One Battle After Another (2025)

IMDb plot summary: When their enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue the daughter of one of their own.

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, and Benicio Del Toro.

One Battle After Another is the newest Paul Thomas Anderson movie. The film begins with Leonardo DiCaprio and Teyana Taylor as anarchist rebels who are trying to start a revolution, but when Taylor ends up turning in her fellow anarchists, DiCaprio escapes with their daughter. Over a decade later, the father and his now-teenage daughter are found by people who wanted them dead, and DiCaprio has to try and keep his daughter safe. There is a lot going on in this movie, but I'm not convinced it's quite as impressive as the hyped made it sound. It's definitely got some fun, weird comedy/drama mixing. I was especially struck by the scene where DiCaprio first discovers his daughter is a target and is being transported to a safe house, but at the time he's heavily under the influence and is barely functional getting himself across town to find people who can help him. That scene could absolutely be right at home in an overt comedy (it's more than a little reminiscent of the same actor's Quaaludes scene in Wolf of Wall Street). But mostly I just feel like this is one of PTA's films that  misses me. It is a splashier, slightly more highbrow action movie. And while that aspect is certainly done well, it's not something that seems like the best movie of the year or anything like that. PTA often doesn't quite speak to me, so I guess it's not that surprising that this one didn't quite gel with me either.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 One Battle After Another (2025)

📊 Ranked #1626/4190 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 61

beat The Sparks Brothers (#2098 → #2099)

lost to Fever Pitch (held at #1038)

lost to Silent Hill (held at #1564)

beat Solaris (#1836 → #1837)

beat Fury (#1705 → #1706)

beat Elemental (#1629 → #1630)

lost to The Wolf of Wall Street (held at #1596)

lost to Stargate (held at #1612)

lost to Don't Look Up (held at #1621)

lost to Killers of the Flower Moon (held at #1625)

beat Dan in Real Life (#1627 → #1628)

beat The Tragedy of Macbeth (#1626 → #1627)

Sylvia Scarlett (1935)

IMDb plot summary: When her father decides to flee to England, young Sylvia Scarlett must become Sylvester Scarlett and protect her father every step of the way, with the questionable help of plenty others.

Directed by George Cukor. Stars Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Brian Aherne.

Sylvia Scarlett is a very, very early Katharine Hepburn film in which she is the daughter of a criminal who must go on the run, and so she disguises herself as a man to better serve him as his companion. Along the way, the two team up with Cary Grant, who plays another con man who agrees to help them. This was first brought to my attention on a TikTok about very early trans representation. While obviously this doesn't get too deep into that aspect of the story, given the time in which it was released, it does have some really fresh takes on gender, and coming from an actress like Hepburn, who was known for challenging stereotypical notions of gender, especially later in her career, it is a fascinating watch.  Aside from that though, the film isn't great. The romance is not likable or believable. The actors make very inconsistent choices as to what accents they're going to have at any point in the story. And the whole thing is all wrapped up very abruptly in a happy romance ending, tacked on to what was a fairly dark melodrama up until that point. So it's more valuable as a piece of interesting film history and early representation of non-typical gender performance than as an actual film in and of itself.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Sylvia Scarlett (1935)

📊 Ranked #3209/4189 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 23

lost to Fahrenheit 451 (held at #2096)

lost to The Preacher's Wife (held at #3143)

beat Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (#3669 → #3670)

beat Pinocchio (#3405 → #3406)

beat The Other Sister (#3273 → #3274)

lost to A Mighty Wind (held at #3208)

beat Gangs of New York (#3240 → #3241)

beat Baby Boom (#3224 → #3225)

beat Victor/Victoria (#3216 → #3217)

beat Our Paradise (#3212 → #3213)

beat Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (#3210 → #3211)

beat Inherent Vice (#3209 → #3210)

The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025)

IMDb plot summary: An eccentric lottery winner who lives alone on a remote island tries to make his fantasies come true by getting his favorite musicians to perform at his home.

Directed by James Griffiths. Stars Tom Basden, Tim Key, and Sian Clifford.

