Movies, Films & Flix

Christy (2025) – Grade – B-

It’s easy to understand why director David Michôd (Animal Kingdom, The Rover) and producer/star Sydney Sweeney wanted to make a biographical sports film about the life of Christy Martin. Martin is an all-time boxer whose story is perfect for a big-screen adaptation. She was plucked from “toughwoman” boxing tournaments by trainer Jim Martin (Ben Foster) and became a boxing champion who appeared on Sports Illustrated and was signed by Don King. On top of surviving thousands of punches to the head, Martin dealt with an abusive husband, a controlling mother (who hated that Christy was gay), drug abuse, sexual abuse, and she even survived a murder attempt from her husband/trainer, Jim Martin. I’ve been familiar with Martin for a long time and when I heard Sweeney was making a biopic about her life, I became very excited because her story should be known. 

However, sport biopics are gonna be sport biopics, and there are moments when Christy starts to resemble Walk Hard (the title Punch Hard comes to mind). The film sticks closely to biopic conventions (it’s more of a collection of scenes than a complete narrative), and the constant time jumps halt any narrative momentum. That being said, the performances from Sweeney, Ethan Embry, Katy O’Brian, Tony Cavalero, Ben Foster, Merritt Wever, and Chad L. Coleman are solid, and gives them moments to shine.

Final Thoughts – Christy Martin has an incredible story, and I recommend watching the movie to learn more about her life. 

Natchez (2025) – Grade – A

Winner of the Best Documentary Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Sidewalk Film Festival, Natchez is a fascinating look into the world of antebellum tourism in Natchez, Mississippi. Director Suzannah Herbert (who drew inspiration from the Robert Altman film Nashville) lives in Memphis, Tennessee, so she tackles the core issues with empathy, care and understanding. Herbert clearly knows about the Deep South, and her documentary is about exploring the entire history of Natchez, and the role it played in the slave trade. 

The interviews are intimate, engaging and revelatory. The participants must’ve trusted Herbert and her small crew because they seem overly comfortable (you’ll see) and willing to share their lives with the filmmakers. Director of Photography Noah Collier used a Sony FX9 (on a tripod), vintage prime lenses and a handheld magnifier (that you’d get at an optometrist’s office – which is cool) to shoot the doc, and the visually interesting look matches the interesting personalities in front of the camera. Of all the participants, I enjoyed following Rev Collins as he engages in interesting conversations with tourists who have various degrees of acceptance for what he has to say. When he’s not working as a reverend, he’s in his van giving “real tours of Mississippi” to the thousands of tourists who visit the city every year. His tours are much different than those of “The Garden Club,” who dress up in intricate gowns and parade tourists around their plantation homes. What’s nice is that Herbert seems genuinely interested in each story, and instead of framing people as villains, she lets them do it. 

Final thoughts – Natchez is a visually interesting documentary that will hopefully collect a big audience. 

Re-Election (2025) – Grade – F

Re-Election is a “coming of (middle) age” comedy that features the least developed central character of 2025. The plot revolves around a guy named Jimmy (Adam Saunders – who also wrote, directed and produced the film), who spends 25 years withering away after losing a race for class president during his senior year of high school (it’s odd). Instead of going to college or doing anything with his life, Jimmy lives in a shed behind his dad’s (Tony Danza) memorabilia store that’s located in northeast Texas. After some prodding from his supportive sister Patty (Patty Guggenheim), Jimmy decides to go back to high school to get his diploma, run for class president, and earn an internship with the governor (Rizwan Manji). Since he’s 40+ years old and has been living in a shed for 25 years, he has to navigate gender-neutral bathrooms, social media, Gen Z, and pronouns. I have no idea why this film exists because there is nothing to the lead character. His dad seems nice, his sister Patty is supportive, and there seems to be no real trauma in his life. Saunders attempts to sneak in several messages (empathy, living life, picking yourself up), but the lead character is such a wet-noodle that nothing matters. The good news is that Nathalie Kelley (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift) got a paycheck to play a wildly available high school teacher who has a soft spot for dudes who’ve spent the last 25 years living in a shed.  

Final Thoughts – I respect Saunders’ hustle because films are hard to make; however, I have no clue why this film exists.

