Flash Frames

“The unforgettable true story of a UFC legend.” Director: Benny Safdie Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, and Oleksandr Usyk Synopsis: “The story of legendary mixed martial arts and UFC fighter Mark Kerr.” __________________________________________________ I’ve really been looking forward to this one. It never dawned on me until I started to write this, but The Smashing Machine feels like a personal milestone for me. The first A24-distributed movie I’ve seen in a theater was Uncut Gems with Adam Sandler back in 2019, and I vividly remember being physically on the edge of my seat after that. I had such a visceral reaction to Uncut Gems , and I can also remember what I thought when the credits finished and the audience began to clear out: “I wanna make movies.” I can point out other movies in my life that I really love and are my personal favorites, but this is the movie that convinced me to commit to going to film school. Six years have passed since then, and I...

“Some search for battle, others are born into it…” Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti Synopsis: “Bob is a washed-up revolutionary who lives in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited and self-reliant daughter, Willa. When his evil nemesis resurfaces and Willa goes missing, the former radical scrambles to find her as both father and daughter battle the consequences of their pasts.” __________________________________________________ Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson has already cemented himself as one of the go-to directors of this era, and even if you don’t know that name, you’ve at least heard of the movies he’s made. There Will Be Blood , Punch-Drunk Love , Boogie Nights , The Master , Magnolia , Phantom Thread … He’s rarely missed, at least for me. It’s been tough to wrap my head around his latest film, One Battle After Another , and I’ve seen it twice. I gotta...

“All $$ ain’t good $$” Director: Spike Lee Cast: Denzel Washington, Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, A$AP Rocky, John Douglas Thompson, Dean Winters, LaChanze, Princess Nokia, and Ice Spice Synopsis: “When a powerful music mogul is targeted by a ransom plot, he is forced to fight for his family and legacy while jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma.” __________________________________________________ Spike Lee is undoubtedly one of the biggest living legends in cinema. I don’t think anything is ever gonna take away the impact he’s left. Admittedly, his filmography is a terribly embarrassing blind spot for me, but I’ve seen most of the heavy hitters, barring Malcolm X . Wild that I haven’t gotten to that yet. That’s besides the point, though. The next point is… another movie I haven’t seen, and that’s High and Low , one of the many celebrated movies from the just-as-celebrated Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. I’m not gonna make this a history lesson or anything, but to keep things...

Caught Stealing (2025) Director: Darren Aronofsky Cast: Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D'Onofrio, Benito Martínez Ocasio, Griffin Dunne, and Carol Kane. Synopsis: Burned-out ex-baseball player Hank Thompson unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in a dangerous struggle for survival amidst the criminal underbelly of 1990s New York City, forced to navigate a treacherous underworld he never imagined.

Weapons (2025) Director: Zach Cregger Cast: Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan. Synopsis: When all but one child from the same classroom mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.

War of the Worlds (2025) Director: Rich Lee Cast: Ice Cube, Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg, Andrea Savage, Henry Hunter Hall, Iman Benson, Devon Bostick, and Michael O'Neill. Synopsis: Will Radford is a top cyber-security analyst for Homeland Security who tracks potential threats to national security through a mass surveillance program, until one day an attack by an unknown entity leads him to question whether the government is hiding something from him... and from the rest of the world.

Eddington (2025) Director: Ari Aster Cast: Joaquin Phoenix ,  Pedro Pascal ,  Luke Grimes ,  Deirdre O'Connell ,  Micheal Ward ,  Austin Butler , and  Emma Stone . Synopsis:  During the COVID-19 pandemic, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, N.M.

  F1  (2025) Director: Joseph Kosinski Cast: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Tobias Menzies, and Javier Bardem. Synopsis:  In the 1990s, Sonny Hayes was Formula 1's most promising driver until an accident on the track nearly ended his career. Thirty years later, the owner of a struggling Formula 1 team convinces Sonny to return to racing and become the best in the world. Driving alongside the team's hotshot rookie, Sonny soon learns that the road to redemption is not something you can travel alone.

Jurassic World: Rebirth (2025) Director: Gareth Edwards Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, and Ed Skrein. Synopsis:  Zora Bennett leads a team of skilled operatives to the most dangerous place on Earth, an island research facility for the original Jurassic Park. Their mission is to secure genetic material from dinosaurs whose DNA can provide life-saving benefits to mankind. As the top-secret expedition becomes more and more risky, they soon make a sinister, shocking discovery that's been hidden from the world for decades.

Materialists (2025) Director: Celine Song Cast: Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Zoë Winters, Marin Ireland, Louisa Jacobson, and Pedro Pascal. Synopsis: Set against the backdrop of New York City's luxury-driven dating culture, it follows a love triangle between a matchmaker, her aspiring actor ex-boyfriend, and a charming billionaire.

  28 Years Later (2025) Director: Danny Boyle Cast: Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Alfie Williams, and Ralph Fiennes. Synopsis:  It's been almost three decades since the rage virus escaped from a biological weapons laboratory. Still living in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amid the infected. One such group of survivors lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily defended causeway. When one of them decides to venture into the dark heart of the mainland, he soon discovers a mutation that has spread to not only the infected, but other survivors as well.

The Phoenician Scheme (2025) Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, F. Murray Abraham, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Willem Dafoe. Synopsis: Wealthy businessman, Zsa-zsa Korda appoints his only daughter, a nun, as sole heir to his estate. As Korda embarks on a new enterprise, they soon become the target of scheming tycoons, foreign terrorists, and determined assassins.

The Life of Chuck (2025) Director: Mike Flanagan Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Mia Sara, Carl Lumbly, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay, and Mark Hamill. Synopsis:  Charles "Chuck" Krantz experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all of us.

