The Big Heat (1953)

 I had a couple of days off unexpectedly because of the snowstorm so I watched this with my friends.  It's one of my absolute favorite noirs.  Content warning:  violence against women

Philly cop Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) is investigating the suicide of another policeman, Tom Duncan, which seems pretty cut-and-dry until Duncan's mistress (Dorothy Green) comes forward to contradict the grieving widow's (Jeanette Nolan) assertion that Duncan was in poor health.  Then the mistress ends up dead and Bannion is warned not to keep pursuing the matter.  Obviously, now he can't let it go and decides to go straight to the top and confront mob boss Mike Lagana (Alexander Scourby).  

This is a very straightforward noir that doesn't spend a lot of time on how Bannion solves the case.  He mostly just yells at people until someone tries to kill him.  This is apparently good police work.  But who cares?  The important people in this movie are the women.  Ice-cold Bertha Duncan.  World-weary Lucy Chapman.  Katie Bannion, the paragon of housewife-ly virtue.  And top of them all, bored, callous, gun moll with a heart of gold Debby Marsh, played by the criminally underrated Gloria Grahame.  

What's great about this movie is how it subverts the tropes that were already well-established by giving Debby the emotional impetus, instead of Bannion.  **SPOILERS FOLLOW** Bannion gets a little when he confronts Katie's killer, but Debby's reaction to her disfigurement and subsequent path of revenge, leading ultimately to her blowing the lid off the whole criminal conspiracy maker her a much bigger catalyst to the plot.  **END SPOILERS**  Even though she does ultimately fall prey to the Hays Code-imposed morality, she has much more agency than other femmes fatales of the era.

The Big Heat is one of the most highly regarded noirs by critics, so you don't have to just take my word for it.  It is well worth your time.  It's unfortunately not available for streaming but I already owned it so I just watched my copy.

As a side note, apparently the studio originally wanted Marilyn Monroe for the part of Debby Marsh, which would have been fascinating.  

One Battle After Another (2025)

Nominated for:  Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actor, Best Supporting Actor x2, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Production Design, Best Sound, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, and Best Casting    So this was the big frontrunner before Sinners came in and dominated the nominations and I'll be real with you, this doesn't live up to the hype at all.  Not only is it not one of "the best films of the year," it's not even a particularly good comedy.  

Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio) used to be a revolutionary with the group French75.  His girlfriend (Teyana Taylor) ditches him with their baby, then gets rolled up by the cops, forcing Bob to go into hiding.  Sixteen years later, the cop that was leading the charge against them, Col. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), is up for membership in a prestigious secret society but needs to tie up some loose ends.  Bob spends his days in a paranoid haze of alcohol and weed while his daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti), is blissfully unaware of the past that is bearing down upon them both.

Look, if goofy stoner action comedies are your thing, great.  You will probably like this movie.  I found it interminable.  It's basically a weirdly horny Taken meets The Pineapple Express.  I have no idea why it's been nominated for 13 Oscars.  It for sure only needed one Supporting Actor nod, if that.  Benecio Del Toro is fine but he did not need a nomination for this.  Teyana Taylor is also fine but did not need to be nominated, especially just for being hot and DTF.  It reminded me of when everyone went nuts for Katherine Waterston's performance in Inherent Vice, when all she did was be naked and die off-screen.  Actually, this was written by the same director as Inherent Vice, so that tracks.  

I've also seen this touted as somehow politically divisive and uhhhhhh... not really?  It's not actually taking any kind of stand beyond "do what you believe in."  If that is the bar for political activism, we are fucked, folks.  You could have set this in the 70s with the Weather Underground and it would have been the exact same story.  All the jokes are tired retreads about liberal purity in-fighting and right-wing shadowy cabals of the lamest sort.  

It's streaming on HBO Max but save yourself some time and skip this one.

Sorcerer (1977)

  Content warning:  terrorism, suicide (gun)  Ah, yes, the American remake that manages to remove all anti-American sentiment from the original.

Four ex-pats hiding from their criminal pasts take a dangerous job hauling nitroglycerin over bad road in order to get enough money to claw their way out of this one-horse town in the South American jungle.

Because I watched them back to back, it's almost impossible for me to not compare this to Wages of Fear.  Let me start by saying, both movies are excellent.  You cannot go wrong if you decide to only watch one, no matter which one you choose.  Personally, I'd give the edge to Sorcerer for tension, only because of the rope bridge scenes, which are absolutely harrowing and must have been a total nightmare to film.  William Friedkin, the director, shot on location in the Dominican Republic and the rain and mud and heat are palpable.  Considering the Arctic temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic region right now, it was nice to pretend to be warm again.  

Some other differences:  Sorcerer includes little mini-prologues of backstory for the four main characters, where Wages leaves them open for interpretation.  Sorcerer shifts the oil company management to the local regime, instead of the USA, removing Wages' commentary on colonialism.  It changes the circumstances of a major character death as well as the ending, which is still bleak but less existential.  Basically, if you read my review of Wages and thought, "sounds good but a little too French," Sorcerer is for you.  It's also streaming in its entirety on YouTube.  

