The 11 Best Things I Watched and Read in September

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We're a week into October and after a whirlwind series of timelier articles I wanted to celebrate the movies and books I fell in love with last month. We're knee-deep in For Your Consideration season on the road to the Oscars, so a lot of what I'm watching these days are upcoming new releases--s always, the hyperlinks will take you to any reviews I've written--but there were a few older new discoveries. I also shout-out two new Hollywood biographies worth adding to your shelves.

Eleanor the Great (2025)

The reviews for this one weren't great from my colleagues--a common refrain from the movies I saw this month--but I remain charmed by Scarlett Johannson's directorial debut.

From my review: A story about a great lie and the impact it has on others opens up to explore the need to pass stories on to the next generation, and how often the stories of the elderly are either ignored or exploited, as well as the loneliness that comes when one hits a certain age. Ably handled by Scarlett Johansson, in her directorial debut, Eleanor the Great isn't just another knockout performance by Squibb, but a tender story of friendship, love, and remembrance.

Squibb continues to show such nuance in her performances. Eleanor Morgenstein holds little in common with Thelma Post (the main character from Thelma). As Eleanor, Squibb takes on the part of listener. Many of her interactions involve hearing Bessie's stories. Being the vessel by which they're carried out. She holds the same role for Nina, allowing the girl to share her pain outside of her cold household. Cinematographer Helene Louvart pushes the camera in close on conversations between Eleanor and others, forcing the audience to take note of every moment where Squibb expresses confusion, sadness, or joy. 

Bugonia (2025)

Yorgos Lanthimos's latest is such a stark, some might say bleak, story of our Earth and humanity's inability to save it. Emma Stone and Jesse Plemmons are beasts in dueling roles that require them to turn everything up to 11.

From my review: What's been called Lanthimos's most political feature to date, Bugonia is a story steeped in the world of conspiracy theory, toxic work environment, and all manner of things we point to as reasons the world sucks. But in Lanthimos's hands that becomes an opportunity to tell a wild, at times cringingly hilarious, story about our planet, how we choose to spend our time, and aliens. Lots of aliens. 

Where else can you see a movie that gives us electroshock therapy to a Green Day song? Yorgos Lanthimos's Bugonia is such a fresh exploration of humanity and what our future in the world is. One could say by the time it reaches its conclusion it's utterly depressing, and yet it feels so inevitable. This is a movie where you'll want to wait for others to see it so you can truly dive into its themes. Plemons is the MVP, though Delbis and Stone are also great. Another hit from Lanthimos!

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)

There aren't many Martin Scorsese films I've yet to see but I got to cross off this delicate story of a single mom trying to raise her young son. Ellen Burstyn is phenomenal as the eponymous Alice, a woman who believed, as a child, she'd be the next Alice Faye but life hasn't dealt her a Hollywood story, yet. When her husband dies her and her son, Tommy (Alfred Lutter III) move in the hopes of Alice getting a singing career. What happens is Alice learns to balance her dreams with the needs of another, her child.

On top of that, Alice embarks on a series of relationships. One of them is with a baby-faced Harvey Keitel who makes a meal out of his runtime. Burstyn's relationship with Kris Kristofferson is also poignant in its authenticity. These are two people actively engaging in the risk of a relationship. This is also just another pitch-perfect child performance for me, the second I've seen this year (the other being in The Goodbye Girl). Gotta give props to baby Jodie Foster here for playing the foul-mouthed best friend of Tommy. Her character was clearly preparation for Taxi Driver. Such a stellar film from a true directing master.

The Uncool: A Memoir by Cameron Crowe

If you follow me on social you know the work of Cameron Crowe, particularly his feature Almost Famous, is near and dear to my heart. So when Crowe announced plans to return to the world of writing and pen his memoirs, I counted down the days. Suffice it to say, The Uncool got me as deeply as Crowe's films at their best.

If you're seeking writing about his filmmaking output, sorry, that's for another book (which I hope he writes one day). Crowe lays out his own life story, much of it lifted for Almost Famous. He talks about his fractious family and the suicide of his sister who struggled with mental disabilities. He also talks deeply about music, and how that love turned him into the youngest writer for Rolling Stone magazine. He shares a ton of amazing tales about hanging out with some of the biggest bands of the 1970s, including a story about Gregg Allman that is thrilling as it is heartbreaking. Through it all, Crowe makes you feel seen. There were passages in the book that, as I look at the world of journalism seeming fall apart around me, felt inspired by my own struggles (in a way, his book is like a great song).

Crowe understands adolescence so acutely, even as a grown man looking back on it through doing the Almost Famous musical. It's a wonderful, fast-paced, amazing look at such a unique filmmaker.

Hedda (2025)

Pretty sure Hedda is this year's Conclave for all the people I've brought it up to. It's just such a chef's kiss of a movie with Tessa Thompson and Nia DaCosta the female equivalent to Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan. When the two pair up, you know it'll be magic.

