Movie Worship: December 2025

Dec 30, 2025

Sisu: Road To Revenge (2025)

I love that they made a sequel to the Finnish Rambo. Like the first, the plot is complicated. Nazis fuck around and find out. Extremely graphic. You’ll get your money’s worth in creative kills. I can’t imagine this is on Putin’s must-see list.

Rating: C+

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025)

Heavy on the religiosity and convoluted mystery that ultimately didn’t feel all that rewarding. It was fine.

Rating: C

The Truman Show (1998)

What’s interesting, after all this time, there still hasn’t been a real show like The Truman Show, which means the plot is still ahead of its time. The closest thing I can think of is something like The Joe Shmo Show, where an entire fake reality show was constructed for one unsuspecting contestant who thought it was all real.

The movie is clever and entertaining. It was fun spotting various background actors that went on to bigger roles. I still don’t love the third act and how it ends. Would have enjoyed seeing Truman enter the real world, if even for the first few minutes. Maybe show him a few years in the future living in a small shack with his true love in Fiji.

Rating: B-

The Running Man (2025)

The reboot was a very big departure from the original, which isn’t a bad thing. The updated gameshow and premise were quite promising. A lot of originality in the first half of the film. Typically, it wasn’t sustainable. The script took a dive in the second half, culminating in a cringeworthy ending. Wasted potential.

Rating: C-

Shakespeare In Love (1998)

I struggled a little with them buying for a second that Gwenyth Paltrow, looking lovelier than ever, was a male actor. Some early scenes felt ham-fisted. However, I completely bought in by the third act. The interplay between what was happening with Shakespeare in front of and behind the curtain was enthralling.

I’m not convinced it deserved all the awards it received, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Rating: B-

Wildcat (2025)

Woof.

Rating: D-

Roofman (2025)

I find it depressing to watch people make one bad decision after another on screen. Seems like they tried to dress this character up as a good guy, but he hurt a lot of people.

Rating: C-

Dec 28, 2025

The Running Man (1987)

The Running Man was one of the first rated R movies I watched as a kid. I was about 14 years old and thought it was a great flick. Rewatching it many decades later, I can now see it’s pure camp. They focused on biceps and babes over performances and plot. I found myself groaning at how bad some scenes were. I’ll be curious to see what they do with the remake.

Rating: D

Frankenstein (2025)

Always a treat to see a Guillermo Del Toro vision come to life on screen. His specialty is taking the grotesque and making it beautiful. I can see why he was drawn to this story. I kept thinking about King Kong, and the similarities of the two narratives. It’s a tragic tale with brief bouts of happiness. Intriguing, but sad.

Rating: C+

Rushmore (1998)

A nice thing about Wes Anderson films is that they seem to take place in a time all of their own, so watching this decades later, it doesn’t feel dated. The subject is misplaced love and attention. Typical quirky Anderson characters engage against a backdrop of indie and classic tunes.

I very much enjoy the theatrical stage productions often contained in his films. Later he will direct entire films in this manner.

Rating: B-

Predator: Badlands (2025)

A fresh take on the Predator universe. It was fun seeing a script from the predator’s perspective, rather than their prey. It’s always about the characters first, rather than relying on just action and violence. I’d love to see a highbrow Predator series in the same vein as Alien: Earth.

Rating: C+

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025)

These theatrical additions to the series mean a lot to fans like me. All three have been a delight. I’ll miss these characters, and I imagine they will miss the many years they have worked together. This was a fine endcap to their stories.

Rating: B-

Americana (2023)

A new west tale of struggle and conflict in an unconventional indie film where not everyone makes it out alive.

Rating: C+

Lilith Fair: Building A Mystery (2025)

A trip down memory lane, having attended the 1st Lilith Fair in 1997. I had a great time, but I was completely unaware of the origins of the festival and hurdles they had to overcome to make it happen. I loved seeing the old footage and iterations of the tours that I didn’t get to attend.

Rating: C

Out Of Sight (1998)

All these years later, this Sodenbergh film still holds up. The chemistry between Clooney and Lopez sparkles. That trunk scene is iconic. Nobody plays the dopey sidekick quite like Steve Zahn. The adapted screenplay is smart and often funny.

Rating: B

Dec 27, 2025

Mad Heidi (2022)

I discovered Swissploitation is a thing, although I suspect the genre only has this single film in its ranks. On point from an ultraviolence perspective, but lacking in the humor and storytelling departments. Production was better than I expected.

Rating: C-

The World Before Your Feet (2018)

A Jonathan Workman documentary about Matt Green and his passion project of walking every street, park, path, beach, and public area within New York City. All five boroughs. By the end of the film he had covered over 8,000 miles and still had more to go.

I wanted to see this because I too share a love of walking and exploring new places. When I travel, I often walk miles of streets to get a feel for a place. I also relate to the OCD-like compulsion Matt has of completionism.

