Tag: 2025

TV Review Catch-Up – 2025, pt. II of II | Bite-Sized Reviews

Top Row: The White Lotus: Season Three (HBO); Dexter: Resurrection (Paramount+ / Showtime).
Bottom Row: Smoke (Apple TV+); MONSTER: The Ed Gein Story (Netflix).

Just like list time: It does what it says on the tin, as one might say. This is the second part of my TV review catch-up for 2025, which includes some of my thoughts on TV shows in bite-sized portions. There are still two other shows that I want to review from last year, but they’ll get their own full individual reviews sometime soon. Anyway, in this article, you’ll find my thoughts on an Apple show I had mixed feelings on, a Netflix anthology series that didn’t work for me this season, a show about a strong return for an iconic character, and a season of one of HBO’s most popular shows over the last few years.

Continue reading “TV Review Catch-Up – 2025, pt. II of II | Bite-Sized Reviews” →

One Award After Another for Warner Bros. | 98th Oscars – Recap and Review

On Sunday night, Conan O’Brien hosted the 98th Academy Awards — Hollywood’s biggest night. It was time to celebrate the great movie year that 2025 had turned out to be, and, though there were many great, deserving films, much of the online discussion surrounding the event was about building it up as a battle between Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. Fortunately, one film didn’t steamroll the other, as they together accounted for 10 wins of the night’s 24 categories, and both films picked up a handful of wins. It ended up as a celebration of Warner Bros.’ slate, as One Battle After Another, Sinners, and also Zach Cregger’s Weapons took home 11 awards, including in 7 of the 8 above-the-line categories. When the show came to a close, it was One Battle After Another that won Best Picture, but thankfully, both PTA and Coogler went home as winners.

Continue reading “One Award After Another for Warner Bros. | 98th Oscars – Recap and Review” →

Who Will Win? – Final Predictions | 98th Oscars

It’s time for the 98th Academy Awards. Here comes the Oscars! This awards season has felt incredibly long. Certain above-the-line categories have zig-zagged over and over again, thus leaving us in a pretty exciting situation where only 1 acting category seems locked. Best Picture is a two-horse race between Sinners and One Battle After Another, and these two Warner Bros. crowdpleasing juggernauts are both deserving of the top prize. As is always the case, I am now ready with my predictions for each and every category, and I’ll also add some comments, personal preferences, and potential alternate winners. However, unlike for members of the Academy, AMPAS doesn’t make sure that I, or any viewer around the world for that matter, am ensured an opportunity to see every nominated film; I do have some blind spots. Thus, if there are categories where there are so many blind spots that I don’t think it’s fair to personally choose one over the others, I simply won’t put a personal preference but solely make a prediction.

Continue reading “Who Will Win? – Final Predictions | 98th Oscars” →

Sentimental Value (2025) | REVIEW

Stellan Skarsgård as Gustav Borg in Joachim Trier’s SENTIMENTAL VALUE — PHOTO: NEON / NORDISK FILM (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Joachim Trier — Screenplay by Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt.

Like Thomas Vinterberg and Ruben Östlund, the Danish-born Norwegian auteur Joachim Trier is part of a select group of Scandinavian filmmakers who, in recent years, have broken through across the pond, exemplified by their prestigious Academy Award nominations. Trier, best known for his critically acclaimed Oslo trilogy (including the films (1) Reprise, (2) Oslo 31. August, and (3) The Worst Person in the World), has made several modern films that work as ruminations and meditations on the modern human experience, as his films cover themes, to name just a few, such as growing up, turning a corner in life, feeling unfulfilled, and feeling socially excluded. In recent years, some of my favorite reviews to write have been of the films in his excellent Oslo trilogy, two-thirds of which I consider genuine masterpieces (and, to add to that, Reprise is a fantastic debut film, despite arguably being the lesser of the three). Naturally, every new film of his is a major event to me. His latest film, Sentimental Value (original title: Affeksjonsverdi), continues Trier’s hot streak.

Continue reading “Sentimental Value (2025) | REVIEW” →

IFSCA Awards 2025-2026 | Winners

Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton in Ryan Coogler’s SINNERS — PHOTO: Warner Bros. Pictures (Still image from trailers).

