Film5000 Project
@film5000.bsky.social
I'm not a film critic, just a passionate movie buff. I was born in 1971, studied film in New York during the early ʼ90s, and have lived and worked on the outskirts of the industry all my adult life. Love reading about people's thoughts on cinema.
#thehedonist ('26) ★★★ The joy of clever deadpan humor at the expense of the protagonist rather than lame "cringe comedy" is on display in Nick Funess' dryly humorous comedy about a neurotic 27-year-old who hires a sex worker to be his companion for a week. www.film5000.com/2026/the-hed...
The Hedonist
Nick Funess stars in his own indie comedy about a 27-year-old office drone who, after a nervous breakdown, flees to his parents' house in Arizona and, in the grand tradition of Pretty Woman and Ano...
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May 7, 2026 at 2:32 PM
#thehedonist ('26) ★★★ The joy of clever deadpan humor at the expense of the protagonist rather than lame "cringe comedy" is on display in Nick Funess' dryly humorous comedy about a neurotic 27-year-old who hires a sex worker to be his companion for a week. www.film5000.com/2026/the-hed...
#stealthisstoryplease ('25) ★★★+ Chronicles the life of independent journalist Amy Goodman and her news program Democracy Now! Lots of good stories are packed into a doc designed to fire up folks already aligned with Goodman more than expand viewership. www.film5000.com/2026/steal-t...
Steal This Story, Please!
Carl Deal and Tia Lessin's film about the independent investigative journalist Amy Goodman and her show Democracy Now! chronicles the rise of the distinctly non-coorperate TV and radio news program...
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May 5, 2026 at 2:26 PM
#stealthisstoryplease ('25) ★★★+ Chronicles the life of independent journalist Amy Goodman and her news program Democracy Now! Lots of good stories are packed into a doc designed to fire up folks already aligned with Goodman more than expand viewership. www.film5000.com/2026/steal-t...
#deathandtaxes ('25) ★★★ Digging deep into the inequities of America's tax system, documentarian Justin Schein tells the highly personal story of his father, self-made millionaire Harvey Schein, and the consequences of his obsession with avoiding the estate tax. www.film5000.com/2025/death-&...
Death & Taxes
While I've never been a huge fan of first-person documentaries, in which the filmmakers tackle an issue by telling their own life story, the ways in which our tax system is designed to favor wealth...
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May 2, 2026 at 1:56 PM
#deathandtaxes ('25) ★★★ Digging deep into the inequities of America's tax system, documentarian Justin Schein tells the highly personal story of his father, self-made millionaire Harvey Schein, and the consequences of his obsession with avoiding the estate tax. www.film5000.com/2025/death-&...
#TheSixBillionDollarMan ('25) ★★★+ Eugene Jarecki's magnificently comprehensive history of Julian Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks, is a thorough, often thrilling, examination of the war on journalism. www.film5000.com/2025/the-six...
The Six Billion Dollar Man
The latest political/historical documentary from Eugene Jarecki (The Trials of Henry Kissinger, Why We Fight, Freakonomics, The House I Live In) is a magnificently comprehensive study of Julian Ass...
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May 1, 2026 at 11:57 PM
#TheSixBillionDollarMan ('25) ★★★+ Eugene Jarecki's magnificently comprehensive history of Julian Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks, is a thorough, often thrilling, examination of the war on journalism. www.film5000.com/2025/the-six...
#thedrama ('25) ★★★+ Kristoffer Borgli's dark-comedy drama stands out in an era of lazy "cringe comedy", a rare contemporary movie that genuinely makes you feel uncomfortable laughing at what it presents. www.film5000.com/2026/the-dra...
The Drama
On a recent episode of The Brattle Film Podcast, I was lamenting that we don't get adult romantic comedy-dramas anymore—or "coming of adulthood movies" as my co-host Ned called them. Then the next ...
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April 30, 2026 at 3:17 PM
#thedrama ('25) ★★★+ Kristoffer Borgli's dark-comedy drama stands out in an era of lazy "cringe comedy", a rare contemporary movie that genuinely makes you feel uncomfortable laughing at what it presents. www.film5000.com/2026/the-dra...
#NormalMovie ('25) ★★★ The filmmakers describe this as Bad Day at Black Rock crossed with Final Destination. I personally would have liked to see more of the former and less of the latter, but oh well... www.film5000.com/2026/normal/...