From my review: Hedda Gabler, in DaCosta's interpretation, is a story of women seeking control. Hedda starts by wanting to control how the party will go. "Nothing can go wrong tonight," she declares, which the audience understands is impossible considering the movie begins with Hedda being interrogated by police. Hedda herself also sabotages this perfection from the get-go, inviting her bohemian friends alongside George's uptight academic muckety-mucks. For all her desire to control things, Hedda is doomed to sabotage. This is contrasted with Eileen, a woman seeking for control and, more importantly, respect as a writer and academic, and as a queer woman to boot this is impossible considering the time period. 

Hedda is one of the year's best movies with Thompson nothing short of wondrous. I always say the movies I love are the hardest reviews to write and this one was difficult if only because there's so much minute detailing to deconstruct. This is an adaptation that transcends its stage bound origins. 

Rental Family (2025)

Director Hikari's Rental Family is a real unsung gem right now that I think more people are gonna fall in love with when it debuts in November. Brendan Fraser, continuing to show us why he's such an underrated performer, plays a down-on-his-luck actor who gets an opportunity to be a stand-in for a little girl who doesn't know her father. What starts as pretending to be her father to get her into school ends up forcing Fraser's character to realize how much he needs people in his life. It's such a sweet little movie. Fraser is great but it's also got wonderful performances from Takehiro Hira and Mari Yamamoto.

One Battle After Another (2025)

Pretty sure everyone is in love with One Battle After Another. Not a day goes by I don't see a meme or clip from it. Hell, it got me to write a whole thing about Thomas Pynchon, an author I have no love lost for. It really is the movie of the fall.

From my review: But what Anderson does with One Battle After Another is practically create political theater, with two stories twining and twisting around each other, one based on freedom and anger, the other based on racism and white supremacy. The fact that these two movies dovetail so neatly--Anderson has cited Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove as an influence on this--is what makes One Battle After Another so masterly. Add into that utterly luminous performances by an ensemble cast of legends (and legends in the making), and you have what is one of the most enjoyable and incisive movies of the year. 

It's amazing how quickly the runtime flies but that's the power of a string of interesting characters and a narrative that has so many threads to explore. One Battle After Another is an ensemble powerhouse, with Anderson taking a stab at what could be his most politically charged feature. DiCaprio is wonderful, but then again there's not a dull note in the entire cast. 

Clint: The Man and the Movies by Shawn Levy

I'm not a Clint Eastwood fan, certainly not enough to read a 500-page biography on him. And yet I set out to read Clint: The Man and the Movies because of author Shawn Levy (not the director). Levy is one of the best celebrity biographers--if you haven't read his book on the Chateau Marmont, do it--so when he writes about a subject, whether I like them or not, I read it. This is a fairly comprehensive exploration of every movie Eastwood has made, up until his most recent. Levy presents the facts in a florid, accessible manner, and leaves the reader to suss out whether they like Eastwood or not (and there's a fair bit that makes you think he's kind of a shit). If you want to just learn about Eastwood's films, the transitions in Hollywood stardom, or just want a damn good biography, pick this one up.

Pump Up the Volume (1990)

I'd seen Allan Moyle's feature film Pump Up the Volume on a few cult classic lists and since it was expiring last month on Criterion I decided to give it a watch and thank goodness I did. It's understandable why this didn't hit in 1990, in a world where teen movies tended to veer towards high fantasy as adults figured the kids were more than alright. But to watch in 2025, in the era of rampant gun violence and adolescent activism, it hits far differently. That and the fact that Slater's character is the first podcast kid, imho.

Christian Slater plays a teen, new to town, who starts a pirate radio station where he says all the things he wishes he could. The kids in his town respond to it, but when one of them commits suicide, the adults at his school are hellbent on bringing him down. Slater is remarkable here, as a teen boy with a cockiness he masks in person. The script never feels like these are kids written by adults, but actual kids, decrying the need to excel, to conform, to be perfect. It's highly thought-provoking and a great "screw the Man" movie.

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025)

Pretty sure I'm the only one that enjoyed this and I stand by it.

From my review: Like Kogonada's previous features, particularly his 2017 feature Columbus, it's the tale of two wayward spirits who find each other and have to remove their own baggage (or bullshit, if you will) to find love. At the end of the journey, what the audience has experienced is a wondrous dive into humanity's capacity for love that is truly life-affirming. I felt this was a movie made specifically for me, and I have a feeling others will think that as well.

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is gorgeous in both cinematography and execution. A thrilling adventure where Robbie and Farrell play lush characters who are beautiful messes. It's a movie for the moment, and boy, do we need it.

Kiss of the Spider Woman (2025)

I have a full review coming of this later in the week but if you're an Old Hollywood musical fan you will devour this one. Bill Condon beautifully adapts the musical for the screen in a way that illustrates the dichotomies of why we love movies in hard times, for their escapism, and how that butts heads with propaganda. Everything about this movie is beautiful, from the casting to the costumes to the production design. Jennifer Lopez and her musical numbers are flawless. But it's Tonatiuh and Diego Luna who are heartbreaking and perfect in equal measure. I loved this so much.

What movies or books did you fall in love with last month? Let me know what you recommend in the comments.

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