Train Dreams -- It's not often that I have a completely different opinion when I see a movie a second time than I did the first, and so it feels important to note when it does happen. And it very much happened with Train Dreams, Jockey director Clint Bentley's Malick-ified adaptation of Denis Johnson's book and starring Joel Edgerton as an old-timety railroad worker, on Netflix today. I saw it an Sundance in January and got swept up in the current of its lush visuals and lyrical score (from The National's Bryce Dressner), plus its fine clear-eyed close-mouthed turn from Joel Edgerton. It wasn't enough of a love affair that I felt the need to write a review at the time, but I thought my heart might grow fonder down the line.
This was not the case -- a re-watch a couple of weeks ago was like a gust of tornado winds splitting through its smoke, and all that was left rang hollow; an ash-heap where a forest once stood. It was as if the film rotated ninety degrees and revealed cardboard backing. It's got the appearance of meaning that reveals itself to be thimble-deep, like a video of somebody diving into a gorgeous lake only to break their neck on the rocks mere inches beneath its serence surface. (The score, on its own merits, still rules though.)
Wicked For Good -- Nobody should be coming to me for opinions of the Wicked movies, since this shit was always gonna be straight-up me-kryptonite from the start. And yet -- wow! This movie is really, really bad! Far worse than the already awful first one, which at least had a sense of humor, best embodied by Ariana Grande's fluffy little performance therein. This one doesn't even have the decency to have a plot, or "things that happen" -- humorless, tuneless, meandering flying-monkey malarkey, it feels like one terrible song about how a character feels piled on top of another one piled on top of another one until every iota of your patience has been crushed to yellow dust for that endless CG stretch of brick road. Bury beneath it and be done with me! In a better world people would be embarrassed. But, in the spirit of giving, I'll end on the one highlight:
There is this one shot of Jonathan Bailey in Wicked For Good, and you'll know the one when you see it, that is utter pornography, just absolute unhinged filth, and it made all of it worthwhile
— Jason Adams (@jamnpp.bsky.social) November 16, 2025 at 4:37 PM
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9 comments:
"Absolute unhinged filth"—please post a gif in about two weeks (but NOT SOONER)
I can't stand either of the two leads, so even my utter adoration for Jonathan Bailey wasn't enough to see these films.
We need a timecode for the filth so we can take long bathroom and cocktail breaks during the movie but be in our seats for this scene.
I love Ariana but Bailey and Erivo grate on me royally,I don't feel the same way about Train Dreams.
I only just saw Train Dreams but absolutely loved it. Gorgeous and moving.
I saw part one. It wasn’t good. Jonathon Bailey looked old. I wondered how they did that. Maybe he was beat having done everything he did that year.
I think any man in his late 30s is going to look old playing a teenager.
I cannot with Ariana so I won't see the movie BUT I trust you will show us later.
I agree with your comments. Was expecting much more based on reviews that even suggested it being academy award worthy. The characters didn’t ring true to me. It was a bit like receiving a beautifully wrapped present with little inside.
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