Welcome to this month’s Cinema Snapshots! At the beginning of each month, I reflect on what I watched the prior month and provide a quick “snapshot” of my thoughts on those films. So without further ado, here are my Cinema Snapshots for April 2025.
Arts and Faith 2024 Ecumenical Jury Podcast
I had the privilege of joining Lindsey Dunn in March on her podcast alongside Brian Duignan to discuss the Arts and Faith Top Ten Ecumenical Jury Films of 2024. We talk through the voting process, and why we’d recommend each film in the top 10 to Christian audiences. Check it out!
Drop
Violet, a widowed mother on her first date in years, arrives at an upscale restaurant where she is relieved that her date, Henry, is more charming and handsome than she expected. But their chemistry begins to curdle as Violet begins being irritated and then terrorized by a series of anonymous drops to her phone.
The trailer reveals almost every exciting thing that happens in Drop (hence why I haven’t linked it here!), and the interesting premise starts to lose its shine after 30 minutes or so.
That said, Christopher Landon is a great director and adds enough visual flair alongside a terrific Meghann Fahy performance to make Drop worth watching. I saw it twice last month, and my rewatch solidified its strengths and prepared me for what to expect (and not to expect) from the film. Despite its predictability, it’s a fun thriller that I’d recommend.
★★★☆☆
Death of a Unicorn
Nancy, a teacher whose life with her husband in Holland, Michigan, tumbles into a twisted tale when she and her colleague become suspicious of a secret.
I didn’t expect Death of a Unicorn to mention the Christological meaning behind unicorns, let alone actually examine that meaning, but that alone made the film a great watch.
It’s shallow (though humorous) as an eat the rich satire and largely unsatisfying as a gory horror flick. But it’s a terrific examination of the awe and fear God elicits, and humanity’s varying responses when faced with that.
Is that a narrow view of the film? Perhaps. But it’s also a view that gave me tremendous appreciation and enjoyment of what Death of a Unicorn is trying to do. More thoughts to come when the film releases on DVD and blu ray.
★★★☆☆
Holland
Nancy, a teacher whose life with her husband in Holland, Michigan, tumbles into a twisted tale when she and her colleague become suspicious of a secret.
Holland is a frustrating sophomore effort from Mimi Cave (after her brilliant debut, Fresh). It’s strange when so many things are done right and yet the final product feels like a mess. Cave’s assured hand as a director is still present in her strong visuals and clear command of tone. Nicole Kidman, Matthew MacFadyen, and Gael Garcia Bernal are genuinely terrific here. The music is a campy, fun blast.
But the story just feels undercooked. Every beat of every scene drags and lulls, and yet nothing ever feels properly communicated to the audience, from story beats to character development. It’s a genuinely frustrating experience that I’d hoped to love.
★★☆☆☆
Sinners
Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.
Every composer dreams of the film that was written for them, a film that has music so deeply embedded in its very essence that to tell the story without the perfect music wouldn’t just be a disservice, it would be impossible. Maybe that’s why I like musicals so much. The best musicals combine music and storytelling in a transcendent manner.
Sinners is that compositional dream project, a film that cannot (or at least should not) be extracted from its score, acting as a musical for all intents and purposes. That’s not to reduce the film’s countless other strengths: transformational performances, vibrant lighting and color, and timeless thematic material.
I plan to break down the film’s incredibly rich spiritual themes in the future, but the music here, a beautiful tangle of diegetic and non-diegetic components, is truly the standout component. It elevates the film not only to the (early) status of best of the year, but already puts it among the best films of the 2020s.
Content warning to readers, Sinners is rated R for strong bloody violence, sexual content and language.
★★★★★
Freaky Tales
In 1987 Oakland, a mysterious force guides The Town’s underdogs in four interconnected tales: teen punks defend their turf against Nazi skinheads, a rap duo battles for hip-hop immortality, a weary henchman gets a shot at redemption, and an NBA All-Star settles the score.
Freaky Tales prioritizes style over substance to a fault, but contains just enough memorable moments and performances (Pedro Pascal in particular delivers a noteworthy performance) to make this worth watching. As with all anthology films some chapters are better than others, but I did like the connective tissue that was present.
★★★☆☆
The Enduring Power of Saving Private Ryan
I joined Noel T. Manning II on episode 585 of Meet Me at the Movies for a conversation on "Practically Perfect Cinema" — films that set the standard for excellence. Our focus was Steven Spielberg’s unforgettable 1998 classic, Saving Private Ryan. We dove into how that film captures cinematic greatness in ways that still resonate decades later.