Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, but better options are on the horizon. (Note: Anything in bold blue below [or near purple] is a link to something in the above title or the review.)
My reviews’ premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the song’s name)
However, if you’d like to know more about rationale of my ratings visit thls explanatory site.
Film Reviews from Two Guys in the Dark is back after a short year-end break for your intrepid critic, Ken Burke. To start off the new year here are brief comments on a few recent releases I streamed during my break with links to more extensive details on each of these films in that to do my usual length on all of them would force all of us into more time and energy that we have available as we’re supposed to be working on resolutions that we might have a chance of keeping. I’ve put these in the order of my stars ratings, beginning with my hardly-ever response of 5 to a notable accomplishment.
SHORT TAKES
Here’s the trailer:
This film is hailed as one of 2025’s best—if not the best—a praise I have agreement with so it deserves more space than it has here, but I vowed to keep these comments short, so I encourage your exploration of this detailed plot summary along with this insightful analysis (19:45; ad interrupts at 4:40) by Lucas Blue, a guy with consistently useful material. Inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s Vineline novel (1990), this film focuses on lovers/urban revolutionaries of the French 75 group (think Weather Underground, Symbionese Liberation Army [look ‘em up]), “Ghetto” Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor), whose determined antagonist, Col. Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn), breaks up their relationship by capturing Perfidia as she’s planting a bomb. He agrees to put her in Witness Protection if she’ll give him info on French 75 members and have sex with him; she agrees, then afterward slips into Mexico (we never see her again). Before Perfidia left Pat she had a daughter, Charlene; he’s left to raise the kid so they go into hiding in sanctuary city Baktan Cross, CA as Bob and Willa (Chase Infiniti), who’s now 16, but they’re still hunted by Lockjaw (you’ll also find Benicio del Toro & Regina Hall in smart, crucial roles).
One Battle … came to domestic (U.S.-Canada) theaters on September 26, 2025, is still playing in some, grossed $71.5 million ($205.2 million worldwide) so far, but is most likely available now via streaming where it’s free to HBO Max subscribers (or $10.99 a month if you want to explore it; I’ve also noted it infrequently cablecasting on HBO) or buy it from Amazon Prime Video for $12.99. The CCAL certainly wants you to see it with marvelously high 95% positive reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, an astoundingly-matched 95% average Metacritic score; I could not agree more with my hopes to see Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Anderson as Director and Adapted Screenplay writer, DiCaprio as Actor, Penn as Supporting Actor, Taylor as Supporting Actress, and various technical possibilities also. As you might know, I end each review with a Musical Metaphor, which this time marks my 9th usage (’ve witnessed many cruel filmic situations) with Phil Collins’ “In the Air of Night” (on his 1981 Face Value album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkADj0TPr JA&list=RDYkADj0TPrJA&start_radio=1, based on hatred shared by Pat/Bob and Charlene/Willa toward Lockjaw, along with his mutual distain for them: "Well, if you told me you were drowning / I would not lend a hand […] the hurt doesn’t show, but the pain still grows / It’s no stranger to you and me.” This magnificent film reflects the bitter divide in today’s U.S.A., the intolerable actions of ICE agents toward those they’re arresting (possibly with cause, often not), and growing gulf between society’s generations, it couldn’t be more relevant and worthy of seeing even as it’s difficult to watch.
Here’s the trailer:
This film’s truly a family affair because not only is it about June Cheshire (Helen Mirren), an elderly woman dying of cancer with the destabilizing impact it has on her family—husband Bernie (Timothy Spall) and their adult children Julia (Winslet), Molly (Andrea Riseborough), Helen (Toni Collette), Connor (Johnny Flynn)—but also it marks Winslet’s debut as a director, working from a debut screenplay by her son, Joe Anders. As with the others I’m making brief comments on this week, I’ll refer you to this useful site for full plot details along with this one with extensive reactions to the film from Anders and (mostly) Winslet; for me, the most impactful scenes are where long-estranged Julie and Molly finally settle their differences and the poignant decision by Bernie to leave June’s hospital room to return to his frequent presence at a local pub to sing Ray Charles’ 1960 hit "Georgia On My Mind" as he changes some lyrics to refer to his beloved “Junie,” although the end where we hear the contents of a letter from June to her then-unborn grandchild is nicely done also.
As this is a Netflix flick all I know about its limited theatrical release is that it opened in select U.K., U.S. theaters on December 12, 2025, then went to Netflix streaming (free to subscribers or $7.99 monthly with ads or $17.99 without). The CCAL/OCCU’s of a different mind than me (Rotten Tomatoes positives only 66%, Metacritic average score 54%), so maybe I’m more softhearted than I realize (although my tender wife, Nina, was prepared for me to call it “sappy” so she was pleasantly surprised) or maybe it’s because I watched it with one of our cats curled up on my lap, a little sick girl with no clear diagnosis as yet of her weight loss/mealtime agitation problems but likely something that could lead to her demise soon, but for whatever reason I found this film to be more honest, more engaging than most of the critical establishment; nevertheless, if you want to see a no-doubt drama about the impact of a dying person on others in the family (… June does have a few lighthearted moments) turn to Ingmar Bergman’s 1972 masterpiece, Cries and Whispers (trailer here), but be prepared in that one to be truly overcome with grief. For now, I’ll leave you with my Goodbye June Musical Metaphor, “Family Affair” by Sly & the Family Stone (on 1971 album There’s a Riot Goin’ On), at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNQpYz1ztx8&list=RDCNQpYz1ztx8& start_radio=1, performed only by Sly and his sister, Rose Stone, rather than the rest of the family, with lyrics that speak to me of the Cheshire clan: “You can’t cry ‘cause you’ll look broke down / But you’re cryin’ anyway ‘cause you’ll all broke down.” A loved one’s imminent death is hard to face, but Winslet and Anders have tackled this difficult topic in a commendable manner, so consider a look.
