Does November belong to Netflix?
Frankenstein
I must confess to you my loyal followers, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein has me reconsidering my position on adaptations. Many of you might recall my apathy to Robert Eggers’s Nosferatu; claiming in a world with so many remakes and retellings, why are we allowing great storytellers to tread the same familiar grounds? Ultimately, there are no unfamiliar grounds; even the most original stories are remixes of older ones. Isn’t Star Wars just a sci-fi reimagining of those ancient samurai legends? The rainy neon-slick streets of Blade Runner are ripped straight from those 1940s detective films. You could fill the Library of Congress with every piece of media trying to retell an old Shakespeare story. Ultimately, I believe del Toro could take the themes within Frankenstein and make his own story, but would it be so different to be unrecognizable as a Frankenstein adaptation? I fear not. So if he wants to put his own stamp on the story, who am I to say no.
To that I would say, the biggest compliment I could give to del Toro’s Frankenstein, there is no doubt this film belongs to him. From the Gothic Catholicism on full display, to the paternal relationships, and questioning who is the real monster, there is no doubt del Toro was at the helm of this project. Yet I confess that even though I appreciate del Toro’s craftsmenship, I did long for something more from this film. There is no doubt Victor Frankenstein to be an awful parental figure towards his new creation, but I never got that monstrous feeling from him. I was longing for something to truly shock me, and the attempt to leave The Creature for dead after he catches the eye of young Elizabeth felt more pettier than truly monstrous. Del Toro has certainly crafted some characters who I find much more monstrous than this version of Victor Frankenstein.
I am overjoyed del Toro got to make this film and Netflix graciously allowed him to make it his way. I can undoubtedly picture a boardroom with CEO ghouls, Peters and Sarandos, wondering why they are spending so much for a set that they believe will be seen on a phone screen. I will always be first in line to see a del Toro film as someone who respects his creative vision. Yet, I think one viewing of his Frankenstein was enough for me.
Bugonia
LEND ME YOUR EARS, MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS!!! I am not sure if Bugonia is the best film of 2025, but it perfectly captures the moment we find ourselves in. In an age where our geriatric leaders would rather enrich their coffers than actually serve their people, misinformation and conspiracy theories have run rampant. Making it totally plausible for the events of Bugonia to play out. Teddy and his cousin Don have become enraptured by conspiracy theories, mainly the one claiming aliens have infiltrated society and are the root cause of their problems. To save humanity, they kidnap Michelle, a powerful CEO of a biomedical company, to negotiate the alien’s surrender. Much like many other movies where the protagonist makes a rash plan, Teddy’s plans begin to quickly crumble as the movie goes on. Bugonia is bonkers in all the right ways; if you feel the world is slowly sinking into madness, then this movie is for you. I need not spoil anymore of this film. Go watch this film, and go in knowing nothing more than the words you heard today.
Predators: Badlands
All of you who stand before me, HEED MY WORDS!!! You may hurl all the rotten tomatoes you like at me, but I will still love Predators: Badlands. I have seen all the vile words the internet has to offer on this film. Acquisitions of this film being slop and following in Marvel’s footsteps. To all of that I say you missed the entire point of the film.
For those unaware, Predator: Badlands is a movie about a young predator named Dek venturing to a hostile planet known as Genna. He must hunt the most dangerous creature on the planet to prove his worth to his tribe. Stakes are raised even higher when Dek’s father tries to kill him for being a runt, but he is able to escape his father with the help of his older brother, sacrificing himself upon his father’s blade. This scene alone had my mind flashing back to samurai films where the honor-bound hero must avenge their fallen brother.
As Dek arrives on Genna, he’s introduced to an almost Star Wars-esque cast of characters. I will confess to you, my followers, I did not initially like these characters, but as the film went on, I soon began to see that their annoyance was by design. The audience is meant to embody Dek: stoic, driven, and with no time for nonsense. Both we, the audience, and Dek need to learn that we don’t need to invest so much time into a family that cares not for us. We can find our own metaphorical wolf pack. One that can look past the quirkiness and see the deep themes lurking beneath an awe-inspiring action film. I care not for what the internet says, I liked Predators: Badlands.
Keeper
TAKE HEED, MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS, FOR I AM PREPARED TO GO TO WAR!!! The amount of disdain for the film, Keeper, has me enraged enough to garnish torches and pitchforks. Yes, the film is certainly without its problems. For the unaware, Keeper is a movie about a couple who take an anniversary trip to a cabin in the woods. I try to refrain from using the term, slow burn, because people assume that means nothing happens. True cinephiles will know that the term slow burn unfairly describes a film that slowly drip feeds the story, yet will make sure what is happening on screen is compelling. Keeper, on the other hand, isn’t always putting its best foot forward on the screen; resorting to still shots of the beautiful, yet still, Vancouver forest. My followers, I tell you, I was able to look past all of that for eerie creature design at the end, and for the commentary on how transactional relationships have become. I got exactly what I wanted out of Keeper that I was looking to get (but didn’t get) out of Together. If you feel Longlegs was the better of these two Perkins films, I would happily agree to disagree. However, if you think The Monkey, an absolute joke of a film, was better than Keeper, then I don’t think we will ever see eye to eye.