Normal
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April 28, 2026 at 2:48 PM
#NormalMovie ('25) ★★★ The filmmakers describe this as Bad Day at Black Rock crossed with Final Destination. I personally would have liked to see more of the former and less of the latter, but oh well... www.film5000.com/2026/normal/...
#ProjectHailMary ('25) ★★ 2001 for twelve-year-olds. www.film5000.com/2026/project...
Project Hail Mary
I was late to this, so I missed it in IMAX, but was able to catch it in 70mm. I guess I'm glad that non-franchise sci-fi blockbusters are still getting made and are doing well at the box office, bu...
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April 17, 2026 at 5:50 PM
#ProjectHailMary ('25) ★★ 2001 for twelve-year-olds. www.film5000.com/2026/project...
#fantasylife ('25) ★ Shear's debut feature about a schlubby neurotic who becomes a manny to a power-couple whose marriage is going through a midlife crisis is a nice throwback to the days when comedies were less extreme and more grounded in relatable situations. www.film5000.com/2026/fantasy...
Fantasy Life
Matthew Shear, known for playing supporting roles in Between the Temples and Mistress America, makes his debut as writer/director/star in this tale of a mildly depressive paralegal who, after being...
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April 7, 2026 at 7:50 PM
#fantasylife ('25) ★ Shear's debut feature about a schlubby neurotic who becomes a manny to a power-couple whose marriage is going through a midlife crisis is a nice throwback to the days when comedies were less extreme and more grounded in relatable situations. www.film5000.com/2026/fantasy...
#thebride ('25) ★ Gyllenhaal's fake-punk, pseudo-feminist, looky-what-I'm-doing! exercise is one of those maximalist, director-centered, sophomore efforts that auteurists seem to believe filmmakers "deserve." www.film5000.com/2026/the-bri...
The Bride!
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April 6, 2026 at 5:58 PM
#thebride ('25) ★ Gyllenhaal's fake-punk, pseudo-feminist, looky-what-I'm-doing! exercise is one of those maximalist, director-centered, sophomore efforts that auteurists seem to believe filmmakers "deserve." www.film5000.com/2026/the-bri...
I was late finishing my year-end list for 2025, though there were fewer major films to see than in past years. Still, while 2025 was a rough year for society, it was a grand year for movies. www.film5000.com/2025
Films of 2025
<p>A rough year for society, but a solid year for the movies</p>
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April 4, 2026 at 9:34 PM
I was late finishing my year-end list for 2025, though there were fewer major films to see than in past years. Still, while 2025 was a rough year for society, it was a grand year for movies. www.film5000.com/2025
#FamiliarTouch ('25) ★★★ Kathleen Chalfant gives a magnificently understated performance as an octogenarian in cognitive decline transitioning to a new life in an assisted living facility in Sarah Friedland's moving drama about the final stages of life. www.film5000.com/2025/familia...
Familiar Touch
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March 13, 2026 at 8:18 PM
#FamiliarTouch ('25) ★★★ Kathleen Chalfant gives a magnificently understated performance as an octogenarian in cognitive decline transitioning to a new life in an assisted living facility in Sarah Friedland's moving drama about the final stages of life. www.film5000.com/2025/familia...
#anunfinishedfilm ('25) ★★ Ye Lou's docufictional approach heightens the artificial aspects of his picture, hindering its ability to authentically capture the feeling of being trapped at the centers of the COVID-19 outbreak. www.film5000.com/2025/an-unfi...
An Unfinished Film
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March 9, 2026 at 3:31 PM
#anunfinishedfilm ('25) ★★ Ye Lou's docufictional approach heightens the artificial aspects of his picture, hindering its ability to authentically capture the feeling of being trapped at the centers of the COVID-19 outbreak. www.film5000.com/2025/an-unfi...
#TheLostBus ('25) ★★ Real-life disaster movie lays everything on so thick it strains all credibility; features a surprisingly unpleasant turn from Matthew McConaughey and direction from Paul Greengrass that you'd swear was done by one of his imitators. www.film5000.com/2025/the-los...
The Lost Bus
The most shocking thing in this "inspired by real events" disaster movie from Apple Studios, Blumhouse Productions, and producer Jamie Lee Curtis is the director's credit at the end. I didn't know ...
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March 8, 2026 at 3:31 PM
#TheLostBus ('25) ★★ Real-life disaster movie lays everything on so thick it strains all credibility; features a surprisingly unpleasant turn from Matthew McConaughey and direction from Paul Greengrass that you'd swear was done by one of his imitators. www.film5000.com/2025/the-los...
