Late Fame (2025)

I loved this. Willem Dafoe plays a former poet who had some recognition and is approached some fifty years later by a group of pretentious young admirers of his work. Greta Lee is delicious as the dramatic Gloria and Edmund Donovan very good as the fawning Meyers. Jake Lacey has a cameo as an agent.

Director Kent Jones works from a script written by Samy Burch and based on an 1895 novella by Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931) that was published in 2014.

I made notes that I enjoyed the score by Don Fleming and editing by Mike Selemon. All I can find of the music is a five minute track (scroll to the fourth) on this page.

Dafoe was last blogged for Saturday Night, Lee for Past Lives, Lacy for Their Finest, and Burch for May December. This is Jones' fourth feature as director, Fleming's first as composer, and Selemon's ninth as editor, one of which was directed by Jones.

32 producers are credited, which earns it a spot on my Producers Plethora Prize list, though not near the top.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are famously up to date, loving this with a 94% average, while its audiences are more oblivious at 67. I rented it for a long plane ride on October 12. 

How to Rent and Download for Offline Viewing (e.g. airplane mode). Steps 1-3 must be completed while online.

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, still online. 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 and then stop. This helps to activate the 48-hour viewing window (most rentals give you only 48 hours to watch once you have started). Do not quit the app.
4. Offline Access: On the plane, now you can activate Airplane Mode. Return to the app on your device, go to Library, select Rentals, and play your movie. If you don't finish watching it, remember you have only 48 hours from when you start watching until it goes away.
5. Alternatively, you can buy it for a few dollars more, which would enable you to watch it anytime on any device, but you still will have to start it while online.

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

Miss You, Love You (2026)

Allison Janney is terrific as a prickly widow who has to plan her husband's funeral with a stranger because her son sent his personal assistant instead of showing up. Andrew Rannells is also very good as the assistant. Director Jim Rash was inspired to write the screenplay by his sister's having done the same: sent her assistant to plan their father's funeral instead of coming herself. Bonnie Hunt apparently did some improvising as the amusing busybody choir leader. 

The only part of the score by Mark Orton I can find online is this 2 minute 11 second suite on YouTube, Then there are two things, related to a song, that I wish had been done differently, but I won't print them here as I deem them spoilers. Write me at babetteflix at gmail if you really want to know.

Apparently, due to a short shooting schedule, the actors memorized all their lines in advance as if they were performing a play. In fact, it was originally going to be a stage play. That makes sense, because, though it takes place and was shot in New Mexico, there are few locations.

Janney was last blogged for The People We Hate at the Wedding, Rannells for The Intern, Rash for co-directing and co-writing Downhill, and Orton for Somewhere in Queens. Before I gave Hunt short shrift for I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, I saw her in Jerry Maguire (1996), The Green Mile (1999), Return to Me (2000), and others of her dozens of credits. It should be noted that she also directed and co-wrote Return to Me.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics like this one a lot, as shown by their 88% average, while its audiences aren't sure if they want a commitment at 77. Jack and I streamed this on HBO on October 9.

Here (2024)

I wanted to like director/co-writer Robert Zemeckis' latest, but didn't. It's a non-linear exploration of a plot of land, in what would become New Jersey, from prehistoric times to the future, centering on a house built there. The first reunion since Forrest Gump (1994) of Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Zemeckis, co-writer Eric Roth, cinematographer Don Burgess, and composer Alan Silvestri, it jumps around in time, due, no doubt, to its basis on a 2014 graphic novel by Richard McGuire.

My biggest issue was that I didn't like the main characters. Hanks and Wright play the central couple, with Paul Bettany and Kelly Reilly as Hanks' parents. Hanks' and Wright's characters are not nice and Bettany's is angry and mean. Copious computer effects helped the actors play older and younger. My favorite characters are an inventor and a pin-up model who lived in the house in the 1940s, played by David Flynn and Ophelia Lovibond.

Here's Silvestri's score on Apple Music.

Zemeckis and Silvestri were last blogged for Death Becomes Her, Hanks for Asteroid City, Wright for Blade Runner 2049, Roth for Killers of the Flower Moon, Burgess for Allied, Bettany for Avengers: Infinity War, Reilly for Calvary. Flynn and Lovibond have dozens of credits, the latter having starred in all 18 episodes of Minx.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics also want to be somewhere else with their 35% average, while its audiences are almost as remote at 59. I downloaded it from Hulu and watched it October 6 on a plane ride.

