January movie reviews

In theaters:

THE FIRE INSIDE

Good sports movie about a young female boxer (played by a super newcomer Ryan Destiny) who goes all the way to the Olympics. It's based on a real woman, but I don't follow the sport, so it was all new to me. The twist here is that the normal climactic fight comes halfway through the film, and then the rest of the film is about her struggling to find the endorsements other athletes do. It's a welcome pivot for the genre to show how winning doesn't always mean happy ever after. 

BABYGIRL

I wondered why AMC didn't show that Nicole Kidman ad before this Nicole Kidman movie. Is it that the film opens with her loudly orgasming? Not a Kidman fan, but she definitely goes all out in this movie about a married woman having a fling with a younger man. The film is just okay, and basically says it's fine if a woman cheats on her husband, but it has a sense of humor about itself too. 

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3

These movies continue to be big hits, so they clearly work for the core audience, but for me, they have been worse with each installment. Jim Carrey is really unfunny in this one, I think. I think I'm tapping out of this franchise going forward. Best of luck to you. 

DEN OF THIEVES 2: PANTERA

I barely remembered the first movie and revisited it before seeing the sequel. It's a solid movie, and still an odd fit for a sequel, and I didn't like this second helping as much. It has less weird personality, although it does get credit for being kind of different. 

THE LAST SHOWGIRL

The shocker of the awards season was seeing the name Pamela Anderson pop up. I mean, I was a teenage boy in the 90s so she was an important pop culture figure, but while I am sympathetic to some of the bad treatment she got, I never thought she was a real actress. But she's legitimately good here as an aging Vegas performer. Not really awards level, but good, and I'm curious to see if this leads anywhere for her. As for the movie, it's pretty thin, and just decides to end quickly, but it's worth a watch. 

SING SING

Outstanding film based on a real prison program where inmates perform theater. It is one of the most uplifting and hopeful films I have seen in a long time. Most of the cast is made up of real alumni of this acting program, but the lead is Colman Domingo, Oscar nominated in another fantastic performance. The film is very warm and funny. 

FLIGHT RISK

I know Mel Gibson is a loon, but he can direct good films. So why is this thriller set almost entirely on a small plane such a ludicrous, unintentionally funny dud? The film has some truly embarrassing effects work that wouldn't have been satisfactory decades ago. Mark Wahlberg probably gives the worst performance he ever has, and his bald cap can not be serious. 

THE BRUTALIST

A big Oscar film this year, this is a 3 1/2 hour movie (with an intermission) about an immigrant architect. Sounds boring, but the filmmaking is very good, and the trio of nominated performances (Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones) are all fantastic. I was more into the first half of the film than the later stretches. 

COMPANION

The first 2025 movie that I really liked. A guy has a robot girlfriend, but then things go awry at a weekend getaway. The robot is played by the intoxicating Sophie Thatcher, who between this and Heretic is on a roll. She and Ava from  Ex Machina need to team up. The movie is a clever mix of horror, Sci fi, and dark comedy, and packs in a few fun twists.

Everything else:

PERFECT ADDICTION

Watched this cause it stars Kiana Madeira from the show Trinkets, and she was the only thing that made this cheap romantic triangle melodrama watchable at all. 

SAUSAGE PARTY: FOODTOPIA

Not a movie, but a series sequel to the extremely funny and vulgar movie from the 2010s about food that's alive. At the end of that movie, food declared war on humans, and this show starts when they have apparently wiped out everyone, and have to build their own society. It's still really funny, loaded with every food pun imaginable and having zero hesitation about getting as vulgar as possible. And that voice Edward Norton does makes me laugh every time. 

ROAD HOUSE (2024)

Who would have imagined that a thoroughly unnecessary remake of the cheesy Patrick Swayze movie would be this good? I thought this was very satisfying, and I loved the cheeky lead performance by Jake Gyllenhaal.