For Good
MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG) As Alive As You Need Me To Be from Tron: Ares Dear Me from Diane Warren: Relentless Dream As One from Avatar: Fire and Ash Drive from F1 Dying To Live from Billy Idol Should Be Dead The Girl In The Bubble from Wicked: For Good Golden from KPop Demon Hunters Highest 2 Lowest from Highest 2 Lowest I Lied To You from Sinners Last Time (I Seen The Sun) from Sinners No Place Like Home from Wicked: For Good Our Love from The Ballad of Wallis Island Salt Then Sour Then Sweet from Come See Me in the Good Light Sweet Dreams Of Joy from Viva Verdi! Train Dreams from Train Dreams
SOUND Avatar: Fire and Ash F1 Frankenstein Mission: Impossible โ The Final Reckoning One Battle after Another Sinners Sirรขt Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere Superman Wicked: For Good
VISUAL EFFECTS Avatar: Fire and Ash The Electric State F1 Frankenstein Jurassic World Rebirth The Lost Bus Sinners Superman Tron: Ares Wicked: For Good
On this episode, JD and Brendan discuss Kleber Mendonรงa Filho’s latest film The Secret Agent, starring a sensational Wagner Moura! There’s so much to love about this film, but maybe most notably is its subversive approach given the material and the kind of tone you would expect. For a film that’s bubbling with politics, espionage and violence, you’d think there would be more overt tension. But its quiet, humanistic characteristics lead to one of the year’s best endings.
Review:The Secret Agent
Director: Kleber Mendonรงa Filho Writers: Kleber Mendonรงa Filho Stars: Wagner Moura, Tรขnia Maria, Carlos Francisco
Director: Quentin Tarantino Writers:Quentin Tarantino, Uma Thurman Stars:ย Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox
Synopsis: The Bride must kill her ex-boss and lover Bill who betrayed her at her wedding rehearsal, shot her in the head and took away her unborn daughter. But first, she must make the other four members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad suffer.
Movie lovers experienced quite the shocking bit of news as it was announced that Netflix is set to purchase legendary movie studio, Warner Brothers. Thereโs a lot of doom surrounding the purchase, and it has cinephiles everywhere a bit worried about the future of cinema, particularly with regards to movie theaters. But in theaters at this very moment is an opportunity that has been nearly 20 years in the making. Quentin Tarantinoโs Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair has finally been released to the larger public after premiering in 2006 at Cannes, and screening only a handful of times in the two decades since. Its differences are largely minor, and primarily affect certain aesthetics of the film which were hampered due to MPAA restrictions and runtime worries. And thatโs not to say Tarantino has ever been a filmmaker audiences commonly associate with restraint, especially as both parts of Kill Bill scream nothing but excess. But viewing The Whole Bloody Affair should, and does, feel totemic. Tarantinoโs tale of revenge has never felt more emotionally powerful than it has in its gloriously whopping 247 minute runtime.
The changes have been whispered about for some time, but itโs still a treat to see certain sequences in an entirely new light. In the case of the iconic Crazy 88 fight, that can be taken quite literally. The bloody battle is in full color, including some additional cut-ins of even more katana mayhem. More of Uma Thurmanโs (and stunt-woman Zoe Bellโs) fully committed martial arts performance could never be considered anything but a blessing for cinephiles. O-Ren Ishiiโs (a supremely kickass Lucy Liu) anime origin sequence has finally been revealed in its full glory. Thereโs practically an entire second scene tacked onto what weโve always known as the already-legendary anime cutaway. Is it necessary? Not particularly. Is it a thrill? Absolutely. Once again, Kill Bill represents many fundamental elements and sensibilities within Tarantinoโs oeuvre. But excess is right up there at the top of its characteristics. In that capacity, any additions bolstering its entertainment value are welcome. Itโs perhaps the versionโs biggest narrative change that becomes its most deeply rewarding.
In the split-up release of Kill Bill, Tarantino capped off Part 1 with one of the great cliffhangers in cinema. An off-screen Bill (David Carradine) looms over Sophie (Julie Dreyfus), who has now been revealed to have lost both her arms to The Brideโs fury, and inquires as to whether or not The Bride is aware her daughter is still alive. After all the thrills and shock of its final fight, Tarantino initially provided his audience with a profound and immediate blow to the chest. The wait between films must have been excruciating; and itโs nevertheless a moment that still excites as the credits start to roll. But having the instant capability for a double feature (of which this writer has done on several occasions), takes an ever so slight bit of impact out of the reveal. So in The Whole Bloody Affair, that moment of dialogue is excised entirely. And how the remainder of the filmโs narrative plays out strikes a deep chord with regards to its thematic implications and ramifications.