Hilariously, this opened the same weekend in 1977 as Star Wars: A New Hope and got immediately shunted to the bottom of the box office.  It was enormously over budget and a huge flop which just goes to show that timing is everything and that you shouldn't use a box office gross as a marker of quality.  This is a great film and I look forward to forcing my friends to watch it.

The Wages of Fear (1953)

  Starting off the year with some depressing French shit, courtesy of Movie Club.  Content warning:  animal abuse, violence against women

Mario (Yves Montand), Jo (Charles Vanel), Bimba (Peter Van Eyck), and Luigi (Folco Lulli) are hired to drive trucks of nitroglycerin over 300 miles of bad road and jungle and deliver them to an American oil field.  The men start as hard, desperate drifters but as the conditions deteriorate and death becomes almost certain, their inner truths are revealed.

This is not a fun, uplifting movie.  It is bleak in the way only really French films can be.  Which is not to say it's a bad film.  It maintains the tension of man vs nature throughout the run time (nearly two and a half hours, so plan accordingly).  Just don't go in expecting any kind of warm and fuzzy moments.  It's mostly in French with some Spanish, English, and Italian thrown in so make sure you have subtitles on.  The funniest thing about the film is precisely how little has changed in the social commentary.

It's available for streaming on HBO Max, or on Kanopy if you have a library card.

The Matrix (1999)

  There was a minor interruption in services here because of a family emergency and then my Internet was out.  Time is fake and nothing matters.  There is only snow. 

A programmer who moonlights as a hacker for hire named Neo (Keanu Reeves) is recruited by a shadowy group only to learn that his world doesn't actually exist.  It's a fantasy projected by machines that have taken over the earth and use human beings as living batteries.  Having been woken from the collective dream, Neo struggles to understand his place in this dystopian resistance.

It is hard to overestimate what an impact this had on pop culture in 1999.  I just watched it with some friends who had never seen the whole thing before and it was great to be able to see pieces click into place for them.  It still holds up really well, although some of the effects look dated.  This was such an innovative film, though, you can't even be mad about it.  It literally created new camera rigs to pull off some of the effects.  The sequels shouldn't exist because they are shameless cash grabs but you can never say The Matrix isn't a stone-cold classic sci-fi movie.

Because we also live in a dystopian hellscape, it's only available for streaming through the MGM+ app but you should really just buy it.  

Oscar Nominations 2026

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The nominations are out!  And they look...a lot like the Critics' Choice nominations.  This is to be expected.  However!  There was a lot more love for horror movies this year, which is a hugely positive development.  

Best Picture

Bugonia
F1
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sinners
Train Dreams

F1 is a little surprising for Best Picture but the rest are basically the same as Critics' Choice and Golden Globes.  I'm already two up, so yay, me.

Best Director

Chloe Zhao - Hamnet
Josh Safdie - Marty Supreme
Paul Thomas Anderson - One Battle After Another
Joachim Trier - Sentimental Value
Ryan Coogler - Sinners

Again, no surprises.  This category has historically been dominated by the same names over and over so it's nice to see some relatively new faces.  Not really refuting the #OscarsSoWhite but Zhao is pulling double duty as both the token woman and a POC.

Best Actor

Timothee Chalamet - Marty Supreme
Leonardo DiCaprio - One Battle After Another
Ethan Hawke - Blue Moon
Michael B. Jordan - Sinners
Wagner Moura - The Secret Agent

In a just world, Jordan walks away with this.  It's a dual performance, meaning he literally did twice the work.

Best Actress

Jessie Buckley - Hamnet
Rose Byrne - If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You
Kate Hudson - Song Sung Blue
Renate Reinsve - Sentimental Value
Emma Stone - Bugonia

As usual, this is a much more competitive category.  Buckley is the favorite but you can't discount Byrne or Stone.  Hudson is a surprise contender, sneaking the spot from Ariana Grande or Cynthia Erivo, I suspect.

Best Supporting Actor

Benecio Del Toro - One Battle After Another
Jacob Elordi - Frankenstein
Delroy Lindo - Sinners
Sean Penn - One Battle After Another
Stellan Skarsgard - Sentimental Value

I would love to see Lindo win for this.  He gave a phenomenal performance and he is overdue to be recognized.

Best Supporting Actress

Elle Fanning - Sentimental Value
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas - Sentimental Value
Amy Madigan - Weapons
Wunmi Mosaku - Sinners
Teyana Taylor - One Battle After Another

Interesting that Fanning got put in Supporting when she was up for Lead in the Critics' Choice and Golden Globes.  Madigan is the big upset inclusion and it would be great (for all horror fans) if she won but I don't think it's super likely.  Likewise, it's great to see Mosaku (who has quietly been putting out great performance after great performance for years) get recognized but that's probably all she's getting.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Bugonia
Frankenstein
Hamnet
One Battle After Another
Train Dreams

No surprises here.

Best Original Screenplay

Blue Moon
It Was Just an Accident
Marty Supreme
Sentimental Value
Sinners

My fear is that Sinners will only win here, like Straight Outta Compton, because the Academy is more interested in looking progressive than actually being progressive. Hope I'm wrong.

