“Train Dreams”

The newest collaboration between director Clint Bentley and co-writer Greg Kwedar takes us back to the Idaho frontier in the early 1900s for a visually-immersive and delicate examination on the accomplishments we make in our lifetime and tragedies we’re forced to overcome. Joel Edgerton stars as Robert Grainier, a man who dedicates years of his life, and time away from his wife Gladys (Felicity Jones) and his newborn child, to a railroad construction project. Through his work, influential people and experiences aid and challenge him through unimaginable circumstances. 

Bentley and cinematographer Adolpho Veloso concoct arresting woodland imagery, vintage photographs of a time long gone. Bryce Dessner (of The National) perfectly pairs it with a soothing symphonic sound. Joel Edgerton is magnificently gentle as Grainier, the perfect empathetic vessel to take us on this emotional journey. These elements, along with the warm narration by Will Patton, elevate Train Dreams in being the beautiful ode to what we get from the world and what we leave behind long after we’re gone. 

It is tragic though, sometimes unforgivably so, and for a film that breezes through time as swiftly as it does, its themes, upon reflection, do most of the heavy lifting in leaving a true impression more than the film does in the moment. There will be those that will be completely wrapped in its beauty and bowled over by its message, others may find it to be a beautiful snooze. What it’s able to contain in its 102 minutes is mostly profound and affecting, though an even larger narrative scope could have made this a masterpiece. Still, an achievement in visual storytelling and Edgerton’s performance is one of the year’s best.

Train Dreams is available to stream on Netflix.

“Jay Kelly”

“All my memories are movies” is the quote that will likely stick the most from Noah Baumbach’s newest comedy-drama, a love letter to stardom as much as it is a eulogy to reality. A life defined by IMDb credits. George Clooney stars as Jay Kelly, a Clooney-esque celebrity traveling to Tuscany to appear at his own career tribute, aided by his long-time manager Ron (Adam Sandler) and his publicist Liz (Laura Dern). Keeping up a bright face amongst inevitable public appearances where he’s recognized by everyone, Jay is haunted by memories of the past, regrets he carries, mistakes he can never correct. Ones that he buries away and replaces with the high of booking a new role.

Baumbach’s script (co-written by Emily Mortimer, who features briefly in the film) has a potent hook, a celebrity who begins to feel burdened by the guilt of those he left behind in the dust, though through overstated conversations and blunt sympathy, it makes its point early on and continues to make it for two hours, getting more sentimental as it goes. However, Baumbach still finds ways to keep this light on its feet. The cinematography by Linus Sandgren is lush, borderline technicolor at points, capturing the warmth of the sunny Italian seaside and the moody blues of a foggy memory. Nicholas Britell’s bouncy string score is an ear worm.

There isn’t anyone alive who could play Jay Kelly better than Clooney, who fits the role like a glove. Even during the retrospective, where clips of actual Clooney films are shown in montage form (as distracting as it is), you still believe that is Jay Kelly’s career in an alternate universe. Clooney’s natural charisma and syrupy voice are put to the best use in a film since Fantastic Mr. Fox. But it’s not all smiles and chuckles, that’s just Jay Kelly’s mask. Underneath is a frustrated man ever-feeling misunderstood, allowing Clooney to let a prickly attitude crack under the seams, whether sitting in on a contentious therapy session with his oldest daughter (Riley Keogh) or stomaching a reunion with an old friend from the past (a brilliant one-scene-wonder Billy Crudup).

But it’s Sandler that runs away with the whole film with his touching chemistry with Clooney, the complicated weight put on his shoulders for the duration of the film, his beautiful way of calling all of his clients “puppy”. He becomes the audience’s reliable constant, the glass of ice water when the less-engaging episodic vignette flashbacks begin to dry the film up. It’s a Sandler we’ve rarely gotten to have, and much like Clooney as Jay Kelly, feels like the most honest, vulnerable version of himself. The most unexpectedly perfect pairing of the year in a film that shows glimmers of greatness throughout. Jay Kelly’s script is a bit too cloying in spots, but somehow Baumbach and his actors are still able to make it comfort food. 

