Fall 2026 movie preview

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness: I’m happy to report that this fall looks primed to deliver an abundant crop of quality movies. That’s not particularly surprising, given fall is the season for awards contenders and festival favorites. But what stands out to me about this year’s lineup is the exceptionally strong presence of foreign films and documentaries, which are already generating attention and awards chatter beyond the niche categories to which they’re typically limited. My own personal list below reflects these trends, even if I’m realistic enough about my own propensities to set the documentaries aside in a separate category. On the other hand, it’s not news that non-English language films have been rapidly gaining remarkable traction at the Oscars over the past several years, a trend I welcome and that looks to continue this year.

Never fear, Hollywood blockbuster watchers, there’s something for you, too, in the form of the holiday-season dual release of Dune 3 and Avengers: Doomsday. Time will tell if “Dunesday” is everything the studios are hoping it’ll be; while it doesn’t have the counter-programing brilliance of “Barbenheimer,” it does have a pretty encouraging model in the summer box office double Hulk(less)-smash of The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. But will audiences really turn out in comparable numbers for a more distended MCU-a-palooza/nostalgia fest? (Dune, I’m pretty confident, will perform, if not at Odyssey level numbers.) Marvel fatigue is real, while Spider-Man, as a franchise, has always benefited from being able to have its Marvel cake and eat it too. Myself, I think the millions of viewers who flocked to Brand New Day this summer came for Spidey; I don’t think most of them give a fig about Punisher or Jean Grey or any of the rest of the ever-extending MCU.

In any event, take my word for it that there are many, many more interesting films coming out before Dunesday, including plenty not listed here. These are just the ones I’m looking forward to the most. (Note: the theatrical release dates are mostly for NY/LA; I’m not sure if or when most of them are opening wide.)

Most excited:

FJORD (Oct. 9)

A bald, bearded Sebastian Stan and the always-luminous Renate Reinsve headline this Palme d’Or winner by acclaimed Romanian director Cristian Mungu. In a far cry from their roles in last year’s A Different Man, they play the parents of a family who move from Romania to Norway only to meet suspicion of their extremely conservative Christian values and, eventually, accusations of child abuse. Despite the plaudits, this film has been divisive – I suspect, without having seen it, because it stacks the deck for audience sympathies in a way audiences weren’t expecting from the director of 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. Still, I’m intrigued enough by the cast, premise, and setting to form my own opinion.

LA BOLA NEGRA (Oct. 16 in theaters; Dec. 2 on Netflix)

Netflix is banking big on this sprawling Spanish epic, inspired by an unfinished play by Lorca, that traces three interlinked narratives of Spanish gay men, spanning from the Spanish Civil War to the present. Winner of the People’s Choice Award at Toronto, it’s already one of the early frontrunners for the Best Picture Oscar. That might explain why Netflix is actually giving it a proper theatrical release.

FATHERLAND (Oct. 23)

Pawel Pawlikowski, king of exquisitely lensed B&W meditations on the oppressive impact of history on the human heart, is at it again with this film about Thomas Mann’s post-WWII return to Germany to receive an award, accompanied by his daughter (Sandra Hüller, who’s enjoying another banner year). Expect quietly devastating reflections on individual and collective guilt packed into a characteristically lean 82 minutes. (In an era where the average movie length seems to be creeping well past 2 hours, and where three of the most acclaimed films on my own list clock in at 155, 164, and a whopping 196 minutes, that’s no mean feat.)

POSSIBLE LOVE (Oct. 23 in theaters; Nov. 6 on Netflix)

Gotta hand it to my people – Korean filmmakers keep on keepin’ on relentlessly filleting end-stage capitalism and the class divides it both creates and exploits, yet they do it in a way that’s perpetually surprising and entertaining rather than preachy. Following his unsettling class-rage parable Burning, Lee Chang-Dong this time positions two fictional Korean couples from opposite ends of the social spectrum to contrast their respective perspectives on a recent mass layoff at a major factory. One couple is working-class and directly affected (the husband was one of the layoffs), while the other is affluent and sympathetically interested in the first couple’s plight, but only in the most privileged way possible (the wife, perhaps a partial stand-in for Lee, is making a documentary on the subject). Complications, both predictable and unpredictable, ensue as the two pairs become more intimately involved in each other’s lives.

THE ONLY LIVING PICKPOCKET IN NEW YORK (Oct. 23)

Possibly the best title of the season, and also possibly the best casting, with John Turturro as the pickpocket who gets in way over his head when he lifts from the wrong victim; Giancarlo Esposito, Steve Buscemi, and other gifted thespians co-star, but this is Turturro’s movie. Could it be the one that finally earns him an Oscar nod? (Believe it or not, he’s never been nominated.) I’ll leave the prognostication to others – it’s too damn early for me – but early notices are promising.

WILD HORSE NINE (Nov. 6)

I’m not a huge Martin McDonagh fan (hated Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, MO and found The Banshees of Inisherin rough going), but the previews for his latest look (1) hilarious and (2) like John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell are having a blast as a pair of CIA agents sent for obscure reasons to Easter Island on the eve of the infamous 1973 Chilean coup. Malkovich will likely get an Oscar nomination for his performance as the older of the two, who’s teetering dangerously close to loose cannon status as he nears the end of his long, shadowy career with increasingly fewer fucks left to give.

BITTER CHRISTMAS (Nov. 13)

Early reactions to Pedro Almodóvar’s latest, both in Spain and at Cannes, have been muted, as its nested narrative about a filmmaker making a movie about a filmmaker seems to have drawn equal parts praise and fatigue for its artistic navel-gazing. But hey, it’s still Almodóvar, who’s never less than watchable and thought-provoking. And if any artist has earned the right to overexamine his own life, it’s him.

PAPER TIGER (Nov. 13)

James Gray remains one of the best American writer-directors you’ve probably never heard of. Even I came to him a little late, and while I’ve seen all of his films since Two Lovers, I still haven’t seen the early gritty crime and family dramas, set in the seedy underbelly of 1980s New York, that first got him noticed (well, at least by critics): Little Odessa, The Yards, and We Own the Night. He’s returning to some degree to those roots in this story of two brothers (Adam Driver and Miles Teller) who get mixed up with the Russian mob.

ALL OF A SUDDEN (Nov. 25)

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s new film is loosely based on the true story of an unexpected friendship between the director of a French nursing home (Virginie Efira) and a Japanese playwright (Tao Okamoto). I believe the film, which runs over 3 hours long, consists mostly of these women talking about life and what it means to care for others. That might not be everyone’s cup of tea, yet based on its reception at Cannes, it’s incredibly moving, even transporting. Coming from the director of the incandescent Drive My Car, I would expect no less.

BEHEMOTH! (Dec. 4)

Color me charmed that Tony Gilroy’s next move after the popular and universally acclaimed “Andor” was to make what appears to be the least commercially marketable Pedro Pascal vehicle possible. Pascal plays a renowned but restless classical cellist who comes to L.A. to record a score for a forthcoming movie…and perhaps for other, more personal reasons that come to light as the narrative hopscotches across past chapters of his life. Pascal actually learned to play the cello for the role, and the film, which involved the work of at least nine film composers, seems to function most effectively as a tribute to movie music. That’s enough for me, as a lover of classical music, movies, and great movie music.

