We Didn’t Start 2025 (Recap)

01 Thursday Jan 2026

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Where did 2025 go?! Another year gone, and, for my 12th blogiversary, sadly one of my least productive years for this blog. As mentioned in my previous post, I have been going through a creative dry spell for the better part of the year, much to my own chagrin, but I sincerely want to change that in 2026, so I suppose that can be considered one of my New Year’s resolutions.

Despite my lack of output, one thing I have been preparing for throughout the past year was this post, for which I kept an ongoing list of newsworthy events for a retrospective. Last year, I began a new tradition of rewriting the lyrics to my beloved “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel to be instead a musical recap of the prior year, and this look-back seems like a good way to kick off what will hopefully be a more productive 2026. I couldn’t fit every little thing in; as much as I would have liked to mention Juan Soto, Dispatch, “The Shoebody Bop,” Gene Hackman, Brian Wilson, Anne Burrell, the NBA gambling scandal, Universal Epic Universe, the ostrich convoy, or the One Piece flag protests, there’s only so much that can fit in nine verses, and this is at least how I will enjoy remembering 2025.

So feel free to read or sing along to Joel’s iconic tune, and here’s hoping the next year will be even better! Happy New Year!

____________________

Chicken Jockey, Southern Spear,
Generation Beta’s here,
Blanket pardons, Discord hardens, NOLA truck attack.
TrumpRx, Gulf renaming,
Cracker Barrel logo flaming,
Shutdown ends and funding pends, Zootopia is back.

Bondi Beach, Roblox, autopen, fake Botox,
Vance memes, torpedo bat, leaking of a racist chat.
Tilly Norwood, Claire Obscur, Sinners, Tung Tung Tung Sahur,
Major mergers, Reiner, Redford, Alien and Predator.

Such was the year. We made it!
Through the highs and lows and each surprise, we chose
To get through the year. We made it!
So now, sister, brother, let’s all face another!

Alligator Alcatraz, A.I. passed what no bot has,
Texas flooding, DOGE is gutting USAID,
No Kings, Stranger Things, Sydney Sweeney loves jeans,
One Big Beautiful Bill, 23andMe.

Blue Ghost, Karen Read, Gaza hostages are freed,
Scottie Scheffler, RealIDs, Midnight Hammer, H1-Bs,
East Wing, Tylenol, revolution in Nepal,
Bari Weiss, woolly mice, Epstein files free-for-all!

Such was the year. We made it!
Through the highs and lows and each surprise, we chose
To get through the year. We made it!
So now, sister, brother, let’s all face another!

Francis out, Pope Leo in, Thunder, Eagles, Dodgers win,
Deepseek, eggs ain’t cheap, dire wolf, Anora sweep,
Elbows up, Labubu, Taylor Swift’s engaged too,
Earthquake in Myanmar, yet another Avatar.

Stablecoins, ICE raids, loose monkeys, Palisades,
Kimmel canceled (for a week), Hegseth really hates a leak,
Horse girls, “Not Like Us,” Adolescence, Pluribus,
Six-Seven, Gen Z stare, tariffs, tariffs everywhere!

Such was the year. We made it!
Through the highs and lows and each surprise, we chose
To get through the year. We made it!
So now, sister, brother, let’s all face another!

Salt Typhoon, Tush Push, firefighter ambush,
Cloudflare, Demon Slayer, Mamdani elected mayor,
Christians in Nigeria, blackout in Iberia,
HuntriX don’t miss, GPT psychosis,
Kiss cam, Jubilee, TACO, Grok, and Summerween,
RFK, measles gain – what else do I have to say?

Such was the year. We made it!
Through the highs and lows and each surprise, we chose
To get through the year. We made it!
So now, sister, brother, let’s all face another!

Oh, Mary!, bye, Jo-Ann, TikTok deal averts a ban,
Cloned dog, Portland Frog, Musk salute, Tea logs,
Seditious Six, sandwich thrown, astronauts are back home,
Superman, Fantastic Four, CECOT in El Salvador.

Sora 2, congestion tax, Arctic Frost and fibermaxx,
Lisa Cook, birthday book, Louvre heist, Charlie Kirk,
War in Ukraine still unchecked, gerrymandering effect,
No more pennies to collect, what a year in retrospect!

Such was the year. We made it!
Through the highs and lows and each surprise, we chose
To get through the year. We made it!
So now, sister, brother, let’s all face another!

