Happy November, all! 🧡 Two more months until we’re done with 2025, wow!! I feel like this past year felt like a blur… I wouldn’t say it’s been uneventful, but if we’re talking about movies, there aren’t major releases that made this year extra special. I am still looking forward to some award-worthy films in the next few weeks. I just saw It Was Just An Accident by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, and it certainly deserves the Palme d’Or win! I’ll be seeing Sentimental Value in a week or so, looking forward to that!
Weather-wise (hey, I live in MN, so we always have to talk about the weather, ahah!), there’s still no sign of the white stuff yet, phew! Looking at the 2-week forecast, the temps are still relatively mild between 40s-50s, and barely any precipitation is on the horizon. Let’s hope we don’t see snow ’til close to Christmas!
OCTOBER VIEWINGS ON LETTERBOXD
(In the order of my rating)
I saw 21 new films in October, with only one rewatch: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
As last night was Halloween (on Friday the 13th, no less, I saw Disney/Marvel’s Werewolf By Night on Disney+, which was directed (and composed) by Michael Giacchino. Apparently, it was Marvel Studios’ first Halloween special, and it was pretty fun to watch. It helps that it’s less than an hour long.
FULL REVIEWS
The Lost Bus
Anemone
TRON: ARES
STEVE
A House of Dynamite
HEDDA
John Candy: I Like Me (d0c)
Blue Moon
REVIEWS COMING SOON:
TCFF MINI REVIEWS: ANXIETY CLUB & THE FLOATERS
LOST & FOUND IN CLEVELAND
IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT
NUREMBERG
RENTAL FAMILY
SENTIMENTAL VALUE
HAMNET
52 Films By Women – 2025 Challenge
I am once again participating in this challenge. Per Women In Film (WIF) organization, the basic rules are simple: watch 52 films directed by women within one year and share what you watched on social media, using the hashtag #52FilmsByWomen to spread the word, and get more people talking about the women filmmakers that don’t always get attention.
Thanks to TCFF, I saw 8 new-to-me films #directedbywomen in October (double what I saw last month), which brings the year tally to 50, hurray!! So only TWO more to go until I reach my goal!! There should be a few more female-directed movies I can watch during award season, so I can at least come close to last year’s tally of 63. I ranked the movies on Letterboxd; you can follow my #52FilmsByWomen list as I will be updating it regularly.
TV WATCHES
Chad Powers
Only Murders In The Building S5
OCTOBER MOVIE OF THE MONTH
Another easy pick this month! Lots of competition this month as I saw quite a lot of great films, but HAMNET is one I still think about the most. I agree with Twin Cities Film Fest’s pick for Best Narrative Feature once again. Last year, they bestowed that honor on CONCLAVE, which was singled out for Best Picture at the Oscars. I’m hoping Chloe Zhao will nab another multiple nominations! My review will be posted closer to its nationwide release of December 12.
FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
I did not see very much in October due to personal reasons but my favorite film of the month is my Blind Spot film in Cure which was fucking scary.
Sorry you didn’t get to see many movies last month. Hope you get to see more in the last two months of the year, as there are lots of great films released during award season.
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I still can’t believe that 2025 is almost over! I’m glad we’re still having a relatively “nice” weather here. Having been in LA for almost a week and the weather was perfect out there, it’s hard coming back and have to wear light jacket again. Lol!
I only saw 4 new movies (to me) last month, Tron: Ares, Play Dirty, Nosferatu and Working Man. I enjoyed Tron: Ares because of the experience at the 3D IMAX theater, I don’t think I would have enjoyed it had I seen it at a regular theater. I rewatched a bunch of older movies, including Silverado, a very underrated western from the 80s. It finally came out on 4K, I feel like I was seeing the film for the first time because the picture and especially the Dolby Atmos sounded so good! It was a film that launched Kevin Costner’s into super stardom in the late 80s and early 90s.
As usual, I watched a bunch of TV series. Black Rabbit on Netflix was pretty good. I’m currently in the middle of The Last Frontier on Apple TV and finished the latest season of Slow Horses. I thought this season was good but definitely not as good as the previous 2 seasons, it’s on par with season 1.
Yeah, I’m glad the weather is still relatively mild though we might get a taste of the white stuff this Saturday! ❄️
Ivan started watching WORKING MAN but I told him I’m not interested, as it looked really violent. I finally saw MIDNIGHT RUN on Netflix and really enjoyed that action-comedy classic! Charles Grodin is really hilarious and sweet, I love his performance there.
Glad you like Black Rabbit! If it isn’t too violent I might give it a watch as I’m curious to see Jude Law and Jason Bateman as brothers, ahah.
Midnight Run is a fun buddy action comedy, it didn’t do that well at the box office but it became a cult classic throughout the years. It was directed by Martin Brest who a few years earlier, directed Beverly Hills Cop and that film was a massive hit. He was on track to become a big time director but for whatever reason, his later films never reached the height of his first blockbuster. The nail in the coffin for Brest was Gigli. He hasn’t done a film since and I think he got black listed for standing up to then all powerful Bob Weinstien.
Black Rabbit was not violent at all, it’s a typical thriller. Similar to the early films of The Coen Brothers.
October?
I don’t even remember October happening, let alone new movies. I did watch movies. Okay on Netflix – A House of Dynamite,- pretty good!
Love that you are trying to break your WIF record of 63 films.
GO RUTH!
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Planes Trains and Automobiles is an excellent rewatch!
It’s crazy that we’re in November already, I am flummoxed! I actually put up my holiday lights this past weekend before it got too cold to put up, ahah.
A House of Dynamite is chilling because it’s plausible! I mean, our orange prez just ordered pentagon to do nuclear test, yikes!!
Yeah, I’m hoping I can break my WIF record or at least get close to it!
XOXOXO
I agree with what you say about “House of Dynamite”.
I’m of 2 minds. Most older folks (like me – lol) who caught enough of the cold war (1947-1991) and all the movies like “The Day After” 1983 – are like – yes I know! And where’s the shocking horror of nuclear war to scare people into NOT wanting it and doing something about it?
If you were say, 10 yrs old in 1991, you’d be in your midish 40’s – my niece born in 1991 is in her mid 30’s she’s barely even been introduced to the reality that there could be a nuclear war.
To all those people, this movie makes it look like a video game. So, reset. Start again!
If the movie’s intent is to get people to think seriously about getting rid of nukes, of doing something about – it fails.
It’s too, computer game (ish.) Not real enough.
Your prez is a $#@^(&% ad may end up killing us all.
XOXOXO
That’s awesome you’re already at 50! I’m only at 32 so I have a ways to go.
Hey, you still got two months to watch 20 films by women… I think it should be doable to get at least half of that. There are lots of documentaries directed by women, the doc film scene seems to be more ‘women friendly’ than the narrative world.