YNOT at the Movies

It's time for the annual top-ten list. Below are the ten best films from the 235 feature-length narrative and documentary titles I watched in 2025, regardless of when or whether they were released in the United States.

10. Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight (South Africa 2024 | 98 min. | My review)

    Through the eyes of a child raised in a broken system, the film shows how the personal and political become inseparable, and how understanding begins when inherited narratives start to crack. "Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight" is not a coming-of-age tale in the traditional sense, it's a confrontation with legacy. Through the narrow lens of a child, it paints a vast canvas of colonialism, displacement, and identity.

    

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9. Caught Stealing (USA 2025 | 107 min. | My review)

   With its blend of relentless action, bursts of grim humor, and a hero you can't help but root for, "Caught Stealing" is a masterfully crafted thriller that jolts, surprises, and entertains at every turn. Austin Butler electrifies as a washed-up ballplayer dragged into the underworld. This is a sizzling thriller that keeps raising the stakes until the final bite.

   

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8. Souleymane's Story (L'histoire de Souleymane | France 2025 | in French | 93 min.)

   "Souleymane's Story" moves with a constant pressure, tracing a precarious slice of immigrant life with sharp focus and empathy. Abou Sangare delivers a deeply affecting performance, carrying the film with a natural, almost documentary-like presence that makes Souleymane's exhaustion, hope, and resolve feel lived-in rather than performed. The film's power lies not in melodrama but in accumulation, small daily pressures stacking higher and higher, capturing the grind of survival faced by undocumented immigrants navigating bureaucratic indifference and economic precarity. Timely without being didactic, it's a humane portrait of endurance in a system designed to look away.

   

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7. Familiar Touch (USA 2024 | 90 min.)

   Kathleen Chalfant delivers a breathtaking performance in "Familiar Touch," a film that transforms the quiet rhythms of assisted living into a deeply human portrait of memory loss and the terrible erosion of self that comes with dementia. Sarah Friedland's direction is subtle yet piercing, allowing Chalfant to embody Ruth with both fragility and dignity, capturing the small gestures and disorientations that make the disease so devastating. What could have been a clinical depiction becomes instead a profoundly empathetic exploration of identity, desire, and care, reminding us that even amid decline there is resilience, humor, and connection. The film's power lies in its ability to make Ruth's journey universal, showing how illness reshapes not only the patient but the bonds of family and caregivers, and in doing so, the film achieves a rare balance of artistry and emotional truth.

   

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6. Weapons (USA 2025 | 128 min. | My review)

   Following his breakout hit "Barbarian" (2022), writer-director Zach Cregger returns with "Weapons," a gripping and ingeniously crafted thriller that surpasses its predecessor in both ambition and execution. Suspenseful, eerie, unexpectedly hilarious, and wildly entertaining, "Weapons" is a bold and exhilarating ride from beginning to end.

   

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5. The President's Cake (مملكة القصب | Iraq/Qatar/USA 2025 | in Arabic | 105 min.)

   "The President's Cake" is an arresting Iraqi tale that transforms a child's simple errand into a tense allegory of survival. Following nine-year-old Lamia, accompanied by her scene-stealing rooster, as she scrambles to gather scarce ingredients for Saddam Hussein's 50th birthday cake, the film delicately balances innocence and danger, revealing how life under sanctions turns the ordinary into a daily trial. Both mesmerizing and heartbreaking, the story allows the cake to stand as a fragile token for hope under tyranny, while Lamia's journey, part adventure and part ordeal, underscores the resilience of ordinary people living under extraordinary pressure.

   

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4. Sirât (Spain/France 2025 | in Spanish/French/English/Arabic | 115 min.)

   Set against an unforgiving landscape and shaped by constant forward motion, Spain's Oscar submission "Sirât" thrives on its ability to surprise without losing control. The film repeatedly shifts direction in ways that feel purposeful rather than arbitrary, each turn tightening the narrative and raising the stakes. Its filmmaking is muscular and confident, especially in how it builds tension through rhythm, sound, and narrative escalation instead of exposition. What makes the film so gripping is its refusal to settle into a single mode, pushing onward with nerve and precision as it transforms unpredictability into a driving force rather than a distraction.