The documentary itself is like a long walking tour of a fascinating city, highlighting its people, culture, and history. It may inspire you to explore more of your own city.

Rating: C+

One Battle After Another (2025)

This movie felt like it took place in an alternate American timeline. Yes, a lot of stuff rang true, but the characters, groups, and actions didn’t feel authentic. I’m a big PTA fan from back in the day, so I had higher expectations. I liked the premise, but the script needed work.

Rating: C+

The Punk Singer (2013)

A deep dive into Kathleen Hanna, founder of the riot grrrl movement, lead singer of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. I’m a big fan of this genre, her music, and believe in their message. I wish it hadn’t taken me this long to discover the documentary.

Rating: C+

Lost In The Jungle (2025)

A plane goes down in the Columbian jungle leaving 4 young children alive to fend for themselves. I was hoping for a more inspiring story, but the military and indigenous searchers weren’t much help. Most nights were spent getting blasted on hallucinogenic plants.

Eventually they stumbled across the starving kids after they survived 40 days on their own. Moral of the story–if your plane goes down in the wilderness, STAY WITH THE PLANE.

Rating: C

Gamer (2009)

From the guys that brought you Crank, it's another violent, sexed up, fast paced ride, that doesn't pull over to fill in plot holes. It's a video game version of Surrogates with Bruce Willis. I'll give them credit for having some creative ideas surrounding all the chaos.

Rating: C

Lurker (2025)

I found this take on fame and belonging to be unnerving and cringe. I realize that’s the point of the film, but that doesn’t make it any more likable. Shines a light on our innate need to be liked and adored by as many people as possible, which with today’s technology, is vastly more than what was obtainable before the internet.

Rating: D+

Secret Mall Apartment (2024)

Unconventional artists turn a hidden space in a shopping mall into a functional apartment for themselves over a period of years. It’s a cool story told through interviews, reenactments, and video recordings they took of the process.

Rating: C+

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Still one of the most epic opening battle sequences after all these years. The cinematography is something else. They do an excellent job of showing the brutality and senselessness of warfare. What a waste of human life. Some scenes felt heavy handed. Holds up as one the great war films though.

Rating: B

Chocolate (2008)

The folks behind action sensation Tony Jaa have put together another kickass film, this time starring spitfire newcomer JeeJa Yanin, a young girl who fights like Bruce Lee's little sister.

After a slow start, bone-breaking fight scenes take over. This film could never have been made in the US. Child protection services would have stepped in well before the 7th or 8th kick to little JeeJa's face. Apparently she trained daily in a plethora of martial arts skills for 2 years before shooting started, then continued to train during production. It shows.

In Chocolate, director Prachya Pinkaew plays it straight. Plus, JeeJa can act. Her character in this film is autistic, and it's a believable performance. All of that can’t make up for an overall weird script and poor performances around her. Worth watching for the incredible choreographed fight scenes though.

Rating: C+

Dec 24, 2025

9 (2009)

The animation is beautiful. It's a shame the story is so ho-hum, with an even lamer ending. I expected something much better.

Rating: C-

(500) Days Of Summer (2009)

Cute, witty, with an utterly adorable Zoey Daschanel. Didn't quite live up to all the praise that's been lavished upon it, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Rating: C+

Kill Shot (2008)

Did the Weinstein's really think this was worth producing. It's not terrible, but it's definitely bland. Feels like you're watching a B action movie from the 1990's starring Steven Seagal. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was the stand out in this film.

Rating: C-

Henry Poole Is Here (2008)

Well crafted with some genuinely sincere moments. The tone was sad, but I didn't feel that way as a viewer. It's an introspective indie on life, death, and religion, without coming off as preachy.

Rating: C+

Fighting (2009)

We've seen this movie before. Many times. Still we watch for the butt-kicking and to forget about our crappy day. Mission accomplished.

Rating: C

Transiberian (2008)

Flawed. I love Brad Anderson, but this story was not well executed. Motives and actions didn't make sense. Suspense felt forced. Script was often confusing. You'll have a hard time remembering any key plot points a week later.

Rating: D-

Visioneers (2008)

You'll probably feel as bored and suicidal as the characters themselves by the time you're halfway through this film. Reminds me of Brazil, that so-called classic that everyone loves but I hated. Perhaps I'm missing the point again, or maybe it's just a poorly constructed film.

Rating: F+

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

Slow, but charming British film that picks up speed whenever Poppy goes for one of her driving lessons. What a fantastic contrast of personalities.

Rating: C+

Traitor (2008)

A tight, well-executed terrorist drama. As good as any single episode of Sleeper Cell on Showtime.

Rating: C+

Dec 14, 2025

What Doesn’t Kill You (2008)

A really long crime drama with solid performances by Ruffalo and Hawke. It's based on a true story, so they could only pump up the action so much. It's a relationship movie at its core.

Rating: C