CLARISSA (Dec. 11)

A modern Nigerian retelling of Mrs. Dalloway, set in present-day Lagos, starring Sophie Okonedo as Clarissa and David Oyelowo as Peter (her ex)? Yes, please. Bonus points for casting Toheeb Jimoh (best known as Sam from “Ted Lasso”) as young Peter and Ayo Edibiri as another dear friend (and perhaps more) from Clarissa’s youth.

THE DEBUT (Dec. 11)

Pivoting adroitly from the excellent A Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg continues to impress with this musical comedy about a repressed housewife (Julianne Moore, doing what she does best) who comes to life after auditioning (badly) for a part in a local production of a (fictional) beloved musical, getting the role because no one else wanted it, and getting *really* into it under the tutelage of a hypercritical director (Paul Giamatti). Moore and Giamatti are pros, of course, and Eisenberg isn’t afraid to take the script to some surreal places. Moreover, in addition to writing and directing and playing a minor role, he also apparently wrote all the songs – and even got Broadway legend Bernadette Peters to cameo. As I said, the man continues to impress.

INK (Dec. 11 in theaters; Jan. 8 on Netflix)

I’m a little conflicted on this one as I’m not sure I need to see a movie that gives a sympathetic edit to Rupert Murdoch, especially one that Murdoch himself reportedly enjoyed. But it is true that Murdoch was once a rank outsider to UK establishment press, and that in breaching that institution and its mores, he unleashed destructive forces beyond his or anyone else’s control. That seems to be the ultimate thrust of Danny Boyle’s media morality tale, anchored by Guy Pearce as Murdoch and Jack O’Connell as the editor/ pupil who outsleazed his master. I’ll watch Pearce in just about anything, and I’ve been curious to see what O’Connell will do next after his compelling supporting turn in Sinners.

DUNE: PART THREE (Dec. 18)

While I found the second installment of the series impressive but cold, there’s no way I’m missing the grand finale to what may well be Denis Villeneuve’s most monumental achievement. Ok, so it isn’t actually the finale to the Dune saga, but it’s certainly the logical conclusion before that saga starts getting super-weird. Though if someone decides to green-light the further adventures of the God Emperor of Dune, I’m here for it.

ARTIFICIAL (Dec. 25)

Even with an actual sequel to The Social Network also coming out, this feels like the true spiritual heir to the Fincher classic about the OG techbros. Luca Guadagnino’s film focuses on a pivotal moment in the next generation, told from the perspective of the co-founder of OpenAI (played by Yura Borisov) who tried unsuccessfully to oust Sam Altman (Andrew Garfield). There’s been a lot of speculation on whether Amazon backed out of distributing Artificial because of its relationship with OpenAI or because the movie’s simply not good. (Not helping: the fact that it hasn’t shown at any of the fall film festivals and that Guadagnino’s last, After the Hunt, was a colossal dud.) Still, there’s no denying that as far as subject matter goes, it’s definitely hitting the zeitgeist.

Will also probably see, based on festival buzz: Club Kid; I Play Rocky; Being Heumann; Elsinore; Tender Loving Care

Maybes, depending on reviews: Tenzing; The Social Reckoning; Sense and Sensibility; Klara and the Sun; Godzilla Minus Zero; The Further Misadventures of Cliff Booth; Avengers: Doomsday

And the documentaries…

MUSK (Oct. 9)

Alex Gibney has never pulled a punch, and doesn’t here, judging from his subject’s reaction to what sounds like an eviscerating takedown of the exemplar of “move fast and break things” tech culture who used that ethos to break the government. The thing is, though, as someone who lived through that time (and is still living amid the wreckage), I’m not sure I want to relive it. I also foresee this movie will be preaching to the choir for most (if not all) of its audience.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HARLEM (Oct. 16)

In 1972, African American documentarian William Greaves convened every living member of the Harlem Renaissance he could track down, and filmed the resulting gathering at Duke Ellington's home. (Think of it as 20th century black culture’s coolest soiree.) He did not, however, finish the film; it was completed by his son, David Greaves. Early reviews agree it’s a fascinating snapshot of a momentous occasion that might otherwise have gotten lost to history.

YOU CAN SEE EVERYTHING (Oct. 16)

As with most Nathan Fielder projects, it sounds like the less you know about this going in, the better. All I know is it’s ostensibly a documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, of Theranos notoriety, that morphs into something much wilder and weirder. It premiered at Telluride and left audiences there absolutely gobsmacked; whether that reaction will continue, now that word is out, will be interesting to observe.

EVEREST: THE OTHER SIDE (Oct. 30)

From the directing team that brought us Free Solo and The Rescue (as well as the biopic Nyad) comes a docu-romance about a couple that aspires to climb and ski down(!) the North Face of Mt. Everest.

14TH (Nov. 27/ Dec. 4 on Netflix)

Ava DuVernay’s follow-up to 13th; if its anything like that seminal film, it will be an insightful, impactful, and sobering dissection of the compromised moral and institutional foundations of one of our supposed Constitutional pillars.

2026 Oscars predix

Woof, this is the toughest year I remember in a while for Oscar predictions! In at least half a dozen categories I have no idea who will win, and there are plenty more where I'm not entirely sure. Put it this way: this could be my worst prediction performance in years, so please do NOT rely on these if you are participating in an Oscars pool. And just to give you an idea of how all over the map the possibilities are, here are the collected and far from unanimous predictions of my fellow Film Experience team members.

BEST PICTURE

Will win: One Battle After Another

Should win: Sinners, which also could win (but probably won't).

Dark horse: None, this is going to be one of the two Warner Bros juggernauts. (Perhaps WB's last year of film glory, sigh.)

BEST DIRECTOR

Will win: Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another

Should win: Ryan Coogler, Sinners. There *could* be a Picture-Director split but I'm not betting on it.

Dark horse: Again, none.

BEST ACTOR

Will win: Argh, I have no idea. The smart (or dumb?) money has been moving towards Michael B. Jordan for Sinners and away from Timothée Chalamet in Marty Supreme in recent weeks. I am caving and doing the same, but make no mistake, it could still be Chalamet. Honestly, it could be any of them at this point except maybe Leonardo di Caprio.

Should win: Where is Joel Edgerton for his lovely work in Train Dreams? Alas, not nominated in an exceptionally competitive year for best actor. In his absence, my favorite of the five nominees was Wagner Moura's soulful turn in The Secret Agent. But all of them were worthy.

Dark horse: Moura, The Secret Agent though again, I could see a scenario for any of the five winning.

BEST ACTRESS

Will win: Jessie Buckley, Hamnet - the one prediction you can take to the bank.

Should win: Buckley fully deserves it, but curiously, my favorite of the nominees was Emma Stone in Bugonia, a movie I found kind of excruciating to watch. That said, I still think about it more often than other movies I enjoyed much more, which says something - and she's a big reason why, as I explained here.