NaPoWriMo 2025 Recap (Finally)

27 Saturday Dec 2025

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Well, this is a little overdue, isn’t it? Anytime I have a long-ish gap between posts, I feel the need to apologize to any readers who might be improbably waiting for my next poem/review, and the longer this gap extended, the more embarrassed I grew at my inability to end it. The truth is that I’ve had more time at home than ever this year, but due to worsening family health issues and work, I have been struggling to muster any creative output at all. Even work on my planned musical has stalled, though not completely. Hence, my absence from the blogosphere since the end of April.

Sorry it took so long, but I’m back. I would like to find a better cadence (or any cadence) to post more in the coming year, but I can’t guarantee what that will be yet. Still, I want to get back to writing again, and the first step is closing out this past year’s NaPoWriMo with the traditional recap below. Thank you to anyone reading and anyone who hasn’t forgotten me entirely!  

April 1 – The Colors Within (2024) – List Runner-Up

April 2 – The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024) – Honorable Mention

April 3 – The Paper Chase (1973) – Honorable Mention

April 4 – A Patch of Blue (1965) – List Runner-Up

April 5 – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) – Honorable Mention

April 6 – The Stratton Story (1949) – List Runner-Up

April 7 – Cocktail (1988) – Honorable Mention

April 8 – The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) – Honorable Mention

April 9 – 65 (2023) – Honorable Mention

April 10 – Freaks (1932) – List Runner-Up

April 11 – Camelot (1967) – Honorable Mention

April 12 – The Thief of Bagdad (1940) – List Runner-Up

April 13 – A Real Pain (2024) – List Runner-Up

April 14 – The Wild Robot (2024) – List-Worthy (my favorite film on the list)

April 15 – Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024) – List Runner-Up

April 16 – Marty (1955) – List Runner-Up

April 17 – Look Back (2024) – List Runner-Up

April 18 – Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) – List Runner-Up

April 19 – Bonnie and Clyde (1967) – List Runner-Up (my favorite poem of the month)

April 20 – The Gorge (2025) – List Runner-Up

April 21 – It’s What’s Inside (2024) – List Runner-Up

April 22 – skip

April 23 – Flow (2024) – List Runner-Up

April 24 – Here Today (2021) – List Runner-Up

April 25 – Trap (2024) – Honorable Mention

April 26 – Dead Man Walking (1995) – List-Worthy

April 27 – The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024) – List-Worthy

April 28 – Spellbound (2024) – Honorable Mention

April 29 – skip

April 30 – It Happened One Night (1934) – List Runner-Up

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas/Hanukkah!

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

03 Saturday May 2025

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(I’m catching up after the fact, but for Day 15 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a six-line poem characterized by simple language and enthusiasm, so I focused on the film itself this time.)

I played the games when I was young.
I guess I’ll go watch the movie. Looks fun.
It’s not as if I’ve been waiting for this,
But all my friends saw it. I don’t want to miss
The tragic backstory, Jim Carrey’s full glory, ooh, that scene was peak!
Shut up, I’m no geek….
______________________

MPA rating: PG

It honestly feels like a minor miracle that the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has translated to the big screen as well as it has. It seemed as if it would be a bomb on arrival after the poorly received initial design for the title character, but three live-action movies and a streaming show later, it’s proven to be remarkably fun. In this third outing (did I never review the sequel? Guess not.), a powerful black and red hedgehog called Shadow (Keanu Reeves) is freed from decades-long imprisonment and embarks on a spree of vengeance, leading Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), and Knuckles (Idris Elba) to team with the non-shockingly not dead Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) to bring him down.

While the Knuckles series got rather dumb as it dragged out, the movies have found the right secret sauce for Team Sonic, with Sonic’s quippy super-speed antics bouncing well off of Tails’ earnest tech support and Knuckles’ headstrong aggression. Add in a self-serious straight man in the form of Shadow, a villain very much in the mold of Mewtwo from Pokémon, and the film is able to find a surprising balance between silly action and emotional stakes. It also helps that James Marsden and Tika Sumpter as Sonic’s adoptive parents are given more to do this time, while Jim Carrey pulls eccentric double duty as both the returning mad scientist Ivo Robotnik and his even madder grandfather Gerald.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 gives every indication that this franchise has the potential to keep getting better, with yet another character from the games teased at the end for a sequel. One dance scene between the Robotniks will no doubt go down as one of Carrey’s finest and most hilarious moments and well worth his return from retirement. And though there’s nothing revolutionary about the plot or themes, the overall entertainment value makes this a film to please nostalgic nerds and present kids alike.

