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Some documentaries make it clear that they aren’t interested in spectacle. They’re interested in people—real, complicated people—whose lives contain more texture than any narrative could ever replicate. VIVA VERDI! belongs in that space. It isn’t a film about opera, though the walls of Casa Verdi vibrate with music. It isn’t simply an exploration of aging, though the residents range from their late seventies to past one hundred. It’s a portrait of a community shaped by creativity, remembrance, resilience, and a sense of purpose that refuses to dim with time.

Holiday comedies don’t need to reinvent the wheel to be enjoyable. Most rely on a simple formula: keep things light, create a cheerful backdrop, sprinkle in sentimentality and chaos, and let the cast carry the story. THE CHRISTMAS LETTER has every opportunity to fit into that category — the kind of seasonal distraction you can throw on without thinking, something to fill a cozy December evening with laughs and some familiar faces. In the right circumstances, that’s exactly what this could have been.

Some films set expectations from the opening scene, not through craft or tension, but through a quiet realization that what you’re about to watch will fall far short of its ambitions. THE CARETAKER lands squarely in that category. It’s not aggressively bad, nor is it a disaster beyond repair. Instead, it’s the kind of experience where you very quickly stop trying to take anything seriously because the movie itself doesn’t seem capable of holding its own weight. It’s the definition of a film to put on in a room full of friends who enjoy laughing at the choices, performances, and technical misfires that become more entertaining than the intended story.

There’s a unique kind of intensity that comes from watching films made during a period when cinema had no safety protocols, no creature comforts, and no separation between artist and environment. GRASS and CHANG represent two of the clearest examples of that uncompromising spirit. Together, they form a double feature that documents survival in ways modern adventure films could never replicate, because directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack weren’t staging performances. They were standing beside people enduring very real threats—rivers that could kill, snow that froze skin on contact, animal encounters with outcomes that weren’t predetermined. These films present nature not as a backdrop, but as an active force that puts every individual on equal footing with the terrain.

The heart of I’M “GEORGE LUCAS”: A CONNOR RATLIFF STORY isn’t the costume, the wig, or the extensive knowledge of a galaxy far away. It’s the question of what drives someone to continue creating when the audience remains niche and the rewards don’t always match the effort. That tension forms the spine of Ryan Jacobi’s documentary, which follows comedian Connor Ratliff through years of performing as George Lucas in a one-of-a-kind comedy hybrid that sits somewhere between performance art, fandom commentary, and an ongoing experiment in communal creativity. This isn’t a film about Star Wars, even though the iconography is ever-present. It’s a film about the artist behind the persona, the toll that long-term passion projects quietly take, and the complicated relationship between personal identity and the work someone chooses to keep alive.

THE DONN OF TIKI sets out to do something bolder than the standard lifestyle documentary. Instead of creating a nostalgic highlight reel of bamboo décor, hurricane glasses, and island-themed escapism, this film goes directly after the myth. Donn Beach — original architect of the tiki bar and one of the most unapologetically self-constructed men in American hospitality — lies at the center of a world built on exaggeration, reinvention, and pure spectacle. The film’s ambition is clear from its opening minutes: it wants to peel back layers of invention without flattening the sheer charisma that made Beach a cultural force in the first place.

Some films reveal their staying power — not with spectacle, not with over-the-top theatrics, but with an emotional unease that lingers long after the final image. THE OGRE OF ATHENS belongs firmly to that category. This story begins as a simple case of mistaken identity and gradually becomes a deeply human, socially charged examination of how people reshape themselves to survive. It’s a film that has lived several lives: a commercial failure upon release, a modern classic in retrospect, and now a newly restored discovery for audiences who may not realize its true influence. The film’s ambition is bold, its execution striking, and its resonance undeniable.

Something is undeniably charming about a series that was built to entertain above all else. THE FANTÔMAS TRILOGY embraces that impulse with a wide grin, pulling together a trio of films that blend chaos, larger-than-life criminal theatrics, and the breezy spectacle of sixties European filmmaking. Visiting these films today — especially through the meticulous restorations of the new Masters of Cinema release — is like discovering a gleeful corner of cinema that never concerned itself with limits. These movies aim to thrill, amuse, and astonish, and they do so with the kind of unapologetic style that contemporary productions rarely attempt.

