Not traveling for Thanksgiving weekend this year meant I got to stay home and hibernate, only leaving my apartment to see new releases in theaters or pick up more Japanese Style Fried Rice from Trader Joe’s.
All the Oscar contenders are coming out (awards season is my favorite season!) so I pretend to be an Academy member and see as much as I can. I’ve been to the movies like five out of the last eight days. Lord help me if I have to sit through that Kate Hudson/Hugh Jackman Song Sung Blue trailer one more time.
Also. Despite my best efforts, all my posts end up being like 3,000+ words. Someone has to keep the memory of Ashley Olsen’s machete hike alive! So today I’m challenging myself to be brief and attempting to review recent watches in only one sentence. I’m excited to bastardize the integrity of a sentence and disregard all rules for structure and grammar.
Here are a bunch of 2025 releases and some old but new-to-me films. Let me know if you’ve seen any of these and what you thought. Feel free to use more than one sentence.
No big spoilers.
Oh, Hi (2025)
Streaming on: Netflix
This was so fun despite overstaying its welcome at only 95 minutes, but between this and Theater Camp, you know what, I’m a Molly Gordon fan and will be tuning into her next project.
When to watch: On a first date, heh <3 and/or if you’re about to handcuff your partner for the first time and want to raise the stakes.
Die My Love (2025)
Currently in theaters
I love being alive at the same time as J.Law, especially when she’s making weird movies (this is such a physical performance) — we could literally title this one mother! part two, but I have to question if Robert Pattison’s accent is accurate to that of a native Montanan because it sounded like Mickey 17 scraps to me.
When to watch: When you want to be an elitist New York piece of shit who likes to say, “see, this is why I don’t want to live in the middle of nowhere.”
Honeymoon in Vegas (1992)
Streaming on: Peacock
SJP doing what she does best outside of playing Carrie Bradshaw and reading 153 books/year, and that is serving body, meanwhile Nic Cage is doing his classic scream-and-shout shtick — all of which is enough to justify watching Honeymoon in Vegas.
When to watch: You want to turn your brain off and reminisce on a time when you could walk up to an airport counter and buy your ticket right before the flight. Aka the ‘90s.
Eddington (2025)
Streaming on: HBO Max
This kind of pissed me off because it’s long and aimless and IMO more time needs to go by before we make this type of movie (or maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for nihilism!), plus I hate to see a generational performer like Emma Stone so underutilized.
When to watch: You’re about to hang out with your Theo Von-listening, contrarian cousin and want to get into that torturous headspace (for the record, I do think this film is left-leaning).
Hamnet (2025)
Currently in theaters
Oof it’s a sad one but stunning and the Oscar is Jessie Buckley’s to lose (hope Paul gets a nod in his category as well) and DAMN we all need to keep an eye on the young actor who played Hamnet.
When to watch: You’re surfing the crimson wave and you can really cry it out. Not during new parenthood.
The Life of Chuck (2025)
Streaming on: I saw it on an American Airlines flight because my seatback screen was stuck and I had no other choice. The lack of consent may impact my review.
The American job market really IS down bad because all three leads in this small-town America setting are Brits/Scots, and tonally it was all over the place and way too pro-math for my little brain HOWEVER I did enjoy the dancing scenes and I love to see Matthew Lillard keep a job.
When to watch: You’re trying to watch the complete filmography of Taylor Swift’s ex boyfriends and you already made your way through Jake G’s and Joe A’s.
The Wedding Banquet (2025)
Streaming on: Paramount+, which I canceled because the price of these streamers is out of control, plus they’re a little fascist over there
I’m a huge Bowen Yang fan and who doesn’t enjoy Lily Gladstone, but the characters lacked chemistry and I honestly rooted for the couples to break up, but at least our queen Joan Chen is in it!
When to watch: Back to back with Ang Lee’s version to debate which is better? Haven’t seen the original but I imagine it wins.
Btw, please enjoy my favorite Letterboxd review of The Wedding Banquet.
Wicked: For Good (2025)
Currently in theaters
Meh, as someone who hasn’t seen the stage production and didn’t know the ending, I was pretty let down by Wicked: For Good’s pacing and lack of bangers and found it somewhat incoherent, also yes, it’s a crime what they let Michelle Yeoh do but Jeff Goldblum wasn’t much better.