Yesterday, on February 5th, 2026, the International Film Society Critics Association (IFSCA / @IFSCritics on Twitter), of which I am a voting member, announced their full list of winners for the ongoing 2025-2026 awards season. Like any other film critics’ association, their awards celebrate the best films of the past year. IFSCA currently has 111 members from around the world, including, but not limited to, the US, the UK, Spain, Italy, and, of course(since I am a member), Denmark. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners set a new record with 23 IFSCA nominations, and, as you’ll see, it also tied the record for most wins with wins in 8 separate categories. Below you can read the full list of winners, runners-up, and nominees.

Continue reading “IFSCA Awards 2025-2026 | Winners” →

Sorry, Baby (2025) | REVIEW

Eva Victor in SORRY, BABY — PHOTO: A24 (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Eva Victor — Screenplay by Eva Victor.

Earlier this week, I sat down to finally watch one of the most discussed and praised directorial debuts of 2025. Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby has already been celebrated by the National Board of Review as the best directorial debut of last year, and it was recognized with nominations at both the Indie Spirit Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards, the DGA Awards, and the Golden Globes. As such, it is one of the most high-profile independent films of last year, which comes with some pretty high expectations. So, I was naturally very intrigued by it, and, as the film came to a close, I was also very impressed by the narrative and the incredible multi-hyphenate at the center of it.

Continue reading “Sorry, Baby (2025) | REVIEW” →

Oscar Nominations – Reaction | 98th Oscars

The nominations for the 98th Academy Awards have been announced! There were surprises, headscratchers, shocks, and snubs, as is always the case. Below, I’ve assembled bullet points and explanations of the biggest headliners, in my opinion, from this year’s nomination group. Let’s get to them.

Continue reading “Oscar Nominations – Reaction | 98th Oscars” →

Who Will Be Nominated? – Final Predictions | 98th Oscars

AMPAS is announcing its list of nominees for the upcoming 98th Academy Awards on the 22nd. So, yes, now is the time to fill in your final Oscars nominations predictions. This is exactly what I’ve done here. Below you’ll see what I’m predicting. The choices are ranked from one to five or one to ten, based on how confident I am that something is getting nominated, with 1 being the most confident. One thing of note: I am predicting that Sinners will break the record for most Oscar nominations (by getting 15).

Continue reading “Who Will Be Nominated? – Final Predictions | 98th Oscars” →

Bugonia (2025) | REVIEW

Emma Stone in Yorgos Lanthimos’ BUGONIA — PHOTO: Focus Features (Still image from trailers).

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things; Kinds of Kindness) — Screenplay by Will Tracy (The Menu).

Bugonia marks the 4th collaboration between multiple Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone and the most famous filmmaker of the so-called ‘Greek Weird Wave’ (and in a row, no less). Their latest film together is an English-language remake of Jang Joon-hwan’s black comedy titled Save the Green Planet!, a South Korean film released in 2003. Though initially conceived as an opportunity for Jang, the original filmmaker, to direct the English-language remake of his own film for an international audience (not unlike what Ole Bornedal did with his English-language Nightwatch remake in the 1990s), it is now, instead, a fascinating instance in which a European auteur is adapting an Asian original story though in a North American setting. In a way, that almost intercontinental approach is fitting for a film about people who may or may not come from different worlds in more ways than one. It’s also, frankly, a really effective film.

Continue reading “Bugonia (2025) | REVIEW” →

Stranger Things – Season Five (2025) | TV REVIEW

Gaten Matarazzo as ‘Dustin’ in Stranger Things: Season Five — PHOTO: Netflix (Still image from trailers).

Regardless of what you think about the show or this season, I think you have to admire the gusto of the release strategy for the final season of Stranger Things, of which the first volume (episodes one to four) was released early in December, the second volume on Christmas, and the series finale on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day (depending on your region). Stranger Things really took over a huge chunk of the online entertainment focus in December, despite the fact that massive trailers for huge films were released alongside a new Avatar film in theaters around the world. They really made the three-part release of the show into events. But did the series finale of the most popular US-based Netflix original series, or the season as a whole, live up to the hype it created for itself? Well, let’s talk about it, because it’s not a straightforward answer. 

Continue reading “Stranger Things – Season Five (2025) | TV REVIEW” →