In both versions of Kill Bill, the second half plays out like a fundamentally different beast. Despite retaining its โ70s martial arts sensibilities and stylistic flourishes, it also felt like a Western in equal measure. At times, it can be a much more subdued film. This striking tonal shake-up has never been more felt, especially once Tarantino whisks his heroine into the extended finale. The Whole Bloody Affair holds the reveal of BB (Perla Haney-Jardine), The Brideโs daughter, back from the audience until the moment The Bride herself makes the discovery. Itโs an overwhelming moment in a film that has done all it can to desensitize the viewer through bloody, action-packed revenge. With a simple cut (this time from legendary editor Sally Menke), Kill Bill completely shifts its identity. Where we once showed up demanding excessive violence towards those that have wronged The Bride, both she and the audience can only fathom escaping the situation for the sake of the adorable BB. We see Thurmanโs eyes convey such conflict in real time. Where there was one deep pain has been replaced by the shocking revelation that new priorities must take hold; Not only that, they must shift at this very moment. The immediacy, and almost blunt nature, with which Tarantino delivers this moment is totally in line with his filmmaking sensibilities. But it also speaks to an emotional filmmaking maturity that is deeply apparent in his previous film, the masterful Jackie Brown, and would rear its head even more so in his (penultimate?) film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Thereโs been much talk of Tarantino being a hack for most of his career. Critics will claim he has pulled his greatest iconography from that of his favorite films. But one might argue that such fervor for cinema and his success as a filmmaker have opened up audiences to a wide range of films they might have never heard of otherwise. And isnโt that ultimately what us cinephiles all hope to see? We have an unbridled hunger for film from all around the world. Thereโs a sincerity to that desire which can often be deflated in a world bathed in irony. Itโs a sentiment which has plagued contemporary cinema; But Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair is a film devoid of that frustrating irony. Itโs an epic which embodies all the style and sensibilities that shapes Tarantinoโs taste. Itโs a passion for filmmaking, and cinema in general, that we could use more of on screen. As thrilling as it is to see some of the coolest action ever committed to film, itโs just as refreshing to see a film so full of passion and sincerity be released in 2025. If youโd prefer to walk out on the highest of emotional notes and being wildly entertained, exit the theater upon the credits rolling. To sit through them all is to experience the Tarantino-directed Fortnite short Yukiโs Revenge. Based off a previously written, but unfilmed section of Kill Bill, the short is a miserable experience that feels longer than The Whole Bloody Affair. Itโs a glorified Fortnite commercial that remains baffling on so many levels. The animation style is interesting and looks quite good, but it is just an incredibly sour note to exit the theater on. Yukiโs Revenge is less of a curio and more an indication of how dire the state of pop culture is at this moment. When everything can be tossed into a blender and this is what gets turned out, we all lose a bit in the end.
Director: Mike P. Nelson Writers:Mike P. Nelson, Michael Hickey, Paul Caimi Stars:ย Rohan Campbell, Ruby Modine, March Acheson
Synopsis: A child witnesses his parents’ murder by a man in a Santa suit. Years later, as an adult, he dons a Santa costume himself and embarks on a violent quest for retribution against those responsible for the traumatic event from his childhood.
โChug-a chug-a chug-a choo choo!โ There goes the sound of the train of remakes continuing to roll on in Hollywood. Most remakes are a mixed bag of things to like and dislike. Audiences arenโt always satisfied with them because they donโt have familiar scenes from the originals or they are shot-by-shot recreations of your favorite movies. Youโre damned if you do, damned if you donโt if youโre a filmmaker thatโs hired to work on a remake. The 2025 remake of the cult classic Silent Night Deadly Night goes leaps and bounds over its predecessor. I watched the 1984 original movie last week in preparation for it and I can say that it left me wanting more. Luckily, the new movie has more of a plot, better kills, and a surprising warmness from its two leads.
