THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE - I was spellbound throughout and can’t imagine how the elevator pitch went: “It’s about the founder of the Shaker sect—and it’s a full-bore musical.” We live in an era of empty hyperbole, but trust me: you’ve never seen anything like this, and probably never will. 📽️

Today’s flick pick. The neighbouring auditorium is playing another Amanda Seyfried movie. 📽️

THE RIP, er, rips. While I enjoyed the flick, I’m disappointed with Netflix’s continued dismissal of theatrical releases. I would have loved to have seen this on the big screen. Thumbs up for the movie (marginally). Thumbs down for its distributor (major). 📽️

I did this for years, then eventually moved to Toronto specifically because of the cinema programming here. People do travel—or even relocate—to see films. 📽️

#lastfourwatched #letterboxd #filmsky Hail Caesar! (2016) Bone Lake (2025) Wings of Desire (1987) Girlhood (2014)

Linklater's "How It Started" & "How It's Going" 📽️

I'm glad Sinners won that absurd award, but the nominees for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement included one movie that had not yet opened (Avatar) and another that had no reported box office (Kpop DH), so we should note that the prize does not even have the integrity of its own corruption.

Did they have video clips for Best Podcast? How dare they take up precious screen time with this? #GoldenGlobes

BLUE MOON – It’s hard not to laugh at how the film—about Ethan Hawke being professionally outmatched by Andrew Scott—was mirrored in real life at its Berlin Film Festival premiere. Scott walked away with the Best Supporting Actor award, while Hawke went home empty-handed. Pure joy to watch. 📽️

#NowWatching. “Forgotten But Not Gone” might be my new favorite tagline. 📽️

#NowWatching HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT (1937, dir. Frank Borzage) 📽️

📽️

Opening social media for the first time in a few days and…what in the actual…?! Everything is awful.

Halfway through The Neapolitan Quartet. Onto Book #3. 📚

Ah! @hwoodminotaur.bsky.social and @jonjame.bsky.social in conversation with the brilliant Nia Costa (Hedda was near the top of my Favorite Films of 2025 list) about Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later. You'll want to see this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQSg...

Walking out of the screening of LA GRAZIA, I described it as the lesser but still worthwhile work of an old master. How wrong I was; Paolo Sorrentino, was born in 1970. 📽️

Back @ the majestic Paradise Theatre. Today’s flick pick. 📽️

Orange Mussolini talking about how this occupation will ‘pay for itself.’ Said out loud. On camera. Unbelievable timeline we're living in.

THE PLAGUE: A strong start to the movie year. Uncomfortably true to being 12/13 (wish I could pretend not to relate). Loved how the Joel Edgerton character admits what coming-of-age films often ignore: adults rarely know what they’re doing either. How was this score not shortlisted for the Oscars? 📽️

First cinema trip of 2026. #NowWatching 📽️

My 2025 Film Diary milestones were an exercise in extremis - each one a love-it or hate-it affair, with no room for the in-between.📽️ #filmsky

This will kill theatrical exhibition. Warner Bros had the highest grossing film of 2025 (A Minecraft Movie) in addition to Superman, One Battle After Another, Sinners, Weapons.

My #LastFourWatched. 📽️ The 4.5s should probably be 5s.

Holiday acquisitions. 📽️📚🎵

@paulaqj.bsky.social You'll call me a wimp (or worse) for complaining about this but I'm dreading steeping out in this cold.

Happy New Year! Wishing everyone peace, health, and happiness in the year ahead.

Love the passion in this write-up. Please check @hwoodminotaur.bsky.social's Top 10 Films of the Year list!

NYE screening of THE APARTMENT.

Here it is: My list of the Top 10 Films of 2025. #filmsky 📽️ Check out my thoughts: cinemarajah.wordpress.com/2025/12/31/t...

AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH - You go into an Avatar movie hoping to see new, wondrous sights, but this recycles far too many ideas and images from THE WAY OF WATER. Takes an eternity to get to the fireworks factory. A “Making Of” documentary would be more entertaining than sitting through the film itself 📽️

#NowWatching 📽️

My favorite albums of 2025. Unsurprisingly, these live in my record collection. 1. Lorde - Virgin 2. Nourished By Time - The Passionate Ones #musicsky #bestof2025

IS THIS THING ON? - Public reaction to MAESTRO: Bradley Cooper is balls. He wants an Oscar so bad. Bradley Cooper's response: Fine. I’ll play a guy named Balls & strip the movie of any awards bait entirely. Takes a bit to settle into, but once it does, its low-key, feel-good charm won me over. 📽️

#NowWatching 📽️

IMDB might want to revisit their algorithm here. This ranking is...yikes. 📽️

The French are not sad to see her go - :Bye-bye BB.” CONTEMPT is one of my all-time favorite films; I couldn’t do without it. I could, however, have done without her incitement of racial and religious hatred.

ZOOTOPIA 2 - The original was on my Top 10 of 2016, so my expectations were high. This doesn’t quite get there, but I still had a good time. It’s colorful and carries a sweet message, even if it’s a bit sprawling and scattershot. Nice to see it at a packed screening with kids having the best time. 📽️

Today’s flick pick. 📽️ Most of this audience wasn’t even alive when the first one came out.

MARTY SUPREME - Pair this with IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU. Two films with the year’s best performances. Both propulsively-paced, even as they feel like they’re trying to keep up with their protagonists. Oh, and the cowriter and editor of MARTY SUPREME is married to the director of IF I HAD LEGS. 📽️

70MM screening 📽️

Join me in hearing @hwoodminotaur.bsky.social and @jonjame.bsky.social celebrate the 40th anniversary of Joel Schumacher’s ST. ELMO'S FIRE with writer/director Will Fluck. Such a fun episode. And that’s coming from someone who hasn’t even seen the film! www.sonypictures.com/directorstake

Overheard during Bar Trivia: “Jean Chrétien (?)…whoever that was…”. We need to reopen the schools. We must do better as a society.

Untappd isn’t working so logging my beer here. 🍻

He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.

Love this time of year for the general kindness in the air. Just have to remember not to turn on the news.

Anyone know where or if The Testament of Ann Lee is playing in Toronto before Dec 31, 2025? 🎬 I'd like to see it before I finalize my year-end list. Same goes for Nouvelle Vague - it only had a one-week theatrical run.

Ah yes, my favorite genre: French. 📽️

The Royal Cinema cameo in THE SHROUDS (dir. David Cronenberg). Miss it.