Beast of War (2025) – Grade – A 

I plan on writing more about Beast of War (and covering it on Deep Blue Sea – The Podcast) soon, but I wanted to get a quick review out there in hopes that people will watch this excellent shark-film from director Kiah Roache-Turner (Sting, Wyrmwood). Beast of War is loosely based on a true story (that took place in 1942) about a group of Australian soldiers fighting for their lives after their warship is sunk by a Japanese fighter plane. The characters are likable, the performances are solid and the gore is wonderful. I love ambitious low-budget films, and I think many of the decisions (casting Mark Coles Smith) made by the Roacher-Turner were smart. The  result is a visually distinctive film that features an all-timer animatronic shark. 

Final Thoughts – Watch it!

From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (2025) – Grade – B

I’m a bit late with this review, but I wanted to highlight the fun and inventive action scenes in Ballerina. It should be no surprise that the action scenes in a John Wick spin-off are inventive; however, I love how the main character Eva (Ana de Armas) uses grenades, flame throwers, and knives to kill larger opponents. There’s an action scene in which Eve goes grenade-crazy, and it’s easily one of my favorite moments of the year (the ice club fight is cool too). The inventive action makes up for the nondescript villains and cookie-cutter revenge story that is overly familiar. Between No Time to Die and Ballerina, de Armas has established herself as a top-tier action star, and I hope she’s given more chances to blow people up. 
Final Thoughts – I love a good Knock Knock (2015) reunion.

Quick Thoughts:

1. Ethan Hawke is wonderful. 

2. The conversations are engaging.

3. Bobby Cannavale would be a great bartender.

4. I love when Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater team up to make dialogue-heavy films.

5. Blue Moon!

6. Best 2025 whiskey drinking.

During a Q&A for the film Everybody Wants Some!!, Richard Linklater mentioned that he’d been working on a trilogy that focused on snapshots of influential artists’ lives. The first film in Linklater’s “artist trilogy” was Me and Orson Welles (2009), which was adapted from Robert Kaplow’s book and focused on Orson Welles’ theater production of Caesar. With Blue Moon, he’s reteamed with Kaplow and Ethan Hawke to tell a story about a particular night on March 31, 1943, when an all-timer lyricist named Lorenz Hart (Ethan Hawke) was having a terrible night. Lorenz is best known for his work with Richard Rodgers (Andrew Scott), as the two wrote the music and lyrics for 26 Broadway plays and a handful of films. After 20 years of alcohol abuse and depression, the two split (amicably) and Rodgers began working with Oscar Hammerstein II (Simon Delaney), and on the night of the 31st, their play Oklahoma! opened to acclaim and success. 

After an opening involving a drunk Hart collapsing in a rain-soaked alley, the film cuts to Hart leaving the Oklahoma! premiere early and heading to the well-stocked bar at Sardi’s Restaurant in New York City. Hart is a regular at the bar, and if inspected, it’s likely his favorite cushioned barstool likely bore the exact indentation of his butt. Standing a little over five feet, Hart is dwarfed by the tall bar, which further adds to his insecurity during the depressing night. Initially, he refuses to drink, but as the Oklahoma! opening night party kicks off, his favorite bartender Eddie (Bobby Cannavale) starts pouring him shots of whiskey (Blue Moon features the best whiskey drinking of any 2025 film). While perched on his seat, he chats with author E.B. White (Simon Delaney), piano player Morty (Jonah Lees), and his protege Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley), a woman (with great clavicles) whom he has an “irrational adoration” for. While Hart is happy that his friend has found tremendous success, he’s melancholy and contemplative about his future. His alcohol-fueled antics have burned too many bridges, and since he’s a self-described “ambisexual,” he’s forced to discreetly live in the closet. This leads to his death at the age of 48, after an alcohol-fueled bender left him fatally ill. 

Between Waking Life, Before Sunset, Before Sunrise, Before Midnight, Tape, Boyhood, and Blue Moon, Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke have teamed up to make some excellent talk-heavy films that mostly take place in a single day (Boyhood and Waking Life are the exceptions). What’s great about Blue Moon is that Linklater and Hawke had the script for over 10 years and waited until they were mature enough to make the film. Hawke needed to grow into the role, while Linklater worked to mold the script into something he was comfortable directing. The end result is an engaging experience loaded with Broadway Easter eggs, genuine emotion and an incredible performance from Ethan Hawke that is equal parts funny, melancholic, heartfelt and endearing.