Dark horse: Really none, but there will probably be a lot of votes for Rose Byrne in If I had Legs I'd Kick You.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Will win: Once again, I could see a path for any of them to win (except Jacob Elordi - no knock on him, he's very good in Frankenstein), though in terms of precursor awards and mathematical probabilities the frontrunner is Sean Penn for his heel turn in One Battle After Another. *However*, I'm going out on a bit of a limb and predicting Stellan Skarsgard for Sentimental Value, for a few reasons: (1) Skarsgard is wonderful in the film, (2) he's a well respected long-termer in the industry (trust me, you've seen him in something) and has never won (or even been nominated) for an Oscar, whereas Penn already has two, (3) the Oscars voting body has grown increasingly international in composition and tastes in recent years (a very good thing), and that should help him out.

Should win: I consider Skarsgard a co-lead in Sentimental Value, so I would give this to either Benicio del Toro or Delroy Lindo for their excellent and *truly* supporting turns in One Battle and Sinners, respectively. They both manage to be laugh-out-loud funny while building in a layer of moral heft and weary life experience beneath the humor.

Dark horse: Lindo

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Will win: Another toss-up / three-way race between Amy Madigan's witchy lady in Weapons, Teyana Taylor's revolutionary in One Battle, and Wunmi Mosaku's healer in Sinners, but for now I'll go with Madigan.

Should win: I haven't seen Weapons, but my favorite of the rest is Elle Fanning in Sentimental Value. She has zero chance of winning, however.

Dark horse: Is there really a dark horse when three of the five nominees are plausible winners?

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Will win: Sinners

Should win: Sinners

Dark horse: It Was Just an Accident, but this is very unlikely

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Will win: One Battle After Another

Should win: One Battle After Another, though I also really like what Hamnet did with its source material.

Dark horse: None; pretty sure One Battle has this sewn up.

OTHER CATEGORIES

*NEW CATEGORY* Casting: Sinners

International Feature: Another tough one. It'll be either Sentimental Value or The Secret Agent. Lean very slightly towards SV at the moment, but could shift back before tonight!

Animated Feature: KPop Demon Hunters will keep on slaying.

Documentary (caveat - haven't seen any of the nominees): The Perfect Neighbor

Cinematography: One Battle After Another (though it could be Sinners)

Editing: One Battle After Another

Production Design: Frankenstein

Costume Design: Frankenstein

Makeup and Hair: Frankenstein

Visual Effects: Avatar: Fire and Ash

Score: Sinners

Song: "Golden" from KPop Demon Hunters

Sound: F1, though don't count out Sinners.

Animated Short: The Girl Who Cried Pearls

Documentary Short: All the Empty Rooms

Live Action Short: A Friend of Dorothy

Top 10 Movies of 2025

2025 was a weirdly bipolar year for American cinema. On the one hand, it featured a lot of terrific movies; on the other, depressingly few of them ever found a substantial audience beyond critics and hardcore film buffs. Sure, there were exceptions that broke through to mainstream success, or at least recognition. But for every Sinners or One Battle After Another (or, for that matter Train Dreams or KPop Demon Hunters) there was a film of comparable quality that failed to register. This isn’t exactly shocking news; it’s been clear for a while now that the industry is struggling to find its footing in our current media and pop culture landscape, in which fewer and fewer people are going “to” the movies and fewer young people are watching movies at all. But more recent tectonic shifts, like Netflix’s bid to buy Warner Brothers and the Oscars broadcast moving to YouTube in 2029, feel like the writing on the wall for those of us who love movies and still love seeing them in theaters.

We’re seeing the effects of this cultural shift trickle down locally, too, if my personal experience is any indicator. The preeminent, most centrally located arthouse movie theater in my city closed last spring, and in the last few months it was only through constant vigilance that I could keep track of when and where the movies I was most interested in (the potential awards contenders, not the blockbusters) were showing. In many cases, they only played at one or two theaters, often in the suburbs or exurbs, and for a very short time period; even my friends who like movies were wholly unaware that they had come and gone. And as if to confirm their irrelevance, I saw many of these films in nearly empty theaters, a far cry from the packed houses of not so long ago – remember “Barbenheimer”? Increasingly I fear movies as communal events are doomed to become one-offs, and the new normal will be years where there are no movies that most people have seen. I hate this for us. But at least for now, we still have the movies themselves, if you know where to look, and they’re spectacular.

1. SINNERS

I did not have “Ryan Coogler directs Southern Gothic vampire musical” on my movie bingo card for 2025, nor could I have predicted this would end up being my #1 of the year. But despite its outward genre trappings, Sinners isn’t really a horror movie and it isn’t even really about vampires. Rather, vampirism is a metaphorical vehicle for much broader historical and cultural themes, and the result is an extraordinarily rich, enthralling viewing (and listening) experience unlike anything I’ve ever seen. If the movie has a fault, it’s arguably a bit thematically overstuffed, but if it’s “about” anything, it’s about the American blues and everything that musical legacy embodies.

2. A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE

An incredibly tense and deeply sobering dissection of how fucked we’d all be in a nuclear scenario that amazingly doesn’t rely at all on melodrama, special effects, or satire, despite its obvious debt to Fail-Safe and, of course, Dr. Strangelove. It just shows how the entire U.S. military and national security apparatus for dealing with a nuclear launch is set up to fail, even when it’s working exactly as designed. No one makes government procedure as gripping as Kathryn Bigelow, and screenwriter Noah Oppenheim heightens the tension with a tripartite structure that I for one thought worked very effectively, though I seem to be in a minority.

3. SENTIMENTAL VALUE

Families break apart and find each other again – fumblingly and warily – in Joachim Trier’s film about a famous Norwegian-Swedish director (Stellan Skarsgard) who asks his estranged daughter (Renate Reinsve), an acclaimed stage actress, to play the lead in his first film in decades; when she refuses, he turns to an American movie star (Elle Fanning) to take the role. What follows is a delicate unfolding of many interrelated themes – father-daughter relationships, certainly, but also sister and mother-son relationships; aging; the weight of history; and the porousness between art and life – all illuminated by the superb, deservingly Oscar-nominated Skarsgaard, Reinsve, Fanning, and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas as the younger sister/daughter who’s suffered just as much from the dysfunctional family dynamics but much more quietly. Also, special props to the family house, which feels almost as much a character as the people who live in it.

4. HAMNET

Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of the Maggie O’Farrell novel, which imagines the death of Shakespeare’s son Hamnet from the perspective of Shakespeare’s wife Agnes (aka Anne), is a gorgeous and heartrending film, rooted in emotionally searing performances by Jessie Buckley as Agnes and Paul Mescal as young Will Shakespeare, and a convincing case for art as sublimation of extreme grief. Warning: it may be difficult viewing at times, especially for parents; I’m not a parent and I still ugly-cried. But the final tears are beautifully cathartic.

