A Merry Little Ex-Mas (2025)
Wake Up Dead Man (2025)
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (2023)
Oppenheimer (2023)
A House Of Dynamite (2025)
Kings Row (1942)
Random Harvest (1942)
The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
Love Wedding Repeat (2020)
Holiday (1938) ///
Promising Young Woman (2020) Edgy social thriller is grounded by Carey Mulligan's compelling, poisoned narrative soul, seeking retribution on predatory males and those responsible for college friend's suicide. Studied visuals and designed provocations culminate with mean twist and blunt resolve.
A Merry Little Ex-Mas (2025) Strained production and blandly told narrative with dutiful Alicia Silverstone's traditional Christmas plans upset by impending divorce to consumed Oliver Hudson, increasingly independent children and suffocating small town. Few laughs as familiar emotional and societal lessons ring hollow.
Wake Up Dead Man (2025) Solidly produced whodunnit picks apart closed-room mystery as firebrand church leader Josh Brolin is murdered and fine cast all have motives. Led by Daniel Craig's singular detective and doubting priest Josh O'Connor, religious flavor adds texture to characters and devious plotting.
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret (2023) Endearing adaptation embraces seventies setting while revealing timeless concerns, centered on eager Abby Ryder Fortson facing suburbs and puberty yet extending to evolving identity of mom Rachel McAdams and grandma Kathy Bates. Lightly resonant comedic and dramatic touch.
Oppenheimer (2023) Fractured narrative unravels Cillian Murphy's titular scientist, feverishly pursuing atom bomb creation and grappling with historical consequences. Confident, propulsive staging and robustly designed visuals sell tension of science and politics, even if emotional core remains cold and characters elusive.
A House Of Dynamite (2025) Clinical buildup of tension initially details increasingly distressed Situation Room reaction to nuclear missile attack and futile attempts to stop its reaching American soil. Structural repeat of timeline from different perspectives as military response is considered remains uncomfortably involving if not quite as vital.
Kings Row (1942) Glorious melodrama elevated by lush visuals and Erich Wolfgang Korngold's transporting score, as murder and brutality expose sordid underbelly of picturesque American small town. Inspired by tragedy, Robert Cummings crusades for psychiatry against medicine based on class and prejudice, while practical, wrong side of the tracks Ann Sheridan supports cruelly maimed playboy Ronald Reagan.
Random Harvest (1942) Silky production and consummate leads persuade despite narrative conceits that see amnesiac war veteran Ronald Colman establish home with Greer Garson until accident flips him back to previous aristocratic life. Stuffed with romantic suffering that leads to suitably emotional conclusion.
The Pride of the Yankees (1942) Beguilingly simple storytelling accentuates romantic and family bonds for Gary Cooper's legendary baseball player Lou Gehrig, conjuring playful spirit amid record breaking career with New York Yankees. Compassionate, truthful Teresa Wright supports inspiring tragedy.
Love Wedding Repeat (2020) Italian villa provides picturesque setting for strained comedy and blandly staged character payoffs as amiable Sam Claflin's increasingly desperate attempts to ensure smooth wedding for sister Eleanor Tomlinson play out in alternate versions. Unrequited love Olivia Munn and oddball support can't compensate.
Holiday (1938) Bright comedy sees spirited cast embracing social and physical laughs as unpretentious Cary Grant is thrust into established New York wealth and finds marriage plans upended by his fiancée’s equally singular sister Katharine Hepburn. Without escaping confined setting, fluid pace keeps amusement humming.