The Ballad of Wallis Island is set on a remote island where a folk musician is invited to perform a concert. The concert turns out to the brainchild of one man who has spent all of his lottery winnings on bringing this folk musician to the island, with the intention of reuniting him with his former musical partner, whom he parted with on bad terms. The two ultimately decide to try to work together and put on their one-person performance, and the three people, two musicians and their host, form some semblance of relationship. This is a really charming film that is really anchored by Tim Key playing their island host. He is charming but irritating and over-eager to please and ends up consistently rubbing people the wrong way. He's the one whose character arc is most compelling. The musician character arc is fine, but Key's performance is really the one that thematically and emotionally anchors the entire movie. It's a sweet movie in the best way. These characters are enjoyable to be around. We get some fun musical sequences and some small romances, while also not downplaying actual human need and sorrow. This one didn't get as much attention as I feel like it should have gotten, so if you haven't had a chance to check it out, you should. It's really delightful.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025)

📊 Ranked #585/4188 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 86

beat Fahrenheit 451 (#2095 → #2096)

beat The Other Boleyn Girl (#1035 → #1036)

lost to That Night's Wife (held at #516)

beat Evil (#775 → #776)

beat 21 Jump Street (#646 → #647)

lost to The Mitchells vs. the Machines (held at #580)

beat Carrie (#612 → #613)

beat The Courtship of Eddie's Father (#596 → #597)

beat The Big Sick (#588 → #589)

lost to Marty (held at #584)

beat Stardust (#586 → #587)

beat It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (#585 → #586)

Exhuma (2024)

IMDb plot summary: The process of excavating an ominous grave unleashes dreadful consequences buried underneath.

Directed by Jang Jae-hyun. Stars Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun, and Yoo Hae-jin.

Exhuma is a South Korean horror film about a group of shamans who are investigating one particular family and their sketchy burial practices, which have now apparently come back to literally haunt them. This is a fun concept, and there are a few cool, spooky possession scenes that I do remember that stand out from the film, but a lot of it is just slow. The filmic choices showing the possessions are easily the most interesting part of the film, which felt overall very long at two hours and 14 minutes. The rest of the plot doesn't match the energy and the vibrance of those possession scenes, and so I found myself kind of tuning out whenever there wasn't something big and dramatic happening. I do wonder if there were some cultural differences that made this harder for me to process, which is obviously not the fault of the film. Overall, this one didn't quite do it for me.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Exhuma (2024)

📊 Ranked #2055/4187 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 51

beat The Sasquatch Gang (#2099 → #2100)

lost to Fever Pitch (held at #1037)

lost to Quartet (held at #1562)

lost to Solaris (held at #1835)

lost to Aladdin (held at #1968)

lost to John Wick (held at #2033)

beat Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (#2065 → #2066)

lost to Gold Diggers of 1933 (held at #2049)

beat The Firm (#2057 → #2058)

lost to Hail, Caesar! (held at #2053)

beat The Velvet Underground (#2055 → #2056)

lost to Deceiver (held at #2054)

The Nutty Professor (1996)

IMDb plot summary: Grossly overweight yet good-hearted professor Sherman Klump takes a special chemical that turns him into the slim but obnoxious Buddy Love.

Directed by Tom Shadyac. Stars Eddie Murphy, Jada Pinkett Smith, and James Coburn.

The Nutty Professor is a 1996 comedy starring Eddie Murphy as Professor Sherman Klump, a teacher and scientist who is studying methods of weight loss in mice. He himself is a very large person and is frequently the butt of the joke of everyone around him because of it. He eventually becomes desperate and tries his experimental treatment on himself, transforms into his thin, testosterone-filled alter ego, and decides he doesn't want to go back. The final message of this film is clearly intended to be something in a body positive vein -- he learns to appreciate himself and still gets the girl -- but it's all undercut by the fact that every single joke makes his weight a punchline. Even when it's done in a way that we're supposed to feel sympathy for the character, it's still punching down at him. I also don't find much fun in the scenes where Eddie Murphy is playing all the members of the Klump family. None of them are particularly interesting to me, and most of the jokes absolutely do not land. They're just sitting around being gross, which I understand is a very deliberate choice, but it made me anxious for those scenes to end. This is definitely the effect of trying to do a love-yourself-the-size-you-are movie in the 90s, where the cultural fatphobia is so prominent it takes over the story, even if you're kind of trying to speak against it. It ultimately doesn't work, either comedically or narratively.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Nutty Professor (1996)

📊 Ranked #3645/4186 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 13

lost to The Sasquatch Gang (held at #2099)

lost to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (held at #3147)

beat Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (#3666 → #3667)

lost to Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen (held at #3408)

lost to Freaky Friday (held at #3537)

lost to You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (held at #3601)

lost to Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (held at #3633)

beat Animal House (#3649 → #3650)

lost to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (held at #3641)

beat Gomorrah (#3645 → #3646)

lost to Darkest Hour (held at #3643)

lost to You Were Never Really Here (held at #3644)

Blue Moon (2025)

IMDb plot summary: Tells the story of Lorenz Hart's struggles with alcoholism and mental health as he tries to save face during the opening of "Oklahoma!".

