by Sonia Mansfield and Adam Riske
Sonia: After years of reading and listening to F This Movie, I’m finally here to write something. But like Catherine Zeta-Jones sang in Chicago, “I can’t do it aloooooone.” So, joining me is my friend, Adam Riske.
Adam: Hi Sonia! I’m looking forward to our new series Reel Talk! This should be (Dafoe voice) alottafun.
Sonia: We’re going to be sharing the movies we're most looking forward to this winter. If this was Entertainment Weekly, we’d call it our Holiday Movie Preview with a beautiful, technicolor photo of Wicked: For Good on the cover. Fortunately, this is F This Movie, and neither of us picked Wicked: For Good, so let’s get into it.
Adam: For the record, I have nothing against people wanting to see Wicked: For Good. I just can’t even pay attention to it through the trailer, so I know I have no shot at watching the actual movie. And I didn’t see Wicked last year so why start now?
Sonia: My first pick is The Running Man. I’m kinda in the bag for this movie. I unironically love the 1987 original starring the former governor of California (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and a guy who hosted Family Feud in the '70s (Richard Dawson). In theory, I should strongly object to a remake. BUT, Edgar Wright is one of my favorite directors, and I really like Glen Powell (not enough to see Anyone But You, though) and Coleman Domingo. But wait, there’s more: Josh Brolin, William H. Macy, Emilia Jones, and Michael Cera. Plus, the trailer uses "Don’t Bring Me Down" by Electric Light Orchestra. I suspect this film was grown in a lab just for me.
Adam: Haha. I didn’t know you were such an action bro…sis? You’re an Action Sis. We’re making Action Sis a thing. I’ve seen the 1987 The Running Man but it’s not one of “my movies” so I’m totally okay with the idea of them remaking it, especially as an Edgar Wright vehicle. The trailer looks a little too Total Recall remake to me but I’m coming to terms that Hollywood just doesn’t know how to make movies look good in trailers anymore. Glen Powell seems like a fun choice to play the lead -- he doesn’t have Schwarzenegger’s bulk but they both have a fun, amusing on screen presence. I’m looking forward to seeing this around Thanksgiving since there’s not a lot out there in mid-to-late November that appeals to me as far as I can see. My first pick might be out by the time this runs and it’s Predator: Badlands.
Director Dan Trachtenberg has my trust because Prey and especially 10 Cloverfield Lane are really solid genre movies. I just hope this one’s fun. I don’t have huge expectations for it. I like Elle Fanning. I like The Predator. I like eating popcorn and having a Coke Freestyle at the movies. Sometimes that’s all a guy needs. It’s weird that I like the Predator franchise better than a lot of other franchises I’m more passionate about because I have no expectations for it so when one’s good it feels like a big win.
Sonia: Action Sis! Everyone, look forward to my other new column, Action Sis. Coming soon. I really liked Prey. What I like about Predator: Badlands is that it’s self-contained. I didn’t have to see everything before it, and I won’t have to see everything after it. Some franchises feel like homework is required, and sometimes I like that. I wouldn’t like that for Predator.
I like the Fanning sisters. Since Hollywood loves remakes, they should remake The Long Riders, the 1980 western that features all the actor-brothers (the Carradines, Quaids, Keaches, and Guests) with the Fannings, Olsens, Deschanels, plus Beyonce and Solange. I’d pay money to see it.
My next pick is the new horror movie from Osgood Perkins, Keeper, starring Tatiana Maslany and Rossif Sutherland (Kiefer’s half-brother - Shit! Dammit!). Maslany should’ve been a household name after her work on the show Orphan Black, and she was delightful on She-Hulk.
I don’t know what the movie is really about, and I plan to keep(er) that way until I see it. What I do know is that Perkins makes really interesting, creepy movies that don’t always work for me, but at least I’m never bored. Unlike The Blackcoat’s Daughter, Longlegs, and The Monkey, Perkins is only directing someone else’s script, Nick Lepard, who also wrote this year’s Dangerous Animals.
Adam: Well now I know that Keeper Sutherland will be the Keeper (just kidding…I have no idea what’s going to happen in Keeper everyone). I like The Blackcoat’s Daughter but if I’m honest I’m done with Osgood Perkins after Longlegs and The Monkey. I don’t vibe with his sensibility. I sincerely hope everyone enjoys Keeper while I sit this one out. I remember seeing the Keeper trailer after the end credits of The Monkey and thinking “You burned my steak. I’m never coming back to your restaurant.”
