Each year, I see only a handful of movies I’d ever consider unless circumstances warranted it. These are mostly films nominated for several Academy Awards (especially Best Picture) and those consistently recommended by social media influencers I follow. Sometimes I’ll check aggregate scores before deciding. Celine Song’s (Past Lives) Materialists won’t earn any Oscar nominations. It had lukewarm aggregate scores (77% critics, 65% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, 6.2/10 on IMDB, 70 on Metacritic). These two things, combined with a plot that didn’t pique my interest, made me think this movie wouldn’t see the light of day. However, it felt like every movie influencer I follow kept singing its praise, with many in their end-of-year Top 20. It was enough to give it its fair chance.
Category Archives: Comedy
Is This Thing On? (2025)
The 2025 film that felt the most real to me was one of the year’s final releases. Bradley Cooper’s (A Star Is Born, Maestro) is a poignant and personal look at the end of a marriage and the lengths we will go to overcome the loss that accompanies it. Will Arnett (Semi-Pro, Blades of Glory) delivers the best performance of his career as Alex, recently divorced from Tess (Laura Dern – Wild, Jay Kelly), trying to navigate a life in a new apartment and spending half as much time with his two elementary school-aged boys while still maintaining his career and career for his physical, mental, and emotional health. To escape his troubles, he ends up at a bar one night and on stage for an improv comedy skit.
Song Sung Blue (2025)
Hugh Jackman commands attention every time he’s on screen, regardless of the quality of the film surrounding him. Though he has just one Oscar nomination—for his performance in Les Misérables (2012)—his career spans fan favorites (Logan, Real Steel, The Greatest Showman, Eddie the Eagle), underseen gems (Bad Education, The Fountain), and even standout performances in films that never quite came together (The Front Runner, The Son). Jackman’s presence is undeniable, so it speaks volumes when an actor can upstage him in one of his films. Kate Hudson (Deepwater Horizon, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) does just that, delivering an Oscar-worthy performance in Craig Brewer’s (Black Snake Moan, Hustle & Flow) Song Sung Blue.
Anora (2024)
Blue Valentine, An Education, Silver Linings Playbook, Pretty Woman, The Worst Person in the World, Before Midnight, and Like Crazy. These were the seven movies in the first article I pulled up after an online search of “movies like Anora” returned. As a fan of all seven films, I needed nothing more to decide that Sean Baker’s (Red Rocket, The Florida Project) Anora was one I needed to see. I did not need to see a preview. I did not need to read a synopsis. Instead, I had to find out how quickly I could watch the film. My viewing happened soon after. It was a mixed bag, and it mostly failed. While Silver Linings Playbook and Pretty Woman have good-natured moments of good-naturedness and humor, I wouldn’t label any of these as comedies or unbelievable. While I could see vague similarities, Anora was much more comedy-first, absurd second, and attempts to portray emotional bleakness third. I would not have listed it with the movies that the article I read compared it to.
The Substance (2024)
Stimulating, combustible, nauseating, and repulsive are all perfect adjectives to describe director, writer, co-producer, and co-editor Coralie Fargeat’s (Revenge) explorative and provocative The Substance. This film doesn’t just knock on the door of critiques of the societal obsession with youth and beauty but blows off its shutters. The Substance offers no subtlety in its themes. This film is designed to make its audience feel as squeamish as the entertainment industry’s treatment of women, particularly older women. The impossible beauty standards and society’s preoccupation with youth (particularly young, attractive women) are nothing new. Fargeat meticulously brings this to the forefront and apologizes for nothing. Nor should she.