Sentimental Value (2025): Rare to have a writer-director who hasn’t stepped a foot wrong in his entire career. Joachim Trier is that guy, with even his worst movie, Louder Than Bombs (2015), a decent showing. As an aside, LTB is the one English movie he did, which feels like something he maybe points at in Sentimental Value. This movie is about the fraught relationship between a father (Stellan Skarsgard) and his two daughters (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Renate Reinsve). The absent father, gone on his solitary journey as an accomplished director, fails to connect with either of his daughters and their relationship is revaluated after the passing of their mother. The movie is layered and rich in storytelling, jumping between the different challenges each of the three characters faces, yet always coming together in key moments. When the father sets out to do one last film but cannot convince his actress daughter to take on the role, he ends up casting a young Hollywood star, who happens to be a big fan of the guy’s movie(s). I had to wonder if that was how Elle Fanning ended up joining Joachim Trier’s movie as well. As usual, mental health is an important theme in Trier’s work, doubled by the endless chase for becoming, as an artist and as a person. Focusing on three characters leads to an inevitable (?) compromise in terms of texture and the complexity of familial relationships, though overall there’s enough here for SV to demand your full emotional commitment. I don’t think SV is quite as hard-hitting as his most acclaimed movie to date (The Worst Person in the World, 2021), though my favourite will always be his first (Reprise, 2006). 8
John Candy: I Like Me (2025): I think it’s hard to have been cognitively alive in the 80s and 90s and not know John Candy. He’s been in some of the iconic comedy movies of the era, with Uncle Buck (1989), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), Home Alone (1990) and, my favourite, Spaceballs (1987) on that list. Candy passed away at 44 due to a heart-attack, which was most likely caused by a series of factors, including obesity, smoking, alcohol and drug use – as well as a family history of it. The documentary, directed by Colin Hanks, is a bit tame, but I found it hard to be unmoved by how significant Candy’s influence had been both on the movies I saw as a child and for so many of his cast mates and colleagues. What I found particularly interesting was his formation during the SCTV years, a Canadian comedy show that featured Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Joe Flaherty, Rick Moranis and others. I was emotional by the end, as Hanks gently pulled on those heartstrings without being soapy about it, which is why I recommend this to anyone whose life was in some way touched by Candy’s movies. 8
Predator: Badlands (2025): They’ve done it now. They Guardian of the Galaxy-ed Predator. We follow a young, not quite top-of-the-line Yautja, who escapes his unforgiving father to prove himself on a planet that no predator has come back from. There, he bonds out of necessity with a half-synth, played by Elle Fanning, whose chippy attitude slowly helps him build a rapport with the otherwise solitary hunter. Their road-trip/coming-of-age story through the mischievous jungle looks all very familiar, as Dan Trachtenberg’s movie doesn’t seem to want to take any chances in breaking new ground. But it’s all fun and easy to watch, except when it’s too dark to see anything. I think I enjoyed it more than Prey (2022), hence also the higher rating. Though I also see why it wouldn’t be hard to dislike what this Marvelization represents. 7
L.A. Story (1991): This little Steve Martin flick is a quirky movie about a weatherman looking for love in age appropriate places. It reunites Martin with All of Me (1984) co-star, Victoria Tennant, with supporting roles from an unusually bubbly Sarah Jessica Parker and Richard E. Grant. Highlighting Martin’s clout in the era, the movie is littered with cameos, from Patrick Stewart, to Rick Moranis, Chevy Chase or Woody Harrelson. All this said, even with its particularities, I never felt L.A. Story is anything but a likable diversion, and perfectly forgettable. Hence when I can’t say much else about it. 6
Good Fortune (2025): Azaz Ansari wrote and directed this comedy, where an ambitious, but inept angel (Keanu Reeves) tries to revive a luckless guy’s (Ansari himself) faith in life…by showing him his tough existence holds as much promise as a millionaire’s (Seth Rogen). It quickly turns out to be a monumental task and when said luckless guy gets the chance to live as said millionaire, “to see it ain’t all rosy”, he instantly decides it’s definitely very rosy. The whole movie is very on the nose with its social commentary, but it does find pockets of humor, just about enough to make it a mildly enjoyable Friday night watch. 6
tributary stu 