5. BLACK BAG

Steven Soderbergh’s coolly elegant espionage whodunnit about a brilliant spy (Michael Fassbender) tasked with hunting a mole who may or may not be his own wife and fellow spy (Cate Blanchett), is pure Soderbergh and a pure delight. Imagine modern-day George Smiley (Fassbender’s character, probably not coincidentally, is also named George) if he were attractive, happily married, and well dressed (though not as well dressed as his wife – I craved Cate’s entire wardrobe for the film), but just as perceptive and methodical as Le Carré’s most iconic mole-hunter. It’s an enticing hook for an enjoyably twisty, stylish, and tightly paced brain-teaser that clocks in at a blissfully lean 90 minutes. While some of the plot’s convolutions frankly stretch credulity, the movie works thanks in large part to the crackling interplay not just between the two leads but between them and the supporting cast of suspects (Regé-Jean Page, Naomie Harris, Tom Burke, and Marisa Abela). This is a movie for grown-ups that also happens to be 100% fun, a rarity these days.

6. TRAIN DREAMS

Joel Edgerton delivers one of the best performances of the year, and of his career, in this quietly luminous adaptation of Denis Johnson’s novella about an ordinary man who spends most of his life as a laborer in the Pacific Northwest. Even within the relatively limited contours of his existence and naturally taciturn (but far from insensible) personality, we see him experience great joy and beauty as well as unimaginable sorrow and ugliness, against the backdrop of a lush and gorgeously shot landscape that reflects both the transience of individual human lives and the indelible impact they leave behind. Wisely, the film makes the protagonist significantly more sympathetic than he is in the book, and Edgerton draws with great subtlety and sensitivity on the character’s inner depths to create a life worth examining.

7. WAKE UP DEAD MAN

The third and easily the best installment of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out series is a classic “locked room” whodunnit with an appropriately twisty – if somewhat unnecessarily drawn out – mystery and a fun, typically stacked cast, with Josh O’Connor and Glenn Close as particular standouts. But what really elevates this one is its surprisingly moving and honest disquisition of religion: while Johnson doesn’t soft-pedal his disdain for those who manipulate it for selfish ends, he also presents a genuinely appealing vision of faith as a source of healing and forgiveness that stands up to the intellectual skepticism of even a Benoit Blanc. Whether you’re a true believer, confirmed secularist, or somewhere in between, you should walk away not just entertained but spiritually satisfied.

8. THE SECRET AGENT

Despite the title, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s latest film is not an espionage tale, though it is a thriller about a man (Wagner Moura) who must go into hiding to escape a politically powerful enemy. But boy, is it about so much more than that – I would almost say TOO much, as there are so many plots, subplots, and themes, they don’t all feel finished and they don’t entirely come together. But that may be by design, as fundamentally I think this is a movie about memory, its gaps, and the difficulty of filling in those gaps and keeping memories alive by preserving or, in some cases, (re)constructing them. In this respect, it’s a great companion piece to last year’s I’m Still Here, though I think this one is slightly stronger. It’s anchored by Moura’s fantastic performance and the rich, complex picture Mendonça Filho paints of 1970s Brazil, at once mired in corruption and violence and bursting with the vibrant spirit of carnival, survival, and human connection.

9. THE MASTERMIND

As with most Kelly Reichardt films, the key to enjoying this one is to adjust to her pacing (some would say glacial, I say deliberate) and to suspend conventional narrative expectations. Here, the title is something of a joke, as the central character (Josh O’Connor) is anything but; he’s an aimless dude in 1970s Massachusetts who decides to rob a local art museum but goes about it so ineptly that things start to unravel the minute the stolen works are in his hands. True to form for Reichardt, the result isn’t a typical heist film (jazzy score notwithstanding) or a broad comedy, but rather a thoughtful, nuanced character study – albeit one that’s quite funny at times – as well as a carefully crafted period piece that uses the Vietnam-era setting as an ongoing counterpoint to the protagonist’s self-absorption. If you’re able to deal with the latter, you'll find a rewarding exploration of, in Reichardt’s words, whether a person can “really remain separate from what’s going on around [them].”

10. Tie:

IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT

Jafar Panahi’s clandestinely directed film about a group of former Iranian political prisoners forced to decide what to do when one of their former torturers (or is he?) ends up under their control is at once a riveting thriller, a sharp indictment of authoritarianism, and a gentler, even laugh out loud human comedy that’s ultimately most interested in what makes victims different (or not) from their tormentors. Some of the moral turns feel a bit overdetermined, but overall this is a powerful and thought-provoking work. It also has what may be the best, most brilliantly ambiguous ending of the year.

and

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER

While I didn’t love this one quite as much as everyone else, I enjoyed it, and it’s definitely stuck with me in the months since I saw it. Very loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland, it’s a fun – and frequently very funny – ride with virtuosic action set pieces, excellent physical comedy from Leonardo DiCaprio (a fresh reminder of how much I prefer spiraling comic Leo to spiraling dramatic Leo), and compelling supporting turns by Benicio del Toro as the community “sensei” and newcomer Chase Infiniti as the daughter caught up in the conflict. On the minus side, though it clocks in at nearly three hours, it doesn’t fully develop key characters, borders on squicky in its handling of certain racial dynamics, and makes at best a muddled case for the revolutionaries even as it ultimately celebrates their resilience. But overall, it works as both an action comedy and a surprisingly moving story of fathers and daughters. If this is the film that finally gets Paul Thomas Anderson his Oscar(s), I’m fine with that.

Honorable mentions: Father Mother Sister Brother; Blue Moon; Nouvelle Vague; Eternity; KPop Demon Hunters

Fall 2025 movie preview

Movie lovers, rejoice: based on festival reporting, the fall 2025 season is gonna be FIRE. I’m getting fall 2023 vibes, when a relatively sleepy spring and summer did not prepare me for the wealth of fantastic films that flooded the last quarter of the year. Only time will tell whether reality meets expectations, but I gotta say it’s been a while since I’ve been so excited about so many movies, most of which thankfully are getting at least some kind of theatrical release within the next few months.

Most excited:

A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE (Oct. 10 theaters, Oct. 24 Netflix)

Kathryn Bigelow, one of the most kinetic directors working today, depicts the nightmare scenario of an imminent nuclear attack on a major U.S. city through the lens of a government procedural. The scariest part? How little it matters that the government in this scenario is actually functional and plays by the book in its response. Cast includes Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Jared Harris, and many others.

SENTIMENTAL VALUE (Nov. 7)

Joachim Trier wowed Cannes with this dramedy about a famous director (Stellan Skarsgård) who tries to win back his estranged daughter, an acclaimed actress (Renate Reinsve), by casting her in an autobiographical film. When she demurs, he casts an American starlet (Elle Fanning) instead. At heart, though, the movie’s really about the family’s history and resulting fucked-up dynamics.

HAMNET (Nov. 27)

I still need to read Maggie O’Farrell’s fictionalized imagining of the death of Shakespeare’s son that focuses on the perspective of the wife/mother (here named Agnes rather than Anne). But by all accounts Chloé Zhao’s gorgeously heartbreaking adaptation and Jessie Buckley’s even more heartbreaking performance as Agnes have absolutely destroyed festival audiences at Telluride and Toronto. Bonus: Sadboy hottie Paul Mescal co-stars as William Shakespeare himself. Bring a hankie or lots of tissues – you’ll need them.

FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER (Dec. 24)

Perennial indie darling-turned elder statesman Jim Jarmusch won the top prize at Venice with this quiet little character piece, a triptych of three different awkward family encounters starring Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Charlotte Rampling, Adam Driver, Tom Waits, and others. Jarmusch can be a little hit or miss, but when he hits there’s nothing better.

NO OTHER CHOICE (Dec. 25)

Park Chan-Wook’s pitch-black satire, which impressed at Venice despite coming away empty-handed, has been drawing comparisons to Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite for its searing critique of modern capitalism. But the premise, drawn from the 2005 Costa-Gavras film The Axe, is way more outré: a formerly successful company man (Lee Byung-Hun) who’s unexpectedly laid off and desperate to preserve his family’s upper-middle class status, decides his only viable path forward is to literally off all his competitors. The Koreans really do have a thing or two to say about the dehumanizing effects of capitalism, don’t they? I also find it bleakly hilarious this movie’s being released here on Christmas Day.

Additionally, the following do not yet have a scheduled theatrical release date and it’s not clear they’ll be released this fall, but I am so there if/when they are:

THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE

A musical about the founder of the Shaker movement? You bet, and based on early reviews it sounds at once completely fascinating and completely out there. Directed by Mona Fastvold, partner to Brady Corbet and screenwriter for his films, including last year’s The Brutalist, and starring Amanda Seyfried as the titular protagonist. It may not be for everyone, but this is actually the film I’m most looking forward to, assuming it gets a release.

THE CHRISTOPHERS

Steven Soderbergh directed this Ian McKellan showcase about a famous painter and first-class arsehole (McKellan) whose kids hire a talented but struggling artist (Michaela Coen) ostensibly to serve as their dad’s “assistant” but really to help “restore” (read: “forge”) some of his unfinished works. What ensues is a duel of words and wits that might seem more fitting for a stage than the big screen. However, never underestimate Soderbergh’s ability to make even a static room cinematic (see also his delightful Black Bag from earlier this year) or the power of McKellan’s dramatic chops.

Also of high interest:

THE HISTORY OF SOUND (in theaters now)

Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor as a pair of music scholars who fall in love while collecting Americana during the 1920s? Yes, please, even if early reviews have been a bit tepid. While the film’s generally being described as restrained and understated to a fault, that’s not necessarily a bad thing in an age where subtlety is, at best, undervalued.

ROOFMAN (Oct. 10)

This one is based on a real-life dude who robbed a string of fast-food establishments, went to prison for it, but escaped and hid out for a while in a Toys R Us where he ended up getting involved with one of the employees. The movie version, directed by Derek Cianfrance and starring Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst, looks warm and charming. I can’t help wondering, though, how closely it adheres to the actual story, which didn’t have a happy ending.

BLUE MOON (Oct. 17)

This fall we get not one but two movies from Richard Linklater, and while this one has gotten a bit overshadowed by the buzzier Nouvelle Vague (see below), it may end up being the more interesting of the two. Ethan Hawke stars as Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart in the twilight of his career, looking back on his former working partnership with composer Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott). Expect much reflecting and angsting that remains eminently relatable – it’s the Linklater brand.

THE MASTERMIND (Oct. 17)

Kelly Reichardt’s latest centers on a would-be small-town, small-time art thief (Josh O’Connor) whose attempt at a heist quickly reveals how out of his depth he is. The cast includes a who’s who of undersung pros – Hope Davis, Bill Camp, John Magaro, Gaby Hoffmann – plus Alana Haim as the thief’s wife. (Not to undercut Haim, who was pretty good in Licorice Pizza.) I feel like this would make a great double bill with Roofman.

HEDDA (Oct. 22 theaters, Oct. 29 Amazon Prime)

Nia DaCosta updates Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler for current times, with Tessa Thompson as the glamorous but toxically dissatisfied Hedda, Nina Hoss as her fragile ex-lover Lovborg, and Imogen Poots as Lovborg’s supportive new partner.

NUREMBERG (Nov. 7)

A film that screams “important and timely” because, y’know, it is. Unlike the classic Judgment at Nuremberg (which I still need to see), this one is less about the Nuremberg trials than about a psychiatrist’s pre-trial interactions with, and assessment of, one of the key architects of the Third Reich. Russell Crowe is reportedly brilliant as Hermann Göring; Rami Malek plays the shrink.

ETERNITY (Nov. 26)

Who’da thunk it, a rom com with a novel premise: in the afterlife, a woman (Elizabeth Olsen) must choose whether to spend eternity with her dashing first husband (Callum Turner) who died young in a war, or the second husband (Miles Teller) she built a life and family and grew old with.

THE SECRET AGENT (Nov. 26)

Set in 1970s Brazil, this political thriller about an everyman (Wagner Moura) who gets into the crosshairs of the military dictatorship was much praised at Cannes and netted the best actor prize for Moura. Could it be this year’s I’m Still Here?

Will also probably see:

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER (Sept. 26)

I didn’t love Paul Thomas Anderson’s last attempt at adapting a Pynchon novel (Inherent Vice), and I tend to find Leonardo DiCaprio overrated as an actor. That said, this loose/partial adaptation of Vineland is getting some early raves, and it sounds like Sean Penn steals the show anyway.

THE SMASHING MACHINE (Oct. 3)

While I’m wary of a Benny Safdie movie (I loathed Uncut Gems) and not really interested in MMA, Venice loved this one and Dwayne Johnson is already becoming an early frontrunner for the Best Actor Oscar.

AFTER THE HUNT (Oct. 10)

Luca Guadagnino’s take on Me Too fell rather flat at Venice, despite a highly anticipated star turn by Julia Roberts as a female professor caught between a student mentee (Ayo Edibiri) and the male professor (Andrew Garfield) the student accuses of sexual assault. And I don’t even like Julia Roberts! But she’s at her best playing abrasive (see, e.g., Closer), as she seems to be here, and I do like Garfield and Edibiri.

IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT (Oct. 15)

Winner of this year’s Palme d’Or, Iranian dissident Jafar Panahi’s political thriller explores the moral implications of terrorizing the terrorizer – particularly where the victim-turned-punisher harbors doubt that they’ve got the right guy.

FRANKENSTEIN (Oct. 17)

Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of the Mary Shelley classic got a mixed but generally positive reception at Venice, and Jacob Elordi’s drawing excellent notices as the Monster (and probably true hero of the story). Plus I loves me some Oscar Isaac, who plays Victor Frankenstein.

WAKE UP DEAD MAN (Nov. 26 theaters, Dec. 12 Netflix)

The third installment in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out trilogy takes on…organized religion? Or maybe just the culty kind. Anyway, it’s getting solid early reviews, especially for the ubiquitous Josh O’Connor as one of the prime suspects.

THE CHORAL (Dec. 25)

Ralph Fiennes plays a choir master who’s brought in to lead a small Yorkshire town’s choral society during WWI. Unlike No Other Choice, sounds like a very cozy Christmas-appropriate movie, cozily directed by Nicholas Hytner, about bringing folks together in hard times. The main draw here is obviously Fiennes, who’s coming off a run of strong performances that show he’s still one of our finest living actors.

THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB

A harrowing film based on the harrowing true story of a 5-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza last year, it’s devastated just about everyone who’s seen it and won the Grand Jury Prize at Venice. TBD whether it gets a U.S. distributor or suffers the same fate as last year’s No Other Land, which could not, though it still went on to win the Oscar for best documentary.

Other films of interest:

A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY (Sept. 19) - Kogonada (Columbus, After Yang) embraces full-on whimsy with this romantasy starring Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie as attractive strangers who cross time together and strike sparks along the way.

THE LOST BUS (Sept. 19) – Based on a true story about a bus driver (Matthew McConaughey) who must drive a teacher (America Ferrara) and her young students to safety from a raging California wildfire. Paul Greengrass directs, so you know it'll be a nailbiter.

STEVE (Sept. 19) – Cillian Murphy plays the headmaster of a school for troubled boys.

ANEMONE (Oct. 3) – All I know about this one is that it stars Daniel Day-Lewis (in his first role since Phantom Thread), was directed by his son, was co-written by father and son, and is at some level about father-son dynamics. None of that guarantees it’ll be good, but I think we can guarantee DDL will be riveting in it.

ORWELL: 2+2=5 (Oct. 3) – A documentary about George Orwell seems particularly and unfortunately timely these days. Directed by Raoul Peck, who brought us the outstanding I Am Not Your Negro.

GOOD FORTUNE (Oct. 17) – Keanu Reeves as a guardian angel might be just what I need. But jury’s still out on Aziz Ansari, who makes his directorial debut and stars as Keanu’s charge.

BUGONIA (Oct. 24) – I leave it to you to assess just how bonkers this one is going to be, based on this premise: “Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.” Keep in mind it’s Yorgos Lanthimos we’re talking about, and Emma Stone still all in as his muse. They have done terrific work together, and fucking weird work together, and sometimes work that is both.

NOUVELLE VAGUE (Oct. 31) – Richard Linklater’s recreation – sort of – of the filming of Godard’s Breathless sounds like a pleasant trifle rather than a meaningful disquisition on the French New Wave. That could still be reason enough to see it.

THE RUNNING MAN (Nov. 14) – Edgar Wright takes on a new adaptation of Stephen King’s dystopian novel about a game show in which a selected contestant is hunted by assassins and must stay alive for 30 days to win. (Between this and the already-out The Long Walk, it’s a banner year for movies based on proto-Hunger Games Stephen King properties.) While the 1987 version, which I haven’t seen, starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, in this one, it’s a leaner, meaner, more palpably desperate Glen Powell. Based on the trailer, he understands the assignment, as does Josh Brolin, who plays the show’s producer. Will the rest of the movie? Here’s hoping.

Not my cuppa, but maybe yours: KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN (Oct. 10); TRON: ARES (Oct. 10); IF I HAD LEGS, I’D KICK YOU (Oct. 10); SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE (Oct. 24); DIE, MY LOVE (Nov. 7); JAY KELLY (Nov. 14 theaters, Dec. 5 Netflix); WICKED: FOR GOOD (Nov. 21); AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH (Dec. 19)

2025 Oscars predix

In contrast to last year's Oppenheimer steamroller, this year's Oscars cap an ever-dynamic, wildly shifting race in which there are pretty much no certainties except for the fact that Kieran Culkin is winning Best Supporting Actor. It's definitely more fun this way, though hell on nerves if you've got any money riding on the outcome. Fortunately, I have nothing to lose but my pride; and I know I'll be in good company since I'm generally going with the (very tenuous) consensus picks. For a slightly broader range of opinions, I refer you to the collected predictions of my fellow Film Experience team members.

BEST PICTURE

Will win: Anora...probably?

Should win: The Brutalist, which could win.

Dark horse: Conclave

BEST DIRECTOR

Will win: Sean Baker, Anora

Should win: Brady Corbet, The Brutalist

Dark horse: Corbet - and I'd think him likelier if I didn't get the sense that he's not as well liked as Baker and has sometimes come across as a bit too self-important.

BEST ACTOR

Will win: Adrien Brody, The Brutalist.

Should win: I can't argue with a Brody win, though I would love to see Ralph Fiennes finally get an Oscar - and he was excellent in Conclave.

Dark horse: Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown, though I really hope this doesn't happen. He was good but not nearly as good as either Brody or Fiennes.

BEST ACTRESS

Will win: Demi Moore, The Substance

Should win: I haven't seen The Substance (can't do body horror), so I'm not really in a position to say.

Dark horse: Folks are talking up Mikey Madison's firecracker star turn in Anora, and she does have momentum from recent precursor awards - but I think the real dark horse here is Fernanda Torres' quieter but equally powerful performance as the unlikely fighter of government oppression in I'm Still Here.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Will win: Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

Should win: Razor's edge close between Ed Norton's Pete Seeger in A Complete Unknown and Guy Pearce's American tycoon in The Brutalist, but I give the very slight edge to Norton. He captures the soul of Seeger in a way that transcends mimicry, and that Chalamet never quite achieves with Bob Dylan. (In fairness, some of that is due to the way Dylan is written, or maybe even the way he actually is: unknowable.)

Dark horse: None

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Will win: Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Perez

Should win: Saldaña is eminently worthy, though my personal favorite of the five nominees is Monica Barbaro's knockout turn as Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown.

Dark horse: Some are saying Isabella Rossellini will get a career nod for Conclave, but I just don't think she was given enough to do to overcome Saldaña (who was arguably more of a co-lead).

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Will win: Anora

Should win: A Real Pain

Dark horse: A Real Pain

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Will win: Conclave

Should win: Nickel Boys

Dark horse: A Complete Unknown

OTHER CATEGORIES

International Feature: I'm Still Here

Animated Feature: The Wild Robot, though Flow could upset

Documentary: No Other Land, though Porcelain War also has a good shot

Cinematography: The Brutalist

Editing: Conclave

Production Design: Wicked

Costume Design: Wicked

Makeup & Hair: The Substance

Visual Effects: Dune: Part Two

Score: The Brutalist

Song: "El Mal" from Emilia Perez

Sound: Either A Complete Unknown or Dune: Part Two; I keep waffling on this one

Animated Short: Haven't seen any of the nominees this year, but based on others' descriptions I'm going out on a bit of a limb and predicting Magic Candies. It's not the consensus pick but it sounds like it's the best of the bunch, and sometimes the best does win this category!

Documentary Short: The Only Girl in the Orchestra

Live Action Short: A Lien

Top Ten Movies of 2024

2024 was an odd year in film for me, in that I liked the majority of the movies I saw but didn’t love any of them. It suffers by comparison to 2023, when I loved or really liked not only my top ten but at least ten more that would have easily made my list in any other year. Indeed, as the current movie awards season approached I found myself kvetching about its meager and uninspiring crop of contenders after 2023’s embarrassment of riches. But the truth is that 2024 was a solid enough year in which I ended up liking several movies I didn’t expect to like while generally also liking but not loving the movies I was most excited to see. The result is a weird flattening of the curve: once I identified my top five(ish), I found it really hard to rank the next five to ten in any meaningful order.