Tony (2026)

I loved this bio-pic about chef Anthony Bourdain (1956-2018), taking place in the summer of 1975. Dominic Sessa is very good in the title role, and ably supported by Antonio Banderas as the Brazilian Chef of a local restaurant, Emilia Jones as Tony's crush Nancy, and Leo Woodall as his bad influencing friend Sal.

Matt Johnson directs and co-wrote the script, based on early parts of Bourdain's 2000 memoir Kitchen Confidential, with Todd Bartels, Lou Howe, and Matthew Miller, and it moves along very well. The screenplay was on the 2024 Black List of notable unproduced scripts.

Eighteen minutes of the lovely and moody score by Jay McCarrol is available on Apple Music and imdb lists many songs, some from the mid-70s. The one that sticks with me, however, is the classic Old Cape Cod by Patti Page.

The location shots in Provincetown lend authenticity. It should be noted that the Canadian crew has some trouble getting there but they finally did.

Sessa was last blogged for The Holdovers, Banderas for Babygirl, Jones for CODA which earned her a bunch of nominations and wins, and Johnson, Miller, and McCarrol for BlackBerry. Woodall is familiar to me for the title role of the series Vladimir and all of season two of The White Lotus. This is Bartels' first screenplay and Howe's second.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are eating it up, averaging 93 and 92%. I saw it in a bricks and mortar theatre with a captions device as usual, on September 27, but you can now rent it.

I'm going to put this on my list of Random food movies. Though there isn't as much cooking in this as in the other entries, it needs to represent.

Verity (2026)

This thriller about a woman hired to ghost write the end of a novel series by a best-selling author boasts a location to die for (more in a moment), but I didn't care much for it, despite Anne Hathaway's sleek title character. Dakota Johnson as the younger writer and Josh Hartnett as Verity's husband didn't do it for me. 

Nick Antosca adapted Colleen Hoover's 2018 novel for director Michael Showalter and there are many twists throughout. Volker Bertelmann provides the evocative score. Plus there are at least nine songs.

Most of the movie was shot in a stunning mid-century modern house in upstate New York, standing in for Maine. Read this for more on that place. 

Hathaway was last blogged for The Devil Wears Prada 2, Johnson for Materialists, Showalter for Oh. What. Fun., and Bertelmann for Conclave. Hartnett is not new to the business, having appeared in The Virgin Suicides (1999), Black Hawk Down (2001), and Oppenheimer, among his dozens of credits. This is Antosca's fourth feature after a number of TV series and shorts.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics have written it off with a 31% average, while its audiences found it slightly more noteworthy at 71. I saw it October 3 in a theatre, where it wasn't my first choice but there was an error in the published schedule. The estimate for streaming is late November or early December on Amazon Prime Video.

Blue Sun Palace (2024)

I was distracted--a lot--while watching this well-reviewed, moody story of massage therapists in Chinatown in Queens, New York, so it's not fair for me to admit that I wasn't particularly drawn in. Yes, critics have loved it (see below) and they were probably way more focused than I. Most of the dialogue is in Mandarin so it's almost surprising that it takes place in this country. The main characters are Didi, played by Haipeng Xu, Cheung, played by Kang-sheng Lee, and Amy, played by Ke-Xi Wu.

This is, after three shorts, the feature debut of director/writer Constance Tsang. Sami Jano's score is not available online, but some of his other scores are on Apple Music and Tsang created a Spotify playlist, which I assume is comprised of songs from the movie.

Xu has been in four other features, Lee forty-one, Wu fifteen, and Jano has scored seven others.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are royally impressed, with a perfect score of 100%, but the site doesn't have enough audience scores to give an average.

I originally rented it for a long haul plane ride but forgot a vital step before we were in the air. Write me if you need instructions on how to watch a rented movie in airplane mode. If you follow all the steps it'll work just fine!

I watched it in segments, finishing on September 12, on a couple of bad days, in a room that didn't get dark enough. Not sure if I've addressed this in the blog, but I prefer to watch movies in the afternoon, and am away from my home theatre (which has blackout shades) as Jack holds down the fort.

