Happy December, everyone! We’re down to the last month of 2025, can you believe it??
To my American friends, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. It was nice to get four days off, though they went by too fast 😆 We finally got snow ❄️ this past Saturday, enough to be plowable and wreak traffic, so we huddled down all day to put up our Christmas tree 🎄 Thanks to the long weekend, I was able to see quite a few movies and also caught up with some great series on AppleTV.
NOVEMBER VIEWINGS ON LETTERBOXD
(In the order of my rating)
FULL REVIEWS
Sentimental Value
Is This Thing On?
Roofman (Vince’s review)
Blue Eyed Girl
The Running Man
Eternity
Wicked For Good
REVIEWS COMING SOON:
Train Dreams
Rosemead
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
Kiss of A Spider Woman
MINI REVIEWS
LOVE+WAR
LOVE+WAR is a documentary by the dynamic duo Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, who won the Best Documentary Oscar for Free Solo, about climber Alex Honnold. This time, the filmmakers focus on Pulitzer Prize-winning Lynsey Addario, a conflict photographer who has risked her life to capture the stark realities of war — from the Middle East, Afghanistan, to Ukraine.
It’s a gripping and intense film that captures the horrors of war, following Lyndsey as she reports from Ukraine amidst heavy shelling. The film doesn’t shy away from showing the grim realities, including dead bodies and injured people on the streets, which is unsettling, but that’s the essence of the film. It’s also tough to watch Lynsey recount the time she and three male journalists were kidnapped in Libya while covering the Arab Spring. Lynsey’s husband, Paul de Bendern, is well aware of the dangers involved in her work since he used to be a Reuters correspondent and now runs a news agency in London. Balancing work and family life is definitely a challenge for them, especially with two young sons, and Paul takes on the role of the stay-at-home dad.
The harrowing war scenes are interwoven with heartwarming and joyful moments of Lynsey’s family, especially with her three sisters, who clearly cherish her. Interestingly, she grew up in Connecticut with two hairdresser parents, and her dad later came out as gay. Produced by National Geographic, Chin and Vasarhelyi did a stellar job of showcasing the contrasting sides of Lynsey’s life as both a mother and a photojournalist in one of the world’s most dangerous fields. The film also highlights the sacrifices made not just by Lynsey but also by Paul, who takes on the majority of the family responsibilities.
The documentary draws from Lynsey’s memoir, It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War, and the shortened title Love+War emphasizes the two realms she constantly navigates. It’s an incredible and thrilling film that I definitely recommend. It’s available to stream on Disney/Hulu.
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.
I saw 4 new-to-me films #directedbywomen in November, which brings the year tally to 54, woot!! The majority of films created by women were documentaries. It seems to me that this genre is significantly more accessible to female filmmakers compared to feature films. In any case, I’m glad I’ve reached the goal, though at this point, I very much doubt I’d be able to come close to last year’s tally of 63. Oh well, gotta do better next year!
Anyhoo, I ranked the movies on Letterboxd; you can follow my #52FilmsByWomen list as I will be updating it regularly.
TV WATCHES
AppleTV has been on a roll! I’m currently watching these two excellent series: Pluribus and Down Cemetery Road.
Pluribus
Pluribus is fascinating; it’s unlike any post-apocalyptic series out there. I haven’t seen Rhea Seehorn in anything prior to this, but she’s fantastic as the cranky novelist who’s unaffected by a virus that has turned the rest of humanity into a serene, happy hive mind. It’s pretty unsettling to watch everyone around you constantly cheerful, all sharing the same thoughts and emotions. Created by Vince Gilligan, it feels like a commentary on how divided our society has gotten, with people hating on those who don’t align with their views. Of course, the alternative is far from ideal and, honestly, terrifying.
Down Cemetery Road
I jumped right into this show because of the cast, Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson. It’s also adapted from the books by Mick Herron, the same guy who penned the amazing Slow Horses, which has turned into one of my all-time favorite shows. Now, I have to say, the quality isn’t quite up to the level of Slow Horses, which is pretty much flawless. Even though the murder and conspiracy plot is interesting, the pacing of this show feels a little too sluggish for me. That said, there’s still enough to grab my attention in each episode to keep me watching.
NOVEMBER MOVIE OF THE MONTH
Sentimental Value
Another easy pick this month! Sentimental Value is definitely the best film I watched this month, and it’s now in my top 5 for the year. It perfectly shows how art can aid in our healing, and the ending strikes a balance between hope and realism. Writer/director Joachim Trier doesn’t push for reconciliation or claim to have all the answers to the conflicts, letting the characters reflect and discover their paths in their own way. I’m really hoping Stellan Skarsgård finally gets that Oscar nomination he deserves!
