Tidbits 2025

As I mentioned in my mid-year You Should Also Watch post, the top tier this year has been a little sparse, with few truly standing out, even compared to the first-half of recent years. There's a quick, sharp drop-off to an excellent second tier, which comprises most of that post. They're quite good, and I'd highly and readily recommend them to anyone, but each is missing something to really make it hit.

This softness at the top has made more room than usual for a tier just below them, which I've been referring to as "cable classics". That is, a solid but rather unremarkable movie, one you'd likely leave on if you encountered it while channel surfing, and wouldn't bemoan having missed the beginning. They're often a little cheesy, a little awkward, pretty cliched, and (if you're lucky) a little weird. But they're reasonably well done, frequently feature a big name actor or two, and may even be directed by a prominent figure past their prime.

All of this means they're often ignored, but you'll have a good time if you happen across them. For my money, the preeminent ones have been Cleaner and Freaky Tales, both which moved me to review them. What follows are those I saw and enjoyed, but haven't written about in depth. The idea is that I don't expect all audiences will enjoy them, but if my capsule or description or trailer catch your eye, you probably will.

Companion

From the moment Iris and Josh show up at his friend's vacation home, everyone is a bit stand-offish towards Iris despite her intensely pleasant disposition. It gets increasingly aggressive, eventually resulting in a shocking death, which unravels the entire situation, laying bare its themes of control and sexism and the complications of modern dating.

Sophie Thatcher has been the bright spot in a handful of mediocre movies, but she's finally been given a good script to work with. It helps that she has a perfect wiener of a boyfriend in Jack Quaid, and their rapport is exactly what the film needs as is charges towards its heightened ending.

Inheritance

What if you learned your estranged father was a spy in the sights of numerous international organizations, and you were the only one he trusted enough to deliver a sensitive package? That's the situation Maya finds herself in following her mother's death, unsure how much she should care about her remaining parent's plight. But by then, she's too deep to extract herself, so off we go.

Writer/director Neil Burger's plot is fairly standard, and Phoebe Dynevor isn't the most compelling or believable protagonist. But it's saved by the dedicated performance of Rhys Ifans, as well as its look - 28 Years Later is not the year's first movie to be filmed entirely on iPhones. Inheritance feels like it was shot by a passing tourist, smooth and imprecise and unnaturally clear, which serves the action scenes pretty well. The drama, not so much. But it's enough to piece together an enjoyable story coming in at just over 90 minutes.

OBEX

Albert Birney has been a fixture of the weirdo indie scene for over a decade now, rising to prominence with Sylvio, and arguably hitting his peak with Strawberry Mansion a few years ago. In contrast to those other projects, he takes point on both sides of the camera here, to weave a story about reality and technology and obsession with media.

Shot in a lovely black & white to enhance the retro feel, we follow Conor as he goes about his regular day recreating photos in ASCII. He soon comes across an advertisement for the latest in video game tech, which promises to put him into a personalized copy of the game. As he plays it, the nature of reality starts to warp around him, which combined with the constant hum of the coming brood of cicadas leads to an ever-increasing sense of dread. Until finally, the line between worlds is fully blurred, and he must delve deeper into the game world than he ever intended.

The Penguin Lessons

A movie set in Argentina in 1976, beginning just before the military coup and playing out in those early days, was bound to leave a strong impression in Trump's America. Tom intends to keep his head down and teach, and find ways to keep the students engaged. But authoritarians always find a way to make their brutality everyone's problem.

Steve Coogan's lead performance will keep you engaged and entertained throughout, and eventually bring you to the real point of this memoir adaptation: every act of resistance matters. Every confrontation, every word of support, every raising of your voice has an impact, even if it doesn't seem so in the moment. Fascists want to work quietly, without opposition, so even the limpest pushback screams "We see you, and we remember."

Prime Minister

The success of this film is the copious amounts of contemporary, private footage accompanying Jacinda Ardern's journey, shot by her now-husband. From the time of her ascension to leader of New Zealand's Labour Party in late 2017 through two terms as Prime Minister, the recordings paint an incredibly intimate, powerful, and raw portrait of what it takes to run a country with compassion and empathy. She's a person of strong convictions on a host of important issues, and an intense desire (and ability) to learn on the job, driven forward by the belief that it is most effective to govern with hope. Which is tested by all manner of tragedies, from domestic terrorism to COVID to the rising tide of ignorant hatred and individualism that's taken hold worldwide.