Weโre introduced to young Billy Chapman (Logan Sawyer) on a road trip with his parents. The three visit Billyโs grandpa at a nursing home before they celebrate Christmas. Billy peeks in at his grandfather to see how heโs doing. They crack jokes and Grandpa gives Billy the run down on Santa Claus. Grandpa chokes on something and Billy tries to help but heโs traumatized by what happens next. Billy and his parents leave soon after the incident. The back of their car is run into by a man in a Santa suit. Without warning, Santa Claus kills both of his parents. Billy tries to get away and thatโs when weโre dropped into the present day with adult Billy (Rohan Campbell).
The new version of Billy that we have is still traumatized by the events of his past. After all, that kind of thing happening to someone wouldnโt just leave their mind and go away. Billy continues to have nightmares about the incident and he canโt shake this from constantly eating at his brain. Campbell has played multiple characters that endure being bullied and mistreated (The Monkey, Halloween Ends). This time, heโs a leading character with way more screen time and he puts on a performance that puts him in the spotlight. Billy is a wanderer, a drifter if you will. He doesnโt stay in one place for long. Working odd jobs and being mysterious has worked for him and itโs how heโs stayed alive. Weirdly, heโs not alone. He has a voice in his head that talks to him, tells him how to do things, warns him of trouble and how to handle it. This voice is a person named Charlie. There are definitely signs that Billy has mental health issues due to what heโs gone through in his life. The movie doesnโt touch on this being a thing and it chalks it up to him having this voice in his head from THE PERSON THAT KILLED HIS FAMILY. Freaky stuff huh? It only gets weirder from here.
Hackett, Minnesota is a quiet town. Theyโre very big on celebrating Christmas and spreading holiday cheer throughout the season. Billy lands here after fleeing the scene from a victim of his own doing. He sees a local girl named Pam (Ruby Modine) and takes a liking to her. Billy gets a job at a Christmas-themed store owned by Pamโs dad. The two spend a lot of time with each other. The more that they talk the more that they realize that trauma and pain is something that they share. Pam has a mean streak of her own and sheโs violent when she needs to be. As they continue to hang out, Charlie is trying to keep Billyโs eye on the prize. This means no distractions until heโs finished his business. Whatโs his business you ask? Itโs killing people that are deemed to be naughty by Charlie. In the original movie, Billy killed random people. Some of them deserved it, some of them didnโt. This change is one of the best changes from the original to the remake that I really appreciated.
The movie is a Cineverse, Bloody Disgusting, and Screambox production so you know that theyโre going to give audiences super bloody and extravagant kills. Theyโre the companies that gave us the Terrifier franchise with Art the Clown. The practical effects and action sequences are fun and entertaining. Thereโs a big action sequence in the second act of the film that rivals the Santa fight scene in the โ96 family comedy movie Jingle All The Way. Billyโs weapon of choice is an axe and he uses it very well, like itโs a Katana sword. He thinks that an axe is a more practical weapon and that โguns are for pussies.โ
Fun and extravagant kills, a tight 95 minute runtime, necessary changes to its story and even warm moments between the two leads are reasons why this movie is one to see. Weโre teased with a potential sequel at the end of the movie and I say that it should happen as long as it makes sense. The longer that some horror franchises go on, they focus on providing the audience with kills that we love and they donโt feature plots with story details that make sense. I would hate for this potential franchise to suffer the same fate and fall apart on its second or third film. Wait, now that I think of it, the original franchise already fell down that rabbit hole. This time around, avoid that at all costs.
Director:James Cameron Writers:James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver Stars:ย Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaรฑa, Sigourney Weaver
Synopsis: Jake and Neytiri’s family grapples with grief after Neteyam’s death, encountering a new, aggressive Na’vi tribe, the Ash People, who are led by the fiery Varang, as the conflict on Pandora escalates and a new moral focus emerges.
While watching Avatar: Fire and Ash, you cannot argue that you get more for your dollar, technically speaking, when it comes to buying a movie ticket for the James Cameron experience. The latest chapter, unfortunately, the hump-day version, being the third of five installments in the trials and tribulations of the blue, lush alien moon known as Pandora, has jaw-dropping visuals and stunning special effects, and is a wholly immersive cinematic experience.
However, from that standpoint, when it comes to the wooden dialogue, story, and plot points, James CameronโsAvatar: Fire and Ash is a beautiful snoozefest. Yes, the famed filmmakerโs computer-generated imagery (CGI), along with a few action scenes, are gorgeous and transformative. However, the storylines are recycled, the plot is predictable, and the dialogue is cringeworthy. However, Cameron does breathe new life into the Avatar villain universe.