Sally Hawkins in Bring Her Back A movie that came out a few years back that ended up being a nice surprise was a supernatural horror movie called Talk To Me , which is the directorial debut of brothers Danny & Michael Philippou. They also have a YouTube channel called RackaRacka, which is how they blew up. Do you remember those old YouTube videos about the creepy Ronald McDonald trying Burger King or something? That’s them, and learning after watching Talk To Me that it was directed by the guys behind RackaRacka was incredible to see. On top of that, Talk To Me is a lot of fun and what a modern horror movie should be: great premise, a good blend of funny and scary moments, and once again, just a fun time to watch. That made me even more excited to see what they’d do next, and Bring Her Back (which opens tonight) is the complete opposite of fun, but intentionally so. It dips its toes in the same water as Talk To Me with its premise, which follows a brother and sister being adopt...

Abel Tesfaye in Hurry Up Tomorrow What I like to show in these reviews is an exercise in bias. Every single person has their own bias to something, whether they realize it or not. I feel like I’ve stated this in at least one other review on this site, but let me promise you this: The statement “exercise in bias” will permeate throughout this review, mainly because of this movie’s star/driving force. I like Abel Tesfaye, who grew to popularity as his stage name The Weeknd, a lot. The man’s got insane musical talent, and as I think you know, he’s not a great actor. Some people say that he isn’t an actor at all. If you don’t know, Tesfaye has already tried acting in the HBO series The Idol , which was a massive disaster for nearly everybody involved. You know a show is bad when they cut the last episode and gaslight everyone into thinking that it was 5 episodes instead of 6 the whole time (yes, that’s real). However, it’s not to say that he won’t quit. This movie here, Hurry Up Tomorrow ,...

Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, Florence Pugh, and Sebastain Stan in Thunderbolts* This one’s a little late too, I know, but during the last two weeks of stewing on Thunderbolts* and superhero movies in general, I’ve hit a small realization about comic book movies. There’s a good chance that the glory days are done. I know, just hear me out. Remember when westerns were so insanely popular, and the popularity of them just waned over time? Obviously, hindsight is 20/20, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re in the middle of that. Oddly enough, maybe that’s why I feel like Thunderbolts* , the 36th (!) film in the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe, is such a breath of fresh air. The closest thing to a relative comparison to the Thunderbolts team in other media is DC’s Suicide Squad , but even then, this team is pretty different, at least in Thunderbolts* . The main focus here is Yelena Belova, played excellently by Florence Pugh, a former Black Widow and m...

Michael B. Jordan and Michael B. Jordan in Sinners (Michael C. Jordan…?) Look, I know this is late. Plain and simple reason for it. I wanted to get out and watch Sinners again before I wanted to write about it. I finally ended up doing that, so I now feel pretty confident in how I want to put into words just how incredible Sinners is. If you didn’t know already, this is the latest film from Ryan Coogler, who’s directed Creed and Fruitvale Station , as well as the Black Panther films. Already, Coogler has been a part of huge hits like the Black Panther movies, the first arguably being a cultural phenomenon that hasn’t really happened yet. We often forget that Black Panther made more money than Avengers: Infinity War , and while Coogler wasn’t at the forefront of that conversation, he was the writer and director, and that alone may be enough. Sinners is the first original movie Coogler’s made, not based on any existing material or a real event, and just to keep it simple, it real...

Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt & Ke Huy Quan in The Electric State There’s been a lot of talk online about the “death of movies” surrounding The Electric State , and from a certain point of view, I can understand why. This is a Netflix-exclusive movie, with no theatrical release that I knew of beforehand. It’s directed by the Russo Brothers; while having made some of the best/most successful movies in the MCU, their movies after their run in the MCU just haven’t landed: Cherry , The Gray Man , and now, The Electric State , an adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s graphic novel of the same name. I haven’t read that yet, although I’ve heard very good things about it, but there’s been a big backlash to this not really being an adaptation of the book. Call me crazy, but if I can call something like Dragonball Evolution for not being a good adaptation even though I haven’t watched a single bit of anything else in that franchise, I might be able to say that about The Electric State . It also...

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in Wicked Alright, here we are. We’re basically at the finish line, but I’ve now seen every single nominee for Best Picture at the Oscars this year (I’m ranking all 10 of them tomorrow before the ceremony starts). The last of them, as you can see, is Wicked . The beloved musical took a very long time to hit the silver screen, with an official announcement of a movie coming all the way back in 2012. Admittedly, I wanted to watch this much sooner, but I was in the middle of my final semester in college. Them’s the breaks, but I got it at home and was able to get through the just-under three hour runtime at my own leisure. At this point, I’d usually go into what Wicked is, but come on, I don’t think I really have to. It’s Wicked . That being said, I should mention that this is the first part of a two-parter, with the second act, titled For Good, set to release this Thanksgiving. I mention that because I think this was a game-changing decision that really b...

Fernanda Torres in I’m Still Here I’m almost done with getting through the Best Picture nominees this year, and there’s gonna be a post about ranking all ten of those movies very soon. I do have to give some background with this, though, mainly because it did have to do with my experience while watching I’m Still Here , the latest film from legendary Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles. My first exposure to the movie was lead actress Fernanda Torres’s surprise win in Best Actress in a Drama at the Golden Globes over big names like Nicole Kidman and Pamela Anderson. I can’t have been the only one to decide to go “okay, I’ll watch this now” once it would hit a theater that was closer to me. Admittedly, I was still worried that this wouldn’t get to theaters. Sony Pictures Classic unfortunately don’t release their movies in my area theatrically too often, but I’m glad they aren’t dropping the ball with I’m Still Here . I went into this completely blind, other than Fernanda Torres leading the...