Hamnet (2025)

Jessie Buckley won the Best Actress Oscar as Agnes, the emotional and mystical wife of Will Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) in this wonderful movie. Everyone calls it a tear jerker, but you must know by now that I will not tell you what will jerk the tears because I hate spoilers. Terrific support comes from Emily Watson as Will's mother, Bodhi Rae Breathnach as Agnes and Will's firstborn Susanna, and Jacobi Jupe and Olivia Lynes as their twins Hamnet and Judith. At the very end we will see Noah Jupe, Jacobi's older brother, playing an actor in a play within the movie.

Chloé Zhao directs from the screenplay she wrote with Maggie O'Farrell, adapted from O'Farrell's 2020 historical fiction novel. A card at the opening states that the names Hamnet and Hamlet were interchangeable in Shakespeare's time. Max Richter's moody score is currently setting my mood on Apple Music

The movie's 96 wins and 302 other nominations included Oscar nods for Best Picture, Zhao for directing, Zhao and O'Farrell for the adapted screenplay, Richter for the music, Fiona Crombie for production design, Malgosia Turzanska for costume design, and Nina Gold for casting.

Although he didn't win anything for this picture, cinematographer Lukasz Zal's work is evocative and did get 21 non-Oscar nominations.

There's a lot of interesting trivia but read it afterwards if you want to avoid spoilers. I will tell you that a very moving part of the final scene was actually improvised.

Buckley was last blogged for Women Talking, Mescal for All of Us Strangers, Watson for The Theory of Everything, Noah Jupe for Honey Boy, Zhao for Nomadland, Richter for Never Look Away, and Zal for Zone of Interest. Breathnach has another movie coming out this year. Jacobi Jupe was 12 when this was shot and it's his second feature, with three TV series under his belt (his brother was 20 at production time), and Lynes makes her feature debut with this one.

Rotten Tomatoes critics and audiences aren't playing, with averages of 87 and 93% respectively. We rented it on February 5 and now you can stream it on Peacock with a subscription.

Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi - 2025)

I liked it a lot this story of a Norwegian filmmaker, the estranged father of two adult daughters, who wants to make a movie and, in the process, reconcile with his family. The cast is terrific: Stellan Skarsgård as the father Gustav, Renate Reinsve as actress daughter Nora, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas as historian daughter Agnes, and Elle Fanning as Rachel, the American star cast in the movie within the movie.

Joachim Trier directs from the script written by him and Eskil Vogt. I'm enjoying Hania Rani's dreamy original score on Apple Music as I type.

I jotted down while I was watching it that the beginning seems to be from the point of view of the house. In fact, imdb's trivia states that Trier got the idea for the movie when his family home was put up for sale and he thought about all that had happened there.

Awards season is pretty much done and this racked up 71 wins, including the Cannes Grand Prize and the Best International Feature Oscar, as well as 302 other nominations including eight for the Oscars (best picture, directing, screenplay, and all four actors named above).

Skarsgård was last blogged for Thor: The Dark World, Reinsve, Trier, and Vogt for The Worst Person in the World, and Fanning for A Complete Unknown.

Rotten Tomatoes critics and audiences value this very highly, averaging 95 and 94%. I rented it so long ago--on January 30(!)--that it's now available to stream with a subscription to Hulu. Lastly, its 33 producers earns it a spot on my Producers Plethora Prize list.

The Secret Agent (Agente Secreto - 2025)

Maybe I should watch it again (I probably will not). A long-haul airplane ride can be distracting, and, on that trip, I had a lot of trouble following this lengthy story of a, well, secret agent in 1977 Brazil during political turmoil. That said, it earned 91 wins and 162 more nominations, many for lead actor Wagner Moura. The only actor I recognized was Udo Kier in a small part.

Kleber Mendonça Filho directs from his own original screenplay and you can hear nineteen minutes of the score by Mateus Alves and Tomas Alves Souza on Apple Music.

My personal trivia is that a Brazilian Lyft driver I met in San Francisco last month was familiar with Moura. Though I saved this substack article linking the movie to Brazil's current political climate, I didn't read it.

Kier was last blogged for Swan Song and Filho, Alves, and Souza for Bacurau (Nighthawk). Among Moura's dozens of credits is playing Pablo Escobar in twenty episodes of the series Narcos.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics make no secret of their affection for this movie, averaging 98%, while its audiences are slightly behind at 83. Before that plane ride February 10, I learned how to rent a movie and watch it offline (see below). Now this one is on Hulu with a subscription.

Steps to Rent and Download for Offline Viewing

1. Rent and Download: Search for a movie in the app of your choice (I use Apple TV), select Rent, and download it onto your device. Do this up to 30 days before watching.
2. Verify Download: Ensure the download is complete before boarding. The file is stored directly on your device.
3. Start Online: While still connected to the internet, open the app, open the rental, and press play for a few seconds. This helps to activate the 48-hour viewing window (most rentals give you only 48 hours to watch once you have started).
4. Offline Access: On the plane, activate Airplane Mode. Open the app on your device, go to Library, select Rentals, and play your movie.

5. Note: noise-canceling over-the-ear headphones are a must on airplanes.

Train Dreams (2025)

Jack and I really liked this Best Picture Oscar nominee about a Washington state logger at different phases of his early 20th century life. Joel Edgerton plays the taciturn Robert and Felicity Jones his sweet love interest Gladys. William H. Macy has a nice supporting role as Arn and Kerry Condon makes an appearance in the third act as Claire. When I added this movie to my list of ones to watch, I noted that a reviewer said "luminous," and they weren't wrong.