Sure, if you love the Avatar franchise or crave some big popcorn bucket of cinematic showmanship, I wonโt stand in your way, but prepare yourself to be massively disappointed.
The story continues to follow the Metkayina clan after the tragic events of Avatar: The Way of Water. Since the death of their son, Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoรซ Saldaรฑa) are trying their best to keep their family together. It doesnโt help that the constant reminder of his death is walking around. That would be Spider (Trap Houseโs Jack Champion), whom they adopted and who Neytiri sees as the catalyst for Neteyamโs demise.ย
The death has caused a rift between Jake and Neytiri, as she abandons the guiding life force known as Eywa. For reasons of his safety, due to the lack of functioning oxygen equipment, which honestly feels more like a contrived plot point to move the story along, Jake decides that, despite Spiderโs relationship with the rest of his children, most notably Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), he will need to move Spider for his own protection.
Of course, instead of just sending Spider on his way by pulling a Jack Conroy, Jake has the brilliant idea of making it a family trip. So, he arranges for everyone to come along, convincing the captain of the merchant ship that they may need extra reinforcements for what are Pandorian pirates. Let that sink in: Jake wants to put his family in danger? I suspect Pandora will have social workers as a profession in the next film.
Of course, if they just send Spider on his way, there is no real story to tell. If they keep Spider, it could turn into a heart-warming family drama with grief counselors. But no, the contrived plot in Cameron, Rick Jaffa, and Amanda Silverโs script assumed no one questioned Will Robinson before he found his family floating off the coast of New Guinea, so why should they? And to their credit, this creates the movieโs best scene, a breathtaking aerial battle led by Varang (Treasonโs Oona Chaplin), leader of the volcano-dwelling Mangkwan clan.
The entire family is scattered across the region. Then, we add Stephen Langโs classic over-enunciating, exaggerated, and cartoonish Quaritch, seeking revenge against Jake and his family, especially that troublemaker, Spider. Of course, without the addition of Varang, the story would remain redundant, repeating the same plot points since the first Avatar. This leaves the film with less emotional impact than you would expect, and frankly, demand. No matter how vibrant the visuals are, it is only a beard for the money grab.
Avatar: Fire and Ash is too long and self-indulgent, merely using tribal, social, and animism as a backdrop, the first time I have felt that way when it comes to the first two installmentsโ world-building. I make that point because the most interesting part of the film, the Mangkwan clan, is given no depth or substance to learn about their own true origins. Why not embrace the new clan instead of just rehashing the old ones?
Instead, you get a long, endless journey that is beautiful but never ends, doesnโt know when to stop, goes off in too many directions, and offers familiar endings. Yes, Avatar: Fire and Ash offers more bang for your buck, but that doesnโt mean you shouldnโt demand more for your dollar and your time.
You can watch Avatar: Fire and Ash only in theaters starting December 19th!
InSession Film Awards editor Shadan Larki is joined by Bitesize Breakdownโs Adriano Caporusso to predict the Oscar shortlists. They also discuss potential Best Picture surprises and why Amy Madigan is a major contender in Best Supporting Actress. Shortlists for the 98thย Oscars will be announced on Tuesday, December 16th.
Below are predictions for nine categoriesโ Casting, Cinematography, Documentary Feature, International Feature, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score, Original Song, Sound, and Visual Effects. All films are listed in alphabetical order. Visit ourย Oscar Predictionsย page for the most up-to-date rankings.
