My movie watching this year began at a much slower pace compared to last year. Still, this month I got to see two 70mm screenings—one of them becoming my favorite film of 2025 and the other being the definitive version of a millennial classic. I also revisited the “iPhone cinema” this month during my flights to and from Sweden.
Marty Supreme
United States of America | 2025 | 150m | English, Japanese
Alright, this takes the top spot for my favorite film of 2025 away from One Battle After Another. My gamble to see another 70mm screening at Cineplex Varsity paid off wonderfully. (That place is still a pain to get to, though.)
Marty Supreme is just such a phenomenal piece of filmmaking. There’s so much meaning packed into the words, “I am the father.” I can imagine some people criticizing this movie for being too long but when the script and acting is firing on all cylinders at all times the way it is here, I wouldn’t have minded if it was longer.
C.H.U.D.
United States of America | 1984 | 88m | English
I made it an hour before it put me to sleep. Came back to it after awakening but even the somewhat more eventful last half hour wasn’t enough to redeem it.
A movie about mutants living in the sewers should not be this slow and ponderous. Moments of action come few and far in-between, and even then they’re almost always cut short through bizarre editing choices that send the focus of the movie somewhere far less interesting. It’s astounding how many times the movie sabotages its own momentum this way. I suppose the point was to create cliffhangers to keep me invested in the different groups of characters; instead, I was left wondering why the movie insists on preventing anything remotely interesting from lasting for more than about a minute at a time.
C.H.U.D. was a curiosity for me thanks to its schlock premise, grimy 80s NYC setting, and its unlikely newfound relevance in meme parlance, but it’s way too slow and dull of a movie to be anything worth recommending. Millions must skip.
Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair
United States of America | 2006 | 247m | English, Japanese, Cantonese, Spanish, French
I had only ever seen the Kill Bill movies as a pair back-to-back, so watching the two volumes combined into one massive four-hour epic didn’t feel substantively different from my usual experience with this story. I think this version is still stronger, however. There’s no censorious black-and-white during the Crazy 88 fight, for starters. The omission of the last line in Vol. 1, which acts as a cliffhanger in the original cut, works much better in lending a stronger impact to the reveal in the final chapter. The extended anime sequence is great to see after all these years, after knowing about it only as a passing mention in the Wikipedia entry for Kill Bill. For years The Whole Bloody Affair felt like something legendary—supposedly this version of the movie existed, but only a handful of people had ever seen it, so we had to rely on hearsay to know what was actually different about it.
The fact that The Whole Bloody Affair got a wide release at all—and on 70mm, no less—was an unexpected treat this year. Why release this cut now, of all times? One reason might be the recent Fortnite tie-in, complete with an extra “Lost Chapter” short tacked on after the end credits. Whatever the reason, I’m glad I got to see this in a theater (and after missing its first run at Cineplex Varsity).
Kill Bill is often derided for cribbing so much from other movies. But twenty years later, it’s obvious that Kill Bill itself has influenced a generation of creatives and filmmakers. (See the fourth episode of the third season of Jujutsu Kaisen for a recent example.) Kill Bill is Tarantino at his most Tarantino—a potpourri of his love for bloody Eastern movie action, clever dialogue, and long, gratuitous shots of Uma Thurman’s bare feet. If there’s one phrase I would use to describe this movie, especially after the admittedly exhausting runtime inside a single theater on a Saturday afternoon, it’s “self-indulgent.” This is most evident in the exposition scenes, which often go on for much longer than they need to. Bill is the worst at this; I never understood why he needed to go on and on about goldfish or Superman or why a “truth serum” needed to be incorporated into the story at the last minute. By the time we’re at that point in the movie, it’s easy to get restless. Over-the-top as it is, for better or worse, Kill Bill is a formative movie in my life and in the lives of many millennials. After finally seeing it as it was originally intended, I don’t want to go back to seeing it any other way.
Get Out
United States of America | 2017 | 104m | English
I finally took the opportunity to watch what seems like one of the most highly regarded movies of the 2010s, Jordan Peele’s Get Out. Even though it’s been years since this first came out, I have consciously avoided spoilers for that day when I would finally cross it off my watchlist. That day finally came during a flight to Sweden, when I loaded it up on my iPhone.
The first scene is great and immediately establishes Peele’s directing cred. The mystery of the story kept me engaged throughout, even though there’s arguably a slowness to the first half. I realized how much of the movie I had already subconsciously absorbed through cultural osmosis: I already knew about the “would’ve voted for Obama for a third time if I could have” joke.
Get Out is certainly a product of its time and place. If it had come out a few years earlier, would it have the same near-impeccable reputation that it has now? For better or worse, Get Out is undeniably one of the quintessential texts of the woke era. To some people, that will make it a cathartic and timeless masterpiece. To me, that makes it… well, you can see my score. (There’s another funny and spot-on review on Letterboxd about how the family of Get Out would surely name this as one of their favorite movies if it existed in-universe.) I think Get Out is a solid enough movie that expertly manages what seems to be a limited budget. But I don’t think it deserves the lofty average Letterboxd rating that it’s sitting at. I’m glad I finally saw it but I can’t imagine it’s anything I’ll return to.
Dolemite
United States of America | 1975 | 90m | English
Watched as a double feature with Get Out durning a flight. Dolemite can be a lot of fun, with the rhymed shit talking and endearingly half-assed karate action scenes. It’s not the best directed… or edited… or acted… movie out there but that’s arguably the source of its charm.
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
United States of America | 1969 | 105m | English
Continuing my trend of watching uncomfortable movies on airplanes, Bob & Carol & Ted & Knuckles or whatever was an alright movie that was very sixties and yet I have no doubt it caused a stir when it first came out. I think many of the scenes were supposed to be read as comedy but I honestly had a hard time telling where the goofs ended and the sincere pro-polyamory messaging began. The acting is great even if I don’t think most people in real life would change their behavior this dramatically after just one weekend at the “talk about your feelings” retreat. Natalie Wood, my goodness.
The Wild Robot
United States of America | 2024 | 102m | English
Definitely a kids movie, but one that I thought was beautiful in both its visuals and heartfelt story about parenting, duty, and belonging. It stumbles in its ending scene with some confused messaging but I think The Wild Robot is something that will make many parents tear up while entertaining kids with all its goofy animal characters. With so many subtle touches in the animation it is a technical marvel if nothing else.
Other Movies I Saw This Month
Best Movies I Saw This Month
- Marty Supreme
- Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair
- The Wild Robot
Worst Movie I Saw This Month
- C.H.U.D.
Josh Anderson 