Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (2025)

Screened exactly twice in 2006 and 2011, this year finally marks the official wide release of the complete work, restoring it back to Tarantino's original unified vision, before it was insisted on being split into two volumes at the behest of Miramax's Harvey Weinstein. The result is a four-hour martial arts/exploitation/samurai epic (plus 15 minute intermission) with pacing that flows better as one cohesive whole, with some of the fat trimmed out of it.

Watching this 20 years after the fact in a packed theater makes it clear how well the material ages. Enormously entertaining and never boring, it's an homage to all the greats of the past, blending so many disparate styles in a pastiche of Americana, which doesn't take away from the artists it so liberally borrows from. As the ultimate revenge story (summed up in the title), it favors style over substance, but the mission is clear and the emotions are real: You're with The Bride every step of the way. It's not without its flaws, but there's no denying this is Cinema; there aren't many filmmakers left making epics of this caliber. To put it even more bluntly, this is just a cool fucking film with iconic visuals and a killer soundtrack. And Uma Thurman looks damn good doing it.

5 Deadly Vipers out of 5

Note: Exclusive to this 2025 print is a new chapter entitled "Yuki's Revenge," which was animated using the Unreal Engine, with Uma performing the voice acting and motion capture. Luckily, this is tacked on at the end of the credits and doesn't interrupt the flow of the film. You can view it in its entirety here.

Note 2: The original Nutshell reviews can be found here: Volume 1, Volume 2

Sisu: Road to Revenge (2025)

Sisu meets Mad Max: Fury Road. The one-man army is back and this time they send a Soviet officer (Stephen Lang) to finish him off. It's more of the same, but somehow I appreciated the theatrics a lot more, especially one such sequence on a train that kept building. It's completely stylish, over the top and bonkers.

3 pickaxes out of 5

Sisu (2022)

Deep within the Finnish Lapland, an old prospector strikes upon gold, but the Nazis try to steal it from him and the tough old coot won't go down without a fight. It's a largely wordless action flick with all the fat cut out of it. Basically, revenge distilled to raw, primal violence. It's rather repetitive in its string of brutal slaughter, but one never tires of seeing baddies get their just desserts.

2½ land mines out of 5

Anemone (2025)

Daniel Day-Lewis briefly comes out of retirement for his first film role since 2017's Phantom Thread. It's a gloomy drama about a hermit living in the woods that is visited by his estranged brother who tries to get him to make amends. What this mostly amounts to are a lot of slooow monologues set against the backdrop of gorgeous natural landscapes accompanied by ambient music. It's brooding and insistent, and there are some interesting visual sequences, but it doesn't really go anywhere worthwhile throughout the entirety of its 2-hour journey. The performances are standout, but that's not nearly my issue with it.

2 hailstorms out of 5

Dead of Winter (2025)

A grieving woman travels alone to a remote frozen lake in snowy Minnesota, stopping at a cabin to ask for directions but inadvertently stumbling into a low rent kidnapping plot. It's a very slow burn survival story, but packed with raw emotion and intense performances. Emma Thompson and Judy Greer do the heavy lifting and make the most out of this low-budget suspense thriller.

3 green tackleboxes out of 5

Keeper (2025)

A couple spending a romantic weekend at a secluded cabin in the woods find more than they bargained for. Weirdness and creepiness permeates every frame of this film. Does it all pay off in the end? Maybe or maybe not, but it's memorable in that way that good horror tends to stick around in the edges of your subconscious. Tatiana Maslany gives an insanely watchable performance.

3 bites of chocolate cake out of 5

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025)

After a hole opens up in her ceiling, a put upon woman is forced to relocate to a shoddy motel with her ailing daughter. This dark psychological drama really put me on edge. It's a good approximation of being alive, where people are demanding and you're trying your best, but it's never good enough. You're constantly being criticized and made to feel bad for your choices, while you try to find support but there's none to be found. This actually feels like a great companion piece to Die My Love or Nightbitch. In short, motherhood sucks.

3½ bottles of wine out of 5