When to watch: Today! Even if I didn’t love it, the ritual of going to the theater is nourishing and this is the big blockbuster atm.
Selena y Los Dinos (2025)
Streaming on: Netflix
If you’re a Selena fan, you can’t go wrong watching this doc of her life filled with new footage and interviews with her family (when her sister reminisces on Selena talking about their kids playing together one day 😭).
When to watch: ANY TIME FOR SELENAS
Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021)
Streaming on: Netflix
I love musicals and have watched the Jonathan Larson doc (it’s superior to Tick, Tick... Boom!) on the Rent DVD many a time so idk why I put this off BUT it would’ve been so much more compelling had it been the story of Larson creating Rent, right??
When to watch: Age 14, just getting into musical theater, and not yet familiar with the story of Jonathan Larson.
After the Hunt (2025)
Streaming on: HBO Max
Wtf did they do to our girl Chloë Sevigny’s HAIR… watch Tár instead.
When to watch: In a double feature with Eddington to feel annoyed by some of our best auteurs.
Sister Act (1992)
Streaming on: Netflix
I love Whoopi, especially when she’s not phoning it in as the moderator on The View, but somehow had never seen it and thought the best parts were the singing IT NEEDED MORE SINGING… anyway, I will be watching Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.
When to watch: You’re in the mood for a generic and comforting ‘90s movie elevated by a beloved star.
The Ballad of Wallis Island (2025)
Streaming on: Prime
Aw, this is a cozy if unexceptional little film that immediately made me a fan of Tim Key and let me romanticize the damp, cold sea air of coastal Wales without braving the elements myself.
When to watch: With your parents (non-derogatory)
Sentimental Value (2025)
Currently in theaters
I liked this slightly less than Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World probably due to its subject matter (loneliness, mental health, tough family dynamics), but it made me want to live in Scandinavia (what else is new).
When to watch: You gave up your dream of being an actor and want to feel reassured about that choice.
It Was Just an Accident (2025)
Currently in theaters
This one’s the trickiest to sum up in a sentence because there was SO much hype and I have mixed feelings (felt like the same scene over and over) but I appreciated its dark humor, admired the ending, have since read about what the director went through to make it, and suddenly want to learn more about Iranian tipping culture.
When to watch: Before a heated debate over the current power rankings of NEON vs. A24. NEON’s picked up the last six Palme d’Or winners.
The Alabama Solution (2025)
Streaming on: HBO Max
Andrew Jarecki’s Capturing the Friedmans is what got me into documentaries, and in his newest one, he’s exposing our sick-and-twisted prison system by incorporating footage secretly captured by inmates… this is the best film on the list and please don’t write it off because you don’t feel like confronting the subject matter — it’s worth it.
When to watch: That’s your business.
🎬
Still on my list:
Train Dreams
Nouvelle Vague
Marty Supreme (tickets secured!)
Jay Kelly
Blue Moon
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Kiss of the Spider Woman (fellow J.Lo fans, we let her down by not seeing this in theaters)
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk
Eternity
Splitsville
I have more to say!
This week I read “Awake” by Jen Hatmaker because it’s on the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2025. I thought it was going to be a juicy divorce memoir and religious trauma reckoning but it was too rich-white-lady-self-helpy for me. She seems to have unlimited support, money, and Maine beach houses to run away to, which doesn’t erase the pain of her situation but it does make daily life easier. She does a great job with the audiobook though, adding little asides and poking fun at what she wrote.
There’s a lot of commentary on the crowded gift guide landscape (no hate because I read them all and make purchases!!), and I will say there’s a gap in the market for non-boring, normal people gifts. I’m not going to buy my mother-in-law a $300 Mason Pearson. Would my grandma even want to receive Hermès playing cards?
In a tough segue after calling everyone on the internet out of touch, I did ask for Brooke Callahan pants for Christmas since they’re 25% off. I’m also in the market for an epilator because I’ve probably spent days of my life shaving my legs.
Oh good. This post was only 2,000 words.
I enjoyed and appreciated your “when to watch” suggestions!
You seriously have to see If I had legs I'd kick you!!