REVIEW: “The Housemaid” (2025)

December 20, 2025 by Keith Garlington

Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried square off in Paul Feig’s “The Housemaid”, a movie that starts off as a fun campy throwback before nosediving in its final act by taking the cheapest and most predictable route available. It’s a shame because Feig has all the ingredients he needs, from a game cast to a genre formula that audiences tend to enjoy. But all of its entertaining buildup is wasted on a ridiculous and trite final act that narratively and thematically rehashes ideas we’ve seen several times before.

In fairness, “The Housemaid” is based on Freida McFadden’s 2022 novel of the same name and from all indications it sticks pretty close to the book’s central story. But if you’re unfamiliar with the novel and hoping for a movie with the slightest original punch, you might leave this adaptation disappointed. For me, seeing potential squandered for something this obvious is more frustrating than disappointing.

Sweeney plays a young woman named Millie Calloway who we first meet as she’s arriving at a lavish estate in Great Neck, New York. There she meets Nina Winchester (Seyfried), a wealthy wife and mother who has invited Millie to interview for a live-in housemaid position. It’s an important opportunity for Millie who isn’t quite who she claims to be. While she hides it from Nina, we learn Millie is fresh out of prison after serving ten years of a fifteen-year sentence for a crime which comes to light later. And she needs a steady job to meet the requirements of her parole.

Millie gets hired and wastes no time moving into a cramped A-frame attic space in the Winchester’s home. The converted bedroom isn’t much, but it beats sleeping out of her car. Millie is also introduced to Nina’s young daughter Cece (Indiana Elle) and her hunky husband Andrew (Brandon Sklenar). It looks like the ideal scenario for Millie. Cleaning, organizing, some light cooking, and helping with Cece in exchange for living in a nice house with a nice family for a nice salary.

But of course Millie’s scenario turns out to be far from ideal. It starts with Nina’s wild fits of rage. She then begins lashing out at Millie, blaming her for things she hasn’t done. Things get even more twisted when Nina begins framing Millie to make her look foolish. In normal circumstances, Millie would quit on the spot. But she desperately needs the job to stay out of prison. Thankfully she finds an ally in the endlessly charming Andrew who routinely steps in to reassure and reinforce Millie with his dreamy eyes and winning smile.

Without giving too much away, screenwriter Rebecca Sonnenshine wastes no time ratcheting up the drama before eventually turning the story on its head. Seyfried does unhinged well while Sweeney wins our sympathy and our suspicion. But neither performance hits every right note, mostly due the material. The script cunningly pushes both characters to their breaking point only to undo its own good work with a lame reveal that’s more interested in being relevant than original.

Sadly the predictable big twist lets all the air out of “The Housemaid”. Not only does it sour the good stuff that came before it, but it kills the film’s finish where things get wackier and bloodier. But even without the story’s eye-rolling “surprise”, the final 20 minutes are a wobbly mess. It’s an ending littered with arbitrary actions, an overly long explain-it-all flashback, and a final scene with ludicrous implications. But to be honest, by that point it didn’t really matter. The damage had already been done.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

REVIEW: “Avatar: Fire and Ash” (2025)

December 19, 2025 by Keith Garlington

It goes without saying, but there will be a lot of eyes on “Avatar: Fire and Ash”. And they will be watching for a number of reasons. For fans, it will be for another chance to visit the breathtaking world of Pandora. For tech lovers, it’s to see how James Cameron once again pushes technical boundaries. For box office prognosticators, it will be to see if Cameron’s third Avatar movie can hit the $2 billion+ mark like its predecessors. For the studio, it’s to see if it makes enough money to green-light the final two films in Cameron’s groundbreaking franchise.

After the enormous success of 2009’s “Avatar”, it took the franchise’s creative mastermind James Cameron thirteen years to make and release its sequel, “The Way of Water”. To many people’s surprise (more specifically, my own), the second film was also a major box office success, clearing over $2.3 billion at the box office. It was also an incredible cinematic experience that not only expanded the Avatar universe, but made the narratively shaky first film better.

“The Way of Water” once again delivered cutting-edge action sequences and world-building. But its story shifted its focus to family and all of its complexity as seen through the lenses of love, loyalty, sacrifice, and tragedy. “Fire and Ash” sees Cameron picking up where he left off, with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) navigating their family through grief following a devastating loss. And while they’ve found a home with the aquatic Metkayina clan, that doesn’t lessen the blow of losing one of their own.