The Running Man
MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS, it brings me no joy to say this as a fan of Edgar Wright’s work, but The Running Man might be my least favorite of his films. PLEASE STOW AWAY YOUR PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES AND HEED WHAT I HAVE TO SAY!!! I know Frankenstein has made me reconsider my stance on adaptations, but remaking a movie that is less than forty years old feels like a newly widowed conservative woman saddling up with an already married Vice President. In a vacuum, the film is flashy and over the top. Glenn Powell is made for a role like this, and Michael Cera as a crazed doomsday prepper is pure gold. However, as someone who worships at the temple of Edgar Wright, I have the blasphemous opinion The Running Man pales in comparison to his previous work. This is nowhere near as humorous as the Cornetto trilogy. Nor is it as stylized as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. The car chases are better in Baby Driver, and I think the camerawork in Last Night is Soho exceeds any shot in this film. I understand that remaking The Running Man was a long-time dream for Edgar Wright, but it feels a bit too soon and lacking in the creativity that usually oozes from his work. It’s a thumbs down for me.
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
In a world of fairies, fauns and nightmarish Pale Men, should we really be surprised that humans were the most monstrous of them all? I would easily prefer to have Victor Frankenstein as a father over Captain Vidal as a stepfather.
Sisu: Road to Revenge
HEAR YE!!! HEAR YE!!! In 2022, there was a Polish action film that completely flew under the radar. That film was Sisu; a film about a legendary Polish soldier being a one-man Nazi-killing machine. The violence and brutality rivaled the John Wick series. I always worried this film did not garner the attention it deserved, but it seems like my lack of faith was a mistake. For I, the Video Game Doomsayer, have witnessed the sequel, Sisu: Road to Revenge. This time, our one-man wrecking crew, Aatami, has traveled to a part of the USSR that was formerly Poland. There he dismantles his former home, loads the wooden planks onto a truck, and attempts to leave for Poland. Unfortunately, the Red Army has a different plan for him. Don’t come into this film for thoughtful meta-narratives on war. No, the movie is here for one thing: bone-crushing action. I have no doubt this film will spawn YouTube videos of the action scenes with the Doom soundtrack overlaid against the violence. It does jump the shark a bit near the end, but I was willing to forgive it for how well it sticks to its guns.
Rental Family
FROM HEART BOUNDING ACTION, WE TURN TO A MOVIE THAT WILL MAKE YOU HEART ACHE IN A DIFFERENT WAY!!! I present the feel good movie of the month: Rental Family. Brendan Fraser plays Phillip, an American actor who has immigrated to Japan after landing an iconic commercial gig. Struggling to keep consistent work, he takes a job at a “rental family” agency, where people can hire actors to play people in their lives. One woman, who is planning on moving to Canada with her girlfriend, hires Phillip so she can hold a more traditional wedding for her conservative parents. Another woman hires him as a stand-in for her daughter’s father so she can enroll her in a good school. Finally, a daughter hires him to play a reporter interviewing her aging father during his final days. The film does an adequate job at highlighting the loneliness that both Phil and his clients experience in this fast frenetic world.
There is a lot of heart in this movie, but it didn’t hit me as hard as movies like My Old Ass or The Whale did. It might be due to the film having too many irons in the fire; along with Phil and his clients, there is also a subplot involving Phil’s coworker who is forced to take numerous cheating-mistress apology jobs, where she apologizes for seducing a cheating husband. I certainly have no doubt, this would be a service this “rental family” would provide, but it clashes with heartfelt scenes between Fraser and his adoptive “family figures”. Nonetheless, Rental Family is worthy enough for a B grade and worth watching if it happens to stumble into your recommendation lists.
Paprika (2006)
MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS!!! If anyone claims this film to be anime Inception, then I give you the right to hurl rotten tomatoes at their face. There is no doubt there are a lot of similarities between the two stories, but both director’s fingerprints are all over their own perspective films. For those unaware of Paprika, the film revolves around a therapist who has invented a device that allows her to enter her patient’s dreams as the magical girl Paprika. However, a mysterious madman steals the device and begins to wreak havoc. With Paprika’s ability to bend reality, she is the only one capable of stopping the device from ripping apart reality. Despite Paprika being zany and wild in a way Inception could never be, the film is still able to humanize and ground a lot of the characters. There’s a detective who initially struggles to help Paprika identify the thief because his subconscious is mysteriously wrapped up in movies. However, with Paprika’s assistance, he is able to overcome this mental blockage and assist in the case.