FLIXCHATTER FILM BLOG 
For me in November, it’s sort of a tie between Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious and Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love.
I haven’t got around to Die My Love yet, but hopefully before end of the year. Notorious has been on my watch list for ages, I gotta get on that!
It appears we might have a long, cold and snowy winter this season. The last couple of winters have been “warm” for MN, so we’re due for a rough winter this year.
I think Frankenstein is the movie of the month for me. The only other new movie I saw was The Running Man and that was a dud. I watched a bunch older action films that I have on 4k disc. John Woo’s Hard Boiled starring Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung. It’s one of the first, maybe the first film to have use a “one take” shot during an action scene. It was so new at the time and people were blown away by it. Then I watched probably my favorite Sly Stallone’s action flick, Cliffhanger. A remake comes out next year, so I decided to revisit it. I still love it and it looks great in 4k and Dolby Atmos. I also revisit another 80s western, Clint Eastwood’s Pale Rider.
With the news that Christian Bale is being discussed to join Heat 2, I watched the first film again for the countless times. I’m so excited for Heat 2, I hope Mann can deliver!
I noticed that Apple is heavily promoting Down Cemetery Road on their app, I’ll give it a watch once I’m done with the current crops of shows I’m watching.
I LOVE Frankenstein too, but Sentimental Value is a better film IMHO.
I have never seen Cliffhanger, now I’m curious. Hopefully it’s available on streaming somewhere.
Yeah I’m super excited for HEAT 2, the cast is killer!! I heard Leo DiCaprio might be joining the cast too, that is historic as I thought Bale refuse to be in a movie with Leo since American Psycho casting debacle.
If you like Slow Horses, you might enjoy Down Cemetery Road, Ted!
Cliffhanger is in Amazon Prime. I’ve seen it countless times and when it came out, it was one of those Die Hard on a ….. type of film. In this case, it was Die Hard in the Mountains. Lol! But it’s the typical 90s action film, full of one liners, the bad guys were nasty and they get killed in the most painful ways and of course it was bloody. Stallone actually was spearheading the remake years ago but for whatever reason, he’s longer involved and apparently, he was replaced with Pierce Brosnan. The lead this team is Lily James.
Leo involvement is the reason why Mann got the budget approved. He tried to pitch the movie with Adam Driver and Austin Butler as the leads but studios said no. Then he got Leo to come on board to take over Val Kilmer’s role. There hasn’t been officially announced yet but Kilmer’s character from the first film was the main focus in the novel. So, we can all assume that Leo will take over Kilmer’s character. Apparently, Adam Driver is still involved, he’ll most likely be playing the younger version of De Niro’s character from the first film. I think Bale will be playing the Al Pacino’s role, assuming he accepts the offer.
At one point, Mann considered using de-aging CGI like The Irishman because both De Niro and Pacino are still alive. But they’re in their 80s and the book has a lot of action scenes, no way that both 80 year old actors can do all the required physical in the role now. Lol! Also, it would look terrible! The book took place in the late 1980s, mid 1990s and early 2000s.
This is crazy. Every month you ask what movies I watched, and every month I can’t seem. to remember.
I’ve been on Netflix and Disney+ watching a fair but of new productions, movies mostly… but I can’t have been overly impressed if the 3 that popped into mind are all rewatches: Chinatown, High Plains Drifter and Witness.
Interesting about docus being more open to women than films. Love & War sounds really decent.
Sentimental Value – GO STELLAN!
XOXOXO
I use Letterboxd to log all the movies I watch and I also have a list on my phone to log stuff; otherwise I’d forget 😀
So you don’t remember any of the new stuff you saw on Netflix and Disney+? Then they didn’t leave a lasting impression, ahah. I think the last thing I saw on Netflix that I love was Frankenstein, which I haven’t had a chance to review yet. It’s amazing visually, and I love the monster more so than Victor the creator, which I think is supposed to be the point.
Man, I still need to see Chinatown, I know we talked about this once before.
Yeah, I think for me, if I want to boost my number of female-directed films, I usually look for docs. Yes, go Stellan!! Glad he’s nominated for Golden Globes, next OSCAR!!
Yes, the lasting impression is critical.
Sometimes I’ll be like 20 – 30 mins. into a movie and realize I’ve seen it before. UCH!
You will love “China Town”! They did not Hollywoodify it in the end, but apparently Polanski had to fight “them” on it. So glad Polanski won!
Hope he wins the Globe! (& the Oscar)