Best Animated Feature

Arco
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
Little Amelie or the Character of Rain
Zootopia 2

This is the exact same lineup as the Critics' Choice.

Best International Feature

The Secret Agent - Brazil
It Was Just an Accident - France
Sentimental Value - Norway
Sirat - Spain
The Voice of Hind Rajab - Tunisia

Lockstep with the other awards.

Best Documentary Feature

The Alabama Solution
Come See Me in the Good Light
Cutting Through Rocks
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
The Perfect Neighbor

The only two I've heard anything about are Come and See Me, which looks depressing as fuck, and Perfect Neighbor, which is on Netflix.

Best Animated Short

Butterfly
Forevergreen
The Girl Who Cried Pearls
Retirement Plan
The Three Sisters

Best Casting

Nina Gold - Hamnet
Jennifer Venditti - Marty Supreme
Cassandra Kulukundis - One Battle After Another
Gabriel Domingues - The Secret Agent
Francine Maisler - Sinners

This is a new category and interestingly, a career field dominated by women.  I feel like it's going to go however the nominees for Best Picture go, but we'll see.

Best Cinematography

Frankenstein - Dan Laustsen
Marty Supreme - Darius Khondji
One Battle After Another - Michael Bauman
Sinners - Autumn Durald Arkapaw
Train Dreams - Adolpho Veloso

All new names this year.  Exciting.

Best Costume Design

Avatar: Fire and Ash
Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
Sinners

Okay, so I have some quibbles with Avatar being included here.  Nearly the entire movie is CGI, so exactly which costumes are we highlighting here?  Like, I get it, but I am side-eyeing it.

Best Documentary Short

All the Empty Rooms
Armed Only with a Camera: The Life and Death of Brent Renaud
Children No More: "Were and Are Gone"
The Devil is Busy
Perfectly a Strangeness

Best Film Editing

F1
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sentimental Value
Sinners

Best Live-Action Short

Butcher's Stain
A Friend of Dorothy
Jane Austen's Period Drama
The Singers
Two People Exchanging Saliva

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Frankenstein
Kokohu
Sinners
The Smashing Machine
The Ugly Stepsister

Several surprises here.  More horror!  The Smashing Machine kind of feels like even more of a snub, somehow, by being included here.  And I've never even heard of Kokohu.  No idea.

Best Original Score

Bugonia - Jerskin Fendrix
Frankenstein - Alexandre Desplat
Hamnet - Max Richter
One Battle After Another - Jonny Greenwood
Sinners - Ludwig Goransson

Best Original Song

"Dear Me" - Diane Warren: Relentless
"Golden" - KPop Demon Hunters
"I Lied to You" - Sinners
"Sweet Dreams of Joy" - Viva Verdi!
"Train Dreams" - Train Dreams

Couple of odd little inclusions considering the distinct absence of Wicked: For Good.

Best Production Design

Frankenstein
Hamnet
Marty Supreme
One Battle After Another
Sinners

All these categories are the same movies.  It just makes for such a boring ceremony.

Best Sound

F1
Frankenstein
One Battle After Another
Sinners
Sirat

Best Visual Effects

Avatar: Fire and Ash
F1
Jurassic World: Rebirth
The Lost Bus
Sinners

Rebirth flopped super hard so I am surprised it's included here.  Like the Academy thought it should have been a blockbuster because it's a franchise.

So there you have it.  Ceremony is March 15th so we have a little less than two months to get everything in bold watched.  The good news is that, thanks to all the repeats, we've knocked out a few of the major contenders already.  

Speed Racer (2008)

  I thought I had reviewed this before but I can't find any evidence to support that.  This flopped really hard when it came out but I think it is due for a reevaluation.

Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) comes from a line of racecar drivers and mechanics, a legacy tainted by the apparent criminality and sudden death of his older brother, Rex (Scott Porter).  Speed is courted as a driver for Royalton Industries, but chooses to stay with his family company, which pisses off Royalton's CEO, Arnold Royalton (Roger Allam).  Royalton uses his wealth and underworld connections to threaten Speed's family, forcing the teen to work with Inspector Detector (Benno Fürmann) of the Corporate Crimes Division and Racer X (Matthew Fox), a mysterious masked racer who frequently goes undercover, to enter a dangerous cross-country rally, the Casa Cristo, the same race that killed Rex.  Winning means a chance to expose Royalton for the shameless crook that he is, but losing is certain death.

This movie is like having melted Starbursts candies poured directly into your retinas.  To call it a live-action cartoon movie is to do injustice to the sheer visual splendor of it.  The plot is a little silly, sure, but it is based on a children's cartoon from the 60s.  Who cares?  It is amazing.  Possibly in the I've-eaten-too-much-sugar-and-now-I-can-see-sounds-right-before-I-technicolor-barf kind of way.  

The chimp is legitimately terrifying if you know anything about chimps, but that's a different kind of post.

Anyway, Speed Racer is so fun and so colorful and fast that you will either immediately love it or turn it off after three minutes.  It's streaming on Kanopy, which is free if you have a library card.  I own it because my cousin bought it and hated it, so she gave it to me.  Best ADHD present ever.