Here’s the trailer:
Nouvelle Vague (New Wave)—beware, if you must; this film’s in French with English subtitles, in keeping with its content—is an homage to Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 À bout de souffle (Breathless, or literally, Out of Breath), so it’s a dramatization of the much-earlier film with Guillaume Marbeck as Godard, along with actors playing actors so we have Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo, Zoey Deutch looking remarkably like Jean Seberg, and Adrien Rouyard as François Truffaut (another French New Wave master pioneer, wrote the original story for Breathless). If you’re not familiar with the original film you can get a detailed description here plus the trailer; if you're interested you can stream it for free as an HBO Max subscriber or rent it ($3.99) from Amazon Prime Video (unrated, 90 min.). Further, if you want to know more about the Modernist cinematic movement Godard’s film was such a vital part of, consult this extensive site. Breathless is about Belmando as a minor crook who steals a car, kills a cop, tries to hide out, has crucial interactions with lover Seberg with her decision becoming the crucial plot element. Linklater’s film is about the shooting of this story with emphasis on Godard’s clashes with Seberg & producer Georges de Beauregard (Bruno Dreyfürst).
My 3½ stars rating falls short of many in the CCAL (Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews 91%, Metacritic average score 76%), but remember I rarely go over 4 so 3½ is still quite complimentary for me; it’s just that even though I like Linklater’s film a lot much of that comes from long-time familiarity with Breathless added to concern viewers not too aware of it may not be able to appreciate Nouvelle Vague as much as I do (I try to balance my responses with how I think a general audience—not just specific groupies—will react). However, for those who will really dig Nouvelle Vague (and secretly join me in offering it a [clandestine] higher rating), I’ll offer my comments-closing Musical Metaphor to be Jerry Lee Lewis’ hard-rockin’ “Breathless” (written by Otis Blackwell, a 1958 hit for Lewis, on his 1969 Original Golden Hits. Vol. 1 album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0EY4226RpI&list=RD_0EY4226RpI&start_radio=1, which (in my often-warped opinion) in its own way resembles Belmondo’s assumption about his connection with Seberg: “Oh come on baby don’t be shy this love was meant for you and I / Rain, wind, sleet or snow, I’m gonna get you baby wherever you go / You leave me / Breathl9ss-ah.” You can find Llnklater’s latest on streaming, free to Netflix subscribers; if nothing else, though, explore this link about editing with jump cuts to appreciate what Godard encouraged for cinematic possibilities, even though infrequently used today.
Eternity (David Freyne, 2025) rated PG-13 112 min.
Here’s the trailer:
This film has one of the most unique, interesting premises I’ve encountered in a long time as elderly Larry Cutler (Barry Primus) learns when attending a family gathering with wife of 65 years Joan (Betty Buckley), chokes on a pretzel, dies; he soon finds that the afterlife has no traditional experiences of Heaven or Hell but instead begins with a huge waystation called the Junction resembling a combo hotel/convention center where each of the departed must eventually choose a lifestyle to live out for eternity (with the provision that if you later try to escape from it you’ll be thrown into the Void, its own Hell). After death you can also choose what age of your life you’d like to be seen as now so Larry’s young middle-aged, played by Miles Teller. While he spends a week deciding on his forever-future he’s joined by suddenly-also-dead Joan (now Elizabeth Olsen), but a complication arises when she also sees Luke (Callum Turner), her brief first husband who died in the Korean War, has waited for her in this limbo location for 67 years, so the real choice here is who she’ll spend whatever eternity with as each man vies again for her connection. That’s all I’ll say here about the plot, with much more awaiting you at this site, yet I will note I found this film to be a pleasant viewing experience even if it’s ultimately a bit predictable in its outcome. Eternity opened domestically on November 26, 2025 (still in a few theaters), has grossed $15.5 million so far ($32 million worldwide), and can be found through streaming where it rents from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV for $19.99; the CCAL’s generally supportive of you looking into it (Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews 77%, but Metacritic average score only 58%). I, however, easily recommend watching it if only for the unusual spin it puts on the afterlife. As for a Musical Metaphor I’ll offer the Everly Brothers “Let It Be Me” (their 1960 hit, taken from Gilbert Bécaud‘s 1955 French hit “Je t’appartiens”; it's found on their 1960 album The Fabulous Style of the Everly Brothers) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZYpa7u28WU&list=RDAZYpa7u28WU&start_radio=1, the plea both Larry and Luke make to Joan: “Don’t take this heaven from one / If you must cling to someone / Now and forever, let it be me.” (With my admission there could be a problem with this choice in that Phil and Don broke up a couple of times during their long career, but I guess that could be relevant to Joan’s situation as well.) Anyway, I enjoyed Eternity quite a bit; I think you would too.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting
The Boston Globe's 10 Best of 2025
The Boston Globe's 10 Worst of 2025
The New York Times' 25 Most Notable of 2025
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