This doc is firmly focused on Ardern and New Zealand, forgoing the easy contrast with Trump you might expect. He's most strongly felt in the occupation of the grounds of Parliament in opposition to Ardern's COVID lockdowns. But primarily, this is a raw and honest portrait of leadership, peeling back the curtain on an absurdly stressful job whose inner workings are so often shrouded in complete mystery.

Riff Raff

I adore Boston crime movies. Being from the area, I find them so delightfully colorful. The city's working-class brand of "Fuck you" is just warmer and more personable than when it comes from NYC's organized crime. Technically, this one is set in Maine, but the gangsters are coming up from Boston, and Pete Davidson in particular dons the perfect affect.

It's a comedy of the bumbling variety, but one which manages to project a wonderful heart throughout. This is carried out primarily through the buoyant performance of Miles J. Harvey (absent from the poster despite being the lead), both a little naive as well as kept in the dark about the true nature of his step-father. Don't expect too much from the film - there's a reason it's on this list. But it's a well-executed little story which is sure to elicit at least a few laughs, if for no other reason than the presence of Bill Murray.

The Surfer

I had tremendously high hopes for this one, but Cage never gets as unhinged as you'd want. The closet he comes are moments of clunky writing, forcing the reaction rather than it coming naturally from the character's circumstances, despite the conceit presenting a natural rationale for his escalating exasperation. But his oblivious insistence on ignoring his situation undermines opportunities for reckoning while frustrating the viewer.

Still, the unique presentation and lush visuals elevate the setting from beach to paradise. Although it seems out of reach for The Surfer: his dedication to taking his son to a particular beach raises the isolationist ire of the resident surfers, who set about ruining his life in a multitude of ways. He finds himself at the mercy of a self-help guru who fancies himself Tyler Durden, relentless in his torment of our protagonist for his barely perceptible slight. So it should be no surprise this builds into a tale of pride and modern masculinity and tribalism.

Tornado

I've caught a few small Westerns in theaters this year, and this was by far the most intriguing. It opens with a young Japanese girl desperately fleeing from a roving gang of bandits, which is a thrilling enough scene on its own. But once she's escaped, we rewind slightly to meet her father, a puppeteer and swordsman, and learn Tornado's infraction: stealing the bandits' plunder. The interactions between all parties, including the bandits amongst themselves, goes a long way to adding texture to this unorthodox story.

It's reminiscent of Sisu in the sense that it's largely about someone who'd rather be left alone to do their own thing, but is forced into action as a method of defending themselves. Tornado is realistic about what's needed to survive out here, but prefers being a moody teen under the care of her father to sneaking through fields to avoid getting murdered. Her inherent immaturity lends an energy to the plot, as her actions demonstrate a poorly thought out survival instinct. And the final act is as cathartic as you'd hope given the premise, even as it's less satisfying.

The Ugly Stepsister

Last summer saw The Substance critique beauty standards in the entertainment industry through an insane and at times hard to watch body horror film. In 2025, this Norwegian film seeks to do the same for dating via a Cinderella story, layering in how the wealthy treat the desirability of their children as a reflection of the whole family's virtue. Elvira's mother goes to insane and horrifying lengths to transform her daughter into an object of affection for the Prince. Elvira loves him from afar, so she's up for the metamorphosis, although at first she has no idea the horrors it entails. Maybe even more upsetting is how quickly she begins self-inflicting to the same brutality, believing the only way into the Prince's heart is through his loins.

While an interesting premise, its insistence on being a Cinderella story kneecaps it. Clunky references build up, and the ultimate narrative resolution sends a bizarre message that doesn't quite land at the expense of a far more clear and resolute one that's right there. The way women are pitted against each other and against society is well done. But the biggest reason to watch is the care put into some incredibly gnarly effects used to realize its very intimate and visceral body horror.