MINI MOVIE REVIEWS 2025—PART I
As far as movies in general go, Mr. X and I spend the end of November until January 6th, (which is deemed “Little Christmas,”) watching only holiday offerings from the Hallmark Channel et al. It’s been our tradition for the past seven years, and, goony as those telefilms are, I love it.
So, despite all of our invitations to the many Screen Actors Guild screenings, we had been missing-out on every new real movie this season. Since we have to vote on those SAG Awards by February 21st, we’re trying hard to catch-up on all those films now.
And just so you know, all of the major awards-giving entities, (the Oscars, Golden Globes, SAGs, Critics Choice, and the ones from the individual guilds,) have different nominees. Many overlap, but not all.
By the way—no one is ever “snubbed.” Others just get more votes. Period. I covered the topic here: itsnotaboutme.tv/news/karens-rantskarens-lessons-does-no-one-in-hollywood-know-the-meaning-of-the-word-snubbed.
Now, as for the SAGS, we have seventeen movies to see. (My guild’s awards are all for only acting—duh, we’re actors!—with an extra one for stunts; I feel it’s awful that the other awards shows don’t honor those hardest workers in the biz!) So I’ll do mini reviews of a few of them at a time in the next month. Believe me, I’m scrambling to see them all in these next short, uber-busy three and a half weeks. I’m one of the very few who rightly feel that, in order to vote fairly, we all need to see every nominee in the time allotted.
Here’s the first batch, in the order that Mr. X and I viewed them:
The Fall Guy—We decided to begin our run of movie-watching for the year with the only one we assumed would not be painful, except for the incredible stunt men doing most of the heavy-lifting! And I was correct. Ryan Gosling is his usual darling, low-key-fun self, Emily Blunt is very amusing, (which I’m not sure I knew about her before,) and the stunts are spectacular. The only problems with this movie are that the story is a bit stupid and it’s waaay too long, (ostensibly just to get more, and the biggest, stunts in.)

Karen Salkin, on the left, (of course!,) getting knocked down on The Fall Guy TV show with two other actors.
By the way, despite the title, theme song, and same moniker of the lead character, (Colt Seaver,) this movie really has nothing to do with the old TV show of the same name, on which there was once an interesting guest star—yours truly! It was one of my first TV acting jobs, after I had been doing my show, Karen’s Restaurant Revue, for a year or two. The Fall Guy often featured themes for the guest star bookings, and I was so honored because the theme for this episode was comedians. And I was the only female they thought was funny enough to include!!! I loved it. On top of that, I got to play the trophy wife of a rich, famous actor. And I even had my own stuntwoman!
Conclave—Even though this Jewish girl didn’t understand a lot of the goings-on in this story of the world’s Cardinals choosing a new Pope, (and truth be told, even Mr. X, a Catholic school boy through college, didn’t get some of it,) I found it to be quietly fascinating. I even stayed up that entire night researching it all—the movie, the book it’s based on, and all the catholic terms and ceremonies.
But how in heck did Isabella Rossellini get any nominations for her performance in this one, let alone for an Oscar??? Or, actually worse—because the nods are from actors who should know better—a SAG??? She’s as good as any actress should be in the role, but nothing special, at all.
Conversely, Conclave should have definitely been nominated for an Oscar for Cinematography, but was not. I don’t get that. It’s gorgeous—some of the shots literally took my breath away.
I do have to admit that I figured-out pretty early who the new Pope would be, along with the twist. But I was still pretty riveted, nonetheless, perhaps to see if I was correct.
A Real Pain—Now we’re on to a story involving my ethnicity! The only thing I didn’t understand about it is how does Kieran Culkin qualify as a supporting actor? He and Jesse Eisenberg are totally equal co-stars!!! I do think that Culkin is really good, but Jesse, who has received no nominations anywhere, is even better. He has one scene near the end that is perfection. (But he did get an Oscars nod for writing the screenplay.)
The guys play cousins on a tour in Poland to see where their grandmother grew up. And, of course, semi-comic drama ensues.
By the way—I believe that my own grandmother was perhaps born in Poland or maybe Russia, although she always denied it. She and her siblings were raised in New England, and had the high-class accents to prove it, so her real heritage didn’t come up often.
The Last Showgirl—This one was hard to watch. Within the first minute, Mr. X said, “This is so depressing.” And he was correct. Adding to the gloom of the tale is the way it was shot—almost all in way-too-close close-ups! And trust me—no one wants to see Jamie Lee Curtis and even Pamela Anderson up-close and on a big screen! Although I admire the braveness of those women, the entire production is just so sad.
The acting is good, and I’m sure the story is real for many people not only in Vegas, but in show biz in general. I’m just glad it wasn’t longer.
Okay, that’s it until I have the time to watch four or five more movies. If it gets down to it, though, I won’t be seeing Dune: Part Two—the first one was more than enough waste of time.
1 Comment
Karen, I haven’t seen any updates on the wildfire situation in your neighborhood. Please let us know how you and Mr. X are doing.