Finding Emily (2026)

I loved this rom-com about a Gen Z musician trying to locate his dream girl at her college in England. Spike Fearn stars as Owen and Angourie Rice plays a different Emily who helps Owen in his quest. I particularly enjoyed Prasanna Puwanarajah as a snarky professor, Minnie Driver as the beleaguered dean, and Kat Ronney as a pink-haired Emily.

Alicia MacDonald makes her feature debut directing from the sweet script by Rachel Hirons. Music is important here and, even though we don't learn that Owen is a musician until the second act, there are 28 songs, according to this site. The Apple Music soundtrack lists only thirteen, with five of them by the movie's composer Morgan Kibby and not included in the 28.

Interesting trivia factoids include that it was originally set at UCLA but Hirons moved it to Manchester, England, a half hour from her home, where it was almost entirely shot; and that Fearn had a lot of training to perform as a musician.

This movie had been on my radar for a long time. As my long-time followers know, since lockdown I have only streamed movies, almost always in the afternoon. But now I am away from my home theatre for a few months, and my current apartment's windows are very sunny in the afternoon. So I went to my second movie in a bricks-and-mortar theatre since Tenet, when eleven of us rented a screening room in November of 2020. This time I forgot to ask for the caption device and, wow, did I need it. Owen's Manchester accent is thick and his brother's is even thicker. That said, it is now available for rent and you should turn on the captions. I may even watch it again sometime to see what I missed.

Rice was last blogged for Mean Girls and Driver for Millers in Marriage. Fearn has a handful of credits, including Aftersun, though I failed to mention him. Puwanarajah looked familiar because he was in seven episodes of Too Much and two of The Crown. Ronney is new to me. This is Hirons' fourth feature and Kibby's twelfth.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences have found this project very enjoyable, averaging 89 and 90%. I watched it September 5. Don't walk away when the credits roll, because there's a major "where are they now" bonus.

The Dink (2026)

Jack and I had a few laughs with this lightweight story of a failed tennis prodigy now country club tennis instructor who turns to pickleball after an injury. It stars Jake Johnson, Mary Steenburgen as his pickleball partner, Ed Harris as his mean dad who owns the club, Ben Stiller as a doctor, Aaron Chen as Dustin's tennis assistant, Fortune Feimster as another pickleball player, Patton Oswalt as a vocal member of the club, and former, but not failed, tennis pros Andy Roddick and John McEnroe as themselves. 

Josh Greenbaum directs from the script by Sean Clements. The original score by Dara Taylor is available online only as a two minute suite on YouTube, but you're much more likely to remember the great songs.

Dink is a kind of pickleball shot: a soft return. And Johnson and others trained so that they could actually play on screen.

Johnson was last blogged for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Steenburgen for Happiest Season, Harris for The Lost Daughter, Stiller for The Meyerowitz Stories, Feimster for Social Animals, Oswalt for I Love My Dad, Greenbaum for Will & Harper, and Taylor for Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar (which was directed by Greenbaum). I mention Chen primarily as a plug for the hilarious series Fisk, set in his native Australia, and this is Clements' feature screenwriting debut after writing for several TV series.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics, averaging 76%, are scoring higher than its audiences at 58. After seeing many ads for this movie on Apple TV, we streamed it on August 14.

The Invite (2026)

Jack and I loved this cringey, profane story of a tense couple, whose marriage is on the rocks, and their dinner party with a couple in their building. Several others of our friends loved it, too. Olivia Wilde directs and stars as the tightly wound wife in couple #1 with Seth Rogen as her baffled husband. When gorgeous couple #2, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton, enters the picture it gets even more crazy.

Will McCormack and Rashida Jones adapted the screenplay from the Spanish movie 2020 movie Sentimental AKA The People Upstairs. Devonté Hynes' jittery original score can be streamed on Apple Music. Wikipedia says he plays cello, among other instruments, and that is primary in this score.

A few fun trivia tidbits: Wilde dedicated the movie to her mentor Diane Keaton, who died three months before the movie's Sundance Film Festival release; it opens with a quotation from Oscar Wilde, who is no relation to the director (her birth name is Olivia Jane Cockburn); and this is the seventh adaptation of Sentimental (I counted more than the imdb trivia), all in other languages.