#TheMastermind ('25) ★★★ Kelly Reichardt gives us a small-time criminal more down on his luck than Eddie Coyle, with even less helpful friends. Josh O'Connor is hilariously deadpan as an uncool, unsuccessful Thomas Crown wannabe. www.film5000.com/2025/the-mas...
The Mastermind
Kelly Reichardt leaves the lush greys of the Pacific Northwest for the drab greys of Framingham, Massachusetts (though I think this film is shot in Ohio). Set during the transitional year of 1970, ...
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March 6, 2026 at 12:57 PM
#TheMastermind ('25) ★★★ Kelly Reichardt gives us a small-time criminal more down on his luck than Eddie Coyle, with even less helpful friends. Josh O'Connor is hilariously deadpan as an uncool, unsuccessful Thomas Crown wannabe. www.film5000.com/2025/the-mas...
#ItWasJustAnAccident ('25) ★★★+ Jafar Panahi's latest plays like a compellingly dark hybrid of Death and the Maiden and Little Miss Sunshine. www.film5000.com/2025/it-was-...
It Was Just an Accident
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March 5, 2026 at 2:52 PM
#ItWasJustAnAccident ('25) ★★★+ Jafar Panahi's latest plays like a compellingly dark hybrid of Death and the Maiden and Little Miss Sunshine. www.film5000.com/2025/it-was-...
#wto99 ('25) ★★★★ The best unreleased film of 2025 is this masterfully edited archival documentary about the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle, which uses only participant and newscam footage to tell the complex and nuanced story of this key event. www.film5000.com/2025/wto99/1...
WTO/99
The best unreleased film of 2025 is Ian Bell and Alex Megaro's masterfully edited archival documentary about the 1999 World Trade Organization Conference protests. These were the massive anti-globa...
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March 4, 2026 at 10:50 PM
#wto99 ('25) ★★★★ The best unreleased film of 2025 is this masterfully edited archival documentary about the 1999 WTO protests in Seattle, which uses only participant and newscam footage to tell the complex and nuanced story of this key event. www.film5000.com/2025/wto99/1...
#ThePerfectNeighbor ('25) ★★★★ Building a compelling film from 2 years of police bodycam footage & 911 calls, Gandbhir's documentary provides astute, subtextual commentary as it chronicles events that led to a murder. www.film5000.com/2025/the-per...
The Perfect Neighbor
Geeta Gandbhir's Oscar-nominated documentary takes the approach of the previous year's best Oscar-nominated short. Bill Morrison's The Incident uses nothing but publicly released police bodycam foo...
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March 3, 2026 at 7:03 PM
#ThePerfectNeighbor ('25) ★★★★ Building a compelling film from 2 years of police bodycam footage & 911 calls, Gandbhir's documentary provides astute, subtextual commentary as it chronicles events that led to a murder. www.film5000.com/2025/the-per...
#mrnobodyagainstputin ('25) ★★ More an oral history, illustrated with footage than a documentary, but Pavel Talankin, the protagonist of Borenstein's film, bravely exposes Putin's militarization and indoctrination practices in Russian primary schools. www.film5000.com/2025/mr-nobo...
Mr. Nobody Against Putin
Danish documentarian David Borenstein (Dream Empire) shapes the footage of a determined teacher and A/V guy, Pavel Talankin, working at a primary school in one of Russia's poorest, most polluted mi...
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February 10, 2026 at 7:43 PM
#mrnobodyagainstputin ('25) ★★ More an oral history, illustrated with footage than a documentary, but Pavel Talankin, the protagonist of Borenstein's film, bravely exposes Putin's militarization and indoctrination practices in Russian primary schools. www.film5000.com/2025/mr-nobo...
#palestine36 ('25) ★★★+ A small historical epic that feels impossibly grand, Annemarie Jacir's multi-character story of Palestinian villages striking against British colonial rule at a pivotal place and time is an incredible film to be released in 2025. www.film5000.com/2025/palesti...
Palestine 36
Annemarie Jacir's exciting portrayal of Palestinians at this titular place and time is only the third film ever submitted by Palestine for Academy Award consideration. Set in a key year in Middle E...
