My film of the week is Eleanor The Great, directed by Scarlett Johansson and starring the razor-sharp 96 year-old June Squibb. After her best friend passes away, Eleanor moves from Florida to New York to live with her daughter (Jessica Hecht), and ends up wandering into a Holocaust Survivors Group at her local Jewish Community Centre. Long story short, she recounts the life experiences of her late friend, even befriending a young aspiring journalist (Erin Kellyman) and striking up a close friendship with her. Unfortunately, her lies quickly begin to unravel.
Whilst there are no huge plot surprises, this is a quietly effective, old-fashioned filmmaking at its best. Grief, ageing, family tensions, friendship and Jewish identity are all covered, and Squibb has brilliant comic timing when delivering her one-liners. It felt especially poignant too, given the dreadful events at Bondi Beach recently. It's unflashy, but all the better for it, and Chiwetel Ejiofor excels as a news anchor coming to terms with his own grief (and the dad of Squibb's new journalist friend). Super stuff.
Silent Night, Deadly Night is an entertaining, squelchy festive gorefest that definitely earns its 18 certificate, but is nowhere near as unflinchingly graphic as Terrifier 3. It's certainly the most inventive use of an axe I've seen since that movie, and you resolutely don't want to end up on this Santa's naughty list. If you're a fan of this genre, this film has all the elements you're looking for. Tension, inventive kills, and a dollop of humour are all in the mix. I loved the scene at the 'White Christmas' party, where a load of Nazis get their just desserts, and there are hints of Venom with the voice that lives inside Billy Chapman's head following the gruesome murder of his parents by a man dressed as Santa. He inherits the killer's magic powers in his dying moments, and the gift allows him to easily identify those who are not on the nice list. Great retro styling, and an unlikely Christmas classic in the making.
A brief word about Ella McCay to finish...it was a bit of a disappointing script souffle, served with a side of word salad, unfortunately. Credit to whoever edited the trailer for making it look entertaining. The film's messaging is positive, and there are some decent individual performances from the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis and Emma Mackey, plus the underutilised Woody Harrelson, but it was about as gripping as reading the Argos catalogue. The sparsely attending screening I attended might explain why it's vanishing from cinemas a week ahead of Christmas.
Next up, I'm looking forward to watching The Housemaid once I've finished listening to the audiobook. Sydney Sweeney gave it her all in Christy, and I hope that film finds a bigger audience when it hits streaming platforms. I'll round up my top ten films of 2025 in my next column. Let me know your favourites by E-mailing me - it's alex.cann@notreallyheremedia.com.
Alex Cann Film Column - 02/04/26
Alex B Cann Film Column - 19/03/20260