I did enjoy my time with Paprika, but I don’t think this is a film you can watch once or throw on in the background. I, the Video Game Doomsayer, feel I need a second viewing just to fully wrap my head around this film. I do not hold it against the film, but multiple viewing might be too much of a commitment for some viewers. Yet I can also see this dazzling someone to the point of obsession. I am sure a cult following exists for this film, and I believe it is certainly well warranted.
It Was Just an Accident
MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS!!! It is always worthwhile to branch outside your comfort zone to explore new forms of art. Fresh perspectives are always valuable. As a result, I gave the Iranian film It Was Just an Accident the old college try. The film is a drama revolving around Vahid, an auto mechanic, and his brief encounter with a customer with a prosthetic leg. Vahid had briefly spent some time in jail and was tortured by a sadistic jailer with a similar prosthetic leg. Overcome with a thirst for revenge, Vahid kidnaps the man but soon gets cold feet as he is unsure if he has truly captured the man who tortured him. He soon begins a quest to find others who were tortured by the same foe who could properly identify him. Unfortunately for It Was Just an Accident, this quest Vahid undertakes takes far too long, in my opinion, and leaves the final act feeling rushed and anticlimactic. Yes, Vahid’s quest does introduce us to an interesting cast of characters, but it also doesn’t leave much room for Vahid’s story to end satisfyingly. I certainly don’t mind giving my time to a foreign film such as this, but I also don’t think I would go out of my way to see it again.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
LEND ME YOUR EAR, OH HUMBLE ENJOYER OF FILMS!!! If you are looking for someone to say if Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is worth the two-and-a-half-hour investment, then rest assured, my followers. Rian Johnson has not stumbled in his quest to follow in Agatha Christie’s footsteps. Benoit Blanc is just as entertaining of a character as the day we heard him strike that piano key in the Thrombey manor. You are welcome to leave this humble vagabond and partake in the film, but if you wish to hear some spicier takes, then lend me your ears once more.
LOYAL FOLLOWERS, I dread to inform you that Wake Up Dead Man is my least favorite among the Knives Out trilogy. The mystery and pieces surrounding it were not what did this film in, but the subject matter ultimately killed my enjoyment of this film …Religion. When your story revolves around a young priest being framed for the murder of a monsignor in an isolated town, religion is bound to come up once or twice. Probably one of the more iconic scenes of the film includes Benoit Blanc monologuing about the evils the Catholic Church has taken part in throughout history. Yet as the film begins to expose every suspect as a religious hypocrite, I can feel director Rian Johnson wrestling with his own faith. Even as the mystery is wrapped up and Blanc is giving his goodbye, he hints that he might be open to returning to the church.
Now, I know every creative puts a piece of themselves into every project, but frankly, I have little sympathy for the “I feel bad for being religious” crowd. We are in an age where US troops are being told they need to go to war because it is all God’s divine plan. That the destruction of Iran will trigger the end times and bring about the return of Jesus. I am not claiming that Johnson believes all of this nonsense. Hell, Wake Up Dead Man was made long before we started engaging in holy wars, but excuse me if I scoff at the idea that returning to church might not be that bad. I will still get a Blu-ray copy of this film, mostly to spite Netflix. However, I am not sure if I will ever be able to get the sour taste of religious pity that this film spoon feeds out of my mouth.
Jay Kelly
HEAR YE!!! HEAR YE!!! My followers, I often wonder if films like Jay Kelly are often too inside baseball for those who have a casual relationship with movies. As someone who knows a bit about the blood, sweat, and tears that go into making a film, I could feel the struggle that the titular Jay Kelly, played by George Clooney, goes through as he reflects on his career. The relationship he had to walk away from to be the very best haunts him in a way I reminisce as a vagabond who writes in between soapbox ramblings. Yet, I can see someone who only watches a handful of movies scoffing at Jay Kelly’s rich actor problems.
However, you don’t crowd around my soapbox to know if Joe Shmoe enjoys the film; you are here for my thoughts. I stand before you to confess I absolutely adore Jay Kelly. It feels like it celebrates George Clooney as an actor while not being a direct tribute to him. A story about a man accepting all the terrible mistakes he has made throughout his life. I will also die on the hill that Adam Sandler deserves more roles in serious films; he is equal parts serious actor and comedic one. There is certainly a chance that a casual movie enjoyer might bounce off Jay Kelly, but I will still continue to recommend this one to anyone who hears my rambling.
Another jewel for Netflix’s November crown.