   

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3. Dreams (Drømmer | Norway 2024 | in Norwegian | 110 min. | My review)

   The final and most affecting film in Dag Johan Haugerud's Oslo trilogy, "Dreams" is a deeply felt portrait of first love, self-discovery, and the role of writing in making sense of overwhelming emotions. It won the top prize at this year's Berlin International Film Festival and stands as the most emotionally resonant and fully realized entry in the trilogy. It captures the moment when love first takes shape—raw, consuming, and unforgettable.

   

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2. One Battle after Another (USA 2025 | 161 min. | My review)

   What if today's political divides worsened into a future of repression, silenced dissent, and mounting violence? Acclaimed writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson takes that chilling premise and shapes it into his most electrifying work yet, "One Battle After Another" Both a fantastic thriller and a grand political fable rooted in timeless human struggles, the film feels piercingly of-the-moment while never losing sight of the intimate family story at its core. It is an electrifying, politically charged epic staring into our fractured future.

   

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1. Living the Land (生息之地 | China 2025 | in Chinese | 132 min.)

   Chinese director Huo Meng's engrossing "Living the Land" (生息之地 | China 2025 | in Chinese | 132 min.) captures a world on the cusp of change with extraordinary warmth and beauty. Set in rural China in 1991, it tells the story of a ten-year-old boy left behind as his family departs for Shenzhen in southern China, unfolding as both a portrait of tradition and a fond remembrance of a way of life now fading into history. The film's rich, painterly cinematography lingers on landscapes, seasons, and the rituals of everyday existence, creating a sensory experience that feels both deeply affecting and universally nostalgic.

   

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Until next year...

From dead pigs to giant snakes, "Anaconda" (USA 2025 | 99 min.) presents itself as a comedy that prefers blunt force over subtlety. The film knows exactly how ridiculous it is and leans into that knowledge instead of apologizing. This is an over-the-top, slapstick-driven comedy that treats plausibility as optional, and that choice is very much intentional. The film is often silly, consistently energetic, and frequently laugh-out-loud funny, especially when it gives Jack Black room to operate.

The premise is knowingly absurd. Four childhood friends, all wrestling with a midlife crisis, travel to the Amazon to remake their favorite horror movie from the 1990s. That movie happens to be "Anaconda" (1997), the famously bad creature feature. Reality, naturally, refuses to cooperate. A real giant anaconda appears, and what begins as a chaotic, low-rent filmmaking adventure turns into a life-or-death ordeal. The film is careful to clarify that this is not a reboot. It is an entirely original comedy that borrows the monster concept as a way to poke fun at the original and at the very idea of remaking it.

Much of the humor comes from self-awareness. The screenplay takes amusing shots at Sony itself, with moments of self-mockery that feel surprisingly sharp for a studio-backed comedy. Those jokes add humor that complements the broader physical gags.

The comic chemistry between Doug (Jack Black) and Griff (Paul Rudd) is deliberately lopsided. Jack Black is clearly the funnier presence here, relying on exaggerated physical comedy and shameless commitment. One of the film's biggest laughs comes when Doug's friends place a dead pig on his head in a desperate attempt to distract the snake, a gag that is as crude as it is effective. Paul Rudd, by contrast, plays Griff as a character whose humor is rooted in verbal wit and wordplay, a style that feels underutilized in a movie that overwhelmingly favors slapstick.

Some characters in the movie exist largely as decorative elements, most notably Ana Almeida (Daniela Melchior), who drifts through the story without much narrative or comic purpose. The film seems unconcerned with this imbalance, prioritizing momentum and gags over fully developed supporting roles.

This comedy is not believable, restrained, or particularly interested in coherence. It is loud, broad, and gleefully excessive. By openly mocking the original 1997 film and repurposing its already absurd monster mythology, it turns a once-ridiculous thriller into a self-aware comedy built on physical mayhem and industry satire. Audiences know exactly what they are signing up for, and the film delivers on that expectation with a straight face and a wink.