Jay Kelly is available to stream on Netflix.

“Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery”

Behold, the return of Benoit Blanc, a character played so enjoyably by Daniel Craig, he keeps us coming back for more with every new appearance. Although this time, he takes a step back to allow a new lead to take center stage with Josh O’Connor’s Reverend Judd. In this third Knives Out Mystery, Rian Johnson pivots away from the bright billionaire beaches of Glass Onion to the ominous woodland religious community in upstate New York, with a darker, more thematically rich murder mystery. 

Judd, newly appointed to Our Lady of Perpetual Fortitude, integrates himself in the oddball congregation with a chip on his shoulder and a devout faith, though highly disturbed by the teachings of priest Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin). When an impossible-to-solve murder happens during service, Benoit Blanc is hired to investigate, teaming up with Judd to maintain his innocence. Amongst the starry cast are Glenn Close, vamping it up as Wick’s right hand Martha Delacroix, Jeremy Renner as town doctor Nat Sharp, Mila Kunis as police chief Geraldine Scott, Kerry Washington as lawyer Vera Draven, Darrell McCormack as her conservative influencer adopted son Cy, Cailee Spaeny as young disabled musician Simone Vivane, Andrew Scott as sci-fi author Lee Ross, Jeffrey Wright as Bishop Langstrom, and Thomas Haden Church as groundskeeper Samson. 

While the cast is impressive, only a handful really get to stand out, as opposed to the more balanced weight given to the ensembles of the previous two, which is what keeps this third entry from being truly great, though O’Connor, Close, and Brolin really make a terrific impression. O’Connor’s Judd is a sensitive, passive, and non-judgmental guiding light despite a pretty haunted past, driven by the goodness of faith and combative of those that take poisonous advantage of it for their own greed. O’Connor is so good, he could branch off into his own series and it would be hard not to follow wherever he goes next. 

Johnson’s twisty writing once again presents a story that may have an obvious conclusion, but keeps you on your toes, brilliantly second-guessing everything. His tackling of institutionalized religion far more textured and resonate than his eye-rolling beat-down of the rich in Glass Onion (in it of itself, still a fun film with a phenomenal cast). He just found a formula that works, yet each new setting and set of characters is too appealing to not beg for more. Where to next, Rian? The snowy alps? The English countryside? Dubai? Ticket already purchased.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is playing in select theatres and available to stream on Netflix on December 12, 2025.

“Left-Handed Girl”

Shih-Ching Tsou makes her feature directorial debut with Left-Handed Girl, co-written by her and Academy Award winner Sean Baker, the story of a precocious young girl, I-Jing (Nina Ye) living in Taipei with her mother Shu-Fen (Janel Tsai) and sister I-Ann (Shih-Yuan Ma), who face the complicated challenge of getting by as market vendors after I-Jing’s father remains absent in their lives. I-Jing, too young to understand everything from the adult perspective mostly keeps to herself, caring for her pet meerkat, while often criticized by her grandfather for her odd left-handedness.

As with prior Sean Baker projects, Left-Handed Girl is shot with gorgeous, vibrant digital crisp on an iPhone, almost documentary-like through the neon-dripped Taiwanese cityscapes. Similar to Baker’s The Florida Project, Left-Handed Girl’s child-point-of-view of her family’s crisis feels rich and honest, sweet and compassionate despite the severity of her older counterparts’ situation. Though despite the layered focus on her sister and mother (Shu-Fen being a struggling mother tempted by a new relationship and I-Ann coming to terms with her own traumas), the shared narrative causes our titular left-handed girl to feel lost in what it supposed to be her own story.

Thankfully, even when we aren’t spending time with I-Jing, Tsou and Baker’s script keeps its core women compelling, allowing their flaws be exposed to the world and understanding the bond that keeps them together. One big revelation during its finale is left a bit too emotionally unresolved, but does add shattering context to the time we’ve spent with these characters. A tender-hearted ode to small family units and the lengths they go to assist each other in need. 

Left-Handed Girl is available to stream on Netflix.