My next pick is so stupid especially when I’ve just thrown cold water on Osgood Perkins’s latest. It’s Ella McCay, the new film from James L. Brooks. I think the first trailer for this movie is one of the worst I’ve ever seen but it fascinates me so much that it made me want to see it. It feels so out of date and whatever Jamie Lee Curtis and Julie Kavner are doing in that trailer is like they forgot what film acting was and decided instead to just wing it. Ella McCay is representative of one of my favorite kinds of movies, which is the end-of-year studio dramedy with a big cast and probably sizable budget that has almost no chance of being successful financially and maybe some chance of being successful critically. I love these wounded birds. These relics of 1992. Also, I like Emma Mackey so that helps. I once saw her do impressions of Emma Watson’s line delivery in the Harry Potter movies and sometimes the heart doesn’t know what it wants until it hears Emma Mackey impersonating Emma Watson.
Sonia: The fact that the Ella McCay trailer is using the song "Feelin’ Alright" by Joe Cocker makes it feel like it's a spoof of those kinds of movies but it isn’t. In 1992, this movie would’ve absolutely found its audience by airing every weekend on TBS.
But if you think your Ella McCay is stupid, well, hold my beer … my next pick is Zootopia 2. As a mother of a 14-year-old, I’ve watched a lot of animated movies in the past decade. A LOT. Repeatedly. Certain animated movies are instantly forgettable (Megamind) or worse, they make you question your decision to have children (Cars 2). But Zootopia was kind of a pleasant surprise. Rookie cop Judy (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and street sly fox Nick (Jason Bateman) solve a crime. They had really nice banter that (and I know this sounds bananas) reminded me of 1930s screwball comedies. Also, animal puns. Lots and lots of animal puns.
Adam: If that’s the case, then the Zootopia sequel has its work cut out for it. I liked the first one and own it on Blu-ray but have never gone back to revisit it. I think I’m more likely to rewatch the original and wait for the sequel to show up on disc. Back in 2016, I didn’t feel weird going to a late-night show of Zootopia but for some reason in 2025 I feel weird going to a late-night show of Zootopia 2. Maybe because nine years ago I could pass as a Disney Adult and now I just look like an old man. If it’s really good and I need to see it for my top 10, I’ll go. We’ll see. I’m rooting for it.
My next pick is Avatar: Fire and Ash, which I’m not all that excited for “on paper” but I know I’ll see because I like both Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water and I know better than to pre-judge James Cameron. Also, the only way to see these movies is in IMAX 3D in theaters, almost more so than any other movie. I really wish Cameron would make other movies in between Avatar entries (not instead of - big difference) but I dunno I’ll take what I can get because I like his brand of thorny idealism. Plus, this is probably the only big blockbuster of the holiday season I want to see, and I always feel weird being left out of the monoculture when I skip all of the big movies like I did last year with Wicked, Moana 2, Mufasa: The Lion King, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3. One time a buddy said to me “How can you be a movie guy and not want to see the new movies?” and that sentence was so direct and spot-on that I think about it constantly.
Sonia: The Avatar movies aren’t my thing, but I know that a lot of people love them (Patrick, I see you). And even though they’re not my thing, I’ll still see it in the theater because I like shiny things. I like spectacles. I’m not a monster.
My next pick is Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. I doubt I’ll run to see it during its limited theater run, unless there’s an IMAX 3D showing that I don’t know about. But I’ll absolutely watch it when it drops on Netflix.
I loved the first Knives Out (what a hot take, right?), and even though it didn’t all completely work for me, I loved parts of the second one, mainly the fun performances from Kate Hudson, Edward Norton, and Janelle Monae. Still, director Rian Johnson makes movies that I enjoy (suck it, Last Jedi haters), and I remain cautiously optimistic for Wake Up Dead Man. Just like the other Knives Out movies, Wake Up Dead Man has a stacked cast. Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc is investigating the death in a church in upstate New York. The suspects include Josh O'Connor, Cailee Spaeny, Josh Brolin, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Jeremy Renner, Mila Kunis, Daryl McCormack, Thomas Haden Church, and Glenn Close.
Without having seen it, shall we make a bet on who the killer is? My money is on Glenn Close. Seems like something she’d be into.
Adam: I’ll take that bet. Again, I haven’t seen the movie either. I’ll pick Kerry Washington. I’ll watch Wake Up Dead Man but I’m less excited about it after Glass Onion, which I disliked as much as I liked the original Knives Out, which is saying something because the OG was in my top 10 of 2019. It’s such a bummer that this franchise went the Netflix route. On the other hand, this is the kind of fun franchise that’s perfect for the holiday season when you need a break from prestige awards season players and just want to have a good time.
