Watch List Digest 2/21/25
Lots of good streaming recommendations, plus: Ty rates every Pedro Almódovar feature ever.
Latest
What to Watch: Pre-Oscar Catch-up
Recent movies at affordable VOD prices! Plus: One to avoid.
The Whole Almodóvar
All 23 of the Spanish director's feature films are newly available on demand. I rate every last one of them and tell you where to find them.
New Reviews: "Capt. America," "Armand," Oscar shorts
Are you tired of Marvel Cinematic Universe movies? Yeah, me too.
What to Watch: Stone'd Again
Questlove's "Sly Lives!" comes to Hulu, a powerhouse Marianne Jean-Baptiste double-bill pops up on Amazon, and more.
Watch List Digest 2/8/25
Sorry you missed the Lynch event, but here are some good movies to watch while our collective hair is on fire.
Reviews: "No Other Land" and "Porcelain War"
Two stark Oscar-nominated documentaries of struggle and endurance in the West Bank and in Ukraine.
Fiddling (with the Remote) While Rome Burns
Five new releases just hitting VOD -- and seven sleepers hiding on your streaming platform menus.
Ty's Movie Club: "Mulholland Drive"
This Thursday, February 6, at 6:30 p.m. at the West Newton Cinema, a screening and discussion of the late David Lynch's greatest film. (Arguably? Then come and argue.)
Sundance 2025 Report III
Reviews of "The Wedding Banquet," "The Perfect Neighbor," "Free Leonard Peltier," "Peter Hujar's Day," "Gen_" and "Zodiac Killer Project"
Sundance 2025 Report II
Reviews of "Train Dreams," "Rebuilding," "The Kiss of the Spider Woman" and "Together."
Watch List Digest 1/25/25
Busy week! Sundance 2025, Oscar nominations, and a guide to good movies on Amazon Prime.
Festival Reports
Sundance 2025 Report I
Arab teenage rebels, Sly Stone, Pee-wee Herman and more from the first three days of the Sundance Film Festival.
Awards 🏆
Oscar Nominations 2025
Who's in, who's out, who cares? (Well, I do.)
Film Festivals
12 Movies I Want to See at Sundance 2025
Between the fires in L.A. and the clown show in Washington, the festival vibe may be weirder than usual this year.
What to Watch
Eight Good Movies on Prime (and 1 Stinker)
Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It’s a sunny day with a fresh three inches of snow here in Boston and a good time to count one’s blessings and plot out ways to make this a better country for everyone in it in the weeks, months, and years
Watch List Digest 1/18/25
Remembrances ⭐️
Reviews: "Wolf Man," "Back in Action" + Requiem for a Seer
This week's WaPo pieces: Two reviews and a David Lynch appreciation.
Remembrances ⭐️
David Lynch: A Memory
How the director schooled a young critic in the proper approach to art and mystery
Good Movies 📽
New reviews: "The Brutalist," "The Room Next Door," "September 5" & "Hard Truths"
What to Watch
What to Watch: Cut the Crap
Where do you turn when there's nothing -- I mean NOTHING -- on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video? The Criterion Channel. Here are 8 best bets.
Events
Ty's Movie Club: "Aguirre, The Wrath of God" (1972)
Just in time for Inauguration Day, a Werner Herzog classic on the madness of crowns.
What to Watch
What to Watch: "Nickel Boys" & "The Seed of the Sacred Fig"
My two latest reviews for the WaPo. One of the films is very, very good. The other one is just the best movie of 2024.
Best of the Year
The 20 Best Movies of 2024
"Nickel Boys" leads the Watch List's annual honor roll of entertainments and provocations.