March/April 2026 [30-5]
Hamnet, Matilda, The Edge of Sleep, Save the Green Planet!, Hoppers, North of Normal
- Hamnet [2025]- 87
Well, time to talk about this one for a third time I guess… Hamnet is real good, even on a rewatch just a month later. While I do feel my few criticisms a little more heavily watching it again [thus a lower rating], I still think that the ending is served so well by its somewhat rushed beginning, that it all comes out in the wash. Interestingly for this watch though, I had just finished the book, and that gave me a few new perspectives. As one can expect, there’s lots of changes between the formats, but most of them are actually for the better here. While I strongly disagree with some of the omissions from book to film, I feel equally strongly that what the movie wholesale invented enhances this story to a place far beyond its original text. I won’t belabor this one more here; If you want to know more, here’s my full review.
- Matilda [1996] - 64
Revisiting a childhood classic… It does seem like “let sleeping heroes lie” [or whatever they say] is pretty true. Matilda is an oft-loved-and-never-loathed 90’s movie about being who you are, standing up to bullies, and adoption… Or something. Watching it as an adult lends to an interesting experience where the nostalgia is definitely still present and Danny DeVito is still a treasure, but it also raises a lot of weird questions and really forces you to either be along for the hijinks, or just step out of the car. I don’t have a ton of the aforementioned nostalgia for this one — I’ve seen it before, sure, but I don’t have a connection to it the way some do — but I’d still love to be able to watch it with that lens entirely clear to see what I really think of it. All said, Matilda is still a shot in the arm if you want something magical from when you were a kid but, like said shot, there’s not much of a lasting effect beyond simply wanting it to happen again.
- The Edge of Sleep [2024] - 34
2024’s adaptation of a podcast by the same name, The Edge of Sleep is a hot mess with some interesting cinematography, neat editing, and great practical effects… But the writing and acting are so bad that the whole thing is nigh unwatchable. You have to be really willing to let things go for this one to work… And we all know how I am about that. This is one of those projects that would be cool if a friend was the one who put it on but, as something disconnected from me entirely, I’d not only give the creators the same strong notes I’d give said friend, but a whole heap of “oof, ouchie” criticisms as well. There’s not a lot more to say, except that this isn’t very good [it’s actually quite bad] unless you like things devoid of any kind of logic or purpose, and you should just go watch Mandy, I Saw the TV Glow, or Beyond the Black Rainbow if you want things with this flavor, but more quality [except for Black Rainbow, that one is purely for flavor].
- Save the Green Planet! [2003] - 60
After watching [and really loving] 2025’s Bugonia, my only real qualm in celebrating it was the idea that it adapted a film that probably just didn’t get seen much because of where it was from. After watching South Korea’s Save the Green Planet!, however, I don’t have that qualm anymore. Bugonia is strange and tense and driving, while Save is kind of awkward and cringe and paddling — sort of just keeping your head above water while things keep happening almost… Around it, rather than in it. This was a movie that, had I not already been invested in the remake or had more time to make a different choice about halfway through, I probably would have turned off simply for lack of entertainment. It’s not bad, it’s just boring, and I’m really happy with everything that Yorgos did with the narrative in his version. Maybe it’s an issue of which I saw first… But I really doubt it.
- Hoppers [2026] - 36
Man, what a bummer of a week this was. Hoppers is the latest release from Disney/Pixar, and is possibly their most vapid, exploitative, and lamest effort in recent history. The animation is well crafted, sure, but this is also coming from the largest animation studio in the known universe so, “well crafted” doesn’t really cut it… And that’s basically all I can say about it positively. Characters are unbelievable, uninteresting, and unrelatable; Often doing things that are convenient for the moment, but mean either nothing to the story at large, or simply serve for exposition or some sort of comedic bit. The narrative speaks to meaningful points and parables about the real world, but does absolutely nothing with them, almost seeming to want to run away from its more salient points as though it hadn’t meant to make them in the first place. This was a weird one to watch unfold because it always felt like it was right on the edge of saying something important, but then got gun-shy and decided to make some sort of stupid quip right before it made its point. Not all animated films are “kid’s movies”, but this one surely is.
- North of Normal [2022] - 64
I’m not totally sure why this movie was on my list, but here we are. North of Normal is the 2022 version of 2016’s Captain Fantastic… With a twist: This one doesn’t actually have an interesting through-narrative and decides to roll credits right at a pivotal point in the main character’s story instead of exploring how she goes from co-dependent-wild-child to whatever-happens-between-now-and-this-biographical-movie-coming-out. Performances and filmmaking here were absolutely on point and very engaging, it’s just that the whole thing seems to forget to have any kind of lesson or purpose by the end; Almost taking the “slice of life” genre to an extreme in a way that’s neither winning nor meaningful by the time you pack up your tent and move on. Had this not been based on the memoirs of the main character, I would have been more interested and lenient with its non-plot but, the movie ends at such a weird part of her story that its difficult not to question all that happened to cause this film to even exist… Thus making the film itself something of the same question.