Wilde was last blogged for directing and acting in Don't Worry Darling, Rogen for Dumb Money, Cruz for Ferrari, Norton for A Complete Unknown, the writing team of McCormack and Jones for Celeste and Jesse Forever, and Hynes for Passing. 

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences have RSVPed yes, please, with averages of 96 and 89%, respectively. We rented it on August 11.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026)

Not great but we're not sorry we watched it. Glamorous wardrobe, artwork, production design, and locations power this glossy sequel despite the squandering of the talents of Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley, Tucci, and Emily Blunt, all reprising their roles of Andy, Miranda, Nigel, and Emily from the 2006 original, which I remember loving. This one takes place, appropriately, twenty years later and some of the gags are about people being scolded for their outdated (i.e. politically incorrect) language and actions as Streep's character's magazine takes its place in the 21st century. The rest of the enormous cast includes Justin Theroux, Kenneth Branagh, Lucy Liu, Simone Ashley, Rachel Bloom, and B.J. Novak.

Director David Frankel, screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, director of photography Florian Ballhaus, and composer Theodore Shapiro also return for this outing. Shapiro's high energy score is available on all the usual platforms. Today I'm listening on Spotify for a change (my Apple Music is crunching something else at the moment). Lady Gaga has a cameo and contributes several songs, my favorites of which are Runway and Shape of a Woman. Of course Madonna's Vogue is featured as well as at least fifteen other songs.

Molly Rogers deserves a shout out for the costumes and Ballhaus' cinematography is important to the high production values.

Hathaway and Shapiro were last blogged for The Intern (in which Hathaway's character was not unlike Miranda from these two movies), Streep for Death Becomes Her, Tucci for Conclave, Blunt for The Fall Guy, Theroux for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Branagh for Tenet, Bloom for the TV series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (created, as it happens, by McKenna), Novak for Inglourious Basterds, Frankel for Jerry & Marge Go Large, and McKenna for Cruella. 

Of her over a hundred credits, Liu is best known for Kill Bill:Vol. 1 (2003) and Vol. 2 (2004), and one of the Charlie's Angels (2000). And I recognized Ashley from the two British series Sex Education (2019-21) and Bridgerton (2022-26). Ballhaus has shot a bunch of things I've seen but this is his first mention in these pages.

Rotten Tomatoes' audiences are buying the trends at 84% more than its critics at 78. Jack and I streamed it on Hulu on August 7.

The Choral (2025)

You don't have to sing in a chorus, as I do, to love this movie, as I did, but it certainly doesn't hurt. Jack loved it, too, and he is not a singer. Set in England against the brutalities of World War I in 1916, the movie is about a community choir, led eventually by Ralph Fiennes, a brilliant, idiosyncratic, and demanding director. Three of the singing voices are dubbed by professionals, that of Roger Allam as tenor Bernard Duxbury, Amara Okereke as soprano Mary, and Jacob Dudman as tenor Clyde. The acting is quite wonderful all around and the music uplifting.

Nicholas Hytner directs from the marvelous script by Alan Bennett, with the original score by George Fenton, which is sadly not available to stream. Here's an interesting article about the Royal College of Music singers who participated.

Fiennes was last blogged for Conclave, Hytner and Bennett for The Lady in the Van, and Fenton for The Duke. Allam looked familiar to me, perhaps because his nearly a hundred credits include The Queen (2006), The Iron Lady, and The Lady in the Van. I don't believe I've seen Okereke before, but Dudman has been in nine episodes of the Scrubs reboot.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics, with a 66% average, are not singing its praises as much as its audiences at 78. We watched it on Netflix on July 29.

Project Hail Mary (2026)

Despite its excessive length of 2:36, Jack and I enjoyed this sci-fi thriller about a middle school science teacher who awakens from a coma on a spaceship and has to figure out why he is there and what to do. Ryan Gosling is good as the teacher Ryland Grace and there are some unexpected laughs here and there. The character Rocky is voiced by lead puppeteer James Ortiz. The large cast includes Sandra Hüller appearing in many flashbacks as the head of the task force that sent him to space and Lionel Boyce in a pivotal part as a security guy. 