**Image Courtesy of 20th Century Studios**

Cameron’s script (which he co-write with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver) expands the drama within the Sully family, adding more depth and conflict to the relationships that flourished in the previous film. Back is Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), Jake and Neytiri’s adopted daughter with a special unrealized bond to the planet; Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), the middle child who also serves as the film’s occasional narrator; and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), their birth daughter and youngest child.

Each member of the Sully family is mourning in their own way. Jake spends his time keeping busy rather than facing his grief. Neytiri has shut herself off and is slowly being consumed by hate. Lo’ak is overwhelmed with guilt, believing his actions led to the previous film’s tragedy. Kiri is struggling to find her purpose while wondering if she could have done more. And Tuk is lost among her grieving family and unsure how to process everything she is witnessing.

Also returning is the Sully family’s chief antagonist, the obsessed Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). Once the human military commander who brutally oversaw the colonization of Pandora, Quaritch is now a Na’vi mercenary who is still persecuting the native tribes, all in the name of revenge. But this time he has found a formidable ally in Varang (Oona Chaplin), the hardened leader of the volcano-dwelling Mangkwan clan. While she isn’t fleshed out as much as she could be, her goal is clear – to spread her fire across Pandora.

The story’s wild card is Spider (Jack Champion), the human son of Quaritch who was taken in by Jake and Neytiri after his ruthless father was killed in the first film. Spider’s story takes several specific turns that make him wanted by nearly everyone but for much different reasons. Spider was a little annoying in the last film. But here he’s more of a sympathetic figure who’s being pulled in numerous directions and for nothing that he can control.

As you may be able to tell, “Fire and Ash” is very much a direct sequel to “The Way of Water”. In fact, their connections are so close that you can only really view it as an extension of the previous film. The two are narratively inseparable which is why some might see their similarities as repetitive. But Cameron infuses every scene with purpose, whether they’re personal for individual characters or building up the growing conflict that is thrusting Pandora into all-out war.

Once again, “Fire and Ash” is every bit the jaw-dropping spectacle you expect. While is doesn’t feature a technical leap as significant as we saw from film 1 to film 2, it’s still a stunning visual showcase for digital animation, practical effects, and performance capture. And it remains the only franchise where seeing it in 3-D is a must. It’s all enhanced through a crisp high frame rate which some have criticized but that I personally love.

“Fire and Ash” may feel like “The Way of Water: Part 2”, but it brings some things of its own. The menacing Varang and the Mangkwan clan, the Wind Traders and their massive organic barges; new sea creatures from the deep – they all make great additions to Cameron’s already rich cinematic world. Yet it does have its shortcomings. Older characters pop up with nothing much to do. The movie’s length doesn’t quite feel as earned as before. And it uses some of the same action beats as the last film. But “Fire & Ash” is still a grand science-fiction epic that once again transports us to an awe-inspiring world that could only come from the imagination of James Cameron. And I loved being back.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

REVIEW: “It Was Just an Accident” (2025)

December 18, 2025 by Keith Garlington

Jafar Panahi continues his own style of guerilla filmmaking in his latest feature, “It Was Just an Accident”. Panahi once again offers an incisive critique of the ruling regime in his home country, Iran. He has been arrested multiple times, imprisoned, and at one point banned from filmmaking on charges of “propaganda”. Yet he has continued to make movies in Iran, often in secret and with the help of outside distributors. Such is the case with his latest neorealistic work.

“It Was Just an Accident” has been widely lauded across the globe, even winning the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. It now sits as France’s entry for Best International Feature Film category at the upcoming Academy Awards. His film offers a clear-eyed examination of dehumanization at the hands of brutal authoritarian regimes as well as the lasting psychological trauma that comes with it. More personally, it wrestles with ethical questions surrounding revenge and the grip it can have on someone.

Written by Panahi, the film opens with a man (Ebrahim Azizi) driving late at night with his wife and daughter. After accidentally striking a dog, his car runs for a few miles before breaking down, conveniently in front of a garage. The man walks into the garage, a noticeable squeak from his prosthetic leg sounding on every other step. A young mechanic kindly goes out to fix his car. But another man named Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri) hides upstairs, terrified of something we don’t know.

With his car fixed, the man drives his family home with Vahid secretly following behind. Vahid stakes out the family’s house until morning and then follows the man into town. When the time is right, Vahid abruptly pulls up next to the man, knocks him unconscious, kidnaps him, and then drives him out to the middle of the desert. Once there, Vahid throws the man into a fresh grave and begins to bury him alive.