Michelangelo Antonioni’s LA NOTTE doesn’t rush to introduce conflict or carve emotion into neat, digestible pieces. Instead, it begins with an unnerving quiet — the kind that seeps into a relationship long before anyone is willing to name it. The film exists in that liminal space where two people remain tethered by routine but long detached from anything that resembles intimacy. What begins as a visit to a dying friend becomes a slow unraveling, the kind that doesn’t snap but frays strand by strand until there’s almost nothing left to hold.

ELEVEN DAYS, ELEVEN NIGHTS 2 exists in that unmistakable pocket of late-80s and early-90s erotic cinema where melodrama, sensuality, and mystery all collide in ways that are more about mood and movement than intricate storytelling. Joe D’Amato, who practically defined the aesthetic of Italian softcore through sheer volume and instinct, returns to the world of Sarah Asproon—this time with Kristine Rose taking over the role—and shapes a sequel that isn’t trying to reinvent the genre so much as embrace exactly what viewers come to this kind of film expecting. But beneath the surface-level seduction and soap-operatic plotting, a surprisingly cohesive structure emerges, making this entry more engaging than its reputation suggests.

There’s something undeniably special about a tribute that doesn’t feel performative, but instead feels like a community showing up because they genuinely couldn’t imagine not being there. YOU GOT GOLD: A CELEBRATION OF JOHN PRINE captures that feeling with clarity. Rather than shaping itself as a dramatic biography or even a traditional documentary, it leans into something more immediate: the electricity of live performance mixed with the intimacy of people sharing memories. It’s built from honesty, affection, and loss — all the things that defined Prine’s songwriting from the beginning.

THE THING WITH FEATHERS takes a familiar theme—grief manifesting into something physical—and pushes it somewhere more unpredictable. It’s not a traditional horror experience, and it’s not exactly a straightforward drama either. Instead, it sits in the uncomfortable middle, leaning into the messiness of grief without softening its edges. That choice gives the film a unique strength, but also leads to some unevenness that holds it back from its full potential. Still, it’s hard to deny that this is one of Benedict Cumberbatch’s most grounded, vulnerable performances in years.

There’s an unmistakable ache in the opening minutes of THE ISLAND CLOSEST TO HEAVEN, the kind of emotion that doesn’t scream but settles in as soon as Mari begins her journey. Director Nobuhiko Obayashi leans into that space between childhood and adulthood—where curiosity is louder than confidence, and where grief burns underneath even the brightest moments. This is a film that provides something delicate and introspective, a story built around a promise a father made to his daughter and the search for meaning that follows after he’s gone.

There’s a confidence in the way HOWARDS END plays out, one that invites you to settle into its world rather than fight its slower, deliberate approach. Even for viewers who don’t naturally gravitate toward period dramas, this film has a way of pulling you in. With its mix of social clashes, personal betrayals, and shifting loyalties, it falls somewhere between an intimate character study and a sweeping historical drama. And while it’s easy to understand how this became such a defining film in Merchant Ivory’s legacy, experiencing it today reveals how much of its impact comes from its restraint rather than its grandeur.

WICKED GAMES: THREE FILMS BY ROBERT HOSSEIN is the kind of box set that shifts how you view a specific filmmaker. Before these restorations, Hossein was often treated as a stylist lurking in the margins of French cinema — admired by enthusiasts, overlooked by the mainstream. But presented together, cleaned up, and paired with modern extras galore, these three films reveal just how distinct and sharp his work truly was. Across noir, mystery, and a proto–Zapata Western, Hossein displays a consistent fascination with guilt, temptation, loyalty, and the fragile spaces between violence and desire.

SHOGUN’S SAMURAI is a film built on tension that never truly lets go. Even in its quieter moments, there’s a constant sense that every character is two moves ahead or one mistake away from being erased. Kinji Fukasaku directs this with the same seriousness he brought to his yakuza sagas. That approach lends the film a weight that sets it apart from more romanticized takes on samurai cinema. There’s no sense of noble warriors guided by strict virtues. Instead, this is a story about men loyal to power, survival, and legacy, fighting in a world where betrayal is not only expected but nearly required.