My next pick is a movie that I think is meant to be a prestige awards season movie but I’m not sure. I might be assigning it that baggage because it played at a few film festivals and it’s directed by Oscar (nominee) darling Bradley Cooper and that’s his latest Is This Thing On? This one seems more up my alley than Maestro (ugh) since it’s about a stand-up comedian. Those almost never make good movies (I’m looking at you, Punchline and The Comedian) but I can’t resist this subgenre for some reason. The cast is alright (I like Laura Dern, not a big Will Arnett guy) and I’m hoping Cooper’s directing career gets back on track (that is, in my eyes) because I wasn’t down with whatever Maestro was doing. I root for Bradley Cooper. Can you tell we’re getting into our less anticipated most anticipated movies? Sorry to be a downer, I don’t think this is the most exciting slate. Hopefully that means some pleasant surprises -- like Tinsel Town.
Should we briefly go over Keifer Sutherland’s VOD Christmas comedy Tinsel Town? I like the double meaning -- he’s a disgraced Hollywood filmmaker and Hollywood is Tinseltown but now he’s directed a play during Christmas in England and there’s tinsel during the holidays and such. Whoever came up with this idea deserves a raise. Why do I get more excited about nonsense like this and Hallmark’s new Chanukah movie (Oy to the World) than I do stuff like Hamnet and Train Dreams?
Sonia: I’m going to watch the shit out of Tinsel Town. The preview made me laugh because Kiefer as an insufferable, grouchy actor is chef’s kiss casting, but the “busy dad needs to learn the true meaning of the holidays” isn’t on brand. As my amazing friend Margo Donohue would say, “It’s something to watch.”
As for Is This Thing On?, I’ll give it a chance, but I do think Will Arnett is funny. I loved Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born. It was my favorite movie of 2018, because I was in my soft girl era. But, I didn’t even bother seeing Maestro because it looked too Oscar-baity and, well, fuckin’ boring. It looked sooooo boring.
No Other Choice stars Lee Byung-hun as a family man who loses his job, and in order to increase his chances of getting another job, he starts killing the competition. It’s billed as a black comedy-thriller. You just know if this movie was made in the 90s it would’ve starred Jim Belushi. “For Jim, the job market is murder,” *cue "Takin’ Care of Business" by Bachman Turner Overdrive. And I would’ve paid money to see that one, too.
Adam: No Other Choice looks good! I’ve liked several Park Chan-wook films (especially the Vengeance trilogy, Stoker, Snowpiercer) and should probably rewatch The Handmaiden (which I saw once and thought was okay at the time) and see Decision to Leave (which I think I skipped?). No Other Choice seems fun and interesting from the trailer. Good pick!
I snuck Tinsel Town in there earlier (because I didn’t know of its existence until we already started writing) so I’ll wrap up with a bonus pick and that’s Marty Supreme. I’m mostly into it because I like ping pong and want to see a movie with a lot of ping pong scenes. Film Bros and Action Sis’ are probably more interested in it because it’s a Josh Safdie movie and a Timothee Chalamet vehicle. I like both of those guys even if I’m still not entirely in on Chalamet yet. I just haven’t seen him in a movie and thought “Wow…this guy!” This is the one I’d like to see Jim Belushi in. Just taking care of business trying to win a ping pong match and being a caveman while doing it.
I feel like I’m being very “Yeah, but…” with my commentary. I’m going to challenge myself this holiday season and next year to be more excited about new releases. I’m turning into Rep Boy. Do you have any honorable mentions?
Sonia: Obviously, Tinsel Town would be in my honorable mentions. I also have a few other movies that I missed this year that I still need to catch up with, including Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, After the Hunt, Bugonia, This Is Spinal Tap 2, The Long Walk, and 28 Years Later. I missed them in the theater, and when it comes to streaming at home, I can get very distracted by true crime documentaries and reality shows in which terrible people try to find love.
What about you, my friend?
Adam: Yeah, there’s a few I missed that I want to catch up with including Relay, The Smashing Machine, Roofman, and Good Fortune. I’m sure I’ll end up watching Frankenstein, Jay Kelly, Anaconda (2025) and Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair as well. That last one is my most anticipated movie altogether this holiday season but it’s a re-release so I didn’t include it an one of my picks.
Your turn, readers – which movies are you looking forward to most this holiday movie season?
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