Best line: (Shadow) “The light shines, even though the star is gone.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
809 Followers and Counting

It Happened One Night (1934)

01 Thursday May 2025

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(For Day 30 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem about hearing a band or song throughout one’s lifetime. Based on a scene from this film, I went with the classic “The Man on the Flying Trapeze,” so the poem can be sung to that tune.
This might be the end of the month, but I’ve missed I think three days so I’ll be catching up before calling it quits.)

Remember that song we sang on the bus
When life was just you and me and not us?
My voice was drowned out by the crowd (‘twas a plus),
But yours, like a bell, had me reeling.

I hear it, years later, but clearly
To the sound of cans dragging behind.
The bouquet had been thrown, and we weren’t on our own,
And we sang with our voices combined.

Oh, we warble it still on the road all the time,
And though my voice borders on audial crime,
You still sound as sweet as you did in your prime.
So one more time, honey, with feeling!
_________________________

MPA rating: Approved (G-level)

Another Oscar-season showing from TCM, It Happened One Night is still fondly regarded today as a Frank Capra classic, so I was curious if the Best Picture winner of 1934 would hold up and, for the most part, it does. Claudette Colbert plays spoiled heiress Ellie Andrews, who elopes against her father’s wishes and then goes on the lam as he puts up a reward for her return. She is found by beleaguered newspaper reporter Peter Warne (Clark Gable), who helps her in exchange for covering her story, and the two gradually grow closer along their travel misadventures. Both actors also won Oscars, as did the screenplay and Capra as director.

Any film this old is going to be somewhat dated, but the banter between Peter and Ellie feels more natural than a lot of other repartee from the era, like the flowery dialogue of Double Indemnity or the pretentious quips of The Philadelphia Story. It’s fun to watch the beauty Colbert humbled by the travails of being on the road, while Gable bears the bulk of the film’s charm on his back, proving it was second nature for him to play an appealing rogue even five years before Gone with the Wind. From the running joke of “the walls of Jericho” to Colbert’s famous hitchhiking scene, the film stays amusing without going silly with its screwball comedy, and I was surprised by a scene toward the end that was blatantly borrowed by Spaceballs, a testament to its influence. While I didn’t think It Happened One Night rose to the level of greatness I’ve seen critics ascribe to it, it’s an excellent early rom com that further proves the talents of Gable and Capra.

Best line: (Ellie’s father Alexander, to Peter) “Do you love her?”
(Peter) “A normal human being couldn’t live under the same roof with her without going nutty! She’s my idea of nothing!”
(Alexander) “I asked you a simple question! Do you love her?”
(Peter) “Yes! But don’t hold that against me, I’m a little screwy myself!”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
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Spellbound (2024)

29 Tuesday Apr 2025

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(For Day 28 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem about “music at a ceremony or event of some kind,” like for instance a birthday.)

“Happy Birthday!” everyone sang.
The sound of unity in my ears rang.
Everyone loved me, at least for a song
That needed more verses to feel at all long,
And oh, how I wished, as the candles were blown,
That mom would stop yelling and put down her phone
And dad would stop cursing and pointing his finger,
That both would just stay as a smiling singer
And love me enough to not hate one another.
Not too much to ask for a father and mother.
I knew what would happen but blew all the same.
Then maybe the candles would carry the blame.
_____________________

MPA rating: PG

Sometimes a film so clearly wants to be like its predecessors that you have to at least admire the effort that went into its earnest attempt. Mary and the Witch’s Flower comes to mind in trying to live up to Studio Ghibli’s legacy, while Skydance Animation’s Spellbound aspires to be like the Disney princess musicals of yore. It certainly has a pedigree with producer John Lassiter, director Vicky Jenson of Shrek, and songs by the great Alan Menken. In it, Princess Ellian (Rachel Zegler) of the fantasy kingdom of Lumbria desperately tries to keep secret from the citizens that her royal parents (Javier Bardem, Nicole Kidman) have been transformed into animal-like monsters running amok in the palace. Seeking the help of two magical Oracles (Nathan Lane and Titus Burgess as an unspoken gay couple), Ellian takes her parents on a dangerous journey to transform them back to humans.

Spellbound has a lot of great ideas to its credit, particularly in the world-building, from a waterfall used as a massive gate to a desert that turns to quicksand under cloud shadows or a tunnel where sounds become projectiles. The songs are quite good too, though still don’t hold a candle to Menken’s best work, and the voice cast is on point, especially Zegler’s original spunky princess role and John Lithgow as her long-suffering adviser/sidekick. 