PREP & LANDING: THE SNOWBALL PROTOCOL arrives after more than a decade of silence from the franchise, and the first thing that stands out is how comfortably it slips back into place. There’s an immediate sense of familiarity to the world Disney built with these elves, yet this new installment doesn’t rely entirely on nostalgia to carry the experience. Instead, it uses the series' history as a springboard, letting Wayne and Lanny stumble through another mission that spirals just enough to keep the special going and tightly paced. It’s a brisk 25-minute return, but one that understands what fans loved about this world in the first place: small-stakes holiday chaos with just enough heart to warm the edges.

NUNS VS. THE VATICAN offers the viewer the kind of urgency that documentaries rarely manage to capture so completely. It’s not positioned as a relic of past wrongdoing or a retrospective recounting of abuse; instead, it documents a confrontation still unfolding, shaped by women who spent decades silenced by the very institution they served. Director Lorena Luciano approaches their stories with a measured but unflinching lens, understanding that the power of this film lies in reclaiming voices rather than reshaping them. The result is a documentary that feels less like an exploration of events and more like an act of resistance.

There’s something fitting about a director closing out a career by returning to the genre that shaped so much of his legacy, and that’s exactly what happens with Howard Hawks’ RIO LOBO. This film emerged in an era where Westerns were undergoing rapid transformation, yet it approaches the frontier with the same hand that Hawks had relied on for decades. That tension between a filmmaker’s identity and a genre’s evolution becomes the backbone of the film’s character.

FRIGHTMARE wastes no time letting its terms be known. Instead of the usual slasher theatrics or exaggerated shocks that defined many horror films of its era, this one takes a quieter, meaner route. It opens with a straightforward premise: a woman once deemed criminally insane for cannibalistic murders is released back into society, ready to live freely with her devoted husband on a secluded farm. The horror isn’t built around jump scares or abrupt intrusions; it’s built around the realization that the system has absolutely misjudged her. The threat is not something that creeps through the woods or lurks beneath the floorboards. The danger sits in a farmhouse, reading tarot cards with a smile and an appetite she never lost.

The first thing that strikes you about BULLETS AND BLUEBERRIES is how deliberately it avoids dramatizing the Holocaust. The documentary keeps its gaze fixed on something just as unsettling: the photographs taken by the murderers themselves. By framing the narrative around these images, the film strips away the distance that often comes with decades of retelling. It leaves viewers face-to-face with the executions, the pits, and the everyday routines of the perpetrators who documented their own brutality as if it were mundane. This is not a retelling designed to create emotional peaks; it is a record that doesn’t need embellishment to make its point. The result is stark, direct, and deeply difficult, but necessary.

THE FAMILY PLAN 2 offers viewers a clear sense of what it is and exactly who it’s made for. From the opening scenes, it’s obvious that this sequel isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel or evolve beyond its established tone. Instead, it leans into a blend of holiday spirit, international adventure, and family-driven chaos. It gives its returning cast room to stretch into a bigger-scale playground without losing the grounded dynamic that made the first film likable enough to warrant a sequel.

There’s something refreshingly direct about HUMANS IN THE LOOP. It doesn’t wrap its ideas in spectacle, and it doesn’t try to overwhelm you with the scale of its commentary. Instead, it begins with a grounded, lived-in world and slowly reveals how the smallest, quietest decisions can shape the forces that will one day affect millions. The story’s power stems from its personal nature, even as it tackles a topic that is often reduced to headlines, buzzwords, and apocalyptic think pieces. Here, the human cost of artificial intelligence isn’t theoretical — it’s a daily routine, a mother’s job, and a community’s key to survival.

MIRROR LIFE opens with a grounded approach rather than a dramatic one, building its story around a woman who refuses to let her cousin’s disappearance be dismissed as another tragedy in a chaotic world. Instead of relying on a grand hook or flashy gimmick, the film uses a steady, methodical setup to pull Tracy into an unnerving investigation. The premise itself has weight: a missing family member, a secretive clinical trial, and a new miracle drug marketed as a scientific breakthrough. It’s a foundation that doesn’t need embellishment because it taps into fears that are already very real.

In LITTLE TROUBLE GIRLS, debut filmmaker Urška Djukić transforms a seemingly simple story of adolescence into something layered, lyrical, and quietly confrontational. Set within the walls of a Catholic school and its devout choir, the film doesn’t settle for a tale of rebellion; instead, it examines what happens when self-discovery collides with faith — when the body becomes its own kind of confessional. It’s both intimate and unnerving, told through delicate gestures and unspoken questions that linger long after the credits fade.