Per usual, there were many movies I missed in theaters and have not yet seen on streaming, including Sing Sing, The Substance, The Apprentice, Gladiator II, Queer, Babygirl, The Room Next Door, Hard Truths, Vermiglio (actually, I don’t think that one has opened yet in a theater near me), and Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World. Also, documentaries remain my blind spot; I’ve basically seen none, unless you count National Geographic’s (heartwarming!) Billy and Molly: An Otter Love Story.

With these caveats, here are my top ten movies of 2024, followed by a second band of “alternates”/honorable mentions, and a third band “worth seeing.”

1. CHALLENGERS

I’m as surprised as you that this ended up being my #1, but for my money it was the most purely enjoyable film I saw all year. I’ve been a bit cool on director Luca Guadagnino till now, but I really dug this sleek, sexy romp and its trio of sleek, sexy tennis players (Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist) who just can’t seem to quit each other, even as their careers take sharply different turns. Theirs is a love triangle, yes, but a complicated one, with the balance of power perpetually shifting like a good tennis match. It makes for a compelling watch, propelled by the dynamic cinematography and pulse-pounding Trent Reznor-Atticus Ross soundtrack and capped by an exhilarating ending that shouldn’t work yet somehow does.

2. THE BRUTALIST

A sweeping Film with a capital “F” that swings for the fences and doesn’t quite make it – more of a triple than a homer – but you have to admire its ambition. Up-and-coming director Brady Corbet spins an engrossing tale of a fictional Hungarian Jewish architect (Adrien Brody) who emigrates to the U.S. after WWII and attracts the interest of a rich industrialist (Guy Pearce). The latter commissions him to build a cultural center, a project that drags on for decades due in part to the architect’s unwillingness to compromise his vision, in part to circumstances beyond his control. Part Great Man narrative, part interrogation of the American Dream, and part meditation on the long shadows of the Holocaust, it's no wonder the movie runs 3.5 hours, including a 15-minute intermission; the wonder is that it held my attention the entire time, even if not everything about it works. Extra kudos go to the spectacular production design and cinematography (plus, ok, a dash of AI) that managed to create, on a very lean budget, compelling images of a visionary architectural work that never actually got built! The acting, too, is spectacular: Brody delivers an impressive performance, at once impassioned and nuanced, while Pearce almost steals the show as the tycoon whose superficial charm can’t hide the darkness beneath.

3. SEPTEMBER 5

A lean, tight, absorbing newsroom procedural that’s less about the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre than the making of the massacre into a live TV event. Shot from the perspective of the ABC Sports crew that ended up covering the attack, it touches lightly on classic questions about journalistic ethics but is fundamentally more interested in showing the actual nuts-and-bolts work behind the scenes that captured and to some degree shaped an especially dark day in 20th century history. It succeeds due in large part to a fine cast that includes John Magaro as the guy in charge of the control room that day, Ben Chaplin as his immediate boss, Peter Sarsgaard as Roone Arledge, then-President of ABC Sports (later of ABC News), and Leonie Benesch as the translator and only German in the room. (Wisely, the film doesn’t cast anyone as Jim McKay, relying instead on archival footage of his broadcast.) But just as much credit goes to the painstaking physical recreation of the control room and its operations, which gives the film its sheen of authenticity and tangibly analog feel.

4. A REAL PAIN

Full disclosure: going into this movie, I was not at all looking forward to spending a couple of hours (ok, 90 minutes: points for trimness!) with a Jesse Eisenberg nebbish and a Kieran Culkin loose cannon whose neck you want to wring after five minutes. Yet I found myself totally won over by this road trip/odd couple movie about a pair of Jewish American cousins who embark on a tour of Holocaust sites in Poland as half bonding session, half tribute to their recently deceased Polish grandmother. Yes, the two actors play to their respective types – Eisenberg the neurotic but conventional one, Culkin the charismatic but manic one who veers wildly between charming and exhausting. But they display a convincing rapport, while Eisenberg (who wrote and directed) manages to strike the tonal balance just right between the awkward comedy of Culkin’s shenanigans and the seriousness of grappling with a heritage of trauma, both historical and personal. The supporting cast – playing the rest of the tour group – is also quite good. And Poland never looked so lovely as it does through the lens of DP and Warsaw native Michal Dymek.

5. GHOSTLIGHT

This indie gem – about a construction worker (Keith Kupferer) who works through a devastating personal loss by participating in a community theater production of Romeo and Juliet – largely flew under the radar last year, but deserves broader recognition. Let’s just say I’m glad I had the foresight to bring a packet of Kleenex to my show because I used almost all of it before the movie was over. Not because it’s sad – though the shadow of tragedy hangs over it, both on and off stage – but because it’s an incredibly moving slow-burn catharsis for an emotionally closed off guy who finds a channel for his grief and anger. The relevance of the play to his own life is a bit too on the nose, but the stellar performances by Kupferer and the rest of the cast make it ring 100% true.

6. ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT

This was a film that grew on me over time. Set in current-day Mumbai, it quietly illuminates the lives of three women of different generations and backgrounds who work at a hospital. Each is dealing with her own source of heartache or emotional stress, which director Payal Kapaydia depicts with an interesting mix of intimacy and detachment. In the final act, the trio make a trip to a village by the sea, where they all manage to find catharsis and communion. Kapadia paints an exceptionally delicate and lyrical portrait not just of the challenges faced by women in modern India but of the incredibly disparate, multicultural, multilingual, more than slightly lonely vastness that is modern Mumbai.

7. NICKEL BOYS

Confession: I haven’t been able to bring myself to read the Colson Whitehead novel about two black boys – one idealistic, one cynical – who become friends at a “reform school” (read: institute for state-sanctioned abuse) in 1960s Florida. So it’s probably good for me that director RaMell Ross takes a highly aestheticized approach to such grim, even gruesome subject matter. He chooses to film in first person perspective, switching back and forth between the two boys and one of them as an adult, 20 years later. He also chooses to convey much of their horrific treatment via suggestion rather than direct depiction. Both of these choices work surprisingly well, even if the film feels almost too lyrical and impressionistic as a result – like a cross between Malick and Moonlight. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, and avoids the trap of misery/trauma porn in favor of lifting up the connection between the boys.

8. THELMA

June Squibb (still going strong at 90+) finally gets her spotlight as the eponymous heroine of this delightful comedy, whose response to getting scammed is to hunt down her scammer – with the help of a fellow elder (Richard Roundtree) and notwithstanding the best efforts of her worried family to deter her. Josh Margolin’s debut feature is a very funny yet empathetic look at the challenges of growing old, with Thelma having to learn her limitations even as she rises above them. The movie isn’t perfect – it depends on some creaky plot contrivances, chiefly involving a scooter (partly for the sight gag effect, partly to introduce Roundtree’s character) and a gun, and it drags a little in the middle section – but it’s so endearing its flaws ultimately don’t matter. Squibb is fantastic as Thelma, while Roundtree deserves equal props for the grace, dignity, and warmth he brings as her straight man. This was his last film, and a hell of a high note to end his career.