Casting:
Bugonia Frankenstein Hamnet Jay Kelly Marty Supreme One Battle After Another Sinners Wake Up Dead Man Weapons Wicked: For Good
Cinematography:
Avatar: Fire and Ash Ballad of a Small Player Bugonia F1: The Movie Frankenstein Hamnet Jay Kelly Marty Supreme No Other Choice Nouvelle Vague One Battle After Another Sinners Sirฤt The Testament of Ann Lee Train Dreams
Makeup and Hairstyling:
28 Years Later Blue Moon Bugonia Frankenstein Kiss of the Spider Woman One Battle After Another Sinners The Smashing Machine Weapons Wicked: For Good
Sound:
Avatar: Fire and Ash F1: The Movie Frankenstein Marty Supreme Mission:Impossible — The Final Reckoning One Battle After Another Sinners Springsteen:Deliver Me From Nowhere Warfare Wicked: For Good
Visual Effects:
Avatar: Fire and Ash F1:The Movie Frankenstein Jurassic World: Rebirth Mission: Impossible โ The Final Reckoning Predator: Badlands Sinners Superman The Fantastic Four: First Steps Tron: Ares Wicked: For Good
Original Score:
Avatar: Fire and Ash (Simon Franglen) Ballad of a Small Player (Volker Bertelmann) Bugonia (Jerskin Fendrix) F1: The Movie (Hans Zimmer) Frankenstein (Alexandre Desplat) Hamnet (Max Richter) Hedda (Hildur Gudnadottir) Jay Kelly (Nicholas Britell) Marty Supreme (Daniel Lopatin) One Battle After Another (Jonny Greenwood) Sentimental Value (Hania Rani) Sinners (Ludwig Goransson) Sirรขt (KangdingRay) The Fantastic Four: First Steps (Michael Giacchino) The Smashing Machine (Nala Sinephro) The Testament of Ann Lee&nbbsp;(Daniel Blumberg) Train Dreams (Bryce Dessner) Tron:Ares (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) Wake Up Dead Man (Nathan Johnson) Wicked: For Good (John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
Original Song:
Avatar: Fire and Ash โ โDream as Oneโ (Performed by Miley Cyrus) Come See Me in the Good Light โ โSalt Then Sour Then Sweetโ (Performed by Sara Bareilles& Brandi Carlile) Diane Warren: Relentless โ โDear Meโ (Performed by Kesha) F1 โ โDriveโ (Performed by Ed Sheeran) F1 โ โJust Keep Watchingโ (Performed by Tate McRae) Highest 2 Lowest โ โHighest 2 Lowestโ (Performed by Aiyana-Lee) KPop Demon Hunters โ โGoldenโ (Performed by HUNTR/X, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami) Sinners โ โI Lied to Youโ (Performed by Miles Caton) Sinners โ โLast Time (I Seen the Sun)โ (Performed by Alice Smith & Miles Caton) The Ballad of Wallis Island – “Our Love” (Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan The Testament of Ann Lee – “Clothed by the Sun” (Performed by Daniel Blumberg & Amanda Seyfried Train Dreams – “Train Dreams” (Performed by Nick Cave) Wicked: for Good – “No Place Like Home” (Performed by Cynthia Erivo Wicked: For Good – “the Girl in the Bubble” (Performed by Ariane Grande) Zootopia 2 – “Zoo” (Performed by Shakira)
Documentary Feature:
2000 Meters to Andriivka Afternoons of Solitude Apocalypse in the Tropics Come See Me in the Good Light Cover-Up Endless Cookie It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley Mr. Nobody Against Putin Orwell: 2+2=5 Put Your Soul On Your Hand and Walk Seeds The Alabama Solution The Librarians The Perfect Neighbor The Tale of Silyan
International Feature
A Poet (Columbia) All Thatโs Left of You (Jordan) Belรฉn (Argentina) It Was Just an Accident (France) Kokuho (Japan) Left-Handed Girl (Taiwan) My Fatherโs Shadow (United Kingdom) No Other Choice (South Korea) Palestine 36 (Palestine) Sentimental Value (Norway) Sirฤt (Spain) Sound of Falling (Germany) The Presidentโs Cake (Iraq) The Secret Agent (Brazil) The Voice of Hind Rajab (Tunisia)
Director:Derek Drymon Writers:Pam Brady, Matt Lieberman Stars: Tom Kenny, Clancy Brown, Bill Fagerbakke
Synopsis:Desperate to be a big guy, SpongeBob sets out to prove his bravery to Mr. Krabs by following The Flying Dutchman โ a mysterious swashbuckling ghost pirate โ on a seafaring adventure that takes him to the deepest depths of the deep sea, where no Sponge has gone before.
