Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025)

Jack and I enjoyed this fictionalized retelling of Bruce Springsteen’s creation of his 1982 album Nebraska. In the title role, Jeremy Allen White does his own performing (listen here) after getting voice, guitar, and harmonica coaching. The great cast also includes Jeremy Strong as his manager/producer Jon Landau, Paul Walter Hauser as his best friend Mike, Odessa Young as his girlfriend Faye (an amalgam of women in Springsteen’s life), and Stephen Graham and Gaby Hoffmann as his parents. Though we were excited to see Marc Maron listed as producer/engineer Chuck Plotkin, he had very few lines. Producer Jimmy Iovine appears as himself. Stephen Singer’s part as a psychiatrist is not big but his face is familiar because we’ve seen him in dozens of movies and TV shows.

Director Scott Cooper based his screenplay on the 2023 book Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska by Warren Zanes, plus some elements of Springsteen's 2016 autobiography Born to Run. In the interesting imdb trivia, Cooper calls this an "anti-biopic."

In addition to the Springsteen songs, Lumineers co-founder Jeremiah Fraites has provided a lovely score, available to stream on Apple Music and elsewhere.

After I wrote about White in Afterschool he won a bunch of awards for 39 episodes of The Bear. Strong was last blogged for Armageddon Time, Hauser for The Naked Gun, Young for Shirley, Graham for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Hoffman for C'mon C'mon, Maron as the subject of the documentary Are We Good? and for acting in To Leslie, and Cooper for Crazy Heart (about a fictional musician). This is Iovine's first and Fraites' fifth feature.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics want this picture to stay nowhere, averaging 61%, while its audiences like the delivery better at 82. We watched it on May 19 on Hulu.

Is This Thing On? (2025)

We liked a lot this story of a couple navigating an amicable divorce while discovering and rediscovering their true passions for comedy and sports. Will Arnett and Laura Dern are terrific as Alex and Tess, and are supported by a bearded and bespectacled Bradley Cooper, who directed, as Alex's best friend "Balls," Andra Day as Balls' wife Christine, Amy Sedaris as a comedy club emcee, Christine Ebersole and Ciarán Hinds as Alex's parents, Sean Hayes as another friend Stephen, and Scott Icenogle (Haye's real-life husband) as Stephen's husband. Peyton Manning has a cameo as Tess' old friend, as do several actual comics.

Cooper co-wrote the script with Arnett, Mark Chappell, and John Bishop. When Bishop, who turned to stand-up comedy while separated from his wife, met Arnett, Arnett was so fascinated by Bishop's story that they turned it into this movie.

James Newberry's evocative score can be streamed on Apple Music. Cooper also acted as camera operator for most of the scenes that didn't include him, something he hadn't done before, for director of photography Matthew Libatique.

Cooper was last blogged for acting in Superman and for directing (and acting in) Maestro, Arnett for The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Dern for Jay Kelly, Day for United States vs. Billie Holiday, Sedaris for Theater Camp, Ebersole for Licorice Pizza, Hinds for Belfast, Chappell for See How They Run, and Libatique for Maestro.

Hayes is best known for 246 episodes of Will & Grace but has lots of other credits on screens big and small and on stage. Icenogle is a music producer/composer (including for Will & Grace) and Manning is a retired football player with three features to his credit. Newberry has scored dozens of features, TV, and shorts

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are listening, with an 87% average, with its audiences not far behind at 82. Jack and I watched it on Hulu on May 24.

Eleanor the Great (2025)

Jack and I enjoyed this story, both funny and moving, of 94 year old Eleanor dealing with the loss of her best friend. June Squibb, born in 1929, was probably 94 when it was shot and she is, as always, terrific in the title role. The supporting cast includes Rita Zohar as Eleanor's Holocaust survivor friend Bessie, Jessica Hecht as Eleanor's daughter, and Erin Kellyman and Chiwetel Ejiofor as a journalism student and her journalist father.

Scarlett Johansson and Tory Kamen make their debuts as director and writer, respectively. I must admit that the movie had some slow parts, but they were worth the wait. Dustin O'Halloran's pleasant soundtrack is available on Apple Music and probably elsewhere.

Kamen's back story about the creation of her screenplay is fascinating, but contains spoilers, so read it after watching. I appreciated that it points out that Bessie always tells her own story in flashbacks.

Squibb was last blogged for Thelma, Ejiofor for Doctor Strange, and O'Halloran for The Current War. I've seen some of Zohar's one-off TV episodes. Among Hecht's over a hundred credits, I have liked Sideways (2004), Dan in Real Life (2007), two episodes of Succession in 2019, and four of Dickinson 2019-21. Kellyman is new to me but not to the business.

Rotten Tomatoes' audiences found this great, with a 93% average, but not its critics at 67. We streamed it on Netflix on May 15.

One of Them Days (2025)

Jack and I enjoyed this romp about Los Angeles roommates in dire need of rent money. Musicians Keke Palmer and SZA star as Dreux (pronounced Drew) and Alyssa, respectively, heading the big cast that includes Katt Williams, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Lil Rel Howery, and Maude Apatow.