"Anaconda" opens in theaters on Thursday, December 25, 2025.

Behind its glossy gates and magazine-ready interiors, director Paul Feig's entertaining thriller "The Housemaid" (USA 2025 | 132 min.) reminds us that appearances are currency, and deception is the real luxury. He turns a sunlit mansion into a pressure cooker, where politeness curdles and order collapses into something gleefully unhinged.

Based on Freida McFadden's bestselling novel, the film begins as a sleek social thriller before sliding into horror comedy, keeping the audience hooked with the promise that nothing is quite what it seems. What starts as an escape fantasy steadily mutates into a story of buried rage, class tension, and karmic payback.

Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney) is desperate to outrun her past, and a live-in housemaid job with the wealthy Winchesters feels like salvation. From the moment she moves into the attic, the idea of escape hangs over her like a dare. Her employer, Nina Winchester (Amanda Seyfried), projects privileged perfection until her volatility turns daily routines into psychological traps. Nina's husband, Andrew Winchester (Brandon Sklenar), appears gentler and more trustworthy, further muddying Millie's sense of where the real danger lies. Even Enzo (Michele Morrone), the watchful gardener, adds to the sense that everyone in this house is performing a role.

Director Paul Feig and screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenshine insist that dark secrets lurk beneath immaculate surfaces. Gossip becomes a weapon, wealth a disguise, and karma an inevitability. Some plot turns stretch plausibility, but the film earns forgiveness by aligning the audience with Millie as an underdog. You share her fear and fury, and when the balance of power begins to shift, the pleasure is communal.

The satirical portrait of rich housewives is both comical and cutting, skewering curated perfection without softening the cruelty underneath. As the story accelerates, the pristine house becomes a labyrinth, restraint gives way to excess, and the film fully embraces its genre-blending instincts.

Stylish, nasty, and engineered for gasps and laughter, this movie is less interested in realism than emotional payoff, tapping into the satisfying fantasy of escaping a toxic world and watching polished facades finally collapse.

"The Housemaid" opens in theaters on Friday, December 19, 2025.

From its very first moments, "Marty Supreme" (Finland/USA 2025 | 150 min.) crackles with urgency, pulling you straight into the feverish orbit of its unforgettable hero. Directed by Josh Safdie, the film builds itself around a transformative performance from Timothée Chalamet, who sheds his familiar boyishness for a wiry, mustached hustler fueled by charm, instinct, and sheer velocity.

Set in 1952, the story follows Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet), a Lower East Side kid stuck working in his uncle's shoe shop. He finds his escape in the dusty backrooms of competitive ping pong. His dream of becoming the world's best is so outrageous that it barely registers as ambition to anyone around him. The sport itself is overlooked, small, and dismissed, yet the film frames Marty's obsession with the clarity of destiny: every setback only fuels him further.

As Marty hustles his way from underground New York tables to London, Paris, Tokyo, and even the Great Pyramids, the film becomes a whirlwind portrait of a man who believes speed, wit, and improvisation can solve anything. Timothée Chalamet's rapid rhythms, darting physicality, and convincing ping-pong mechanics make the performance fully charged. He becomes a character who is always thinking, always moving, and always ready to work an angle.

As Marty's childhood friend, Rachel Mizler (Odessa A'zion) brings piercing sincerity that breaks through Marty's bravado. His partner in crime Wally (Tyler the Creator) adds offbeat energy in the table-tennis underworld. His seducing target Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow), the wealthy businessman's wife also an actress in hiatus, provides opportunities and twists in Marty's conquest toward his ambition.

The director's frequent collaborator, cinematographer Darius Khondji draws thick grain, shadow, and sweat from every environment. The propulsive score by Daniel Lopatin (Daniel Lopatin) blends percussive ricochets with swelling orchestral motifs that echo Marty's pulse. Production designer Jack Fisk and costume designer Miyako Bellizzi shape a world that feels fully in the '50s.

