The Weekly Gravy #282
Den Stygge Stesøsteren/The Ugly Stepsister (2025) - *** Even before I confirmed that The Ugly Stepsister was Emilie Blichfeldt's feature debut, it felt very much like a first feature. Beyond the basic premise of being Cinderella from a stepsister's POV, and having a decidedly…
Some live to fatten their wealth,
some live to protect it,
but few live to set it free.
The Weekly Gravy #281
اوزاکیوللار/Cutting Through Rocks (2025) - ***½ If Sara Shahverdi weren't real, you could easily imagine she'd been dreamt up by some screenwriter; she's basically the cool aunt of her village in Iran, defying the gender roles of her society by dressing in men's clothing…
“Those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind” doesn’t really fly in a court of law 😕
Lucky Elixir Longboards Shaka Pop Pomegranate Cream Hibiscus Review
Awards Season 2025-26: 79th BAFTA Awards
Apologies for not really keeping up with my awards coverage after the Oscar nominees were announced; I didn't even cover the BAFTA nominees when they were announced. But since the ceremony was yesterday, let's go over the winners. Best Film: One Battle…
The Weekly Gravy #280
“Wuthering Heights” (2026) - *** In one sense, I went into Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" (the quotation marks are generally considered a key part of the title) quite cold: I've never read the novel and haven't seen any of the previous adaptations, although cultural…
A reminder that Tender Mercies was probably my mom’s favorite movie and that she considered #RobertDuvall (RIP) one of the greatest living actors.
ifyouwantthegravy.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/t...
The Weekly Gravy #279
Ben-Hur (1959) - ***½ "Long-winded but deservedly famous 3½ hour epic; the length into itself is almost a pretension, but the set-pieces are lively and the acting is far above adequate." That was what I wrote about Ben-Hur in my old Film Guide, at some point before March…
Be cautious of those who give the Devil too much credit, and themselves too little.
A Hiccup
On Friday my car died suddenly on my way to work; this morning I learned that the engine had actually seized, which means at best an expensive repair and at worst I need a new car. And yesterday, my computer stopped connecting to my home internet. My hands are a bit full these days, as…
My Most Overhyped and Underappreciated Films of 2025
André Holland has to decide between who he was and who he is (which includes dating Gemma Chan) in the fascinating The Actor. Another year, another set of films that either impressed me, or left me wanting, more than most viewers. This year it…
The Weekly Gravy #278
How Green Was My Valley (1941) - **** Of John Ford's four Oscar wins for Best Director, only How Green Was My Valley won Best Picture as well - and happened to beat Citizen Kane, ensuring that once Kane secured its position as an all-time classic, Valley would suffer for it.…
The Weekly Gravy #277
Before I get into the reviews, I want to note that, as I write this, I have by my count 15 films with Oscar nominations I still need to see: Arco (Animated Feature) Diane Warren: Relentless (Song) If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (Actress) Kokuho (Makeup and Hairstyling) Little…
It seems to me that in times of trial, it’s the freaks you can count on; “normal” people are concerned with restoring equilibrium, even as far as compromising themselves, but the freaks will stay true to who they’ve always been.
I prefer Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky
Awards Season 2025-26: The 98th Academy Awards Nominations
The big day is here. And as I explained in my predictions article, things felt a lot less certain this year in part due to our not having several precursors to draw on. And the Academy still managed to surprise me a couple of times! Let's…
@theacademyusa.bsky.social will announce the #Oscar nominations on Thursday; here’s what I think they’ll pick.
The Weekly Gravy #276
Nuremberg (2025) - *** It's pretty much impossible not to compare Nuremberg to Judgment at Nuremberg, which 65 years leavened the sense of triumph that came from putting Nazi leaders on the trial with the political considerations that haunted the trials at the time and the…
The Norns that weave the ropes of Fate observe #socialmedia. Every time you WIN an argument, your favored outcome gains a fiber. Every time you LOSE, a fiber breaks. Social media arguments DO determine reality.
#Dilbert #ScottAdams
Awards Season 2025-26: 83rd Golden Globes Winners
The Globes were last night, and the winners were a nice mix of the expected and the unexpected: Picture - Drama: Hamnet Not Sinners, notably. I'll be a touch annoyed if this wins the Oscar - it's a very good film but there are several contenders I…
#Oscar predictions for the next #AcademyAwards!
Awards Season 2025-26: Predicting the Nominees of the 98th Academy Awards
It’s looking like a good year for horror at the Oscars. I'm starting this post way early (December 13 - over a month before the actual nominations) in part because we're going to be missing a couple of major precursors. Most…
The Weekly Gravy #275
Resurrection/狂野时代 (2025) - **** Resurrection is a profoundly difficult film to describe, but it's the rare film where describing in terms of its antecedents doesn't feel like a dodge; "Inception as directed by Guy Maddin" was my reaction, and my friend Ethan, who thinks even…
Awards Season 2025-26: Awards Round-Up 1/5
We're back! And as I'm typing this up, the Critics' Choice Awards have just concluded, meaning that our first major precursor has spoken. This week, we've got: Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) Critics' Choice Awards (CCA) Georgia Film Critics…
The Weekly Gravy: 2025
To keep the main page for Weekly Gravy posts from becoming unmanageably large, I’m putting all the posts that went up in 2025 – #s 223 through 273 – here: #223: A Miracle (1973), Heavy Metal Parking Lot, Academy Leader Variations, The Plague Summer, House of…
The Weekly Gravy #274
The White Reindeer/Valkoinen peura (1952) - ***½ Finnish cinema has a long history before Aki Kaurismäki became the first Finnish director to break through internationally, but if one knows about Scandinavian cinema before the 1980s, one likely thinks of Sweden and Denmark;…
My Top 100 Films (2026)
This post is a bit of stopgap. My master list of **** continues to grow, and my goal is to do a more elaborate and extensive post when it reaches 500, which I should reach within a couple of months, even if I just rewatch some old favorites that I know will score that high.…
