Wild Horse Nine ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

CIA agents in Chile in 1973. Liars, murderers, junkies. Don’t believe or trust any of them. So what would you think if I told you this is a comedy. You might think how can that be funny, and I started watching the movie with that very thought. But it is.

The background to this very dark comedy is the rap sheet of the CIA. There’s the Congo, Central America, the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, and central to this story, the assasination of John F. Kennedy. It is the backdrop for the behavior of these ugly Americans in Chile.

There is an all star cast that includes John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell and Steve Buscemi. There’s a little Parker Posey and even a Tom Waits cameo. This movie will be all over the ‘27 academy awards. And deservedly so. This is a great movie.

As for the horses, there are some wild ones as the two main character CIA dudes visit Easter Island to see the ‘big heads.’ They are kind of the therapy animals in this story.

Written by an Irish playwright there may be some reflection here of what the outside world thinks of the American CIA. All this evil can still be funny and you’ll find you laugh and shake your head at the same time.

Bunker ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Two solid hours of tension. A slow building tension that’s always in the background. You never know for sure where it’s coming from.

Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz are a couple in the movie too, Miguel and Sofia. Miguel is a highly acclaimed architect. Sofia is a literary agent. They moved from Madrid to London for his career.

Is the tension in their marriage? Or is it from the cat being missing for 10 days.

More likely from one of the two “bunker” projects afoot. Their neighbor is refitting his garage as a residence because this lifelong resident of his gentrifying neighborhood can no longer afford housing. Part of his renovation involves cutting a window into the wall that separates their yards.

Meanwhile, Miguel has received a life-changing monetary offer from a tech billionaire who wants him to design a bunker in Hawaii. Why? He explains that the distribution of wealth is not sustainable and he needs to shield himself in the event of the collapse of society. Apparently it’s something billionaires have been doing.

This is a super engaging look at life in 2026 with a big, meaningful surprise at the end.

Beloved ⭐️⭐️⭐️

More Javier Bardem. This time he’s Esteban, an acclaimed film director. (European film directors seem to love to make movies about European film directors.) He’s making a new movie and has cast his daughter in a lead role.

That may sound charming until you learn that he abandoned his daughter and her mother soon after she was born. She didn’t meet him until she was nine. He played no part in her life and hadn’t seen her in years. What could go wrong?

This is a heavy movie. You are waiting for the other shoe to drop. A seeming disaster waiting to happen. It doesn’t. Instead you get glimpses into Esteban’s history, his behavior both as a failed father and as an abusive director. But, all-in-all, this a potentially life changing event that changes no one’s life.

Most of the movie is on the set of the filming. It is a desert environment and it is beautifully filmed. The actors performances are top level. But I was left with an air of unfulfilled expectation.

Bitter Christmas ⭐️

Bitter is one word for it. You could say somber. Or morose works as well. I have greatly enjoyed many of Pedro Almodovar’s movies. Not this one.

A veteran filmmaker is writing another script. The story he is writing is played out on the screen. It involves a woman who is writing a script after a hiatus from filmmaking. Both of the scriptwriters are crafting characters based on people they know. And those people are invariably furious over finding themselves in these scripts.

This is a movie of migraines, panic attacks, suicide attempts. Everyone in the movie  has a box of pills next to their bed and are dipping into it routinely. There is a little bit of the traditional quirky Almodovar character, like the fireman who spends weekends working as a stripper, but mostly we’re looking at depressed and depressing women.

As a veteran filmmaker there is some autobiography in this film. The male scriptwriter seems to be off the top of his game. Sadly, you’re left to wonder if that isn’t the case for Almodovar himself.