At 150 minutes, the movie is captivating throughout, charging ahead with volatility, humor, unexpected tenderness, and relentless momentum. Marty Mauser (Timothée Chalamet) emerges as a fast-talking, street-smart dreamer whose ambition both propels and consumes him. The film becomes a thrilling character study of a young man who believes deeply in a version of himself that the world refuses to see, and who refuses to let that stop him.

"Marty Supreme" opens in theaters on Friday, December 25, 2025.

Bursting with color, critters, and comedic chaos, "Zootopia 2" (USA 2025 | 108 min.) storms back onto the screen in a sequel that is cute, loud, dazzling, and a tidbit preachy. Visually, the film remains an exuberant showcase filled with inventive new districts, lovingly animated animals, and a steady stream of modern-life parodies. It is designed to delight first, even as it leans into another message about inclusion.

The plot begins right after the first film. Bunny Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and fox Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) are still working through the awkward early stages of their partnership when they are drawn into a mystery involving the Lynxleys, the most prestigious and politically influential family in Zootopia.

A century earlier, the Lynxleys created a legal charter known as the Lynxley Patent, a foundational document that established their authority and shaped key parts of the city's development. Over time, a falsified version of the patent was used to justify the complete exclusion of snakes from Zootopia, turning the species into feared outsiders.

This history explains why residents panic when Gary De'Snake (voiced by Ke Huy Quan), the first snake seen in the city in 100 years, arrives with a mission. Gary reveals that the publicly accepted patent is a forgery and that the original, truth-bearing Lynxley Patent was hidden long ago.

Judy, Nick, and Gary follow a trail of clues that sends them into Tundratown's icy wilderness, where the real patent was secretly buried to conceal the truth. Determined to restore his clan's rightful place in the metropolis, Gary teams up with the two cops as they race to uncover the original document and expose the lies that allowed the Lynxleys to maintain generations of power.

As expected from Disney Animation, the film dazzles visually. The sheer quantity of animals on screen is astonishing and sometimes overwhelming. Tongue-in-cheek references like Ewetube, ZNN, and an onslaught of pun-heavy background signage reliably bring out chuckles. The cute beaver Nibbles Maplestick (voiced by Fortune Feimster) provides some of the biggest laughs with her conspiracy-podcaster energy. The fabulous stallion Mayor Winddancer (voiced by Patrick Warburton) with his flowing mane and theatrical swagger resembles a drag queen who accidentally wandered into the mayor's office and decided to stay.

Despite the spectacle, the story occasionally strains credibility. The entire plot hinges on the notion that the immensely powerful Lynxley family could be undone or redeemed by a single buried document. Given their dominance in shaping Zootopia's history, the logic feels bent to support the adventure rather than arising naturally from the world's politics.

Still, the film carries surprising thematic weight. The snake clan's exile and their longing to return home evokes modern displacement crises, most prominently the Palestinian struggle for return. Children will likely miss the parallel, but adults will recognize it immediately.

The finale wraps things up with an earnest, slightly cheesy classroom-style reminder about embracing those who are different. It is sincere but not particularly nuanced.

Even with its formulaic narrative beats, this enjoyable sequel is visually rich, frequently funny, and occasionally resonant. It remains an entertaining return to a world that still overflows with charm.

"Zootopia 2" opens in theaters on Wednesday, November 26, 2025.

A film about paid companionship shouldn't feel this warm, but writer-director HIKARI's Tokyo-set drama "Rental Family" (Japan/USA 2025 | in Japanese/English | 103 min.) turns artificial arrangements into something quietly moving and unexpectedly genuine. The film is both affecting and sincere, carried by Brendan Fraser's nuanced performance and a compassionate interest in people trying to bridge the empty spaces in their lives. Even when the script leans on contrived situations and stretches plausibility, the film's big heart and its belief in human connection give it a steady emotional pull.