9. THE BIKERIDERS

Another surprise inclusion here; what can I say? Jeff Nichols’ loose chronicle of the rise and fall of a motorcycle club in 1960s and early ’70s Chicago has really stuck with me. It’s more about vibes and images than plot, as one might expect from a film literally based on a photo book, but they’re damn good-looking vibes and images, anchored in damn good-looking – and more importantly, just damn good – actors. Once again, the Brits show they can do heartland America better than most Americans: Tom Hardy and Jodie Comer are great as the leader of the group and the wife of his protégé, respectively. Meanwhile, Austin Butler, as said protégé, looks way too pretty and well coiffed even when he's getting beat up, but exudes enough charisma that we understand just why neither of them can let go of him. The movie is exceptionally good at capturing mood and is often surprisingly funny, even as its portrait of biker culture grows inevitably darker and uglier.

10. Tie:

FLOW

There’s something at once mystical and familiar about this Latvian animated film centered on a cat whose world is overtaken by a biblical-scale flood and who ends up seeking refuge on a drifting sailboat, along with a very random assortment of other animals that include a dog, a capybara, a lemur, and a huge white crane-like bird. There’s no dialogue – the animals all sound and behave remarkably like their real-life counterparts (except for the fact that no one tries to prey on each other) – and no real plot, though plenty of moments of tension, suspense, humor, and even transcendence. You could read all kinds of allegorical meanings into their incredible journey, or you could just treat it as a beautiful dream. I’m inclined to the latter view though I can appreciate the former.

and

CONCLAVE

I resisted including this one in my top ten because it’s basically a potboiler – based on the novel by Robert Harris about the intrigue-laden election of a fictional pope – dressed up as something more profound than it is. Here’s the thing: it’s a really entertaining potboiler, directed with flair by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), that also offers a fascinating character study of a seemingly low-profile, dedicated servant of the church (a terrific Ralph Fiennes, as the cardinal presiding over the process) whose intentions and motivations are more complex and conflicted than they initially appear. It’s also exquisitely crafted, from the strong cast – including Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow, among others, as competing cardinals who range across the ideological spectrum – to the striking cinematography and meticulous production design. And whatever you think of its jaw-dropping dénouement, its final message of empathy, balance, and humility carries a particularly poignant resonance at a time when these qualities seem to be not only disappearing from our public discourse but openly derided.

Honorable mentions:

Janet Planet

The semiautobiographical debut feature of playwright Annie Baker – tracing one summer in the life of a pre-adolescent girl and her hippie-ish single mom (Julianne Nicholson) in early 1990s western Massachusetts – is not for those with a short attention span or intolerance for ellipses. But if you’re patient you’ll be rewarded with a beautifully studied portrait of a particular moment and place in time and a close mother-daughter relationship observed through the loving but critical eyes of the daughter.

Maria

The final installment of Pablo Larraín’s trilogy about Very Famous Women Going Through Turmoil – in this case Maria Callas, played by Angelina Jolie – looks like a cross between museum exhibit and high-end perfume commercial (not a bad thing, actually). But it achieves surprising emotional depth by shifting between flashbacks to the soprano’s prime and her final, futile efforts to recover her lost voice. Jolie brings a startling delicacy to the pathos of those last days without losing the inherent magnetism of a larger-than-life superstar.

Dune: Part Two

Visually and aurally, it’s a knockout; and it’s undoubtedly an intelligent and skillful adaptation of notoriously difficult-to-adapt material. However, its overarching cold, ceremonial tone – making everything feel at once heavily manipulated and utterly predetermined – also prevented any real emotional investment on my part, in contrast to the more human-scaled urgency of Part One. More thoughts here.

Also worth seeing:

Anora; Emilia Perez; I’m Still Here; The Seed of the Sacred Fig; A Complete Unknown; Saturday Night; The Order; The Wild Robot; A Different Man; Hit Man; Fly Me to the Moon; Wicked

2024 Oscars predix

For a fantastic year in movies that yielded one of the strongest Oscar Best Picture nominee lineups in recent memory, the actual Oscars race is turning out to be a bit of a snoozefest. Oppenheimer has steamrolled its competitors all season and is almost certainly taking home the most awards (including picture and director) tonight. All of the acting awards are pretty much locked up, and while the screenplay awards have a little more room to surprise, they're trending towards heavy favorites. Still, I can't complain too much given the high quality of most of the nominees and likely winners. I just hope the ceremony offers some unexpected moments (in a good way), since the awards themselves aren't likely to provide any.

BEST PICTURE

Will win: Oppenheimer

Should win: My personal favorites were The Holdovers and American Fiction, but I think Oppenheimer would be a worthy winner.

Dark horse: There just isn't one this year.

BEST DIRECTOR

Will win: Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer

Should win: Nolan - this is his best film in a long time.

Dark horse: Once again, there isn't one. Nolan or bust.

BEST ACTOR

Will win: Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer, which surprises me a bit since it's a very good but very reserved performance. Yet he's been dominating all the precursor awards.

Should win: Look, I'm a longtime Murphy fan, but I would give this to Paul Giamatti for career-best work in The Holdovers. Even better would be a tie between Giamatti and Jeffrey Wright, who also delivered career-best work in American Fiction. And honestly, I'm a little sad Bradley Cooper never really got any traction for Maestro.

Dark horse: Again, none, though Giamatti still has a tiny sliver of a chance of an upset.

BEST ACTRESS

Will win: Lily Gladstone, Killers of the Flower Moon

Should win: Where the fuck is Margot Robbie for Barbie?

Dark horse: Emma Stone could still win for her tour de force performance as woman-child Bella Baxter in Poor Things, but my gut says the Oscar's going to Gladstone.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Will win: Robert Downey, Jr., Oppenheimer

Should win: Ryan Gosling, Barbie - though I am sad Willem Dafoe did not get nominated for his lovely turn in Poor Things.

Dark horse: None

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Will win: Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The Holdovers

Should win: Randolph, although I haven't seen The Color Purple (Danielle Brooks was nominated) or Nyad (Jodie Foster).

Dark horse: None

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Will win: Anatomy of a Fall

Should win: Anatomy of a Fall

Dark horse: Past Lives

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Will win: American Fiction (I'm switching last minute from Oppenheimer since most of the pundits seem to be saying AF, which would be just dandy with me!)

Should win: American Fiction

Dark horse: Poor Things

Other Categories

International Feature: The Zone of Interest

Animated Feature: The Boy and the Heron, though Across the Spider-verse could overtake it

Documentary: 20 Days in Mariupol

Cinematography: Oppenheimer

Editing: Oppenheimer

Production Design: Poor Things, though Barbie could sneak in here

Costume Design: same

Makeup & Hair: Maestro

Visual Effects: Godzilla Minus One

Score: Oppenheimer

Song: Billie Eilish, "What Was I Made For?" - Barbie

Sound: Oppenheimer

Animated Short: War is Over!

Documentary Short: No idea, but others seem to be predicting The Last Repair Shop so I'll go with that.

Live Action Short: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar - check it out on Netflix, it's delightful!