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I came into writer/director David Freyne's Eternity with no expectations other than it seeming like an interesting premise and the star casting of Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller, & Callum Turner (amongst others). I left the theater thinking the film is likely the best I've seen in 2025 so far!

For a very basic overview, Eternity tells the story of Joan (Olsen), who is thrust into an impossible situation: while in a sort of "limbo" waiting to decide on her afterlife eternity, she must choose between longtime husband Larry (Teller) or her first love Luke (Turner) who was killed in military combat. With whom will she choose to ride off into eternity with?!

The hallmark of Eternity is how it can so seemingly effortlessly be a hilarious comedy and a very poignant, emotional drama.

It starts with all the cast possessing instinctual and impeccable comedic timing. This goes for the aforementioned three leads, and also for supporting players Da'Vine Joy Randolph & John Early. One could place this flick in the "comedy" section/genre and it wouldn't be at all out of place.

At the same time, the script from Freyne and Patrick Cunnane really digs deep to the heart of relationships and how different each emotional bond can be. Viewers will sympathize with Joan's impossible conundrum and begin applying it internally. The film also goes down some ambitious roads that normally wouldn't be ventured in a rom-com, lending further emotional depth.

What does this all add up to? An incredible mix of humor and heart that caught me completely off guard in how entertained and moved I was all the way through. Though there are certainly some movies left on the '25 slate that could eclipse Eternity on my personal rankings, it for now resides at the very top! Perhaps best of all: it can appeal to audiences from teens all the way up to the oldest of cinema-goers.

This Netflix limited series contains some of the highest-quality acting you'll ever see in a drama. Mainly from generational talent Claire Danes, but also from Matthew Rhys and the likes of Jonathan Banks & Brittany Snow. Unfortunately, The Best in Me's overstuffed plotting can only be elevated so far by such star-quality thespian-ism.

For a very basic overview, The Best In Me tells the story of Aggie Wiggs (Danes), a reclusive author who has supposed-murderer Nile Jarvis (Rhys) and his wife Nina (Snow) move in next door. Desperate for her next book idea, Aggie makes Nile her new project (especially when another victim may be attributed to him right in her hometown), only to fall further down the rabbit hole than originally anticipated.

I quite literally cannot stress enough how strong the acting is here. When Danes & Rhys are feeling each other out on screen, the chemistry practically crackles. Danes does most of the early heavy-lifting, while Rhys gets his close-ups, so to speak, more towards the endgame. Meanwhile, Banks & Snow are more-than-solid in their supporting roles. It is certainly reason enough to watch The Best In Me for the acting alone.

That said, the messy plotting of this series severely limits its ceiling. It is a decent thriller with something to say message-wise, but a lot of that potency is lost in a stew of too many twists and too many characters. Perhaps this all works better on the page where more can be expounded upon, but here it was hard to follow all the motivations (of even the side-characters, at times). I wish the focus could have been squarely on Aggie & Nile throughout.

Overall, I settled on a solid-but-not-spectacular 7/10 rating for The Beast In Me. The acting will render it likable to almost any audience even if the plot may underwhelm some viewers.

I came to this Wicked franchise via a bit of an odd path. I tried the novel long ago and disliked it so much I never saw the stage play (my loss, I know). But when Wicked (part 1) came to theaters in 2024, I absolutely loved it. The Glinda & Elphaba chemistry utterly entranced me and the college roommate or relationship metaphor was my "way in" to those characters. Having it set in perhaps the most recognizable cinematic universe of all time (that of The Wizard of Oz) was simply a bonus.

Of course, even folks like me who haven't seen the Broadway production likely know that one of its criticisms is how front-loaded the great songs and material are. So, I was very interested to see how this would be handled here by director Jon M. Chu. While it certainly did not rise anywhere near the heights of its 2024 predecessor, Wicked: For Good was probably about the best it could be all things considered.

For a very basic overview, For Good picks up some time after the dramatic finale of Wicked. Elphie (Cynthia Erivo) continues her quest to free the animals of Oz while being smeared by The Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) and Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) in the court of public opinion. Glinda (Ariana Grande) is capitulating with that establishment, yet also still trying to recruit her once-dear friend back into the fold. All the while, a gingham-wearing girl from Kansas approaches the Emerald City.

I'll start with the positives here, which are mainly the scenes in which Erivo & Grande appear together. Those still crackle with the chemistry seen in the first film. If not needing to follow the basic strictures of a novel and a play, there's a version of For Good (perhaps a better version, if only for me) where this relationship is again the centerpiece. Sort of a "how to navigate adult friendship from very different perspectives" continuation of the original's thematics.

But of course, the back-half of this Wicked tale is required to do so much more, and that's where I stumble on it a bit:

-As For Good pushed further towards The Wizard of Oz material, I floated further away from it. I know that is sort of what this whole enterprise is set up to accomplish, but I think there's a case to be made that the Glinda & Elphaba relationship should have been front and center throughout.

-Having major plot and character themes turn on what is essentially a childish love triangle surrounding Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) is also problematic. This is Twilight or Hunger Games-esque material, not something to lean on in such a story of female empowerment. But again, such material was handled with less care in the early-00s when the stage lights came on. I just wish that angle could have either been backgrounded or simply done with more nuance here.

-One's overall enjoyment of For Good may turn on whether Glinda's character journey is believable. Has she really learned some lessons from her relationship with Elphaba? That is certainly a rough sketch of what the endgame wants you to feel--but does the two hr & 15 min film do enough to make it legit? I'd argue: No. It spends too much time on jealous catfighting (in one case literally) and Oz lore to elevate Glinda's final turn.

I realize this is a tricky line of criticism that is very centric on my unique path through the franchise. But whereas Wicked was once more of an "Oz vehicle" than anything else, I think perhaps it has matured into a Glinda/Elphaba story over time. All of that excellent material was able to be expanded upon in 2024's Wicked, but largely fell by the wayside (but for a song/moment or two) in For Good. As such, while hard-core lovers of The Wizard of Oz lore and visuals will likely appreciate this finale more than me, those who wanted believable or legitimate Glinda/Elphaba character resolution may leave the theater feeling slightly wanting.