All posts by Matt Gillam

Movie Reviews

undertone Review

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undertone

  • Director: Ian Tuason
  • Writer: Ian Tuason
  • Starring: Nina Kiri, Adam DiMarco, Michèle Duquet

Grade: C

A24’s latest horror flick undertone puts a new twist on screen-life horror: instead of playing out the story via windows on a computer screen, the terrors in the film unfurl through a series of podcast sessions. Evy and Justin (played by Nina Kiri and The White Lotus’s Adam DiMarco) cohost a podcast dissecting paranormal events. When they begin to dive into a series of ten audio files sent by a mystery contributor, things start to shift in the home Evy shares with her ill mother (Michèle Duquet). Unfortunately, the story that follows is messy and cliched, failing to live up to the inventive horror films A24 is often known for putting out.

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Best of 2025, Special Features

Matt Gillam’s Top 10 Movies of 2025

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Another year in film has come and gone! While it may not have served up hits as consistently as 2024, there were enough treasures to go around if you knew where to look. With the future of the theatrical experience resting on tenuous ground, new layers have been added to the act of reminiscing on my 2025 movie-going experiences. How many of these films may not have even been greenlit in a consolidated distributor model? Which types of stories may no longer rise to prominence when a dwindling number of individuals control the narrative? Deep questions to ponder during the holiday season, but I remain hopeful that filmmakers will continue to be able to wow us with cinematic spectacle for years to come, even if the process of getting there may look different. Maybe that’s a topic to worry more about next year! For now, here are my top 10 favorite movies of 2025, along with some honorable mentions (because who can pick just 10?):

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Movie Reviews

No Other Choice Review

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No Other Choice

  • Director: Park Chan-wook
  • Writer: Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Lee Ja-hye, Don McKellar
  • Starring: Lee Byung-hun, Son Ye-jin, Park Hee-soon, Lee Sung-min, Yeom Hye-ran, Cha Seung-won, Kimm Woo-seung

Grade: B

With his latest creation No Other Choice, Park Chan-wook takes his turn to adapt Donald E. Westlake’s 1997 horror novel The Ax. It is the second film adaptation of that source material, following The Axe, a film by director Costa-Gavras that was released 20 years ago. This interpretation follows Yoo Man-su (Lee Byung-hun), an everyday Korean family man who has lost his longtime job with a paper-making company due to an American takeover.  He identifies a new path for himself, and resorts to dangerous lengths to eliminate his competition in hopes of securing his family’s future. The story of a man turning to crime to better his life is a story we’ve probably all encountered in film before, so many of the story beats may be familiar to fans who enjoy a good thriller. As with most of his films, though, Park takes an eclectic approach to genre here—mixing dark comedy, horror, and satirical elements to give the film a unique flavor. There’s enough of that flair infused here to keep the film feeling fresh and interesting.

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Movie Reviews

Hamnet Review

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Hamnet

  • Director: Chloé Zhao
  • Writer: Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell
  • Starring: Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Emily Watson, Jacobi Jupe, Noah Jupe, Joe Alwyn

Grade: A-

Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel Hamnet took a new approach to exploring the world of Shakespeare. Instead of focusing solely on the Bard of Avon himself, O’Farrell shone a light on his family—namely, his wife Agnes and his youngest son, Hamnet. The book explores the grief that befalls Hamnet’s family when he dies suddenly during a plague, and how that experience led to the crafting of one of Shakespeare’s most iconic plays, Hamlet. In the film adaptation, Academy Award winning director Chloé Zhao employs her signature naturalistic brand of filmmaking to add even more emotional depth to this fictional tale grounded in the history of one of our greatest storytellers. The film is an excellent complement to the book, staying faithful to the roots but branching out on its own artistically.

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