2025 in film
Jan. 26th, 2026 16:28![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fabiadrakeThings I watched for the first time (mostly) and (mostly) enjoyed.
Strictly speaking, I watched The Right Stuff over the course of New Year’s Eve and, strictly speaking, it was a rewatch. In my area (to my chagrin) fireworks start at sundown on NYE and carry on until sometime between midnight and 3am. My dog trembles through the whole thing and selfishly climbs onto my lap. I now see this as a matter of inevitability and put on a long film. I had not seen The Right Stuff since I was perhaps 12 and had forgotten almost all of it. But I loved it. It’s a beautiful epic of a film, with elements of the war drama and the western. The cast is great; the cast dynamics are good. I don’t care very much that the astronauts, overall, did not like it. I also enjoyed Tom Wolfe’s book. (And it led me to a rewatch of For All Mankind; I highly recommend seasons 1-3, but unfortunately found season 4 unwatchable. Others may differ.) I have it in me to get weird about this film.
When I exited the auditorium at the end of The Brutalist, a woman near me said, “What an extreme film.” That kind of covers it. I have read critical reviews by people whose opinions I respect, but I remain unmoved by them. (I share Peter Bradshaw’s sentiments.) I like its ambition. I like its beauty. I like its oddness. I like its uncompromisingness. I like its silences.
The poster for Mr Burton, like those for so many British films, is rather twee (@ the marketing dept for the United Kingdom: stop embarrassing us) but the performances, particularly Harry Lawtey’s, are very good. The cinematography is pretty. I have no especially strong opinions, but liked it well enough. I saw it in a little independent cinema in the West Midlands.
My mother (classical history encyclopedia) had been trying to convince me to watch The Eagle for a year or so, and I finally gave in. I quite liked the book when I read it as a child. The film is a little better than I expected. I like its earnestness.
I watched The Darjeeling Limited because Tilda Swinton said she liked it. I liked it more than I would usually like a Wes Anderson film. That’s about all.
The Three Musketeers is daft, swashbuckling fun. I may have seen part of it as a child, but it could as easily have been another in the same series of adaptations; I count this as a first watch. I have forgotten most of it already but I had a good time. I am still sad about Roy Kinnear — he was perhaps mostly associated with comedy roles, but he had a subtly off-kilter, unsettling style I was always struck by. (The only parts of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory I enjoyed were Gene Wilder and Roy Kinnear: an unexpected but perfect marriage.)
The Dam Busters and Maurice are both great films; obviously I have come to both rather late. (In my defence, that was unavoidable.) I sometimes listen to War Movie Theatre and since they have a “Dam Busters dog award for most problematic moment” I was prepared for, well, something. To me James Wilby will always fundamentally be the Prince in Sapsorrow but he is an extremely reliable character actor (I am concerned this sounds like faint praise; on the contrary, it is the highest praise).
Postcards from the Edge is based on Carrie Fisher’s semiautobiographical novel of the same name, with a screenplay by her and a solid cast. Hard to go wrong.
In conclusion: it is not a long list (and would not be even if I included rewatched films). I think I should watch more films. Not new films necessarily, because they are often not very good; equally, not old films exclusively. But more films. And particularly more non-Anglophone films.
Strictly speaking, I watched The Right Stuff over the course of New Year’s Eve and, strictly speaking, it was a rewatch. In my area (to my chagrin) fireworks start at sundown on NYE and carry on until sometime between midnight and 3am. My dog trembles through the whole thing and selfishly climbs onto my lap. I now see this as a matter of inevitability and put on a long film. I had not seen The Right Stuff since I was perhaps 12 and had forgotten almost all of it. But I loved it. It’s a beautiful epic of a film, with elements of the war drama and the western. The cast is great; the cast dynamics are good. I don’t care very much that the astronauts, overall, did not like it. I also enjoyed Tom Wolfe’s book. (And it led me to a rewatch of For All Mankind; I highly recommend seasons 1-3, but unfortunately found season 4 unwatchable. Others may differ.) I have it in me to get weird about this film.
When I exited the auditorium at the end of The Brutalist, a woman near me said, “What an extreme film.” That kind of covers it. I have read critical reviews by people whose opinions I respect, but I remain unmoved by them. (I share Peter Bradshaw’s sentiments.) I like its ambition. I like its beauty. I like its oddness. I like its uncompromisingness. I like its silences.
The poster for Mr Burton, like those for so many British films, is rather twee (@ the marketing dept for the United Kingdom: stop embarrassing us) but the performances, particularly Harry Lawtey’s, are very good. The cinematography is pretty. I have no especially strong opinions, but liked it well enough. I saw it in a little independent cinema in the West Midlands.
My mother (classical history encyclopedia) had been trying to convince me to watch The Eagle for a year or so, and I finally gave in. I quite liked the book when I read it as a child. The film is a little better than I expected. I like its earnestness.
I watched The Darjeeling Limited because Tilda Swinton said she liked it. I liked it more than I would usually like a Wes Anderson film. That’s about all.
The Three Musketeers is daft, swashbuckling fun. I may have seen part of it as a child, but it could as easily have been another in the same series of adaptations; I count this as a first watch. I have forgotten most of it already but I had a good time. I am still sad about Roy Kinnear — he was perhaps mostly associated with comedy roles, but he had a subtly off-kilter, unsettling style I was always struck by. (The only parts of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory I enjoyed were Gene Wilder and Roy Kinnear: an unexpected but perfect marriage.)
The Dam Busters and Maurice are both great films; obviously I have come to both rather late. (In my defence, that was unavoidable.) I sometimes listen to War Movie Theatre and since they have a “Dam Busters dog award for most problematic moment” I was prepared for, well, something. To me James Wilby will always fundamentally be the Prince in Sapsorrow but he is an extremely reliable character actor (I am concerned this sounds like faint praise; on the contrary, it is the highest praise).
Postcards from the Edge is based on Carrie Fisher’s semiautobiographical novel of the same name, with a screenplay by her and a solid cast. Hard to go wrong.
In conclusion: it is not a long list (and would not be even if I included rewatched films). I think I should watch more films. Not new films necessarily, because they are often not very good; equally, not old films exclusively. But more films. And particularly more non-Anglophone films.