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February 6, 2026 at 3:27 PM
#palestine36 ('25) ★★★+ A small historical epic that feels impossibly grand, Annemarie Jacir's multi-character story of Palestinian villages striking against British colonial rule at a pivotal place and time is an incredible film to be released in 2025. www.film5000.com/2025/palesti...
#happyend ('25) ★★★+ Neo Sora's clever coming-of-age story is set in a Japanese private school in a not-so-distant future where authorities are slowly implementing draconian rules and heavy surveillance in the name of freedom and safety. www.film5000.com/2025/happyen...
Happyend
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February 4, 2026 at 4:56 PM
#happyend ('25) ★★★+ Neo Sora's clever coming-of-age story is set in a Japanese private school in a not-so-distant future where authorities are slowly implementing draconian rules and heavy surveillance in the name of freedom and safety. www.film5000.com/2025/happyen...
#thevoiceofhindrajab ('25) ★★★+ Kaouther Ben Hania's tense docudrama about a 5-year-old girl trapped under fire in Gaza begging desperate Red Crescent call-center volunteers for rescue, explores damned-if-you-do and if-you-don't procedures in wartime. www.film5000.com/2025/the-voi...
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Tunisian writer/director Kaouther Ben Hania follows up her Oscar-nominated Four Daughters with another excellent blending of reality and dramatization. The Voice of Hind Rajab reenacts the events o...
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February 3, 2026 at 5:29 PM
#thevoiceofhindrajab ('25) ★★★+ Kaouther Ben Hania's tense docudrama about a 5-year-old girl trapped under fire in Gaza begging desperate Red Crescent call-center volunteers for rescue, explores damned-if-you-do and if-you-don't procedures in wartime. www.film5000.com/2025/the-voi...
#FatherMotherSisterBrother ('25) ★★★+ The now septuagenarian Jim Jarmusch delivers one of his most layered works of minimalism, an anthology about the unspoken, often unknowable dynamics of familial relationships. www.film5000.com/2025/father-...
Father Mother Sister Brother
The best Jim Jarmusch pictures are the ones where the least happens. This has been the case ever since his minimalist masterpiece Stranger Than Paradise came out in 1984. Some of his livelier movie...
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February 2, 2026 at 2:33 PM
#FatherMotherSisterBrother ('25) ★★★+ The now septuagenarian Jim Jarmusch delivers one of his most layered works of minimalism, an anthology about the unspoken, often unknowable dynamics of familial relationships. www.film5000.com/2025/father-...
#TheChronologyOfWater ('25) ★★★ Imogen Poots gives a compelling lead performance in Kristen Stewart's aggressively fragmented, fiercely internal character study. www.film5000.com/2025/the-chr...
The Chronology of Water
Kristen Stewart has been a sharp, instinctive actor whose choices in material and projects have always been savvy ever since the Twilight series made her a mega-star. From Greg Mottola's Adventurel...
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January 30, 2026 at 2:08 PM
#TheChronologyOfWater ('25) ★★★ Imogen Poots gives a compelling lead performance in Kristen Stewart's aggressively fragmented, fiercely internal character study. www.film5000.com/2025/the-chr...
#TheTestamentofAnnLee ('25) ★★★ Amanda Seyfried gives a (literally) dizzying tour-de-force performance as the titular Shaker founder in this unpleasant yet kinda fascinating historical drama from the team behind The Brutalist. www.film5000.com/2025/the-tes...
The Testament of Ann Lee
Merry F-ing X-mas! What a movie to release on Christmas morning for the whole family to go out and see! Those two zany kids, actors-turned-writer-directors Mona Fastvold and Brady Corbet (whose dep...
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January 29, 2026 at 3:11 PM
#TheTestamentofAnnLee ('25) ★★★ Amanda Seyfried gives a (literally) dizzying tour-de-force performance as the titular Shaker founder in this unpleasant yet kinda fascinating historical drama from the team behind The Brutalist. www.film5000.com/2025/the-tes...
#frewaka ('25) ★★★ Irish language and setting make this unique, though it’s not too different from many recent horror movies with its themes of grief, mental illness, undealt-with parental conflict, and the blurring of lines between reality and fantasy. www.film5000.com/2025/frewaka...
Fréwaka
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January 28, 2026 at 3:11 PM
#frewaka ('25) ★★★ Irish language and setting make this unique, though it’s not too different from many recent horror movies with its themes of grief, mental illness, undealt-with parental conflict, and the blurring of lines between reality and fantasy. www.film5000.com/2025/frewaka...