Set in modern-day Tokyo, the story follows Phillip Vandarpleog (Brendan Fraser), an American actor adrift in a foreign city. After years of dwindling opportunities, he finds unexpected work at a "rental family" agency, where actors are hired to play stand-in roles for clients who need a parent, a partner, a friend, or simply someone to stand beside them. As Phillip takes on a series of jobs, the line between performance and genuine feeling begins to shift, and he rediscovers a sense of purpose he thought he had lost.

Brendan Fraser brings a quietly compassionate presence to Phillip even when certain assignments strain belief. One scenario has him playing the groom at a wedding, a setup so implausible it sparks an immediate question: have the bride's parents truly never met the man their daughter is about to marry? Another job requires him to pose as the father of Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman) to help her pass a competitive school interview. And when he is hired to act as a journalist interviewing legendary Japanese actor Kikuo Hasegawa (Akira Emoto), the logic wobbles again. Why would such a revered figure need an American journalist to validate his legacy?

Yet the film repeatedly finds emotional grace within these contrived setups. Phillip's bond with Mia grows into one of the film's most touching threads, buoyed by Shannon Mahina Gorman's natural and openhearted performance. And his companionship with Kikuo Hasegawa becomes deeply affecting as Phillip chooses to support the aging actor's final wishes, revealing the depth of kindness beneath his hesitant exterior.

The screenplay may stumble, but director HIKARI (HIKARI) infuses the film with sincerity. The intention behind her work is unmistakable, built on empathy, on the desire to help others, and on the fragile yet meaningful ways people reach for connection. That emotional foundation gives the film its warmth, even when the plotting falters.

With strong performances, an admirable emotional richness, and a genuine belief that human contact, however imperfect, can still heal, this film emerges as a heartfelt drama where the feelings are real even when the relationships begin as an act.

"Rental Family" opens in theaters on Friday, November 21, 2025.

Fresh off headlines about a daring real-life heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris, "Now You See Me: Now You Don't" (USA 2025 | 112 min.) arrives with impeccable timing and an equally audacious caper of its own. The film centers on the theft of a priceless heart-shaped diamond taken straight from the hand of a wealthy and calculating crime boss whose family empire extends across global finance, technology, and the underworld.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer, the movie pulls off its own kind of cinematic magic, delivering a wildly entertaining spectacle that is as smart as it is fun. Magic and illusion remain endlessly fascinating, but when they are wrapped inside a clever heist story filled with precision, deception, and showmanship, the result is irresistible.

The story kicks off when the Four Horsemen, J. Daniel "Danny" Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Jack Wilder (Dave Franco), and Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher), are summoned out of hiding by their mysterious benefactors for one last, impossible job: to steal the legendary heart-shaped diamond from Veronika Vanderberg (Rosamund Pike), who plans to unveil it during an extravagant charity gala in Paris. With the addition of three new illusionists, the Horsemen must infiltrate Vanderberg's world of power and danger, performing their most elaborate illusions yet while staying one step ahead of both law enforcement and Vanderberg's ruthless security forces. The heist unfolds across multiple continents, combining breathtaking stage shows with precision-engineered trickery as the team uncovers deeper motives behind their mission.

Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg) remains the brain of the operation; McKinney (Woody Harrelson) supplies comic flair and misdirection; Wilder (Dave Franco) brings slick charm and dexterity; and Reeves (Isla Fisher) provides warmth and precision. Among the new recruits, June (Ariana Greenblatt) radiates energy, Bosco (Dominic Sessa) lends youthful edge, and Charlie ((Justice Smith) contributes technical savvy. Rosamund Pike makes a commanding impression as the villainous Veronika Vanderberg, playing the icy, calculating leader of the Vanderberg crime family with steely precision. Morgan Freeman returns as Thaddeus Bradley, lending seasoned gravitas and a few welcome surprises of his own.

The screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith, Michael Lesslie, Paul Wernick, and Rhett Reese strikes a delicate balance between explanation and mystery. Not every illusion is broken down for the audience, nor should it be, but the film reveals enough of the major set pieces to make them feel credible while keeping the sense of wonder intact. The result is a confident rhythm of surprise and satisfaction, where disbelief becomes part of the pleasure. Though longtime fans will appreciate the callbacks to earlier installments, newcomers can jump right in without feeling lost. The film's brisk storytelling makes it easy to follow and hard to resist.