But it’s hard to escape the feeling that Spellbound is a pale imitation that needed more fleshing out to avoid its own plot holes, like how the monster king and queen escape the palace when their cages are left open yet had been free to wander the palace for months before that. And then there’s the message that makes itself known rather late in the runtime, clarifying the monster situation as a metaphor for divorce and saying many of the right things for a resolution while not diving deep enough to make it land emotionally. Spellbound is a valiant effort, often funny, cute, and imaginative, but its muddled tone and oversimplified lesson keep it from rising to the level of its forerunners.

Best line: (Queen Ellsmere, to her daughter) “The best thing about us is you. And it always has been.”

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2025 S.G. Liput
807 Followers and Counting

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)

27 Sunday Apr 2025

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(For Day 27 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem focusing on a detail of a painting, but I think I’ll go off-prompt today and cover a movie I’ve been meaning to review for a while.)

The legends that matter endure through time.
The others are lost with a final breath,
Were not so luck’ly preserved in rhyme,
And died an unremembered death.

What could have saved the tales so lost?
A copied scroll or a memorized line?
What bade a once-loved myth be tossed
Ere passing history’s finish line?

What wonders, horrors, joys, and fears
Have gone extinct with fossils none?
The stories mute for want of ears…
I wish I could read oblivion.
___________________

If you imagine a Venn diagram with anime fandom and Lord of the Rings fandom as the two circles, I would be squarely in the middle of the shared area. Therefore, an anime spin-off film set a couple hundred years before The Fellowship of the Ring was right up my alley from the start. Focusing on one of the legendary tales of the horse-riding nation of Rohan, the story follows Princess Héra (Gaia Wise), daughter of King Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), as she defends her nation from the invasion of Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), a former friend bent on vengeance.

The most common criticism I heard about War of the Rohirrim was about the choppy animation, and yes, character movement is a bit stilted at times, particularly at the beginning. Even using a 3D rotoscope-like technology, Sola Entertainment as a studio can’t match the butter-smooth animation of MAPPA or Science Saru, so we can only imagine how different the style might have been in the hands of a different studio. But the animation is still good throughout and even excels in the big action moments, and best of all, the style compliments Peter Jackson’s version of Middle-earth with some outstanding backgrounds and scenery. (Besides, the previous standard for LotR animation was Rankin/Bass or Ralph Bakshi, and this is still a cut above those.)

Beyond the animation, I’ve heard all the complaints, from the plot being too long, the characters one-note, the story being basically female-forward fan fiction since Héra isn’t even named in the Tolkien appendices from which the plot was drawn (and the film doesn’t explain why she was supposedly left out of the official history). And yet, I really liked this movie, my inherent love of the franchise winning out over all else. None of those grievances detracted from the experience of being able to visit Middle-earth again, with Howard Shore’s Rohan theme setting the epic mood and some hype-worthy set pieces bringing the action. A friend who saw it with me thought it went too anime at times, with clearly human characters pulling off superhuman feats as if they were elves, but I saw such moments perhaps as embellishments, considering the story is told as a legend of Rohan by the narrating voice of Eowyn (Miranda Otto). I also thought Héra was a good example of a “strong female character,” by simply rising to the challenge set before her rather than harping about gender differences or whatnot, similar to Miyazaki’s Nausicaä, who was cited as an influence by Wise.

All in all, The War of the Rohirrim is an epic story that continues the tradition of Peter Jackson’s world. Even if it was simply an expendable side project so New Line could hold onto the Tolkien rights, that just makes the care and quality that was put into it that much more impressive. It broke my heart then that, whether due to disinterest or poor marketing, the film flopped last December, failing to even earn back its budget. I don’t deny that it had room to be better with smoother animation or more interesting dialogue, but it met my high expectations for a Middle-earth movie and, in my opinion, deserved better.

Rank: List-Worthy

© 2025 S.G. Liput
807 Followers and Counting

Dead Man Walking (1995)

26 Saturday Apr 2025

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(For Day 26 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was simply for a sonnet, in my case, a Shakespearean. I enjoy this form, since it lets me delve into heavier themes and my sonnet for Time of Eve is one of my personal favorite NaPoWriMo posts, so here goes another.)

