November 30, 2025

FRANKENSTEIN (2025)

Guillermo del Toro has a track record of memorable films spanning the last three decades. Even those unenthusiastic about cinema have seen one or more of his films and probably appreciated action movies such as BLADE II (2002) or HELLBOY (2004), with PAN’S LABYRINTH (2006) often cited as a favorite of film buffs. At the same time, it has to be acknowledged that del Toro’s work has become different in the past ten years. You could say it’s more personal.

GLADIATOR 2 (2024)

In the past 120 years there’s been no shortage of good films. There’s also been bad films. And then there’s been those films that forever etch into your mind. From the very first screening, it is impossible to ever forget them. Hip shot in a wheat field? Ask any millennial and 25 years later, they’ll know it’s GLADIATOR. Ask anyone fifteen minutes after watching GLADIATOR 2 and they probably won’t even be able to tell you the name of its protagonist.

THE BAMBOO GROVE

It had rained the night before and there were drops of water on the leaves. The bamboo had that distinctive smell to it, but that was not what she loved the most about it. It was that there were numerous stalks, growing in all directions, but there was never a clear path leading through them. Every time you came back, you took a different route through the bamboo grove, brushing over the stalks with your hand, going left, then right, maybe headed east for a while, until you felt like going north, or south.