Lawrence Lamont directs from Syreeta Singleton's screenplay, and Chanda Dancy's soundtrack is available on Apple Music. In addition, there are lots of fun songs, listed here, including performances by Palmer and Madison McFerrin..

Howery was last blogged for We Grown Now and Apatow for The King of Staten Island.

Palmer has loads of credits as a singer and actress, but the only ones I've seen are four episodes of Masters of Sex (2014), and SZA makes her film acting debut after dozens of music videos and an Oscar nomination for composing a song featured in Black Panther. Comedian Williams is no stranger to screens big and small. Calloway's four decade resume includes Coming to America (1988) and its 2017 sequel, Southside with You as Michelle Obama's mother Marian, 23 episodes of Shameless, and eight of This Is Us.

This is Lamont's feature debut after directing a handful of music videos and one TV series. It's also Singleton's feature debut, but she wrote for the same series, was executive story on twenty episodes of Insecure, and was staff writer for the animated series Central Park. Dancy is new to me, despite her dozens of projects. 

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are loving this day, averaging 94% and its audiences are close at 89. We watched it on Netflix on May 10.

Orangutan (2026)

Another spectacular Disneynature Earth Day release, this documentary follows various families of the Southeast Asian mammals with humor and poignancy. Josh Gad narrates this time around, working with co-directors Mark Linfield and Vanessa Berlowitz.

I'm streaming the sweet original score by Nitin Sawhney on Apple Music, but I must mention the inclusion of I Wanna Be Like You from The Jungle Book (1967) and a few other pop songs.

Director of Photography Zaid Abdulah leads a talented crew to give us 100% live cinematography with no computer generated images.

Gad was last blogged for Marshall and Linfield, Berlowitz, and Sawhney for the Disneynature doc Tiger. Abdulah shot one other orangutan documentary, not affiliated with Disney.

My affection for this series led me to keep a running list. All recommended. There apparently aren't enough reviews on Rotten Tomaties to give it a rating so just watch it when you or your kids or grandkids are in the mood.

We saw it April 24, two days after its Earth Day release, streaming on the Disney channel. Remember, there's no G at the end of the word!

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (2025)

Fans of the TV series, as I am, will enjoy this sentimental franchise finish, taking place in 1930, for its familiar cast and beautiful production values, as I did. Almost all of the ensemble is back, including Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, Hugh Bonneville, Elizabeth McGovern, and Paul Giamatti in the family, and Jim Carter, Brendan Coyle, Joanne Froggatt, Lesley Nicol, Sophie McShera as servants, and many more. A few new actors appear as well. The movie is dedicated to Maggie Smith, who died a year and a half ago at 89.

Director Simon Curtis again takes the helm from the script by series creator/writer Julian Fellowes. The original score by John Lunn is available on Apple Music. There are some fun scenes with Arty Froushan as Noel Coward. The credits say that the singing voice is actually Coward's. And the luscious cinematography, production design, and wardrobe add to the experience, thanks to Ben Smithard, Donal Woods, and Anna Robbins, respectively.

Dockery was last blogged for The Sense of an Ending, Carmichael for A United Kingdom, Bonneville for Viceroy's House, McGovern for Kick-Ass, Giamatti for The Holdovers, Carter for The Good Liar, Coyle for Mary Queen of Scots, McShera for Cinderella, Curtis for Goodbye Christopher Robin, and Fellowes, Lunn, Smithard, Woods, and Robbins for the 2019 movie Downton Abbey. Froggatt and Nicol have no other mentions in these pages besides the cast list in the 2019 version and Froushan is new to me. Full disclosure, there was a Downton Abbey movie in 2022 that I did not see, but I did watch all 52 episodes on PBS' Masterpiece Theatre.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are down with this movie, averaging 91 and 95%, respectively. I streamed it on a plane on March 27 and it is currently available on Netflix.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die (2025)

This unhinged science fiction comedy had us scratching our heads a little–Jack said it’s destined to become a cult classic–but we kept at it. Sam Rockwell's character, a suicide bomber claiming to be from the future, appears in a Los Angeles diner in order to draft the customers on a mission. Rockwell is a terrific actor, as is the supporting cast, which includes Haley Lu Richardson, Zazie Beetz, Michael Peña, and Juno Temple.

Directed by Gore Verbinski from Matthew Robinson's script, it probably isn't meant for our boomer demographic, but that seldom stops us. I am enjoying Geoff Zanelli's soundtrack on Apple Music, including a snappy title track, as I type.

Rockwell was last blogged for See How They Run, Richardson for Love at First Sight, Beetz (we loved her in 30 episodes of Atlanta and other TV) for Nine Days, Peña for Ant-Man and the Wasp, Temple for Roofman (and 34 episodes of Ted Lasso), Verbinski for The Lone Ranger, and Zanelli for House of D, a 2004 release we watched in 2020 on our very last Netflix hard copy DVD (he has scored dozens of projects since then). This is Robinson's fifth produced feature screenplay.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are having a bit of fun with this, averaging 81 and 85%. Overcome by our very, very long list of movies, we went off-list on April 17 from a Apple TV recommendation and rented it on April 17.