The onstage performances are mounted with the grandeur of a world tour concert, bursting with kinetic choreography, lights, and expertly staged illusions. Fleischer directs with showman's precision, maintaining momentum as the plot races through feints, reversals, and reveals.

If there is one quibble, it is that with so many characters in play, a bit of trimming could have made the narrative even leaner and tighter. Still, that is a small price to pay for a film this enjoyable.

This third installment may not reinvent the magic-heist formula, but it refines it with wit, spectacle, and infectious energy. Even when you know you are being fooled, it is impossible not to delight in watching how brilliantly the illusion unfolds.

"Now You See Me: Now You Don't" opens in theaters on Friday, November 14, 2025.

The real war in writer-director James Vanderbilt's "Nuremberg" (USA/Hungary 2025 | in English/German | 148 min.) isn't fought in court, but in the human mind. Handsomely mounted and performed with conviction, this historical drama promises to explore the origins of evil and the birth of modern justice but ends up telling a story too divided to make either theme resonate. It's a film that looks and sounds monumental, yet it feels curiously distant, more invested in procedure than in people.

Adapted from Jack El-Hai's book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, the film unfolds in the immediate aftermath of World War II, as U.S. Army psychiatrist Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley (Rami Malek) is assigned to assess the mental state of Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe), Hitler's second-in-command, along with other captured Nazi leaders. Meanwhile, Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson (Michael Shannon) leads the Allied prosecution team in creating the first international tribunal in history. What follows is both a psychological duel between doctor and war criminal and an attempt to define justice after unimaginable horror, a setup that should have been searing but is instead scattered and restrained.

The story is undeniably captivating, but the film never decides where its center lies. It wavers between the psychiatrist's fascination with his infamous patient and the legal and ethical drama of the trials, leaving both underdeveloped. Rami Malek's Kelley remains curiously adrift, at times an ambitious scientist, at others a haunted observer, but his purpose never crystallizes. Beyond Göring, the rest of the Nazi hierarchy fades into anonymity, reduced to background figures in a film that purports to examine the psychology of evil.

Russell Crowe, though, commands the screen. His Göring is chillingly persuasive, witty, vain, and magnetic, embodying the terrifying banality of charm in service of mass murder. Yet even his commanding performance cannot fill the film's deeper void: we learn almost nothing about what shaped his fanatic loyalty to Hitler or how he justified the killing of millions. The portrait fascinates but never enlightens.

Only once does the film pierce through its intellectual shell: when Sgt. Howie Triest (Leo Woodall), a German-Jewish émigré who fled the Nazis as a child, confides in Kelley about returning in an American uniform to face his family's persecutors. It is a quiet, devastating moment, rich with empathy and pain, the one scene where the film truly breathes. The rest of the movie is startlingly emotionless, clinical where it should burn.

The inclusion of journalist Lila McQuaide (Lydia Peckham) feels completely unnecessary. Her character serves no narrative function and adds only shallow commentary that distracts from the core drama. The climactic courtroom scenes also play strangely, with the alcoholic British prosecutor Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe (Richard E. Grant) emerging as the unlikely hero while Jackson, the supposed architect of justice, fades into ineffectuality. It is an almost absurd reversal, justice rescued by inebriation rather than conviction.

There is no denying in the film's craftsmanship. The film is shot by cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, designed by Eve Stewart, and scored by composer Brian Tyler. Each brings technical finesse and period authenticity, yet the emotional core remains elusive.

This is a film of great ambition but little conviction, a story of moral reckoning that, for all its intellect, forgets to make us feel.

"Nuremberg" opens in theaters on Friday, November 7, 2025.

Bruce Springsteen may be known to millions as The Boss, but director Scott Cooper's "Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere" (USA 2025 | 120 min.) isn't about the rock legend who commands stadiums. It's about the man behind the myth, alone in the quiet, reckoning with his ghosts. Adapted from Warren Zanes' nonfiction book Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, the film narrows its focus to a single, turbulent chapter in the artist's life.