Is death deserved and who decides the guilt?
The question haunts the conscience of mankind.
“Thou shalt not kill,” foundation for us built,
But punishment frets our reluctant mind.
The fear the felling blow perhaps may land
On innocence mistaken for the crime
Delays the price that bloody sins demand
And stretches out their pending ending time.
And what finality to halt a heart,
Declaring second chances null and void!
Not “vengeance is the Lord’s,” but ours, in part,
More death where life’s already been destroyed.
An “eye for eye” or “life for life” is fair
But leaves so very much beyond repair.
__________________________

MPA rating: R (for language and intensity)

It’s rare to find a film that manages to cover every angle of a controversial issue as deftly as Dead Man Walking while also remaining an engaging story. Based on the non-fiction book by Sister Helen Prejean, the film follows the plain-clothes Catholic nun (played by Susan Sarandon) as she becomes the spiritual advisor to Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn), a convicted rapist and murderer on Louisiana’s death row. All the arguments for and against capital punishment get their say, and while Sister Prejean’s faith puts her on the pro-life/anti-death side, her conversations with the families of the murder victims make the grief of the opposing side completely understandable. She is criticized for even considering offering comfort to Poncelet as he awaits his execution, and at times, he acts like the unsympathetic monster everyone believes him to be. Yet, just like the old “no atheists in foxholes” saying, Poncelet’s need for forgiveness and human compassion becomes more and more apparent as the end draws nearer.

I get that Braveheart was the epic juggernaut for the 1995 Oscars season, but the sheer emotional power behind Dead Man Walking makes the fact that it wasn’t even nominated for Best Picture a travesty. And the same goes for Nicolas Cage winning Best Actor over both Penn and Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Holland’s Opus! At least Susan Sarandon won an absolutely deserved Oscar for her nuanced performance, often just sitting and listening to others but mirroring every emotion of the audience with her expressive eyes. Penn proves his acting prowess at every turn (it’s gratifying that he at least went on to win two Oscars to make up for this loss), and his final scene is a harrowing and devastating gut punch, similar to the end of Dancer in the Dark. Director and writer Tim Robbins made a poignant masterpiece with Dead Man Walking, one worth opening up uncomfortable discussions around capital punishment and justice, themes that remain timely even thirty years later.

Best line: (Sister Helen) “Mr. Percy, I’m just trying to follow the example of Jesus, who said that a person is not as bad as his worst deed.”

Rank: List-Worthy

© 2025 S.G. Liput
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Trap (2024)

26 Saturday Apr 2025

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(For Day 25 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem about an experience with live music. Considering most of this thriller takes place at a concert, it seemed like the obvious choice.)

A thrill runs through the crowd and me,
For I am the crowd in part.
Here to laud our artist’s art
Dance and sing with all our heart,
Scream their name till they depart,
Loud is the crowd and me.

No telling who’s here in the crowd and me,
Obscurity safe in swarm.
Stay in the median; stick to the norm;
Cheer when they look at you gladly conform.
This is your cover from out of the storm,
Shrouded in crowd and me.

A drop in the ocean, the crowd and me,
Where malice is easily hid.
I’m like that guy, that girl, that kid,
So in the know, I’m off the grid,
And nobody knows the things I did,
Proud in the crowd and me.
_________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

M. Night Shyamalan had such a slump after his initial success that any film better than his low points is a welcome treat in my reckoning. In Trap, a Philadelphia fireman named Cooper (Josh Hartnett) takes his teen daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a massive concert by her favorite pop star Lady Raven (the director’s daughter Saleka Night Shyamalan). While there, he notices increased police presence and learns that the event is intended to capture the serial killer known as “the Butcher,” and since Cooper is the Butcher, he is forced to get creative in escaping.

Seeing Trap the first time in theaters was a fun watch, if a bit far-fetched, and I recall discounting the more vocal criticism I heard against it. Then watching it again with a family member made me notice just how… artificial the dialogue is. Cooper’s interactions with his daughter, a fellow parent, and various people he fools all feel stilted in a way that is likely owed to Shyamalan’s weakness as a writer, but it also kind of works in this context since Cooper’s whole life of normalcy is a facade meant to keep others away from his psychopathic secret. And Hartnett really sells the character, managing that stilted charm and shifting on a dime to darker intentions beneath, the kind of psycho performance that proves an actor’s chops.

Despite that mixed benefit of the script, the film still hinges on a lot of suspension of disbelief with how trusting everyone is and how easily Cooper manages to evade authorities. It’s also a blatant nepo commercial for Shyamalan’s daughter’s pop music career, but I can’t really fault him for wanting to give her the Taylor Swift treatment. Luckily, she is quite talented, and the background of original pop songs gives the film a memorably unique setting. I’ll admit on the second watch that Trap is yet another flawed Shyamalan thriller with unfulfilled potential, but it’s still decently entertaining and, for me, shows his quality is thankfully on the upswing.