Final Thoughts – Blue Moon is a mature and engaging look into the workings of an iconic songwriter who was filled with “unsentimental joy.” Watch it!

Quick Thoughts:

1. Rose Byrne is incredible. The 114-minute film spends almost every second of its running time focused on her face, and she carries the film effortlessly.
2. Director/writer Mary Bronstein fought hard to get this film made and the end product is worth all the hard work.
3. A$AP Rocky, Conan O’Brien, and Christian Slater put in good work.
4. Between If I Had Legs I’d Kick You and The Ugly Stepsister, it’s been a banner year for very specific scenes (which I won’t spoil here).
5. Cinematographer Christopher Messina became very familiar with Rose Byrne’s face.
6. I love that it was shot on 35mm film and only took 27 days to film. Byrne got worked during the production.

This is an odd comparison, but one of the most enjoyable things about the Mission: Impossible franchise is how superspy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is forced to deal with problems on problems. Not only does he have to pull off impossible missions, but he also has to deal with sandstorms, faulty equipment, assassins, unpredictable coworkers, and hanging on the outside of skyscrapers (with faulty equipment). The difference between Hunt and Linda (Rose Byrne), the main character of If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, is that he’s a child-free superspy and she is a lonely therapist who is dealing with a sick daughter, an absent husband, a flooded apartment, zero sleep, wine therapy, and patients who leave their infants in her office. Action films create tension by piling problems on problems, and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You does the same. However, instead of saving the world, Linda is trying to stay sane while completely falling apart. Also, Linda doesn’t have a crack team to assist her; instead, she has an annoyed therapist (Conan O’Brien), a nagging husband (Christian Slater), a hostile doctor (Bronstein) and a motel super (A$AP Rocky) whose kindness doesn’t gel well with the flustered therapist. 

Written and directed by Mary Bronstein, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is a stress-bomb that features water damage, bad decisions, angry hamsters, big holes, leg injuries, empty wine bottles, terrible parents, health scares, and stretchy people. In the film’s press notes, Bronstein said she wanted to create visceral feelings and an original female character, so she drew from her own maternal experiences (and master’s degree in psychology) to craft an emotionally true film that doesn’t feel false. The best thing about If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is that over the years it took to get the film greenlit (and written), Bronstein had time to fully realize the material, which allowed the actors and crew to trust her vision. 

The film revolves around a therapist named Linda (Rose Byrne) getting put through the wringer. Her cruise captain (or maybe Navy captain) husband, Charles (Christian Slater) is never home, and her daughter (Delaney Quinn) suffers from a mysterious medical issue that forces her to be fed through an ever-beeping feeding tube (at night – which isn’t great for sleep). On top of working a full-time job and caring for her daughter, Linda is dealing with a flooded apartment (water damage is the worst – it’s a devious move by Bronstein) and a patient who disappears after leaving her daughter in Linda’s office . There is no reprieve for Linda, who makes enemies with hotel clerks and is constantly nagged by her husband for not doing anything right. It’s stress on stress, and none of the characters do anything to alleviate it. This means the 114-minute film gives little reprieve for people looking for easy answers or convenient endings. 

One of the most impressive aspects of the film is that it’s pretty much always focused on Rose Byrne’s highly expressive face. In interviews, Bronstein has said that “Rose’s face is the movie,” and it’s a 100% correct statement. What’s interesting is that Linda’s daughter is never seen (until the end), and it’s a smart decision by Bronstein because creating a double act with a sweet kid (with health issues) would eliminate any chance for audiences to feel sympathy for Linda. It’s neat that both Bronstein and Byrne acknowledge all the terrible decisions made by Linda, but there’s an empathy towards her that makes her a three-dimensional character. By forcing the audience to live with Linda, it makes her more relatable; we see how she acts when nobody is watching. Whether it’s screaming into pillows, desperately trying to sleep, or scrounging for weed, the audience begins to understand her and what she needs.

Final Thoughts – If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is a thrilling film that features a few major swings, and it makes me happy that Bronstein was able to make the film she wanted.