Directed by Richard Linklater. Stars Ethan Hawke, Bobby Cannavale, and Andrew Scott.

Blue Moon is a Richard Linklater film starring Ethan Hawke as Lorenz Hart, of Rodgers & Hart, trying to reunite with his former songwriting partner on the opening night of Oklahoma!, Rodgers' successful pairing with a new lyricist. The film takes place in real time over the course of the opening night party. I have always really loved when Linklater goes small and intimate in his stories and evokes a more black-box-theater style, and this is absolutely that. It harkens back to what I loved about Before Sunrise, where we really just got to watch these two characters, one also played by Ethan Hawke there, interact with each other. The dialogue here is snappy and funny and smart and worth listening to, even if it didn't have the underlying character development going through it. Hart is a fascinating character here, and Hawke does an amazing job playing him, really bringing out the character's desperation, and how frequently he tries to cover it up with scores of clever words. I also want to shout out the supporting cast. Andrew Scott, as Richard Rodgers, is an incredible job here and is a wonderful foil for Hawke as Hart. Margaret Qualley is fast becoming one of my favorite actresses, and she is also excellent here as Hart's supposed love interest. If you have any connections in your heart to theater, especially musical theater, this is absolutely a must-watch. There is not only so much going on narratively in the story that is theater-adjacent -- including some lovely little Easter eggs that made me chuckle -- but it also has a theatrical feel in its execution, which I love. The longer that it sits with me, the more I like it.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Blue Moon (2025)

📊 Ranked #294/4185 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 93

beat Blackadder: Back & Forth (#2099 → #2100)

beat Robin Hood (#1039 → #1040)

beat All Quiet on the Western Front (#517 → #518)

lost to Chicken Run (held at #258)

beat 25th Hour (#387 → #388)

beat The Virgin Spring (#322 → #323)

lost to Equus (held at #290)

beat Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (#306 → #307)

beat Fatal Attraction (#298 → #299)

beat Deathtrap (#294 → #295)

lost to Two Lovers and a Bear (held at #292)

lost to Midsommar (held at #293)

Unsung Hero (2024)

IMDb plot summary: A mother's faith stands against all odds and inspires her husband and children to hold onto theirs. Based on a remarkable true story.

Directed by Richard L. Ramsey and Joel David Smallbone. Stars Daisy Betts, Joel David Smallbone, and Kirrilee Berger.

Unsung Hero tells the true story of David and Helen Smallbone, who move from Australia to Nashville in an attempt to get David's music producing career back on track. They are met with an enormous amount of obstacles, and the "unsung hero" of the title is Helen, who holds the family together as David struggles with his career and the emotional toll this all takes on him. I have a pretty low expectation for faith-based films, but this one is not bad. It's definitely a little cheesy, but it does a pretty good job of having a decent baseline quality level. It's interesting to me that this is framed in marketing as the story of the artists of Rebecca St. James and the artists behind the band For King and Country, because that's barely part of the story -- For King and Country isn't even mentioned until the epilogue. It does feel very much like just a group of kids wanting to honor their parents by telling their stories. But that gets a little murky. I appreciate that it doesn't have an obviously didactic message the way that so many faith-based films do, but I wish that it was a little bit clearer in what it WAS trying to say, because where it does feel didactic, it feels unclearly so.  It seems like trying to teach a message both about the need for humility and the need for ambition, and how somehow this husband is failing at both at once, and that doesn't quite work. I think it does a good job of building the relationship with the family. As somebody who grew up in a large family and not a lot of money, I really appreciate the thoughtfulness put into that. It's not a bad movie if you like this kind of story, or if you're at all curious about the families of some of the big CCM names, but for me it sits along the lines of other mid-level inspirational stories. A step up for a lot of Christian films, but still not something that I want to watch again.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Unsung Hero (2024)

📊 Ranked #2530/4184 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 40

lost to Cypher (held at #2101)

beat Le Cercle Rouge (#3146 → #3147)

beat The Man Who Knew Too Much (#2627 → #2628)

lost to The Blues Brothers (held at #2363)

lost to King Richard (held at #2495)

beat Dhamaal (#2561 → #2562)

lost to Rushmore (held at #2527)

beat The Vagabond King (#2545 → #2546)

beat The Hangover (#2535 → #2536)

beat Shame (#2531 → #2532)

lost to Stagecoach (held at #2529)

beat Elevator to the Gallows (#2530 → #2531)