With 2020’s Sponge On The Run acting as a pandemic/streaming release of sorts, it’s hard to believe that The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants marks the yellow squareโs return to the big screen after 10 years. It’s hard to continue innovating the Stephen Hillenburg-created show when it’s been on air for over 25 years, and even more so when youโre the 4th film in the franchise. But Search for SquarePants attempts to bring back many of the hallmarks of the SpongeBob of old. Cartoony expressions galore, and the abstract absurdity many have come to love are present, but unfortunately, Search for SquarePants doesnโt quite reach the thresholds of what the franchise once was. I can appreciate the more episodic nature of Search for SquarePantsโ plotting, but its attempts at creating the same cartoonish energy as the show fall flat due to its odd 3D animation implementation and a greater number of misses than hits in the comedy department. There’s a laugh to be had every once in a while, and this is certainly better than the laziness present in Sponge on the Run, but Search for SquarePants struggles to be much else besides an aggressively average adventure for the famous sea sponge.
Search for SquarePants starts as most episodes of the show would, with an energetic SpongeBob (Tom Kenny) eager to seize the day. After discovering he’s now 36 clams (instead of inches) tall, SpongeBob is now eager to finally become a big guy, but his boss and mentor, Mr Krabs (Clancy Brown), thinks heโll be nothing more than a bubble-blowing baby. After hearing Mr Krabsโ tale of becoming an epic sailor and earning a swashbuckler certificate, SpongeBob sets out with his best friend Patrick (Bill Fagerbakke) to get his own by journeying with The Flying Dutchman (Mark Hamill) in the underworld to complete every skill of courage listed on the certificate. Little does SpongeBob know, the Dutchman has his own motive on this journey to use SpongeBob’s innocence to break the curse that has been inflicted on him for hundreds of years, so he can transform into a human again. Feeling at fault for SpongeBob’s situation, it’s up to Mr. Krabs and the always jaded Squidward (Rodger Bumpass) to warn SpongeBob before itโs too late.
Even within predictable plot beats that have been used countless times in other children’s films, there are still hallmarks of SpongeBob that keep Search for SquarePants somewhat afloat. The implementation of silly live action and hybrid animation footage has been present in episodes of the show and all four of the films for multiple years now, and its abundance throughout the third act is still creative here. Whatโs even more appreciated is the specific focus on SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs’ friendship in this entry, which makes for a nice character dynamic that was never present in other SpongeBob films. None of the filmโs messaging or cartoony elements are that groundbreaking for the franchise on the whole, but it does represent a solid entry point for someone completely new to the world of this series.
Where Search for SquarePants tends to fizzle is through its recycled plot beats and humor in general. Itโs quite apparent that the main plotline of SpongeBob yearning to be respected amongst others and not seen as a baby is the exact main story that was present in the original 2004 film. This wouldnโt really matter as much if the film were funnier, as SpongeBob is centered on its comedy after all, but most of the jokes here fall short. The jokes work best when theyโre more verbally based or homed in on the absurdity of some of the series’ best cartoonish expressions, but much of it is repetitive and centered on a lot of the same butt based gags that are somewhat funny at first and pretty grating after the tenth time.
Then there’s the visuals, which are a mixed bag of not ever bad looking, per se, but their presentation in comparison to the usual animation of the show is off. There are plenty of goofy faces and pleasant visuals for the eyes to see, but the animation so clearly wants to emulate the 2D look of the mainline show, through full 3D models instead. Sometimes the film succeeds at this, other times it feels very awkward. Itโs all still very competently helmed, but the plastic look of the 3D models of these distinct characters just feels off; even Sponge On The Run was a more creative implementation of SpongeBob in 3D than something that looks more in the vein of a slightly higher budget TV special.ย
SpongeBob still remains his plucky, bright yellow, and absorbent self, and younger audiences and their parents alike will be satisfied with Search for SquarePants, but the cartoon spongeโs latest film outing couldnโt be more forgettable on the whole. The film is nowhere near the level of bottom-of-the-barrel children’s entertainment weโve seen in the past, but โIt couldโve been much worse!โ isnโt exactly the highest of compliments, especially with the previous highs these films have reached comedically.
On this episode, JD and Brendan discuss Bradley Cooper’s latest film Is This Thing On?, starring a really great Will Arnett and Laura Dern! It’s kind of weird how this film isn’t making the same kind of splash that Cooper’s last two films made, especially given how you could argue it’s his best to date. It may not be as flashy, but there’s a lot to love about this film and it should be more on the awards radar.
Review:Is This Thing On?
Director: Bradley Cooper Writers: Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett, Mark Chappell Stars: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day, Bradley Cooper