Clint Bentley directs from the Oscar- and Writers Guild-nominated script written by him and Greg Kwedar, based on a 2011 novella by Denis Johnson. The score, ranging from ethereal to lively, by Bryce Dessner can be streamed on Apple Music.

Director of photography Adolpho Veloso is also nominated for an Oscar, among his 34 nominations (including his peers in the American Society of Cinematographers) and nine wins for this picture alone.

In all, the movie so far has 29 wins and 173 nominations. It was shot on location in Washington. One fascinating trivia item is that many of the felled trees were actually props aided with visual effects, so few trees were harmed in the making of this picture.

Edgerton was last blogged for Boy Erased, Jones for Oh. What. Fun., Macy for Room (in the middle of 134 episodes of Shameless), Condon for The Banshees of Inisherin, and Bentley and Kwedar for co-writing Sing Sing and Dessner for scoring it. Bentley directed one other feature which was co-written by him and Kwedar and shot by Veloso. The latter has over two dozen credits but is new to me.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are wide awake with averages of 94 and 91%, respectively. We watched it on Netflix on January 22.

Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩 - Zuopiezi nuhai - 2025)

I liked this sweet story of the titular five year old I-Jing, her 18 year old sister I-Ann, and their single mother Shu-Fen struggling to make ends meet at Taipei, Taiwan's night market. The character plot lines of this ensemble movie intertwine throughout. Nina Ye plays I-Jing, Shih-Yuan Ma is I-Ann, and Janet Tsai is Shu-Fen.

The title comes from I-Jing's grandfather's belief that left hands are evil, which happened in real life to director/co-writer Shih-Ching Tsou. Sean Baker co-wrote the script with her. No composer worked on it. Instead, I counted 29 songs in the credits.

This movie was shot entirely on an iPhone (as was Baker's Tangerine) in 2022. It has, as of now, 14 wins and 28 other nominations

Baker was last blogged for writing (and directing and editing) Anora. Ye, who was six when this was shot, has 19 credits so far, Ma has one other, and Tsai has over three dozen. This is Tsou's solo directorial debut, after co-directing and co-writing one feature with Baker, and she acted as producer on another four of his features.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are right about this one with a 98% average, and its audiences are holding down one finger at 84. I downloaded it from Netflix and watched it with subtitles on an airplane on January 16.

One Battle After Another (2025)

Jack and I liked this way-too-long (161 minutes) but very entertaining story of American leftist activists clashing with "the man." Four acting Oscar nominations went to Leonardo DiCaprio as Pat, Teyana Taylor as Perfidia, Benicio Del Toro as Sensei Sergio, and Sean Penn as Lockjaw (he's so good as a villain). The names Perfidia and Lockjaw do make me chuckle. The enormous cast also includes Chase Infiniti and Regina Hall in a part written just for her.

Three more Oscar nominations went to Paul Thomas Anderson: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, loosely based on Thomas Pynchon's 1990 novel Vineland. 

Jonny Greenwood got a nod for composing the original score, streamable on Apple Music. Here's a list of 

songs in the movie. And Michael Bauman is nominated for cinematography here.

The other five Oscar nominations are for casting, sound, production design, and editing. And you should know that, as of this posting, the movie has 204 wins and 424 other nominations. This long list of trivia is fascinating if you're so inclined.

DiCaprio was last blogged for Killers of the Flower Moon, Penn, Anderson, and Greenwood for Licorice Pizza, Del Toro for The French Dispatch, Taylor for A Thousand and One, and Hall for Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. Bauman shot Licorice Pizza but I failed to mention him in that post. Pynchon's novel Inherent Vice was also adapted by Anderson into a 2014 movie of the same name.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics aren't ready for a truce with a 94% average, while its audiences are pretty feisty at 85. We streamed it on January 6 on HBO with our subscription. You can also watch it on big screens in many locations or rent it.

The Wizard of Oz (1939) at The Sphere (2026) in Las Vegas

We loved this experience! Of course Jack and I have seen the original many times--he more than I. He said that, unlike so many things, this actually lives up to the hype. The production is computer enhanced to take advantage of the 270° screen: over our heads and around both sides. Google told us the best section was in the 300s so that's where we sat. 

As we took our seats (no late seating allowed) we heard a recording of an orchestra warming up. The show starts, as the original does, with a rectangle in front of us containing Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion roaring instead of the MGM lion. And then we all gasped as the viewing area opened up.

The seats shake from time to time and little things drop onto  the audience but I think I'll let you be surprised what and when.

Beautiful closeups of Judy Garland as Dorothy, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, and Jack Haley as the Tin Man, as well as scary ones of the dreadful Wicked Witch (Margaret Hamilton). Trivia is that actor Buddy Ebsen was cast as the Tin Man but had to drop out because he was allergic to the silver makeup.

The opening has a dedication written at the movie's release, referring to the book's publication in 1900 ("For nearly forty years..."). Here's a photo I took from my seat, which doesn't do justice to the extreme wide angle of the screen.

The closing credits take up lots of space when the computer acknowledgements begin. Here's some other credit-related trivia from the original movie.

Be aware that it has been edited. The Sphere show is one hour and fifteen minutes long, whereas the original movie is 1:41, so some of our favorite bits are not included. Still totally worth it, even if, like us, you're not a Vegas person. We saw it on January 15 and its run has been extended, alternating with pop music concerts at the venue. And I learned today that another Sphere is planned for the Maryland/DC area.