The movie was co-directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from the screenplay by Drew Goddard, based on Andy Weir's 2021 novel. As usual, I'm streaming on Apple Music the original score as I write, this one by Daniel Pemberton.

A vast number of trivia points include that, speaking of excessive length, the original cut was a staggering 3:45.

Gosling was last blogged for The Fall Guy, Hüller for Zone of Interest, Goddard for Bad Times at the El Royale, Weir for the novel on which Goddard based the screenplay for The Martian, and Pemberton for Materialists. Ortiz's credits include three previous movies as an actor and two as a puppeteer. Boyce is best known to us as Carl, the pastry chef in 47 episodes of The Bear. This is the fifth feature co-directed by Lord and Miller and they have various wins and nominations for their writing and producing.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are full of Grace (like the spaceship) and tied at 95% approval. We streamed it on Amazon Prime on July 14.

I Love Boosters (2026)

This insane, loud, fever dream is not for everyone but Jack and I didn't hate it. Taylour Paige, Keke Palmer, and Naomi Ackie are shoplifters (boosters) of high end fashion in San Francisco, focusing on the work of one designer, played hilariously by Demi Moore. Support comes from Poppy Liu, LaKeith Stanfield, and more, with a cameo by Don Cheadle.

Director/writer Boots Riley keeps the madcap pace going throughout. Do not turn this off when the credits roll, because there is another scene at the very end. The crazy original score by Tune-Yards (Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner) is streaming on Apple Music as I type. Palmer has also released five songs from the soundtrack as a separate album.

I must mention the colorful costumes designed by Shirley Kurata.

Paige was last blogged for Sharp Stick, Palmer for One of Them Days, Moore for The Substance, Stanfield for Roofman, Cheadle for White Noise, and Riley and Tune-Yards for Sorry to Bother You. Ackie is new to me but not to her craft and Liu has appeared in episodes of Better Call Saul, The Afterparty,  and Hacks, to name a few. Kurata was recognized many times for her work in Everything Everywhere All at Once, including an Oscar nominations and a win from her peers in the Costume Designers Guild. This is her sixth feature heading the wardrobe department.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics love these folks with a 92% average, though its audiences' average needs a boost from 75. We rented it on July 24.

The Sheep Detectives (2026)

Everyone we talked to said they loved this comedic mystery wherein a herd of anthropomorphic sheep solve the murder of their beloved shepherd, and Jack and I loved it, too. Hugh Jackman is the sweet shepherd, and the sheep who talk to each other but not to humans are voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus (she plays the smart one), Brett Goldstein (both of the dumb twins), Patrick Stewart (the old one), Chris O'Dowd (with the good memory), Bryan Cranston (the fighter), and more.

The live action cast also includes Emma Thompson as the solicitor (looking gorgeous, I must say), Nicholas Braun as the hapless policeman, Nicholas Galitzine as a reporter, and Molly Gordon makes an appearance in the second act but I think it's a mild spoiler to tell you her character.

Kyle Balda directs from Craig Mazin's screenplay, based on the 2005 novel Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. Christophe Beck's lilting soundtrack is streaming from Apple Music as I type.

Jackman was last blogged for Song Sung Blue, Louis-Dreyfus for You Hurt My Feelings, Stewart for Logan, O'Dowd for Juliet, Naked, Cranston for Asteroid City, Thompson for Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Braun for Saturday Night, Galitzine for The Idea of You, Gordon for Oh, Hi!, and Beck for Unfrosted.

Goldstein is best known as Roy Kent in 34 episodes (so far) of Ted Lasso, which he wrote many of, and then he played Louis in 33 episodes (so far) of Shrinking, which he co-created and wrote even more of. Balda has directed some animated features, none of which I've seen, and this is Mazin's ninth feature.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences have all the clues with averages of 95 and 96%. We streamed it on Prime on July 6. Oh, and I was that many years old when I learned that lamb and sheep are the same species, just at different ages!

No Other Choice (Eo-jjeol su-ga eop-da - 2025)

I didn't love, despite its rave reviews, this story of a Korean man whose perfect life unravels when he gets fired from his job and takes extreme measures to get another. No accounting for taste. Lee Byung-hun plays the lead and Son Ye-jin plays his wife.

