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.