What I've Caught Up With, September 2025 Part 1

September was, as seems to be the theme this year, not a great month. Professionally, it was fine, but personally, it looks like 2025 will be the year that I lose both of my parents, as my dad is now on hospice. Despite this, I did knock a few films off the list.

What I’ve Caught Up With, September 2025 Part 1
Film: Small Engine Repair (2021)

Small Engine Repair stars John Pollono, who wrote the original stage play, adapted this version, and also directed it. Three friends from Boston reconnect after a falling out. Frank (Pollono) has served time for assault. Swaino (John Berenthal) is in some ways the alpha of the group while Packie (Shea Whigham) is clearly the brunt of their aggression. On the night of their reunion, Frank has special plans involving his daughter Crystal (Ciara Bravo) and a wealthy young man named Chad (Spencer House) who Frank plays basketball with. The first hour or so of this is just three guys getting drunk and reliving old times. The last half hour comes out of nowhere, but you may get some inklings of what’s coming about five minutes before it does. Weird ending, though.

Film: Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

Tora! Tora! Tora! is one of a long line of films that show the detail of an important historical military event from a number of perspectives, not unlike The Longest Day or A Bridge Too Far. This one is about the attack on Pearl Harbor. We see the planning from the Japanese military perspective and all of the different errors made by the American military and government. The cast is a good one top to bottom, and the film avoids anything like yellowface—the entire Japanese military roles are played by Japanese actors. It’s long, but it’s the sort of film that deserves to be long and detailed, and it’s surprisingly measured and fair in its portrayal of both sides of the conflict. And the actual attack on Pearl is worth the 1:45:00 in getting there.

Film: X-Men (2000)

I’ve seen the original 2000 X-Men before, but it’s been years since I have watched it. It’s not the best of the mutant films, but it’s a very solid beginning to the franchise and the start of the most iconic role in Hugh Jackman’s career and probably the second-most iconic in Patrick Stewart’s and Ian McKellen’s. It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that, along with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man that a lot of the current superhero mania started here, at least not including Superman and Batman. This isn’t as good as the first sequel, and probably not as good as some of the second set of films, but it’s hard to disagree with the fact that it’s a lot of fun. And, seriously, Magneto ain’t wrong about much.

Film: Who Done It: The Clue Documentary (2022)

Clue is one of those lightning-in-a-bottle movies where everything seems to work and the fans actually get it. These appear every now and then and I often wonder if the people making the movie were aware that they were making something destined to be beloved (The Princess Bride and Galaxy Quest serve as other examples). This is very much a labor of love about the film, and it features nice interviews with many of the actors as well as the director. It’s not a necessary view by any stretch, but it’s fun to see these reminiscences of the set and the people involved, as well as learn that original casting ideas included Carrie Fisher and John Cleese.

Film: The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

The Day After Tomorrow’s heart is in the right place. Sady, that’s about it, since the science is incredibly dumb. The movie posits that massive changes in the climate—specifically global warming—could actually trigger a new Ice Age that will engulf the entire northern hemisphere in a cold so brutal that people will literally freeze to death in seconds. That’s the problem when it comes to disaster films like this—they have to be big and blustery to get any attention because the reality isn’t nearly sexy enough. This is a big, dumb movie, and it’s also laden with clichés. If you can’t tell who is going to live and die within the first 20 minutes or so, you’ve never watched a blockbuster-y disaster movie before.

Film: The Invisible War (2012)

It's a poorly-kept secret that the U.S. military is filled with the sexual abuse of women serving in every branch of the service. In fact, more than 1 in 5 have said that they have been sexually assaulted while in the service, and this is just those who have reported this abuse. What these women have found is a culture that repeatedly protects the perpetrators at the expense of the women who have been attacked. It’s honestly not surprising. What is perhaps surprising is that the sexual assault happens to men in the military frequently as well. The film is relentless in discussing what happens to these survivors. Over and over, the perpetrators of sexual violence are not investigated and those who report abuse are accused of crimes. Why would anyone join, especially when the legal conclusion of many of these cases is that rape is an occupational hazard of joining the military?

Film: D.A.R.Y.L. (1985)

The 1980s had such high hopes for us and for artificial intelligence. We believed that sentient robots would be these sweet unassuming kids like Daryl (Barret Oliver), whose name is actually an acronym for Data Analyzing Robot Youth Life-form. He escapes from the government facility where he was created and is eventually adopted by the Richardsons (Mary Beth Hurt and Michael McKean), but is reclaimed by the government and threatened with destruction. What follows is what you expect, but the journey is a fun one to go on. I like how much fun they had giving Daryl’s best friend Turtle (Danny Corkill) an absolute potty mouth, appropriate for a kid of this age, and still managed to get this a PG rating. Is it ground-breaking? No, but its heart is in the right place.