Up to this point, Panahi has kept us in the dark which adds a thick layer of suspense to his story. But he begins peeling back that layer as the man begs for his life. Through their exchange we learn that Vahid believes he has abducted a man nicknamed “Peg-Leg” who has seriously wronged him. But questions arise when the terrified man disputes his claims. And this launches the story into a borderline outrageous direction that juggles visceral human drama with pitch-black comedy.

Without giving too much away, Vahid sets out on a mission to verify the identity of the man he believes is Peg-Leg. Along the way he’s joined by a colorful group of characters: a bookshop owner named Salar (Georges Hashemzadeh), a wedding photographer named Shiva (Mariam Afshari), a young bride-to-be Goli (Hadis Pakbaten) and her fiancé Ali (Majid Panahi), and Shiva’s hot-tempered ex, Hamid (Mohammad Ali Elyasmehr). Each bring their own unique personalities and each have their own unique testimonies of Peg-Leg’s brutality.

Over time Panahi uses his characters to unveil Peg-Leg’s crimes which get more disturbing with each revelation. And while each remembers the haunting squeak of a prosthetic leg, they all struggle to know for sure if the man they are holding is the same man who ruthlessly tortured them. Their uncertainty leads to tension which Panahi uses to pose some weighty moral questions. Is there justification in their actions or are they blinded by their trauma and their thirst for vengeance?

Nothing about that synopsis sounds amusing yet Panahi finds ways to bring levity to the otherwise heavy subject matter. Not only does it lighten things up, but it adds another layer of authenticity. While “It Was Just an Accident” has a rebellious spirit that pleads to a nation’s conscience, it at times seems more existential than pointedly political. It makes the film more than a simple indictment of theocratic fascism. It has more human implications which resonate from its mysterious start to its hauntingly ambiguous ending.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

REVIEW: “Ella McCay” (2025)

December 17, 2025 by Keith Garlington

“Ella McCay” is the first film in fifteen years from writer-director James L. Brooks. Sadly, it’s hard to say it has been worth the wait. In fact, it’s hard to believe it comes from the same acclaimed filmmaker who made “Terms of Endearment”, “Broadcast News”, and “As Good as It Gets”. That’s because “Ella McCay” is a dull, frustrating mess that never feels rooted in the real world despite trying really hard to be.

It’s a shame because there is so much talent attached to the movie. Brooks has proven himself to be a great filmmaker and storyteller. But he miscalculates so much here, leading to him overstuffing his story, undercooking key moments, and diluting his characters. Even worse, the authenticity and sophistication he’s known for is nowhere to be found. It leaves us desperately looking for the humanity and struggling to find it.

Emma Mackey gives her all in the title role, doing her very best to deliver a character worth latching onto. Unfortunately, Ella’s story plays out through a cluttered narrative structure that’s littered with clunky flashbacks and annoying plot devices. It’s surprisingly unfunny as a comedy, noticeably lazy as a movie about empowerment, and completely ineffective as either a political or family drama.

Ella’s life is filled with enough drama to fill a primetime series on The CW. As a teenager, she and her kid brother were forced to navigate a difficult childhood, in large part due to their contemptible father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson). He was a habitual cheater who lost his job as a hospital administrator because of various sexual relationships with staff. When he and their mother Claire (Rebecca Hall) decide to move to California for “a fresh start”, Ella stays behind to finish school, moving in with her beloved Aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis).

Now in 2008, the 34-year-old Ella is a lawyer working as her home state’s lieutenant governor. She has a close but hard to read relationship with her boss, Governor Bill Moore (Albert Brooks) who seems more interested in a potential position in the sitting President’s cabinet. Bill finally gets his big promotion, leading him to step down and leaving Ella to serve as interim governor for the next fourteen months. Ella is excited and ready to get to work for her state. But the political establishment sees her as nothing more than a lame duck.

As for her family, we learn Ella’s mother died sixteen years earlier and she hasn’t seen her loser father in thirteen years. That is until he suddenly shows up hoping to fix things with his estranged daughter. Meanwhile Ella’s dopey husband Ryan (Jack Lowden) is ate up with his wife’s newfound status and is encouraged by his comically overbearing mother (Becky Ann Baker) to milk it for all it’s worth. And if that wasn’t enough, Ella is trying to help her brother Casey (Spike Fearn) who has spent the last year isolated in his apartment after an issue with his girlfriend (Ayo Edebiri).