Director/co-writer Park Chan-Wook is much revered for his previous work but I've watched only one (see below). The script was co-written by Lee Kyoung-mi, Don McKellar, and Jahye Lee, and based on Donald Westlake's 1997 novel The Ax. The movie is dedicated to Costa-Gavras, revered Greek director/writer, who adapted the same novel into The Axe (2005), which I have not seen, but I have seen some of that director's work.

Cho Young-wuk's soundtrack is available for streaming on Apple Music.

Lee Byung-hun was last blogged for The Good, The Bad, The Weird, Park and Cho for Decision to Leave, and McKellar for Blindness. Son is new to me but not to the business. Lee Kyoung-mi has co-written two other features with Park, both directed by her. Jahye Lee co-wrote one other feature, also co-written by Park, but not directed by either one.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences enthusiastically choose this, averaging 97 and 93%, respectively. I downloaded it from Hulu and watched it on a long plane ride on July 2.

Rental Family (2025)

I loved this poignant story of an American actor in Tokyo who finds work impersonating family members. Apparently, this is a real thing in Japan. Brendan Fraser is wonderful as Phillip, as are the supporting cast, including Takehiro Hira as the business owner Shinji, Mari Yamamoto as his colleague Aiko, Akira Emoto as retired actor Kikuo, and young Shannon Mahina Gorman as schoolgirl Mia.

Director Hikari co-wrote the script with Stephen Blahut and there are some laughs. The wonderful music by Jónsi and Alex Somers (stream it on Apple Music) is supplemented by about a dozen songs, listed here.

The gorgeous location photography is thanks to Takuro Ishizaka.

Fraser was last blogged for Sea Lions of the Galapagos, a couple of years after winning the Best Actor Oscar for The Whale, and Jónsi and Somers for Captain Fantastic.

The others are new to me but Hira has dozens of credits, Yamamoto twenty-something, and Emoto hundreds. Miss Gorman has been nominated for eight awards for this, her acting debut. Hikari directed and wrote one other feature and she directed three episodes of Beef. This is Blahut's first screenplay and he was director of photography in Hikari's other feature. Ishizaka has shot 19 other features and won some awards for one short film.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics want a long lease with their average of 87%, while its audiences are looking to buy at 95.

I have written a list of rules, or tropes, in movies and TV and this inspired me to add a new one: any movie set in Tokyo will have a shot of the Shibuya Scramble Crossing, the world's busiest pedestrian intersection, and this is no exception. For my complete list, click here.

I downloaded this from Hulu for a long plane flight on June 27.

Ella McCay (2025)

This story of a young progressive female politician juggling work and family was savaged by critics but Jack and I didn't hate it, due in part to its star power. Heading the huge cast are Emma Mackey in the title role, Jamie Lee Curtis as Ella's aunt, Woody Harrelson and Rebecca Hall as Ella's parents, Albert Brooks as the governor (the state is unnamed but it was shot in Rhode Island), Kumail Nanjiani as a kind state trooper, with Ayo Edebiri in a cameo. Julie Kavner as the narrator, and Tracey Ullman as the voice of Olympia.

Veteran director/writer James L. Brooks has settled into a comfortable rut with pretty people, pretty locations, and just a little conflict, which could explain the bad ratings for this picture (see below). Seasoned composer Hans Zimmer provides the lilting soundtrack, available on Apple Music.

Mackey was last blogged for Barbie, Curtis for The Last Showgirl, Harrelson for Fly Me to the Moon, Hall for The Dinner, Albert Brooks for Concussion, Nanjiani for Death to 2020, Edebiri for Bottoms, Ullman for Death to 2021, James Brooks for How Do You Know (which I panned), and Zimmer for F1: The Movie.

Kavner may be best known for providing the voice of Marge Simpson in 805 episodes of The Simpsons (co-created by James Brooks) so far. It has been renewed for season 40, even though only 37 have been made. She has been in a handful of live action projects, including 109 episodes of Rhoda and movies Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), New York Stories (1989), Forget Paris (1995), and Deconstructing Harry (1997).

Rotten Tomatoes' critics think this one is salmon-Ella, with a 23% average, while its audiences  are only slightly less sickened at 58. We streamed it on Hulu on June 14.

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.