Set in the early 1980s, the story finds Bruce Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) returning home to New Jersey after The River, the 1980 double album that catapulted him to mainstream success. Instead of basking in fame, Bruce retreats to a small house in Colts Neck, burdened by anxiety, depression, and a strained relationship with his father, Doug (Stephen Graham). As he starts writing the raw, mournful songs that will become Nebraska, his producer Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) remains beside him, more than a collaborator, almost a believer whose faith in Bruce feels absolute.

That focus gives the film both its strength and its limitations. Scott Cooper intentionally avoids the typical rise-and-fall rhythm of musical biopics, offering instead a character study of a man wrestling with daddy issues and inherited pain. Yet while the film conveys the inner darkness that produced Nebraska, it doesn't explore what made that album so revolutionary, either for Springsteen's career or for American music. The result is a portrait rich in mood but thin in insight about the art itself.

For devoted fans, that omission may sting. "Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere" reveres its subject yet skirts the deeper questions of creativity, offering little sense of how Springsteen's raw, four-track home recordings became one of rock's most enduring statements. And for those unfamiliar with his work, the emotional undercurrents may not resonate since the story assumes an existing affection for both the artist and his legend.

The film's attempt at a romantic thread, featuring Faye (Odessa Young), feels particularly thin. The relationship is meant to reveal Bruce's emotional distance and vulnerability, yet it comes across as forced and underdeveloped, a subplot that adds little to the film's emotional core.

The performances, however, keep the film compelling. Jeremy Allen White captures Springsteen's mix of brooding intensity and fragile vulnerability, embodying a man both driven and adrift. Jeremy Strong is mesmerizing as Jon Landau, a mentor whose unwavering confidence in Bruce feels like faith itself, though the film never explains what forged that bond or why his loyalty runs so deep.

The film is steeped in muted tones, bare interiors, and the quiet ache of isolation. It is beautifully made and deeply affecting, though not uplifting. While Bruce's childhood clearly shaped his music, the film never forges that emotional connection for the audience; the influence is suggested rather than felt.

In the end, the film finds the man but not quite the music. It is a finely acted, intimate reflection on mindset and devotion, yet it fades just before reaching transcendence, like a song that stops on the last chord and leaves the echo to say what the words do not.

"Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere" opens in theaters on Friday, October 24, 2025.

The phone is ringing again, this time in "Black Phone 2" (USA/Canada 2025 | 114 min.), director Scott Derrickson's chilling sequel to his 2021 horror hit, "The Black Phone" (2021). Expanding the mythology of Joe Hill's original short story, the film leans into supernatural terror while exploring how past trauma continues to haunt the present. It's not a standalone: viewers need the first film for the emotional weight and narrative context to fully land here.

Four years after escaping the Grabber's basement, Finn (Mason Thames) is now a teenager numbing himself against trauma he can't outrun. His younger sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw), once the sharp-tongued sibling whose prophetic dreams helped save him, is now plagued by darker visions. In her dreams, the voices of the Grabber's murdered victims return to offer cryptic clues, but so does the Grabber himself (Ethan Hawke), back as a ghost driven by pure rage and sealed forever behind his mask. Drawn to a remote winter camp, Gwen and Finn find the boundary between dream and reality collapsing into a waking nightmare.

When it lands, the horror is skin-crawling. Director Scott Derrickson's use of Super 8 dream imagery creates an eerie texture, and Madeleine McGraw delivers a standout turn, shouldering much of the film's emotional weight. What a nightmare Gwen has, especially as her dreams bleed into waking life. Ethan Hawke, unseen without the mask this time, radiates menace as a figure more frightening in death than in life.

Not every scare works. A handful of jump scares feel cheap, and the snowy camp setting, while atmospheric, can't match the suffocating terror of the first film's basement. Yet the film keeps the story grounded in trauma and sibling devotion, making it more than a formulaic ghost story. It's about how horrors never truly die, even when buried.

"Black Phone 2" opens in theaters on Friday, October 17, 2025.