Sadly none of the above drama connects on any meaningful level, mainly because the story is too bloated and woefully overwritten. Yet it’s a movie full of thankless roles from actors trying to add weight to underwritten characters. Harrelson is collecting a check, popping up at the most peculiar times and then vanishing. Kumail Nanjiani is wasted as Ella’s loyal driver and head of security. Hall is essentially a cameo. Edebiri’s character could be erased and the movie wouldn’t be impacted at all. And Lowden is given an embarrassingly bad role to try and make interesting.

“Ella McCay” ends up disappointing on so many levels. It’s far from what you would expect from an accomplished filmmaker like Brooks. It squanders the perfectly capable but poorly equipped Emma Mackey who (like the rest of the film’s talented cast) finds herself stuck trying to find purpose in this empty and often confounding slog. As well-meaning as it may be, “Ella McCay” is a glaring misfire and a far cry from the significantly better films that have defined James L. Brooks’ career.

VERDICT – 1.5 STARS

First Glance: “Disclosure Day”

December 16, 2025 by Keith Garlington

Steven Spielberg is returning to a genre that helped solidify him as a household name. “Disclosure Day” sees the revered filmmaker revisiting the world of alien encounters that birthed such classics as “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, “War of the Worlds”, and of course “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”. The first trailer for the film sets up something that could be pretty special. Besides having Spielberg back in the director’s chair, the trailer also teased an exceptional cast led by Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, and Colman Domingo.

The trailer is wonderfully cryptic which is exactly what you want for a movie like this. In it we see Emily Blunt who suddenly seems possessed by an alien entity during a live weather report. Apparently the strange message she relays catches the attention of millions watching. Meanwhile Josh O’Connor seems to know what’s going on and he’s prepared to share it to the world. Crop circles, strange animal behavior, Colin Firth connected to some strange body-control machine – Spielberg and screenwriter David Koepp throw in a lot of compelling ingredients to a movie poised to be a summer hit.

“Disclosure Day” invades theaters on June 12, 2026. Check out the trailer below and let me know if you’ll be seeing it or taking a pass.

REVIEW: “Silent Night, Deadly Night” (2025)

December 16, 2025 by Keith Garlington

The original “Silent Night, Deadly Night” released in 1984 to significant controversy. Groups criticized the film for its graphic violence at the hands of a killer decked out in a Santa Claus suit. But over time it would gain a cult following which led to four mostly straight-to-video sequels and a loose 2012 remake. Now the psychological slasher is getting a fresh reboot just in time for the holiday season.

Writer-director Mike P. Nelson puts a new spin on the 1984 original film. He takes several of the same characters and completely reinvents their stories starting with his main character, Billy Chapman (Rohan Campbell). When Billy was eight-years-old he witnessed the brutal murder of his parents by a deranged man in a Santa Claus suit named Charlie (Mark Acheson). Billy’s mother manages to mortally wound Charlie. As the killer is dying, Billy comes in contact with him which has some alarming consequences.

Now years later, Billy is a drifter who moves from town to town at the behest of the voice of Charlie living in his head. Even more disturbing, the voice leads him to kill one person a day during the 24 days of Christmas as part of some grisly ritual connected to a macabre advent calendar. To make it even more twisted, Billy kills his targets while wearing a blood-stained Santa Claus suit. “Naughty boys get punished”, the creepy voice tells him.

The movie takes a surprise turn when Billy arrives in the small town of Hackett. While in a diner, an attractive local named Pamela Sims (a very good Ruby Modine) catches his attention. He follows her to a Christmas trinket shop owned by her father (David Lawrence Brown). By this point, Nelson has tuned our minds to expect a blood bath. Instead, Billy gets a job at the shop and quickly falls for Pamela. But as their romance blooms, the voice of Charlie reminds Billy of his serial-killing duties.

It would be criminal to spoil where the story goes. Let’s just say Nelson takes some mammoth swings in his efforts to weave romance and horror into something cohesive and entertaining. Believe it or not he pulls it off, not perfectly, but to a degree you may not be expecting. We get several meaningful reveals and a couple of crazy turns that completely reshape everything we thought we knew. The romance works because Nelson invests time in his two characters. The horror works because he doesn’t shortchange slasher fans when it comes to gory kills.

While “Silent Night, Deadly Night” is unexpectedly entertaining, I don’t want to oversell it. It’s not likely to become a perennial holiday favorite. The story takes a few shortcuts and some characters are underdeveloped. But it’s not throwaway rubbish either. Nelson isn’t just rehashing some tired formula. He offers his own unique take on the story, tossing in plenty of gruesome kills, a warm romance, some pitch-black humor, and a strong sense of self-awareness.