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2025 S.G. Liput
807 Followers and Counting

Here Today (2021)

25 Friday Apr 2025

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(For Day 24 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem about “people making music together,” ideally with a reference to another poem or song, so I took a comedian’s metaphorical view.)

Music can sound like many things,
Beyond the range of voice and strings.
To Andrew Lloyd Webber, the yowls of cats;
To Dracula, ‘tis the shrieks of bats;
To Beethoven, a silent dream;
To Pollock, friendship with a theme;
To writers, their pithier paragraphs;
But in my case, it’s laughs.

I’ve trained my ear here over the years,
And many a friend has shared premieres:
A generous bellow is melody mellow,
And chuckles transport me more than any cello;
A snicker is symphony; cracks, a cornet;
And two people cackling’s like a duet.
I’ve been a conductor of smiles, my dear,
A banter-and-beam balladeer.
________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

Directed and co-written by Billy Crystal (alongside SNL writer Alan Zweibel), Here Today is my kind of film, the sort that critics acknowledge as pleasant while criticizing its sentimentality. Well, maybe I’m just sentimental because I thoroughly enjoyed it! Crystal plays aging comedy writer Charlie Burnz, who is trying to hide his developing symptoms of Alzheimer’s from his coworkers and estranged children. Through a serendipity of spite and epinephrine, he builds an unlikely relationship with a singer named Emma (Tiffany Haddish), who becomes the friend and confidante he needs most right now.

Crystal still boasts an effortless comic touch and manages to mix it with deep pathos as his character feels his life, his work, his memories of love slipping away. I’m generally not a fan of Haddish’s loud-mouthed comedy, but she reins it in somewhat while remaining an endearing contrast to Charlie. (It’s neat knowing they became real-life friends too.) There’s some awkward uncertainty over whether their bond will veer toward romance, but thankfully it stays meaningfully platonic.

Along with some nice cameos, Here Today has several great scenes that could be deemed corny with the right cynicism, like Charlie’s flashbacks to his wife, his epic comedic meltdown during a live show, or Emma’s impromptu singalong at a bat mitzvah, but I like to keep my cynicism low enough to enjoy a film like this. Its release sadly suffered from the lingering pandemic slump, but, in my book, Here Today is another charmer to Billy Crystal’s credit.

Best line: (Charlie) “I’m writing something, and I have to finish before my words run out.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
807 Followers and Counting

Flow (2024)

23 Wednesday Apr 2025

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(For Day 23 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem focusing on birdsong. For some reason, I went with a bird of prey’s screech instead of the more pleasant bird sounds. It’s not even that applicable to this film, though there is a bird of prey in it. I’m also sick, which is why I missed yesterday, so I’ll have to catch up later.)

The cry of a bird of prey,
Sharp, shrill shriek,
Looking down from the sky,
Strong far above the weak,
Razor talons, knife beak.

Eyes follow every move,
Sharp, skilled sight,
Spotting each potential meal,
Every morsel worth a bite,
So unlucky lacking flight.

The dive of a bird of prey,
Sharp, still stop,
Then down, down, angle steep,
Silent in its violent drop,
Reaper of the flesh crop.
___________________

MPA rating: PG

As a cat lover and a fan of serious animation, the trailer alone was enough to interest me in Flow, the little Latvian film that could, and did win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Told through a small collection of animal characters entirely without words, the story depicts an increasingly catastrophic flood and the way the wildlife handle their shared struggle for survival. It particularly follows a dark gray cat, who ends up sharing a boat Life-of-Pi-style with a capybara, a lemur, a Labrador Retriever, and a secretary bird.

The wordless interactions between the animals transcend language and are brilliantly rendered via the dynamic animation, surprisingly using only free Blender software, and, without any explanation of what is happening, the viewer is simply along for the ride, taking each danger as it comes with the animals. And despite an absence of human characters, the animals manage to represent human traits without being outright anthropomorphized, such as the lemur’s fascination with shiny things that triggers grief when it loses its possessions to the rising tides. Though a supernatural turn toward the end felt confusingly out of place, Flow is a fascinating adventure in the tradition of silent films, short, sweet, and visually magical; it’s a fine animated film, but I still contend The Wild Robot should have won instead.

Best line: Any meow from the cat

Rank: List Runner-Up

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